With American soil soon to be under my running feet, I’ve been asking myself the same question a lot lately: who will I be when I’m not what I am here, in Korea? It should come as no shock to anyone that we all have different personas for dealing with different stages of our...
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Recently, I asked a friend living in Portland to do some shopping on my behalf and ship said items to Korea. Nothing too fancy: Reese’s, apple sauce, gingerbread, etc. Some things that are next to impossible to find here. As far as my taste buds were concerned, it was a wise decision. My wallet...
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I’m sure even non-Americans were paying attention to the debt crisis unfolding in Washington these past few weeks. As the world’s largest economy, the US defaulting on trillions of dollars in debt would have had repercussions across the globe. As it stands, of course, the crisis has been averted (or rather, pushed back). I’m...
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Make no mistake: learning another language is serious business. I don’t really buy into those arguments claiming once you immerse yourself completely in another culture, you’ll just start picking up words and phrases until you become completely fluent. Whatever “fluent” is, anyway: “Fine”, you say, “let fluency be someone who is fluent to a...
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It’s the 4th of July today, an American holiday celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Rather, the draft of the Declaration was signed on July 2nd, but the parchment which now sits on display in Washington DC is the transcribed copy we now consider the cornerstone of American history. In any case,...
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This one is fresh from Korea. I just finished up two adult classes. As is often the case with these 6:30 AM ones, many students don’t show up. I got four for the beginner class, but only one for the advanced. Since I knew this student to be a fairly competent speaker, I decided...
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Let me first state for the record: no, I have NOT renewed my contract for another year. As of today, it will end on October 7th, 2011, and I plan to keep it that way. But I have been thinking. Simon and Martina of Eat Your Kimchi have just celebrated their third year in...
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I was tempted to title this entry “Don’t Touch My Junk”, but decided that’s been overdone. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), under the US Department of Homeland Security, has recently implement new security procedures for travelers flying into the United States: All travelers are required to submit to a full-body scan. If you refuse...
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Long time no read, everyone. Entirely my fault. I guess I just tried to do too many things at once, and ended up doing nothing at all. My travel convention job turned out to be run by a downright evil shell of a human being, and since then, I’ve been struggling with freelance jobs,...
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