Tuesday, July 24, 2007

somebody's going to china!

that would be me. or i should say us. !
i just booked tickets today. we leave sept 23 from daegu and return from beijing on the 30th. happy happy happy. sept 23rd thru the 26 is a huge korean holiday--chuseok. we'll have those days off for sure and we're going to ask for the 27th and 28th. we have 3 more sick days and won't take any more until then so we'll still have one more to use before november. they SHOULD let us and if not, well our flight doesn't come back until the 30th...we'll just have to call in sick. it's ballsy but we havent done it yet.
we'll be seeing this:

and this:

and this


and MORE.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

hate is a strong word

but i'm going to use it in this instance. i hate the construction workers outside my bedroom window. i'm sure they're nice people but one can only be woken up at 7 for so many consecutive mornings before one is filled with rage. and it's not like they wake me up and then dont make any more noise. the noise is continuous until around 5 or 6. stone cutting, slamming shit around. dropping what sounds like boulders from the roof into a metal container below over and over again. pounding pounding pounding. one morning as i was coming IN from a night out, they started right as my head hit the pillow. i yelled at them. i know it didn't make any difference (it probably only made them want to make even more noise) but i'm fed up. they took a break for a week and i thought maybe it was over. but no. it will never end.
by the way, it's SUNDAY. no rest for the wicked.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Friday again

Yesterday flew by and it's Friday again! On Fridays I have 8 classes, but then I'm free for 2 days. No waking up early, no frickin ding dong. No Korean teachers talking through me while I'm sitting at my desk, no points.
This weekend I need to get a new pair of sunglasses. The one's I got when I moved to Bellingham are shot. I can still wear them but the lenses are so scratched it's not even funny. Luckily, glasses are cheap here.
Tuesday we had a day off, national holiday, celebrating what I'm not sure. Jenny, Ken, and I went to Daegu to eat and get haircuts. I finally found someone who would give me the haircut I want without sucking teeth and saying, No, no, too short. Or, the famous, I don't think so. We found a place called The Classy of Hair. Nice. When I sat down, Eric (korean name?) asked what I thought of the place, I said it was comfortable and he said, classy? I said, oh yeah. He gave me the exact cut I've been trying to get for a few months. I even bought shampoo from him.



After this, I came home b/c I had an "appointment."

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

mud

we went to the mud festival this past weekend. we had a great time, as expected.
we planned on meeting jenny at the taxi stop at 815 and arriving at waegook cook at 830 for the bus. we had bought snacks, drinks, and much needed accessories during the previous 2 days. we get down stairs--and it's raining. fine by me. rain=not so frickin hot. keith on the other hand, detests rain. we put most of our belongings into the cab's trunk--which must have doubled as a kiddie pool. when we took the 6 packs out, keith was the first to lose a beer, shattered on the street. while waiting to board the bus, 2 of ours fell thru the bottom, bomb style. crash! crash! green glass everywhere. jenny was the only one injured, a slight cut on her foot. it's amazing beard didn't get hurt, the glass was all over his feet.
finally everyone's on the bus and we take off close to 9.

ken and jason on the bus

we took many pee/smoke/get more beer breaks. at first i was annoyed, but then i started drinking at rate of my fellow travelers and came to like the breaks.
at break number 28 on a 3 hour tour. and look! i'm happy!

the bus ride was pretty fun, but it had it's awkward moments.

and "funny hats" moments.



next blog--the actual festival.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

the 4th

is now the 5th. i explain to each of my classes (or at least TRIED) why july 4th was important to americans. i'd day 90% of them understood. the older ones might have learned about it in school. bright kids.
a few days before our independence day is canada day. i have no idea why this day is important to canadians besides the fact that it has the name of their country in it. i asked my canadian roommate and he said it was like our 4th of july. and i said but we're celebrating our independence you all weren't made independent that day so what's all the hype? he just kind of laughed but never really gave me an answer. maybe he doesn't know. i bet wikipedia does.

bycracky--wikipedia DOES know.

Canada Day (French: FĂȘte du Canada) is Canada's national holiday, marking the establishment of Canada as a self-governing country on July 1, 1867. It is a federal holiday generally celebrated on July 1, annually by all provincial governments and most businesses across the country.
A day off from work for most citizens and residents, Canada Day is Canada's main patriotic holiday, often a time for outdoor activities in the early Canadian summer. Frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday," particularly in the popular press,[1] the holiday does not commemorate a clear-cut date of "independence" or "founding", recognizing instead the confederation of three British North American colonies into a Dominion, a kingdom in its own right within the British Empire,[2] known as Canada, through the 1867 British North America Act, after which the British Parliament still retained several political controls over the country, and many of Canada's modern provinces were yet to be created. July 1, 1867, saw the beginning of a new phase of Canadian self-sovereignty, initiating a gradual march towards full independence from Britain that was completed with the proclamation of the Constitution Act by Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, on April 17, 1982.

so canada day marks the date it was made self-governing of what the British Empire didn't want to govern. check.
and now we know.

last night we went out for friend chicken and beer with daeyoung and nick. we found black beer on tap, folks. ON TAP. and it's fairly tasty. and it's in hyeongguk dong which is close to wear we live and within 2 blocks of daeyoung's school.

TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

so it IS true. i knew it.





Leif Parsons
Related
Green Potatoes: The Problem and the Solution (PDF)

It sounds like a joke, or perhaps just an urban legend that grew out of Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham.” But food scientists say this one is no myth. The reality is that green potatoes contain high levels of a toxin, solanine, which can cause nausea, headaches and neurological problems.

Potatoes naturally produce small amounts of solanine as a defense against insects, but the levels increase with prolonged exposure to light and warm temperatures.

The green color is actually caused by high levels of chlorophyll, which by itself is harmless. But it is also a sign that levels of solanine, which is produced at the same time as chlorophyll, have increased as well.

According to a recent report by Alexander Pavlista, a professor of agronomy and horticulture at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, a 100-pound person would have to eat about 16 ounces of a fully green potato to get sick. That is the weight of a large baked potato.

The report noted that most green potatoes never reach the market. Still, to avoid the development of solanine, it is best to store potatoes in cool, dimly lit areas, and to cut away green areas before eating.

Another good rule: if it tastes bitter, don’t eat it. Unlike Dr. Seuss’s entree, this green meal would not have a happy ending.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Green potatoes contain a chemical that can cause sickness.

scitimes@nytimes.com