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Friday, February 20th, 2009
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9:30 am - An update 2 years in the making!!!!
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Hey all, or none.. Haha, it's been more than 2 whole years since I've written in this thing. I am now a graduate of grad school hopelessly looking for a job in an economy that is a festering cess pool in a toilet that doesn't work. Lucky for me there is English teaching to hold me over until I find something. When I came to Korea my salary in the states was something around $40K. I was also taking advantage of an elderly couple who were allowing me to sleep and eat and watch TV in their house for free. Since then, the won has plummeted. The exchange rate when I came here as 980won to the dollar. Now it is 1400. If you think of it in these terms, then financially, it was a bad move to come to Grad school, as I'd have well over 100K saved up if I hadn't. (Assuming that I could have stayed at my old job even after my more suitable replacement returned from Iraq. And my presence would have hindered the elderly couple from moving.)
In retrospect, I must warn people who go to grad school... do it for the right reasons. I think I used that for an excuse to move to Korea, as it's something I wanted to do for quite a while, and I wanted to do it without being a silly English teacher. I wanted to learn something. In grad school they kept telling us how wonderful our grad school was. It was the best of its kind in Korea. That means it's great if you are Korean. If you are a foreigner you're there just to take pictures. Okay, that's just cynicism, but still, although I did learn a lot and wouldn't trade my experience there for the world, well maybe the world, but not for um.. lots of candy, I think that it was quite easy for grad school, and now I don't see companies falling head over heels trying to hire me. So I'm an English teacher looking for other work. Good thing I don't have a contract and nobody is in control of my visa.
Teaching can be fun, of course, and I wouldn't mind teaching full time forever as long as it's not teaching ESL forever. Teaching a history class for example, would be perfect for me, because I am right about everything and can create little liberal satan worshipers out of the children who I have been entrusted with by showing them how capitalism and America ruins their lives. Haha, just kidding.
So, what is there to complain about? I'll tell you one thing, all my complaining about foreigners in Japan between 2002 and 2005 isn't Japan specific. Most expats in Korea are also tools. I'm really tired of being around other non-Korean people who do nothing but complain about being in Korea, and how Korea is so hard to live in for this reason or that reason. How things are so much better in their home countries, how this part of culture doesn't make freaking sense, or that part doesn't make sense. Why doesn't anyone speak English here? Seriously, if you don't like it, GO HOME! Otherwise adapt.
That said, I complain a lot myself, but not to the extent that these people do when they get together. There's so much contempt for Korean people (except for the ones they are currently fucking, wait, scratch that, there seems to often be contempt for that too) that I can't help but wonder what they are doing here. It's also very amusing to see White people complain about being the victims of racism. Yes, when was the last time that the Koreans forced you to come over in a cramped boat where they were lucky if 2/3 of you survived, forced several generations of your offspring to toil endlessly in the fields, and made you so different from your ancestors that you could never go back to your ancestral homeland? The truth is, most racism in Korea is towards non-Whites, including non-Korean Asians. Yea, maybe some Korean dude on the subway stared at you a little too long. Remember in the 2nd grade when you pulled your eyelids back and sang the chinky chonk dance? Which is worse? Yeah, maybe it's a little patronizing when the cashier tries to chat you up in broken english, when all you want to do is buy your stuff and leave. Remember when you told your waiter at the mexican restaurant to pronto and andele your food? It's the same thing. White people have privelige throughout the world, even in Korea, so I laugh when White people complain about racism here. Think how much worse the Black/Chinese/South Asian/Insert non-white,Non-Korean race here has it. You make more money than most Koreans and work much less. Stop bitching.
Finally, I must say that most of these reports of racism go down sharply once the expats actually learn to communicate in Korean. This is something all people who move to a foreign country should do. LEARN the FRIGGING LANGUAGE. If you don't... then how can you really know if what the person said was racist?
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| Saturday, June 9th, 2007
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8:34 pm - Ran for office...
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So I was running for president of the student body. After the votes came in, my party lost, the other party getting 60% of the vote. I've realized that even in international grad school, the student government elections are still popularity contests. And although our party of 3 was better than their party of 3, one person in our party was simply unknown by everyone. If we can average that one side had 3 people getting votes where the other had only 2, then that's a 3-2 margin, or 60% to 40%!
Other than that i've been working on final exams and papers. Last semester ended with an awesome GPA but this semester I will surely see that drop. Oh well, nobody is perfect.
Maybe in the summer I'll try to work somewhere. we'll see what happens after finals
Oh, look at me! I am 10 points out of first. I was once in 11th place! How did that happen? Perhaps someone should research players before throwing them away or trading them to sons who are baseball saavy.
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| Monday, May 28th, 2007
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4:52 pm - How I would have made Spider-Man 3
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Spider-Man 3 was a big letdown. People were telling me that it was bad (although my mom thought it was good) but I never expected how bad it was. It ranks up there with Superman IV and StarWars Episode 1-3 in how bad it is.
My gripes with this movie aren't the same as the gripes I had with the first two.
In the first one, I complained that they tried to substitute Mary Jane Watson as Gwen Stacy for the climactic showdown with the goblin on top of the bridge, In comics, Gwen dies, making Spider-Man so angry that he seeks revenge. Mary Jane didn't end up dying, but Spider-Man still went out to get revenge and it ended well. I also disliked that his webbing was natural, as in comics, his running out of web fluid is a constant obstacle, but hey the rest of the movie was awesome. This was a minor comic book geek gripe.
The second one, I didn't have much to complain about, only that Spider-Man was in college and there was no sign of Gwen Stacy (possibly because there was no Goblin to kill her off.) That's really minor, as the rest of the movie was awesome!.
The third one, where do I start? There were too many plotlines and characters, and not enough development.
1. The Sandman killed Uncle Ben? Wait a second! You can't mess with Spider-Man mythology like that! You mean, even if Spider-Man had done the right thing and captured the thief in the first place, Uncle Ben still would have died? Natural webbing I can live with, but changing the original story of why Spider-Man decided to be a hero? Come on! What were you thinking?
2. The Black Costume comes from nowhere, it doesn't exhibit any of the qualities it did in the comics (such as Spider-Man being able to change it into street clothes, and instantly turn to Spider-Man just by thinking about it.) Spider-Man can take it off and put it on as he pleases, yet there isn't any explanation as to why he can't take it off in the end. There also isn't any explanation as to why it reacts to the bell's ringing. Sure you don't need to bring in Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to tell us, but the whole black suit thing chould have been handled a lot better.
3. Venom refers to itself as "I" and "Me", when it's supposed to be "Us" and "We". I know Venom didn't do that at the beginning, but since we are in a movie, this needs to be accelerated.
4. Venom... dies? Spider-Man's GREATEST villian in recent years dies as the result of a mere pumpkin bomb? Mind you... Harry Osbourne out of costume survived a Pumpkin Bomb blast at point blank, but Symbiote Costumed Eddie Brock is blown to smithereens?
5. After being so receptive to wanting to kill Spider-Man, the Sandman decides to walk up to him and ask for his forgiveness? Why is the Sandman even here? His only memorable story ever was when he attacked people at Peter Parker's high school and Spider-Man used a vaccum cleaner to deal with him, way back in ASM #4! The Sandman isn't necessary!
Yeah I know, I can complain all I want, but can I deliver a better plot? Well here's my attempt.
1. Start the movie out with a meteor shower that brings the symbiote to Earth. Scientists working for Oscorp discover the symbiote and contain it for further study.
2. Harry and Spider-Man's first battle takes place at Oscorp. Spider-Man is getting his ass handed to him until he somehow comes in contact with the Symbiote and manages to defeat Harry, putting him into a coma.
3. Spend the next few segments of the movie showing what the symbiote can do. (Making clothes, turning into Spider-Man whenever he wants, etc.) But also show that it affects Peter's judgement. Perhaps you could have Spider-Man being a little more violent, or annoyed when people ask for his help. Introduce also that its weakness is sound (specifically vibrations caused by metals.) Introduce that it controls his body when he's sleeping too.
4. Introduce Eddie Brock in the same way that this movie introduced him, and use him exactly the same way up until he becomes Venom.
5. Oscorp tells Harry the symbiotes weakness which they were able to discern when they studied it, Harry Kidnaps MJ and takes her to the Church, where he hopes to lure Spider-Man and use the bells to remove the symbiote. Continue the fight against Harry, which ultimately ends in Harry's death. Spider-Man realizing that the Symbiote makes him more agressive, tries to remove it, but can't. This doesn't need to be explained because he's never tried to take it off previously.
6. Do the whole bell ringing scene. Peter and MJ mourn over Harry's death at the funeral.
7. Epilogue.. At the Church Eddie is contemplating suicide. As he walks to the top of the bell tower to prepare to jump, the symbiote grabs him.
THE END.. Save venom for the next movie.
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| Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
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6:26 am - I'll be home soon
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I will be arriving in the US on the 17th of January. I hope to see a lot of people. It's the 16th here in Korea. I have an overnight stay in Japan to worry about, but I will try to get out of that, which will mean I would be back on the 16th. We'll see what happens.
TTYL! See yall soon!
-Euge
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| Thursday, January 4th, 2007
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4:50 pm - GPA after 1 semester...
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| Thursday, December 14th, 2006
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12:53 am - Christmas time already???!?!?!?
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I still haven't gotten around to realizing that it's Christmastime. I have not even bothered to notice that the weather is changing colder. I have so much stuff to do between now and the 21st of December that I can't even think about what I am going to do during the long winter break. Perhaps I should have thought about that before buying my ticket back the the USA but oh well.
I do miss everyone, a lot. Living overseas is fun and all, but it's hard to stay in touch with everyone. With 5 papers and 3 final exams to do by the 21st though I'm a little busy, so please excuse me.
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| Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
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12:25 am - Corea? No way!
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| Thursday, November 23rd, 2006
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2:39 pm - Dumb jokes for a limited audience....
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| Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
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4:41 am - How not to impress your professor.
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Yesterday I learned that one of my professors' father passed away. The viewing for the funeral was from saturday until today, but students only heard about that yesterday, as no e-mail was sent over the weekend. Mind you, I've never been to a Korean funeral, but I like this professor a lot, and I thought I'd organize a small delegation of students to go give our support for him. It's too bad that none of us had ever been to a Korean funeral, and that none of the Korean students had any interest in attending. Anyway before going I learned that there's a certain procedure that includes a deep bow on your hands and knees. Searching on the internet gave me a guide to etiquette where one is supposed to bow 2 times to the corpse (or picture of the corpse)then once to the family of the departed. That's one way of doing it anyway. When we got to the place where the funeral viewing was being held, neither of us had any clue of what to do. I signed my name in a book, then got handed a carnation. before long I was whisked away to a room with my professor and his family. I had no idea what I was doing, so I put the carnation on the table with all the other carnations. Then the two Japanese girls I was with followed suit behind me. As they started to get into jeol position (that's the deep bow on your hands and knees), the professor said... no no, you don't need to do that, remain standing. But they were already halfway down, and so as not to make them look stupid, I did the same. But I let out some nervous laughter. Then we stood up and bowed to the professor, and were whisked away to another room to get some snacks. It is there I learned that I was at the viewing for Korea's former foreign minister, Lee Dong Won. Even President Roh Moo Hyun sent some flowers. Here's an article about my professor's Dad.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200611/kt2006111918560411980.htm
I felt like an idiot after we got out of the viewing because I laughed in front of my professor in a situation that called for the utmost seriousness. I wrote him an e-mail to apologize, and he wrote back that he was touched that I had showed up in the first place, so not knowing the protocol was totally okay. But I still feel dumb. Later I was told that the reason why I wasn't supposed to do jeol is because Mr. Lee was a Christian, and that's tanamount to worship according to some people. (I don't think it is, but got to respect the wishes of the departed.) Anyway all and all it was an experience, and I hope in the future I don't make myself look like a total moron in front of dignitaries.
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| Friday, November 17th, 2006
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9:41 pm - It's on like Donkey Kong....
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So a few weeks back an Asian American guy makes this webcomic called Single Asian Female, where he claims the protagonist tackles important social issues. Reading the comic makes you see that it's basically a comic that discourages interracial dating. I don't have any problem with that, because I'm not in any way gung ho about the positives of interracial dating. Asiaphilia is a real phenominon, and I have seen plenty of evidence to suggest that a lot of White guys have Asian fetishes. Because of this, I even admit to sometimes assuming the worst when I see a White guy with an Asian girl. The difference is, since I realize it isn't my business, I don't say anything about it or complain. Now then.... is it the media which influences the Asiaphiles and victimizes Asian American Women, or the Asiaphiles and their victimization of Asian-American Women which influence the media? Or is it both? And how do you decide which interracial relationships are good, and which ones are bad, especially when you don't even know either of the people and you just see them walking down the street together? You can't!
Well from an online forum discussion thread about the comic, I was directed to a blog of someone who critiqued the webcomic, whereupon I left my two cents. Basically I said that the comic was bad. I admit parts of it were funny, but all in all the comic talks too much about interracial dating and portrays all white guys as a bunch of doofuses. It also shows an Asian women in "dating hell" because she stupidly married, then divorced a white guy and ruined her life. Suddenly she starts dating an Asian guy and she gets whisked away to HAWAII and her life could never be better! Yea, that's SOOO realistic and goes to show you that White guys are bad news... and Asian guys are the way to go... IN ALL CASES! The person critiquing the comic found it patronizing, and I commented that I agreed with her.
Then some guy who goes by the name "ABSTRACT" didn't attack my argument for why it was patronizing (probably because he couldn't form a good counter argument) but simply dismissed my viewpoint because I left a link to my livejournal site, which shows my picture. After looking 5 seconds at the picture he decided that since I am not full Asian, I don't understand the struggles that Asian-Americans go through, therefore my opinion is invalid. Anyone who knows me, talks to me, or even reads this blog on a semi regular basis knows that I am very much a part of the Asian-American struggle and understand it to a pretty good extent to know what I am talking about. While I probably won't be on the recieving end of discrimination from White people in the US who I don't know, I don't think that that in itself is enough to revoke my claim to having a stake in the success of Asian-America. It's unfortunate however that a lot of the people in our community wish to be so divisive, and rather than work together for the good of the cause, they just want someone who looks the part.
Anyway to read the argument go here...
http://www.reappropriate.com/?p=554
To see the comic, go here...
http://www.safcomic.com/index.html
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| Tuesday, October 31st, 2006
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6:22 pm - Does whatever a spider can...
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I rocked two of my midterms today! They were incredibly easy! I can't believe it! Some people were all worried and everything and came out fretting about how horribly they did. Not the case for me. I think I totally dominated on all of them.
On other notes, today is Halloween but the party isn't until this weekend. My costume is that of my favorite super hero, Spider-Man. It's one of the best I've come up with yet. Take a look!
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| Monday, October 23rd, 2006
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11:52 am - Mail
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Hey bro.. that's Jason.
What's up with our e-mail. I have not gotten any spam for 2 days... Or other e-mail either. I can't send mail either. Most of school communication takes place in e-mail, so if you would, can you get to the bottom of it? Are you able to send mail? Is it just me? Do I need to open a new email?
-Eugene
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1:51 am - A time for comparison...
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Granted, I lived for three years in Japan and only for 2 months in Korea so far, but it is high time I made a comparison of the two places to decide which one I like better. I am probably still in the "honeymoon phase" of living in Korea, but then again, I don't really remember there being a honeymoon phase when I moved to Japan, so it's possible that my current feelings will be similar now as they will be later.
Cost of Living: Everything is relative I suppose. I would have to say that hands down, Korea gets the nod in cost of living. Everything is way cheaper. My rent is 1/2 what it was in Japan and I live in the city center. There was a rice patty in front of my house in Japan. Even so... I had an income in Japan. I don't have one here. Therefore I was more financially stable in Japan. Interesting perspective. Advantage: Korea
Beurocracy: Japan is famous for having rules and regulations for practically everything, but nothing was unreasonably difficult to do with foreign status there. The same is not true for Korea, see previous post for that. Lots of companies don't want to deal with foreign people and won't allow you to access anything they offer without a citizen's registration number. This means that they won't offer services to you if you are not a Korean citizen. Advantage: Japan
Women: No comment, there are parents reading. Depending on your personality you might disagree with me though. Advantage: Korea (remember, people are individuals)
Cops: Japanese cops harrass people for no reason. They are everywhere. They are also racist. They harassed me many many times. I hated it. I expected the same thing in Korea, but I've seen maybe 2 cops on patrol, and they don't even say anything as they walk by. I don't feel threatened by them in the slightest. Advantage: Korea
Stereotypes: Most Japanese seemed to believe stereotypes as carved in stone and reacted in shock when confronted with evedence to the contrary. Most Koreans I have met so far arent really shocked by anything, but are also GSIS students or my own family primarily. Regardless, there is more to like about the Koreans in my life. Advantage: Korea
I will continue this later. When people ask me which I like better it's difficult to say, but signs are pointing to good 'ol Korea.
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| Monday, September 25th, 2006
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12:59 am - Yon-Ko Games 연고전
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Every year in September, Yonsei University and Korea University have the annual Yon-Ko Games. In this event 5 sports between the rival schools are played for pride. Then afterwards all the students are supposed to get to know each other. It's pretty awesome because the event is more about cheering in unison rather than actually watching any of the game. I got to go to two of the games, Ice Hockey and Soccer. (I unfortunately missed the baseball game because I had a class.) Anyway in Ice Hockey, I saw almost none of the game, because I was too busy trying to follow all the unison cheering of the Blue Yonsei side (not the Red Ko-dae side). The cheering continued througout the entire game including the intermission and even 30 minutes after the game was over. The Ko-dae fans even stayed until 30 minutes after game still cheering in unison... and they LOST! Talk about crazy.
The final score was...
Game 1: Baseball, Yonsei 6 - 2 Korea
Game 2: Ice Hockey, Yonsei 3 - 2 Korea
Game 3: Basketball, Korea 66 - 32 Yonsei
Game 4: Rugby, Korea 21 - 3 Yonsei
Game 5: Soccer 90 minutes Korea 1 - 0 Yonsei, last 5 seconds of stoppage time Yonsei 1 - 1 Korea.
So the big event.... ended in.. a tie? Wait, a tie? For the biggest sports rivalry in the nation? HUH? They didn't even go to penalty kicks to decide it!
So after cheering for 2 hours, it came time for the comradery part, which means running down onto the pitch for a massive 30,000 fan moshfest. I am sure the red and blue blending to make purple looked cool from the stands, but I was in it.
Then it was off to Annam, local area of Korea University. Every year they take turns hosting the afterparty and it was Korea U's turn. The atmosphere is total chaos. Basically you get in a conga line with all the students in your department, run into random stores and harass the owners until they give you free food and alcohol. We went into an yoghurt shop, a samgyupsal place, several bars, and I can't exactly remember the other places we went, but we definately went to a lot of places. I remember repeating yells of KOGI JO, KOGI JO, and MAEKJU JO! MAEKJU JO! (Give us MEAT! or Give US BEER!) The awesome thing is that it's all free.
Then on to the rest of the night, which is spent running around finding red conga lines and trying to encircle them all the while yelling "KoDAE BABO! KO DAE BABO!" Of course they will instead try to surround you while yelling "YONDAE BABO!".
This my friends is Korean culture at one of it's finer points. No where else in the world will you see such wonderful unified idiocy. In America we are too individualistic. It would be impossible to get Americans to cheer in unison for 3 straight hours and even more impossible to raid a college town without fights breaking out. I can compare this to the time Maryland defeated Duke to win the NCAA basketball tournament. And while it was total chaos, it was really stupid because it was girls flashing and people buring cars and furniture and getting hurt as fights broke out. This is all about comraderie and good rivalry.
You see how the Korean fans act in the World Cup. Even those not interested in soccer will be there for the team. It's more about the atmosphere than the game itself. Maybe there is something to this whole MINJOK idea that I initially thought was racist xenophobia.
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| Thursday, September 21st, 2006
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10:30 pm - The curse of the W
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Dad, I love you but I have to question WHY you chose to spell our name as Whong? It's caused so many problems for your sons growing up, and especially me.
I didn't really know what my name was until I was in junior high school. Before that I thought my name was Wong just with an H in it. As lining up for everything in school is usually done in alphabetical order, I was almost always near the last to get something. I never had time to fully eat my lunch at school often. I even had a discriminatory situation at the SAT, when everyone A - V got to take the SAT in actual classrooms with actual desks, but W-Z were relegated to the cafeteria and lunch tables (which have no back rest).
Those who read my name always ask if I am Chinese. Even Asians ask that. Had you spelled it the correct way people in the know would be able to know I am Korean.
The obvious pronunciation of Whong is as it looks, WONG! If you live in the states, you might as well get used to that, because even if you correct people that it's Hwang, they're not going to get it right anyway, so it doesn't make that much difference.
Now I live in Korea amongs the people who are supposed to get it right when I correct them... but I shouldn't need to correct them in the first place. I mean, every day when the teacher calls roll, I have to say.. um.. sir.. it's Hwang!
In college I wanted to change that but decided it would be too much trouble, I unfortunately didn't do it then, as it would have been better to do it earlier. Now even my diploma says I am a Whong. The time has come for a change. It's too bad that it's going to be complicated to deal with all the paperwork, but I am tired of all the problems associated with this misspelling. I'll have to check into the whole legal procedure, but I'd like to change to Hwang before I graduate from grad school.
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| Monday, September 11th, 2006
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3:19 am - And so it begins
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One week has officially gone by since school started, and thus my major and schedule are set in stone.
As such I am taking the following
The Korean War: An International Conflict, taught by the former deputy commander in chief of the Korean Military.
Multilateral Approaches to North Korean Problems, taught by a professor who actually fell asleep in his own class. NO JOKE!
Introduction to International Relations and Modern Korean and Japanese Relations, both taught by the same guy, who appears frequently on Arirang TV.
Oh, and Korean language level 2 for no credits. Cuz I placed into level 3 but it conflicts with one of my other classes.
Generally it looks like it's going to be a lot of reading, but certainly no more than anything I did in undergrad. We'll see how it goes later. If I get a 3.5, next semester is free, so that means I need at least 2 A's and 2 B's... Or 2 A+ and 2 B- or whatever.
This weekend I went to Incheon to see Chinatown. I am really running out of things to see. I've seen Chonggyechon, Seoul Tower, Insadong, NamhanSanseong, Jamshil Stadium, Noryangjin fish Market, Suwon World Cup Stadium, Daehangno, and many other places.
With the odds the way they are in school, I'm a hot commodity it seems, as I don't even try and girls come to talk to me. When I look at all the other guys here in the same program, I know exactly why hehe.
Today for dinner I was lazy and I ate an MRE that my Dad gave to me for emergency rations, but I didn't feel like cooking anything. It was beef stew. That heat pack is pretty cool, I've never seen it before. Hey Chris, if you get a chance, send me some of those, they are awesome! I suppose I could get them on the black market here, if I could ever find where that is.
Had a problem with the bank last week, cuz I sent money to myself, first converting it to WON, then sending. This is the wrong thing to do. The right thing to do is to send it as dollars, and it happens almost instantly. I did that over a week later, and the second transfer came already, while the first is still in limbo.
I know everyone wants to send pictures, but I have not yet figured out how to break into my own account on the domain to do so. Yo chris, which FTP were you using, or did u do it via browser?
Maybe I should do away with LJ altogether and do my blogging the way you guys do.
Anyway it's hitting me... and Korea is a much better place to visit than it is to live... it's now just another place like anywhere else.
It's also rather strange to be in Korea and interact with other people who speak English natively. I've never done that before, so at times I feel like I am not in Korea at all. I feel guilty sometimes that I suck at Korean. I made some Japanese friends from class, and even though their pronunciations suck, they are much better than me. It's funny, I'll talk to them in Japanese and they will reply in Korean or English, I guess we are all trying to show off to each other. I only wish my Korean were up to par.
Anyway that's what's been happening this week. Pictures of the campus and where I ahve been and what I have done will follow, I promise!
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| Friday, September 1st, 2006
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12:28 am - In Korea for two weeks
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This journal is all about complaints. I've had a pretty good time in Korea so far though. But as I use this journal mostly to complain about stuff (as can be seen over the years which I lived in Japan) it's time for some complaints.
1) I don't really see what the benefit of the F-4 visa is because practically everytime I still try to establish something, such as a bank account or a cell phone, I am regarded as a foreigner anyway. It's supposed to give me advantages that other foreigners do not, but other than not needing to report a change in occupation or residence, it's still pretty obvious that I am deemed as non-Korean by practically every official institution except for the immigration dept.
2) Being that I am officially not a Korean citizen, nobody seems to trust me. In Japan I never had any trouble getting a cell phone or a bank account. Here it's nearly impossible. I had to try three different cell phone companies and wait hours and hours just to find one that would deal with me. On top of that, they asked me to register my phone under a Korean friend's name and account, and pay the fees to my friend. NO! I want control over my own things! So I had to send a copy of my id card, passport, bank book, and sign a zillion different papers saying that i promise to pay everything. Then there was the problem that my bank account was opened with my passport and i was trying to open the cell phone with my id card. THEY HAD COPIES OF ALL OF IT??? WHY SHOULD THAT EVEN MATTER? But in the end, I was able to get the cell phone, though it took a long time to do so.
3) In order to open a bank account you need a phone number. In order to get a phone number you need a bank account. I suppose most people who come here for work simply list the phone number of their company. I don't even have a phone number at my place, so I listed my landlord, or my stepmother in most cases.
4) High speed internet in my house. You would think that the owner of the place I am living (ironically named the Millenium Apartments) would have wired the place for cable, dsl, or whatever. This isn't the case. As of now, there are holes in my window sill (because the technitian didn't want to drill through a brick wall) to get the cable wire into my room.
5) My room is small and the previous tenant was a slob. That's what I get for living in a place that mostly foreign students live in. It's cheap and located 5 minutes from the building where all of my classes are going to be held. But it is smaller than my place in Japan was. Size is not the problem, because I was only really using one of the rooms in Japan anyway, and it is bigger than my room in the house I grew up in. I am going to make a consious effort to keep tidy as well. I guess I am complaining more about the fact that he did not remove his shoes upon entering the house and the floor is so dirty. I tried bleach to get the dirt out of some of the places but to no avail. Oh well, it's better than commuting 2 hours to school and paying twice the rent! My classmates are amazed at the deal I found. Thank you Craigslist!
Well that should be it for now. My money isn't lasting quite as long in Korea as it did before (such as in 2001 when $1 gave you 1200 won, and now it only gives you about 980). But I will survive.
I miss you all, Mom, Pop, Bros, Friends and Chris' dog. PEACE OUT!
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| Thursday, August 10th, 2006
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6:28 am - What's been going on...
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It's been a while since I've actually written an entry. Therefore I think it is time. Since my previous entry, I have been accepted into Grad School at Yonsei University in Seoul. I leave in about one week. That's scary. I sold my wonderful black civic for much less than what it was worth to me, but much more than what I expected to get for it. My job hasn't found my replacement, so I have to hand the company over to... to... yeah.
My brother is back from Kuwait. For the entire time that he has been away I had been somewhat jealous of him because it seemed to me that our large family was really more concerned with him, as that was nearly always the topic of conversation people would want to have with me. It would be really obvious at times. For example, days after I got back from Japan, I saw people in my extended family for the first time. The first thing someone said to me was.. do you know how Chris is? I resented that. I was a little miffed that he'd be returning on my birthday, yet again stealing my thunder. IT'S MY FRIGGIN BIRTHDAY!! Well everyone has their different ways of dealing with the whole situation, and for the first time since my brother has been away, I got emotional when I saw him get off the bus. I was so glad to see him and I gave him a big hug. I was so glad that he was safe at home with us. I even forgot that it was my birthday! Coming home from the harsh desert in one piece is a little more important than turning 28. I also think this event now kills all sibling rivalry once and for all. Well, maybe we'll still compete on who has the hottest wife. Jason's winning so far, but he's the only one married. The only crappy thing about it all is that I won't get to hang out with my brother (and his cute new dog) cuz I am leaving for Korea soon! AWWWWWW!
One day after my birthday, I met all of my friends all at the same time for a gigantic crab feast! I must have eaten like 16 crabs. It was so good to know that so many of my friends could set time aside on a weeknight for me, and that they could get to know each other. Since the early days of High School, my "group" of friends has never been a cohesive group. To even use the term "group" would be wrong. My mom tried to have a surprise birthday party for me in high school once. None of my friends knew each other. Well this time, almost all the people who meant anything to me since I have been back from Japan showed up to eat crabs, drink, talk,eat crabs, bid me farewell and happy birthday, and eat crabs. Joe Teed even showed up. It was the fourth time I had seen him since my return from Japan. He's married and his wife never lets him out. This time he even brought her! I was so happy that so many cool people came out for me. I was also especially happy and touched by the people who organized it. The sweetest thing about it all? I didn't even need to pay a single dime! WOOOOOT!
My next entry will probably be from the land of the morning calm. Why do they call it that? Mornings are never calm.
Excited! and Scared!
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| Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
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9:12 pm - Schoolin' Anita Marks
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Probably most of you don't listen to sports talk radio, but since my ipod broke, I generally ten to listen to 1300AM on my way home. There's this woman sports talk host who thinks she is the shit because she's a woman and women are rare in sports talk radio, but she makes entirely too much out of it in my opinion. She talks about the NBA entirely too much, despite the fact that Baltimore has no NBA team. Anyway today she was talking about rumors that she'd heard rumors about Omar Minaya, the GM of the Mets. The rumors were that he is trying to construct his team of South American players, especially from the Dominican Republic. Just the fact that she gave any airtime to the rumor shall make me forever picture her as Ann Coultier, cuz I don't know what she looks like, but from now on, in my mind, she's Ann Coultier. So I called in. This is how our on air conversation went down.
Me: So earlier in the show you said that you heard rumors that Omar Minaya is trying to construct his team using only South American players, correct?
Her: Yes, only because rumors of that nature have been going around.
Me: Well I am certain that those rumors didn't originate from Omar himself, because he would know that the only country in South America that has significant impact on the Major leagues is Venezuela. You don't really hear about players from Chile, Peru, Argentina, or Brazil.
Her: Well I was talking about the Dominican, Puerto Rico, Mexico... countries like that...
Me: Those are not South American countries, those are Carribean ones.
Her: Oh come on, give me a break, did you reall wait to tell me that?
Me: I think it's important that people don't generalize and speak of everything south of Texas as South America.
Her: Oh please, I can't believe this... I meant you know.. players from... you know.. the place south of florida.. the caribean.. Latin Players.. that's what I meant. Geez!
That was funny... At least I got her to get her terminology right. I couldn't help but think that maybe the 2 or 3 latino listeners got a nice chuckle out of the whole thing.
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| Thursday, May 11th, 2006
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10:50 pm - Why the Whong bros liked Voltron
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I was surfin the net today and I came across some pics of the good ol' Voltron force. After looking at a picture of Lance, who commanded the red lion, I noticed that if I were to animate myself, that's what I'd look like. then it dawned on me...
( Read more... )
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