What is it?...

Miss my car. Miss my dog. Miss… Too bad the American system can’t last forever. Too bad we fight that reality so strongly. Gradual change now, education for change, attitudes of possibility, and personal sacrifice. But is there really an answer? With world population rising, oil supplies drying, political aggressiveness increasing, the marketing bombardment angling, like lemmings we accept our selfish lives in step, edging towards inevitable freefall. But hey, so be it. People have predicted the end for eons and somehow we manage. Maybe that’s the answer. Somehow we’ll, as humanity, find a way. That, or I'm just making excuses for missing my car.

Choosuck: An Island Adventure 9/24-28

Oh sun, don't hide


Juk-bu, Ulleung Island

Pictures from Choosuck holiday trip to Ulleungdo. More available by request or I'll put them on ofoto.com if I get to it. Had a great time. The weather was fabulous and the squid were abuntant. It was great to meet up with The Georges whom I hadn't seen in over a year. Met Friday night in Pohang and took a three hour ferry out to the island. The ferry was fast, a catamaran style boat designed to carry cars as well, but the ride was discusting. The East sea is not a protected passage way and has the same characteristics as the ocean. I felt like I was trapped in a floating vomit box. The carpet was stained with the vomit of hundreds of sea-unworthy Koreans. I had my moments of queezyness, but I sucked it up and took a nap.
Had a great time with Kevin and Heather. Managed to get excessively drunk, not ones, but twice. Spent one night from about 3am till close to 9 just riding around on my bike. Watched the most amazing sunrise of my young life. Of course I forgot to bring my spare battery for my digi cam so none of you will get to see. Met some friendly faces and came back a day early to rest up for work.

Not just another Saturday at Apsan

Top

Andy lookin the goof, me with cheese eater grin. To our defense, we were pretty drunk. Just having spent three hours at the bottom after our first run drinking our hearts desire. But not to miss the opportunity to ride numb, to the top we go. Could be the best run I've managed on Apsan East 1. This being the first trail Andy ever took me down. Super steep, tight cravasses, sloping rock faces, trees barely a handle bars width apart, and the ever present Korean hikers. Add a heavy dosage of beer and look out Korean hikers cause we aint stopping. Laughed the entire way to the bottom. Twisted my ankle a bit trying to hold a hard right turn at speed, not to worry, it only added to the hilariousness of the situation. The most fun I've had on my bike.

Another Fooked-Up Ride

Sittin' at the Daegu station right now. Have an hour to kill before the train. Just finished another out of control ride with partner in crime, Andy. Both of us were feeling the effects of the early morning start. It's was a long climb out to the trail of choice today. My fitness was with me however, just my balance and sence of judgment were lacking. Feeling rather indestructable, it's the fastest I've been since coming to Korea. Of course that means I was off the trail a good percentage of time. Couple of scarry moments were I thought I'd make a permentant mark on a tree or two. But managed to get down the hill without a bailout. Super fun...

Thick Sauce

Spaghetti Feed


Had the (only going to do it once) pleasure of entertaining seven of my students yesterday. The plan was to meet at the school at 10:45 and ride our bikes back to my apartment. Found the boys a little way down the street from the school and we took off for Hanbit town, my apartment complex. Wish I could have taken a picture of the four boys following in a neat line, with there foreign English teacher in the lead. These kids play way to many vids cause they were wrecked after the ten minute peddal accross town.
Got to the house by 11 and the boys jumped all over the computer and the guitar. Excellent at the comp, but shat at the guitar. They're one up on me...
After about 20 minutes of passing out dougnuts and instructions on not touching the key board with powdered sugar covered fingers, the girls showed up. Much more interested in being social and not at all interested in the cyber world, the girls were way more fun. They came hungry and were eager to get the cooking process in motion. So I produced the produce, and the cutting commenced. The girls really wanted to do all the cutting and the cooking. I was a bit weary of large knives and missing fingers, so I tried my best to teach proper cutting techniques and, probably more luck that anything, there wasn't a drop of blood spilled.
The spaghetti came out fabulous even with the shitty store bought sauce. Would have been better if I had used only tomatoes, boiled and skinned and reduced, but who the hell has time for that. Besides, I don't think the kids would have known the difference.
After lunch it was Spider Man II on the computer while I took a nap. The girls took off about half way through. I can't blame them, the boys, including me, being as boring as we were. After the movie I made the boys head out cause I was wrecked. With only three hours of sleep the night before, I was about to pass out.
It's good to hang out with the kids. It's funny how far they push me in class compared to how well they listen outside of school. I think it's days like these that'll make me a good father someday. I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to understand how kids work before I ever think of having one of my own. Great way to spend a Sunday.

And so rose the sun. October 15th...

9am on Apsan. Another beautiful day behind the kimchi curtain. Cranking up the hill, I'm trying to put the level of pollution out of my mind. I can feel it in every breath. Where I used to ride through Daegu to get to the mountain, I've been riding the subway to and from the train station for no other reason than to avoid sucking on the tail pipes of the morning rushers. Unfortunately the boys and girls at these public transportation entry points are putting up more of a fight about the bike. Yet to be denied, I cross my fingers every time. All hassle aside, the ride today was excellent. Tried a new trail that was certainly worth the climb and I made it home in time to relax a bit before work. Nothing like an early Friday ride to set up the last day of the work week.

Entry one: Welcome..

to my first attempt at Blogging. This is more of an experiment than anything. Feeling like I've been out of the net world loop long enough and this is my feeble attempt to educate myself in some small way. Having just picked up a very cheap computer is helping considerably. Until this point all my computing has been done at work. So either I'm not working very hard or I'm not computing much. From any given day either could be true. However, since getting this piece of plastic and glass and flashing lights, I'm not sleeping as much, riding as much or, on the positive side, watching TV at all. Good with the bad I guess. Tomorrow will be the first time on the trail in over 10 days. Ahh, but weekend is shaping up to a epic full-fledged fat tire extravaganza, with three days on the books. We'll see how it goes...