Where there's smoke...

My mom took this photo of the smoke from the southeast GA wildfire from inside the Waycross city limits this weekend.

North of the tracks

Took a short walk north of the railroad out here in Banyawol this afternoon, and found a nice place to go hiking. Didn't fully explore it, as my stomach was telling me it needed food, and my feet were telling me that flip-flops were not appropriate for such business. I did take a few photos though:

More Waycross fire updates [updated]

Photo by Terry Dickson, Florida Times-Union

Video: FirstCoastNews report, April 28
Fatiugue sets in after 12 day struggle with wildfire
In drought stricken southeast GA, wildfires flare
Some residents return amid GA wildfires
GA wildfire approaches 100 square miles
Wildfires flare again in southeast GA
Georgia wildfire shows residents its raging colors

Over 1000 fire and fire-related photos
taken by Carlos Nelson can be viewed here.

Korean class insanity and some pretty pictures

I'm still going to Korean class, although it is still so far above and beyond my level that I feel like a complete idiot. And the fact that I have been such a slack-ass when it comes to studying is not helping things at all. Also, there had been one girl who knew less than I did in the class, as well as one fellow at my level... well, the girl moved to the beginners class, and the dude wasn't there today, meaning that I was class dunce for the day. Yippee.

Class itself was completely insane. Our teacher brought up both palm-reading and Scientology for the second time this course... in addition to some other random topics, including piercings, plastic surgery (she was shocked that none of us wanted any), what your blood type says about your bathroom habits (believe me, you don't want to know), the Chinese zodiac (those of us born in the Year of the Horse apparently make for bad wives), and dream interpretation. Nutty.

Today was such a gorgeous day, that after class was finished, I decided to take a walk along the Geumhogang River.

Just outside of the Dongchon subway station is a pedestrian bridge
across the river, which you can cross for roughly $1.


It's very wobbly and windy up there!


And not entirely safe looking either.


This part of the river is packed with self-peddled swan-boats


I'm definitely going to have to ride one of these someday.


heehee!


Somebody has a great spot!


I totally wanted to mount this camel, but I'm too short.
Also, I used a certain verb there for the AH cats. Miss you guys!


Remember this guy? Well, here's another angle.


This temply place is across the street.


One closing view of the river...

More Korean commercial insanity

I've written about this thing before. It still weirds me out.

Morena de mi Latte (and other visions from YouTube)

Am I the only waygook who has noticed this? Recently Maxim coffee (the Taster's Choice of Korea) has run a series of ads set to the song Cancion del Mariachi (also known as Morena de mi Corazon), featured in the opening sequence to the movie Desperado. This means that in addition to the plethora of annoying Korean commericals that are always getting stuck in my head (rushee and cashee, anyone?), I now have the soundtrack to Desperado playing in there as well. I found myself humming Cancion del Mariachi today in my class of second graders... who all then started singing the coffee commercial! Anyhow, thanks to the wonder that is YouTube, I can bring you this commercial:

Enjoy!

And here's the original clip from Desperado, if you're interested:

And just to random things up a bit,
here's something from six years ago that some of you may recognize:
(be patient - the first few seconds are black screen)

Also, this might be the best thing Bush has ever done:

Russian Orphans

Unbelievably depressing,
although sadly, not entirely surprising.
Click here to listen.

A state of mind [updated]

I listen to a lot of NPR. I also read a lot of blogs. I'm sure that this skews my view on current events quite a bit, especially when I'm overseas and don't have access to your average American TV and radio soundbites. From listening to NPR, it would seem that in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting, there has been a lot of discussion back home about mental illness. Is this true? Or is it just NPR? See, my family has a history of mental illness, going back several generations, and I - as the bearer of these high quality genetics - have dealt with this as well. It's a topic that, while certainly discussed in the US more commonly than in the past, is still shunned by the mainstream populace when at all possible. Two of the NPR podcasts that I'd like to recommend on this topic are: Predicting Violence and Forced Treatment. Additionally, if you're coming to this blog looking for information on Korea, let me refer you to a recent post at the Marmot's Hole entitled Coping With Depression and Mental Illness, which addresses that utter lack of mental health care in South Korea.

UPDATE: I'd also like to add Identifying and Treating Severe Mental Illness from the Diane Rehm show to my list of recommended discussions on this topic.

Waycross/Ware Co. fires make national news

(Photo from AP News)

Wind-Whipped Blaze Rages in Southern Georgia
Large Southeast Georgia Wildfire Continues to Burn
Georgia Wildfire Continues to Burn
Winds Push Georgia Fire Closer to Wildlife Refuge
Wind Could Help Firefighters in Georgia
Smoke Prompts Voluntary Evacuation of 5000

Keep up-to-date on the fire here.

Carlos Nelson has posted nearly 600 photos
of the people and places affected by the fire,
which can be viewed here.

For information on how the fire is affecting the
four-legged population of Ware County please visit SEGAPAWS.

To see clips of the fire on YouTube, click here and here.

Oh, the absurdity.

What do you see when you dream?

JPG Magazine has announced the second theme for Issue 11: Dreamscapes, surreal, dreamlike photos. I've selected a picture of fall foliage which I shot on Palgong Mountain last fall. I spun the camera while depressing the shutter, which got me this crazy image. Please click on the image (or click here) to vote! Remember, you have to register for your vote to count, but it's free and easy.

No photoshop here! Only camera cleverness.

Fire in Ware County, GA

There is currently a huge fire burning just to the south-east of Waycross, GA (where I live when I'm in the US). The fire was apparently started by a tree falling onto a powerline. The Satilla Regional Medical Center has posted an excellent site, containing up-to-date information on the location of the fire, medical concerns, volunteer needs, photographs, maps, etc. To keep informed on the fire, please visit their site here. The map and photographs below were taken from the Satilla Regional Medical Center's fire-update website.

(The building in this photo is Ruskin Elementary School)

Reactions to the Virginia Tech shooting

One of the best blogs about Korea, The Marmot's Hole, has an excellent post on the subject, which continues to be updated as new information becomes available. Click here to read. (He summarizes a lot of Korean news sites, which is great for those of us - like me - whose Korean skills are embarrassingly limited.) One of the things he has mentioned is that the Korean President and Foreign Minister have offered their condolences to the American people. Definitely read the post; it's quite informative. There is an incredibly long post on this topic up at another great blog about Korea, Scribblings of the Metropolitician, entitled The Politics of Pride and Shame, which I recommend, assuming that you can force yourself to wade through the entire piece.

Tragedy tied to Korea

The man who went on a rampage on the bucolic Virginia Tech campus was a 23-year-old student from South Korea, officials confirmed this morning. But they still provided no motive. Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior studying English, was found among the 31 dead found in an engineering hall. [complete article here]

K = Korean; Socks = Socks

I splurged on a whole bunch of K-Socks yesterday:


(Note Mia's feet at the top of the picture. She's already moving
in on them, and they're not even dirty yet!)

This one is definitely my favorite.

Old houses: Waycross and Daegu

My mom has purchased another house in Waycross, GA. No, she is not moving. No, I am not movin' on up out of the ghetto. But this house was absurdly inexpensive ($14,000 - and yes, you're reading that correctly), and while it certainly needs work, she feels that she can fix it up and sell it at a profit. I'll probable be helping with this housing project when I get home, although she and her friend Bruce have already started.

It's really cute, isn't it? To see interior shots, click here.

Meanwhile, here in Korea... We didn't make it back to Gyeong Ju for the Soju and Rice Cake festival. Samson had to go to a meeting yesterday, meaning that Gwen (or god forbid, I) would have to drive in one of Korea's worst annual traffic jams. After spending so much time in Gyeong Ju traffic jams last (non-festival) weekend, we wimped out.

Because the day was so nice, I figured that if I wasn't going to any festivals, I should at least spend some time outdoors (glad I did; today is rather overcast). I wandered around some of the back alleys of Banyawol (my area of East Daegu) and found a couple of abandoned and decaying traditional old Korean houses to photograph.

Alleyway


Abandoned house - initial view


Abandoned house; modern highrises in the background.


Interior. I love this shot. (See it large here)

To view the complete set of decaying Banyawol photos, click here

When bunny rabbits attack!

I played with Toto the Bunny (he belongs to my landlord) and took some cute pictures and a very bizarre video. It seems that somebunny decided to take the let's pretend we're bunny rabbits thing a little too literally.

Toto looking cute and innocent


Toto licks my fingers


Toto nibbles my backpack


Toto, um... humps my arm. Creepy little bunny. Cute, but creepy.
(If you can't get the video to play, click here)

Tastes like chicken?

Last week my watch died on me, so I went on a quest for a crazy cartoon character watch. I found a really awesome Japanese kitty watch for the low price of $5, and I've been really quite pleased with it. Take a look:

Anyhow, in the middle of the night last night I was awakened by the feel of sharp, pointy teeth digging into my wrist. Then I discovered Mia going to town on my watchband like it was the next best thing to the imported Japanese catfood with whole bite-sized shrimp that she gets for dinner.

Thanks a lot, Mia.

Another pet post

UPDATE: The apartment management company has ammended their pet policy to read, "Cat owners must use some form of scratch prevention to avoid damage to the apartment." - Hooray! No more mandated declawing :-)

My friends and fellow cat lovers Linda and Shaggy (who live in San Diego, CA) have recently been informed by their apartment of a new policy requiring all cat owners to have their cats declawed. Refusal to comply can lead to eviction. In case you seem to think that this is perfectly reasonable, allow me to point out that declawing is not the equivalent to mere fingernail removal. It is, in fact, the equivalent to a human being having the tips of his/her fingers removed at the last knuckle. It is an inhumane procedure, which is outlawed in many countries. (For more information on declawing, click here.) Anyhow, Linda has a rather lengthy post on her situation, and her efforts to get the apartment management company to change their policy. Please click here to read. And feel free to email the apartment management company to voice your complaint - I have sent an email to Stanley Cohen [scohen@apmanagement.net] head of property management for the company's San Diego division. I will let you know what, if anything, I receive in reply.

Huge fire at the Jacksonville Humane Society - Please help!

The Jacksonville Humane Society, a wonderful no-kill animal shelter located in Jacksonville, FL suffered a devastating fire on Saturday. You can read about the incident here and make donations here.

It's working!

I was getting ready to put my computer in its bag so I could take it to go get looked at tomorrow. Then I decided to blow in all the vents to see if that might help dislodge cat hair or dirt or something that might be affecting the way it works.... and then I tried the power switch again, and it turned on!!!!!!

No idea how long this will last, but at least it will give me a chance to back up the few things that weren't backed up before.

A very quick post

I'm writing to you from a nearby PC Bang (PC room), which is filled with smoke and middle-aged dudes, smoking and playing computer games. There are also a bunch of kids in here; several are my students. I am also about to pass out because in my hurry to find internet, I came here without eating breakfast. Whoops. As a result, I'm going to keep this short. Gwen, Samson and I went to the nearby city of Gyeong Ju yesterday to check out the spring flowers and to attend the annual Rice Cake and Soju Festival. The flowers were awesome. It turned out that the festival is *next* weekend. We're planning to try again. Anyway, I took a bunch of really fabulous photos, which I have uploaded to flickr. I've only posted one below... Click here to see all of them!

My Laptop Is Dead

And I am so very sad. Why does this keep happening to me? Do I just have terrible laptop karma? I hope the Koreans will be better at fixing my current computer than the Russians were at fixing my previous one. Until I get this remedied, I suppose you'll be hearing less from me :-(

I hope my mom doesn't mind!

They've announced the first of the three themes for JPG Magazine's Issue 11... and it's America. You'd think that being an American and all I'd have tons of photos from which to choose. Unfortunately, given that since the aquisition of my digital camera I've spent very little time in the States, I didn't have too many to choose from. I decided to enter this one that I took of my mom last Fourth of July. It might not be the best shot from a quality-of-photography point of view, but I love it! Click here or on the photograph below to vote. Remember, you have to register for your vote to count. (Also, voting is still open for Issue 10, so you can still vote on Stable in the Sun if you haven't yet, hint, hint.)

Click here to vote!

Want to work where I work?

Want to teach English in Daegu, South Korea?
We're looking to hire a teacher who can start in May.
Click here for all the info!

Breathing Easier

This picture was taken from the same location as the one below, at roughly the same time. It seems that the yellow dust has mostly cleared out. You can even see mountains in the distance! View Juxtaposition.

Invasion of the Yellow Dust

I woke up around noon today, feeling mostly recovered from my head-cold. I looked out the window at the dreary and oddly colored skies and thought we were in for more thunderstorms. Turns out we were in for something much more unpleasant. After all, I like rain. No, the reason for the crazy colored skies was the annual invasion of yellow dust from the Gobi Desert in China/Mongolia. Apparently a "yellow dust alarm" has been issued, whatever that means. You can read more about yellow dust here and here, if you're interested.

This photo was taken from my balcony shortly after 2pm.

During yellow dust attacks, many people wear medical masks (think surgeon or Michael Jackson), and many kids wear cute masks with cartoon characters on them. I went on a quest for a mask this afternoon, and acquired a hot pink on with a cat face. The only problem is that my glasses fog up every time I exhale.