Jeju

It’s already been a couple of weeks since my trip to Jeju. Took me awhile to upload photos because I had misplaced the USB cable to Clair’s camera, which I found while packing the other day.

The trip to Jeju was with my office at the university and touted as a workshop/seminar, but there were no special speakers and only a couple of powerpoint presentations that lasted all of 40 minutes. The rest of the time was devoted to eating and drinking.

When we got off the plane we traveled straight to a restaurant specializing in abalone/전복.  I feasted on 돌솥 전복 덮밥, or at least I think that’s what it was called. Scattered around the abalone are chestnuts.

We also whet our whistles with some hallasan soju/한라산 소주

Following the standard hotel check-in and the ’seminar’ mentioned above, a group of us took a walk to Dragon Head Rock.

We crossed this bridge and pagoda along the way.

The crew stopped by a seafood market to check out what’s available and inquired about prices. (I accidentally typed ‘enquired’ first. Damn Ask Enquired clothing label!)

This particular fish, which I could have sworn was called 혹등, but that’s the word for humpback whale, sold for 70,000 Won per kilo! At 8 kilos, the entire fish would run you 560,000 Won!

The rock does resemble a Dragon’s Head from this side. The weather was not that great, so my poorly composed shot has been replaced by a stand-in from flickr

Dinner found us at a local sushi place chosen by one of our professors who is a native of the island. There was a whole lot of boozing going on with the dean emceeing and mixing 소맥/ soju and beer concoctions that quickly got everyone lit. On top of that there were a ton of different kinds of fancy fish served in what looked like Viking boats to me, but could just as easily be called Chinese junks. Here’s a small one:

And a fuzzy shot of a couple big ones

Check out the aftermath… the table at the end of dinner

This was followed by a healthy round of noraebanging, after which I went for a walk with some coworkers near the hotel and 팥빙수 for dessert.

Perhaps I’ll post a part two in the near future, detailing our trip to 우도, i.e. Bull’s Head Island.

Coryo Shenanigans

Someone in my apartment complex thought it a great idea to steal three fire extinguishers in the middle of the night and spray them all over seven flights of stairs.

Ajosshi security put up an announcement with pictures and are offering a reward for any information leading to the capture of the delinquents.

As you can see the entire area was completely frosted. There is another post up documenting the clean up procedure, which reportedly took over three hours.

I wonder if the residents will have to foot the bill for the clean up and replacement extinguishers. Not sure how that sort of thing works here.

FUCK THE CLOCK

Old, blurry shot but too good to not post.

Chicaco

Not an altogether unique mistake. There’s even an article in Korean about low riders that talks about ‘Chicaco gang culture’

Questions for a Buddhist

Big Buddha, which I visited last year at Po Lin Monastery on the island of Lantau

I posted these questions on a Buddhist forum. You can follow the discussion here as faithful Buddhists take me to school.  I can already see some holes in my writing, which I’m sure I’ll have to plug as I go along, but hopefully things will clear up in the end.

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Let me preface this by saying that I’ve read numerous books on Buddhism in the past, but only one in the past five years, that being How to See Yourself as You Really Are by the Dalai Lama.

I am in agreement with certain points of Buddhist philosophy and of the opinion that meditative reflection can be useful for all people. However, there are still some beliefs within certain Buddhist sects that I find confusing and wish to clear up.

1. If the point of life is to escape existence why do people mate? Don’t Buddhists discourage mating? Monks are generally not allowed to mate because intimate relationships cause all sorts of messy emotions and having a budding family generally detracts from the ability to sit in meditative reflection for extended periods of time. Compassion in the Buddhist monk sense seems necessarily non-specific and all encompassing in theory. I don’t have a solid understanding of how Buddhism is or could be practiced by the laity. How can they possibly raise a family and have the time to reflect enough to escape cyclic existence?

1a. Since life is all suffering isn’t bringing a child into the world essentially cruel?
I could pretty well say the same thing for most religions, i.e. If you’re a Christian and you believe in heaven and hell, then aren’t you playing against the odds by having children? The percentage of people who go to heaven must surely be relatively low. (Wait, wasn’t there a George Carlin sketch about this?)

1b. Taken to the extreme wouldn’t the ideal Buddhist society be devoid of people?
In my imagined Buddhist utopia, everyone would meditate to the point of reaching nirvana. If everyone is in nirvana, then no one is reborn and thus the living human population dwindles to the big 0. I wrote a paper about this when I was in my undergraduate studies, but never received a satisfactory answer. The chances of this happening are close to nil in the world of probability but it’s an interesting thought exercise nonetheless.

2. On the subject of karma, what if the planet and all life ceased to exist? For instance, if some horrible person blew up the world and everyone and everything living in it, who/what would inherit the negative karma presumably created by his (I sincerely doubt it would be a woman) actions? What of those creatures that had not attained nirvana? Is it simply game over?

3. Is consciousness a curse since it instinctively leads to this development of self which is inherently false? It seems that the higher purpose of consciousness is for it to understand itself in order to escape the self to attain selflessness.

USC Dentist

It seems another fine American university has decided to open up a dentist office in Seoul ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ

남가주 = old Korean name for Southern California

This is located near Hanti Station

Rooftop

I’m moving next weekend to a fancy apartment complex in Gangnam-gu. I’ll miss the convenience of my present abode, which is in five minute walking distance of three subway lines, as well as the view from the nineteenth floor.

Sometimes, either early in the morning or late at night, I venture to the rooftop three stories up and wail on my saxophone. The reverberations off of adjacent buildings and the general spread of sound are quite spectacular, and I occasionally wonder how well it carries, and who is privy to the racket.

The evenly spaced concrete slabs provide interesting acoustics.

Their tops are adorned with clusters of vents

Namsan is clearly visible even on this foggy day.

It’s even possible to spy on activities taking place at the Yongsan base.

I won’t have such opportunities at my new place. Not even sure I’ll be able to play sax in the apartment, which was another perk of this officetel. Just hope the positives, mainly increased space and better area for business, balance out the negatives.

What a Difference a Letter Makes

Dear Clair,

Clair! I just finished the book titled Steven Spielberg written by Lee Jung He. In this book, I learned and realized many things. It was the most impressive scene to me when Steven Spielberg made a world’s famous movie titled Jews, about a white shark. This impressed me a lot because Steven Spielberg was teased by many friends, and his movies were made fun of the judges. He could success like this because he didn’t give up even though there were hard situations in his life until he came this far.

I was scared of Sharks. When I first read about Jews, I felt like I was attacked. I thought of the idea to change the direction of my feeling of being attacked to go to other people. The people screamed by looking at the shark that they couldn’t see for real. But the people already knew that the seats were safe so they could freely go into the fear.

People in general these days, are very brave and unique like Steven Spielberg. He wanted to take the movie in the real Ocean unlike other supervisors. Spielberg and other supervisors almost died in the sea by the attack of the white shark. But he finally got up of an idea to make a robot shark and make the movie. We have to try to be different from others and be unique. Bye Clair!

Sincerely,

M

Shakespeare in Konglish

If you ever have the urge to create your own Konglish, all you have to do is run some words through Babelfish, translate them into Korean and then again into English.

It seemed an interesting idea to perform this exercise using the words of the proclaimed master of the language, Mr. Shakespeare, whom I will refer to from now on as Restlessness Window.

Shakespeare –> Shake spear –> 동요 창 –> Restlessness Window

I thought first of Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1, which contains a famous soliloquy that I had to memorize and recite for a class in high school.  I only altered words that would go unrecognized by the translator, mostly those containing apostrophes, i.e. o’er, marshall’st, etc.  The words thou, thy and thee went untranslated, but were kept to maintain the feel of the original.

The word count saw a significant jump from 259 to 350. Whatever condensing was accomplished in the translation to Korean was undone, and then some, in the bounce back to English.

The results certainly contain their own poetic merit. Bear witness to Restlessness Window’s mellifluous verse.  I suggest you read it aloud, as an actor would, so as to capture its full profundity:

This goes out and is a dagger which sees before secret intention,

By the hand the handle? Come, make a low price to catch thee certainly.

Me is not thee, and the like that sees thee yet.

Is not an art thou, about the time spectacle, which is fatal,

A division to feeling? or art thou the creation

which mind, and is incorrect,

but did the progress press the brain from the dagger and the line?

I go out and like being clear and the now when still sees thee

From the shape with this which I pull.

Thou went out and me the method which is going lined up;

And like that opportunity will use.

The mine eye does in the fool of different feeling and is not like that

And a price of all remainder there is; I to see thee yet,

And in thy leaves and dudgeon ventilation of the blood be like this before intelligence,

Which thing which is not. There is not like that thing:

Is an enterprise which is bloody informs to the mine eye like this.

The character makes die now in half world-wide one

and the dream which is wicked abuses curtained sleep; Magic Hecate where is pale;

Celebrates sacrificial offerings and the murder which will wither,

Alarmed in compliance with his security guard and the wolf,

Whose howlitzer his secrets his clock which has a walking, consequently.

Tarquin being fascinating with his design and stride,

like the ghost moving. Positively thou under firmness puts an endurance,

In compliance with a method my phase which walks fears the wild

Which is not ten to five, respects thy rightly pebbles prate of whereabouts,

and to have the fear which exists from time and, goes,

which now is adapted with it.

That lives I threat and sends:

The certificate suction which kicks too opens as the word gives.

The bell becomes roundly going

It comes to do; The bell invites me.

Is not it, Duncan wild ten five;

Respects it recalls thee in the heaven or the hell where is knell

Exit

BE FINE SEXY

BE FINE SEXY

You shall never forget the beating

of your hert when you first,

also found a variation of it documented on Balchraggan’s photostream