Delegation

So yesterday I went home early, as I said, I napped, I talked on the phone, etc.
I planned to go into town and see Pix so I could get some books and stuff from her and say goodbye.
But my boss called, to check how I was. To get a list of my symptoms so she could go to the pharmacy for me. To ask what foods I wanted so she could bring me some after work. WTF?
I madly straightened my room up. Oganised someone to meet Pix as I couldn't call cos she's surendered her phone. Then received a delegation bearing porridge (with 4 side dishes) a huge cake, some pills (?) and some sachets of disgusting granuals. Sweet jesus. We all sat on the floor while they watched me eat. It was intense.

Today I'm still crook, though I've dragged myself to work to supervise some colouring-in. Very glad it's the weekend, and this weekend won't be crazy. No Pix, no Ethan. Want to save my won for Charlie's visit too.

First and Last

The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.

Today I woke feeling a bit deadly. I had an energy drink, two bananas and listened to OutKast. Tried to get myself together for work. I'd had a leeetle bit of a late night farewelling Pix, but I felt deadly. I think the kid's snots are contagious.
Made it to 12 then told my boss I was going home. Honestly couldn't face teaching Brown Class at 12.30 after crying on Tuesday when they were mean and then having my boss come in and whip them yesterday when they wouldn't shuddap.
So came home, spilt chocolate milk everywhere, read some more of Overland. Called Charlie. Called Mum. Mum leaves Turkey today to head back to our little house. I reminded her of Spicks and Specks and now she is excited about coming home. Ha ha.

First sick day.
Last day of Pix in Korea.

Thanks to my mate, Leonard, for the lyrics.

Blanket Confessions

Ok, admit it. You've stolen airline blankets before - pretended they were complimentary like the eye masks. Slipped it in your carry-on. I know I have. Two small blue blankets have adorned my bed at home for years - one stolen from United Airlines back in 2002, the other from British Airways back in 2003. I love them. Money couldn't buy them.
Anyways, some loser (aka 'repentant passenger') has returned a blanket he 'accidently' stole from Korean Air. With an apology note. And this made the news here. Sweet jesus. Read all about it then 'fess up and tell me which blankets you stole from which airlines. Yeahhh.

Morning Sadness

Last night I had an epic dream. Actually this morning. I pressed snooze for 20 minutes cos I wanted to find out what happened. It was full on. And the first thing I remembered was that it featured The Canaries. And Nicholson Street. I was trying to direct my boss from Melbourne to Toby's house. Dunno why. But we were getting lost - coming from North Fitzroy to North Carlton. I called the Boy Canary and he was telling me all sorts of useless stuff about the lie of the land in Carlton and how is is deceptively flat. It was very frustrating. We eventually parked out the front of some big old unfamilar house.
That was all I could remember for a while. But then it dawned on me that it also featured Otto. I've had a lot of dreams about him. It is so upsetting. It's so real and so heartbreaking. He was coming home to this house, we were parked out the front. I was in the back seat. I think now Jack was with me. Otto looked early teens, was wearing a schoolbag. I think Jack gave him a hug. We were very surprised to see him.

Anyways. I guess it's better to remember him, see what he looks like than not at all.

Forgot to say I saw the best ever rainbow. Truly. It was a huge arc, and as I watched, a second one appeared within it. I was standing on a roof at the beginning of a hill. It was so beautiful. The sky was really dark and the air was just right.

Curiously Uneven Blessings

I think I may use a paraphrasing of John Kenneth Galbraith's as much as possible. In my care package from KP was a copy of Overland, which looked strangely familiar... Then I remembered I had done something of a proof when sitting at Dante's. Ahhh. Anyways, it's about the Australian ugliness, and there's a bit of Boyd, a bit of Galbraith. I loved the idea of 'the curious unevenness of their blessings', which comes from this passage in The Affluent Society ::

"The family which takes its mauve and cerise, air-conditioned, power-steered, and power-braked car out for a tour passes through cities that are badly paved, made hideous by litter, blighted buildings, billboards, and posts for wires that should long since have been put underground. They pass on into a countryside which has been rendered largely invisible by commercial art... They picnic on exquisitely packaged food from a portable icebox by a polluted stream and go on to spend the night at a park which is menace to public health and morals. Just before dozing off on an air-mattress, benath a nylon tent, amid the stench of decaying refuse, they may reflect vaguely on the curious unevenness of their blessings."

I think my Zenit is a curiously uneven blessing. Oh the joy. So I've posted the most recent photos from it in my Zenit folder. And here's one for you, taken on the hill behind where I live.

Joy Post

Ok I'm hungover today but I'm not a bit melancholy. I have a joy post to write. That is, a post that's all about joy, all full of joy and goodness.
Yesterday I listed all the things that made me joyful - it's a long list that also has a couple of thank-yous. Then last night I went out and saw 3 really fun punk bands and I experienced EVEN MORE JOY. So good. We went to DGBD to see Nunco Cobein but they had 2 bands before then, Cool Age and Star Bow, both of which were SO CUTE and SO FUN. The club is really small but everyone was standing up, there was skankin' happenin' and it was all about love. Pix mobbed the lead singer of Nunco Cobein and I told him I was stalking him. Great.

I took a buncha photos, including ones of the great sunset over Hongik University, and some stencil art and Vilnius-style graffitti.

My joy list goes like this (in random, joyful order) ::

• * I received a care package from KP, completely brimming with kisses and cool thoughful wonderful stuff like books, postcards, magazines, clothes. Oh. My. Wonderful. Day. Thank-you!
• * I received a postcard from LTR in Turkey which appeared to be written by someone else - some relaxed and happy holiday boy. Wonderful. Thank-you. And I eagerly await my personalised 'Best of Rod' album.
• * Yesterday was a birthday party at work. We have them every month. It means I only teach 2 of my 5 kinder classes and I get to eat fried chicken and drink pepsi max all morning. Check out the table laden with treats, yum... So many rice cakes!
• * I have a little crush on the lesbian photographer who comes to shoot all the events at school. I asked her for copies of the photos which I am in - I have to pose with the birthday kids - and she said 'Ok, no chargie, service'. Excellent. I love her.
• * The kids were all ok yesterday and I didn't have to yell at all. Or stamp my feet - my usual method of getting their attention. This alone will make for a good day.
• * I made lots of jokes with my students about the silly ones drinking soju and we all thought this was hilarious.
• * Feckin. PERFECT WEATHER. Seriously, beautiful. From my window yesterday morning I could see someone was drying chilis in the street. Sun shining, blue sky, no humidity, a breeze. Best weather yet. Today is the same but I'm hungover. Shit.
• * My Ma was in the newspaper for her poetry reading in Turkey.
• * Z tells me Otta knows his alphabet. Genius beautiful child.
• * Thinking about Charlie and the most amazing 9 days.
• * Thinking about Charlie and our future memories. Joy.

History

I know there are some things more important - like language study and maths or whatever, but seriously - HISTORY! Is it possible to consider NOT making its' teaching compulsory? I'm so shocked. And don't people know that history is not History? School history studies were so inadequate when I was at school - particularly Australian and Asian history - I would just have assumed it was better now. It's critical that kids leave school knowing the history of their area, their culture, language, and their nation. Sweet jesus.

Also - rant over - here's a reason to walk home - two guys in a computer shop having a thumb war. So funny. They were laughing so hard. And I bumped into a Dad from my school. He is the only Dad I know - he wrote me a letter asking me to give special attention to his kid whose English (and Korean) is hopeless. His kid has a perm and frequently wears micro shorts to kinder. No kidding.

Thunder

Can't believe I forgot to say that I saw Thunder in Ilsan!
Thunder, which is 'chundung' in Korean, is the name of a horse that stars in a new Korean movie called 'Lump of Sugar'. I've seen the posters of a smiling girl and a horse around the place. Never could have dreamed I'd be lucky enough to see the horse for real. Thunder had a tiny jockey in silks atop it as it paraded through the Ilsan shopping mall and posed for photos.

There's a few changes to my working life. Basically, more work. Longer hours.
Next week I begin my extra teaching class which will comprise my colleagues here at the school, all the kinder and elementary teachers - who are themselves Engrish teachers. Twice a week I'm to facilitate an hour-long 'class' at 6.30pm where all us ladies will sit around and talk in Engrish... About what? I have no idea. I will need to come up with something. And snacks, too.

And - does anyone remember Pong Su?
I'm gonna read up on it so I don't get my facts wrong. But it was a North Korean boat that got busted bringing heaps of heroin to Australia - Lorne, actually. Twas extra contraversial cos they reckon one of the guys on the boat was part of the North Korean government. No-one was convicted, but the Australian military destroyed the boat by bombing it (what?!). The Koreans and others on the boat faced trial and were deported. It made me think - did they spend time in Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre? Probably.

Push Your Luck

Liberation Day's best t-shit was the above. But there were more. This one is just for Richard Watts.

Today I saw ::
Nature to
nearbysoon

Excellent.
So yesterday, I went to Ilsan, finished my book on the way. Looked out the windows one we left the underground and saw fields, horses, low-rise building and mountains galore. JD eventually met me and we drove to another lettuce restaurant. Strange thing - no kimchi - and that night, I had (pine nut) porridge and there was no kimchi either. It really felt wrong.
It was sooo hot yesterday and JD and I walked around the artificial lake in Ilsan and nearly expired. I was entertained by the masses of Dads on mini motorbikes giving their kids dinks around the park - HOONING! What a great way to celebrate Liberation Day.
Anyways, I was shit yesterday. Emotionally worn out and just walking in circles on Struggle Street. I should have gone home a lot earlier than I did. Sorry to all those who crossed my path. But then when I did get home JD spotted a couch abandoned in the street by my apartment.... We dragged it up and installed it in my *cubicle* of an apartment. So now HALF of my furniture are street refugees that I've dragged in. Must admit it looks more like a home now.

Took some photos on my camera but they're shitty (of course, cos I was shitty). But JD's camera has some gems on it... Need to get them.

Anyways, the last post I think I made one very brief statement about Australian politics and it generated quite a response. Notably from people perceiving the absence of alternative leaders as some sort of confirmation that Howard is the one and only for Australia. Erm? And from people who think that the results from the past 3 Federal election are somehow unarguable. Erm? It's clear that one of the greatest changes the Howard decade has affected is that of a shift of mindset, to a new culture where we don't imagine that a better life is possible, a life where we channel our energies into complaints about petrol prices, tax types, and interest rates, and into xenophobic negativity about asylum seekers, terrorists and muslims. But all of this is not seen/portrayed as within Howard's sphere of influence. Ahhh... I trail off.

And! Joy! 24323 minutes to go!

Liberation Day

Walking home today a truck caught my eye on the other side of the road. Two young guys were in the tray at the back, one standing, one sitting. They were hanging flags from the streetlights as tomorrow is Liberation Day in Korea. On 15 August 1945, Korea was liberated from Japan after 35 years of colonial rule. After the atomic bombs were dropped and World War II ended, the Japanese surrendered and Korea gained its independence. The Soviet Union and the U.S. agreed to oversee the Japanese surrender of forces in both the north and south, respectively, and the Republic of Korea was formed, also on August 15, in 1948.

Ok. So there's a lot on my mind but I thought that was worthy.
In my ignorance, it seems that lots of Koreans will still be eating in the plethora of Japanese restaurants this week, as every other week. And Korea will carry on living divorced from itself.

So other things on my mind.... I haven't done a wrap-up of my weekend... Let's just say I went to a medieval fish den, back to Jazz Story, argued about etymology of Barely Legal, played word games at the Camel place, passed the morning in the company of beautiful women who played the piano, went to a sauna and sat in a 44 degree pool, then powernapped on the floor along with 300 Koreans, went to a Filipino street market, a 6 storey romantic cafe with hosts of cinderella waitresses and all you can drink sweet teas.

Quote from the brilliant book (A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian) that I'm reading too fast and will finish tomorrow on the train to Ilsan ::
'But this is all in the past, Nadia. Why do you have such a bourgeois preoccupation with personal history?'
'Because it's important... it defines... it helps us understand... because we can learn... Oh, I don't know.'

Joy at the news that Howard dropped the bill that would have meant all asylum seekers arriving in Australia would be sent to other Pacific island countries for 'offshore' processing.

Some other Charlie, who said 'Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky'.

The one and only Charlie, who tells me there's 26013 minutes left of the countdown. (Kisses)


PS. How to celebrate Liberation Day? How about taking to the streets with posters reading : “A curse on U.S. imperialism!” and chanting “Let us trust in the Korean people’s own virtues!”

On my mind

Of course, after I thought of happy stuff to list, more came to mind. And staying in last night, my mind was abuzz. I have a new column on my side-bar called 'Weltenschaung' which is supposed to list the stuff I'm thinking about. But it changes so often. How can I keep up? So these are part of my Weltenschaung today ::

• Mayor Bloomberg saying the secret weapon in the war on terror is 'courage';
• The lyric 'the scene ends badly as you might imagine, in a cavalcade of anger and fear' from the The Mountain Goats;
• Getting a text from a girl in my building saying I could swap my 4th floor apartment for hers on the 13th floor;
• The French neighbourhood in Seoul, where 539 French people live and streets sign are in French and named after places like 'Montmartre';
• The French guy who lived in this suburb and last week found two dead babies in his freezer - the babies are his;
• Complete absence of irony in Korea;
• Rodeo Street in Apgujeong as evidence of the complete lack of irony;
• The Lithuanian government has declared a state of emergency in the agricultural sector due to a severe drought;
• Happy to have Ethan back;
• Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Ukrainian;
• More grisly news from Korea - an army conscript shoots two high-ranking officers before attempting suicide - the father of one of the dead told the media: 'Right before he went into the Army we went to the public bath together and I washed him from head to foot.'

*Credit where credit is due :: I stole the Weltenschaung idea from Toby's Zeitgeist idea. Ok.

Pink

Dear diary,

Please remember, on days like this, things that make you happy here. There are little things - and sometimes big things - everywhere, that make my heart sing or smile.

• A student cutting out some cutie paper from her girly magazine to give to me so I can use it as notepaper with a matching homemade envelope. That was great.
• A student giving me some bit of squashed rice treat from her pocket.
• Finally stopping at the market near work and buying some random sweet and discovering they are really tasty.
• Best thing today - going to the photo shop and being greeted BY NAME even though I've only had 2 filums processed there. The greeter was a teenage guy in FLUORO trucker cap over his long gelfling mullet, and -wait for it- baby pink oversize t-shirt and baby pink oversize long shorts. Gold bling. Great English.
• Getting free drinks at Nabi even when Pix isn't with me. Excellent. That bar has a HOST of cuties staffing it and I've managed to get in favour with 2 of the Barely Legal Girls - in the absence of the Barely Legal Boys, who are rocking Japan for a whole fortnight.

Yeah maybe it's the little things.
But the last few days I've been struggling so that's enough to keep me truckin'.
Oh, and the full moon on Wednesday. Amazing.
And the poems Ma has sent me from Turkey. Oh yeah.
And it's ONLY 30466 minutes to go.
And this 'definition' of Barely Legal Magazine is funny. So was JD's face when I told him BL is a porn expression.

oh and

34843 minutes to go

drenalin

Today's best t-shit ::

[front]
drenalin

[back]
CURTAINS TORN
STAGE INVASION
MIRRORS BROKEN
MIC THROWN
DRUM K STOLEN
IT MUST BE

Love this shit. I reckon kp will like it too - makes me think of Heaf.

So tonight I was supposed to be having a gym & curry night at Ryan's but he's cancelled on me cos the poor bastard has to work. Not too sure if I'm ready for the gym anyways. Of course I was ready for the curry. Weirdly, a taste of home.

My boss told me today I'd be starting from 9.40am now, instead of 10.15. I will now have a break from 12:30 to 2:30 every day, which is good. I think. I will be able to do something, whereas previously I had two 45-minute breaks thirty minutes apart, which was annoying.

I wore my new top to work today - I bought it from a t-shit stand in the street by work for $5. No stupid print, oversize white buttons and blue polka dots. But the key feature is its lack of sleeves, which I thought was controversial, as there's a bit of a dress code. Pix advised me against wearing it and told me she was sent home from her school and told to change. Anyways, no complaints. One student who is in kinder looked at me admiringly and said 'teacher! new!' and pointed at my top - A SEVEN YEAR OLD BOY. 'Thanks, Benjamin'.

A new student came in today and my boss told me her name was 'Abril', and I said that was unfortunate as it was obviously supposed to be 'April' but someone cocked up. My boss replied 'but I thought it was a pretty name'... She had chosen it for the student... Foot in mouth, I explained, any name is a fine name but people might get confused because 'April' is more common. She then printed a list of girl's names from the internet and I went through and told her to avoid names like 'Winifred', 'Silvester' and 'Gertrude'. Sweet jesus.

Still hot as hell in Seoul. Damn.

Oh, and I always knew London sucked. Now I have real evidence: Stephen Bayley, an art critic and journalist submitted a to the Conservative Party's policy group focusing on quality of life. It said, in part: "Putting 10 million aggressive hominids into close proximity and inviting them to engage in serial acts of competitive individualism ... for jobs, schools or parking spaces, could not be considered a reasonable idea... You put rats in claustrophobic circumstances and they become homosexual, murderous and cannibalistic in no time at all. Instead humans find ingenious solutions, underground car parks, coffee shops, Chinese takeaways, one man buses, cycle lanes, tall buildings."

Tag Dag

Ages ago KP tagged me to do this thing. Finally I did it ::

four jobs i have had in my life:
a] assistant secretary to the vice-chancellor
b] executive assistant to the pro vice-chancellor
c] video ezy chick
d] engrish teacher

four movies i could watch over and over:
a] chopper
b] the breakfast club
c] terminator
d] labyrinth

four places i have lived:
a] eltham
b] acton
c] vilnius
d] cheolsan

four television shows i love to watch:
a] the bill
b] oz
c] law and order
d] 7.30 report

four places i have holidayed:
a] tassie
b] minsk
c] france
d] california

four sites i visit daily:
a] path of most resistance
b] fully functional android
c] la trobe university credit cooperative
d] the age

four of my favourite things to eat:
a] doritos
b] mango
c] poached eggs on sourdough
d] rice pudding

four places i would rather be right now:
a] with charlie at my house in eltham
b] ici in fitzroy eating brekky
c] in my car driving to healesville
d] drinking in vilnius

four people to tag:
abcd] my mates have already done it. i'm slow.

Build a Fort, Set it on Fire

A salute, to Jeffrey Wright.
I think he might be the black Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Is that racist?
Anyways.

The fact that his back catalogue includes Homocide: Life on the Street is enough for me.
However, it just gets better. He played Basquiat in the eponymous filum. He was brilliant in Syriana, and in Broken Flowers. Both really interesting movies... And he is really compelling and convincing on screen.

Erm - he has a BA in Political Science, nice.


ps. 37509 minutes to go.

Happy Birthday Boys

Had some very happy moment last night as I climbed outta the hole I was in from Friday night's craziness. Pix's friend Ryan came back from a lil trip to PRC with a big bottle of Grey Goose vodka and invited us to come help drink it and have a swim in the rooftop pool of the hotel he calls home. I didn't need to drink, but the swim was great. The sky was so beautiful... Moon shining as the sun showed us a very nice sunset. We sat in the jacuzzi, people-watching, chatting, relaxing. As I walked around the space I had a moment of feeling very happy.
But later, down in Ryan's apartment, just after he played 'You're the Voice', all I could think about was 194 and the fact I wasn't at the Rose boy's 21st. So I called that familiar number, had a chat with LTR, JC and then Jack! Who'd turned up very fashionably late, of course. LTR was serving up dumplings as he was talking to me and the whole scene sounded happy and fun. Nearly killed me. Luckily JC had a few gags for me - she'd just been on the decks and had spun 'You're the Voice' - seriously - and her dulcet tones were exactly what I needed to hear. I do need to stop making these kind of calls though- I'm yet to get a phone bill so I've no idea how much they cost me.
Anyways there came a point (after a swimsuit shoot - not sure if I should post those photos) when Pix and I thought a taxi was a good option - rather than head out, head home. Lovely cab driver switched on a massage thingy in my seat so I got a weird mechanical massage as we sped westward to my home. Was the first time I'd not waited for the subway but got a taxi - I think I should do it more often now that I know it's less than $15 from Hongdae-ish.
Now my brief 'summer vacation' is over so it's back to the kids tomorrow, sweet jesus. But I'm on the countdown to Charlie's visit, so that will make it easier. Yay. It definitely feels like I've been here for longer than 7 weeks. Hmm.

Wrong

What could be the reason that justifies this?
Casinos here are 'foreigners-only'.
Not that I will ever go there, not that I'm dismayed I can't meet locals while I spin the big wheel... But, c'mon, that's just wrong.

Struggle Street

I think I saw Shakira in Hongdae last night. Or maybe not. But those hips don't lie.

I definitely saw Mr Big's album 'Hey Man' at a bar called Melancholy Punchdrunken Hole.



And drunk a jug of sangria - with some help, phew.

Really on Struggle Street today though.


Charlie tells me it is 38923 minutes.

Photo Collections

I wanna make a whole buncha series of my photos.
It seems I keep taking the same shots over and over.
Series I'm working on ::
1. Public phones
2. JD in green stripey tops eating lunch
3. Colourful plastic chairs
4. Blue sky & orange roof

These are of course in addition to the t-shit and stencil art collections.