New Diary

Last night was St. Patrick's Day, but I didn't do anything except make an Irish coffee and play on the computer. Some of the folks from work were going to a hockey game, but that didn't really appeal to me. It would have been nice to go out locally with somebody, but apparently the people who go out all go to Daegu for that. Nobody I asked was staying in Gyeongsan. Daegu is a bit out of the way for hanging out in my book. I might try to find some local foreigners who are hagwon teachers. I'm sure they stay here for hanging out. Since I'm a day person rather than a night owl, I did spend time in downtown Daegu yesterday around midday. I found a HomePlus near Daegu train station, so I got some Jim Beam. The local supermarkets here don't sell Bourbon at all, just that god-awful demon spew Scotch. Thank the gods they gave us Bourbon so we would have something palatable to drink. I also grabbed a couple sandwiches at Subway. But the "pickles" they used are sweet and so disgusting on a sandwich! If I had known that Subway had switched to those vomit-inducing sweet cucumber slices, I'd have told the girl to leave them off and made a big scene about it, too! heh heh
I found bolts similar to what Joel needs for the painting. They're a little bigger than the other painting, but maybe it won't be too noticeable once they're painted over. In the 공구 district, there are two bolt stores and a couple nice hardware stores. I remember when I first came to Korea in 1997, hardware stores were virtually non-existent. There were only little holes in the wall where builders and handymen (I use the terms loosely) could get some stuff that might do for whatever shoddy work they had in mind. When I went to see my friend in Thailand in 1999, she couldn't drag me out of the Thai hardware stores. They were big and fully stocked and totally useful. Korea always seems to be two steps behind everyone else when it comes to services and conveniences.
My new job at the university is going well; the students seem to like me. The Coordinator, Dr. Yun (aka "DY") wants me to do some extra work teaching at a metal works factory, and I said yes as long as it wasn't on Friday night. He agreed, so that'll be some overtime pay, plus they pay me for the time I'm in the taxi and they give me taxi fare, too. Once I get my motorcycle, I'll be able to pocket the taxi stipend! Speaking of which, I hope to get my bike down here in a couple weeks or less. Riding my bicycle up and down all these hills is nice exercise, but really time-consuming! When Joel finishes the painting, then I'll ship the bike and painting down in one move. Here's a link to Joel's blog with a view of the new painting.
When I find the power cord to my camera, I'll put some pictures somewhere. My new place is still in disarray from the move. I found the battery charger and one of the batteries... where the hell would the other battery be? I'm off to find a public bath and sauna so I can refresh this old bag of bones.