The one where I get chastized by a young lady.

The little sign reads, "Disinfect basket, please."  I didn't do mine, since what good would it do in the long run while I'm inside the store.  I'll be touching things while shopping.  Anyway, I got this picture at a price.  Korean stores get hysterical about anyone taking pictures in them, so after snapping the shot, I had to stop and listen to a lecture from a HomePlus employee about not taking pictures in the store.  There are two ways a foreigner can react that won't cause trouble.  We can play dumb and pretend not to understand what's going on, or we can apologize profusely with a fake reddening of the cheeks and a couple serious bows and saying, "I'm sorry," in the most humble manner.  Naturally, I chose the former, because I wasn't really sorry for taking the photo.  Why be too hypocritical?  LOL  Anyway, let the world know that HomePlus/Tesco is doing its part to stop the spread of swine flu!

At work today, I organized a little for this week's classes.  It's a light week considering it's the first week, and a drop-add week, but I want the students to have something to do in class all the same.  My higher level classes will get their introduction to Second Life this week, because part of their participation grade will come from Second Life activities.  I'm toying with the idea of allowing them to have a one-time unexcused absence that can be made up by attending an extra event in Second Life.  Naturally, I can't have them absent regularly and making it up in Second Life, but once seems like a fair way to handle it.  I hope that one day the university will authorize an entire course called Virtual English or something where I can have a real class of 20 students or so that meet only online in Second Life.  That's feasible; lots of universities have Second Life classes.  Am I dreaming?  Yes, but realities often begin with dreams.

The one where I wondered

Yesterday while I was hiking on some trails I've never been on before, I came across this. No idea what it is, but now I have you to share my perplexity!


I tried to upload a video response to my friend Simon's hagwon video which I thought was cute, and I kept getting this message:

본인확인제로 인해 한국 국가 설정시 동영상/댓글 업로드 기능을 자발적으로 비활성화합니다.
We have voluntarily disabled this functionality on kr.youtube.com because of the Korean real-name verification law.


So, what this is all about, I have no idea! It's probably a good idea on one level, but like all Korean good ideas, they implement them so badly they end up pissing everyone off in the end.


Sorry, Simon! You'll never know the nice things I said about your students! LOL


At the infirmary on campus today, they took my temperature, 37°, which is normal. Then they stuck a long cotton swab up my right nostril about 2 inches or so to get a sample to test for Swine Flu. Even though anyone visiting my house might conclude that I do indeed suffer from a form of pig disease, I can assure you, it is not the flu. It is just pigstyitis.

The one where I get my new passport

I got a call on my cell phone today, one of the random times the stupid thing actually rings when someone calls me. It was a Korean guy, and he was babbling as fast as he could in Korean even though I had answered the phone in English. I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about at first, except that it was about a visa ("bee-ja" to be precise). It took a few seconds, but I finally asked him if it was a passport from the US embassy, to which he answered, yes ("neh" to be exact). He wanted to know whether I was home or not, which I was. And as you can see, I have my shiny new passport! They tell me there's a chip or something inside it so that Homeland Security (the KGB that George Bush established) can keep track of me and anyone else that obviously doesn't love America enough to shun foreign travel.

The other day while I was in Ansan visiting friends, Simon loaned me a copy of "Fallout 3".<-- [See note from previous entry] At first, I didn't think I'd like it, but after I got into it, it became really fun to play on the XBox. Unfortunately, nobody told me that when the main quest was completed, the game stops! I had so much I wanted to play yet. Oh well, no sense crying over spilled nuka-cola.

Saturday evening, we had a nice BBQ over at Teddy's place on the deck. It was a composite of Korean and Western style barbecue. Very delicious. The next day, Kyle and I took a trip over to COSTCO for a few items. We also had a disagreement about the Palestinian situation. He thinks that all news reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian problem is totally biased toward Israel. I don't believe that.

On a lighter note, I teach online tonight! The new place we meet in Second Life... I don't feel comfortable at the new place. It's not cozy enough for my style of teaching. However, I obligated myself, so there it is.

The one where I apply for a new passport

So this is the photo that will be on my passport for the next ten years. After I found the same shop I had had my photo taken at in 1999, I spent $13 for four small photos only to discover later in the lobby of the embassy an automated photo booth that takes legal size/shape photos for $5! Ugh! If I had known that machine was there.... Grrr. Anyway, since the conservatives increased government control of and interference in our lives with the ominous Department of Homeland Security (aka, the KGB), things are different in the passport renewal business. In 1999, I took my old passport in for renewal with a legal size photo and had my new passport within the hour. Now, you have to wait two weeks to get your renewal passport so that the American KGB can collect data on your private activities abroad. They didn't even give me a temporary paper in case the local authorities want to see my passport for some reason. The police can demand to see any foreigner's passport at any time, though they don't usually do that. However, since they can do it, I'd rather err on the side of expecting the worst. I've sat in a Korean police station lock up before, and it's not something I want to do again anytime soon.

Yesterday the dentist pulled out my stitches. Next week I'll go back, and we'll start the arduous process of capping two teeth and building a bridge over the space between them. Sounds fun. At least nobody said "root canal". I don't know what a root canal is, but I do know the very words make grown men quiver and faint, so it is definitely not something I want to go through, being a grown man only on the outside! LOL

Simon loaned me a copy of Fallout 3, an XBox game.<-- [Correction! Simon says he didn't loan it to me. Maybe it was Joel who loaned it.] I started it, and now I'm getting hooked! It has the feel of Oblivion, but with modern clothes and weaponry. If Bethesda came out with more games like this, I'd probably never get any work done!

The one where I went to the Road Bar

Brett and I went out trying to find something to do a couple days ago, and we came across this sign.  Try to guess what the sign means.  I'll tell you at the bottom of this post.

After some delicious dalkgalbi, we thought we'd find a movie to watch.  I had seen Harry Potter in the States, but I wouldn't have minded seeing it again; however, the movie theater only shows it twice in the early afternoon, so we had missed it.  We ended up at the WA Bar, then we went to the Road Bar where two hostesses doted over us all evening in a modified Korean style.  Lucky me. LOL

The weather has been crappy for three days now.  Yesterday, Brett and I took a drive out to Bulguksa (Buddha Land Temple).  I've seen the place probably six times, and even though it's very old, it gets boring after six times.  I made some chicken fajita with tortillas for dinner.  Since I get up early every day, I was exhausted and left Brett to stay up and watch DVDs or whatever he did all night.  He got up at noon today (I have never in all my life been able to sleep til noon no matter what time I've gone to bed.  Just not in my nature.)  Anyway, he took off to collect his wife and kids at the family farm four hours away.  He hasn't answered my text message asking if he got there all right, so better send another.  Tomorrow I'm off to Ansan, then Monday I go to the U.S. embassy to renew my passport.  I hate going to the embassy.  It's worse, literally, than visiting an inmate in prison.  I feel so dirty and violated afterward.  I've always wondered what it would be like to come from a regular, normal country that doesn't go out of its way to piss off three quarters of the world. *sigh*

I started recording for my podcast experiment today.  I got a decent program to help me.  I want to marry my classes in Second Life to the podcasts so that learners can prepare for my class as well as do follow-up.  The podcasts will always be related to my lesson of the week.

Anyway, for the curious, the sign above probably means "We make coffee one cup at a time."  There is no way to be absolutely certain.  Why do they bother writing signage in English?  The nice answer:  It's chic.  The correct answer:  They're insane.

The one where I show off my new camera

Yesterday I went to High-Mart to find another Sony Cybershot. My old one was bequeathed to my sister Connie. The old one is still quite good, but it was time to move on. High-Mart only had one of the cameras that I would even think of getting, but the price was WAY too high. However, the clerk did some figuring on his machine and cut the price from 509,000 to 392,000. I expected maybe 10 bucks off, but this was more like 117 bucks off! You can see it here in the photo. Pretty groovy, eh?
Next Tuesday my passport expires, so Monday I'll be in Seoul at the U.S. embassy getting a new passport. That means my dental appointment to pull out my stitches will have to be postponed until Tuesday. The department wants our syllabi posted by Friday, and I haven't even started. The university program doesn't work on my computers at home, so I have to go all the way in the school to use the office computer. Apparently we lose points toward being rehired if we don't post on time. The funny thing is, I have talked to two professors here in two other departments, and they (as Korean professors) don't have a point system. Is it only for the unreliable, lazy, and unprofessional foreigners? Probably, but I stopped caring years ago what Koreans think of us.
On a lighter note, my first class in Second Life since our group moved to the new location went fairly well considering I was hepped up on medicine from the dentist. After a month's absence, it was kind of weird to be teaching online again, but I'll get back in the swing of things soon enough.
My desk chair roller wheels device had broken many weeks ago, and the other day I went and got a new one to put on. I finally figured out how to attach the hydraulic post to the new roller wheels assembly, but I forgot one of the seals, and when I sat on the chair, the hydraulic thing spit out the grease from inside and I lost the pressure that makes the seat go up and down. It's now permanently down. It's usable, but too low. Now I'm working on seeing if I can get a new hydraulic post. Oh, the trials and tribulations.
Tomorrow Brett's coming to visit for a while. Haven't seen him for a long time. I'm cleaning the house ( a little) so he doesn't throw up upon entering my humble den.
Sugar is needier than ever now, and it's getting on my nerves. I feel bad that I resent her and hate to have her around, but it really is driving me nuts that she can't stop jumping on me, following me, meowing CONSTANTLY, and generally annoying me at every opportunity.