another week done gone

Another weekend comes and goes, monday’s even already done too. Next week is a major holiday, so more days off then. A couple of new jobs to do. Shaping up to be a busy October. But that’s the future. Here’s the past….

Sometimes you just can’t say ‘no’ . . . nor should you

A loooong day today. Busy in the morning doing housework, emails, a little blogging and chatting and stuff. Then off to Seoul-dae for an afternoon of reading/research. Then a colloquium on Korean Studies at the Kyujanggak. Luckily, the office generously secured for me by my old advisor at Michigan, Professor Cho, was a mere ten steps away from the happening, so I had no excuse to miss. Perhaps it would have been easier if I would have… (more…)

Sometimes you just can’t say ‘no’ . . . nor should you

A loooong day today. Busy in the morning doing housework, emails, a little blogging and chatting and stuff. Then off to Seoul-dae for an afternoon of reading/research. Then a colloquium on Korean Studies at the Kyujanggak. Luckily, the office generously secured for me by my old advisor at Michigan, Professor Cho, was a mere ten steps away from the happening, so I had no excuse to miss. Perhaps it would have been easier if I would have…

On Suicide and Social Change

Now, for some hard news here at Vagabondage. Two interesting news stories in the English version of the Hankyoreh Shinmun (One People’s Newspaper – an ironic title for a “progressive” paper, especially considering what comes farther below).

First up, the bad news.

Past the hump already?

Woah… time is absolutely whizzin’ by. Which means I gotta work, work, work. So far, pretty good – did get some great articles and meet some great professors already. Today I went to Yonsei University and got an all-inclusive library card, courtesy of Fulbright. Way cool. In addition, they have free wireless and it works with my Mac (Seoul-dae doesn’t have either). In addition to that, it is closer to my house, just a short bus trip and walk.

Tomorrow, I’ll be finding out about an opportunity to serve as managing editor for a journal on Korean Studies, and will also go to a seminar by one of the pre-eminent scholars on the study of culture and history in the Korea’s colonial period, my topic exactly.

I have to say all this, of course, because the main topic of most of my entries is “play” and Mom has already tut-tutted once about me getting to work! I am working, I promise. But it is boring to blog about… and play is so much more photogenic!

Take for instance this super cute cat I saw yesterday as I shared a meal on the side of the Han-gang (delivered right to our spot via motor scooter!):

And for riverside entertainment, a shaman training session in progress (bad quality – due to distance/darkness):

I’ll tell you more about shamans in the near future, when i get a bit more time to write. For now, let’s just say, don’t believe any cultural generalizations you read about Korea if they do not quickly include a mention of the role of shamans/spirits/fortune telling. These folks are at the very heart of Korean culture, and moreover, their modus operandi of being in a constant battle for domination over those spirits is a perfect metaphor for Korean contemporary culture in general, including the realms of Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity and secularism.

Coming up this weekend: first formal Fulbright get-together, a trip to a dance club in Hongdae, and a major demonstration on Sunday. Expect pictures of 2 out of these 3, hopefully.

the weekend

This Friday I headed down to Jogye Temple in downtown Seoul. It is the headquarters of Korean Buddhism, more or less. This is the place I got my first translating job in Korea. You can see some of the results on Koreanbuddhism.net where I did some translations of biographies of great monks (only one nun, unfortunately). Before going, I was a bit worried, cuz first of all i was a bit tired and depressed, the reality of living alone in a big city really setting in now, and second, because I would have to tell them that I wouldn’t be able to help them with work now because I would be too busy with my studies. In fact, I almost postponed. That would have been a big mistake.

the first ascent

Today was my first venture up a mountain this time around in Korea, Bukhan-san. I went with Dominica’s first cousin, Seong-yeol (who i just call “hyoung” = older brother) and two of his workers from his spaghetti restaurant, Sorrentos, who just call me, “Matty-hyoung.” I gotta say, i like the custom. it warms my heart everytime I hear them call it out.

Below are some photos from along the way…and after. You can see a whole bunch of new shots, with notes!, here.

Oh, and I came here to Korea for some reason or other… uh… oh yeah, school and research. Here’s the view from my office at the Kyujanggak at Seoul National University (Seoul Daehakkyo or Seouldae for short).

Soaking up the sun on Seonyu-do

Apologies to those with a slow internet connection, the following post is very image heavy. So, you’ve been forewarned. Actually, if you have the time and inclination, check out the original pictures in their large sizes on the flickr site here. Also, i’ve started using “notes” on some pictures, so, in the future, if you roll the mouse over some of the pictures, you can see some little bits of info that I’ve added.

Well, I didn’t want to run at all today. Again, feeling a bit tired and full of the blahs, more content to lounge in the comforts of home and read, etc. But, the running gods will not be appeased with excuses, so, off I went. However, this time, I decided to make it a bit more fun… I brought the camera. Good idea… the run was over before i knew it, i got some great shots, saw a new place in Seoul, and never once felt tired.

And so… awayyyyyyy we go:

As promised

Here is the outside of our apartment. Notice the power lines… there are no “clean shots” in Seoul, it seems:

and the street i live on “Spring Pleasures Street #6″ (there are spring pleasures 1 through 6…):

I promise a longer photolog of my run today. I visited this island called Seonyudo, a reclaimed water purification plant in the middle of the Han gang. Great stuff… keep posted!

three cheers for technology

Over the past many years, Dominica and I have been separated by thousands of miles quite a few times. During those interludes, we’ve wasted thousands of dollars on phone bills (wayyyy back in ‘94), swapped plenty of letters and then emails, or have bitten the bullet and gone so far as to have bought plane tickets to visit one another during the periods of separation.

Luckily though, we now have the wondertoy called isight, apple’s webcam, that allows us to have live video chatting with audio. this way, we “see” each other every day – and for free! Not only that, I get to see the fuzzy munchkins too, as you can see in the pictures above, taken as live snapshots from our most recent video chat.