Amusement of the Day

Applying for a job in the UK. They wanted to know what kind of white person I was:

British
* English
* Scottish
* Welsh
Irish
Other (please specify).

Debated entering: "Bit o' this, bit o' that. You know Americans."

Hilarity

Well, the link to the video of Glenn Danzig getting punched out seems not to work. Which is perhaps for the best since my mom reads this blog. It can be found on Google Video. A search for "Danzig" also turned up:
a guy singing "Mother" to his web cam. A "before" and "after" juxtaposition of Glenn's nose. Evidently he had "some work done." A guy singing (badly) and
dancing (worse) to the Danzig song "Dirty Black Summer." And best of all, a video called "DANZIG!!!(My cat attacking a skateboard)."

For those that like potty humor, I can also recommend going to the original site with the link that didn't work and looking for the comment by "redneck headbanger." (He does not sound much like a redneck to me...)

Seoul Photos 1

As promised:

"Un-break my heeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaart." . . . . . ."No. Now shut up."

(Second line attributed to man in black trench coat at right.)

I just ate the strangest thing

it was called mul neng myeon. [Spelling corrected... I think.] It was cold black noodles in cold beef broth, with plenty of hot pepper paste to color the broth red, slices of cucumber and ginger, half of a hard-boiled egg, and a slice of pear.

... [added later] the comparison I meant to make earlier and forgot was to the poem The Ice-Worm Cocktail by Robert Service. The additional comparison I came up with yesterday was, "If Glenn Danzig was a bowl of noodles, he'd be mul neng myeon."

... while looking for a "Glenn Danzig" link I happened across this, which purports to be video of Glenn getting punched out. Since people are trying to work in here, I have not watched it myself.

Kawnpidawnsuh

When you're feeling down, and the fish won't bite...

Went to Seoul for about a day and a half. Pictures to come.

No interesting stories from Seoul itself. All I can really say about Seoul is that the public transportation is excellent. On the train to Seoul there were a couple of Buddhist monks, one of whom was eager to speak a little English with me and inspect my iBook. (I guess I already mentioned the rarity of Macs in S. Korea.) Then we found our way on the subway together. There was a very odd moment when all of a sudden he darted behind a pillar. I had no idea why and decided to keep walking. Then I noticed that up ahead there was what appeared to be another monk in slightly different garb. It was a bit like something out of a Kung Fu movie with warring temples. A more likely explanation is that he was playing hookie from something. I went and found the big map to get oriented, and by the time I got back to the ticket vending machines, my companion had come out from behind the pillar and was buying a ticket.

Fashion notes:
1) if you are a square-jawed, sad-eyed Buddhist monk, you can totally rock a pith helmet and a man-purse. All others I do not particularly recommend either.
2) being a 50 year old Korean man in matching pale grey pants and sweater with a lime green jacket is no reason not to listen to Megadeth, and don't let anyone tell you it is.
3) if you are male, but nevertheless plan to sing Celine Dion-esque ballads in front of the train station, a Mr. Rogers sweater is the garb of choice.

(that last one, I have a picture of).

Another round...

I just drank a delicious soft drink called:

My transliteration: Kawnpidawnsuh.
(I think it is what drinking this beverage is supposed to give one.)

Nostalgia Drink, Shikhye

"Srinivas"

What is it? Just curious. Lot's of people with that name. I had to track down one of them on the web earlier.

Mendocino County Line

It's a song. The version I know is Willie Nelson and Lee Ann Womack. I had a hunch about this, so I Googled. Sure enough, "west of the Mendocino county line" is one of those hidden meaning things. Map.

Saturday Night

Went out with Prof C and the graduate students tonight. We had Korean barbecue. They have some approximation of this in NY. You go to a restaurant. You wonder why there's this big hole in the middle of the table. Then someone who knows better than you orders for you. Then someone brings coals and puts them in the hole. And there's a grill and meat and you cook it right at your table in the restaurant. Prof C assures me you don't get the real deal on 34th street in NYC. I defer to her greater expertise but just between ourselves, I confess the only difference I noticed was that in NY you get a chair. We also had pear. "Pear" means something else here. You get them in the US being called "Japanese pear," I am told. I'm also told this is incorrect and they're really Korean. There was no one Japanese present to argue the case. At any rate it is a very different fruit, and, to my mind, much better. Like an apple, with a distilled pear flavor. I.e., my two objections to what I have known as pears are 1) they are too mushy, and 2) the flavor is diffuse, dispersed amid too much pulp. The Korean/Japanese/whatever approach to the pear addresses both issues to my satisfaction. Yum.

We also had beer and soju. The beer was Hite. I think I actually prefer "OB." (And this despite the fact that I can't look at it without worrying that somewhere there's a companion product called "GYN.") But anyway it was bottled and everything is worse when its in a can so that helped. Soju seems to be the main traditional Korean alcoholic beverage. My two data points for arriving at this conclusion are (1) it was mentioned in the movie on the airplane (actually, the female lead was given this as an unfortunate name and various puns ensued) and (2) it was the first one Prof C decided I needed to try. (My "first" and "main" presume the existence of another without specific knowledge.) It's taken by the shot. Fairly sweet. Doesn't burn too much. I would conjecture stronger than wine but weaker than whisky. Pretty yummy.

Now, it is time to arrive at abbreviations for the three graduate students. The eldest's first name starts with J. (Or maybe Ch, Korean is ambiguous on this point.) This is the young man who was infinitely helpful to me the day I arrived and I think I called him J then. So J. The younger two we shall call by their "middle" initials, H and B respectively. (A typical Korean name consists of a one syllable family name and two syllable given name. The first letter of the first syllable of the given name does not distinguish these two...)

Anyway, J, Prof C and I ended up having another beer at a bar near to campus. I am not sure whether this was correct or not. What I mean by that is, I was asked whether I would like to, responded in the affirmative thinking that to respond in the negative would be... not wrong but... disappointingly unenthusiastic about things Korean. Afterwards it felt more like it was one of those times you're supposed to say no. (Like that time in India someone offered me tea, and then when I said yes had to go out and buy some.)

More Korean Products

The toothpaste I brought with me is running low. I went to the store to get some more. The only familiar brand was "Close Up." But I opted for Clinx when I saw that it could protect my teeth from higher mathematics, as well as plaque.

And here we see cans from each of the four beers that are available at the store on campus.

On the end we have a "Tequila SLAMMA." I'm rather sorry I bought this. Not because the "Slamma" itself was lousy-- it was about what you'd expect-- but because the appeal was, I thought it was an interaction between two non-Anglo cultures that was not mediated through Anglo cultural dominance. (Or whatever. Help! I need a critical theorist to help me form my thoughts on this subject!) That's something I always find kind of interesting even if it's Koreans crudely stereotyping Mexicans to market a product. However, the product turns out, on closer inspection (peeling off the Hangul warning label to reveal the matching English warning label) to be Australian. This makes the quality of the english copy-- Armando Gonzales homestyle recipe for Lemon Tequila Slamma. Kept secret amongst locals for 80 years in Mexico-- a little inexcusable.

[typo fixed: the Australians are only to blame for the quality of the prose; the spelling was my fault.]

Let's play this game again.

My wheat crackers are called

which I would transliterate as "Habeesuhtuh."
In a possibly related note: kid in the library today had an "EVISU: Unchangeable" T-shirt on.

... never mind. Not related. I thought "EVISU" might be a product of translating "Elvis" from English to Korean, and then back to English.

I guess I have .ac.kr email now...

When I first attempted to register it didn't seem to let me. But I guess what it was saying to me in Korean was "thank you for filling out the form. Your account will be activated in 2 business days."

But I still don't see a reason to stop using the old US account (with it's English-language user interface).

My Korean Name

Yesterday they brought me my insurance card in case I get sick. (My sojourn here is approximately 1/3 over but ne'er mind.) Today Prof. C. pointed out a string of three syllables written in Hangul which comprise my Korean name. It's my last name, chopped into three pieces. The vowel in the second syllable is the "u" in "put" and was put there because 3 consonants in a row can not be accomodated. The "l" has been doubled so that it both ends the second consonant and begins the third. What's fun is that full Korean names often are 3 syllables long, so it kind of works as one. One just has to decide whether to parse the last syllable or the first as the family name...

Er, ya... let's just keep using the old mail address

These are kind of funny. In both cases, the only thing in English is a polite introductory phrase that suggests the page is going to be very helpful to you. Which it might well be if you spoke Korean. But why is the polite introductory phrase then in English? Perhaps English is the language of polite helpfulness. Yeah... that's it.

T-Shirts

Yesterday was a good day for T-Shirts in the library. Some kid sitting across from me had one that said "Did you eat Breakfast this morning?" on the chest with a picture which I think was someone eating a bowl of rice-- bowl ,chopsticks and all-- in one bite. On the sleeve it said. "Breakfast ENERGY!!!"

(Readers who are not members of my immediate family likely will not know that my Dad once worked on a similar ad campaign.)

(He rarely eats breakfast either.)

Another kid had a hoodie which said "PARKBUILT: This outerwear is constructed for the most extreme conditions" and had a picture of a stick figure in peril worksafety advisory: will probably make you laugh out loud. I'd say this one is the best approximation.

(More) Good News

I got a positive referee's report on an article of mine. I need to redo the introduction, is all.

... make it two. It seems my mail is not being forwarded. I wrote to the journals to check for word. One sent a report in September. The other sent it in August.

"The Indian Guy"

Here I had not been following the UNSG race closely enough to know there was an Indian guy... a link for anyone else curious (or shamefaced): here

The other day the students wanted me to say which was better: Indian rice or Korean rice. Needless to say, I avoided answering.

Which is an elliptical way of saying, "well, in that case I'm neutral." Not that it matters now. Or earlier.

But ya gotta like this: ""India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay." (I see he's not just an Indian, he's a Mallu. Well... I'm still neutral. But click the last link before Wikipedia gets around to cleaning it up.)

Short post for a Saturday Night

Freshmen are free, so you can just show up.

I saw a sign on campus here that said something like "Get Funky with DJ RXD. Participation Fee 5000 Won."

Friday at lunch there was a band playing in the student union. Musical style: late Bon Jovi or one of those songs where you keep waiting for the Cor Ah ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON even though you know it's Korean, not Spanish. (Or, you wait for the SOOOOOOOONiye even though you know it's not Hindi. That may be a better reference for the Thane of Thane, if he's still reading. Also you look for SRK making his sad face and squeezing out tears so efficiently I wonder how parts of India still suffer water shortage.)

Congratulations Ban Ki-Moon. I am pleased to note that your name looks much easier to pun on than "Kofi Annan."

For SuhPAHkul Shortz

You mean they weren't doing that already?

Asiana Flights to Avoid N.Korean Airspace

(Although now that I think about it I distinctly recall my flight from Chicago went over Japan, not N. Korea.)

SuPAHkul

I think this may not have gotten across. The name of the bottled water is a Koreanization of the English word "Sparkle."

Nuclear Test

I never would have known if a friend had not emailed me.

... elaborating: I went about my day in pretty much the usual way. Lunch with the graduate students. Short conversation with Prof C. Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary today. No one was concerned about it. The graduate students were interested in questions from my advisors book. (He uses a very liberal definition of the word "readily," in my opinion.) Prof. C. was busy with the preparations for the University entrance exam. I don't know whether everyone was talking about it in Korean, but anyway no one mentioned it to me.

... dude. Kim Jong Il is Gack't.

Whew

For a scary half an hour I thought I had lost my power cord. It would have been hard to replace.
There's a vicious cycle

Apple has low market-share in Korea --------|
|---------------------- Hangul versions of Apple software are not developed.

As a result, the nearest Apple store is in Japan, and the nearest
service provider which is not iPod-specific is probably the one in Kwangju.

Oh, that's interesting. Check out the Google Maps results for Kwangju!

If you click through to the Wikipedia article, you'll see three things. First, the "correct" romanization of the name of this city
(광주) is "Gwangju." The explanation, I think, is that the character ㄱ, which is the first character in this name
(ㄱ + ㅘ + ㅇ = 광) is sometimes pronounced like "g" other times "k." The rule is to always romanize it as "g," reserving "k" for the other k, (the aspirated one) which is ㅋ. So, I reckon if it starts with ㄱ and it's sometimes romanized as g and others as k that means it's pronounced k. And if that seemed interesting, all of this was learned from
this online tutorial. (Though of course all mistakes are my own.)

Second, there's a second "Gwangju" near Seoul, which is why I say "probably" above.

Third, the larger one in the south was the site of one of the darker episodes of recent Korean history. More on that
here. (Standard disclaimers about material found on the internet.)

Returning to the topic of Apple Stores in Japan (ok. Now I am just wasting time!) Here is a map, with the prefectures numbered. There are apple stores in 23, 27, 40, 46, and of course 13 (that one being Tokyo). But what I wanted to remark on is that in Tokyo, there's one in Ginza and one in Shibuya, and that's it. Now, if I recall correctly, this is kind of significant as a sign of the changing times. Unfortunately I am unable to find anything in Wikipedia to augment my vague memory of what I read in my Lonely Planet Tokyo in 2002, but ... As I recall what I read was that when the city was established, it was organized into wards based on profession. So that there was "Blacksmithtown" where all the blacksmiths lived and "Tailortown" where all the tailors lived, etc., and that this approach to city organization had carried over somewhat into the modern day, with each of the modern wards having a distinct character which in to some extent reflected its earlier incarnation. In particular, there was a big electronics district. I couldn't remember the name, but I think this is what I was thinking of. It was, until fairly recently, still the case that if you wanted to buy any sort of electronics in Tokyo, you had to go to Akihabara. Whereas Ginza is where you went to buy Prada shoes and Shibuya is where you went to dance to the musical stylings of DJ Kebi. But, as the guidebook told me in 2002, the times they were a-changing. And so they are...

Being dragged even further afield, I see that "otaku" just means "nerd." When I encountered it the other day among the Urban Dictionary results for "Gackt" I thought it might mean something like "foreigner."

And that really is enough about Japan. This is supposed to be a Korea Journal!

Ok. I know what I just said, but I love gacktard and agree with Tegan, though I think the usage should be "that outfit is Gack't. What were you thinking?" "I can't play this week. My knee is still Gack't."

SuperNature

There are birds that live in the trees near my building which have this call that sounds like some kind of electronic beep. It's rather odd. At first I kept thinking it was a warning bell on the downstairs neighbor's appliance, or someone in the parking lot activating or deactivating a car alarm.

Does this work?

I would guess that if I start adding Devanagiri and/or Hangul to my posts it will either not work or just be annoying for people. But let me just check. Please report back whether it makes your browser do anything annoying.

I love transliterated English. My bottled water is called 스파클, which I would transliterate as "Supahkul." (If you don't get it, try reading it aloud.)

Update: I just noticed: I should tell you to read the "u"'sin Supahkul as "uh" not "oo." All though it's a pretty good name for bottled water the other way, too...

This reminds me of the time I was looking at the sign on the top of Churchgate station in Bombay, looking at the sign which I had always assumed I could not read-- I think it was चाचगेत which I would transliterate as "Chaachget"-- and realizing that in fact I could read it after all.

Happy Chuseok!

I still have much to learn about my new home. It seems that people here have very different ideas about evil spirits:
It was believed in the past that peach trees had the power to drive evil spirits away, so they are still not planted inside the house and peaches are not used for ancestral rites.

And breaking the ice:Who [sic] do you hate the most?

Links

Since weathercity persists in claiming it is -7 Celsius here, I switched the weather link to wunderground. And I added an English language paper. I don't know anything about Korean papers so I picked one at random. We'll see whether it's a rag.

More Campus Photos

Empty

This place has completely emptied out. It's impressive.

Well, except for the old guy in the coffee room. I think he is watching televised "go." Did I mention yet about the televised video games? Well, they exist. I've walked past the student union a couple of times and seen kids watching other people play StarCraft. (Actually this practice is discussed in the Wikipedia article I've linked. But the "go" seemed to be live-action. Hard to tell: just a camera pointed straight down at the center of the board. But every once in a while a hand places a piece. For a while I thought it was a computer game with computer-animated hands, but the last time I went in there I think the guy was sleeping on one of the couches, and the game play continued.

Wait a minute: Holy Crap:
. Lee Seung Seop (known as b0f1000 in StarCraft), a 28-year-old from Daegu, South Korea, died from exhaustion on 10 August 2005 after playing a 49-hour marathon session of StarCraft in an Internet cafe,[39] sparking a new discussion about video game addiction,[40]

Email Down

For some reason the server at my old university in the US is observing Korean thanksgiving.

An old man has been camped out in the coffee room for two days. He seems happy enough.

update: it's back now.

And then there were four

The final resident of this office moved in today. It was kind of wierd. When I came in, all of the stuff I had left on the desk I have been sitting at had been moved to the table in the middle of the room, and some small item of his was on the desk. He was talking on the phone. When he got off the phone he asked where I'd been sitting. I told him, but said it was no problem to move. He said ok, and I went to start setting up at the one in the corner. Then he got very concerned with letting me know that if I wanted to keep on at the desk I had been using it was no problem to him. And, actually I did prefer. I think if it was just that this desk is by the window I would have insisted that he take it. But sitting here I am next to this guy Seh that I have had dinner with a couple of times, and back there I'm next to another guy who's name I haven't gotten clear on yet, and I'm much more comfortable by Seh. Seh is how he introduced himself to me. It's one half of his actual given name. I figure it's safe to call him that on the blog since one syllable can't be so specific. So anyway, then we moved back.

It occurs to me now that maybe what happened is some third party such as a janitor had moved my stuff off of my desk before
my new officemate arrived this morning.

More Sculpture Garden

This last one is not actually sculpture garden. It's the 78 steps. I believe this is in regards to an exchange program that POSTECH has with Tohoku U. in Japan.

I think those are Japanese Hiragana at the top, not Korean Hangul. I am no longer able to sound out things written in Hiragana, but I checked the page I just linked to and tested the theory that what it says is "Tohoku." Next guess: it's addressed to the arriving Japanese exchange students and says "Welcome." I took a photography break today and got some photos of campus from the upper tiers of the collonade near our building. But I'll save them for later.