LATENIGHT - KOREA

Saturday, March 29, 2003

Nowon, Seoul

Forget about pretzels and beer for this war--
I'm not really writing much lately. It's one of those strange situations where you know that the big story is Iraq and since you're not a part of it, you feel excluded. But the Gulf War has so far turned out to be less than shocking or awe-inspiring (though someone on an email list that I subscribe to found out an interesting reason why they may have chosen the words, "shock and awe". See this website on the meaning of the Hebrew term, "Shekinaw").

Do journalists on CNN really have to travel with the troops if all they are going to do is report the equivalent of a U.S. Army press release anyway? I thought that was what fax machines were for. Watching the tube, the bombs just aren't as big as they said they would be, and now the Tomahawk missiles have been suspended. Stories about thousand-strong Iraqi tank columns appear and then disappear before you get a chance to find out what happened. Comparing stats and figures from media sources across the world and you quickly realize that nobody is telling the truth-- so why bother following it? I just turned off the T.V. From the looks of it, this war is going to drag on for months and maybe years-- I'm sure it will still be there when I go back to watching.

Again with the Eastern Front
Locally things are subdued in regard to the impending war in Korea. Another newspaper story came out back home but this time I didn't have to write anything. A friend of mine who's starting work there interviewed me instead. North Korea still fears it's next, after Iraq, but Maurice Strong, the venerable-yet-intrepid Canadian/United Nations diplomat has returned from Pyongyang says that the North doesn't really want a war. In fact, they may be downright fearful of war, according to the NY Times.

I also figure that I am going to have to learn how to be a better and more interesting writer. Everyone is talking about Gulf War blogs these days and I know that the same thing is slowly happening here. My hit count has doubled since North Korea began chunking out plutonium. In anticipation of new readers, maybe I should change the format of the blog somehow. Maybe I should give it a makeover or give myself a makeover. Maybe I should sensationalize things more *smirk*. Maybe I should change my name to something like "Wolf" or "Dirk". It's times like these that I ask myself-- what would CNN do?

A couple of strange stories have popped up lately. In a benignly weird way, Seoul is urging Washington to be bolder in their approach to the North. The Roh flip flop has become a violent and hawkish thrashing upon the political floor. Meanwhile in Pyongyang... Roh's red-blooded and red-spirited counterpart, the elusive Kim Il Jong, has disappeared! Let's just hope he's easier to track down than Osama Bin Laden or else the bold approach will die on the vine and this mess will never get straightened out.

Mother Nature's Shock and Awe
This is how I know that I haven't been writing much lately. It's almost a week ago that there was an earthquake centred near Mokdo which registered 4.9 on the Richter scale. I tagged that story to blog about later because this might actually be my very first earthquake experience. It occurred at 5:38am but me, being a nighthawkish lad, felt it. Now it was hardly anything to worry about-- it had the intensity of someone giving my desk a bit of a nudge. It lasted just a few seconds-- long enough for me to be satisfied that it wasn't some North Korean artillery shot. I wondered to myself if indeed it was an earthquake and sure enough, the papers carried the story the next day. Cool! The closest I have been to experiencing an earthquake was about 20 years ago when a tiny one hit New Brunswick. I was living in Nova Scotia at the time, just out of range for the vibrations, but my grandmother's house has a narrow crack in the plaster on the staircase to this day.

Please send more news...
In a perfect world, I'd be able to point out more stories like the discovery of identical stone-age settlements in South Korea and Russia. The story is really short and I can't find any other mention to it anywhere on the net. I just wanted to blog about it because I'm really interested in this and it's the first non-political thing I've seen in the news for months that was worth mentioning for me. Please send more stories like this one.

At school
So there is my belated post from last week. In personal news there's not a lot. I still don't have my gas range installed and people are no longer even certain where it is. School is going alright but I am getting a heavier classload for April while my middle school classes are dropping in half (to be replaced with a new crop of screaming elementary school brats). There first couple weeks of this schedule will teeter between tolerable and annoying.

Then at the end of the month to break the monotony, our school is planning it's annual Membership Training (M.T.) to Kangwon-do. This time I can look forward to it better since I am now a veteran at the school and know what I can expect. (Of all our staff, only one teacher has been at the school longer than I have, by a month, but he didn't attend the M.T. last year.) Last year I fretted about travelling with almost-strangers, across the country for an all-weekend drinking binge when I knew darn well that I was being kept out of the loop on everything. This year I know what to expect and can look forward to some beautiful coastline, underdeveloped countryside, fresh tofu, and more seafood than you can humanly eat. It should be fun.

-- finally, back to beer.
Remember my joy last month to discover Molson Canadian being sold at bars in Seoul? (I know, three years ago you wouldn't even catch me taking a leak in a bottle of that stuff-- what with my deathgrip on Oland's Schooner and all). Now it turns out that Molson is being sold in the newly renovated and improved Sabe Jone (Save Zone) next door! It's only 4 bucks CAD a bottle too and since the value of the Won is too low to consider sending money home for savings...

Friday, March 21, 2003

Famous warrior: General Yi, statue at Yongdusan Park in Pusan

Defcon 2

Well, the crusade in the desert has begun so I should be thankful that I didn't choose to teach English in Yemen or somewhere. Instead, I'm here in Korea but we are also on a heightened level of alert. The general rumour for a while has been that if North Korea was ever going to finally invade South Korea, they would do this while the U.S.A. was engaged in a conflict elsewhere. Apparently, this information had been coming with some consistency from DPRK defectors over the last 7 years or so. Since my blog is based in Korea, I will avoid the media blitz on the Middle East and try to stick to only mentioning what is happening in regard to the local threat level.

In addition to those rumours, there are a view reasons why the possibility of a North Korean invasion are more palpable. There is, of course, the whole Nuclear North situation to begin with, that has been ongoing since last October. There are also the continuing incidences of missile tests, threats, and the interception of the U.S. spy plane short weeks ago. American bombers have also been moved into the local theatre in anticipation. More recently, the U.S., together with R.O.K. forces having been conducting largescale wargames, with the inclusion of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson. North Korea seems frantic in its calls that this is a prelude to war on behalf of the U.S., whom after already listing North Korea in its "Axis of Evil" would seem to be on its way to dealing with North Korea-- though doubtfully while they are busy in Iraq and likely while they are busy with a 2004 Election campaign or some other event in the future.

This last perceived inevitability may just propel North Korea into choosing a preemptive attack. Still, they may be less concerned with these wargames than they are letting on, as the DPRK refused an offer to have a sit down and an explanation over the matter which you'd think they want to do if they truly felt they wanted some concrete military information on Southern deployments in advance of an invasion of their own. Then again, Korean-style does seem to follow the tactical more than the strategic.

Meanwhile, South Korean president, Roh, is seeing some advantage in things as far as repairing his ties to the U.S. goes. After all the anti-Americanism attached to his election campaign and the early days of his presidency, Roh has pledged his support to the U.S. in the matter of Iraq and has even offered 750 non-combat troops to help with rebuilding Iraq once the fighting stops. Expect to see PCBangs in Baghdad in the near future. The threat from North Korea has also encouraged Japan to jump on the Shock and Awe bandwagon.

The biggest opponent of U.S. action in Asia seems to be China. There have been a few troubling rumbles from people living there about the extent to which the Chinese citizens are up in arms over this (figuratively only, I hope). Me? I worry about China because of the five permanent security council members, they are the one who is both not involved in fighting (like the U.S. and Britain) while at the same time, they didn't threaten a veto (like France or Russia). I could only suspect that in spite of their immediate criticism after the fact, they secretly wanted the war in Iraq to go through. Benignly, China could want the war as part of the grand scheme to bring oil to Asia. If you plot the "Axis of Evil" on a map together with U.S. allies (and I am including Pakistan), you'll notice that they form a nice line stretching all the way from Saudi oilfields to Japan (via South Korea). Sure this proposed pipeline is a favourite of conspiracy theorists as to why the U.S. really needed the war in Afghanistan-- but I noticed amidst the war coverage on CNN that Texaco is proudly advertising their new Caspian pipeline through Afghanistan; so does that finally make it official? (Texaco already has worked in projects together with China).

Deviously, China could secretly want the war out of some concerted plan with North Korea. In that case, go back to the beginning of this post.

Roh in the Know
Diplomatically, Korea is higher up on the phone-list at the White House too. In the previous Gulf war, South Korea was notified of the action via the Korean embassy. In the case of Afghanistan, that notification had advanced to a direct phone call, an hour after hostilities began. This time, Roh received a personal phone call from Dick Cheney an hour before missiles began firing in the Gulf.

Even the Korean stock market is up! Although, the won has been currently sitting at it's lowest levels in about five months. This has caused problems for those of us who transfer money home. I had originally been hoping to beat the rush to war and send home money on Monday, but there were cooperation issues, I guess. Now I'll sit on my salary, wait for oil prices to stabilize and the won to crawl back up, before I transfer my next paycheque. Luckily, I am not paying off a student loan else I wouldn't have the option of deferring until a sunnier day.

U.S.F.K. moving to Souther Korea?
What else is new? In spite of South Korea's newly regained Americaphilism under the banner of war and in spite of the issue of North Korea. The U.S. is proceeding to modify it's troop commitment and placement with South Korea, with or without the agreement of President Roh. On one hand, the "tripwire" function that U.S. forces serve may come to an end and U.S. forces may fall back to less conspicuous positions further south. This has been an issue for a long time but it looks like it may finally happen. South Koreans have long protested having U.S. Military facilities in central Seoul which they see as having a negative impact on the city. The problem is that when these bases were initially planned, Seoul had yet to expand in those directions. No problem, you say? Just move the bases out to the countryside and no one will be bothered. No way. The South Korean government has staunchly opposed any potential loss or displacement of their American human shields. It's all a matter of when push comes to shove(lling)...

A different War over Gas
And lastly, what's the single greatest indicator that North Korea could be plotting my doom? -- I still don't have my gas range installed (after three weeks of waiting).

Today I was promised, would be the day that the gas man finally came to hook it up. Once that's accomplished, all of my immediate life's problems will be solved and I will be in a stable position again. That frightens me more than anything else. I am never in a stable position here. The last time I reflected, "Boy, things sure are stable, here," I was told the next day that I had to move apartments.

Oh well, both the staff guy from school and the gas man are predictably 45 minutes late and counting. Maybe I will be spared by fate after all.

Friday, March 14, 2003

Happy White Day !!!

No, they don't have a special day for caucasian foreigners...

It's White Day once again and though I've probably explained it at least twice a year since I got here, I'll explain it again. In Korea, Valentine's Day is only for girls to give chocolate to guys. March 14th is the day that guys give candy back to the girls-- or in my case, I will be popping down to the super for some candy to pass out to my classes.

I thought today's picture would fit well with the colour scheme. This is the parking lot of my building on an average day-- and it's a pretty average parking lot. I feel it's a safe generalization to make that Koreans like white cars. Why? That's because Resistance is Futile, All Will Be... actually I heard the reason was that white cars are perceived as being cleaner. Maybe someone else has another theory. A lot of foreigners live in our building which is how I explain the random red and black cars in the picture.

On the post move front, my gas range is still not installed and I've officially lost my Swiss Army Knife. I lent my knife to the workers who came to help move. One of them needed a screwdriver. At the end of the day, I forgot to get it back from him and they are now claiming to have no knowledge of the knife at all. That's the second one I lost in Korea. The first was my old Boy Scouts knife that flew out of my pocket one night on a swing in a playground miles away from here.

On the war front? There's not much that's got me excited. The North had a new missile test. They intercepted a spy plane. Still, the whole world is geared up for Iraq and North Korea is playing the poor sister at the media ball.

Happy White Day!

Friday, March 07, 2003

When it's all about honesty...
(Notice the hospital upstairs-- Mokdong, Seoul)

Well, I'm back and uncharacteristically liquored up. The move happened. It's taken some time to get my various utilities and connections back. I am still sansgas range since my new apartment seems to have a broken nozzle and the city gas guy hasn't showed up yet to install the old range. Half of the things in this apartment are backward and half are not. That has left me feeling utterly stupid-- especially after spending about 5 minutes not being able to determine which tap was hot and which was cold in the bathroom. I never know which things are backwards.

Tonight, our staff went out for galbi and drinking, which is not a common thing. We have had a lot of new staff lately. In fact, I think that only four of us (including the boss) were there for the last gathering. We have also had a strangely huge number of students sign up for classes this week, which I think is one reason why my boss invited us out. To top it all off, we also have a new, part-time waegook from Nova Scotia.

Oh yeah. I have a promise to make to you, my readers. This week, my middle school classes have been studying adjective clauses. For anyone who has been reading my blog over the long term, you already know that my own grammar is painfully weak in this area. I hereby promise to more effectively control my rambling use of adjective clauses.


	CHANGWON ∙ The Kyungnam to Kyunggi Journal ∙ SEOUL
	Saturday, March 29, 2003 Nowon, Seoul Forget about pretzels and beer for this war-- I'm not really writing much lately. It's one of those strange situations where you know that the big story is Iraq and since you're not a part of it, you feel excluded. But the Gulf War has so far turned out to be less than shocking or awe-inspiring (though someone on an email list that I subscribe to found out an interesting reason why they may have chosen the words, "shock and awe". See this website on the meaning of the Hebrew term, "Shekinaw"). Do journalists on CNN really have to travel with the troops if all they are going to do is report the equivalent of a U.S. Army press release anyway? I thought that was what fax machines were for. Watching the tube, the bombs just aren't as big as they said they would be, and now the Tomahawk missiles have been suspended. Stories about thousand-strong Iraqi tank columns appear and then disappear before you get a chance to find out what happened. Comparing stats and figures from media sources across the world and you quickly realize that nobody is telling the truth-- so why bother following it? I just turned off the T.V. From the looks of it, this war is going to drag on for months and maybe years-- I'm sure it will still be there when I go back to watching. Again with the Eastern Front Locally things are subdued in regard to the impending war in Korea. Another newspaper story came out back home but this time I didn't have to write anything. A friend of mine who's starting work there interviewed me instead. North Korea still fears it's next, after Iraq, but Maurice Strong, the venerable-yet-intrepid Canadian/United Nations diplomat has returned from Pyongyang says that the North doesn't really want a war. In fact, they may be downright fearful of war, according to the NY Times. I also figure that I am going to have to learn how to be a better and more interesting writer. Everyone is talking about Gulf War blogs these days and I know that the same thing is slowly happening here. My hit count has doubled since North Korea began chunking out plutonium. In anticipation of new readers, maybe I should change the format of the blog somehow. Maybe I should give it a makeover or give myself a makeover. Maybe I should sensationalize things more smirk. Maybe I should change my name to something like "Wolf" or "Dirk". It's times like these that I ask myself-- what would CNN do? A couple of strange stories have popped up lately. In a benignly weird way, Seoul is urging Washington to be bolder in their approach to the North. The Roh flip flop has become a violent and hawkish thrashing upon the political floor. Meanwhile in Pyongyang... Roh's red-blooded and red-spirited counterpart, the elusive Kim Il Jong, has disappeared! Let's just hope he's easier to track down than Osama Bin Laden or else the bold approach will die on the vine and this mess will never get straightened out. Mother Nature's Shock and Awe This is how I know that I haven't been writing much lately. It's almost a week ago that there was an earthquake centred near Mokdo which registered 4.9 on the Richter scale. I tagged that story to blog about later because this might actually be my very first earthquake experience. It occurred at 5:38am but me, being a nighthawkish lad, felt it. Now it was hardly anything to worry about-- it had the intensity of someone giving my desk a bit of a nudge. It lasted just a few seconds-- long enough for me to be satisfied that it wasn't some North Korean artillery shot. I wondered to myself if indeed it was an earthquake and sure enough, the papers carried the story the next day. Cool! The closest I have been to experiencing an earthquake was about 20 years ago when a tiny one hit New Brunswick. I was living in Nova Scotia at the time, just out of range for the vibrations, but my grandmother's house has a narrow crack in the plaster on the staircase to this day. Please send more news... In a perfect world, I'd be able to point out more stories like the discovery of identical stone-age settlements in South Korea and Russia. The story is really short and I can't find any other mention to it anywhere on the net. I just wanted to blog about it because I'm really interested in this and it's the first non-political thing I've seen in the news for months that was worth mentioning for me. Please send more stories like this one. At school So there is my belated post from last week. In personal news there's not a lot. I still don't have my gas range installed and people are no longer even certain where it is. School is going alright but I am getting a heavier classload for April while my middle school classes are dropping in half (to be replaced with a new crop of screaming elementary school brats). There first couple weeks of this schedule will teeter between tolerable and annoying. Then at the end of the month to break the monotony, our school is planning it's annual Membership Training (M.T.) to Kangwon-do. This time I can look forward to it better since I am now a veteran at the school and know what I can expect. (Of all our staff, only one teacher has been at the school longer than I have, by a month, but he didn't attend the M.T. last year.) Last year I fretted about travelling with almost-strangers, across the country for an all-weekend drinking binge when I knew darn well that I was being kept out of the loop on everything. This year I know what to expect and can look forward to some beautiful coastline, underdeveloped countryside, fresh tofu, and more seafood than you can humanly eat. It should be fun. -- finally, back to beer. Remember my joy last month to discover Molson Canadian being sold at bars in Seoul? (I know, three years ago you wouldn't even catch me taking a leak in a bottle of that stuff-- what with my deathgrip on Oland's Schooner and all). Now it turns out that Molson is being sold in the newly renovated and improved Sabe Jone (Save Zone) next door! It's only 4 bucks CAD a bottle too and since the value of the Won is too low to consider sending money home for savings... posted by Ian at 8:21 PM - link ... 0 comments ... Friday, March 21, 2003 Famous warrior: General Yi, statue at Yongdusan Park in Pusan Defcon 2 Well, the crusade in the desert has begun so I should be thankful that I didn't choose to teach English in Yemen or somewhere. Instead, I'm here in Korea but we are also on a heightened level of alert. The general rumour for a while has been that if North Korea was ever going to finally invade South Korea, they would do this while the U.S.A. was engaged in a conflict elsewhere. Apparently, this information had been coming with some consistency from DPRK defectors over the last 7 years or so. Since my blog is based in Korea, I will avoid the media blitz on the Middle East and try to stick to only mentioning what is happening in regard to the local threat level. In addition to those rumours, there are a view reasons why the possibility of a North Korean invasion are more palpable. There is, of course, the whole Nuclear North situation to begin with, that has been ongoing since last October. There are also the continuing incidences of missile tests, threats, and the interception of the U.S. spy plane short weeks ago. American bombers have also been moved into the local theatre in anticipation. More recently, the U.S., together with R.O.K. forces having been conducting largescale wargames, with the inclusion of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson. North Korea seems frantic in its calls that this is a prelude to war on behalf of the U.S., whom after already listing North Korea in its "Axis of Evil" would seem to be on its way to dealing with North Korea-- though doubtfully while they are busy in Iraq and likely while they are busy with a 2004 Election campaign or some other event in the future. This last perceived inevitability may just propel North Korea into choosing a preemptive attack. Still, they may be less concerned with these wargames than they are letting on, as the DPRK refused an offer to have a sit down and an explanation over the matter which you'd think they want to do if they truly felt they wanted some concrete military information on Southern deployments in advance of an invasion of their own. Then again, Korean-style does seem to follow the tactical more than the strategic. Meanwhile, South Korean president, Roh, is seeing some advantage in things as far as repairing his ties to the U.S. goes. After all the anti-Americanism attached to his election campaign and the early days of his presidency, Roh has pledged his support to the U.S. in the matter of Iraq and has even offered 750 non-combat troops to help with rebuilding Iraq once the fighting stops. Expect to see PCBangs in Baghdad in the near future. The threat from North Korea has also encouraged Japan to jump on the Shock and Awe bandwagon. The biggest opponent of U.S. action in Asia seems to be China. There have been a few troubling rumbles from people living there about the extent to which the Chinese citizens are up in arms over this (figuratively only, I hope). Me? I worry about China because of the five permanent security council members, they are the one who is both not involved in fighting (like the U.S. and Britain) while at the same time, they didn't threaten a veto (like France or Russia). I could only suspect that in spite of their immediate criticism after the fact, they secretly wanted the war in Iraq to go through. Benignly, China could want the war as part of the grand scheme to bring oil to Asia. If you plot the "Axis of Evil" on a map together with U.S. allies (and I am including Pakistan), you'll notice that they form a nice line stretching all the way from Saudi oilfields to Japan (via South Korea). Sure this proposed pipeline is a favourite of conspiracy theorists as to why the U.S. really needed the war in Afghanistan-- but I noticed amidst the war coverage on CNN that Texaco is proudly advertising their new Caspian pipeline through Afghanistan; so does that finally make it official? (Texaco already has worked in projects together with China). Deviously, China could secretly want the war out of some concerted plan with North Korea. In that case, go back to the beginning of this post. Roh in the Know Diplomatically, Korea is higher up on the phone-list at the White House too. In the previous Gulf war, South Korea was notified of the action via the Korean embassy. In the case of Afghanistan, that notification had advanced to a direct phone call, an hour after hostilities began. This time, Roh received a personal phone call from Dick Cheney an hour before missiles began firing in the Gulf. Even the Korean stock market is up! Although, the won has been currently sitting at it's lowest levels in about five months. This has caused problems for those of us who transfer money home. I had originally been hoping to beat the rush to war and send home money on Monday, but there were cooperation issues, I guess. Now I'll sit on my salary, wait for oil prices to stabilize and the won to crawl back up, before I transfer my next paycheque. Luckily, I am not paying off a student loan else I wouldn't have the option of deferring until a sunnier day. U.S.F.K. moving to Souther Korea? What else is new? In spite of South Korea's newly regained Americaphilism under the banner of war and in spite of the issue of North Korea. The U.S. is proceeding to modify it's troop commitment and placement with South Korea, with or without the agreement of President Roh. On one hand, the "tripwire" function that U.S. forces serve may come to an end and U.S. forces may fall back to less conspicuous positions further south. This has been an issue for a long time but it looks like it may finally happen. South Koreans have long protested having U.S. Military facilities in central Seoul which they see as having a negative impact on the city. The problem is that when these bases were initially planned, Seoul had yet to expand in those directions. No problem, you say? Just move the bases out to the countryside and no one will be bothered. No way. The South Korean government has staunchly opposed any potential loss or displacement of their American human shields. It's all a matter of when push comes to shove(lling)... A different War over Gas And lastly, what's the single greatest indicator that North Korea could be plotting my doom? -- I still don't have my gas range installed (after three weeks of waiting). Today I was promised, would be the day that the gas man finally came to hook it up. Once that's accomplished, all of my immediate life's problems will be solved and I will be in a stable position again. That frightens me more than anything else. I am never in a stable position here. The last time I reflected, "Boy, things sure are stable, here," I was told the next day that I had to move apartments. Oh well, both the staff guy from school and the gas man are predictably 45 minutes late and counting. Maybe I will be spared by fate after all. posted by Ian at 12:32 PM - link ... 0 comments ... Friday, March 14, 2003 Happy White Day !!! No, they don't have a special day for caucasian foreigners... It's White Day once again and though I've probably explained it at least twice a year since I got here, I'll explain it again. In Korea, Valentine's Day is only for girls to give chocolate to guys. March 14th is the day that guys give candy back to the girls-- or in my case, I will be popping down to the super for some candy to pass out to my classes. I thought today's picture would fit well with the colour scheme. This is the parking lot of my building on an average day-- and it's a pretty average parking lot. I feel it's a safe generalization to make that Koreans like white cars. Why? That's because Resistance is Futile, All Will Be... actually I heard the reason was that white cars are perceived as being cleaner. Maybe someone else has another theory. A lot of foreigners live in our building which is how I explain the random red and black cars in the picture. On the post move front, my gas range is still not installed and I've officially lost my Swiss Army Knife. I lent my knife to the workers who came to help move. One of them needed a screwdriver. At the end of the day, I forgot to get it back from him and they are now claiming to have no knowledge of the knife at all. That's the second one I lost in Korea. The first was my old Boy Scouts knife that flew out of my pocket one night on a swing in a playground miles away from here. On the war front? There's not much that's got me excited. The North had a new missile test. They intercepted a spy plane. Still, the whole world is geared up for Iraq and North Korea is playing the poor sister at the media ball. Happy White Day! posted by Ian at 2:12 PM - link ... 0 comments ... Friday, March 07, 2003 When it's all about honesty... (Notice the hospital upstairs-- Mokdong, Seoul) Well, I'm back and uncharacteristically liquored up. The move happened. It's taken some time to get my various utilities and connections back. I am still sansgas range since my new apartment seems to have a broken nozzle and the city gas guy hasn't showed up yet to install the old range. Half of the things in this apartment are backward and half are not. That has left me feeling utterly stupid-- especially after spending about 5 minutes not being able to determine which tap was hot and which was cold in the bathroom. I never know which things are backwards. Tonight, our staff went out for galbi and drinking, which is not a common thing. We have had a lot of new staff lately. In fact, I think that only four of us (including the boss) were there for the last gathering. We have also had a strangely huge number of students sign up for classes this week, which I think is one reason why my boss invited us out. To top it all off, we also have a new, part-time waegook from Nova Scotia. Oh yeah. I have a promise to make to you, my readers. This week, my middle school classes have been studying adjective clauses. For anyone who has been reading my blog over the long term, you already know that my own grammar is painfully weak in this area. I hereby promise to more effectively control my rambling use of adjective clauses. posted by Ian at 2:32 AM - link ... 0 comments ...	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We had one duty ... Sunset on the Coast, Day 2, evening. We rushed ... Yongkungsa Part I, Day 2, mid afternoon. [...Co... Yongkungsa Part I, Day 2, mid afternoon. After ... April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 May 2004 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 September 2008 October 2008 October 2009 also see LATENIGHT MIRAMICHI and LATENIGHT HALIFAX