The upshot of living, teaching, drinking, studying, riding, camping, waygook-in-ing around has always been this moment on Jeju, captured in all its "random Koreans moments" as a younger guy grabs my camera and says "good shot, good shot."
The upshot is, not, riding a bike in Korea. Maybe, it is getting back to America and accepting the realities of moving cross-contential. Losing a life i never expected, a bike, a job, and admittedly a girl. A HUGE and ambiguous 'maybe, definitely maybe' coming from International Accredators across the nation - obviously in reference to my latest adventure would could "definitely maybe' be Notre Dame, Australia.
...anyway.
Self-fulfilling prophecies and 'mirages' tend to lead us in a direction we've never expected, be it a shot of soju with an agesshi, or a shot of soju with the same old man in Houston. I've always set myself up for those, 'get in the hammock with this.' things like...
Riding a bike alone in Korea.
Or getting into graduate school, frustration and confusion aside, its pretty damn cool. The little things, a hammock in Korea that I've never expected: Or, this blog, while I attempt the impossible of putting what Korea was, into words. Things: skiing a black diamond in Muju, or drinking beers in Gwangju/Seoul/Busan/everywhere. Its hard to put into words...
I'll start with my favourites (notice the 'u' in favorite, thanks Luke), and explain the year of awesome in a Dr. Seuss way...with pictures.
This was at Orange(e) 24. First, the Korean language is very different from English, so when you directly translate something like "orange" the Korean language requires more syllables than the one syllable it takes to say "orange." It requires 2 syllables, like in all the writing (thats what the line is under the triangle on the inflated looking thing).
Secondly, this was where I decided that the GRE should stay in Korea. The GRE was one of the most fallacious things I've ever attempted. I'll get to that later over a beer at Pour House. Good news out of this amazing 333 in Vietnam, was that I was with my padre. A 61 year old professor of education, almost drafted into Vietnam, and literally (haha) older than China. This beer was the upshot to my February vacations, China and Vietnam with the paps. In Februray, china/korea are cold. Vietnam, 95 degrees...i raised this to all my hagwoners working on that brilliant tuesday at 2:00.
Back to shit:
fallacious GRE...for example:
"even if you went to Harvard and got an Masters degree, you could not attend here with that GRE score."
...think about it.
Anywwhoooooo, back to life:
Great pic eh? Thats the paps, after 61 years of life and the 23 it took me to get there. We both decided that this whole being in China, and going to see the great wall and what not was...
...pretty fucking cool.
Heard my dad use the f-bomb many of times, just, in a way that was NOT in context of me sucking at life. 'cheers to you paps.'
Thirdly (i've lost count), here's Timmy. Sure to be riding my bike right now, I rode him. Mwahaha, Timmy's a british bastard who's one of the funniest people I've ever met. Many times, he'd make a joke that went flying over my head, and I'd laugh cause everyone else was.
...then i realized it was at my expense.
98th-ly? Here's december 20th, 2009. About 4 minutes after I found out that:
Anywwhoooooo, back to life:
Great pic eh? Thats the paps, after 61 years of life and the 23 it took me to get there. We both decided that this whole being in China, and going to see the great wall and what not was...
...pretty fucking cool.
Heard my dad use the f-bomb many of times, just, in a way that was NOT in context of me sucking at life. 'cheers to you paps.'
Thirdly (i've lost count), here's Timmy. Sure to be riding my bike right now, I rode him. Mwahaha, Timmy's a british bastard who's one of the funniest people I've ever met. Many times, he'd make a joke that went flying over my head, and I'd laugh cause everyone else was.
...then i realized it was at my expense.
98th-ly? Here's december 20th, 2009. About 4 minutes after I found out that:
a) I will not have 2 months of vacation I thought the contract I had said I would.
b) I will be running 3 weeks of English camp with students who dont...know, English.
c) I love snow.
d) And my bad ass (female un-lucky) jacket is exceptionally warm.
Order is overrated, chaos is where I've always found myself most successful. Ergo, you read this through no logic or chronology at all...fuck that.
Here's Oedaldo, google it, you'll see a picture of my friends Roger and Sam. This was a brilliant evening full of BB gun fights and fires. It was Shelly's going away party, as the goodbyes kept on coming throughout that amazing summer. Here's Carlo and a confused texan trying to put a fan back together that fell apart.
Carlo, a good californian friend of mine was kicked out of the country due to a poor assement of his utility by his boss.
b) I will be running 3 weeks of English camp with students who dont...know, English.
c) I love snow.
d) And my bad ass (female un-lucky) jacket is exceptionally warm.
Order is overrated, chaos is where I've always found myself most successful. Ergo, you read this through no logic or chronology at all...fuck that.
Here's Oedaldo, google it, you'll see a picture of my friends Roger and Sam. This was a brilliant evening full of BB gun fights and fires. It was Shelly's going away party, as the goodbyes kept on coming throughout that amazing summer. Here's Carlo and a confused texan trying to put a fan back together that fell apart.
Carlo, a good californian friend of mine was kicked out of the country due to a poor assement of his utility by his boss.
...he got fired cause he was teaching 3 year old koreans english,
...he got fired because his boss thinks a foreigner can teach 3 year olds english,
...3 year olds...who don't know english,
...he got fired cause he was put in a shitty situation to begin with.
Ronnie Cruz took this picture, its me on top of Yudal-son in March. Before the GRE, before a motorcycle, before a lot. I've never felt so alive as I did in Korea, and its translated into Texas. Tomorrow I've got an interview at starbucks, the first part of an integral plan to get me to Australia for graduate school.
Haha, this picture, epitomizes the word: "ageshi."
...an old Korean man.
who gets a bit agressive:
...he got fired because his boss thinks a foreigner can teach 3 year olds english,
...3 year olds...who don't know english,
...he got fired cause he was put in a shitty situation to begin with.
Ronnie Cruz took this picture, its me on top of Yudal-son in March. Before the GRE, before a motorcycle, before a lot. I've never felt so alive as I did in Korea, and its translated into Texas. Tomorrow I've got an interview at starbucks, the first part of an integral plan to get me to Australia for graduate school.
...an old Korean man.
who gets a bit agressive:
Back to awesome Korea: Here's Kimchi, a seafood soup of some kind, and (left to right)...Chops, I-lex, Jon-boy, and big C. The amazing thing about Korean food is that its kind of all the same. The same 8 things, well, 23 if you can count. All amazing, they do them all very well. The red stuff, all of it in there, is very spicy...but amazing. I miss it so much, though the beer called either "hite or cass" is...shit.
Not to be too "emotional" about one of my life changing experiences or anything. But here's me and Mark, Mark (an english men who I met in Cant.terbury on a study abroad trip in 2008). Incredible guy, been everywhere, and would probably say the same thing about me. I talked him into coming to Korea. Oddly enough, if you're cognitively as capable to take the step back I am,
...my sister took that picture.
Cori also took that picture of one of my favorite people in the world, Shelley. Hopefully I'll see you in February!
Oh the white monkeys, we deemed ourselvs the white monkeys for one of 2 reasons.
a) we had motorcycles
b) Korean's called white people monkey's for some reason...it was kind of a 'fuck that' to all that racism that is far too obvious to be around in 2010 Korea. Not racist to white people, there are those everywhere, but racism towards Japan...odd eh? (we look like tools don't we)
...and this:
Not to be too "emotional" about one of my life changing experiences or anything. But here's me and Mark, Mark (an english men who I met in Cant.terbury on a study abroad trip in 2008). Incredible guy, been everywhere, and would probably say the same thing about me. I talked him into coming to Korea. Oddly enough, if you're cognitively as capable to take the step back I am,
...my sister took that picture.
Cori also took that picture of one of my favorite people in the world, Shelley. Hopefully I'll see you in February!
Oh the white monkeys, we deemed ourselvs the white monkeys for one of 2 reasons.
a) we had motorcycles
b) Korean's called white people monkey's for some reason...it was kind of a 'fuck that' to all that racism that is far too obvious to be around in 2010 Korea. Not racist to white people, there are those everywhere, but racism towards Japan...odd eh? (we look like tools don't we)
Oh ad-je-ma massage place. (ad-je-ma is old lady in Korean)...This was called 'cupping.' Exciting to know it was wasnt I and every other dirty mind out there thought it was, as the 60 something lady put these cups on my back, with a candle wick on the top, lit them on fire...and sucked out the knots I had in my back...It was, interesting.
One of the hardest parts of living out of the country for a year and a month are the things you expected to miss...like...
One of the hardest parts of living out of the country for a year and a month are the things you expected to miss...like...
...christmas outside of the country. (and Dr. Pepper)
But the things you never expected to miss...i.e the little things:
1. Shiner bock - encompassing all good beer
2. Camel Lights
3. Disposals
4. Comfortable beds/couches
5. College Football
6. Cheese
7. Salsa and Chips
8. My 1997 Nissan Sentra
9. Commercials
10. Radio and all its (now) shitty glory
But the things you never expected to miss...i.e the little things:
1. Shiner bock - encompassing all good beer
2. Camel Lights
3. Disposals
4. Comfortable beds/couches
5. College Football
6. Cheese
7. Salsa and Chips
8. My 1997 Nissan Sentra
9. Commercials
10. Radio and all its (now) shitty glory
You learn to accept that you are not going to see your family and friends, before you even apply for the position. But, then again...you get this:
...and this:
That's what you get to see when you leave your comfort zone...
The mirage I was talking about earlier, is this: my bike. which is one of the biggest things I miss about Korea. That was the ride from Mokpo to Ttanguit, about an hour and a half and my cheery popping ride. That's also what happens when you push yourself...this too:
So that is the upshot I assume, the pictures and material objects I've obtained over the last 15 months that will stay with me for life. George Clooney said one time that
"pictures are for those who can't remember."
I say, pictures are for those who are in the depth of reality, the stress of a 9 to 5 (or in my case, living with my parents after a month of living on a motorcycle). Its to remind me of what I am capable of, what I can do and how I can surprise myself. The title of this discursive blog is that I never knew I could live in a country all alone...because I've never done it. How the hell would I know, I've never done it.
The mirage I was talking about earlier, is this: my bike. which is one of the biggest things I miss about Korea. That was the ride from Mokpo to Ttanguit, about an hour and a half and my cheery popping ride. That's also what happens when you push yourself...this too:
2:04 p.m. 10-20-2010
This experience, the last year plus weeks of my life, finally transpired the emotions I've never been able to put into words. Emotion so fierce that during Sean's "somewhere beautiful," I had to take off my Vietnamese oakley's to wipe it away.
This experience, the last year plus weeks of my life, finally transpired the emotions I've never been able to put into words. Emotion so fierce that during Sean's "somewhere beautiful," I had to take off my Vietnamese oakley's to wipe it away.
So that is the upshot I assume, the pictures and material objects I've obtained over the last 15 months that will stay with me for life. George Clooney said one time that
"pictures are for those who can't remember."
I say, pictures are for those who are in the depth of reality, the stress of a 9 to 5 (or in my case, living with my parents after a month of living on a motorcycle). Its to remind me of what I am capable of, what I can do and how I can surprise myself. The title of this discursive blog is that I never knew I could live in a country all alone...because I've never done it. How the hell would I know, I've never done it.
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