The End of the Epic A-Z Song Challenge

Hey all,

The picture above is an ode to this past week's episode of "Lost," which for those who don't watch, thank yourselves for not getting involved in the endless hours of intense thinking and re-thinking sessions that follow each episode.  You've saved yourself hours upon hours of time wasted to guess about very impertinent and trivial matters.  To those who do watch "Lost," you know that this past week the writers explored how Richard Alpert came to the island and met Jacob, and in the course of doing this, somehow Richard Manuel appeared on the island.

Now onto the bigger and much more important news, as the final seconds of "!!!!!" by The Roots played out earlier today on the bus ride back from Gwangju, I let out a huge sigh of relief.  I had reached my destiny, a long and strange journey that began roughly 10 months ago, last June, on the car ride from Madison to Bonnaroo in Tennessee.  I reached the finish line in what turned out to be an exercise in my patience.  Luckily, I enjoy most of the music on my iPod so it wasn't as tedious as I'm making it sound.  I want to say a special thanks to Dad, whose influence on my musical tastes cannot be overlooked.  After seeing you begin your own epic adventure through your music, I was inspired to do the same and really evaluate all my music.  I've come to the conclusion that 98% of my library is great and most of it wouldn't have been without your tutelage and dedication to raising me to be a lover of music.  I appreciate all that you've done to further my music education.  Another special thanks to Uncle Niel, who helped me round out my music interests with the help of Dad.  I still remember getting Ram, McCartney, Band on the Run, and Venus and Mars for my 6th birthday and The Bends, Ok Computer, and Hail to the Thief for my 15th birthday.  And who could forget Teenage Fanclub and the Manic Street Preachers?  I hope one day I can do the same for my children and nieces and nephews.  In short, the day has come and now that I'm free, I'm back to being overwhelmed with all my music.  I've decided to give myself a quick psych up for the Bob Dylan concert this Wednesday so I'm currently going through Blood on the Tracks.

In other news, there is another Minnesotan in Suwon!  John Dritsas hails from Golden Valley, a proud Hopkins alum, who was put in touch with me by Paul Chodosh, formerly a teacher here.  Many mutual friends between the two of us and it's great that he got placed in the same city as me.  It's been nice for me to expound on my decent knowledge of Korea and help show John some of the ropes, but he doesn't really need my help, he's been adjusting just fine.  Also, as I wrote in the last post, Rebecca and I are going to Osan for Seder tomorrow night, which I'll write more about in a few days.  Overall, it was a good weekend and it's looking like a great week!  At school I've also picked up a kindergarten class that meets 2x a week for 20 minutes each.  I'm a little apprehensive to see how the teaching goes (the class doesn't start until April), but I'm going way easy on them.  Sticking to the ABC's and "C is for Cookie" on repeat.

That's all from here, enjoy these goodies.

What I'm listening to: "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts" by Robert Zimmerman.

Link action:

Book Choice:













Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFBSTjANAKU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkzRyHa9a6g

Another Weekend

Hey all,

Not too much excitement to report on. The past weekend was a little more low-key now that all of us have settled back into our regular school routines. Friday night, the boys hung out and kicked it in Ilsan. Saturday I headed out to Bucheon to participate in a "special" Olympics event as part of an all-Wisconsin team. Sunday was more of the same, but yesterday evening I saw the movie "Shutter Island," which was pretty good, although not for the faint of heart. It was definitely a thriller, but it also had some introspective parts as well, although some of them seemed unnecessary and had little to do with the overall plot and storyline. In other news, I've found a seder closer to home for next Monday night, so no worries, I will be in attendance and hopefully it will be good. I'm trying to figue out the best way/easiest way to explain to my co-teacher and the rest of my school why I can't eat school lunch next week. I'm hoping something comes to me in the next few days, I'm sure it will. The next few posts should be better than this, I'm hoping to get in the culinary tour of Seoul on April 5th and the Toilet Tour of Suwon in early April (if the weather cooperates). Now, on to the good stuff.

This next part I have to credit to Uncle Niel, who tuned me in to this earlier today. The music selection for this week is a special tribute to the great and relatively unknown work of one Sir Percy "Thrills" Thrillington, who only released one album, in 1977.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eib-z7lWFzk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWz9Q2bKjVg&feature=related

iPod A-Z Song Update: "Younger Than Today" by Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals

Woohoo, under 200 songs to go!

My First Korean Hockey Game!

Hey all,

In the last blog post I mentioned a possible, if not legendary, tour of the famous public restrooms of Suwon, my city. Unfortunately the 2010 Suwon Toilet Crawl was postponed due to incliment weather and will take place sometime in the hopefully near future. But, alas, the weekend was not lost! On Friday night, Dave and I went to a small concert in Hongdae, where one of the bands featured a friend of his that also went to Wisconsin, although he's a few years older than us. And, as is evident from the title of this post, I went to my first Korean hockey game on Saturday afternooon. The game was made more enjoyable because it was a playoff game, Game 2 of a best-of-5 series between Anyang Halla (the team we were rooting for) and Chuncheon High (their hated rivals). The arena was in Anyang, about 20 minutes from Suwon by metro (so relatively close). I estimated there were close to 7,000 people in the stands and I would guess roughly 10% were foreigners (maybe a little less). Regardless, the game was a lot of fun and definitely a unique experience and one that I would like to repeat in the future. The skill level of the game was equivalent to good high school hockey in Minnesota or juniors (think USHL/OHL/QJMHL). Each team was made up of mostly Koreans, maybe one or two Japanese players, and a few foreigners (mostly Canadian). There was a lot of excitement in the stands and it was kind of a cool challenge to learn all the different Halla cheers. It reminded me a lot of going to Badger hockey games in Madison (my favorite sport to watch), which are one thing I've really missed since graduation. The atmosphere at the Kohl Center during Badger hockey games (and basketball, but we'll keep this hockey-centric) was electric from the drop of the puck to the last whistle and every student fan was definitely dedicated to the team. The Halla also have a very loyal and dedicated group of followers and it was a thrill to experience their passion for the team, side by side. I even tried to encorporate some cheers from the Badger hockey games throughout the course of the game, but none of them really caught on.

In other news, my school schedule is back on track and I'm definitely feeling it this week. I'm much more tired at the end of the day, but that's fine because I've had it pretty easy the last 2 + months. Once I get back into my routine I should be fine. It's also been nice, because the badminton after school has started up once again, so I can continue to work on my Twinkle Toes. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be half decent. Right now it's more of a nice workout for me, being run all over the court. Oh, and if anyone was wondering whether Bracket Fever has hit here in Korea, the answer is it certainly has. We have a nice little pool going for our Wisconsin group, hopefully my luck will change. The past few years haven't been kind to me or my bracket, which is probably why I've been agonizing over my current one the past few days. Well, that's all from here, I'll check back in after the weekend. On Saturday there is a pretty decent size St. Patty's Day celebration in Seoul that should be fun and hopefully the weather will cooperate; today we got some wet snow for most of the afternoon.

iPod A-Z song update: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys

Link of the week (It's a classic): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZWxErEbQkY

Teachers' Dinner

Hey all,

Back with another post, sorry for the longer period in between posts, there just wasn't enough to really justify a new post until now. If you're thinking that the menu above is from the teacher's dinner, you would be incorrect. Mom and Dad found it at the glorious Holiday Inn Yorkdale, famous for their seasonal culinary exploits. It appears the end of February was Korean week (or month) not sure. Anyways, the menu is pretty accurate and sounds delicious to me, although much different from our menu last Friday night at our teachers' Shabbat dinner (sorry Bubbie and Papa, just a joke). As for the strapping young lad on the right, it's not me, nor my father, but Uncle Niel, modeling Bubba's new traditional Korean mask. The first week and a half of the semester has gone pretty well, the kids are excited, which makes teaching them much easier. But, I really haven't done a tremendous amount of teaching either. Last week, they had a lot of opening ceremony stuff going on so I basically taught half days and this week I'm teaching all my regular classes, but no special class until next week. Now, onto the teachers' dinner last Friday.

The dinner was done to welcome all the new teachers to our school, 6 in total, I believe. My former co-teacher was one of the departing teachers, but her replacement was already at our school. Anyways, the dinner was great! We went to a sushi restaurant in Suwon and had a boatload of different fish and all were delicious. In addition, per Korean tradition, there were two different kinds of Shabbas wine, samsuchon (which is a fruit-based wine) and soju (basically watered-down rocket fuel). Needless to say, spirits were running high throughout the entire dinner and afterwards, we went to fabreng...I mean noraebang (Sorry, for a second I thought I was back at Chabad in Madison for Shabbat, it's funny how the traditions are the same across cultures). Noraebang is Korean karoke. Most of the teachers showed up and after a few Korean songs were sung and after much badgering by my fellow co-workers, I decided to show off my skills. To play it safe, I chose "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles and went into Ferris Bueller mode.

Needless to say, I knocked it out the park, a perfect 100%, and received a raucous round of applause from the other teachers. From noraebang, everyone headed their separate ways, some teachers chose to stay out and some called it a night. The rest of the weekend was more low-key, save for Saturday night. I went out to Gangnam with a few friends to explore an area of Seoul that I'd only been a few times and it was definitely an enjoyable night.

This weekend I had originally planned to do a culinary tour of Seoul on Saturday, during the day, but this month's excursion is all booked up, so I'm going to try and do this next month. Don't worry though, plenty of other things to do. A friend of mine plays on a hockey team in Suwon and his team is playing Saturday afternoon, so I'll probably end up going to the game and then Sunday the first annual (to my knowledge) Toilet Crawl or Toilet Crawl 2010! For those of you that are confused, perplexed, or just generally don't understand what I'm talking about, let me explain. Beginning in the late 1990s, as part of a beaufication process, the city of Suwon decided to upgrade its public restroom facilities, and in doing so, is now ranked as having the best public restrooms in the world. Given that I live in this city, the opportunity was much to great to pass up, being a man who appreciates a fine public restroom. Here's some more information on Suwon's "restroom culture":

http://eng.suwon.ne.kr/sub/travel_tour/travel_tour_06_01.asp?menuCode=0406

And a map with pictures of each magnificent architectural feat:

http://eng.suwon.ne.kr/sub/travel_tour/travel_tour_06_05.asp?menuCode=040605

There are 44 in all and we hope to hit the majority of them, weather permitting.

Seeing that it's March, I'm getting pretty excited for baseball season to start. It has already started here, along with the soccer season, and I'm hoping to get out to a few games at some point in the future. I read earlier today that my namesake, Joe Nathan, may be out for the season, which would be a bad blow for the Twins, but I'm hoping it's not as serious as they may think it is. In other news, the Badgers are gearing up for the Illini on Friday in the Big Ten tournament. The hockey teams are getting ready for the Final Five and even the women's basketball team looks to be in the tournament this year, which would be great. I can't wait for Selection Sunday and March Madness to begin. I can guarantee that we will have a pool out here, hopefully I'll do better than I have the last few years. Moving completely away from sports for a second (I can't really talk about how embarassing the last two Wild games were, goodbye playoffs...), I got a nice little Passover package from Mom and Dad today, so now I'm all set with matzah, boxed gefiltte fish (I'm a little skeptical), and fruit jellies. Now I just have to figure out how to explain Passover to my co-teacher. That's all for now, more to come after the weekend.

iPod A-Z song update: "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" by Peter Sarstedt (great song, if you haven't heard it, please trust me and check it out)

New Music link: I realize it's been a while since I've done one of these, I forgot the last few times I went to the blog. Anyways, this band has been a favorite of mine since I first heard them 4 years ago. Sidenote: after reading Rolling Stone's Spring Music preview, I'm now really excited for all the music coming out the next four months, tons of goodies, which some of you will or have already read about and will see up on here when time permits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVMubOGxAVc

Different band, still good music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tstDvkpDlw&feature=related

Olympic Fever/Back to School

Hey all,

Back with the newest post, focusing on the Winter Olympics and the start of Spring semester here in Korea. The Winter Olympics were great to watch and it worked out perfectly that last week, when all the important things were on (hockey, Kim Yu-Na, etc...) I didn't have anything to do, so I could watch everything I wanted to.

First Olympics story:

After a pretty much unstoppable short program on Wednesday (in Korea), Kim Yu-Na was set up to go for gold in the long program on Friday afternoon (KST) against Asada from Japan, her main rival, and the gutsy Joannie Richette. It just so happened that the long program started just as all the teachers and principals were sitting down for lunch, so naturally we were all glued to the TV from the moment the skaters took to the ice. Eventually we got to the top six skaters, with Kim Yu-Na skating 4th. Her long program was outstanding, nearly flawless and it received a raucous round of applause from all the teachers and myself. While we waited out the last two skaters, we all knew that Kim Yu-Na had won gold and when it was awarded to her, the office went wild!

Second Olympics story:

Saturday afternoon, the Rocky Mountain Tavern, a Canadian bar in Itaewon, was showing both hockey semi-finals on tape delay. First up, USA vs. Finland in an interesting matchup that turned blowout very quickly. A 6-1 final score had the USA riding a wave of confidence into Sunday's final. Next up, Canada vs. Slovakia. Canada jumped out to an early lead but Slovakia came back in the 3rd period before Canada shut the door. 3-2 final score and an epic rematch for world hockey supremacy between Canada and the USA, or as I referred to it, BORDER BATTLE 2010!! We found out that the same bar would be showing the gold medal game live Monday morning at 5 am. Thankfully, Monday was also a national holiday here, which worked out perfectly because I had all of Monday to sleep after the game. Anyways, we joined the crowd for the game around 4 am. There's nothing quite like being amongst your countrymen halfway across the world watching a gold medal showdown. I'll spare you most of the details of the game because I'm positive everyone who's reading this watched most if not all of the game. My two cents on the game; it was an exciting game, basically what any hockey fan on either side could have asked for. Two very good teams, playing some of the best hockey I've seen live, and in the end, the Golden Boy Wonder came through with the game winning goal. Thoroughly enjoyable to watch and for a few hours, hockey was the most important sport on both sides of the border.

Tuesday meant the start of a new semester, but this week has been relatively easy because the students have a lot of first week activities going on and next Tuesday is a big national test so no teaching that day either. I'm looking forward to getting back in the rhythm of teaching. That's all from here for now, made a little Costco run this evening, only to be disappointed that they don't have any hummus or pita chips!

iPod A-Z song update: "The Way Young Lovers Do" by Van "The Man" Morrison