Welcome to my third post within a week. I should do this more, really. As I previously mentioned, things are quiet here because the Lunar New Year is, unlike the Western calendar New Year, a quiet family affair. So I will take this opportunity to answer some reader mail.
A good friend in Colorado, Matt Wiley, emailed me some very sensible questions. (Welcome to Facebook, by the way, Matt, and like you I wish the Lakers the best of luck all the way through the Western Conference playoffs.) It's not really Reader Mail, as in, "Hey, you should answer questions on your Web page," but I'm a whore for page views, so you should not only read this post but submit questions by clicking here.
Is the Super Bowl big there?
No. Any English Premier League game featuring Manchester United is bigger because of midfielder Park Ji-Sung, the first Asian ever to wear the captain's armband for the famous club. Their games are on every time he plays here, which means I get to hear commentary and see graphics in Korean. If Park isn't the first Korean to play in the EPL, he easily is the most popular and noteworthy. MBC ESPN (one of four all-sports channels I get) also places a premium on games involving Fulham (Seol Ki-Hyeon) and West Bromwich Albion (Kim Do-Heon). In fact, I'm wondering if this national holiday isn't really because of the new year, but because Kim scored for Albion in yesterday's FA Cup tie.
Back to the Super Bowl ... I will, thankfully, watch the game at The Holy Grill at 8 a.m. Monday, local time. I'll just go out on a limb and assume I'll be a little more relaxed for this game than I was last year.
How (was) the inauguration of the U.S. president handled there?
I watched the inauguration online. The online TV watching culture is big here, not that I would ever, ever condone illegal streaming or anything. The CNN site was limited to U.S. addresses, so I watched a stream of the Associated Press video coverage.
I suggest you read this post from The Seoul Patch, a blog done by "a middle-aged American teacher, writer and soccer coach," for a review of Korean media coverage of the inauguration.
Koreans generally have a positive vibe about Obama -- whether it's his name, his speeches, or that his resume does not include Illegally Invaded Country That Was No Threat To Us, 2003. A quick perusal of the Korea Times, which admittedly is not four-star journalism, shows that a top priority is forcing North Korea to disarm its nuclear weapons. I have article links here and here.
What is it like when you go to the grocery store?
It can be frustrating. For example, in a store that is barely bigger than my apartment, it took me two minutes to find margarine. I see pancake mix, but I can't read the directions or find maple syrup. It took a second trip to E-Mart before I found cheese worthy of dipping nachos into. And very few staffers speak English -- as expected, naturally. The success rate of finding what I want is 50-50, and the failures are because (a) the place doesn't have what I'm looking for or (b) they just don't have it.
Quick story. Before my school's Christmas party I stopped by a Hi-Mart electronic store to buy a voltage converter. Two incredibly friendly employees greeted me at the door, walked me upstairs, sat me at a table and offered me coffee. During that process I tried unsuccessfully to explain what I needed.
Finally, with an audience of three, I gave it my best shot. I placed my knapsack on the table. "PlayStation from U.S.A.," I said. I pretended to plug it into a box I mimed on the table. "220 volts," I said. Then I mimed plugging that into the wall.
Yeah, but they knew what I wanted. Baby steps. (Postscript: My immediate boss at Yale has given me hers. And I am in my third season as Munich 1860, having qualified for the Bundesliga by winning the 2. Bundesliga, thanks to the yeoman work of Lars and Sven Bender, my 20-year-old defensive mids who also are twins and ... Hello? Why are you leaving? I have one more question left ...)
What is the nightlife like?
1. Weekends last late. I have come home with the sun out. Typical night out downtown ends around 3-4 p.m. for me.
2. There are a handful of bars that cater to English speakers. But there are places populated with foreigners and Koreans, most notably singing rooms and a place called the Organ Room, which is covered in Sonic Youth posters.
3. I have gone to English-catering places by myself a few times. As odd as that felt in the States, and as odd as that feels here sometimes, Koreans find going out alone even stranger. They're always in groups. You just don't see a Korean drinking alone at a bar, speaking to strangers.
Thank you, Mr. Wiley, for the questions. Anyone else who wants their queries answered for the world to see, you may email me here.
It is a long weekend in South Korea as everybody prepares to celebrate the Lunar New Year. And by "everybody," I mean every Korean, while 95 percent of the English teachers opt to leave Daegu for Busan, or Japan, or Taiwan.
I am among the 5 percent staying in Daegu, and tonight I opted to stop playing FIFA 09 on my PlayStation and traveled downtown for the last-ever night of the Thunderbird Lounge, one of several bars that cater to foreigners. I saw some friends, met a few new ones, and as you might imagine, struck out again, this time with a Canadian who spoke with me much of the night, only to become attracted to someone else.
As I walked for a cab, I constantly thought of that one scene in Bottom where Rik Mayall does what only us shunned men even dream of doing -- he demands that the woman who rejected him give him his money back for those drinks he bought. But I didn't. You guys know me, I'm a very classy person.
The cab driver spoke some English, a rarity here. I don't mean that to be snitty. I don't expect many cab drivers to speak English. But this one did, and he mentioned that he liked "Clinton." I had no idea why he wanted to discuss U.S. Presidents, but OK. Then, after he mimed a guitar, I figured it out: He likes Clapton. Particularly, he likes "Tears In Heaven." I told him I found Korean music catchy. So there it was. He likes Clapton. I told him I have those damn WonderGirls in my head. And I figured that was that.
And then, out of the blue ...
"Cyndi Lauper!"
Really?
"She-Bop!"
OK then. For the cab driver who brought me home early Sunday and brought a needed smile to my face ...
I was teaching an elementary conversation class when I incorporated two of my favorite topics -- soccer and video games -- by mentioning I have immersed myself lately in FIFA 09 for PlayStation2 (and thanks for shipping that, Inga).
So the student, who goes by his English name John, asked me if I knew a midfielder named "Yo-Zep." I didn't know if he meant Joseph or Yosuf ... didn't matter. I drew a blank.
Then he asked me about a goalkeeper, "Ry-suh." Nope.
Okay then. How about a "Twellman"? Why, yes. Taylor Twellman. He plays forward for my team in the U.S., the New England Revolution.
And then it all came together. "Yo-Zep" is Shalrie Joseph. "Ry-suh" is Matt Reis. Hey, my student knows who plays on my favorite team! And do you know why? Because when he plays FIFA 09, he chooses the New England Revolution. A fifth-grader in Daegu, 14 time zones ahead of where I grew up, picks my team as his team.
The moral of this story is: Play video games. It brings cultures together.
