Lately...

I've not written anything like in forever, and I mean to rectify that immediately...

Hmmm... what have I been doing?

Well, I've been learning Esperanto. Why Esperanto? Why not? It's interesting and fun. Vere!

A lot of meditation. Doing green-card paperwork (off to Seoul tomorrow for translations of Korean documents...) Been on winter break, so been a little bored, I guess. And that's okay, I needed recovery time (see below). Been kind of lazing about, to be honest...

Had a hernia operation a few weeks ago (the second one in six years). Figured why not get it down here, where it's cheap? Spent just under a week in the hospital, which was while not fun, not horrible either. The first day was bad ... throwing up, etc, but after that, was just healing and recuperating. Being in the hospital is a little like being on retreat. It's just you and your body... no outside interference, and that's all you're worried about, you and your body.

Went to my Father-In-Law's birthday party last weekend...Trying to learn how to poach eggs (and failing) --

Read a wonderful book "Shadow Country" by Peter Matthiessen. It is a massive book, and I got though most of it in the hospital -- the last part, EJ Watson talking in the 1st person after his death, reminded me of Dante's Inferno, so I'm rereading the book now. I'm actually going to try to continue all the way through Purgatorio and Paradiso -- Usually I kind of stall in the middle of Purgatorio. This time, all the way to the top of Heaven's mountain!

Saw sone great movies: "Avatar", "500 days of Summer".

The weather has been nice... Almost springy, which I like! Roll on Spring! I miss you!

Walking in the Park, and....

I always walk to the bus station after work. It gives me 20 minutes of exercise after a long day, and it's a nice walk. I can either walk along a stream and then cut up along a large busy street, or walk along the stream for a third, up a street for a third, and cut through the park for a third. Yesterday, I decided to do the park way.

So, I was walking through the park when a group of young boys playing in an adjoining playground saw me. They started hollering "hello, how are you, my name is blah blah blah". This isn't abnormal for my city, as westerners like myself are fairly uncommon. Usually, if a child is polite and close, I'll either smile, nod, and / or respond in English. One thing I won't do is scream across a park. So I ignored them and kept walking, bypassing an old man who was dragging a metal cane on the brick, making a wince-worthy sound.

They kept up the screaming, which turned into quite rude Korean: "Word for for a woman's genitalia that sounds like 18 in Korean", "dog-baby", "fool" and other things besides.

What does one do in a situation like that? There are various responses I considered. Eventually I decided to do the one I felt was appropriate for the situation: I walked away, ignoring the insults just as I had ignored the English, not even pretending to notice. Was it correct? I don't know. Maybe I should have responded with verbal violence, using my own set of bad words? Or thrown rocks at them, as one student advised?. (Another student told me I should have beaten them up and taken their clothes and money, lol.)

But that's not me. Maybe it should be me, but it's not. So, I walked away and hoped they would learn wisdom as they grew up. Then again, a rotten child frequently grows into a rotten adult. So who knows? Sometimes, there are no good answers.

Hmmm....

A discovery this morning...

If you get up on time, as in when the alarm goes off, or even get up early, you don't have to hurry to get to work . You even have time for breakfast while you watch CNN! Wow... Who'd have thunk it... Sleep a little less, have more time in the morning! Interesting, as my buddy Mr. Spock might say, or even "Logical." Why didn't I figure this out years ago, say in my 20s?

I'll have to try this again tomorrow. Or some time this year, at least.

"Rent" in Seoul

I became acquainted with"Rent" via a music video playing in a restaurant where I was waiting for some takeout food. Cool, I though, so that's "Rent". I filed the information away, and a year later when I found the video for sale at a rental place, I snapped it up. And loved it, which I knew I would, somehow. I never thought I'd get to see it live, so when I saw the poster for it in Seoul a few months ago, I was ecstatic.

Two friends said they would go with me: Alan and Steve. The cheaper tickets were sold out, so we had to get $90 tickets. We saw the 3:00 show on Saturday.

The good? Good view from pretty much everywhere. Acoustics. Lots of energy. People excited. The two original members who played Mark and Roger, who were extremely comfortable in the roles. Great band who played without missing a beat.

The bad? The story was a little difficult to understand for people who didn't know it, and some of the lyrics were unclear. Small stage. Personally, I found myself missing some of the big scale effects of the movie. For instance, Angel in her Santa Claus suit. In the movie, she did a lot more acrobatics and drumming on pipes. Also, in the "La Vie Bohemme", I found myself looking for the things I saw in the movie that I didn't see in the play.

Don't get me wrong. It was a grand performance, and I'm glad I went. But just like usual, the reality couldn't match up with my anticipation of it.

Weekend news

Well, here I am at work. Again. Good thing I love my job! Had a hard time getting up this morning... must be getting old, lol.

"When can I go to the store and buy what I want with my good looks?" Allen Ginsberg

Had a nice, relaxing weekend. On Saturday, I met my friend Tim for dinner at "Hungry Eyes," the Cheongju Indian restaurant. I was glad to see it open, as I had heard it was closed momentarily. One of the workers had a problem with immigration, I heard. At any rate, the quality of the food did not suffer. Service, on the other hand... one man waiting tables and one man cooking... a hour and a half to get our food. And it was packed! Every table was filled! I felt sorry for the one waiter running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Afterwards we (with Alan) saw the movie "Public Enemy" which was "ehh." A little slow, I thought, and not engaging enough to keep my interest.

On Sunday, Helen went to Eumseong with Leona, leaving me to hang around on my own. I took a long walk through the neighborhood, and took a short mountain hike with a flashlight in the dark (the path is very clear, there are no sharp drops, and I'm very familiar with the path). Helen was not happy to hear about: "Don't do that! Maybe you'll meet a bandit!" Haha, not likely. For one thing, there are graves up there, and Koreans are generally nervous about ghosts (even the ones who say they don't believe in them). Also, a bandit's job is to steal money from travelers. A small path through the forest at night would not be a good place to wait for prospective marks. This isn't the 18th century, after all.

Also played my "Elder Scrolls III: Morrowwind" game, which I enjoyed, and did a quite a bit of meditation. I'm working with a mantra I created: "Water stills, silt settles" to begin the meditation sessions.

But... Monday.... Work.... 2 classes down and three to go....

On the Bus

Thursday. No breakfast today as I woke up a little late. Not late enough to miss my bus, just late enough that I had no time to eat. Not that I eat much breakfast anyway, but still. It was no big deal two hours ago, but now I'm at my desk and hungry. Still an hour to lunch.

I don't even have classes to distract me. My first two classes were canceled due to festival practice, and then the third period (right now) is free.

Did mindfulness meditation on the bus today instead of reading. Mindfulness is just that: being aware of everything going on. The five senses (a ringing phone, licking my lips, the shapely legs of the woman across the aisle, the humid air of the bus flavored by a subtle perfume just for a passing moment, blinking), the breath (in and out), and mental formations (not not thinking, but paying attention to the play of thoughts flashing across my mental screens). Paying attention, being in the moment. Living.

I also did a bit of gratitude meditation, in which one gives thanks for everything and anything that you can think of or see at the moment. [Gratitude for cellphones, even when they're annoying me, gratitude for a bus to take me to work, gratitude that I have a seat, gratitude for pretty women in short skirts, etc] I also did a little metta (lovingkindness) meditation when an ambulance went by. (May all beings be healthy, happy, and strong; may all beings be free of discontent and dissatisfaction, may all beings be free of suffering).

Usually I read on the bus going to work, but I often do mindfulness for part of or all of my time. I find it flavors my day in a subtle way: I'm more apt to smile and be centered throughout my day.

What are you doing right now? What are you really doing right now?

100% Swine Flu Free!

I left Michigan on the 24th, and arrived on the 25th.

Once I entered Korea, I had to do a seven-day in home quarantine. Korean people are (overly?) concerned about the spread of swine flu. Three people have died from it so far here. All the people in my program (EPIK) who went out of the country had to stay home for a week to make sure we were not sick.

Fine with me. I spent my seven days sitting around in my boxers and playing computer games. I also got a good start on the Star Trek books I picked up while in the states, meditated a good bit, and generally had a good time. Leona and Helen had to stay home too, so I got to spend quality time with my family as well. It was a little boring at times, true, but we live in a large apartment. If I had to live in a "one room", I probably would have been driven batty by the first day.

But back to work today. Everybody glad to see me. The students are having a festival this Friday, so two of my classes were canceled today to make room for rehearsals. No doubt tomorrow will be more of the same, and as for Friday, the whole day is shot.

It's quite sunny and hot today, although the lights are pleasantly cool. Hints of the coming fall on the night breeze. Michigan was much cooler: in fact, I had to wear a sweater one day.

Out the window, the late summer cicadas are buzzing their little hearts out. I wonder why they make that sound: mating, like fireflies? Hmmm.... this sounds like a job for Su... no, wait ... Google!

Cheap brides for Sale! Get your bride here!

I'm going to meet my wife's friend's fiancee tonight. This is interesting for more than one reason. Let me explain.

Over the the last five years or so, you see "marriage to a foreigner" signs everywhere. They'll usually say something like "Let's get married" or "Vietnam brides" or something along those lines, and they're normally stretched between trees out in the countryside. Marriage to women from other countries -- China, Vietnam, etc -- has become a huge thing. A massive percentage of rural Korean marriages were with foreign (meaning Asian but not Korean) women.

There's a reason for that: Korea has become a country centered in its cities. Which pretty much leaves Korean farmers in the countryside wishing to get married high and dry. The women desert the rice fields for the cities, and who can blame them? Cinemas, shopping, coffee shops, neon lights! Don't see much of that out in the rice fields. So Korean farmers can't get married. The solution to the problem? Import women.

Such women often have a hard life: the cultures are so different, and problems abound. I often see newspaper articles that detail such problems. On a whole, it doesn't seem like a very good deal, especially for the women.

So. My wife's friend is 48, and unmarried. He imported a bride, paying BIG (!!!) money to do so. The money apparently went to the businessman who set it up, and the woman's family. In this case, the woman is from Vietnam, and from a poor family in the country.

My wife met her last Saturday, and said she was very quiet. She couldn't speak either English or Korean. She's 24 and apparently very short.

We're having dinner tonight in a Vietnamese restaurant downtown. My wife suggested that we show her where the international store was, where she could buy foods from her home country. Her friend's response was (and this is what makes me think this marriage will not work out) "I don't want her to go there. She has to forget her own culture."

Boy, does he have a lot to learn: as one-half of a multicultural marriage, I can say that with some authority. But learn is what he'll have to do, or watch his marriage (later this month) go up in smoke.

Back from the demo

I'm back from my trip to Chungju. It was both fun and interesting, and we did several cool things over the two days. Some of the highlights included learning to play the Korean hourglass drum (which I sucked at, but it was fun) and listening to traditional music and watching b-boys (breakdancing). I have to say I was quite impressed by the b-boys. They were incredibly agile: one of their more impressive feats was 1 man standing on his hand. On one hand. And then, going down a flight of stairs while hopping on one hand, feet in the air. Wow!!

We also watched an impressive teaching-demo class, ate in several nice restaurants, and visited a spa (well, my friend and I did). We also learned about and practiced a Korean traditional martial art (which I also sucked at, although I did look very handsome in the robe). My partner put me on the ground several times.

We stayed in an old but serviceable condo. I traded partners to get my friend Steve as my room-mate, so that was fun. Many people got very drunk that night, and several of them were rather hungover the next day. (Although Steve and I were not among them.)

While the overnight trip was fun, I personally thought it was over-scheduled. There was a little too much packed into the two days, and little time to catch your breath. It was on the bus, go somewhere, do it, then back on the bus for the next thing. Repeat. The last thing we did was the the Korean-instrument workshop, which was interesting and all, but we were all tuckered out by that point.

The other thing that bothered me was the condo. We got there, no problem. It was in Suanbo, which is a famous area for spas. There was a beautiful lit-up pavilion on the mountainside that I made plans to walk up to. And then.... we were told we could not go out of the condo. If we left, or even walked down the street to the the little supermarket, we had to take a Korean staff--person with us. I asked about it, and we were told it was for our own good, that there were men lurking about who would steal our money.

Perhaps there was a legal reason for it. Perhaps there was a credible threat. Perhaps they were worried about the hard-drinkers in our crowd. Perhaps they simply didn't want to worry about us. I don't know, and it was explained in the most vague terms. But I, personally, felt that we were being treated like children.

Other than those two things, it was a good experience that I enjoyed. We're doing it again next November, and I look forward to it.

Happy but Wet

"It's a beautiful day."
"What are you talking about? It's raining!"
"It's still a beautiful day."

I've always liked rainy days. A lot of people whine or complain, but not me. I was happy when I woke up at 6 and heard the rain falling past my 13th floor window. At the moment, it's still raining cats and dog. The rainy season is living up to its name.

The interesting thing about water, at least from my perspective, is that it is recycled. The water you drink today was slurped up by T-rexes several million years ago, was draining from a corpse on a funeral home table last year, and will be carried into the universe on colonization rockets in 50 years or so. You're drinking water, you're drinking history: past, present, and future.

The most precious substance on earth, the one thing we all need to live, and it falls free from the skies. Gratitude to the rain!

After the Buddha died, his disciples carried on his wandering tradition The large group of believers split into fragments and carried the dharma throughout India (and then into the world). They were mendicant monks in old, worn out clothes with no shoes and ratty hair. They had nothing in the world but a begging bowl, a staff, and their passion and belief in the Buddha's dharma. Life is suffering. Suffering is caused by attachment and craving. You can stop suffering, and this is how you do it...

The original disciples and their followers were like a group of pool balls: scattered in all directions. But at one time of the year, they all came back together: the rainy season retreat. During the rainy season, their normal wandering was impossible: roads were washed out, rivers were flooded, and generally life was miserable. All the wandering begging monks gathered together in community to spend the time together.

I sometimes think of them on rainy day during this time of the year. The young monks with their doubts and their fears, the older monks with their experience , and the eldest monks with their memories of the actual Buddha himself, or their teacher's memories, or their teacher's teacher's teacher's memories. I see them now, gathered around a snapping fire, the sound of the falling rain thunderous outside a cave entrance. An old monk, trembling, bowed, arthritic, hard of sight, is led to a high seat and the younger monks gather around him. The Buddha, one asks, tell us about him. And then, in a age-broken voice, the ancient monk begins to talk.

Seoul Man

Last weekend, Leona, Helen and I visited the great city of Seoul.

We went up by bus on Saturday afternoon, getting there about 5. We visitedItaewon, which is the most foreign area in Seoul, and home to a great all-English used bookstore called "What the book". After spending some time (and money) in the bookstore, we found a new and fairly good Mexican restaurant called "Los Amigos." The bean burrito was excellent, and Helen enjoyed hers as well, so I suppose we'll go back there next time we're in Seoul. Something I particuarly liked was that every item on the menu had a vegetarian option.

My mother asked me to find some little pill containers while I was in Itaewon, but the store was closed when we were there. I have another source in Cheongju, though, so I'll check there.

We spent the night in Insadong, which is the traditional artist area in Seoul. This is an interesting street with dozens of tea shops. Lots of little shops for shopping, but it's mostly touristy stuff. Fine if you're only here for a week or so, but after 12 years, it's fairly old hat. We normally stay at a hotel by a temple (I like to listen to the bells, gongs, and drums at 4:00 a.m), but we wanted to stay somewhere else this time. We ended up this little closet of a room (although with a big screen screen!), and that was okay. This time. (Unlike the Mexican restaurant, we won't be back. On the way down in the 1940s elevator, I drew an X on the wall with my finger (from a habit by my mother).

On Sunday we went to a famous temple called Bong-eun-sa (sa meaning temple). This is a largish historical temple smack downtown Seoul. It's surrounded by modern skyscrapers, and it's a bit jarring to see the skyscrapers looming over the tiles roofs. We went in and listened to the monks chanting with their mok-tak drums for a while. I would have liked to spend more time there, temple junkie that I am, but Helen isn't that interested in temples.

Finally we did some shopping in the massive and maze-like underground shopping mall called COAX. We just kinda wandered around looking at this and that and getting lost. This is one of those areas you have to see to believe. We finished the shopping with the bookstore (of course, this is me) in the middle (well stocked with new English books). Taxi to the bus station, and then back home.

I love Seoul... when can I go back???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongeunsa
http://ko.whatthebook.com/ (Free shipping inside Korea!)

The End (of the semester) is Nigh!

Well, it's almost the end of the semester here at my high school. I finished grading my writing tests and Idiom / Vocab tests last week, and turned in all of my grades last Monday. Tomorrow starts 4 days of final exams for my poor students. They're all in a tizzy today; all of my classes are doing self-study today, which means I'm mostly flying my desk in a circle.

Next week will be a odd week. Monday is final exam day #3, so I will spend quality time with my desk alllll day long.

On Tuesday, I have to go to an elementary school for three lessons: these are students from a rural district, who don't have access to western teachers. It's a small school with small classes -- between 3 to 7 students in each grade. Not class, notice, grade. Then I spent Wednesday and half of Tuesday at my normal school with normal classes. Not that after-final-exam classess are normal, as students are generally lackluster and bored. They know they're not going to be graded anymore this semester, that they've learned everything they need to know, so why should they put in an effort?

On Thursday afternoon, however, I'm off to Chongju, which is an hour or so north, for a teaching demo and "cultural experience". This is an overnight activity for Chungbuk province EPIK teachers, of which I am one. These are generally worthwhile, and it's fun to get together with my friends and peers. Last year, the highlight was everybody (except me) getting drunk, including the bosses. My friend Steve and I hiked up to Boju- temple in the rain the next morning, so that was fun as well. I didn't know Steve well then, but now he's a good friend of mine.

There was one nerve-wracking moment though, last year. In the midst of the singing and dancing and drunken orgies, the boss, whom I like and respect, came up to me as I was sitting with friends, and leaned over to whisper in my ear. "I want you to know, Dale, that I did the best I could for you considering our current economic situation." And then he walked away.

I mean really, what the hell are you suppposed to think when your boss whispers something like that? I had a nervous few weeks wondering if I was going to be renewed. I was. All that precious worrying wasted (thank the Goddess!).

So it will be an interesting (fun!) week. I just hope my boss can refrain from whispering any more comments in my ear...

Rats!

We have a small hill-park directly across from my school, and in fact my desk looks directly out the window at it. It's nice to watch it change as it cycles though the seasons: at the moment, of course, it is lush and green with the warmth of summer. There are benches and exercise equipment, and it's a fairly quiet spot to spend a little bit of time. There are several nice pavilions (which I often use for meditation in the morning) and one half-cave. It's only half a meter high and filled with broken rocks and garbage: it is blocked off after about seven or eight meters. The park's name is Jjong-bong Park, and it is a green island in an ocean of look-alike apartment buildings.

So, I was sitting on a bench eating lunch yesterday. My wife made me some egg-salad sandwiches (with tomatoes!) , and I was taking a break from the tyranny of grading tests. I was eating and reading ("The Martians", by Kim Stanley Robinson) when I heard a ruffling in the bushes a few meters in front of me. I expected black squirrels: there are several that live in the park. What did I see instead? Rats!

Two big, beautiful, black rats chasing each other along the fence. I know what you're thinking. Who could get excited about rats? ("Only Dale..." Hey! I heard that!)

I'm from rural Michigan, and grew up with lots of animals around me all the time. We had horses, ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys, and other creatures besides. I used to have a scar on my elbow from where the goat attacked me. I probably have a hoof-shaped scar on my head from where my horse, Boulder, kicked me (I hear you thinking: so that's what happened!). In America, animals are a fact of life.

South Korea often appears curiously sterile to me. For the most part, wild animals other than birds and chipmunks are removed from the lives of the normal city-dwelling citizen. If they do see something like a little roe deer, it's not just unusual, it's downright strange. I tell my students I grew up with horses and deer, and they think I'm rich; they have no idea of life in an animal-filled environment.

So, yes. I'm happy to see rats. Any animal life is better than no animal life at all.

Leona on a Bike

Leona got her first real bike yesterday. Okay, it has training wheels on it. And she didn't really get it: it's her cousin's bike, but he's too small for it yet. Let's hope she doesn't tear it up in the meantime ,or we'll have to buy Min-gun a new one!

She was riding it down the walking trail behind our house when I realized how big she was getting. Yesterday, she was just was a baby, today she's riding her first bike, tomorrow she'll probably have a boyfriend. Time flies like an arrow, as they're fond of saying in Korea. We're both getting older, Leona and I. As I was walking next to her and pushing her along when she got stuck, I couldn't help but think of the poem "My son, my executioner" by Donald Hall.

I was very proud of her, watching her peddle her little heart out, and wondered if my parents felt the same way about me when I took those small steps toward independence and adulthood. My mother claims that I had a hard time learning to ride a bike actually, but I don't believe her! What could be hard about riding a bike?

Leona owes her existence to Buddhism, actually. I had ridden up to Bodhisattva temple, which is one of my favorite mountain temples, and fairly close. While I was there, I saw the cutest little boy in the main hall, and his older sister was teaching him to bow in front of the statue. And my heart just kind of melted: after I talked to Helen about this, my wife and I thought seriously about having a child.

Neither one of us had originally planned to have a child: we'd gotten married and decided not to have kids. I was never one of those get-married-and-have-kids type. I never dreamed of a son or a daughter. Heck, I had never even considered marriage until my 30s.

Why did we call her Leona, incidentally? My paternal grandfather's name is Leo. My father's middle name is Leo. My middle name is Leon. But that's not the reason!

Most Korean woman have a baby dream: a special and particularly vivid dream that announces they are pregnant, and gives them a hint of the gender and personality of the child.

My wife had her baby dream: she and I were sitting on the steps of a traditional Korean house when the gate opened, and a shining white lion pushed her way in. My wife was scared and tried to shoo it away, but would not leave. So we called our baby Leona, which of course means lion. A friend gave us a list of lion names in all kinds of languages: that one seemed to fit her the best.

Aside from a long mane of hair and an occasionally fierce temperament, she exhibits no other lion-like qualities. Somewhat to my relief.

"Drag Me to Hell" Review (light spoilers)

I've never really been into horror movies. Although I occasionally enjoy them, I don't generally seek them out. However, I heard some good things about "Drag", so when it came to Korea, I decided to see it. I saw it with my friend Alan on Saturday night at Kinopia.

And was it good? Well, it wasn't bad. It kept my interest, and was worth my $7 if barely.

The plot? The old gypsy woman curses a beautiful woman to go to hell in three days. A spirit arrives and torments her during that time. Obviously, she takes steps to avoid going to hell. Who wouldn't? And was she successful? Ah, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

It was fairly gory, with rotten corpses, demonic beasts, open graves, and slimy worms. The noisy girls in front of us jumped and screamed (I only jumped), and what more do you want from a horror movie? It was, however, quite predictable: both Alan and I figured out the basic ending (I was a little wrong on details) way before it happened.

I couldn't really warm up to the woman. If you can picture Gwen Stacy from the Spiderman comic books, she's a dead ringer. One of the reasons why I couldn't much like her was that her ethical-choice score sheet was fairly mixed, and tended towards failing. Actions have consequences, right? She fails the first one in a big way, which leads to the curse in the place. She fails the second one, easily. The third one she squeaks by, but barely. But perhaps her moral failings make her more than one-dimensional? We've all done things we're not proud of, after all: that's part of being human.

The very best part of the movie, in my opinion, was a short 20 second conversation regarding cats and the lack of them. It was easily worth the seven dollar ticket. The worse part? A strange place to keep something very heavy.

In short: if you have time to kill and a few bucks to waste, and if you generally like scary movies, you'll probably not dislike this movie. While a little silly at times, it had its moments.

Another suicide, another funeral

Is it just me, or do a lot of people seem to be dying lately? Once again, this blog is forced to address a death.

I'm off to Jinchon tonight with my wife's family. My wife's first sister's husband's father is dead, and we must visit and bow to his funeral home portrait.

Although he was 88, the man's death was not a natural one. What it comes down to: my sister-in-law and her husband did not attend the father's birthday party. Therefore, the father got depressed and drank nung-yak, literally farming medicine: in other words, pesticide. He tossed off a shot glass's worth, which was enough to put him in the hospital to suffer for a week, but not enough to kill him right away. Interestingly, one of my wife's old friends also committed suicide in the exact same way. Only being much younger and stronger, he lingered in the hospital for several months before dying.

As my friend Tim contemptuously mentioned, banning the word suicide in search engines (in Korean, Ja-sal, literally self-kill, just as it is in English) is hardly a good way to address the problem. It's a bandaid on a gaping wound. Suicide is happening all the time here: for instance a boy killed himself at a school down the street after being punished by the teacher just the other day. The Korean government needs to think about serious solutions to this problem. With one of the world's lowest birth rates and highest suicide rates, the great Korean nation is gradually eroding away.

In other death-related news, a strange and shocking story from the newspaper yesterday. A man had his licence suspended for drunk driving. His suspension time almost finished, he was driving illegally and under the influence of alchohol at the same time. He hit a boy with his car, causing minor injuries. He took the boy to the hospital, but they sent him to another, bigger hospital. Instead of taking him there, he drove the boy to a mountain and killed him with an airgun used for hunting, as he was afraid to lose his license again.

I'll be more cheerful next time.

Busy busy busy

Well, end of the semester madness here at Galactic Dharma headquarters. I am atrociously, absurdly, and insanely busy. Sorry I've not written much lately: I usually write these in my work downtime, and there's been precious little of that lately.

I just finished giving and grading (groan) a writing test. An hour ago, I finished writing the Idiom / Vocabulary test for next week. Next year, I've got to start it earlier! It took me several hours today to finish it. In two days I've got to judge a middle school speech contest, which is usually a mixed bag. Some are great, some are ... not so great.

The students have practice SATS today (better them than me!), so while I'm not teaching today, I still have to be here. The exam days are catch-up days for me, and trust me, this close to the end of the semester, I need them.

In book news, I finally finished the 11 book "Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind, which I enjoyed. Each book was around 1000 pages, so it was a major investment in time, but more or less worthwhile. It got a little preachy and overly complicated at times, and I hated book 8, but nobody is perfect all the time. And, unlike Stephen King's seven book "Dark series", I thought the ending was satisfactory.

In other book news, I'm rereading one of my favorite serious books: "Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Buddhist Guides of Awakening and and their Modern expression". It sounds heavy, but it's not: reading it is like visiting an old friend.

I recently reconnected with an old friend though facebook. When I lived in Roanoke VA, Gary was my best friend. Moving away, I lost track of him. I was putting random names in the facebook seach field when he popped up. I sent him a message, although I was unsure of it was actually him, but lo and behold, it was. Say what you want about Facebook, for finding and keeping old friends, it's great.

Okay, well I suppose I should go back to work. I'll write more often, I promise!

[From my dream last night].

"Oh, and I suppose the corpse got bored hanging around the morgue, and decided to catch some rays on the beach!" the policeman said sarcastically.

In a Temple on a Sunday

Today, I spent a hour in a temple called Myoung-jong-sa, which means bright-something-temple. I'll have to ask what "jong" means, the next time I'm there.

In university, after I discovered and became attached to Buddhism, I longed to see "real" Asian Buddhist temples. There were temples in Ann Arbor, and I often visited a a Japanese Zen temple close to downtown Ann Arbor. Yet I rather naively thought "it's not the same."

Myoung-jong-sa was the first temple I ever went to in Korea. It's an urban temple, meaning it's pretty easy to get to, sitting as it does right in the middle of downtown. My first room-mate Michael and I were walking downtown and kind of discovered it by accident. He wasn't even sure it was a temple, but I recognised some of the paintings and wall decorations. I still remember the thrill I had when I achieved one of my university dreams.

Despite being an urban temple, Myoung-jong-sa sits in a forested nook, which lends a nice backdrop to the temple; the birdsong lends a nice compliment to the fish bells ringing in the breeze.

As temples go, it is not a spectacular one, although I didn't know that at the time, of course. Since then, it has improved a good bit: a massive main hall has been built, for instance. It's three stories high, with a long balcony running all the way around the hall. Downtown stretches into the distance below you, and the view is incredible.

The new main statue, one of 1000-handed Kwan-seum (better known for her Chinese name, Kwan Yin), is quite large. Also, unusually for a Korean temple, she is multi-armed (12, I think). In each arm is a an object used to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings: a sword, book, bell, etc.

I spent the hour doing sitting and walking meditation. The new main hall is cavernous, a virtual barn of a temple. And I had the whole thing to myself for most of the hour. At one point some southeast Asians came in, which surprised me. Towards the end, a woman sat down with her back to the wall, and immediately began chanting "Kwan-seum bo-sal" again and again in a melodic voice.

Temples are always very calming places. I like to think of buildings as semi-sentient, that they've soaked up the events that happened within their walls. A house in which a murder has taken place retains an atmosphere of pain and fear, for instance. Buddhism is a religion of peace: therefore temples are islands of calmness and silence [even if they are in the middle of a city!]. For me at least, to enter a temple, is to enter a space filled with solemnity and silence. When I leave, my mind is settled, and I want to smile and give a "namaste" bow to everyone I meet.

A White Flower for Roh Mu Hyun

The suicide of former South Korean president Roh Mu Hyun has become a huge public outpouring of grief.

All across the country, "satellite" funeral halls have been set up in public places. Always interested in Korean culture, I went down to see the Cheongju city one last night with my wife's family.

There were two "funerals": one set up in the provincial hall, and another set up in the park right down the street. We went to the hall one first, which was a quick in and out. You went in, took off your shoes, laid a white chrysanthemum on the altar, and then prostrated yourself two times. Then you signed your name in the guestbook, and out. The picture of Mr. Roh was in color, surprisingly, and he had the little smile he was famous for on his face. We picked up some candles to bring with us to the park shrine.

Then we turned the corner to get there, and holy crap! There was a line. Not just a line, but an immense snaking line that wove for hundreds of meters down the street. A line to bow twice to a picture. Interesting. We weren't going to do the bowing again, but we were able to wiggle our way into the park itself.

Hundreds of long streamers with mourning messages written upon them hanging from ropes strung between the trees. Lots and lots of pictures with messages written upon them. Hundreds of people milling around with lit candles. A video tribute of the highlights of his long political life.

The shrine itself was pretty much what we'd just come from, but on a little grander scale. I was interested to see that people were offering cigarettes to the former president. He had asked for one just before he'd jumped off the cliff, but his bodyguard didn't have any on him. The woman behind us had tears pouring from her face.

The actual funeral is on TV right now, and sheer masses of people are in Seoul for it. It is being held in the ancient Kyoungbuk Palace. Many of the mourners are wearing yellow, which was apparently a color connected with Mr. Roh. They just showed an immense line of colorful banners blowing in the breeze -- gorgeous!

The ceremonies will be Christian, Catholic, and Buddhist, as Mr. Roh was religiously flexible; he visited a temple on the last day of his life. He will be cremated later on today, and his grave will be close to the mountain in his hometown from which he jumped.

His suicide note said "Don't be sad". I wonder if he knew how upset the Korean people would be. Although, to be honest, I suspect this immense grief is a reaction in part to the extreme unpopularity of the current administration, just as part of the joy of Mr. Obama becoming president is that George Bush is no longer president.

A white chrysanthemum for Roh Mu Hyun. May your rebirth be a good one.

Nice quote

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[Thanks, Sonya from Texas!]

Now I want to go see "Groundhog's day" again!

A Second Big Boom

Yet more bad news. This seems to be the week for it.

I refer to North Korea's second nuke test, of course. It's interesting how blase the people in Korea are about their not-so-friendly northern neighbor. But I guess they've been living with the threat of war for over 50 years now. It's a bit like the boy who cried wolf, but instead of wolf, he says "war". They've heard it all before.

South Korean people generally long for reunification with North Korea. Some Korean people believe that NK would never go to war against SK because their common ancestry. Others believe Kim Jong Il is pretty much the Devil in high hair and sunglasses.

During the Kim Dae Jun administration, things were looking up. President Kim had his Sunshine policy, which was basically a policy of gradual northern engagement. This policy continued under the next president as well. However, the failure of the sunshine policy can be laid firmly at the feet of the north. SK gave and gave and gave, and NK took and took and took, and gave very little back in turn. Eventually, SK got tired of this never-ending generosity, and the current president, Lee Myoung Pak, was elected pretty much because he would be more rigid against NK.

Wither North Korea? Who knows? But I can say this: the USA has an open-minded and liberal leader who would no doubt love to put a negative relationship in the positive column. If NK wants to change its relationship with the west, now is the time. But I suspect this will go the same way as the defunct Sunshine Policy. Like a feral cat, North Korea seems incapable of real trust and friendship, and seems to only snarl at an open hand.

And yet, neither can they continue upon their present path of militarism and starvation forever. Their country has an expiration date that is fast approaching. Kim Jong Il and his government would be wise to change their minds before somebody else changes it for them.

The Buddha on the Ganges: a Visualization

It's a overcast day, the sky uniformly dull with pending rain. It's still hot though, and the slight breeze is refreshingly cool against your skin. The plants and reeds on the shore of the Ganges river are lush, thick, and vibrantly green. The warm smell of the mud is cloying at first, and slowly becomes comfortable. Lap of water and sound of frogs. A cobra slips through the reeds, not less than a meter away from your bare toes. And yet you feel no fear.

The Blessed River is wide here, and the hazy far shore is hundreds of meters away. The water is cloudy with silt. Blooming pink and white lotuses hug the muddy odoriferous shore; the lily pads are the size and thickness of dinner plates. A heron skims over the water, touching its wings to the surface. Buzz of insects.

The Buddha is sitting upon a rock several meters from the shore. The rock is spear-head shaped, and quite large and flat; it is not much higher than the water's surface, and one imagines that is probably underwater in the rainy season. It is surrounded by the lotus flowers on all sides, yet you have a clear view though them to the Buddha.

He is younger than you thought he would be. His face is thin and delicately boned. A slight scuff of black beard covers his lower face. His eyes are downward cast, as if he were looking at the bottom of the river, and half closed. His hair is long and gathered together in a ponytail, tied with a long strip of frayed orange cloth, and the ends are dancing in the breeze. As you had heard, his earlobes are long and bear the marks of piercing.

He is thin with his ribs showing, the Buddha, yet something more than skeletal; there is a solidity to him that belies his seeming fragility. He is sitting in lotus position, his hands folded together and placed in a loose knot in his lap. There is a smear of dried mud on his left bicep, and the upturned bottoms of his feet are brown with old, ingrained dirt.

You step forward for a better view, and a twig under your foot shifts and then snaps. The Buddha raises his head and opens his eyes. They are unsettling, those eyes, but you're not sure what it is that makes them so. They're just eyes... and then again, they're not.

The Buddha smiles at you, and puts his palms together and bows namaste-fashion. He beckons to you, still smiling, and indicates the space to his right.

You step into the blood-warm water that laps at your ankles and you sink a bit in the mud. You step forward into the lotuses, and their heady scent fills your nostrils. The water creeps up your legs, and the head-sized lotuses block your view of the Buddha, and you must push them aside gently. You lose sight of him completely, and with lotuses on all sides, you wonder if you're going the right way; you pull your feet from the thick mud with difficulty. The muddy water is up to mid-thigh now, and something living slides along your bare leg. And then, through the blossoms, his open hand is held out to you. You take it and are pulled gently upwards. The blossoms part, and there he is, smiling.

Terminator Salvation Review (minor spoilers)

On Sunday, I saw the movie "Terminator Salvation" with my friends Tim and Alan.

I did enjoy it. I did. But.

I found the movie unrelentingly grim. I don't need my science fiction happy-happy positive all the time, but there's a limit of how much darkness I can enjoy. The recent movie "The Watchmen" for instance, was also quite grim, but also contained a good bit of humor, and laugh out loud humor at that. Not so the new Terminator movie, and that's too bad.

In fact, the whole movie was fairly colorless: nothing was particularly bright, not even the blood.

Things that have been pretty fun or at least interesting just seemed to fall flat, as in the signature line which was simply delivered wrongly. It also seemed to be missing something vital about it, something that the other movies had, but this one didn't. I can't define it, but it wasn't there. I had the same feeling about the last "Aliens vs. Predator" movie.

There were also several things that seemed to stretch the credulity limit. Are we really supposed to believe Conner could just grab a motorcycle-bot, stick some handle bars in, and then be able to control it like a horse? Really?

The interplay between the two men, John Conner and Marcus Wright, was pretty interesting, and I wish they'd done a bit more of it. I would have also have liked see more of Marcus dealing with his ... special problem.

I also enjoyed seeing all the new robots, especially the giant one, which reminded me of my favorite Playstation game "Wander and Colossus". The special effects were quite good as well.

Overall, a solid if dull-black installment in the ongoing story. I look forward to the next one [I just hope it's better].

Bad News

Former South Korean president Roh Mu Hyun is dead. He committed suicide by jumping off a cliff.

When he was elected, he had a reputation for being free from corruption. Yet once out of office, he came under fire for allegedly taking money illegally. There was even a likelihood that he would be arrested. Not only was he in trouble, but his family was also implicated.

I couldn't believe it when my friend told me the news over the phone. It seems unreal that such a man, a former world leader, would kill himself. Let's hope that his death is not the beginning of a new round of suicides. Korea already has a huge problem with people killing themselves. In fact, the world suicide has recently been banned from Korean search engines, as people have been forming suicide "clubs".

I remember President Roh as being an adequate if not spectacular leader, and a man who always seemed to be gently smiling. It is hard to think of him being so depressed and unhappy that he would kill himself.

Two bows for Roh Mu Hyun. May he become a great and powerful Bodhsattva in his next life, one dedicated to the happiness of all brings. Om Mani Padme Hum.

43 and that's okay!

It's that time of year again: my birthday.

I don't get hung up on birthdays like a lot of people. I generally look on them as a positive thing, a personal holiday. I'm getting older, that's true. Well, so what? As the Buddha said, getting older can't be avoided.

I was born in 1966, so that makes me 43 years old today. That's a good age to be, of course. Still young, but with the edge of experience.

I was born on May 20th, but I should have been born in June: I was 2 months premature. I spend several weeks in an incubator with a glow-in-the-dark plastic rosary hanging over my head. The rosary was a gift from a nurse, and I found it in one of my boxes last summer. My grandfather did not call the Texas relatives for a week, he was sure I would die. Not only did I not die, I thrived: I avoided all of the problems a lot of premature babies have, save being very short for many years.

I probably shouldn't be here. Living, that is. It was pretty touch and go, apparently. So I'm always grateful for my time here on Earth: every day, every moment is a gift. Maybe that sounds kinda hokey, a little too greeting card-ish , but that's okay, because it's true.

Why Buddhism?!

I'm Buddhist. This often surprises people, especially Korean people who seem to think that all white Americans are Christians. Of course, a lot of Americans also seem to think that Americans should be Christians, but that's a different topic. So... why Buddhism?

I grew up Catholic, and faithfully attended our local church. Once I became a adult, however, I seldom (never?) attended church. I did not cease being Catholic, it just wasn't something that I often thought about.

After I graduated from high school, I went to a local community college to bump up my grades a bit before attending university. It was there that I first encountered Buddhism in a real way.

Everybody knows a bit about Buddhism, right? Meditation, fat guy with a smile, the Dalai Lama. And that was all I knew too. Then I took a course called something like "World Religions 101". We learned about Judaism (yawn), Christianity (yawn), Islam (yawn), Hinduism (hmmm!) and then Buddhism.

The Buddha and his Dharma and Sangha arrived with an earth shattering roar. Why did Buddhism appealed to me so strongly? I have no idea, but it did. It revolutionized my life. I was never quite the same after that class. Becoming Buddhist felt like ... coming home. Like becoming the person I wanted to be.

I began to meditate, visit local temples, read and write Haiku, became vegetarian, and read Buddhist book and Buddhist book (one of my early favorites was "Zen Flesh Zen Bones" by Paul Reps). I even thought seriously about becoming a monk someday. That never materialized, but I no longer think you need to be a monk to follow the Buddhist path. In 1997, I found myself taking a job in South Korea, a country with a substantial Buddhist history and culture. I couldn't have been happier.

It's been some 20 years since World Religions 101. I'm still in Korea and still Buddhist. I'll always be grateful to that class and teacher. Perhaps it was destiny: perhaps I would have become Buddhist without that experience, but on the other hand, perhaps not. Buddhism is now thoroughly fused with my mental structures and the way I conduct my life: I would not be myself without it.

Sports Days

Today is the beginning of the "Sports festival" at the Korean high school where I work. I was supposed to have 4 classes today, but all my classes were canceled, as apparently the students have to practice.

I have a confession: I've never been fond of sports: especially ones done with a team. I like physical activities such as bowling, pool, badminton, bike-riding, hiking, yoga, and walking. If I play a game, I prefer to do with a small group of people, as in under four players.

In America, we have football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. The big sport here in Korea is soccer. I know it's revered all over the world, but I just can't see the point of it. And people here go absolutely crazy over it!

In any game, one person will lose and feel bad; one person will win and feel good. In addition, a team sport sets up an "us and them" dynamic: good guys vs. bad guys. With an international game, nationalism becomes involved. I saw this dramatically illustrated when Korea and Japan hosted the 2002 Worldcup. Korea was "good", and everybody else was "bad".

Many people seem to think that such international sporting events help foster closer relationships between countries. I tend to think in the opposite way: such games instead reinforce racism and nationalism.

A two-day sports festival... at least the students are enjoying themselves! It's not often I see the students with such big smiles!

Going to Roma

I saw "Angels and Demons" with Tom Hanks last weekend. I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't as confusing as "The Da Vinci Code", and was certainly more accessible. The scenery was nice too, of course. I particularly enjoyed seeing the Castle Sant'Angelo, which I was very impressed by when I was in Roma several years ago.

I went to Roma after I graduated from Eastern with my Bachelors. I had this "Grand Tour" idea, to start from Rome and bike ride through Europe; I had planned to eventually end up in London. Sounds like a pipe dream, right? Well, I actually tried it. I quit my job and my apartment and flew to Roma to begin my journey. It was my first time on an airplane, and my first time traveling by myself.

The first thing that went wrong was that the airplane lost my luggage, including the parts I needed to put my bike together. Waiting for them to find my luggage, I spend two weeks in Roma wandering around and doing touristy stuff. Which was fine, as far as it went. When it came right down to it, I was lonely and scared being in Rome by myself. I eventually got the parts to at least put my bike back together, but then the roads and the Roman drivers scared the crap out of me. Thank God for open tickets! I went home after two weeks, and picked my life back up where I'd set it down.

At a Korean Funeral Parlor

A few days ago, my wife's younger brother's older brother's father died. I I know you just went "huh?". Basically, it boils down to a Buddhist monk telling the mother her son shouldn't be raised as an only son in a family of girls (my wife has three sisters). A neighborhood boy was "adopted" as an older brother, and grew up frequenting my wife's family. Even now, he is often a part of any family activity (although he doesn't seem especially close to my brother-in-law). It was the father of the older "brother" that died the other day.

While my wife's mother died at home and the family kept the body there during the entire funeral procedure, in this case the funeral took place in a funeral parlor. However, other than the name, Korean funeral homes are quite different than the ones in America. [Cue theme to "Six Feet Under". ]

Funeral homes are generally large buildings with several funerals all going on at the same time. Usually, when you approach, you are gagging because of the several dozen men smoking on the outside steps (no women though; Korean women usually don't smoke in public). Inside, you first put money into a special envelope and put it into a special box. Lining the walls, there are all sorts of black banners with the Chinese characters that mean mourning on them, as well as "flower towers". It's quite busy and quite loud, with mourners from all the different funerals mixing together in the halls.

Inside the mourning room, you will be find the family members. The women will be dressed in white hanbok, and the men in thin yellow hemp robes with high square hats. The sons of the dead person are standing around a portrait of the deceased. This is a black and white picture with a black frame around it. The body and / or coffin is not displayed at all. The yellow-clad sons are keening a ritual funeral hymn and propping themselves up with a stick. They keep this up for hours and hours: my knees hurt just looking at then...

You go in and light some incense. Following that, you do two full-body bows to the deceased, and then two to the chief mourners (sons and guests bow together - the sons might do it several hundred times a day ). Then you sit back on your heels and exchange a few personal words with them.

And then.... you eat. You go from there directly into an loud eating hall, which is down the hall or attached to the bowing room. Last night there was kimchi soup, rice (of course), several kinds of vegetables, rice cakes, and meat dishes. And alcohol, of course. Koreans do nothing without alcohol, and funerals are not an exception. The whole extended family is there, and is in fact serving the guests. The "party" is open 24 hours the entire time of the funeral. Gambling, drinking, and talking is expected and encouraged. No showering or shaving is allowed for the family during the mourning time. The funeral home service continues for about 3 days before the body goes to its grave.

Traditionally, the son was supposed to spend 3 years (!) mourning the dead parent. He stayed in a small homemade hut and wore ragged clothing the entire time. Sometimes, you really have to wonder about Confucianism.

Rain and a funeral

I'm sitting at my desk at work looking out the window at the thin lines of rain. I have a good view: there is a large hill directly across from the school, and right now everything is green and beautiful with early summer. A nice respite from the hammerlike sun as of late.

I'm grateful to the rain. We've been in a drought lately, so it is more than welcome. And as I have to go to a funeral tonight in my wife's hometown of Eumseong (Korea), the drab grayness of the day is somehow fitting.

The funeral reminds me to be mindful. You never know when your next breath might be your last, so why not enjoy your life, or at least pay attention to it, when you have a chance?

Star Trek finally arrives!

I finally saw "Star Trek" last Friday with nine friends, and was duly impressed. Of course, I expected to be. I would give it an A- . Why not give it a perfect grade? Some of the humor fell flat (Scotty's little friend, Kirk's big hands); too many Dickensian coincidences, and some of the science seemed far-fetched.

Good things? The actors were bang on. The effects were brilliant. The score, although bombastic, was very good. The Easter eggs were fun (the barely scene tribble in the cage, for instance). On the whole, I really really enjoyed it. I've already seen it twice, and expect to see it again this week.

One thing I wondered about. The bad guy goes back in time. Does this event a) create an alternative universe a la the mirror universe and the "Myriad Universe" fiction, or does it b) wipe out everything that has come before it (All TV shows except Enterprise and all movies), and leave the future tabula rosa? Other fans are debating this same issue, I noticed, on www.trekweb. com.

Only two more years (give or take) until the next one!

Well, today is the day. "Star Trek: The Future Begins" opens worldwide today.

I'm excited. More than excited. Ecstatic, more like it. I'm sooooo looking forward to this.

All preliminary signs are that this will be a GREAT movie. Opening buzz has been mostly positive. Will I enjoy it? I certainly expect so. There has only been 1 ST movie I thought was really, truly, horrible, and that was ST: 9, Insurrection. (Gag! Shudder!)

I'll know tomorrow, and so will 10 of my friends who are going to see it with me.

"Suicide top cause of youth death for a fifth year"

I just read in the newspaper (JoongAng Daily (English) May 5th, 09) that the leading cause of death for young people in Korea is suicide. Horrible, but not necessarily surprising. And people wonder why I don't want to send Leona to a Korean school... Oh, and this is the 5th year in a row that suicide has been the number one cause.

There is so much pressure on students here for academic performance, for passing the big university test, for getting into not only university, but the right university. I love living in Korea, and I love my job in a Korean high school. But I have no doubt that the education system in Korea is deeply flawed.

I feel always feel so sorry for students who commit suicide. As horrible as a student's life
can be, school is only temporary. Like all things, it passes. And the rest of your life is waiting for you beyond those minutes, days, and years. Unless it isn't, because you're dead.

Buddha's Birthday!

In a little while, we (Helen, Leona, and myself), are off to Seoul for the weekend. May 2nd (4/8 on the lunar calendar) is Buddha's Birthday, a national holiday. This year it falls on a Saturday, so no day off school! Tomorrow, we'll visit Chogaysa (Temple). We always stay in a hotel right next to it, so we can hear the 4:30 a.m. bell, gongs, and drums. As hotels go, it's not a very good one, but you can't beat it for atmosphere.

Buddha's day is always one of my favorite holidays. The temples are covered with beautiful and colorful lanterns. Buddhists usually don't visit temples in a regular way, but they usually make a point to visit at least one on Buddha's day. One of the things to do is to pour water over the head of a golden baby Buddha statue. Delicious and vegetarian be-bim-bab is always served.

Also in the offing: an Egyptian mummy exhibit, a used book store run ("What the book", the best used bookstore in Korea), and walking through In-sa-dong, which is an "art street".

Happy Buddha's day! May your life be filled with love and happiness!

I love 6:30 a.m. phone calls...

My sister-in-law called at 6:30 a.m.. She had heard on the radio that someone from Michigan had died from swine flu. Not true, at least as I've been able to find out. People over here in South Korea are very worried about it. I suppose people everywhere are worried about it. My sister-in-law was asking if we still had plans to go to Michigan this summer (yes). By August it will either be over, winding down, or gotten far far worse.

President Obama's 100th day was today. Yay, Mr. Obama! I liked him very much when he was a candidate, and so far, I think he's doing a fairly good job. I've not agreed with everything he's done, but nobody is perfect 100% of the time. Not even me! A lot of hoopla about 100 days -- I'll be more interested to see him after one year. I'm looking forward to some good arguments with my fairly conservative father this summer.

Less than 10 days to go until "Star Trek" comes out. I can't wait!

Torchwood, etc

I watched yet another great episode of the British Sci Fi show "Torchwood" last night. They're showing it on the BBC channel on cable TV here in Korea. The first season was excellent, but so far the 2nd season has been brilliant. If you don't know, "Torchwood" is a spinoff of "Doctor Who", and is set in the same universe. Torchwood, however, is much darker, and definitely meant for adults.

Everybody is in a tizzy here at my school, due to visiting VIPS. Everybody is wearing ties, the school is spiffy, and people are nervous. I have to attend a demo lesson (not give a demo lesson ~ whew!) in some 20 mins.

It's a brillantly sunny day here. I love the spring.

Galactic Dharma?

Hmmm... A blog. Well, why not? Everybody else seems to be doing it these days, so why not me too?

What does the title mean? I had to give the blog a name kind of on the spur of the moment, and tried to think of something that would combine two of my interests (some say obsessions).

The first is Buddhism. I've considered myself Buddhist since the late 80s, I guess. Ever since I first learned about it in a World Religions class at my community college, it has fascinated me. I'll talk more about this some other time, most likely. Dharma has several meanings. One of them is ethical behavior. Another is the teaching of the Buddha.

My (Korean) Buddhist name is Iljin (일진 in Korean); il means day, and jin means truth. It means something like "One whose everyday life corresponds to dharma", or at least that is how I interpret the characters.

The other interest is Science Fiction and Fantasy. I am also a massive Star Trek and Dr. Who fan.

Science Fiction / Fantasy and Buddhism have been very good to me, and influenced my life in all sorts of ways. Therefore: Galactic Buddhism.