Christmas in the Keys

Spending the holidays in the blustery Montana weather was apparently not an option for my folks.

We had been planning for a while (almost a full year) to spend Christmas '07 in the Florida Keys. Dad, Mom, Bro and me all packed shorts and t-shirts and boarded a plane.

The progression of pictures on the digital camera was snow, snow, snow, sun, sand and turf. One of the first days, we took a ferry to Dry Tortugas National Park which is 70 miles west of Key West.
It begs to question why the Union army would ever built a fort all the way out here. The fort was finished years after the civil war and never actually saw military action. Apparently, the mere threat of a substantial military presence in the Gulf was enough to prevent action from the Confederates. It created somewhat of an embargo.
It was later turned into a prison and housed famous inmates such as Dr. Samuel Mudd.
Just off the island are beautiful coral reefs and a host of aquatic life. We went snorkling to explore all of the areas.

The New Job

Philanthropy is interesting. I wish I was a millionaire...scratch that, a billionaire...just so I could give money away professionally. Until I win the lottery, I am resigned to work in the industry of philanthropy. At least I am working for a cause that is near and dear to my heart.

I will be raising money for students who wear the blue jacket. Right now I feel like I'm floundering with little direction of what I should be doing on a daily basis but I'm learning quickly. It is a self motivated position and I like the freedoms I've been given to attack projects in my own way.
I work in a beautiful building on the northwest corner of Indianapolis and my job will have me traveling around as much as 30% of the time. In fact, I just returned from a tour of the mid-Atlantic region. It is still debatable what region of the country I'll be permanently assigned to. Either the northeast or the west, we'll see.I have been involved with FFA in a variety of positions but this is my first full time position with the organization. It is exciting though that I'll be working with the movers and shakers of the agricultural industry.

The giving structure of our foundation is unique with 90% of our funds coming from corporations and only 10% coming from individuals. This is reverse of typical philanthropic groups. What this means is that we get to work with presidents, vice presidents, and marketing executives from some of the top companies in American and international agriculture including Cargill, Monsanto, DuPont, and numerous others. It is neat that these companies who in the capitalist market compete on a regular basis have joined forces to support education and youth in America. For example, Toyota, Ford and Chevrolet all donate to us. How cool!?!

There is great intrinsic value in supporting youth leadership and agricultural education. These companies see it as an investment in the future of the industry, an investment in future employees, and an investment in future educated consumer and customer.

The job is an adjustment for me physically. Confined to a cubical all day will hopefully not have a significant impact on my waistline. Teaching never seemed like a physical job to me but at least I was always on my feet walking around. I was interacting with people more as a teacher as well. In my cubicle I kind of zone out and forget that other people exist. I'm an extrovert but I still miss the interactions that teaching afforded. Hopefully, I'll be able to strike a balance.

I'm Back!

It has definitely been a while! After a two month hiatus from the blog sphere, it could have easily been assumed that I dropped off the face of the planet. Not so!


Upon returning to the States I had the privilege of trying to manage my Internet needs with a dial-up connection which was not conducive to blogging. I'm set up now and have returned to the world of blogging but I'm not going to promise that my posts will maintain the regularity that they had this past year.

A lot has happened in the past couple of months and rather than trying to sum it all up eloquently I'll spend the next several posts giving events due credit and highlighting some of the major items and/or turning points.


One highlight was that while I was home I did get the chance to visit friends and family and enjoy some beautiful Monatana weather.

Middlebury Quidditch Tournament

I just can't make this stuff up.

Blogs in Plain English

First Snow

It was snowing when the plane touched down last night and I woke up to five inches of snow today. It is the first snow of the year.

To My Plane Seat Mate...Sorry.

YT and her husband picked me up to go to the airport at 1pm. The plan was to go to lunch before dropping me off. It was a very memorable lunch. We went to the seaside where restaurants serve every kind of seafood imaginable. We opted for clams and shellfish. They brought us a huge platter of fresh clams, mussels and snails. We threw them right on the flames and waited for them to steam inside their shells. When ready to eat, they popped right open. It was a very good meal. I felt sorry for the person who had to sit next to me on the plan because I’m sure I stank.

My flight left right on time…only ten and a half hours to American soil!

Twenty-two hours later and still the same day I landed in Great Falls. It is a surreal feeling to be back. The past year just seems a blur. It is really hard to believe a year has passed.

Kimchi Pots

I am trying to fit my entire life into two suitcases. It is a surprisingly complicated task. It is amazing the amount of 'stuff' one accumulates after one year. I have already sent five boxes home and now I can only carry two bags onto the airplane.

I am purging a lot of my clothing opting on buying new stuff when I get back to the states. I think I would have been fine except YT came over today and took me to the farmer's market. She bought me two kimchi pots. I had to repack everything to make them fit and I might have to leave some more stuff now. I'm not complaining because kimchi pots are the absolute perfect souvenir from Korea. (Korean politicians voted that they could not be exported so you cannot get them anywhere but Korea. How's that for unique?! Who knew that an obscure pottery item could be so noteworthy.)

My final farewell dinner was at IPorky's. Man, I love that place. It was especially delicious tonight. We told the owner that tonight was my last night and she was all about giving us free vegetables, free wine and some free meat. I love Korea. I said goodbye to my fellow teachers and called up my Korean helper teacher to say goodbye. It was fun. YT and her husband will pick me up tomorrow at 1pm to take me to the airport.

If you could never eat at a restaurant again, where would you go for one last meal?

Perfect Symmetry

I had a lot of heart felt goodbyes with the kids today. I received several going-away gifts and some of the kids' moms paid for pizza, cake and other food at lunch. I then took a final picture with all my kindergartners. I will miss them.
In the afternoon I had some parties with the kids which included handing out some candy but for the most part it was business as usual. I gave the kids my email and mailing address and so I'm interested to see if I actually get any letters. After work, we went to our favorite dak galbi (spicy chicken) restaurant. It had a certain symmetry to it because dak gabli was my first meal in Korea. Afterwards we went to the nore bong to sing some favorites. They included Barbie Girl, Living La Vida Loca, Jessie's Girl, 99 Red Balloons, and a multitude of others. What do you miss when you leave family, work or friends?

Galbi Castle

After attending several other going away dinners it is hard to believe that tonight is my dinner. Mrs. Lee took us all out to dinner at the 7th floor pork barbecue place that we like so much.

I feel really honored because she went on and on about how much they'd miss me. She blessed my future and wished me good luck. Then, Mr. Lee showed up and wished me well! The man hardly ever comes to the school and the first two words I say to him or him to me are goodbye and thank you. It was an enjoyable dinner with all you could eat. They Koreans all laughed when I ordered the food...in Korean. I may not of learned Korean from my time here, but I do know how to order food! For a food lover that is rather important I think. My conversational skills end if we aren't talking about pork, beef, mushrooms, pumpkin or noodles.

How do you celebrate a bon voyage?

Immortalized

The renovations are complete at KC. It looks atrocious. There is no common color theme and everything is too loud, stylistically speaking. It looks like eight different decorators had a fight and whoever got to a specific wall first got to do what they wanted. The classrooms are very green. The hallways have obnoxious educational posters with a Plexiglas covering. Colors include every hue of the rainbow and the wallpaper patterns...It looks like Mrs. Lee said "I'll take one of everything."The one nice thing is that the walls are now clean. There are no scuff marks, holes, or other eye sores. In addition, any spaces of large open wall were quickly filled with life sized pictures of 'great teaching moments'. A photographer came in a couple weeks ago to pose and capture these teaching moments and the pictures were quickly turned into over sized wallpaper.I've seen these types of murals before in other places and I always wondered who the schmucks were that posed for them. Turns out, I'm the schmuck. This is the first time the school has been renovated since opening nearly a decade ago so I have a feeling my ugly mug will be up on the wall for at least that long. They also made a banner for each of the school buses with our pictures on them. Not only do we get to see our likenesses on a daily basis but so does the rest of Gimpo now. How did I get so lucky?

How have you been immortalized?

Cute Koreans

Today was my second day with the four year olds. They are so cute! I feel especially lucky because I managed a whole 15 minute lesson with them before they lost interest. Let me introduce Matthew,

Nicky,Lucy,Rex,and Alex.

Which one is cutest? My favorite is Matthew.

Suit Success

After four weeks, I finally got my suits. Usually they can turn out a suit in less than a week but because I said I wasn't in a rush and because I could only go for fittings on the weekends, they took their sweet time. I did one final fitting with the tailor and with a scowl on his face and many times gutturally clearing his throat it was deemed that it did indeed fit very well. I have a charcoal gray one and a navy blue one (both pin striped).

The suits will need to air out before first use and it might take some Febreze upon returning to the States because they both have the distinct aroma of the tailor's tobacco.

He said I could come back any time for adjustments but unless I gain or lose a lot of weight in the next six days I won't be able to take him up on his offer. At any rate I'm really excited to have a suit specifically made for me.

Do you have a rack wardrobe or a tailored one?

11-11

Happy Pepero Day!

Ever wonder if Hallmark invented Valentine's Day or any of the other nameless holidays you are supposed to buy cards for? Well, questions of Hallmark's lobby power in the holiday creation industry are dwarfed when compared to Korea.

The Lotte company actually did just that. They created a national holiday for their product...Pepero. These biscuit like sticks are dipped in a milk chocolate coating. I don't particularly like them but they are quite popular.The sticks look like the number 1, sort of. Or the letter I or a lower case l or just a stick. What do you get on Novemer 11th? Answer..... 11-11, Pepero sticks. It is a bit of a stretch for me but it is big here.

Every business sets up a special Pepero stand. Students give them as presents to teachers and they get gifted and re-gifted a multitude of times throughout the day. Of course this year the 11th was on a Sunday so the gifting and re-gifting started on Friday. It is kinda like that mythical fruitcake that gets passed around the office. (Not Mom's fruitcake. Hers are delicious.)

What holiday will be invented next?

Angler

After a late Friday night, we got up early to travel to Paju. JT signed up for a peace 10K run. YT coordinated it for him and so she and I chaperoned. While he was running, we got to enjoy some other activities like donkey rides and some others whose target audience was 10 year olds. But, I got some windmills, a balloon, and some paper insects. We walked around the park and took some pictures. There was also a Korean pop group with their hit song...not sure which group it was. Their lyrics were something like 'shut up, shut up'. Good for the late teens to early twenties demographic.

We took the train back into the city which is always a nice change from the subway. We went to a restaurant owned by a friend of YT.

The restaurant specialized is steamed seafood including angler fish, baby octopus, squid and a couple of other unidentified fish. The seasoning tasted just like Old Bay. It was good and unlike any other meal I've had in Korea. What's your favorite seafood seasoning?