annyong

Well after a long journey involving four flights, including the final flight where we had to circle Jeju due to headwinds, a very slow limo ride through snowy west Seoul, and a lucky happenstance into my boss once on the campus of Cheju Halla College, I am finally here. Actually, I am not on campus right now since there is no internet there, which is pretty silly for a junior college in one of the most heavy internet using countries in the world to not have wifi, but whatever. I got in yesterday afternoon and quickly got to orientation, which was more of disorientation, my boss has a pretty weak grasp of English, which deteriorates even more when he is not reading verbatim from a powerpoint slide. It isnt really clear how many hours of english I will be teaching per day or where exactly I am required to be. I am relying heavily on my assistant "Dorian" (Choo-Sun) who is a really amazing guy, he is in his second year studying communications at University of Seoul, and is from Jeju, but lived in Las Cruces(cities my Korean counterparts have lived in in America: Las Cruces, Eugene, Apop for two years and honed his English really well to the point where he read portrait of Dorian Gray, hence his english name being Dorian.

I am really enjoying Korea so far, the food is wonderful, although I think I might eventually tire of the combinations of red pepper, cabbage and mushrooms that are the side dish of any meal (and thats not even including the kimchi!). Jeju is a really interesting city, because as an American flying over the city, I was worried it would be a sprawling suburb. While it does have sprawl, there is no real distinction between city and town and suburb, it is just a never ending network of mixed use buildings. You never walk more than 500 feet without seeing a FamilyMart of GS25, the equivalents of seven-elevens, cafes (like the one I am sitting in now), or restaurants. The city is really teeming with life all over.

The most surprising thing so far I have seen is the 'superstores' that dominate the city. Imagine a super walmart or super target where everyone goes for everything. Last night one of my fellow teachers, Graham and I went there to get some adapters for the outlets in our dorm, and we just browsed around the store for an hour. The cost of living here is very low, so we were marveling at all the things we could buy, like washing machines, that we couldnt back home in the states. Unfortunately a single can of Budweiser would be W3500 ($3.50) at the store we settled on some Hite to enjoy after dinner, a six pack of which cost W2000 or $2.

It is also really cold. And koreans dont turn on heat, so while it is 45 degrees outside, the door is open and my fingers slowly freeze as I tap this out on my keyboard.

I'll leave you with the haiku in english on the wall behind me,
Admiration of coffee
It's blacker demon
like the hell its' hot
like the angel being pure and like love it's sweet.

Its almost like Im bad at this.

My productivity certainly took a dip during Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead and never really rebounded. The play went well, The Alive Theatre got named one the top ten LA companies of the decade in the LA Weekly, congratulations to them. I absolutely loved working with them and just wish driving all the way to LB was not such a chore, but I will definitely be seeing more of them in the future.

There has been much decorating at my apartment in Los Feliz, and we are closing in on our goal of a joke behind every corner and making it more like "A Beautiful Mind" for the verbally neurotic.

I am leaving for Korea this weekend to teach in Jeju for a few weeks. Afterwards I will be touring around Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing, if anyone knows of any hot spots of the beaten path be sure to let me know.

Some pictures since the last post:

The Opposite

Here is my new reel scene "The Opposite" by Dan Moyer, with myself and fellow USC BFA grad Lizzie Fabie.
http://vimeo.com/16713278

opera is playing very loudly on los feliz blvd

I'm sure somebody else will cover the election results better than I can. I am only concerned with my favorite part of elections in this blog post, election day photography. There are a few categories of these, photos so there are a few number 1s from yesterday's election.



The Signs Picture: This is a classic signs picture for election day, all the signs are the generic campaign posters, no personal message, some clues to where the election is (you can tell because it is cold, and alaska is cold.), and early morning light. very election day. (Runner Up: Boxer)


The Cheesy Online Banner: From the usually classy LA Times, a very ">Tampa Tribune ish move.



The Concession Call Picture. This picture of Boxer is the real quintessential concession call, the low angle, the out of focus stars, the absurdly large phone...




The Ballot Picture: I took this today at my polling place on Finley Ave in Los Feliz. I like how cold the ballot itself is as compared with the hype and bluster of a political election.

today, I accidentally messed up my ballot when I first filled it out, then I figured out what I had done wrong and promptly voted for meg whitman on accident and had to request a new ballot and then hear a full explanation on Los Angeles County Vote Voiding Procedure. very intense. but I finally rose above my floridian roots and abstained to vote on prop 21.



The I Voted Sticker: I remember when I was a kid how I Voted stickers were this random thing that would randomly appear on my dad's jackets or my teacher's dresses in elementary school. I remember vaguely associating it with public radio and the musky smell of my dad's car seat.

Today I went to a bunch of public places like Haskell Elementary, the grocery store, the Long Beach Pier, a cafe in Long Beach, a rehearsal for a play opening this weekend, and only saw about 15 I voted stickers.

It was kind of disappointing.

NPR

So, I need this written somewhere as a sort of copyright. Weeks ago I was watching Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck (my roommate and I are sending fan mail in hopes of being mentioned on-air) and they both had off handed comments about 'NPR-like bias' and casual chatter about cutting funding toward NPR. Ignoring the fact that the bulk of NPR's operating cost are covered by members, unlike, say, Fox News. NPR also somehow still manages to do more in depth and comprehensive coverage than Fox News, I also find it to be more than coincidence how the NPR 5pm news break during All Things Considered is often identical to the 10pm Fox News news break, maybe Rupert Murdoch could learn something from Terri Gross. Sure enough soon thereafter Fox News got it's fight with NPR that is was looking for in the form of Juan Williams, a former NPR commentator and recipient of a new $2 million contract at Fox News when he made off color statements on Fox News. NPR deemed these comments inappropriate and fired Williams promptly, whether or not this is justified is up for debate, it surprised me that he was fired since NPR has to be smart enough to know it would be engaging in direct conflict with Fox News. NPR is unfortunately very ripe very low hanging fruit due to public fervor against 'media bias' and a deep seated mistrust of how the government uses its funds.

Needless to say, I'm just saying I called this controversy weeks ago, but I could feasibly pick a more annoying topic for Fox News to squabble over a week before midterm elections.

October

This is how I will always remember October 2010

I miss the sun.

(the view from my jog yesterday)

The last few days here in Los Angeles it has been overcast. Not in the California its-cloudy-so-let's-call-it-overcast way, but as in real total overcast. No sun. It is like constant civil twilight from Santa Barbara southward. I saw the sun in the valley on Tuesday as I walked across the Haskell Elementary schoolyard, but by the time I got out of my class. It was gone. All this darkness has a weird effect on a boy from Florida. When I sat down and thought about it today this might be the longest prolonged darkness I have ever experienced. It is taking a physical toll on me too, I have been having bouts of dizziness, nausea, lightheadedness, trouble sleeping, all of which I directly attribute to my lack of sunlight. Tonight I made myself dinner, and was sitting listening to a hockey game, when I got very sleepy so I decided to rest my head on my table while I listened to the post game show. Next thing I knew I was waking up to a random commercial about a furniture store in Dale Mabry in Tampa.

I might also have some horrible cancer that is undiagnosed, but I dont go to doctors because when I do they convince me that I have mono. or worse.

Not enough sun or terminal cancer? you decide.

__________

unrelated: my good friend, high school valedictorian, and columbia graduate Anna Wood is published in Line Zero next month for her short story "Tandem" you can pre order here