Mountain Goat Maria

I am Maria the Mountain Goat springing up the mountainside in my new platform shoes. I have been unleashed and am unshackled. I am free. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!


Illustration by Nika - http://nitchkins.multiply.com/

It's all in a grain of rice

I can't use a fork well anymore.

One of the things I love most about Korea is that I don't shovel food into my mouth with a fork. I can get exactly that one piece of fried rice, a noodle, a pea that has escaped the gochujang. I have control and savory enjoyment of a miniscule moment of prepared nutrition. Not an overloaded sensory, fat saturated & sodden moment to distract from my issues. I know what I am doing. Working for it. And aesthetically obtaining it.

My last days at Gwangju Dae are enormously insightful why I have chosen Korea as my home. The culture pressure of ever changing norms to "catch up" coupled with the cadence of the unself-conscious disclosure of roots. Enthralling. Ravishing. So incredibly beautiful.

A tapestry. A Persian rug can hint at the culture permeating people, habits, and behaviors. But in Korea I have something much more ethereal and impossible to catch and adequately communicate to those I most want to understand me and what I am going through. "Impossible" I am so often told here. I finally understand. Impossible is it to nail down, categorize and dismiss the nuances once you can taste the differences between the assorted kimchee on offer.

Variety of Choice

Same ol' thing. Variety.

Never lock in.

Purple Teeth

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives. -William Dement, in Newsweek, 1959

http://www.swoon.com

Purple: Purple is a forerunner to happy social affairs.

Teeth: Even and/or very white and beautiful teeth forecast happiness and prosperity. Brushing your teeth indicates the clearance of obstacles that have been holding you back.

Or is it just
Major Vagina dentata?

jpg by www.christopherkuhn.com

Hello New GIC Interns

Welcome to our new GIC student interns:

Su Hyeon, a Political Science major from CNU, has joined GIC for the winter to practice her English and get some NGO experience. She is the editor of the CNU Korean newspaper and has spent a few weeks in the USA.

Our new 6 month intern is SongGon. He is a senior in the business administration program at CNU. He spent two months in Australia as a database management intern. He will be a familiar face around GIC, so make sure you take some time to meet him and buy him a nok cha.

SeRyung (TTTTTTTTTTTTom), an Electronic Computer Engineer major from CNU, has commited to spending his winter vacation assisting GIC. He just wants to help our community. He spent a year in Florida studying English.

SuHyeon and SeRyung are GIC winter interns. GIC and CNU collaborate to offer these internships. Students who participate in the winter program receive a score and obtain 15 credit hours for their commitment.

Leading GIC is SingSing Kim. Famous she is. Kind she is. SingSing is the GIC Coordinator. She oversees 9 of 12 different GIC programs:
GIC Talk Series
GIC Culture Tour Program
Counseling services for foreign residents
GIC Day
Fundraising Concerts
International Youth Exchange programs
Financial assistance to Third World countries
Collaboration with Asian Human Rights Commission
Translation Services

Dr Shin keeps the English Library in order. Minsu Kim does Gwangju News Magazine layout and leads the administration for our Korean classes.

Snow

Scene from my apartment at Gwangju University.

Unblurry in Jeonju

Sandra made a Christmas party. To all the Europeans in Jeonju: Thanks for the wine and giggles. Roman, Sven, Xavier, Stella, Sandra & Mathew.

Goodbye Yong Ho

Yong Ho has helped GIC for the past six months as our Lead Student Volunteer. We will miss him. And know that he will have a killer final year at Chondae. Good luck, Yong Ho!

Pulled Apart or Imploding

When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold.
When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold.
Since I come up North de
Whole damn world's turned cold.
-Langston Hughes


Age
by Robert Creeley
Most explicit--
the sense of trap

as a narrowing
cone one's got

stuck into and
any movement

forward simply
wedges once more--

but where
or quite when,

even with whom,
since now there is no one

quite with you--Quite? Quiet?
English expression: Quait?

Language of singular
impedance? A dance? An

involuntary gesture to
others not there? What's

wrong here? How
reach out to the

other side all
others live on as

now you see the
two doctors, behind

you, in mind's eye,
probe into your anus,

or ass, or bottom,
behind you, the roto-

rooter-like device
sees all up, concludes

"like a worn-out inner tube,"
"old," prose prolapsed, person's

problems won't do, must
cut into, cut out . . .

The world is a round but
diminishing ball, a spherical

ice cube, a dusty
joke, a fading,

faint echo of its
former self but remembers,

sometimes, its past, sees
friends, places, reflections,

talks to itself in a fond,
judgemental murmur,

alone at last.
I stood so close

to you I could have
reached out and

touched you just
as you turned

over and began to
snore not unattractively,

no, never less than
attractively, my love,

my love--but in this
curiously glowing dark, this

finite emptiness, you, you, you
are crucial, hear the

whimpering back of
the talk, the approaching

fears when I may
cease to be me, all

lost or rather lumped
here in a retrograded,

dislocating, imploding
self, a uselessness

talks, even if finally to no one,
talks and talks.

Uijae Museum of Korean Art

Uijae Museum of Korean Art is located on the way up to Mudeunsan (Mountain) near Jeungsim Temple in Gwangju. The Exhibition Cave as the museum building is called has a floating walkway leading to a tea area to enjoy a fragrant green tea before or after a view of the museum. Glass windows in the tea area panel the view of the mountainside, creating a natural painting, just as Master Uijae himself would have painted although in traditional Korean style with paper, ink and brush. The trapezoidal building leads the visitor through the collection in an intuitive meander, as if enjoying the outdoor paths up Mudeunsan.

In the Samaehun Buidling sit on traditional Korean flooring, a lovely warm wonder of ondol heating in the winter while enjoying the scent of Choonsul Tea. Uijae's spirit invites you to spend time in thought and talk about the artists' compositions, using traditional materials with modern subjects.

Korean traditional painters with natural materials of paper, ink and brush chose to paint nature as it is seen with the eye. Historically having sloughed off the Chinese philosophy of utopian paintings of nature, modern Korean artists continue the rebellous tradition of finding their own way to share their experience of modern life through traditional materials.

Special thanks to SooJung for this afternoon adventure. It was also nice to meet Siyon Jin of the Uijae Resident Program. Sharing time and tea in the artists' studio viewing his media presentations of changes in modern life, its confusion, violence and beauty, was a great way to enjoy a chilly winter afternoon. I'm looking forward to the opening of the current resident artists program on December 20, 2006 at 4:30pm.

The Uijae Museum of Korean Art and the Gwangju city government welcomes artists, Korean and international, for four month residencies. This residency program is funded for one year while Gwangju continues its development strategy of becoming an Asian cultural hub.

Check out www.ujamstudio.net

Gwangju International Center

After a long day of pushing and nudging, the Gwangju International Center staff and volunteers stop for a photo outside of Jeonil building, GIC's home and in front of the downtown tree.

Special thanks to Jiwon, our "precious" volunteer, Tae Hyung, our office redesign architect, and SingSing, GIC Coordinator .

Purpose - Occupation is essential

Is there purpose to our lives? We have daily opportunities to respond to others revealing our purpose. Even when we can't see clearly or when we doubt our abilities, by showing up and doing our work, we can look and listen for our part in the big picture.

I went to the KOTESOL Leadership Retreat this past weekend. This is my fourth. I love these chances to exchange with my colleagues working all across the Korean penisula. I always walk away astounded that we get so much done and no one gets paid.

Every year I see a little less ego and power play. I see a little more celebration and enthusiasm.

There is less a sense of work and more a sense of play.

Every year I see a little less talk and a lot more action.


There is more sharing of gifts and talents. More courage and confidence in skills uncovered. TaeHee from Taegu never fails to amaze me that he not only shows up but quietly, genuinely shares his vision through encouraging Koreans in Gumi to attend Daegu chapter workshops.

And then there are the sparks that fly when the 6 million dollar man is given as a metaphor for our technology strategy for 2007. When you are ready the teacher appears. Joshua not only has the tech skills to enable our organization to actually provide decent web presence, but also has inspirational leadership skills to convince the luddites in our midst that change is not so scary.

To colleagues, old and new. To teachers, present and past. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be me. Even if I don't know my own purpose.

Thanksgiving

After an incredibly dangerous and emotional week, I live still.

Special thanks to my body, despite all the abuse I give it.

And I give thanks to Cowboy Mouth. "When the world is coming down on you, let it go, let it go, let it go."

To new teachers and old.
http://illustart.net/

Let the chaos begin.

Shattered - ShaDooBe

Rolling Stones

Chitter chatta Chitter chatta

TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK

oh shadoobee

SHATTERED

I would do anything for love . . .

But I won't do that.

I ate mashed potatoes for dinner last night, so, of course, Meatloaf is floating through my brain.

Norae Night of Love
Accidentally In Love - Counting Crows

And, thank you, Vincent, for the lovely, odd palette, of Kill Bill, Gangs of New York and polka music.

Come on, come on. The world's a little lighter. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVE.

Waking up to bad country music by rock stars

Please shoot me now. Let's get it over. Walking around with "I Dream of Jeannie" in my head is bad enough. Now I wake up to "Picture" being sung by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.

And Pope. Where is that coming from?

What messages from the universe am I picking up on now?

I never would have found my courage without you, Dorothy.

LION:
In another hour, I'll be King of the Forest.

ALL:
Long Live the King!

ALL:
If....I were King of the Forest, Not Queen, not Duke, not Prince
My regal robes of the forest
Would be satin, and not cotton, and not chintz.
I'd command each thing, be it fish or fowl.
With a woof and a woof, and a royal growl.
As I'd click my heel
All the trees would kneel
And the mountains bow
And the bulls kowtow
And the sparrow would take wing
'F -- I...'f -- I...were King!

Each rabbit would show respect to me.
The chipmunks genuflect to me.
Though my tail would lash
I would show compash
For every underling.
'F -- I...'f -- I --- were King Just King!

ALL:
Each rabbit would show respect to him
The chipmunks genuflect to him
And his wife would be Queen of the May.

LION:
I'd be monarch of all I survey
Monarch of all I survey
Mah -- hah -- hah -- hah -- hah -- hah -- hah -- hah -- hah -- ha-narch! Of all I survey!

DOROTHY:
Your Majesty, if you were king You wouldn't be afraid of anything?

LION:
Not nobody, not nohow!

TIN MAN:
Not even a rhinoceros?

LION:
Imposserous!

DOROTHY:
How about a hippopotamus?

LION:
Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottomamus!

DOROTHY:
Supposin' you met an elephant?

LION:
I'd wrap him up in cellophant!

SCARECROW:
What if it were a brontosaurus?

LION:
I'd show him who was King of the Fores'!

ALL:
How?

LION:
How?
Courage!
What makes a King out of a slave?
Courage!
What makes the flag on the mast to wave?
Courage!
What makes the elephant charge his tusk In the misty mist, or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
Courage!
What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder?
Courage!
What makes the dawn come up like thunder?
Courage!
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the "ape" in apricot?
What have they got that I ain't got?

ALL:
Courage!

LION:
You can say that again! Hah. Huh!?

Not in Korea for Chusok

Is she really going out with him? by Joe Jackson
Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake

I don't know where I am, but I don't think I'm in Korea
anymore.

Who can stop the madness?

Step Up

The Tide is High - Blondie
Unconditional Love - Donna Summer

Many people live in an emotional jail without even realizing it. - Virginia Satir

Many people passively wait for others to orchestrate their behavior, their feelings or their attitudes. Instead, step forward with your own script in hand. Risk listening to your inner voice. And risk taking action based on that voice from within.

Donald Trump says it. Joey on Friends says it. STEP UP.

Seoul Day Trip

By bus from Kunsan to Seoul takes me as much time as going to Gwangju. And only costs me 10,000 won more per trip. Go figure. I popped up to Seoul to see Jae, one of my students from 2002 INTERLINK Language Center program at Valparaiso University in Northwest Indiana. Jae was home for the holiday. He studies mechanical engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, shopped the underground mall at the bus terminal and finished with tea on the 10th floor of Shinsaegae Dept Store. It's cool to visit with Jae. He's really open and energetic. He's a little sad to be leaving Seoul as he may not be back for another two years. Jae is one of my heroes. I remember the tough kid who walked into my classroom four years ago and am inspired by the kind, sophisicated guy he's become. Jae has carved his own way in the US education system. Instead of only being willing to attend a "certain" university, Jae forged his path by leaving his Korean university, going to a language center (INTERLINK at Valpo), transferring to Ivy Tech, and then transferring again to PNC (Purdue North Central) - a satellite community college. By transfering to PNC, he was then able transfer to the main campus in West Lafayette to finish at one of the best engineering schools in the country. Rock on, Jae! Best of luck on a busy 2006 for you! 

Songgwangsa Survivors

Chang, 8ball, Maddie & I survived the Temple stay at Songgwangsa in Jeollabukdo. While the younger folk, traipsed up the mountain, I sat quietly & contentedly, warm and dry, in the Tea House nearby. 

Unlocking 2006

New Year's Eve at Songgwangsa Temple near Sunchon, Jeollabukdo. The itinerary: 4pm check-on, 5 dinner, 6 Buddhist temple prayer & chant, 7 lecture from the Chief Monk, 9pm lights out. 3am prayers, followed by breakfast and a hike to see the sunrise. 

Frosted Stone Warmed from Within

 

Snow Leaf

 

Winter Temple Trees

 

 

Temple Protectors

 

Entrance Ceiling

 

Lotus Om

 

Buddha Patterns

 

Unlocking the Budding Buddha Within

 

Temple Art

 

Dragon Dung Farts

 

Tea Time