Articles by mgedwards

Bachelor-style channel surfing

I crashed for awhile when I came home today.  It’s the end of a long work week.  Forget about having a day off last Tuesday—this was a very, very difficult week at work.  Today was the worst of all, and we suffered through technical glitches that made our job harder.  I immediately took a nap when I got home.  I still haven’t recovered from the power outage a couple nights ago, when I went to sleep early and stayed up all night sleepless.  I now feel much better.  After I got up, I made myself a bachelor’s dinner (a.k.a. rummaging through the refrigerator to patch together a palatable meal) and ate on the couch in front of the TV.  I don’t watch television much here in Korea.  For one, my son either keeps me busy, or his children’s videos monopolize the TV.  Secondly, I did not sign up for a cable package, so my free TV selection is limited to about 12 channels, five in English and seven in Korean.  I channel surfed briefly through my meager selection.  CNN and the other news channel featured their fifth day of 24-hour coverage of the Pope’s death and funeral.  I’ve been watching the coverage off and on since it began, but my heart wasn’t in it tonight.  I could relate to all the masses waiting to catch a glimpse of the Pope lying in state, because last summer I spent 20 hours on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. waiting to view President Reagan’s casket lying in state.  It’s a generally a dull, miserable experience but ultimately rewarding.  I don’t think I will ever do it again, though.  I read yesterday that “Star Wars” fans were already camped out at Mann’s Chinese Theater waiting for the May 19th debut of the final “Star Wars” installment.  No, thank you.  I must be getting old.

 

I turned to sports.  On ESPN I watched a bit of the “Frozen Four,” the semifinals for U.S. college hockey.  It was Minnesota versus North Dakota (North Dakota won and will play defending champions University of Denver for the championship).  The college players were pretty good.  The “Frozen Four” may be the only major hockey event an American hockey fan has to look forward to, because earlier this year the National Hockey League canceled its season due to a player lockout.  Tired of the cold, I channel surfed over to the Korean stations.  I rarely watch Korean television.  It typically isn’t the type of programming I enjoy, and language can be a big barrier to enjoyment.  However, I found an interesting Korean Baseball Organization baseball game featuring the Samsung Lions and the Hyundai Unicorns.  The Unicorns are the 2004 KBO league champions.  Their pitcher was an American.  Asian baseball is a bit different than Major League Baseball, but I really enjoyed watching something that I understand regardless of language.  One of these days I would like to see a game in person.

Yellow Sands

The Yellow Sands hit Seoul with full force today.  Yellow Sands are the remnants of sandstorms blowing eastward from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.  Visibility was reduced, and I could barely make out the silhouette of nearby mountains.  I fear that this will get much worse before it’s over.  On really bad days, you can barely see anything at all.  I had a light dry cough today I’m sure was caused by Yellow Sands.  I really should buy a mask, but I would rather stay inside.  The dust gets into your lungs and causes fits of coughing.  It’s the same feeling you get when you’re cleaning something that’s really dusty and you breathe it in.  Turn on the vacuum and feel the choking dust constrict your lungs–that’s the sensation you feel in a Yellow Sand storm.  In 2002 I arrived in Beijing, China at the end of a storm when the residue of the sandstorm coated every orifice of the city.  Other than that, I’ve never been through a Yellow Sand storm.  I can only imagine what it must be like right now in places closer to the source such as Beijing, Ulaan Bator, Mongolia, or in the Gobi Desert.  Yuck. 

 

Korea is unique in that it exhibits perpetually shifting weather patterns.  During the winter season, the wind currents blow southeastwardly, bringing frigid Siberian weather and Yellow Sand storms.  During the summer season, the wind currents flow towards the northwest, bringing in the warm, tropical weather and monsoons from the South Pacific.  The spring and fall seasons are lovely, but they are much too short.  Honestly though, based on my brief observations here, Korean weather does not seem to be as extreme as one might believe.  It can be uncomfortable but bearable.  During the summer, for example, the humid weather breeds a nasty brood of mosquitoes that often remain in homes as late as December (definitely time to invest in some mosquito net).  They’re annoying, but non-lethal.  The weather here is similar to that of the Great Lakes area of the U.S.  It’s very cold in the winter and muggy in the summer.

 

Tonight I went out for dinner and drinks with five colleague at an excellent Korean restaurant.  We were all hired at the same time and went through the same orientation course together.  My colleague from Taipei and his wife joined five of us working here in Seoul.  Another colleague from Beijing will arrive soon, and we’re all planning to get together again.  Considering that about 90 of us were in our orientation class, our small group here constitutes a large portion of our class.  The rest of us are scattered around the world on five different continents.  I really enjoyed meeting up with my colleagues, relaxing, and having fun.  It was a trying day today at work, and I was glad to have a chance to unwind with them.

The Great Korea Firestorm of 2005

What a turn of events. Yesterday was a nice, sunny day in Seoul. Today the weather is dismal with heavy rains and high winds. It is the first major rainstorm I’ve seen since we arrived here. Traffic was abysmal, and tonight around 7 p.m. the power in our neighborhood went out for five hours. I felt like crashing tonight anyway after an unusually difficult day at work, so I took advantage of the darkness and went to sleep early. I woke up again at 12:30 a.m. and noticed that the power was on. Now I awake in the middle of the night, and I can’t think of a better way to wind down the day than to post a late night blog entry. So much for being productive around the house. Sometimes you have to change your plans.

Sadly, Korea also lost most of one of its greatest national treasures, Naksansa Temple. A forest fire swept through the area, destroying the temple compound and hundreds of acres of forestland. Located on Korea’s eastern coast not far from Sokcho City, Naksansa housed several important artifacts, including a bronze bell scorched by the blaze. The Buddhist temple was first built in 676 A.D. during the Silla Dynasty. Authorities were able to salvage some artifacts, but iit will take years for Korea to rebuild and restore this national treasure to its original condition. I would have loved to visit Naksansa during our stay here. Now I won’t have that chance.