The Turning Gate

Babble, babble, babble ...

There’s no shortage of (de)construction work to be done in Korea. A building was collapsed near my home a few months ago and new construction is underway. Across the street and a stone’s throw down the road from that site, on the corner of a major intersection, a wrecking crew is bringing down the Windsor Hotel even as I write this. This is in addition to the perpetual work that’s been going on at that intersection for the subway extension, scheduled for completion in 2008. In Daechi-dong, along the bus route to school, they collapsed a bank building last week. I have no idea what they intend to build in any of these locations.

Here’s a recent photo of nothing in particular:

I’m sitting on my apartment floor, enjoying the gloomy half-light from my window and the warmth of my ondol heating. I’m just home from work and I’m a little wet from rain that started about an hour ago.

Has anyone been watching Battlestar Galactica? I’ve been on the edge of my seat all season!! I just read that the Sci-Fi Channel has picked the show up for a fourth season, which is happy news indeed! :-D

My kindergarten class graduates in two weeks. They’ll begin first grade in March, and will attend public elementary schools. I’ll miss a lot of the kids, but most of them will still attend my institute for our Super-Elite program, after-school ESL for first-graders. Having taught a good many of the kids for most of the last two years, it will nice to have them around a bit longer.

I’ve signed on with my school for another year, and look forward to teaching six-year-olds again from March. There will be a lot of changes in the school, most of them good. One change I’m not looking forward to is that Katherine, my boss, is resigning her position. Katherine is the most wonderful person I could ever hope to work for; I love her and I hate to see her go. She speaks well of her replacement, but I haven’t met her yet, so we’ll see how things go …

The winter has been relatively mind this year, compared to last. Recently, the weather has been almost spring-like.

There have been two celebrity suicides in Korea in the last few weeks. Actress Jeong Da-bin was found dead Saturday, having apparently hung herself. Female pop singer Yuni was found dead on January 21, with her third album waiting in the wings for release. Presumably, touring and publicity appearances would have followed.

People are worried there will be copycat suicides, as was the case when Lee Eunju, one of my favorite Korean actresses, committed suicide in February 2005. Obligatory, shocking statistic:

South Korea’s suicide rate has more than doubled in the past decade, from 11.8 per 100,000 people in 1995 to 26.1 per 100,000 in 2005, and on average 38 people a day take their own lives, official records show.
– from this news story.

I could maybe write more, but I really want to play Okami some before meeting my girlfriend for dinner. It’s a beautiful game, and one of the best I’ve ever played. If you own a PlayStation 2, you owe it to yourself to play Okami. Now, I’m off to do just that.

Send this article to a friend »

« Next Article | ... ... | Previous Article »