Dear Students,

I took my four children downtown this afternoon via the subway, to Eun-haeng Dong.

Before going downtown, we got all bathed, fed, and dressed up to go to our English church service, near KAIST. We stood in the rain for 18 minutes, waiting for a taxi to no avail. Two empty taxis went by on the opposite side of the road, but either didn't hear us, or ignored us. There were many cars, so probably they did not see or hear us calling. I was more worried about keeping a close eye on Christopher, to keep him from standing too close to the oncoming cars on our side of the road.

We went to Seong-shim-dahng, a bakery. We ate some bread. Then, we went across the street, into a novelty store. We saw many things of high interest to my children, but nearly all were items we could not buy in good conscience, as it would likely be an imprudent use of money.



Above is a photo of my son, Christopher, watching two robots at play. He was fascinated by this. After this, we walked about a bit, admiring the rain and shopping store fronts. One clothing store, I remember, had music blaring out the front door. Passers-by could not avoid being inundated with loud music, whether they liked that western genre or not.

It is not common that you find traditional Chosun music played from such high fashion stores, though I wish that were the case. I would be far more fain to waltz into such a place, expecting a calm interior without harsh lighting and respectful sales people who do not get right in your face demanding to know what you are interested in.

My images of traditional culture here, Chosun culture, are demure, soft and non-invasive. Whether that is justified and constitutes any facsimilie of an authentic appraisal is beside the point; these are just my own personal images, which unconsciously influence my expectations.

Love, Nathaniel

Tags: chosun culture, eun-haeng dong, seong shim dahng
Current Location: Eun Haeng Dong

Dear Students,

I took Christopher running by the river today. We found a turtle and brought it home. Christopher clasped it tightly in his hand the whole way home, even holding it while I shopped in E-Mart. We picked up some milk, mushrooms, and seaweed.

Classes are finished for today. My students seemed to be fairly sincere today so it was a distinct pleasure to teach them. I believe the fall air coming on signals some degree of excitement, and facilitates better attention from my students.

By contrast, summer heat may make concentration difficult for my students. Frankly, I dearly love the heat of summer here in Taejeon, as it works wonders on the arthritic pains in my back, particularly with the humidity that is common here in these parts of South Korea. I would not trade living here for anything.

We do plan to move to the U.S. of A., though, as my wife has been intent on this for some time now. She does not want our children to study in the South Korean middle schools. Currently, I homeschool my three older children. Than sitting beside them when all is quiet in the late mornings here in my home with most other residents gone to work or school, working one-on-one, teaching reading and math, there is no greater pleasure on earth. I wish all fathers had access to that opportunity.

Love, Nathaniel

Today was a busy day.  I took my kids to church, leaving about 12:25, and arriving about 12:50.  We missed the sermon, must leave earlier in the future, but were delayed today, as Nathaniel got distracted and forgot family responsibilities on a quest to catch some insects, probably cicadas(매미), as they are "in season."   The funny thing about him is that he practices a "catch and release" philosophy, letting the creatures go after less than a day of captivity.  

He greatly enjoys going out about 10:30 at night to round up some cicadas just as they emerge from their skins, having crawled out of the ground.  Perhaps that would be their emergence from the larval stage, I know with great confidence, being neither a long-term bug aficionado, nor an entomologist, per se.  

 My children are in the den watching Oliver, a musical from 1968.  Our family enjoys the earlier sitcoms, mostly those made in the the sixties, with a few from the 50's and 70's.  But for movies we are not so stuck on the past.  Nonetheless, this was a new one for us, this musical, and though the children watched Oliver yesterday in its entirety, they popped it in again today for a rehash, so much were they enthused by it.  

I am pleased with my children for taking such an interest in musicals and older sitcoms.  In one sense, it's not like they have much of a choice, as we do not have a TV connection/access.  But too, having become inured to such fare, it is only to be expected that they would appreciate more of it.  

My classes are finished for tonight.  It is a good feeling, to have taught well, or at least to have maintained the students attention in "rapt fashion," or some fascimile thereof.  For me that is success, if I can keep up the patter, and maintain avid attention, crack a few jokes, do whatever it takes to keep an engaging conversation alive.  The best of all possible worlds, in my little world of ESL teaching in South Korea, is when the students actually actively engage, make a point and try to defend it.  

Sleep in Peace,
  Nathaniel
 

Dear Folks,

The morning is pure.  This is the birthday of a close friend of mine.   I don't know why I like birthdays so much.  They are a good way to show a friend that you remember him.   But there is more than that to them.  Being Christian, I realize that I should not be swayed by such sentimental feelings, and recognize that every day is special, each day a blessing from God.  But I can't help it.  I am affected by seasons and special days.  

My favorite season is autumn, which is coming soon.  I revel in the clear blue skies and crisp expectant air of the fall.  I should never say that I dislike summer, though, as the heat sinks into my bones and makes me feel better, such that my whole body feels a couple of decades younger, as nimble as a cat.  Therein, my arthritis reaps no small benefit from the moist summer heat, that and it is the humidity of summer here that draws the most ire from my critical friends and neighbors.  They are right, that a dry heat is easier to tolerate.  

I have lived out West in the U.S., where there is an arid climate, in Leadville, Colorado, and Silver City, NM, and absolutely loved it, my tenure there, in training for middle distance running.  I would not trade that time in my life.  I had much time alone, for looking inwards and feeling close to God.   But I feel close now, when I put my bevy of offspring in the jogging cart, safely buckled in, and set off to do some grocery shopping, or head down by the river.  

I will sorely miss the area around here in Weolpyeong-dong of Taejeon, and not least will I miss the wide sidewalks, with cool shade trees.  When I am walking along with my children in said venue, I feel that my life lacks nothing.  That is a grand feeling indeed.   So it must not surprise that I lament in advance my departure from Taejeon.  My wife is correct, when she asserts that we need to get our kids into a public school in North Carolina.   I imagine we will go to Alexander County, to be close to my mother, provided she is still there, in the home of my youth.   Being 78 years of age, she will one year before too long sell her home and move into a retirement village, probably in Winston Salem, North Carolina, where my grandparents lived their final decade.  

I admire the quality of care given the elderly in the Brookridge Assisted Living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  I became familiar with it while visiting my grandparents. The grounds are quite near Wake Forest University Campus.  If I have my druthers, I shall spend my final years there as well.  It is nice to subside near the place you grew up, hear the same accents in your native tongue.  The South of America has an inimitable accent, called the Southern Drawl.  Being raised on it, I came to love that sound.  It is always a pleasure to call my bank or some other public facility in North Carolina and hear that old familiar sound.  

Three days ago, I took my four children to Seoul.  We took a ride on a choo-choo.  There in Seoul, we visited the marketing team representative from Kyo-bo Books, in order to forge a contract to sell the first volume of my text series, Best Questions for Cogent Dialectics.  

I wonder if I should seek out other marketing venues.  I began with a few local bookstores, then added Kyo-Bo books, and feel that that should be enough.  But I don't know, knowing so little about marketing.  People tell me that marketing is very important.  I have my doubts.  I think marketing is clearly of greater importance when one of the following may be the case:  
A. You want your product to sell faster. 
B. You may have some doubts about the long-term viability or usefulness of your product or service.
C. You are keyed up, intent, on maximizing profit. 
D.  You are uncertain as to just how long you intend to hold yourself devoted to that particular enterprise. 
E.  You depend on income from that venture.
F.  You do not just love doing it, such that you would do it anyway, even if you were not paid, or if you lost money along the way, dribbling losses, as the production costs nickle and dime you, and your income never really covers your costs.  

But in some ways marketing's mantra, "You can't build a better mousetrap."  sounds almost like a desperate refrain, revealing by its persistent repetition and the passionate attachment of its adherents, some potential lack of faith in the very value of that mousetrap, or the actual calling from God for one to have gotten into that field, to have begun a mousetrap at all.  

They sound almost like those street evangelists who accost you on the street, or barge in your door, get right in your face and demand to know whether you are saved.  A defense is an indictment, and they do sound defensive much of the time.   I favor persuasion over force, and would much rather persuade people to my lifestyle with actions, raising my children well and treating my students and neighbors as I would want to be treated, rather than spouting off so often about the merits of my "one and only way."  

The Kyo-Bo Books representative was quite kind and helpful.  I could not have filled out the application forms alone.  He took off a bit of his lunch hour to assist me in that.  I tried to give him a fancy bottle of whiskey after we completed our deal, and he kindly but firmly refused, even after I said, "Well, I rarely drink this stuff, and will end up giving it to some else, a teacher of my children in some hagwon."  Apparently they are practicing a whole new business culture in Kyobo Books, modeled after the Western absence of gift-giving.  

I agree that bribes are bad and distort optimal allocation of resources.  But I hate to see a simple gift-giving culture subside in the pressure to "Modernize and Westernize."  Not all from the West is necessarily good or better, and I believe the West could stand to learn much about simple gift-giving, so long as the price of gifts are kept low enough to not be a major concern.  I long remember who gave me certain things, and I have a fond memory of that person for it.  I enjoy that, feeling it binds us in some small way. 

I especially detest reading in the paper (as I did in the Korea Herald on the 14th) about teachers in the public school system and company workers having to fork over a large sum of money to guarantee employment and/or promotions, but I believe these instances are becoming less and less common, despite my students' adamant averring to the contrary.  

Newspapers are forced to emphasize the bad, while often relegating the good to a distinctly secondary priority, if not ignoring it altogether, in their haste to break the bad news.  And really, how often would you buy a newspaper if it was replete with stories about entirely good events, "Fifty-three people broke into a smile today in downtown Taejeon, on the corner of such and such streets."  They have to earn a living, and people need to be apprised of the news.  
 
My children greatly enjoyed the trip to Seoul.  We ate a lunch at a nice place, having Kal-kook-soo and "Korean Pizza," with squid, green onions and kimchi baked in potato flour after the fashion of a pancake, for 12,000 won, enough to feed my four children and me.  We had to buy two umbrellas, thanks to the rain, at 6,000 a pop.  Then we traipsed on down to a subway station and made the forty minute trip to COEX Mall, where we took in the aquarium.   After one and a half hours there, we headed on back to the train station and took the fast train to Taejeon, departing at 5:00 sharp.  
  
Grace and Peace,
  Nathaniel

Dear Folks,

It is a lazy summer morning.  I have one child yet asleep, Nathaniel.  He must be soaking up the cool slumber that is only available in the morning.  We all sleep together in the largest room in our home, with two queen mattresses thrown together on the floor.  

It is good to live here in South Korea.  Despite being at war, and having to pay higher life insurance premiums for living in a war zone, I do not feel a pervasive sense of hazard for my family.  I fully trust that the South Korean military, along with their U.S. allies, would deliver a swift and decisive rebuttal to any strike by the North Korean Regime.  

But that brings up a point of sadness, here on the Korean peninsula; we are divided.  I long for peace, having been made more fully aware of the division in this corner of the world from having worked here for a decade of my life.  It is something from which you may not be immune, the effects of the war here, even though we are in a temporary cease fire of sorts.  There is everywhere a sense of something divided, unfinished, imperfect.  

My Christian background supports me in hope, where Paul tells us that we see "through a glass darkly" now when the perfect is not yet come, but that we will see clearly in the future, when we are face to face with God.  That perfection would be a blessing beyond description for the Korean people here to enjoy, a reuniting of the people who still share much of the same language.  

Yes, it is true, if you object that the differences between the two cultures is perhaps as great as could be realized on earth, between North and South Korea, given their diametrically opposed political orientations.   But I believe as Christ tells us, that "With God all things are possible."  I believe that we could indeed reunite, and that the Southern Koreans could share their affluence with the North.

As in all charity, of course, voluntary is best.  With affluence, we should have plenty of young people who would be willing to go and live up in the North, to teach English and basic math, other educational necessities.  In the process of teaching in a missionary capacity, they will inevitably endow their Northern proteges with the hope and psychological skills necessary to survive, and thrive, in modern democracies.  

Than this sort of ministering, I can think of no greater gift.  Money is not the answer.  People without much experience of using money historically show little ability to use it well, to their advantage.  

No, money is all too often not only damaging to the recipients of such sterile (loveless) aid, but seems to be mostly prompted by some false pride, from donors who would rather keep themselves distant from the field and yet by giving from a distance, think themselves fine people, but not moving there to live with the needy and sharing the fullness of their lives as ultimately Christ would have them do.  

Actually, we are not even allowed to give much money in a private manner just yet, but that should change, with increasing numbers of avenues opening up in years to come.  If I give, I believe that I would want to give to a young person from South Korea whom I know very well, and I can think of a few.  Supporting a person whom you know and trust, to merely live and teach the youth there, would seem to be just about devoid of perpetrating a deleterious effect upon the vast sea of indigent of North Korea.  

Love, Nathaniel

Tags: through a glass darkly
Current Location: Land of the Morning Calm
Current Music: Rick Wakeman The Piano Album