My Little General seems to be very well-adjusted and happy, happy, happy.  He plays by himself well.  We hold him a lot ... which admittedly, cramps my computer typing style.  To buy or not to buy.  There is a 2.4 giga-hertz Apple computer for sale here.  You guys should buy one seeing as how they are so cheap in dollars.  The exchange rate has nearly doubled here of late, from 1050 won-to-the-dollar as the average for the past five years, 2003-2008 inclusive, up to the current 1640 or so.  If I were American and needed anything (electronic doo-hickeys, clothing, shoes, etc.) I would beat it to the money changers and go on an internet shopping spree in South Korea.  Your credit cards do the money exchange for you, you know. Apple Computer doesn't raise prices just because of the exchange rate, but prefers to maintain price consistency on American imports.  

Ugg..   I am tired.  My voice is worn out.  I started at the university again yesterday.  March is the beginning of their school year.  All other professors I've ever met, whether South Korean or foreign follow the informal, but virtually iron-clad, tradition of meeting with the students for just fifteen or twenty minutes to outline the syllabus, ask if there are any questions, to which no student responds, and then let everyone head home, professor included. 

I have never been able to do that, even after walking in the classroom with some degree of that intention.  It is what the students want.  But deep down I know I have been paid for a contract which has me actually teaching the first class, and I always go the whole two hours, particularly knowing that ESL has some of its greatest benefits in the more informal situations, when they are just chatting, thinking they are not studying.  The first day has the lowest pressure, with low expectations and a sense of zero obligation.  It's ideal for teaching ESL, and I love it. 

But, the upshot is that my voice is shot.  I taught two groups yesterday, for four hours, minus the ten-minute break.  I will miss it, though, when I go back to the U.S., where I will preach every Sunday and find some other work to do during the week.  I suppose I should start a business, or businesses, in which my burgeoning brood could find profitable work in their teens and early twenties, while they are focusing on their education.  To that, let's hope they focus on their education all their live-long days.  That's the only way to integrate education into one's life, no?  At least that's the way my parents did it, and I don't intend to do otherwise.  I'd hate for my children to not get the basic message and drop the proverbial tradition-clad ball.

We started the morning with snow curling down from the sky above.  I have my two older children home with me today, doing some homeschooling.  Courage coalesced within them during the eight-week school break this winter.  They began doing some English writing work here at home a couple of weeks ago and had somewhat of a revolution in their approach to studies, fain to learn eager to please.  They take it seriously now, with very neat writing.  It all started when my wife threw in the towel, giving up on teaching our children here at home.  My children, whatever their individual stripes, share one common trait:  they won't do anything without thinking about the value of it, and don't like to be coerced to do something which they think virtually worthless.  That includes nearly all of the South Korean public school curriculum, as well as my wife's methods of teaching. 

I forked out some dough, though, in buying four books about insects.  We had lots of field guides and brief introductions to many different species (Do you realize there are literally hundreds of insect species out there?  And they all look alike.).   Eni Waee ... the field guides give only enough to whet your appetite.  We had no books that went into sufficient depth to satisfy My Flagship.  No more.  I will give a list. 

Oops  He had a rhinocerous beetle to die earlier than expected.   Books say that they die after mating.  However, he has had most of his continue living even after mating.  This one seems to have coughed up some sperm and is ready to give up the ghost, but his mating activity was a while back, two or three weeks ago, right after he got it.  His others lived a normal lifespan, which is several months.  Books claim that they fall down dead after mating.  Could it be that in his maiden mating attempt, he was being prudent, conserving his essence and just went for a dry run, so to speak, not the real McCoy, kind of checking out the female to see if he felt she would make a good mother?  My Flagship says she did not lay eggs, and the other females he has had took about three or four days to lay eggs.  She dug holes in the wood, though.  He says that is what females do.  My wife doesn't dig any holes, other than financial in the sense that she presents strong opposition to me doing much in the way of investing and growing a business, what I am trained to do in my MBA.  

I came here planning to start a small hagwon, and see how well I could grow it, starting out as the sole teacher and just letting it go from there.  But my wife couldn't stand the thought of me incurring the business risk of running a business here in South Korea.  She says she feels more comfortable about me doing it in the U.S.  And she may have a point.  Corruption is relatively high here; that's a known fact.  It may be that competitors would have done me in.  I certainly never would have paid a bribe for anything.  Walmart, too, reportedly had to turn tail and beat a hasty retreat from this lovely Land of the Morning Calm, thanks to its staunch policy of giving no bribes. 

But I felt that I would stay well below the radar and just have a well-run school for teaching English in the evenings, and give great service, Tony the Tiger "Greeeaaat!"  But that never happened.  Rather, I continued working heavy loads, upwards of 60 hours a week, when I could have used some help, hiring two more foreigners, and focused on improving teaching methods and relations to mothers.  Even with my own students, I did manage to have some special events for them all, on Liberation Day each year for a few years in a row, when we got together, ate some chicken in a park, and had a field day with athletic and fun events, and with me also teaching juggling.  But those days are over, with me getting saddled with more children, and my wife unable to do much in the childcare department, or anything else now. 

How many children can you find in the photo on the right? Oops!  There's one more!

Wifey "Nim-Ggae-seo-neun"(sign of respect in Korean) is so afraid of us making money that she felt she needed to get certified to teach in the U.S., and started a master's degree in English.  Now, it turns out that her university program does not give certification, merely a terminal degree in ESL.  She is doing a distance learning program, which is considerably better than your typical online programs.  With distance learning, you listen to the same lectures, and you follow the same assignments in step with the students who attend the classes physically.  In fact, her diploma will make no distinction between her status as a distance learner and that of a student who attends classes in person. 

I look at her textbooks and see her working passionately, staying up all night many nights in a row for projects and think that she is having a great experience.  I only wish she enjoyed it as much as I think she should, or maybe does ... if she indeed thrives on it and does not realize her debt to it as a stimulus to her growing young mind.  

Studying is inherently good for her, and it does not matter to me if she never gets a job.  I wish she shared my feelings on that and would just relax, work hard, and not worry about getting a job. 

Mentally, she's on her way up, while I am on my way down it would seem, if I am a typical red-blooded American Alpo Male.  I believe most minds begin shrinking more rapidly at about age 40. 

Well, this post is waxing dry.  I'll see if I can rustle up some photos to touch it up here and there, and then bid you adieu.  Maybe I'll add a bit more to this post within the next few days.  Much has changed here, and I've been busier than a bee.  I hope to be able to show you my game, provided I get it copyrighted in the U.S. soon, within a few weeks.  I'll send it off today or tomorrow if all goes well, and my fourth child lets me work on it this evening.

This one, My Flagship, is always stopping to look at bugs. 

Love, Padooker 

Currently reading:  Rules of Play:  Game Design Fundamentals

Dear Folks,

Today is the Sabbath.  We will walk to church about noon.  Our Sunday school starts at 2:00 p.m., but we like to get there a bit early, so that we can take in the last 30 minutes of the English service, and then enjoy the muffin, soda pop snack time sandwiched between the service and English Bible Study.   I would like to lead a bible study there at our Baptist church, a new church for us, one which we only discovered a year ago.  Few churches in Taejeon offer English language services.  We have attended three different Presbyterian churches over the years because they were the only English language services we knew of close to our home.  And I am not Presbyterian.  Rather, I am Southern Baptist.

I woke up a little late today, nearly 10 a.m.  I felt a duty to snooze a bit longer with My Flagship (oldest son), My Shining Knight (2nd son), and My Clever Lad (3rd son).  They all depend on me rather much, for affection. 

Aha!  My Shining Knight just got up!  He just came in here to see me.  He is groggy with sleep, and slow moving.  He sat behind me at the glass teaching table, here in my classroom.  He is fiddling with two sand clocks, which we use in games.  Much of my job here over the past 13 years involves entertainment.  That's the only way to teach the typical Taejeon child English in an engaging manner. 

My Dandelion (daughter) woke up early and has been watching The Berenstain Bears on DVD.  I went in to join her for a few short episodes.  One episode was about a new friend in town.  His name was Ferdie, short for Ferdinand, I think.  His uncle (ostensibly) was a professor, and they were both very smart.  They also both wore glasses.  While highly educated, and good at chess, Fertie was unaccomplished at social interactions.  He could not make friends very well.  As Mamma Bear explained, he probably was snooty towards others because he was uncomfortable and didn't know how to make friends well.  It is not that he was condescending on purpose, so much as just that he didn't know how else to behave, and hope to gain respect, or just not be ridiculed. 

Now My Flagship is awake, seated right behind me on a stool, and fiddling with a plastic tool for keeping a cereal bag closed to maintain optimal freshness of the cereal.  I found a new kind of cereal, which is a tad cheaper than anything else about, in these parts.  It is called TESCO, and hails from The Mother Country.  I up and bought nine boxes.  I should have bought only bran flakes, as they were 3,250 won for 500 grams. However, I bought only three boxes of bran flakes and one each of every other kind they had on offer.  The others are tasty, and the variety is good, but they cost 5,250 won per 500-gram-box, and I just don't think that's worth it, not when we could just eat bran all the time for such a colossal savings.  Maybe it doesn't seem like a huge savings at first glance, but try to think of everything multiplied times the number of cereal eaters in my family.  Reality sets in. 

We bought those new kinds of cereal at HomePlus, a new store in town.  Well, it's been here maybe four or five years, but that's new to us.  And what's more, there are two outlets of HomePlus within walking distance, one about 20 minutes away, to the West, and the other about 30 minutes away, to the East.  That's perfect for us to pick and choose, to time our exercise outings, walk-abouts around town, to my teaching schedule. 

I picked up a new student yesterday.  He, too, studies alone, like perhaps most of my students.  At 50 bucks an hour, I used to think that expensive, but not anymore.  I used to try to introduce students to each other and help them save money, but that is not what mothers of my wards really want, and it took  me some years to fully realize this.  Rather, they want a more intense relationship with me, and zero interruption from noisy peers.   I finally got it, so now, more and more of my students are singles.  And I enjoy it more.  It is pure concentration for one hour, while groups of two, three or four students can be somewhat noisy, with flagging attention, when one student is required to respond, and the others just kind of lull out, lose focus.   

My Dandelion and I watched together two other Berenstain Bears episodes together, aside from the overbearing Fertie, who eventually learned his lesson about friendship, realizing that Queenie was actually merely pretending to be his friend, just to get help with his math homework.  I could relate the events of the other two episodes, but I will not bore you with the details, dear Reader.  If I get more time today, I'll get back on the horn here, and fill in some detail for you.

Already we have a visitor, this Sunday morning, Ko Shee-Yeon, a friend of My Dandelion, who lately has been going to church with us, even though she understands no more than a handful of words in English.  I think her mom likes for her to hear the English language Sunday School, even though I think there is no certain value in her doing so, as the comprehensible input is virtually zero for her, and she just daydreams.    

Love, Padooker

Dear Folks,

Well, that was nice.  My Flagship and My Shining Knight  just came in with a present for My Dandelion, as it will be her birthday next week.  They can be nice and sweet when you least expect it. 

I am plugging my way through computer programming studies.  I am taking a course from a university in my home state of North Carolina.  They have a distance learning program, and it works fairly well for me.  I watch each lecture twice, and read each assignment twice or more.  So far so good.  I get a big kick out of it when the computer works for me on my lab assignments.  The programs are very easy, but for me, they present a challenge.  Good.

Ah, I just had a grand sneeze.  Nothing like that.  You know a good sneeze echoes all the way about your being, leaving ripples all over your body and a case of the chicken skin that suggests it won't quit any time soon.

Ooh, there was another.  Two in a row.  We're off to a good start today.  The most I ever did in a row was eight, when I was sitting in the front seat of a large SUV, owned by a student's mother, as we went to an English church service together.  That was about two years ago.  I'll never forget that enchanted day.   Let's call it "The Day of the Eight Consecutive Sneezes."  No?

Well, classes are finished for today.  I taught only one class.  I don't know how we keep making money, because I taught less this past year, but we made about as much money, or so it seems now that I am calculating taxes.  Of course, I taught at camps last January and August.  They paid fairly well, but I do not expect I will do them again this summer. 

I may study more computer science.  Though, I find it daunting to think I would attempt a course similar to my current course (Introduction to C++ Programming Language)  in a 10-week intensive course session.  I just could not handle it, what with all the child care duties I inherit. 

Funny thing about that, my wife and I sat together for about three minutes, eating apple slices after my class, while the student went in the TV room in the back of the house to watch some of The Simpsons in English with my brood, everyone docile at night.  It was a good atmosphere. 

My wife noted that when we move to the U.S., we will have a dishwashing machine, as well as a drier.  We have only a washer for our clothes, and I hang them up to dry.  That's my job.  We never made formal duty assignments. 

In fact, when my wife gets pregnant, which has been pretty often of late, I just take on more tasks.  Too, the more children we got, the more domestic duties I have assumed.  Another of "my duties," or ones I normally do, is washing dishes. 

My children have a distorted sense of the value of money.  They will work rather hard for "peg won," which means 100 units of the Korean currency, the "won."  If I merely call out, "Peg Won Duh Lee Get Seo Yo!"  (I'll give 100 won!) [... to whomever helps me out with this task here], then one or more children will come running. 

I give special effort to instigate them to learn and eventually acquire, or inherit, my especial tasks.  But if we're going to the U.S. soon, and those particular tasks are greatly simplified, am I shooting myself in the foot?  Should I not rather be doing all I can to keep them in my name, and take credit for them?  Wouldn't that more closely resemble the life of a Renaissance Man of Letters?  Should I buy a Meerschaum Pipe, if only for the sake of pretense and appearances? 

Love, Padooker

Dear Folks,

Mister Computer Fancy Pants:

I like my computer programming class.  I have become more daring in my regular use of the computer, as well, what you might call a spin-off benefit.   For example, as you will notice above, I have moved the photo to the right a bit, not merely allowing it to stay aligned with the left margin, the way they come in.  I thought of it myself, thinking, I bet if I click on the left of this photo, and just insert a few spaces with the ole proverbial space bar with either or both of my thumbs, why that thing'd move right over.  And lo and behold it did!  Won't wonders never cease! 

I also noticed that we can change the background color of our web pages.  Hence, I chose a light blue, to offset my pink comments galore.   Changing font size has not been a major problem for me.  I've been proficient in that, say, maybe for one year now.  I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to verify that by searching back through my web log to ascertain with greater accuracy just when I began introducing font of a variety deviating from the standard with which we are provided when we began an entry. 

The Lunar New Year: 

Today is the first day of an increasingly anachronistic 3-day holiday called Sull-Al.  The first syllable gets the stress and is like the first sound of "sully," while the second syllable is like the name "Al."   They write is like this, 설날.  With the continued rising dominance of Christianity though, the older holidays from previous cultures and nations still recognized here are fast receding, going out of fashion.  Everybody still enjoys a few days off from work and school, though increasingly more high school students actually forego the holiday and stay home to study. 

In fact, as time goes on, more and more families eschew the tradition of visiting their relatives at the oldest surviving brother's house from the patriarchal line.  More families try to drop by the wife's side of the family, even if only for a short visit, not staying overnight, as is common for visits to the husband's extended family.  But overall, there is a continued decline in the number of families who get out at all.  My students always come back saying they did not like the visit, those who actually go, which is still over half.  They report they were bored the whole time, and did not talk with their grandparents and aunts or uncles much at all, beyond the mandatory few words of greeting.  They miss their computers and friends. 

Unfettered Communion:

I will try to get some photos from our visit to my in-laws, where we will go today.  Then, I'll come back and plug them into this web log entry to jazz it up a bit, give it some badly needed color.  I called my mother this morning.  She said she keenly feels the presence of her departed husband, my father.  She is not very lonely, and enjoys being by herself.  I understand.  When you are alone, you have unfettered communion with God.  Nothing tops that.

We have more snow today.  And this time it really laid.  Well, to continue that thought, I might add that I was officially accepted into the ranks of my seminary, and now am registered for my first course to make a preacher.  In the abstract, to be more familiar, I would fain like to add names for my school, and my wife's school in the U.S., but I have been warned not to do that, for safety reasons, so no internet pervert could lust after my children and come find them in real life. 

My wife agreed with the Xanga friend who advised us so, and hence, I use "spy-esque" aliases for my children.  My Clever Lad is beside me just now, talking about some "metal gun."  He has a gun in his hand, toy, but tells me, "This is not my metal gun.  Find my metal gun."  Rather uppity, no?  He's only four, and learns to command others about from his older siblings, it would seem. 

COSTCO and Photos:

Yesterday I went to COSTO and bought myself a chunk a cheese.  I bought Parmesian, two big wedgies deluxe.  They taste good with the dry red wine.  I'm listening to Crimson and Clover now, sung by Joan Jett.  She does it well, not unlike how Jimi Hendrix took Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower to a new level, or What's Their Name's rendition of Dylan's Knockin' on Heaven's Door. 

I took two neighborhood urchins along with the rest of our brood, going via subway for five stops East.   I allow My Dandelion to bring a couple of female friends "on-account-a-how-come-why-for" (because) she has no sisters, what with me being somewhat stingy on the "X's" in fertilizing the beloved wife.   

The Mom got 540 photos copied for her, from our second half of 2005.  We are a little behind on getting photos to my parents.  My father, now passed away, missed out on a bundle of precious shots, though I did send him a smattering on a semi-regular basis via e-mail, while he was still kicking.   

Love, Padooker

My Clever Lad boning up on the old fiddle. 

Trivia question for the Fiddling Astute:  "Hey! Is that there one of them old Hambone Fiddles?"

Dear Folks,

Here above, we have father and eldest son in the local Krispy Kreme factory store, a great place to gather with a few friends, a cup a jo and enjoy fresh hot doughnuts which melt in your mouth.  My Flagship (oldest son) enjoys my adult friends.  One, a 64-year-old lady from Tennessee, former Greyhound Bus driver, Seventh-Day-Adventist, never-married, is fond of taking in abused dogs and caring for them.  She has eight right now.  This is a hobby she has taken up since we met her a few years ago, when she had only one dog, a very pampered poodle.

We have a group of foreigners who meet at my house once a week on Saturday mornings for a coffee-klastch.  This coffee-klastch has been going on for maybe four years now.  I don't know what we'll do when we move to the U.S. next year.  I thought we were going this year, but Wifey says we will leave in April of 2010.  So be it. 

Yesterday a neighbor moved out and in typical fashion, abandoned a large pile of furniture.  I picked through the rubble and came out with two keepers, new desks, pictured below:

Above:  We have two new desks in the waiting room, which we will let our children claim, use and keep clean.

I have two more days teaching at a winter camp at Daejeong Elementary School on the outskirts of Taejeon, South Korea, Land of the Morning Calm.   I ask my students to predict when their peers will elect a minority of the darker persuasion (people of color) to the highest office of South Korea, and they say it will not happen in 100 years.  They say that 99 percent of their friends would be willing to marry a person of color.  I tell them most people in America believe that they cannot be free when they hold negative judgment against others for the hue of their covering (skin).  They say they agree (in theory), but could never put something like that into practice in their families, as it would not be acceptable. 

But I have seen a two or three cases of Black people marrying a South Korean.  There is a lovely young girl from just such a mixed marriage who attends our elementary school.  She is a happy girl, but cannot speak any English.  I talk to her in Korean.  She does not know her father, and her mother is in Japan, making money somehow, while the girl lives with her maternal grandparents.  They tell her her daddy's dead, but from what I know about the typical expectations and behavior of South Korean women, I believe he may have gotten fed up with his wife's way of doing things and went back to the U.S. 

Too, she may be atypical; I know my wife is.  Other women in this area remark often just how different my wife is.  She has no friends here, and typical South Korean women are big gabbers/friend-makers.  She never goes out to eat or goes shopping, either, both hallmarks of young South Korean yuppies.  She has the money to do so, but would rather just keep socking it away.

Outside Central Gate Baptist Church

My Dandelion" Dancing and "My Shining Knight" Chowing Down in Church

My little slew of curtain climbers and skirt tuggers can do some mean eating and damage on the snack table at the back of the sanctuary, just after the English sermon and before our Sunday school begins.  My Clever Lad, partially obscured behind My Shining Knight, above, makes sure he gets enough extra bread in his hands that he will not be wanting for the next twenty minutes.  He knows what's up. 

My Wife and Child Above Sure do Take Blurry Photos.  Maybe they're dancing.

I just got back from the local E-Mart (Walmart knockoff) with my burgeoning brood.  They had a good time together, playing outside on one of their favorite monuments.  I should include a photo of it, and probably will add one later.  This post is, like most, a work in progress.  I go back and jazz up my posts of yore from time to time. 

Computer Phobia Reduction Galore:

And hey!  I may actually become computer proficient, and start adding videos and little sermons with yours truly delivering the message, on account a how come why-for I started a computer programming class recently and although the content of this course is strictly programming (in C++), I already sense that it is having the spin-off effect of reducing my fear of computers, which should yield dividends in other aspects of computer usage. 

Homegrown Music:

They don't have a place for you to notch in your own children, below, where you can select an album or cd to show what music you're currently listening to.  I am listening to my daughter play the piano.  She has gained confidence over the past two weeks of lessons.  It shows in her piano playing.  She spends much time on the thing at home, given that we don't push them to do much during vacation, unlike their peers in school, who are logged into ever more hagwon hours during their vacation, negating the whole purpose of vacation, eating up their free time.  If you're not free during vacation, what's the point of having a vacation? 

Retroactive Observation:

Similarly, I'd like to make a retroactive observation.  Christmas was a festive time for us all.  The children got some nice presents from Santa Claus, and we all had a good time.  Friends came over, lonely Westerners estranged from their families.  But I'm talking about hooch.  If I can't have eggnog, what's the point of having Christmas? 

And now that I am 47, knocking on half a century, if I can't have some kind of hooch on every holiday, then will you kindly tell me what's the point of getting old? 

Do you see my sanctimonious, self-important, solipsistic, sheet-eating grin below?  That's my baby with me.  He should inherit virtually all of my traits by virtue of living with me through the first two decades of his life.  That should ensure that the next generation of Longs has a phlegmatic, puscillanimous, pontificating pipsqueak to keep the tradition going full swing.  Right now, he's just about a clean slate, but you let him live with me, and we'll see what we can do. 

My Lovely Young Wife and New Baby Boy (The Little General in a Party Hat)

Love, Padooker

Dear Folks,

I am taking a programming course via distance learning from a U.S. university.  I like it.  That does not mean it's not "kicking my posterior," but yes, it is a pleasant way to spend time, and I get little jolts of adrenalin whenever I realize I got something right on the remote server with my program.  

I took my oldest son on a bike ride today.  I'm teaching at a school pretty far away, 45 minutes each way on the bike, and I get my beard frosty each morning.  It was -12 celcius this morning, whatever that means.  It is below 32 F

Father and Son Biking Way Out of Taejeon  5 January 2009

My third son sits beside me now, making explosive noises rather well.  He has a small punch-out tree in his hand, which goes with a house his oldest brother made.  I should take a photo, but as happens everytime I buy some of those Double A Four Dollah Batteries, they get usurped by some battery hog in my home and are gone, never to be found again.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I can find rechargeable batteries, but only the ones which do not work any longer.  What do they mean by "can recharge 1000 times?"  That's baloney. 

I get maybe ten before they are in the hands of my children, stashed away in their toys and personal battery caches, and then they get maybe 20 or 30 more.  I really don't think we've ever had a battery get 50.  But I should keep a count on a pair, putting them back in a special drawer and marking a pad each time, before I denounce the makers of these batteries so hastily. 

I am teaching at a public school camp in Taejeon.  I get some exercise by riding my bike there, though it is cold in the mornings.  I was fortunate to have an excuse to buy some biking "booties," which keep the old dogs toasty.  I've been here 13 years without booties, as I gave my old ones to my brother, along with my bike, cleated shoes and some biking clothing.   My wife would not have cottoned to me buying winter gloves (10 smackers from the local knock-off of your basic K-Mart, Target or Dollar General, called "E-Mart" here) or the twenty dollah booties ... if it had not been that I use them to get out to my work for free.  Taking the subway and then a taxi would have cost me about 16 dollars a day.  Hence, her easy consent. 

The upshot is that now I am "in the booties way," and warm feet make for a happy biker.  Frozen toes make me want to not venture out of the humble abode.  So, I'm getting plenty of exercise.  And I've got the booties to keep as long as they hold up, unless I lose one of them. 

Love, Padooker

Dear Folks,

Here we are on Christmas 2008

We've got to get us a good camera.  I am planning to buy a Nikon D40, used, for just under 500 dollars.  But we will have to wait awhile.  I spent nearly 800 dollars on Christmas, focusing on DVD's of American Sitcoms from the 1960's and 70's, plus The Simpsons seasons 6-10.   My family enjoys watching The Simpsons.  I need to watch with them, though, in order to explain the idioms and colloquial expressions.  Otherwise, the children and my wife just gloss over them, not knowing what they mean. 

Scooby Doo is worse, though, to explain to someone who never grew up in American culture.  My Dandelion likes Scooby Doo, and I sit with her from time to time and explain what I can, pausing the DVD to get in a better explanation. 

Above, My Flagship and I went for a bike ride this afternoon.  It took us 75 minutes, and I got tuckered out.  I had already gone 80 minutes at a faster clip to Dae Jeong Elementary School to teach today at an English camp.  The teaching was fun, but we had to sit through an opening ceremony which was boring.  It took an hour or so.

My Flagship kept getting out ahead of me on the trail.  I couldn't keep up with him on the way back.  He likes to go fast, and I decidedly do not.  Those dirt trails beside the river jostle my bones.  Too, I believe my bike developed a new rattle, not a good sign. 

I am listening to a Hootie and the Blowfish album which a friend of mine gave me for Christmas.  It's not bad.  That's all I can say for it right now. 

Above you see My Clever Lad all sad that we ate up the whole tin of cookies that a student gave us for Christmas. It took my family, and my students, too, a week to eat them all.  But we did it, by golly.  We ate'em all, ate'em all up, we did.

Above:  Mom and Our Newest Family Member, now Five Months Old, "My Little General."   He's turning out to be a pretty good little dude, it seems.  He's definitely "a keeper," on any scale.  But then, I'm his father, so I might be a tad biased. 

I bought some bean soup the other day, with My Shining Knight in tow.  Together we decided that it would round out a nice meal.  We got home and the team enjoyed it.  However, when I remarked to my wife that we got two plastic things of soup for eleven dollars, sort of proud of my shopping prowess, she said that was expensive.  Go figure.  Is bean soup (one with a bit of tuna, the other with snippets of veggies) expensive at 5 dollars and 6 dollars?  I believe you get maybe one kilogram in each case, for a grand total of two kilograms.  I won't swear to it, but that's about what it seemed to be, either that, or about two pounds per soup.  Presumably it was about enough for one adult to eat for each pan.  The kids divided it up and ate well. 

With the milk and egg prices edging up over the past two years, I gradually stopped buying certain foods.  The latest casualty was the little cartons of chocolate and strawberry milk.  My kids used to gobble them down, but they just cost too much now, and we can drink regular milk, and be fine for it, no worse for the wear.  That's what we do now, been on this kick for several months. 

The thing is, I just try to feed them nutritious meals without going in hock.  So far, we've managed that, even while working our way out of hock on the house, which I guess you could call "House Hock."   That took about six years, if I remember correctly, something my wife says I just can't do anymore.  So, all the better for me; I will soon be able to reread the same novel over and over, and never know the ending until I get there. 

The preacher talked yesterday about how a seed has to be placed in the ground and die (at least to its current form) in order to bring forth fruit in abundance.  What he meant was that I have to give up my life for my children and others.  Sounds pretty good to me, so he was preaching to the choir as far as that is concerned.  I like serving others, especially those closest to me, in my family and business. 

I'll have to start a new business in the U.S.  And we're reading our selves for the big exodus, maybe as early as this here year. 

Love, Padooker

Dear Folks,

Well, this is New Year's Eve.  It's now about 8:36 p.m.  

I played My Shining Knight in a game of padook, giving him a four-stone handicap, during which I made a promise to My Flagship to read an animal book with him. I have yet to honor that promise, getting sidetracked rounding up all the children to make sure they eat before time is up. 

My wife sets rigid limits on how late you may eat or drink.  It falls to me to make sure they eat on time because they will not on their own accord.  They get sidetracked, interested in other things and forget to eat.  If only I were so lucky with my relation to food. I could use the loss of about ten pounds. 

I went to the Dentist's today, and got drilled without anesthesia.  I told the dentist I felt sure I would need anesthesia, and then a root canal a few days later, this coming Saturday.  He said he did not think I would need anesthesia.  He was right.  I was very surprised.  I tell my students that I am a pansy.  They find that funny.  Self-deprecation is not a strong part of South Korean humor just yet, but it seems that it will be more and more in the future, as the most advanced students are more cosmopolitan and enjoy that sort of humor better. 

Slapstick works well here, as it did in the Charlie Chaplin era of the U.S. 

Well, I got about 40 minutes in with My Flagship, nearly twenty reading an animal book, with loads of photos and descriptions of the special features of each strange animal.  When I was young, we just had books on basic animals.  Now, they have photos of all kinds of strange creatures. 

And I'm not all too sure it is such a good idea for kids to be introduced to such a great variety of animals at such a tender age, especially if it gets them confused about what all shapes animals can take and the strange habits some of them have.  It might be better, or at least simpler, if we just stuck to teaching them about the basics:  lions, tigers, snails, and puppies, things of that nature.  Perhaps a good litmus test to decide what is fair game to let your kids learn about might be to ask yourself, "Did I know about this here animal when I was in the third grade?" 

The rest of our study, exploration time my son showed me internet sites, in Korean, where they had oodles of photos of some very strange, and quite colorful praying mantii, dining on spiders, snakes, even a small bird. 

My Shining Knight went for a bike ride in the dead of winter with his mother.  They go for about 50 minutes or an hour, and have not missed for several days running.  However, I'm not so sure it's a good idea for him to be exercising at his age.  He is a first grader right now. 

I'd hate to get him all burnt out on the concept of exercise.  That's something you need to do all your live long days, especially when you get older.  His bones might not be set just right yet for exercise, you know.  Bones are important.  So are ligaments, tendons, and muscles.  You don't want to wear them out too early in life. 

Another thing, we wrestled together this evening, My Shining Knight and I.  He has gotten stronger.  I don't use all my strength, but when it gets to where I cannot handle him well with, say, eighty percent of my strength, it will be time to suggest we adopt other, more appropriate, father/son activities, such as tiddly winks, jacks, or marbles, only I never did any of those. 

I need something where I can continue to win.  And as my children get older, pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer every day.  It seems like I just turn around and bam, one of my children is behaving in a new way, a whole lot more mature, unrecognizable with his previous behavior patterns. 

For example, My Flagship no longer likes "I Dream of Jeannie," which he used to love to watch.  His mother loved it, too.  Now, I bought him the fifth (or was it the 6th?) and final season for Christmas, and he is not that interested in it.  Things change very fast around here. 

I am contemplating buying My Flagship another video, the complete TV series (3 seasons worth) of Kung Fu, with David Carredine, for 72 dollars, plus about 15 % for shipping here to South Korea.  It has some of that fuzzy wuzzy Buddhist stuff in it, and I enjoyed it when I was his age.  Perhaps he would like it, too.  

Buddhists are fading fast here in South Korea.  They were 49 percent when I came here, with 20 percent Christians.  Now, Christians are at 26 percent with Buddhists down to 20.  Many Buddhists have passed away, and who knows, perhaps reincarnated as Christians, on account of how come why for we have about 70 percent budding young Christians in the elementary school classes here in this neck of the woods.

Another thing, more and more South Koreans are beginning to believe in Santa Claus.  My students and I read the reprint from the New York Sun, about "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," this past week, leading up to Christmas.  Well, it seems obvious that I have very little to say.  I am only creative in the mornings, and have to strain to type in the evenings.

My children do not always behave now.  Sometimes they argue with each other.  I have been so busy that I have not as much time as I used to to spend with each of them during each day.  I will have to remedy that, something I have already begun.  But anyway, they disobey.  Can you believe that? 

My wife or I tell them to do something and they sit there like a knot on a log, as if they had not heard us at all.  We don't throw plates or anything, but we sometimes raise our voices a notch or two, to let them know we mean business.  Fortunately, I see this as being strictly a temporary thing.  I fully expect they will obey much better when they become teenagers. 

Love, Padooker

ESL Note:  Students:  We have humor in this piece.  See if you can find it.  Three or more points are pure fabrication, just to be funny.  

Dear Folks,

Christmas at the Long's Home:

We have had a rather fine Christmas so far, with a few friends dropping by throughout the day.  I could not hope for more.  A friend is indeed a fine entity in this "sordid world of taint and stain," even where he does not always agree with you and yet, like a good brotherly monkey, steadfastly picks the lice out of your coat. 

So today, I suppose you could say it got as good as it gets, a tainted heaven on earth, so to speak, a faint copy of the real thing in our midsts, the real thing being the true heaven above, where all is perfect according to God's wishes.  We had three adults come by at noon for coffee and conversation.  One man brought a walnut version of a pecan pie, with just about the same filling inside, but English walnuts in place of pecans.  I'll just be honest; the absence of pecans did little to faze my assault on the remaining pieces, after waiting a couple of hours to be polite and let everyone have his fill. 

I carried half a piece into my wife, catching her while she was on the phone, handling a business call.  We have chocolate, too, by "Feletti 1882".  They call it Cioccolato Fondente Tanzania.  One little part on the label reads, "75% cacao."  Why can't they just write "cocoa"?  Isn't that what they're talking about anyway?  Maybe it sounds fancier, sort of upscale. 

Hey, maybe I'd better start saying it that way, too, if only to sort of get used to tossing it out, without too much self-consciousness, and behave as if I've always said it that way, suggesting that perhaps I was raised in a city or something to that effect, mystery and sophistication wrapped up in one.  You know, it might not hurt to revamp my flagging persona.  After all, I've been living among South Koreans, and they tend to follow our psychological states, and cultural patterns with a lag of a few decades. Once I hit the streets of small town North Carolina again, I may look dated to beat the band.  But for that, I was dated before, so how much does it really matter?

We had a nice Christmas, and it is good that my children are happy with modest supply of gifts.  A friend left South Korea, to return to New Zealand, and dropped by beforehand to leave us with a gift to each member of my family, wrapped and set under the tree.  That was quite nice, and still leaves a warm feeling behind.  He is home with his three children now, and wife.  He is a Catholic; whereas, I am a Baptist, but we find common ground on plenty of points. 

He is older than I, by seven years, so I learn much from his experience in raising children. 

Year's Summation:

I have a nice mix of music I used to like, posted now on my profile.  I used a service called "Playstation.com" and several of the songs did not come out right.  So, let's sum the year.  I still have a gut.  The thing was not so obvious before that ill-fated day of March, when my colleagues at the elementary school pressured me to play volleyball with them and in the process ignore my daughter's crying pleas to leave and get home on time.   

Bad choice on my part, but I was new on staff and felt much pressure.  Interestingly, none of them have volunteered to fork out any dough for the surgery I need.  It's no biggie, 200 to 700 thousand won, but we have other things we feel we need more, so I've done OK without surgery, though it aches sometimes, in strange ways, where you wonder if you're not hurting your knee in some permanent way.

It's been nice, though, knowing that I don't need such a good knee anymore, get along just as fine as frog hair without it now.  I used to run a lot, and now that I can't, am not put out by the lack. Rather, I think to myself that it is a good thing because was about tired of running all the time.  Walking now is grand.  Maybe I will be bummed out if I can't walk.  Now that would be a horse of a different color, no doubt.

Ye Ole "Deer-in-the-headlights" Baby Gaze

I can't say I've ever had a better Christmas day.  I have not venture outside, and that may be the best part about it.  Everybody came to me, bringing goodies of various sorts.  Too, we haven't overeaten.  So long as I have something creative to work on, I have no tendency to overeat.  That's nice.  I am making more boards for my board game.  Just as soon as I get it copyrighted, I'll begin to use the real name for it.

Well, Mother calls all to bed.  One friend is still here, and intends to snap a family photo for us for Christmas.  Better get to it.

My Clever Lad Holding Aloft His Power Rangers   &    Bugs Above Getting It On

Mamma Waking Up in the Morning

Tranquility Inheres in the First Shot in the Morning  

Love, Padooker

Dear Folks,

I just had a good forty-minute talk with my childhood friend, who builds and rents homes to people who what rent from him, in order to have a place to live.  That said, he gave me some darned good advice, or advice I can really really believe and bank on.  He said that there is no easy money in renting, on account a how why for you have to do so much in managing the places, asking for rent for people who are behind, then asking again, and going over to repair stuff, repainting every time somebody moves out. 

You see, I called him to axe him if'n I shouldn't just sell my house here in the South Korea and go to the U.S. of A right now on the spur of the moment, in order to be near my ailing mother before she passes away, and in order that my children could benefit from an American public school education in spades galore, as it were. 

What it was was; he said you can expect to get maybe 10 or 12 percent on your investment if you do well, but that you really have a lot of bookkeeping and other time/headaches involved.  That made me feel that our current 6.7% interest rate in the bank feels Ree-eeel Good!  I think we'll stick with it, and enjoy our leisure time, which really never translates to leisure, but merely more childcare.  I have one child (My Clever Lad) hanging over my back right now asking me to open a pack of notebooks for him.

My wife began looking at the US Embassy website this morning, which is a good sign.  Nothing really happens around here until my wife gets on board.  I may hem and haw and talk up a good storm about "our family plans," but the ship doesn't get fired up to leave until my wife takes the initiative.  That is the way things work around here, and I would not expect our exodus to the U.S. of A. to be any different. 

I will complete this web log entry later, after Wifey installs our printer on the new computer (which was mysteriously "uninstalled" a week or two ago, causing us to lose some information).  (Much Later) She never did get that thing installed properly.  They sell a bunch of stuff here that is not compatible.  That's the way the South Korea is, with a huge percentage of computer stuff that is not properly licensed and vetted.  When I tell them I want to buy only 100% legal programs and hardware, they tell me they don't have it, and anyway, it doesn't matter.  

I bought one Apple Computer from the U.S. of A., about ten years ago, and want to buy another real soon.  My wife, as per usual, is vehemently opposed to such a purpose.  I felt we could get by on a $1500 dollar Apple laptop computer, which should allow us to play DVD's in another room, giving the children an option, and less headache for my wife, when one or two children are not satisfied by the current DVD selection.  With the extra computer, I would not miss out on the opportunity to work and study just on account of my wife dominating the computer with her study demands for her degree at the American university she attends.

Love, Padooker

P.S.  Good news, my camera is hobbling along again on just half a leg, so to speak.  Expect a few more recent photos.  We must buy something soon, but this old thing keeps churning out photos between periods of fickle resistance.