Milk Delivery
If you go into my mother’s apartment and use the bathroom (as I hope everyone gets the opportunity to do so…it’s very exciting stuff), you’ll notice that there’s an art picture of two teenage boys delivering jugs of milk in the middle of a monsoon. The picture is entitled “Monsoon Milk Delivery”, which is entirely appropriate given what I just wrote. The photo was taken in
Every morning, two students (which are in one of my sixth grade classes) are required to deliver little cartons of milk to every teacher in my school. One of the kids that delivers the 우유 looks just like the guy in the photo driving the little cart – either that, or I still can’t tell my Asians apart (which brings up a rather embarrassing time a few weeks ago when I said to a student “Didn’t I just have you in last per..oh wait that wasn’t you.”). Anyways, the kids came in yesterday morning to deliver the milk and placed the cartons in our office refrigerator. I got up and asked them “How are ya, today?” to which they replied “I am funny!” and “Yes.” respectively.
Good show, kids. I see you’re learning a lot from Mr. Foh-ree.
The Things You Tell Friends
I got a text message from a new Korean friend I’ve recently made yesterday that tore me up in awkward laughter. To give you some perspective, I met him at the gym and we started shootin’ the shit about different things – American slang, Korean schooling, the evils of soju, etc. Anyways, here is a transcript of that conversation:
“Hi Ryan. How are you today? ^^”
“Hello, Chun. I am doing great. How about you?”
“I feel good. Now I have a bowel movement without toilet paper.”
“…” “That is very exciting.”
Let’s think about this one, folks. You’re fairly new to English linguistics, and your skills in that regard are rather limited (and part of many Koreans befriending Westerners has to do with improving language skills, which if we’re wise we’d take advantage of the opposite too). You’d think that with limited proficiency, you wouldn’t have the term “bowel movement” in your vocabulary. Apparently, he has another American friend who’s been “helping” him with his English. So now I have the task of re-setting some of his expressions and helping him use new words…as well as to make sure he doesn’t talk about bowel movements in casual conversations.
My Father's...err, Mother's Son
The more time that I’ve spent living on my own, the more I realize just how much I am like my mother. Growing up, I thought the traits that were dominant in my personality were more characteristic of my father. Now, I see it more as a 50/50 between the two. John was outgoing; Phyl has a good command of a crowd (she’d never admit to it). John could be very inattentive. Phyl worries about everything that’s under the sun, and considers everything from every angle (except Sharon Angle). John was hardheaded; Phyl…can be stubborn. Now all this is true of me, I think (though I’ve had some classes that I subbed for go straight to hell…then again one wonders if anyone but Jesus could’ve saved those classes). But the counterbalancing characteristics that give me the red ass are that whereas John was a manipulative and conniving schemer, Phyl would always put the interest of others (see: me) ahead of her own. I’d like to think the same is true of me. I can be as selfish and manipulative as my father, I’m sure. But I certainly hope to high heaven I can display some sense of selflessness as well.
Also, Phyl is very fond of letting television analysts know how stupid they are by reiterating it to the television scream; I’ve counted myself telling at least a few different reporters on CNN World and BBC to “(word) off”. Great fun.
Speaking of CNN World, I caught a segment on Korean unemployment among youth here and how it compares to the rest of the world (basically: screwed). But whereas the problems facing 18-29year olds in the West is fairly cyclical, the problems here are structural. Korean education, for all its greatness (consistently ranking in the Top 5 in Mathematics and Science), is also inherently weak in some very critical respects. If you’ve ever heard of Koreans going to high school from 7am to 11pm while practicing monotonous memorization of formulas and facts, you’d be spot on. It’s a cliché, and it’s a generalization to be sure. But it’s also quite true. There is very little creative agency in the curriculum, which is desperately needed to fully educate and equip a human being. Everyone here wants to work for Samsung or LG, but LG and Samsung recognize that you need creative people who can think independently for them to be successful outfits. Great that you can come up with a computer program with a revolutionary logo rhythm, but can you make it revolutionize?
Much of Korean production seem to me like DuPont – they don’t make things, they make things better. Once the West (or
Compare those systematic problems to American education, where the problem is best described here.
Fresh & Easy.
How I miss that store, with its bulky cheese and chocolate bars the size of my head. Also, it’s name is ripe territory for “That’s what she said!” jokes. Kind of like your mom.
Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?
I came across this song by Jimmy Buffett the other day by accident. Says it all, doesn't it?
You’re Building a Mosque at Ground Zero? Are You Crazy?
No, you’re just letting popular mischaracterizations and fear of Muslims drown out what should be your common sense. First, it’s not at Ground Zero – it’s two blocks away. Second, it’s a mosque, a house of God. People go there to worship God, ask for forgiveness of their sense, and seek guidance of what to do in their lives. It’s no different than what I do at church or what a Jew does at synagogue. And if you think Muslim = terrorist, then ask yourselves why you even have the ability to read this rant given that 1 billion people could blow up the world if they wanted to. Third, equating Bin Laden’s Islam with mainstream Islam is the exact same as equating Timothy McVeigh’s Christianity with mainstream Christianity. In its practice, there is no difference – taking commandments of peace, decency, and respect and twisting them into weapons. What is different is that our country isn’t majority-Muslim, and therefore it’s easier to malign and attack that which we don’t understand, and we’ve allowed ourselves to do just that.
This whole firestorm sprung up around May, and this project has been in the works for much longer than that. Hell, Laura Ingraham (see: conservative commentator) said back in December that this thing should be built and it was a non-issue. What changed? Election time. I’m sure there are earnestly-minded people who do have reservations about putting up a mosque 2 blocks away from GZ, but A LOT of this comes from the exploitation on the Right of fear for political purposes. They know there are a lot of us who don't know jack about Islam, and they bait unpopular minorities well. Remember, gays were such an affront to the family that everyone needed a constitutional amendment to prevent them from getting married – because that was the most pressing issue facing Americans in 2004. Why should Muslims not be fair game?
It seems a lot of people are of the mind that “All I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11”. And if that’s the case, then we have two big problems, one internal and one external. External in the sense that the Muslim world will think (more so than at the moment) that the West (U.S in particular) is at war with it, and if you thought someone was at war with you, you’d probably respond; internal in the sense that if that attitude is indeed prevalent, then we have a lot of ignorance to deal with. To say that someone can’t share equally in the American experience because he prays to the East and uses Allah in place of G-O-D or Yahweh is very sad, and it’s ultimately un-American. So let’s stop with the pretense and just admit it –
