Home; or "God I hate Korean Beer"

First, I’d like to apologize for taking a month (a whole damn month!) without keeping the blog contraption up to date. Between things happening in my life here, as well as some family matters taking precedent back home, I haven’t had a great deal of time to collect my thought and put them onto paper…err “electronic” paper. So here’s what I have for this entry.

North Korea

I’ve received a number of comments and messages on my Facebook account wondering where I am and if I am safe, as a result of recent hostilities flaring up from Kim Jong Krazy and his regime of thugs. I’m doing just fine here in Korea, safe and sound, enjoying a pineapple soju cocktail to end the day. It’s kind of interesting to see Western media accounts of the situation on the peninsula, and then contrast them to what Korean media are saying. It seems CNN, BBC, etc. all play up the drama on the peninsula. (WARNING: stereotyping set to occur!) Koreans are naturally dramatic people, and they tend to have flair in their personalities (somewhat in contrast to it being a more communal society, instead of individualistic); consequently, it so shows up in their actions. It makes them that much more fun to be around, and (STEREOTYPE AGAIN) generally speaking, they are amongst the kindest people on Earth I’ve encountered…Kim Jog Jackass notwithstanding. All this said, there just isn’t that much concern in South Korea about the recent shelling. True, the currency market here fluctuated – as it did across Asia. But it always does that. In the long-term, I think most people will write this off the Northern Regime desperately looking for some attention like it was a ginger kid. So don’t worry about me, kiddies, I’m doing just fine. But thank you all the same for the concern. It does me well to know that I am cared for J. Now onto the rest of my bullshit!

State of American Politics

I haven’t been paying much mind to what’s going on back home since the end of the elections; I need a break from it, and it seems that I lost at least one or two friends due to some online spats. Politics shouldn’t divide people in such ways, but I guess it did. I guess I need to still learn how to say what I want to say in a way that does not make me a condescending jackass with a  know-it-all-complex. I really don’t have one of those, I’m just very tall. In fact, I’m often very unsure of myself. And that’s true even in my ideology from time to time.

I was very heartened to see Sen. Harry Reid get re-elected; even more heartened to see that Sharron Angle wasn’t elected. With the election out of the way, I do hope she’ll return to private life and be very successful in whatever avenue she chooses to pursue…as long as it doesn’t involve an officeholder position. For all of her ludicrous and possibly insane policy positions, she never seemed to be disingenuous (except when trying to explain her social security position) or at all a bad-hearted person. As such, she deserves as much joy in life as anyone else.

Perhaps Mr. Obama will have learned some very important lessons from earlier this month. True, he could’ve done a MUCH better job at being on message and attacking the politics of policy in a more coherent and effective way. But think about this: 14 million young people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 sat this election out. Nationally, the Republicans bested the Democrats by 5 million votes. Had we gotten just half of those kids out to vote, Congress would’ve stayed Democratic and the President would have a better chance at getting his legislation through. Instead, we get gridlock for the next two years. So let’s see what happens; hell, I’ll be a world away anyway.

State of Korean Beer

Before coming to Korea, I sampled a few bottles of Hite I was able to find back home in the Asian marts in Las Vegas. I thought it was a pretty decent brew, partly excited by the fact that I had enjoyed the mainstay of Korean lagers. Upon landing in Korea, however, that excitement evaporated into a bewildering sense of disillusionment. Maybe the bottling standards are different in the US, or maybe I was trying to psychologically hype myself up, but it’s piss. poor. beer. There is just no way of getting around that. Cass is even worse (can’t even digest the stuff without dying a little inside), and OB is undistinguishable. I have been able to find a few decent imports here, most notably San Miguel’s Dark Lager (which I find emblematic of Filipinos in general…in a word, FANTASTIC!) and, to a lesser extent, Singha. I don’t care to pay $2 a bottle for either, though. Needless to say, my beer consumption has been dramatically curtailed since living in the Land of the Morning Hangover. Enjoy it now, Mr. Liver; Kitty will be back Stateside soon enough…

6 Month Anniversary

This Friday will mark my 6 month anniversary of living in Korea. I’ve got very VERY mixed feelings about it, the negatives of which are not at all reflective of this country or the people that reside in it; quite the contrary, they mark the positives very well. I do like Korea - except it’s alcohol – that’s really my only complaint about living here, though for someone who likes a good lager and a great stout it’s a valid complaint nonetheless. The people are generally kind, whether or not they are nice. The community of expats here too is pretty awesome, as I’ve made some great friends here from all over (though I have to admit, my core contingent of people are mostly from the USA…but I’ve got Southerners in that mix! That’s exotic!).

I miss home, though. I really do. America is a great country. It’s got its faults to be sure, and it can frustrate the hell out of you at times. But it’s a wonderful place to call home. If you don’t believe me, go to San Francisco and find Scoma’s off one of the piers, sink your teeth into a CrabCake sandwich, and tell me there is no God. I DEFY you! Or go the Pacific Northwest and find yourself in awe, inspired by its own graceful beauty. Or go to Las Vegas and…alright, have a couple beers and pray you hit the jackpot. But while there, hit up the fabulous restaurants that abound.

I guess what I’m saying is that you can take the boy out of America, but you cannot take the America out of the boy. There’s a lot of debate and rancor out there about what it “means to be American”, as if there’s one set definition out there. Critics of America would point to Bud Light, NASCAR, the Republican Party, and televangelists as being seminal to the American experience; to be sure, they’re also full of shit. Everyone’s America is different, and that’s what makes those experiences uniquely American – it is as vastly different for everyone as they are from each other, yet at the same time E Pluribus Unum. It’s not the alcohol (by now a full bottle of soju) talking, but I really do believe in America - in what it is, and what it can become. After all, it’s the country the put a man on the moon, that put a skinny black kid from a poor background with a father from Kenya into the presidency, and that deep fried the twinkie into perfection. And for me, being an American means being a citizen of the world, knowing full well that entertaining any idea of isolationism is ultimately self-defeating.

I also miss my friends and family very deeply. I’ve grown up a lot the last few months in the sense that I know more now about what is really important to a man: family, faith (should he have it, and not knocking anyone who doesn't - just as I hope they don't knock me), and country. I know that sounds so fu$^ing cliché, so forgive me on that part. But it is true. Those are the things that I value and hold dear, even if I haven’t always stood by them perfectly (though I’ve never renounced my citizenship, my God, or my family, so I can’t be all that bad).

As to whether I will be staying on for another year, I’m on the fence. The job situation back home is still frightful, and I’d like to come back home with a few $ in the bank as well. I'm not certain that my time here is up. I mean there are at least 50 varieties of kimchi that I’ve yet to digest. On the other hand, there are things to be done back home, even if I'm not sure where my future direction lies. And something seemingly eery at the moment is that I'm teaching a chapter to my 6th graders entitled "It's Time to Go Home". Kind of strange to be contemplating such things while teaching that. If given the chance and circumstances to get back…I don’t know. But I do know that when I go home, it will be to America.