2004-08-18 - 4:34 p.m.

Wed., August 11, 2004 Happy Birthday, Dear Daughter!

Yesterday, Mr. Hoh and I saw Cho off at the airport. It was pretty emotional; Cho is my dear friend. We have helped each other a lot. He wished I could come with him. I wished I could, too. I can't protect him from the prejudice he will encounter, but I pray that he will find people to fellowship with, people who will give him a safe refuge filled with unconditional love, just as I've found here. He's off to chase his dream, and that's a good thing.

I've inherited his car. So far, I've driven it home unscathed. It's parked in the alley, safely, I hope. He left me his auto atlas, so I can learn to get around. I picked up a parking ticket after I got out of work in Kkachisan, because I didn't dare drive home during rush hours. At 10 p.m., I set out, heading north toward the expressway. Once I got on that, it was just a matter of going east at 80 kilometers an hour (48 mph) until I recognized a bridge. I decided on Banpo bridge. Once I got off the north end of the bridge, I recognized the Yongsan area. Turned right at Noksapyeong, went up through Itaewon and thence to Anam, ticking off the familiar #6 subway stations as I passed them. (The subway lines run under the main avenues here in Seoul.)

I'm looking forward to going out to see some rural areas in the car. It's a Daewoo Tico ("tee-koe"), slightly larger than a skateboard, standard tranny, with all the other controls on wands like my old Subaru. It's very easy to drive, but trucks look awfully huge from the driver's seat.

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Friday, August 13

Overslept again this morning. I went to bed with the thoroughly erroneous notion in my head that Koalas' classes start at 5 p.m. instead of 10 a.m. (Yes, Virginia, there is another new schedule for classes!) I'm afraid I really don't feel bad about being late. I gave them fair warning that this would be difficult for me. Also tried to call the school so another teacher could substitute or swap times with me, but there was no answer. Well, I'll be a few minutes late. No big deal.

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Sat., August 14

Yes, in fact it was no big deal. I got there about 20 minutes late. The teacher who speaks English called when I was 10 minutes behind time and I told him where I was (Boramae). I took a cab from the subway station, because it's about a 20 minute walk, but only a 5 minute taxi ride. Walked through the door at 10:20.

However, I've a new alarm. Set it up today to ring at 7:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning test run.

This evening, I went to the USO to hear Syll speak. Got to visit with D. J. and several other long-timers I hadn't seen in quite a while. One of "Nolan's kids" (he sort of adopts young fellows who need a father figure) sat across from me at Usmania Restaurant aferward. He's a very interesting young man, an Army radio operator with exceptionally acute hearing. We talked about the sound of cathode tubes and U V lights. (It's irritating, like a mosquito in your ear.) I find fluorescents give off an obnoxious buzz, but I've learned to ignore it here in Corea where almost all lights are that kind. He observed that women have sharper hearing and can hear higher frequencies than most men. He also noted that radio operators have very short lifespans in battle with modern technological weapons. I sure hope he doesn't get sent to Iraq; he's a good and bright fellow,- an odd mix of naivity and street-smarts. Given half a chance and some preparatory tutoring, he would do splendidly in college and grad school. He's got that intellectual curiosity and gets lots of fun out of acquiring knowledge.

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Sunday, August 15 Corean Independence Day (from Japan, 1945) That was my mom's 28th birthday. Granddaddy Neal came to visit with a big box of goodies.

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Monday, August 16

The alarm worked perfectly. Of course I woke up a few minutes before it sounded off. Heh, heh! Funny ol' subconscious.

The Koalas were as one might expect on a hot summer's day, not at all interested in studying English. I holed up in a PC bang with air conditioning for the afternoon. It started raining around sundown. The air couldn't hold any more moisture, so the water started falling as the temperature dropped a fraction of a degree.

At Yaksu station, 5 Peruvian musicians were playing their bouncy, cheerful music. I stayed for close to an hour, talking with their Corean agent, a beautiful dwarf woman. She speaks English and Spanish,- a very cool lady. My Spanish is very rusty, it's been 50 years since I lived in Arizona and studied it seriously. But I got the meaning of some lyrics. I sure wish the composer Paul Anka could have heard their arrangement of his song, "My Way." (You know, the one Frank Sinatra sang.) Guitars, flutes, bongos, a wooden clacker and Spanish lyrics,- it was quite a transformation.

~~~~~~~~~~~more to come in a day or so~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Trails!

~ Sil in Corea

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