If you like honey chicken ...

In case you thought me prone to hyperbole. I can hardly believe it myself.

Are you having fun?

After a recent spot of feedback fishing ( I have to go fishing for it, you b아stards are a bit reluctant to just send it to me) I got the comment, “yes, but are you having a nice time?”.

I had to have a good think about that question. I have come to the conclusion that yes, I really am having a good time. There have been the occasional stressful event, and there are some things around me that I don't understand as well as the odd thing I don't like. All in all though I have been laughing a lot and really enjoying the quirkiness of the culture here in Seoul.

I love the fact that on my way to work I walk past:

• tray back trucks selling fish they have just driven in from the seaside,

• a few little men playing chinese chess on a handmade wooden bench, in the street,

• other men watching those men while drinking vending machine coffee in a can,

• the whole chess gang, still there in the afternoon,

• little old ladies sorting vegetables in the road,

• 6 little convenience stores all selling the same things,

• a tank of nervous looking baby octopii,

• a lady selling nonstick pans on the footpath, directly across from,

• another woman selling underwear in the street (including coupling panty, matching sets for couples),

• miniature arcade games for young children to play(the machines are 50cm tall),

• a toast shop, they sell snacks,

• two hairdressers,

• a school,

• a supermarket,

• a pharmacist (who was genuinely surprised that he had ibuprofen when I asked for it and curious as to what is was for),

• two shops that sell brushes and things,

• a store where the lady seems to be asleep half of the time, and

• a large number of bars, restaurants and nori-bang (karaoke rooms).

That is all just in the 3 minute walk to the end of my street.

I am digging the food too. Almost too much.

Korean food is so much more than Kim-chi.

Reality vs. Childhood concepts

I watched the original episodes of the animated transformers series the other day and I came away with a rather different appreciation of the whole situation.  As a child the Autobots were always considered the moral compass and would do the right thing in all circumstances often risking their life to protect the earth and its inhabitants.  After watching it again with a modern perspective it is a little less clear.   Here is what happened as seen through my matured eyes. The Autobots are a rebel group trying to assert the will of the people over a militia government that came into power via a coup.  In the course of the fighting the planets resources are severely drained by both sides and in a last ditch effort to win the war the Autobots set off to earth to regroup and attain the resources they require to bring down the government.  This is also a violent coup that the Autobots are attempting so I am a little unsure as to who is better or worse, but i do know that the war is the man reason for the problems the planet faces.  The Decepticon Government decides to handle the pursuit of the fleeing rebels personally sending the General and some top personal, but due to an accident they all crash and get stuck for a few thousand years in an non-operational state.  The ship they all went in is ruined and they are effectively stranded until a stroke of luck wakes them all and they repair themselves. 

During their absence the Decepticon Administrative body keeps the planet running for a few thousand years on minimal energy resources, suggesting that there is some real governing talent in the Decepticon ranks.

 

The first thing the Decepticon General does on reactivation is build a ship to go back home and take a small amount of energy with him.  The ship is built out of scavenged parts and some stolen power, causing momentary blackouts in small parts of the U.S while the energy is collected.  The real damage however starts when the Autobots decide to continue the war and the power stations become collateral damage in the conflict.  The Autobots destroy the Decepticon ship leaving them stranded on earth and effectively backing them into a corner.  Even when the decepticons decided to develop a space bridge to leave the planet they are still continuously attacked by the autobots until the General, Megatron finally decides that they won't get anywhere like this and decides to fight the Autobots more directly.   The resulting battle has a terrible impact on the earth and its inhabitants as the huge machines and their high powered weaponry destroy many important sites leaving homes without power and causing much hardship.  I can't help but thinking that letting the decepticons bugger off with the energy that they nicked from a Hydropower station (i.e. renewable energy) might have been a far better option.  Even if a deal was struck allowing them their own personal power generation equipment from a renewable resource that could be transported to Cybertron and revitalised the planed via the space bridge.  The interchange of information would have advanced the human race as the conquest for space could have reduced the wars over the finite land of earth.

Rather than helping the earth, I can't help but think the autobots robbed it of a golden opportunity through their single mindedness to further their own war effort.  I look at Zimbabwe and understand why they were so intent, but after a few thousand years cooling off their could have been a different strategy. 

Whether they were the better robots or not, I can't help but think that their moral standing has been some what eroded.

I guess round table peace talks mediated by the the Earth UN wouldn't have sold as many toys. 

Paper Prime

When presented with the potential dificulties inherent in saving the world from the evil forces of the decepticons as a 15 cm tall paper creature held together with glue stick and dental floss Optimus Prime was disappointed, in denial before becoming morose and slipping into a deep depression.

3 heads, 6 Wheels and a Solar panel.

It seems that my whole family is affected by a rare but inspirational form of madness. It makes people push themselves to the extreme to prove that they can, and hopefully benefit those around them in some way. My Uncle Steve, Cousin Jon and Nick are riding some 4500 km in 10 weeks to raise awareness (money) for children in developing countries. A well worth cause, and I suggest you have a look at their site just to have a look at what they are doing, even if you just look at the pictures. It is good that a few people can get up of the couch and decide to do something by themselves to help people that they don't know, but who need their help. I will try and work out how to explain to my kids what they are doing. I doubt they will understand the scale of it, I will have to explain as 'x' number of times around Korea. We might put a map up and keep track of their progress.

Brisbane to Broome Charity ride

2am fruits

Looking out my window as I open the windows air-lock system, I notice that the street fruit stall is open.  The little old lady who runs the stall as well as helping at the restaurant across the street, that (I think) her daughter runs.   This little lady sits there all afternoon and all night selling fruit if people want it ... actually just on the off chance that someone wants fruit and is closer to her than the numerous supermarkets, mini-markets and 24 hour shops in the same street.  She strikes me as someone willing  to do 50% more work to gain 20% more income because to her, the work is immaterial.  I feel a little guilty being, and looking at the things that people like her have given my generation.  I hope when she goes to bed at night, makes that little "finally I am in bed" gasp that seems to get longer and more heartfelt with age, she feels proud of what she has done.

 

n.b.  The shirt in my street actually says "suck honey cock",  I can't imagine how that is a mistake.

I'll have an "L" for Labbit Please

Lets think for a moment about the words 'fat' and 'father'.  Apart from the amusing inference that there you cant have father without fat, there is also a difference between the sound of the 'fa' in father and the 'fa' in fat.   Imagine that the to make it clearer we decided to make two letters, an 'a' for fat and an 'á' for fáther.  Suddenly things get a lot more complicáted and you have to listen to that vowel á lot more cárefully.  Maybe you will not notice the subtle changes in the letter, and not be able to spell the words with the new letter.

This is how the Korean kids feel learning English.  They have never had to differentiate between tongue half way up (r) and tongue all the way up (L) so they can't even hear the difference let alone reproduce it.   That's why when I was asking for words that start with 'L' they cried passionately "Lion" ,"Lamp" and "Labbit"!.

 

Korean fashion is a mixed thing with some interesting and even innovative styles in some stores and some half assed attempts in others.  The quarter assed attempts are the best though like the nice disco t-shirt for women in stylish white fitted sides and a low cut collar and the words "HONEY COCK" in bold gold lettering on the front.  I have never seen a shirt that screams 'ladyboy' quite like it.  There is also the pink babygirl t with "I'm with my girlfriend"  on the front which is nice but I don't think they will sell too many in conservative Korea.  I can't get all high and mighty about English though because a trip to the American supermarket soon has me laughing with the same kind of accidental innuendo, although a little less brazen.  For example,  if you are after pet food you can go past a pack of Tuffy's Moist burger, found next to the bone-a-mints.

Korea now gets tim-tams.   It is nice to be in a country where you can get stuff from home, for example you can go to Outback steakhouse and get a fourex and a steak or maybe a Jug of Draft fosters.  Costs 3 times more than eating Korean food but it is nice for a treat.