California

Exploring the streets of San Francisco

even the crooked one!

Trolley car rides, eating our tomato soup out of sourdough bread bowls,

sampling decadent chocolate and cruising the bay at night.

Ah and let us not forget AT&T Park and the Giants dugout store!

That was just the half of it and in only two days.

Kate and I had a wonderful time in San Francisco.  The weather couldn't have been any better!

The rest of Kate's trip was spent between visiting with my family, walking the wide streets of Willows, visiting more family, and my old college town of Chico.

It never really dawned on me how wide the streets of Willows are until Kate pointed it out.  But one thing I always knew, I have a big family.  During the Willows Christmas parade Kate was introduced to a merid of my relatives.  She was pleased to meet them and was lucky enough to spend time with some of them.

We made sweet rolls with my Grandma Louie and sister and built one of Kate's creations with my Grandpa John.  It was great to finally have her meet all the people I had talked about over the year in Korea.  And I was glad to have her here with me... but two weeks wasn't enough ;)

Ohio

 

It was a long trek across the country, starting at four in the morning in Oakland, hopping on connecting flights in L.A. and Detroit to finally arrive in Columbus just after 7 at night. I would've traveled infinite distances for the one who was waiting for me at the airport.

With bags in hand I walked out of the Columbus airport into the autumn night and there she was sitting in her car waving with enthusiasm. As I approached the car she met me with that infectious smile. She wore her black windbreaker jacket and black tights. Her hair was in a side braid and her olive colred skin shone with a radiance that suggested she'd been in the sun. There wasn't a place in creation I'd rather have been. I was back with my girl. I was back with Kate.

I throughly enjoyed Ohio. I met many of Kate's relatives and friends all of whom were very warm and welcoming. Kate's parents, Lori and Howard, made me feel comfortable and welcomed in their home. Lori makes an amazing pizza and rice krispy treats!

Kate's Aunt Karen and Uncle Jack were the consumate hosts. I had a great time driving through the countryside and checking out the Amish stores. Great pancakes Jack!

I now have pictures in my head of Ohio. now when Kate talks about the 'Short North' I can travel there in my mind's eye. The places of Columbus, German Village, Tiger Tree, and Buckeye Donuts; The hometown feel of Utica, Kenton, and Lima; Circleville's World Famous Pumpkin Festival had me wondering if Norman Rockwell ever had that town in mind when he painted; the colors of the leaves and the proceived eb and flow of the rolling hills, all have become real to me.

I enjoyed Kate's Ohio and I can't wait to share my California with her.

One Year

One Year

My year in Korea is nearing the end.  It’s only natural to look back and reflect on such an experience.  In more ways than one this has been a life changing experience.  I’m not using that phrase lightly, I have changed.  The core of who I knew I was is breathing new life on its own reality.  Like a dream that comes to existence, I’m no longer dreaming of who I want to become, I am.

I’ve become more confident and this confidence has also made me more humble.  It’s okay to not know all the answers.  It’s okay to make mistakes.  The same words of advice I tell my students are finally finding my own ears.  In my 32 years I am finally understanding lessons I was taught when I was younger.  I know I’m a work in progress and I hope it’s a life of progression.  I’ve found an extremely loving and patient woman that has come to mean so much to me.  Kate was and is that person I was able to be myself with.  We talked a lot about everything under the sun.  She has helped me become a better person.

Professionally I’m continually evolving.  I’m learning new methods of teaching and classroom management while putting those ideas and theories to the test.  I’m learning more about the way young students learn.  I’m no longer just reading about Piaget’s cognitive development or Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, I’m actively engaged in it firsthand.  It’s an amazing feeling to be a part in a child’s growth and development.  I can’t begin to fathom the joy a parent must feel when their child takes their first steps and speaks their first words.  I think to myself, even on the tough days, “I’m in the right profession.”

Miso the Play

I went to see the Korean play 'Miso' today at the Chongdong Theater with Kate.  It's a Romeo and Juliet type play, but they don't die at the end.  It was really cool to watch and listen to traditional music and dance.  I'm a big fan of the drums... (Erik if you read this... you know what I'm talking about... "Drumline ya dig?")
It was almost entirely free of speech... The musical was full of choreographed dances and rhythmic beats. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l4HX9k1pe4

We thought it was gonna be a perfect day to watch go to the matinee, since the weather report was all rain all day... But when we got out of the theater the sun was poking out a bit.  It was a bit muggy but once the sun went down it began to cool off a bit.  It was a good Saturday all around. 

Now I'm relaxing to some Otis Redding... good Saturday all around indeed.

America is a Salad Korea is a Soup

America is a Salad   Korea is a Soup

By, Josh Niehues

My title may not make since in the way it initially reads.  You may think, “Oh, this post is going to have something to do with the cultural differences between the U.S. and Korea.

That’s not what this post is really about.  It’s about smell.  Now before you start thinking about all of your favorite soups, Creamy Potato, Tomato with Ricotta cheese, and Chicken Noodle, let me define what I mean when I say, “America is a Salad” and then describe this soup that is Korea.

America is a salad.  America has a smell to it.  Not all its smells are lilacs and lavender.  There are areas for sure, that produce pungent odors, back alleys, dingy night clubs and gas station toilets to name a few.  Then there are the areas that are fresh like a salad.  There are the expansive fields of fresh cut alfalfa, the crisp ocean breeze of the Pacific North Coast and the fragrances of fall in the Mid-West.  These smells are the better side of America.

Korea is a soup.  Korea has a smell to it.  Some of the smells are comparable to those of America.  The coast has a sweet smell when the wind rushes across the ocean.  In fall, the fallen leaves give off an aromatic scent.  It also has its unpleasant smells as well and in these days of summer an undesirable smell beings to emanate from every building, street and crammed subway entrance.  The summer air becomes stagnate.  The humidity seems to trap in every smell and coat you in it; similar to dumping soup on your head.

Garbage is picked up on a regular basis, but there are no trash cans only pink and yellow plastic bags.  The pastel colored waste piles up next to the buildings.  Yesterday’s dinner becomes a furry creature’s treat that is scattered into the streets.  There are no street sweepers in Korea.  The garbage that is not collected is washed into shallow gutters.

The summer rains are hot and sticky.  It liquefies the contents of the soup.  Red peeper paste, kimchee, spicy noodle soup and a marred of other condiments and edibles mix into an odor frenzy crescendo.  Sprinkle in the occasional dash of urine and you have the pungent aromas of my part of Korea.

Day 75 or something like that

The Missy Elliot remix of the Tina Turner song "I Can't Stand the Rain" is playing over and over again in my head.  You know, that part;
Me I'm supa fly (uh-huh)
Supa dupa fly (uh-huh)
Supa dupa fly
{singing I can't stand the rain!

It must be the 75 days of straight rain!  Or something like that.  I hear it rained in California yesterday.  You can have some of Korea's if you want... and the muggy, greasy feeling the air produces. 

Note to self:  I couldn't live in a perpetual muggy place for an extended period of time.  Sweatbox central!

The Grand Scale

He was staring at himself yet there was no mirror.  It wasn't an out of body experience. 

 He touched his own face for the reassurance. 

"Who are you?" he said to himself.

"I am you." replied the other.

Baffled, dumbfounded, struck utterly speechless.

"B... B... But how?"

"I am you the same way that you are me.  The same way that we are more than each other. 

 The same way that we are everything.  Everything is us, thus we are one.

We are inside a universe encapsulated inside an even larger universe inside an infinitly larger universe underneath the thumbnail of an unsuspecting woman.

You yourself have an infinite amount of universes hidden inside your being, each unaware of

the grand scale of things.