A Practical Demonstration

Remember the demonstration photo I put up in my previous post? Well, it turns out that the people who organized that live right here in our apartment complex. They have these monthly meetings, and everyone agreed that having demonstrations would be a good idea.

They've always had these monthly meetings. I actually went to a couple of them when we first moved in. It's pretty much just a bunch of ajumas (married women) sitting around yaking. In Korean, of course. They usually have some small snacks and drinks, and they were always very friendly to me. But it seemed like a bit of a waste of time to me. Mostly I couldn't figure out what they were talking about, and when I could, it didn't seem important. Though one time I was there and the husband of the hostess came back from fishing. He headed back into the kitchen, and soon came out and asked me to join him in another room. So I did. And he served up some very fresh raw fish salad, with fresh greens and lots of pepper paste sauce. If you don't think that sounds good, it's better than you would think, and if you do think it sounds good, you're right. But the entertaining moments like that were few and far between (there was only the one, actually), so I stopped going.

That was a couple of years ago. More recently, they agreed to protest, as I said. They got themselves some people to play traditional drums, and they carry some signs, and they block the cement trucks from coming and going. They also agreed that a good way to get more people to come to the demonstrations would be to charge them $20 a month if they don't come.

[correction, $20 per week, $10 per protest. See next entry.]

Now I am all in favor of public protest. I once considered changing my middle name to "Powertothepeople." But this sort of economically enforced protesting really chaps my hide. I am now considering organizing an anti-protest protest. A bunch of us will march on the opposite side of the street, deliberately not impeding the cement trucks, and carrying signs that say, "Go Developers!" and "We Love You, Samsung!"

OK. Time for the truth. Actually I suggested to my wife that maybe we could both not protest and not pay the $20. After all, how are they going to punish us? Horyon said that they would annoy her constantly if we didn't chip in, do our part, give our best for the gipper. So when they came around with a petition yesterday, Horyon signed it and put her thumb print on it.

We talked briefly about moving out of this apartment, but decided that it would not be worth the trouble. Instead, we will just spend a couple of days pretending that we are moving, and throw away half of our stuff. That should be satisfying.

Sigh. Now we have become part of the machine. I think the only thing that can cheer me up is a couple of gratuitous pictures of Maxine.


First, we combine the lay-on-your-back floor toy with roll over. Take your eye off her for a minute, and Maxine manages to stop playing with the toy, roll over, and get turned sideways under her toy. She usually gets upset at this, but if I talk to her, she doesn't mind, and even smiles to get her picture taken.
Oh, by the way. I did practice a little digital manipulation to give this photo a more balanced look. Because of the light and shadows, in the original picture, Maxine had a twinkle in only her right eye. It made her look strange, in a subtle way. So I copied the right eye twinkle and pasted it into her left eye. Much better, I think. You can judge for yourself.


The other is a standard view of Maxine lieing on her back. The floor mat she is on is more of a thick blanket, like a quilt. It's her favorite place to be, as she quickly gets tired of being held.
I don't know why it says "cuby mom" on it. Horyon is not shaped like a cube, and neither is the fairy above the words. Every time I look at this, I ponder the idea of a cuby mom. More extreme than a mother who is a bit square, I suppose.

That's all for now.

Peace,

Rob

Cherry Blossoms

Every spring time, the cherry blossoms bloom in this part of the world. Koreans go nuts over them, causing Sunday afternoon traffic jams down streets that have many cherry trees.


Horyon and I usually ignore the cherry blossoms. This year we decided that it was a good opportunity to take some pictures of Maxine in the great outdoors. We took these after church today. Maxine mostly liked it, though she only sort of tolerated all the kissing.


Church really tires her out.

She is amazing. When I fell in love with Horyon, it was partly because her smile and her laugh made my heart leap. She still does that to me when both of us aren't so tired that we're ready to collapse. This ability appears to be genetic, because Maxine has the same effect on me. I live for her smiles and giggles.

This year is racing by for me. I notice it most when I cut my finger nails. Every time I do, it seems as though I had just cut them the day before. I don't believe that they are growing faster, so I'm pretty sure it's my perception of time that is changing. Like most people, it just seems to go by faster and faster.

Last on the agenda for today: There was a protest outside our apartment building on Saturday. They built our apartment in an semi-industrial area, and now they are working on making it more industrial than semi. In addition, the road over here behind our apartment will be widened to provide more access to a new apartment development over beyond the hill. Some people from our apartment planned this protest. They had drums and stuff, and managed to back the poor cement trucks all the way up the hill.

It's kind of sad. The building we're in is very nice, and the apartment itself is the best place I've ever lived in Korea (not saying much considering some of the dumps I've lived in, but still...). But the neighborhood is filthy, and it's about to get worse.

Fortunately for us, we are just renting.

Peace,

Rob

p.s. Spell check complete, no errors! That don't happen too often!

Nothing special, thanks.

Yesterday I had to got to school early for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the building that I was unceremoniously moved into the week before the semester started. It was all in Korean, though there was a nice slide show of the building process in the background. I then graded quizzes until the free lunch. The free lunch was OK for the price. I then graded more papers until it was time for class. I screwed up my first lesson, spent my one hour break working with a student doing make up work, did a bit better on the second, and finally got the third one right.

I went to Horyon's parents' home where I picked up Horyon and Maxine, then we went home. We had Pizza Hut deliver dinner to our home ($26 for a large pizza and salad, expensive, but much better than the $14 pizza from other places), then shared an itty-bitty (three inch diameter) cake that Horyon picked up after work. Then Horyon gave me my birthday present: she sent me to bed at 10:00 and finished cleaning up by herself.

Of course, I still got up a couple of times in the night to calm Maxine. Doesn't happen every night, but for my birthday I guess she wanted to do something special.

Today I tried to move up her feeding schedule an hour, so I fed her twice before her grandparents came to pick her up. I went through three t-shirts as a result. She only went through two changes of clothes because I was carrying her around in just a diaper on the second projectile vomiting. Top it off with only a 30 minute nap, and today has been a long day already, though I haven't gone to work yet.

Them's Good Eatin'

Maxine has been watching us eat for a long time. Here we are recently eating while simultaneously tormenting her.
Boy, that curry sure looks good, don't it?

And the cauliflower. Mm-mm. But then happiness came into Maxine's life.


On Saturday, it was finally Maxine's turn for solid food, though I confess to taking some liberties with the word "solid".
Here's the recipe for what we fed her, if you want to try this one at home:

1/4 cup organically grown white rice
2 1/2 cups water

pick through rice, discarding the nasty ones. Rinse rice three times, stirring vigorously to insure that it is really really clean. Put rice in water in pot on stove. Bring to a slow boil, then cook until it looks like tapioca pudding, stirring occasionally to avoid stuff burning to the bottom. Allow mixture to cool, then push through a screen to eliminate any chunks bigger than a grain of sand. Add salt and pepper to taste. But since babies have no taste, DO NOT ADD ANY SEASONINGS!

Guaranteed to please your baby.

Maxine enjoyed eating, as we expected she would. She had been watching us eat for so long that it seemed inevitable that she would enjoy it. We were surprised at how much of the porridge went into her. We took turns feeding her and taking pictures/running the video camera, though it seemed to work best if one of us restrained her arms while the other shoveled food in.

She must have eaten two or three tablespoons of the stuff, and we were quite pleased with ourselves. But we didn't stop to think about one important question:

How do you feel after eating a huge amount of food that you are not accustomed to? If you've ever been in this situation, you have wished that, like Maxine, you continually wore a handkerchief around your neck and a diaper. She was happy that she had those advantages.

In the interests of going to bed before midnight (already too late) and not grossing out my adoring fans (all three of you), I will leave it at that.

Today when we fed her, not as much went down her throat, and considerably more went down her chin. But today was Sunday, and church leaves her tired and cranky.

Horyon and I went to the Westin Chosun hotel for dinner. They have an incredible buffet, which I cannot do justice here because I am too tired. So goodnight.

Roll Over, Maxine

In the last couple of weeks, Maxine has learned to roll from her back to her stomach. Which is pretty cool, except for a couple of things:

1. She can't roll from her stomach to her back.

2. She doesn't like being on her stomach, and quickly gets whiney about it.

I'm trying to teach her how to roll back onto her back. This is my method:

1. Wait until she rolls onto her stomach.

2. Encourage her to roll back.

3. Continue to encourage her for five minutes of crying.

4. Get the baby spatula.

I know what you're thinking: Baby spatula?

There's just one place to go for all your spatula needs: Spatula City.
Where can you get name-brand spatulas for a fraction of retail price? Spatula City.
And what better way to say "I love you" than with the gift of a spatula?

Yes, I now have "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie, UHF on DVD, and I'm loving every minute of it.

In other news, I just re-read Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon, and once again that damn book made me cry at the end. If you've never read it, or only read the short story in English class way back when, I highly recommend getting a copy of the novel. It's a pretty quick read, if you're not just squeezing it in between taking care of a baby, doing chores around the house, and working. It will make you rethink the importance of intelligence, and will probably make your nose run with tears by the end.

Things that make me cry:

Flowers for Algernon

Ender's Game

the end of the movie "Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King". Even the soundtrack. Annie Lennox starts singing "Into the West" and I get all misty.

thinking too much about how far away my parents are

onions

Ah hell, it's not my style to make lists like this. Let's just say that ever since I found out that Horyon was pregnant, my emotions have been closer to the surface. And I had some serious tears of joy when she was born.

We're warming up to giving her solid food. This mostly involves us talking about it, but Horyon has spent some more money on baby-feeding stuff: high chairs (one for here, one for her parents), cute little bowls and spoons (ditto), and a big can of bacon grease (for flavor, I assume). I'll be sure to let you know how it goes, though I expect we will be too busy to take pictures.

Peace,

Rob

Beer Can Chickens

Dude, this is the best way to cook chicken.

First, you open up a can of beer, and drain half of it. This will fortify you for the next step.

Take that can of beer, and stick it up the chicken's butt. If you need to drink an extra can of beer before this step, feel free to do so.

Wipe him down with olive oil, gently massaging salt and pepper into his skin at the same time. This is also a good time to tuck the neck down inside the body cavity. If it is left sticking out, it will dry out too much for even me to eat.

Set him upright in an oven-safe pan, and cover the bottom of the pan with water (or beer, if any is left). I also like to throw in a few of those cute potatoes and some quartered onions. Carrots too, if you got 'em.

Pop him in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes to an hour. If you've selected a "companion" for him (as I have in the photo above), it will take another 15 or 20 minutes.

This will make a roasted chicken so moist and tender that you will find yourself fighting with your loved one over the white meat, it's so good. Whenever I ask Horyon how she wants me to cook the chicken, she says, "Beer Can Chicken!" We usually eat our fill in one meal, and I use the rest to make a very delicious soup.

The Car

So having a car has been very useful, and getting it from Horyon's father for free was pretty cool, too. It's 10 years old, we've been driving it for about 9 months (minus the 2 I was in the U.S.), and haven't spent money on much more than gas and car washes in that time. But dance long enough, and you always have to pay the piper.

I kind of thought we had. The second or third day that we had the car, I drove Horyon to school and got a flat tire on the way home. I put on the spare, a regular sized wheel, and later we got it patched. A few days later, the spare got a puncture. I was thankful that I had repaired the original, because it went back on the car. The spare, too, was patched, and put back into the trunk, and we have had no tire problems since then. Maybe because the car felt it had broken me in. It was just waiting for Horyon to try riding it.

Horyon got her driver's license just a couple of weeks ago, and has been driving back and forth to work since then. Well, less than two weeks actually. Then last week, as she went to leave from her second day of teaching, the car wouldn't start. She called the mechanic authorized by our insurance program, and they came and took a look. They ended up replacing the starter motor and battery, to the tune of about $300. They also put together a nice little checklist of things they thought ought to be replaced, fixed, or re-duct-taped. We nodded, smiled, and planned to go to the mechanic who usually takes care of the car.

Incidentally, we went to the usual mechanic about a month ago, for a general check-up. He said nothing serious was wrong.

Early this week, there were more problems. Something just wasn't right. When Horyon took the car in for them to look at, it was a mess. If I'm interpreting Horyon's translation of what the mechanic said to her correctly, they replaced all the engine gaskets and plugs, as well as some other work. That was another three or four hundred bucks.

Then on Thursday, on her way to work, the car stopped going uphill. Not just any uphill, but a busy, steep street, one that would barely be four lanes if there weren't cars parked (illegally) on both sides of the street. And following her was a large truck from the construction site just down the hill. Keep in mind that Horyon has only had her license for a couple of weeks. Her car stops, starts going backwards down the hill, and there's nothing she can do about it. Fortunately, she managed to get it stopped before hitting anything. She waves on the traffic behind her, and folds in her rear-view mirror. One of her kind coworkers stopped and helped her get the car moved to the side of the road. She called the mechanics, and told them where she was, and they came and got it. When she got to school, her coworkers were amazed at her luck, having three incidences in her first couple of weeks of driving.

By early afternoon, the mechanics had it all sorted out. Horyon's father went down to take a look. He said, "I can't see the gears and stuff because of all those little chunks of metal in the casing." Their reply was, "Those little chunks of metal are the gears and stuff."

Another $500.

Our free car has now cost us around $1300. I'm still pretty grateful. I think that in the States the repairs would have been way more expensive. And we have been reassured that the car is now in pretty good shape, and should be road-worthy for quite some time.

Oh, we had to go back to the mechanic today. When we turned the car on, the display in the stereo was blinking, and after three or four minutes, it shut down and flashed the word "COdE" in that cute, digital spelling. The mechanic got into our glove box, looked at the manual, and typed in a code using the radio program buttons, and BOOM we were back in musical business. He explained to her that it was an anti-theft device of some sort.

Now I don't want to seem ungrateful, but the stereo in our car is hardly worth stealing. It sounds fine and everything, but it's not a pimped-up, ear-throbbing, window-breaking machine. It plays music. CD's, tapes, radio. AM and FM. And I plug my MP3 player in through one of those cassette adapters. No one would steal this stereo.

So it must be something to discourage car theft. Imagine, the thief gets in, hotwires the vehicle, and drives off. He's feeling pretty good, got some Doors playing on the stereo, when suddenly the music stops. The vibe is no longer there, and he is discouraged. He pulls over with a sigh, and finds that he no longer has the will to open the door. The flashing "COdE" on the stereo seems to mock him. He calls the police with his own cell phone, confessing his crime, and then dives in front of an 18-wheeler, ending his misery.

Yeah. That's how it would work.

Peace,

Rob

p.s. Horyon told me that I need to mention a few things: first of all, I was slack in my maintenance of the aforementioned vehicle. Among other things, I neglected to put water in the radiator every week or two. I always thought you just kept an eye on the temperature gauge, but in Korea I guess water evaporates faster because we're further East than in America.

Second, my smart-ass attitude tends to cover up the fact that this was my fault for saying that I had been driving for 16 years when we took on this car, when in fact I have never really owned a car that I was solely in charge of maintaining.

And third, Chaeryon (and other new drivers) should take heart. A new car is much less likely to just suck a lot of money out of your wallet without warning. But find out what you need to do regularly, and DO IT!!!

Fourth, with no Maxine pictures, how can I expect anyone to actually look at this posting?
We're getting ready to go out. It looks like Maxine is hoping that the car is really working correctly.