Expat USA Update

Well, I hope all is going well in the K-blog world and Korea in general.

My wife and I have finished our cross-country tour for now. We hit some great places and even got some solid ideas as to where we will settle when we head back to the US in 2010. Denver and San Fran are looking up, but I have a feeling that the job will dictate our location.

It's great being back and even better being here with the entire family. My wife's brother arrives today and we're all geared up for a huge family Christmas. The eggnog and bourbon have been flowing and I made sure to buy some Soju just to keep things interesting.

Have a good few days leading up to Christmas!

The Expat goes home...

I will most likely be away from the blog and computer for most of the month as my wife and I are in the US getting things situated for our 2010 return.

We're cruising around the country though. In fact, I'm writing this from the Grand Canyon which has been slammed with a blizzard and is amazingly beautiful.

If you care...

We've done Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and now are in AZ. We're now in the Grand Canyon. Tomorrow we're heading to the Hoover Dam and Vegas.

In the upcoming days and weeks...

LA (Koreatown)
San Fran
Yosemite
Reno/Elko
Salt Lake City
Laramie/Cheyenne
Denver
Wichita
Tulsa
Memphis
Chicago
Tokyo
Seoul

See you in a month, dicks.

Why are you dick bloggers such arrogant dicks?

Here's the question:

Why are you dick bloggers such arrogant dicks? No one cares what you dicks think.

Wow. That's eloquent.

I'm not sure if this guy is serious or if he's just trying to get a response to a stupid question (I get a lot of these), but I guess I could give it a go.

First of all, I'm impressed that the word "dick" was used three times. I might need to work the word back into my vernacular, dick. I've been pretty big on "douche" for the past few years and -thanks to "Always Sunny"- I've been planning a return of the word "bozo". Soon enough, bozos.

So, this fellow thinks that us "dick bloggers" are "arrogant dicks" and that "no cares what" us "dicks think". Maybe he's directing that towards me and generalizing about the entire K-blog world or perhaps he really thinks we're all "arrogant dicks", but does this accusation hold?

Maybe...

I only have a couple ideas. Many of us opine on issues that matter to us. That's why we started our blogs and that's what we do. If we make claims or statements that irritate people, then I guess they can call us names. The fact is that many of us pay very close attention to Korean issues. We feel pretty connected to the nation in that way and perhaps that knowledge comes across as arrogance. I'm not a know-it-all. I'm constantly put in my place and educated by people through this blog, your blogs, journalists, academics, pols, my wife, my students, my friends, my parents and even my dog. There are a few things that I know to be true and the rest of it is just a stab.

I guess that some of this perceived arrogance could also come from comments we leave on other blogs. I know that I get pretty obnoxious on ROK Drop when American politics are being discussed, but for the most part I stay out of the comment boards. They tend to get nasty, snarky and offensive way too often and way too quickly.

Do we know more than non-bloggers? Nope.

Do we care more? Who knows?

Do we spend more time reading, writing and thinking about all things Korean? Probably.

Does anybody care? My 56 followers and my wife appear to and that's all I care about.

So, how about you guys, my fellow bloggers: Are you arrogant dicks?

Homemade Thanksgiving/Turkey Dinner in Korea

Here's the question:

Have you ever cooked an American Thanksgiving meal in Korea, turkey and all? My Western friends and I decided that we wanted to make a Thanksgiving dinner for our Korean friends, and I'm a little bit stumped about the turkey. This may well be purely a matter of this being my first time cooking a turkey and not knowing what I'm doing. I do have some questions about turkey in Korea, though.



1. Where is the best place to get a turkey? I might already know the answer to this. We might be able to get a turkey from someone one of us knows in the American military. I've heard that's the cheapest. But, if we go to CostCo, are we likely to find a fair deal for a turkey?


2. Once we actually get a turkey, will we be able to find a roasting pan in stores in Korea? Or would we be better off trying to borrow one from a church or other institution that might serve a Thanksgiving dinner? (Our dinner is on Friday, not Thursday).

I have never tried and I think it's great that you are, but Korea is not the easiest place to start learning how to make a proper American Thanksgiving dinner. My advice? Don't mess with it. Not only will it be extremely stressful, but I doubt that you'll find all the ingredients to do it well and, of course, the oven is another problem. If you don't have an oven in your apartment, you're setting yourself up for disaster.

You could go the Costco route (and probably find a big pan there as well), but I can't speak from experience. Two years ago (when I was searching), there were no turkeys to be found. That doesn't mean they're not there though as things might have changed, but again, finding the turkey is only the beginning.

In 2008, Kimchi Ice Cream said,

Apparently if you can get a Korean friend to call a turkey farm (assuming there's one near you--a farm, not a Korean friend, lol--there is one that's not too far from our university) you can ask a Korean friend to call for you and buy a turkey. The farmer will, for a fee, kill the turkey, de-feather it, and then deliver it to your place 

I doubt that you have time for this though, so if you want your Korean friends have a good meal, then I'd suggest taking advantage of 10 Magazine's list of places to get a good Thanksgiving dinner. Most of the places are reasonably priced, well-cooked and a lot of fun.
 
Now, you do have one more option: ordering a turkey/Thanksgiving dinner from a hotel. We did this last year and it was affordable, fed over 15 people and it was delivered to us at the time of our choosing. Many major hotels will be serving turkey and if they are not, they'll make it for the occasion. We customized our entire dinner and it was fantastic. If you want to eat at home, go this route.

I'm sure other people have many other routes they'll be going, so please share. As for me, well, I'm not a big turkey fan, so my wife and I will be enjoying a Brazilian Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Good luck though!

Why do schools leave the windows open in winter?

I have been quite busy fielding hate mail from my recent article in the KT. Good stuff, guys.

Here's the question:

Why do some schools open the windows and doors in the hallways in the winter? My school opens nearly half the windows and doors to the outside even when it is near freezing. This is hard for me to comprehend because a) it's a major waste of heat/energy b) everyone is wearing sandals and c) they are worried about students getting sick, and a cold school is a good way to make students sick.

I've always wondered the same. I used to hate being in public schools (or even some hagwons) during winter. There's nothing worse than sitting down on that ice-cold toilet seat. I remember how cold the stairs were in my first hagwon. Brutal.

My best guess is just that, a guess. It wasn't too long ago that many schools in Korea used space-heaters and other styles of old ovens in the classrooms. There was no reason to heat the hallways since students spent most of their time in the classrooms. I guess.

You raised some good points as well. It seems like it's a major waste of energy and you could argue that well, but most of the schools I've been in don't have any heating units in the hallways, so at least the heat isn't pouring out. Of course, the classrooms are connected to the hallways which would certainly reduce the warmth in the classrooms. So yes, it's a waste.

The kids do wear sandals or slippers in most schools and it seems that the cold air in the school could lead to an increase in illnesses. I guess we could assume that this practice is supposed to curb outside germs from getting inside which is highly debatable, but I think it also decreases the need for teams of janitors in schools. Less dirt (which most schools have fields of) on shoes would decrease filth. Regardless of the reasoning for the slippers, I'd like to see some comparative illness stats before assuming that it leads to more sicknesses. It makes sense to me though.

I also think it's perfectly reasonable to assume that a cold, drafty school is a potential health hazard, but I have a feeling that some school officials believe that by leaving the windows open, the bacteria, germs and viruses will be sucked out by or killed by the cold.

Anyone else have any ideas?