(just as a preface, i miss people, and lots of them. family and friends. too many to list here)
I miss baby swiss cheese.
I miss Barnes and Noble, where EVERY section is filled with books I can read.
I miss driving my car in the springtime, running errands on a day off with my window rolled down and my ipod plugged into the stereo.
I miss having strangers make eye contact every once in a while, nodding and saying "hi".
I miss playing volleyball.
I miss stacking my chips at a poker table.
I miss playing all games really. The mental exercise gets me by.
I miss visiting Fargo every once in a while. Old, familiar sights and sounds seem to center me when I feel lost sometimes.
I miss fields, big parks, open grassy areas. A place to play catch or toss a frisbee. Or even just a place where you can see further then 50 yards away.
I miss water, especially on my bare feet hanging off the dock.
I miss Mexican food.
I miss selection, having more than one or two of something to choose from.
I miss small talk.
I miss buying a new cd at Best Buy, wrestling with the plastic wrapping in the driver's seat of my car, and turning it up to the limits of my factory installed speaker system on the way home.
I miss beautiful clouds.
I miss always feeling comfortable in my surroundings.
I miss gardens.
I miss Skippy Honey Roasted Crunchy Peanut Butter.
I miss going out for breakfast.
I miss sandwiches.
I miss roast beef.
I miss enchiladas. (i'm repeating myself. i know)
I miss chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven.
I miss ovens.
I miss going to concerts, big or small.
I miss making a great block and making someone on the opposing team very unhappy.
I miss roadtrips.
I miss malls.
I miss hot tubs.
I miss lefse.
I miss settling in on the couch on Sunday with a toasted steak and cheese footlong or a Chipotle barbacoa burrito and watching Tarvaris Jackson disappoint.
I miss my global ignorance.
I miss reading a newspaper at a bartop.
I miss going out of my way to drive around Lake Calhoun.
I miss the friends/family per capita ratio.
I miss junior mints in a cool movie theater.
I miss knowing what things are, at the grocery store.
I miss Patrick's French Bakery.
I miss my twice-a-summer golf outings.
I miss driving through Lindenwood Park at 3 miles an hour.
I miss traffic police.
I miss Burroughs Elementary. (I'm with you Principal Cadotte!)
I miss slicing apples at PFChangs for no reason whatsoever.
I miss soft beds.
I miss having co-workers ask for and listen to my opinion.
I miss seeing dogs larger than a loaf of banana bread.
I miss barbershops.
I miss my nephews Trent, Jaden, and Lawson, and my neice Ceres very very very very much. (I know I said no people, but I HAD to make an exception.)
I miss trying a new flavor of Mountain Dew every few months.
I miss libraries.
I miss being able to buy single bananas.
I miss malts.
I miss counterspace.
I miss Walgreens.
I miss Best Buy. (deja vu)
I miss finding shirts and jeans that fit.
I miss normal socks.
I miss the state fair.
I miss sheets. (Correction. I DID miss sheets until I had some shipped here.)
I miss having a beer while bowling.
I miss Captain Morgan.
I miss TGIFridays bar. Any of them.
I miss feeling in control of my situation.
I miss quarters.
I miss Billiards on Broadway.
I miss comic book stores.
I miss baseball games.
I miss grilling a steak and drinking a nice glass of malbec.
I miss spending time with friends.
I miss Fireside Pizza. (or Duanes if I'm in Fargo)
I miss my dad watching sportscenter.
I miss my mom making rice krispy bars.
I miss my grandma's hugs.
I miss so many things.
I miss not missing so many things.
I just had to get that out. No worries. I can make a list of things that I WILL miss once I leave Seoul as well. Another day perhaps.
~tony
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
different
This weeks marks the beginning of the new school year here in Korea. First there was New Year's, then Chinese New Year's, now a new school year. Lots of new beginnings.
It's so tempting to face each new year as a fresh start. A chance to right wrongs. A chance to make great leaps. A chance to be a different person than you are now. A better person.
(I'm not really talking about New Year's resolutions. Today, resolutions are more like Santa Claus. We like to think about them once a year, but we all know they aren't real.)
Maybe you are a self-critical person. Perhaps not, but either way I'd be willing to bet there's something you want to change. Maybe you want to start seriously looking after your body's health. Maybe revive a once deep relationship that has now withered away. Maybe you think you don't voice your love to the ones you love often enough. Or there is something in you that you want to get rid of; an anger, a sadness, a deep wound that just won't heal. Maybe you feel lost, and the new year is a chance to head down a new path. There has to be something, some change. Something to grab hold of and pray that it lifts you forward. or maybe not.
I don't have anything earth-shattering to share, if that's what you're thinking. I've just been in a more contemplative mood as of late. Money has been a little tight, so evenings spent reading or (I admit it) playing games on my computer are the norm. I'm trying to write when I can. I work on my script, if only in my head. I'm cruising through books at a pace that I haven't seen since my literature class days at NDSU. Since I returned from China I have finished Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, Leif Enger's Peace Like a River, Haruki Murakami's After the Quake, and now I'm reading The Shack. Maybe that's why I'm a bit moody. I surround myself with gut-wrenching books!!! hehe
As a side note, I need to make a reccomendation to you. After the Quake is a collection of Short stories by Murakami. He's not a household name in the US, but he is in the rest of the world. He's a Japanese author and Norweigan Wood is his most famous work. The stories in After the Quake are all stories that take place around the time of the huge earthquake that hit Kobe, Japan in 1995. The earthquake is not a main character in the stories, but simply a common thread. Anyways, the final story in the book is titled Honey Pie. It is a love story, but not a traditional one. It is excellent. Simple and touching are two words I'd use to describe it. Sometime you should take 30 minutes of your day and read it. Maybe you won't see it as I do. Who knows. I'll include a link to the story below, in case you don't feel like hunting down the hard copy. And yes, I know that reading a story from a webpage is not the way to go, but hey. It's free!
http://wis.cs.ucla.edu/~hxwang/newyorker/blog/files/honeypiemurakami.html
Speaking of reccomendations, not too long ago a friend here in Korea turned me on to the ancient greek poet Sappho and her fragments. Most of her poetry has been lost, but many small fragments have been recovered and translated. They are very short, some only a few words, but at the same time they are big. Reading them sparked an interest in me to try my hand, and I'm gonna share some of mine with you. If it seems self-serving to submit readers of a travel blog to my amateur poetic endeavors, oh well. As I stated earlier, we all have things that we want to change. Perhaps I want to express myself more. Share more about myself. Stop hiding behind pleasantries and details. Stop looking so hard for the reasons why I shouldn't.
So here ya go. My fragments....
Blues and lavenders
drowning greys and browns.
The calm crown of morning.
Strength and age differ.
As the sun shines,
shadows chill.
To play in the treehouse
today.
Beyond my sight
you are far.
Channeling demons,
a heat
without thought.
Ecstasy.
Grasping at flotsam
but slipping beneath,
into the borrowed world.
If we are mostly water
what is rain?
Without my sowing
I find a flower.
The ultimate trust
or a bending branch,
but a burning all the same.
It feels good to be right,
alone.
I lose sight of my wooded path
up over the coming hill.
Trust a lake or mountain to remain
after 40 years
but little else.
Love doesn't need you
to believe.
My dreams deceive me.
If perfection is unattainable,
redefine.
Vibrant and joyous,
not knowing the world.
I lie awake as Korea dreams.
My love goes out to you all. Take care of yourselves ~tony
It's so tempting to face each new year as a fresh start. A chance to right wrongs. A chance to make great leaps. A chance to be a different person than you are now. A better person.
(I'm not really talking about New Year's resolutions. Today, resolutions are more like Santa Claus. We like to think about them once a year, but we all know they aren't real.)
Maybe you are a self-critical person. Perhaps not, but either way I'd be willing to bet there's something you want to change. Maybe you want to start seriously looking after your body's health. Maybe revive a once deep relationship that has now withered away. Maybe you think you don't voice your love to the ones you love often enough. Or there is something in you that you want to get rid of; an anger, a sadness, a deep wound that just won't heal. Maybe you feel lost, and the new year is a chance to head down a new path. There has to be something, some change. Something to grab hold of and pray that it lifts you forward. or maybe not.
I don't have anything earth-shattering to share, if that's what you're thinking. I've just been in a more contemplative mood as of late. Money has been a little tight, so evenings spent reading or (I admit it) playing games on my computer are the norm. I'm trying to write when I can. I work on my script, if only in my head. I'm cruising through books at a pace that I haven't seen since my literature class days at NDSU. Since I returned from China I have finished Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, Leif Enger's Peace Like a River, Haruki Murakami's After the Quake, and now I'm reading The Shack. Maybe that's why I'm a bit moody. I surround myself with gut-wrenching books!!! hehe
As a side note, I need to make a reccomendation to you. After the Quake is a collection of Short stories by Murakami. He's not a household name in the US, but he is in the rest of the world. He's a Japanese author and Norweigan Wood is his most famous work. The stories in After the Quake are all stories that take place around the time of the huge earthquake that hit Kobe, Japan in 1995. The earthquake is not a main character in the stories, but simply a common thread. Anyways, the final story in the book is titled Honey Pie. It is a love story, but not a traditional one. It is excellent. Simple and touching are two words I'd use to describe it. Sometime you should take 30 minutes of your day and read it. Maybe you won't see it as I do. Who knows. I'll include a link to the story below, in case you don't feel like hunting down the hard copy. And yes, I know that reading a story from a webpage is not the way to go, but hey. It's free!
http://wis.cs.ucla.edu/~hxwang/newyorker/blog/files/honeypiemurakami.html
Speaking of reccomendations, not too long ago a friend here in Korea turned me on to the ancient greek poet Sappho and her fragments. Most of her poetry has been lost, but many small fragments have been recovered and translated. They are very short, some only a few words, but at the same time they are big. Reading them sparked an interest in me to try my hand, and I'm gonna share some of mine with you. If it seems self-serving to submit readers of a travel blog to my amateur poetic endeavors, oh well. As I stated earlier, we all have things that we want to change. Perhaps I want to express myself more. Share more about myself. Stop hiding behind pleasantries and details. Stop looking so hard for the reasons why I shouldn't.
So here ya go. My fragments....
Blues and lavenders
drowning greys and browns.
The calm crown of morning.
Strength and age differ.
As the sun shines,
shadows chill.
To play in the treehouse
today.
Beyond my sight
you are far.
Channeling demons,
a heat
without thought.
Ecstasy.
Grasping at flotsam
but slipping beneath,
into the borrowed world.
If we are mostly water
what is rain?
Without my sowing
I find a flower.
The ultimate trust
or a bending branch,
but a burning all the same.
It feels good to be right,
alone.
I lose sight of my wooded path
up over the coming hill.
Trust a lake or mountain to remain
after 40 years
but little else.
Love doesn't need you
to believe.
My dreams deceive me.
If perfection is unattainable,
redefine.
Vibrant and joyous,
not knowing the world.
I lie awake as Korea dreams.
My love goes out to you all. Take care of yourselves ~tony
Sunday, February 15, 2009
How have you been?
I realize that in almost every post I end up apologizing for the long lapse between entries. I'll do the same now, since it has been going on 2 months now. My apologies!!!
Well, I recently returned from my Wacky Chinese Adventure; one week in Beijing and one week in Shanghai. I had wanted to get a little further south, but the tickets were unavailable due to the Chinese New Year. I was travelling alone, also not my original plan, but things worked out.
China. I've wanted to go for many years now. Growing up going to school in the Midwest (I'm biased, but truly the best educational foundation you can ask for) I know a bit about history and geography. We learn about American history starting early in grade school. European history follows shortly thereafter. We learn about Sumeria, Egypt, Carthage, Rome, Alexandria, London, Paris, Moscow, and Berlin. We read about the pyramids, the Battle of the Bulge, the Crusades, the Inquisition, various monarchies, and countless other famed historical events. World history in junior high branches out a bit; a little Africa, a little Asia, but very little. Come high school, electives come into play. If you don't want to take any history or geography beyond the basics, you don't. In college, sociology is about the closest anyone ever gets to history unless your major calls for it. So............one of the most prolific, most documented, and longest lasting cultures in the world remains a mystery.
What do you know about China? Maybe a lot, but I'm guessing not much. No offense. I don't either. We know that Beijing is a big city. There are a zillion Chinese people. Their script looks like.....Chinese! They hosted the Olympics last year. They are communist. They have a big wall. Kung Pao Chicken is yummy. If you are older than 26, you may know that they just got Hong Kong back from the British. If you read the news, you may know that they have some serious milk and lead paint issues. They had some horrific earthquakes last year. Does that about cover it? Probably.
Don't get me wrong. I'll travel anywhere. I want to go to Paris and Adelaide and Rome and Oslo and anywhere else you'd like to send me. I am not well-travelled, and I'd love to remedy that. But if I had to prioritize.....I guess I'd first want to see things that I've never seen. Not in textbooks. Not on TV. Not in movies starring Ralph Fiennes or Emma Thompson. I want to see those unknown things that I've never seen. I want to learn things that I never would have known. A beach is beautiful and warm and wonderful, but spending a week on one won't make me grow as a person. It won't show me a world I've never seen. It won't open my eyes to a completely new point of view.
I loved China. I didn't know what to expect, so each day was like a little adventure. What food will I find? Where will I go? What kind of people will I meet? Oddly enough, I found China to have quite a few similarities to the US. People seemed very down to earth, unlike Korea. There are all sorts of people there; little skater punks, clubbing 24-year-old girls, overbearing parents, dads shopping with a papoose on their backs, 33-year-old moms with pink hair.
Maybe it seems silly to say that people there are people, but that's not what most people in the US think of when they imagine life in China. Communist China is not like the stories we've all heard of Communist Russia. There is virtually no "communism" evident at all in everyday life. They have jobs, stores, groceries, buses, and everything else we have. They don't have as much money as we do, but things don't cost nearly as much either. Most of my dinners included a big plate of delicious, spicy chicken and peanuts and a big beer for about 2-3 US dollars. And keep in mind, that's eating out.
Now I do know that saying that all of China equals Beijing/Shanghai is like saying that all of America equals New York/Los Angeles. They do have their own melting pot going on; over 40 different "races" make up the country. Many different dialects. Different economies. Different everything.
The specifics? I talked on my cellphone while walking on the Great Wall. I wandered around the Forbidden City. I was accosted by peddlers of all sorts while shopping on Wangfujing and East Nanjing Streets. I ate some delicious food on a stick while taking in the amazing view at the Bund. I stood in the center of Tienamen Square, nary a tank in sight. I played in a Texas Hold-Em cash game with an international cast at a bar in Shanghai. No, I didn't win. I used my Google research skills to head off about half a dozen scam artists. (after thinking about it, it really didn't upset me so much. if they end up scamming $40 from me, I would be a little perturbed while they would be able to buy groceries for 2-3 months. can you blame them?) I met a great, new Chinese friend, Evy, who became and remains a wonderful source of information and advice.
I could write for days about each singular day that I spent there, but that's all I have for now. My battery is low and the time is late. Sometimes I forget that I actually have a "job" to wake up for.
Take care! Love you all and I'll drop a line soon.
~tony
ps. I'm going back to China asap! :)
Well, I recently returned from my Wacky Chinese Adventure; one week in Beijing and one week in Shanghai. I had wanted to get a little further south, but the tickets were unavailable due to the Chinese New Year. I was travelling alone, also not my original plan, but things worked out.
China. I've wanted to go for many years now. Growing up going to school in the Midwest (I'm biased, but truly the best educational foundation you can ask for) I know a bit about history and geography. We learn about American history starting early in grade school. European history follows shortly thereafter. We learn about Sumeria, Egypt, Carthage, Rome, Alexandria, London, Paris, Moscow, and Berlin. We read about the pyramids, the Battle of the Bulge, the Crusades, the Inquisition, various monarchies, and countless other famed historical events. World history in junior high branches out a bit; a little Africa, a little Asia, but very little. Come high school, electives come into play. If you don't want to take any history or geography beyond the basics, you don't. In college, sociology is about the closest anyone ever gets to history unless your major calls for it. So............one of the most prolific, most documented, and longest lasting cultures in the world remains a mystery.
What do you know about China? Maybe a lot, but I'm guessing not much. No offense. I don't either. We know that Beijing is a big city. There are a zillion Chinese people. Their script looks like.....Chinese! They hosted the Olympics last year. They are communist. They have a big wall. Kung Pao Chicken is yummy. If you are older than 26, you may know that they just got Hong Kong back from the British. If you read the news, you may know that they have some serious milk and lead paint issues. They had some horrific earthquakes last year. Does that about cover it? Probably.
Don't get me wrong. I'll travel anywhere. I want to go to Paris and Adelaide and Rome and Oslo and anywhere else you'd like to send me. I am not well-travelled, and I'd love to remedy that. But if I had to prioritize.....I guess I'd first want to see things that I've never seen. Not in textbooks. Not on TV. Not in movies starring Ralph Fiennes or Emma Thompson. I want to see those unknown things that I've never seen. I want to learn things that I never would have known. A beach is beautiful and warm and wonderful, but spending a week on one won't make me grow as a person. It won't show me a world I've never seen. It won't open my eyes to a completely new point of view.
I loved China. I didn't know what to expect, so each day was like a little adventure. What food will I find? Where will I go? What kind of people will I meet? Oddly enough, I found China to have quite a few similarities to the US. People seemed very down to earth, unlike Korea. There are all sorts of people there; little skater punks, clubbing 24-year-old girls, overbearing parents, dads shopping with a papoose on their backs, 33-year-old moms with pink hair.
Maybe it seems silly to say that people there are people, but that's not what most people in the US think of when they imagine life in China. Communist China is not like the stories we've all heard of Communist Russia. There is virtually no "communism" evident at all in everyday life. They have jobs, stores, groceries, buses, and everything else we have. They don't have as much money as we do, but things don't cost nearly as much either. Most of my dinners included a big plate of delicious, spicy chicken and peanuts and a big beer for about 2-3 US dollars. And keep in mind, that's eating out.
Now I do know that saying that all of China equals Beijing/Shanghai is like saying that all of America equals New York/Los Angeles. They do have their own melting pot going on; over 40 different "races" make up the country. Many different dialects. Different economies. Different everything.
The specifics? I talked on my cellphone while walking on the Great Wall. I wandered around the Forbidden City. I was accosted by peddlers of all sorts while shopping on Wangfujing and East Nanjing Streets. I ate some delicious food on a stick while taking in the amazing view at the Bund. I stood in the center of Tienamen Square, nary a tank in sight. I played in a Texas Hold-Em cash game with an international cast at a bar in Shanghai. No, I didn't win. I used my Google research skills to head off about half a dozen scam artists. (after thinking about it, it really didn't upset me so much. if they end up scamming $40 from me, I would be a little perturbed while they would be able to buy groceries for 2-3 months. can you blame them?) I met a great, new Chinese friend, Evy, who became and remains a wonderful source of information and advice.
I could write for days about each singular day that I spent there, but that's all I have for now. My battery is low and the time is late. Sometimes I forget that I actually have a "job" to wake up for.
Take care! Love you all and I'll drop a line soon.
~tony
ps. I'm going back to China asap! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)