The Iceberg

Oh what the hell. I suppose now is as good a time as any to announce this.

The Iceberg is tying the knot. In early June (providing all of the paperwork gets completed).

I’m going to shy away from too much (specific) personal information. And - please - no smart-alecky comments (joking or not) about the future Mrs. Iceberg (though I’m fair game). Believe it or not, I do have limits.

of the country again for a bit.  Be back soon.

There could be a big announcement coming soon.

(Soon being a relative term.)

…and the verdict is in. By a count of 1-0, I have decided to continue blogging for at least one more year. The fact that I’m already paid up for a year of hosting and the cost of renewing icebergkorea.com was nil made it a pretty easy decision.

To celebrate, I decided to give the blog a facelift. Out (but perhaps not for long) is my nifty little Korean-flag-on-an-iceberg logo. In are some new fonts and colors.

I’m also adding a few new links to the sidebar. Welcome to JoeSeoulMan, ZenKimchi, and Brian in Jeollanam-do.

Furthermore, I am contemplating changes in my categories and posting style. From this point forward, you will see a new, mature, and sophisticated Iceberg. And a more revealing Iceberg.

For example, were I to have shut down this blog, you would never have been privy to tidbits like this:

I like grapefruit juice.

Welcome back, me. Why thank you, me.

This post is in response to reader tp’s request/comment.  I had considered writing about this a few weeks ago but then found myself in “can’t be bothered” mode.  I started writing the following in the comments section, but then thought “what the hell?” and decided to put it in a post.  Cut and paste is a glorious invention.

Here goes:

Funny you should mention international credit debit cards.  I, in fact, DID receive one from KB early last year.  Because I am overly cautious (I reek caution), on three subsequent visits to the bank last year I took the card out of my wallet, showed it to the teller, and confirmed that it would indeed work at overseas ATMs.  I received three different answers:

“Yes”, “Sure”, and “Of course”.

So last January in Vegas I decided to check it out.  Result?  No way, Jose.  I contacted KB and was told, “Sorry, foreigners can’t use the international ATM card overseas.”  Huh?  You’re telling me I can’t use an international debit card overseas?  I can’t take my own money out of my own bank account?  That is whacked!  (Apologies for using the word “whacked”.  This is what happens when it’s 2 in the morning and you’re suffering from insomnia.) 

Fortunately, I am overly cautious (caution is my middle name) and planned for such an eventuality.  Oh yeah, that royal flush on the video poker machine didn’t hurt either.  A cool $1000 baby…YEAH!  I was able to make it out of Vegas without having to whore myself out to strangers (like I do here in Korea).

Back in Korea, I decided to look into the issue a little further.  As luck would have it, there was a post at The Marmot’s Hole here (do a search, lazy ass*) where, if you filter through the *sigh* petty bickering in the comments section, you’ll find some useful information.  In a nutshell, it sounds as if Korea Exchange Bank is the place to go if you want to get that international debit card (the one that actually works).

On a related note, I recently inquired at my local KB (yes, that KB) into the possibility of a foreigner getting a loan.  Turns out it’s actually possible.  All I need is a Korean willing to cosign the loan.  Check.  In fact, I can even get one of those accounts set up where I can withdraw money up to a certain limit (10 million won) anytime I wish.  I’m not sure what that’s called.  Perpetual loan?  Convenient loan?  Dangerous and stupid loan?

Then again, the guy at the bank (who bears no personal repsonsibility for the international debit card fiasco, btw) said that I could qualify for such a loan because…

a) I’m a regular customer at the bank.
b) I work for a reputable school.
c) I’ve lived in Korea for a long time.
d) I earn a decent salary.

and…

e) I’m incredibly cool.

So this information may not apply to everyone.  Particularly “e)”.

*The “lazy ass” comment is directed toward “tp”, not the other six readers of this blog.

This marks the end of the Iceberg Financial Hour.  Now on to more important matters.

Yes, tp, the bear on the trampoline video made for high entertainment, but could you imagine a lion, water buffalo, crocodile AND a bear all jumping on the same trampoline?  THAT would be stupendous!

Looking out my apartment window at night.

In response to Brian - yes, I do need to get some blinds, but I’m in no hurry.  I tend to wake up before sunrise anyway (even on weekends) and the lack of blinds is scratching an exhibitionist itch for the time being.

Since I’m posting anyway, I’ll mention that I seem to be stuck in a “movie slump” of sorts.  What I mean by that is, though I haven’t disliked the movies I’ve seen recently, I’ve found that after watching them I’ve come away somewhat dissatisfied.

It started with “No Country for Old Men”.  I liked it well enough and I thought Javier Bardem was great (loved his cattle killer), but it was one of those situations where I’d heard so much about the movie in advance that it didn’t live up to expectations.

Movies that I’ve watched in the past few days that fall into the dissatisfaction category are “Sweeney Todd”, “Enchanted”, “Dan in Real Life”, “The Assassination of Jesse James”, and “The Darjeeling Limited” (just finished watching the last one).  I plan to watch “Gone Baby Gone” tomorrow night and I hope it sets things back on track.

Anyone have any movies from the past year or two that you’d like to recommend?

Since I’m asking, I guess I’ll throw one out there.  If you haven’t seen it (and if you live in Korea, you may not have), check out “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”, with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.  I actually watched it over a year ago but it’s one of those movies I can watch three or four times.  It’s a very clever black comedy.  Oh, and Michelle Monaghan gets nekkid.

that I moved?

Diggin’ my new digs.

Living in a tenth-floor corner apartment in a new officetel building overlooking one of the busiest streets in Anyang. Everything’s brand spanking new, which is mostly good. I say mostly good because there are a few quirks that come with that which is new. Specifically, my boiler. Do you remember the freaky snow day that we had in early March? In case you don’t, let this video remind you:

It was pretty damn cold and - as luck would have it - my boiler picked the most absolutely wonderful time to shut down. Specifically, at night. This went on for quite a while, resulting in many (nearly) sleepless nights - and cold showers. Through trial and error, I gathered that the boiler would shut off when the temperature outside was at its coldest. Perfect. Exactly when you want your boiler to stop working. I visited the building maintenance office three times and they contacted the boiler fixer guy, who said three times that he would come by my place but of course never did. One of the guys at the maintenance office said that sometimes new appliances need to work out the kinks and he may be right, because the boiler has been working for the past couple of weeks. Then again, the weather hasn’t been too cold.

But I digress. The point of this post is to say that I like my new place. Here are a couple of photos taken soon after I moved in.

in the Iceberg’s life:

Made another trip to Hanoi last weekend - this time for personal reasons. Don’t ask, it’s personal.

Started an NCAA pool with the other English teachers at work. Our staff essentially breaks down like this:

Three Americans who actually follow sports to varying degrees (myself included in this category).
One American from Northern California who is a vegan (enough said).
One Canadian who can’t even name five players in the NHL, let alone anyone in the NCAA tournament.
One Brit (Englishman…sorry M) who’s a massive fan of the Premier League, but has never followed basketball.

So naturally, the current standings are as follows:

1. The Brit
2. One of the Americans who follows sports.
3. The other American who follows sports.
4. The Canadian
5. Yours truly
6. The Vegan (picked Portland St. to the Sweet Sixteen…hyuk, hyuk, hyuk)

Guess I shouldn’t have picked Gonzaga for the Elite Eight. Ouch!

The good news is that, thanks to Davidson’s upset of Georgetown, the others in the pool haven’t been able to pull too far ahead and - with my other seven Elite Eight picks still alive - I can still win this thing. In order, Go UCLA, Kansas, Stanford, Carolina (though I’d actually rather see Wash. St. get the upset), Davidson, Xavier, Tennessee, and Memphis!

Found myself in the midst of a Photoshop war with the Canadian. Actually, it’s a war much in same sense that the U.S. invasion of Grenada was a war. Pretty one-sided. Evidence? You want evidence? Here is one of my gems:

My rival’s response? A photo of a guy kicking a soccer ball, only in place of the soccer ball is my head. Puhleeease!

Still debating whether or not to keep this blog going. I recently received an email from my webhosting service stating that I need to re-register my blog address by April 7. The fact that the news didn’t freak me out is not a good sign, but I do think I’m starting to lean towards making a little bit of an effort to get back into blogging. No promises, though. Like you care.

Oh yeah! I mentioned in my previous post that I would upload photos of the food I ate in Vietnam. I’ll do more than that. I’ll even upload photos of some sites of Hanoi (and other parts of Vietnam), including a hint into the reason I went back last weekend.

But don’t pry.

Read More »

It’s been awhile. For a variety of reasons (though mostly because I was bored with blogging and busy at the same time), I have found myself debating whether or not to continue with the blog. I’m still not sure whether or not I will keep this going over the long haul, but I figured I’d provide an update.

In a nutshell, I’ve been packing on the pounds.

Vegas was fun, though not as fun as it can be. I spent most of the time there with my parents, who are getting up there in age and therefore are not into the things that make Vegas fun. We did visit a lot of restaurants and I played a fair amount of poker. My mom, being a mom, cooked all my favorite dishes. That was great. What was not great was her propensity to buy dozens of bags of chips and other varieties of junk food. A common conversation back home:

Mom: I’m going to the store. Is there anything you’d like?
Me: No, I’m good, thank you.
Mom: Are you sure? Don’t you want some Cheez-Its or Cheetoes?
Me: No, thanks.
Mom: Ice cream?
Me: No. I’m good.

Two hours later the house was filled with Cheez-Its, Cheetoes, ice cream, chocolate cakes, potato chips, chip dip, and…you get the picture.

On top of that, the chicken fried steak at the Fiesta Casino in Henderson is nothing to sneeze at.

So, four weeks later I brought about six kilograms extra back to Korea.

Three weeks after that I was off to Vietnam.

I went to Vietnam for a “sister school exchange” with students and teachers from the school where I work. We visited Hanoi-Amsterdam High School, one of the top (if not the top) schools in Vietnam. We had a great time there. The Vietnamese are charming people. And gracious hosts. The teachers, parents, and students of Hanoi-Amsterdam took us to a water puppet show, an orphanage in the countryside, Halong Bay, a ceramics factory, a bamboo and rataan furniture factory, and a wicker store owned by the mother of one of the students. She was great. She told each of us that we could choose any one item to take with us…free of charge. Unreal.

Oh yeah. I should also mention that they took us to a wide variety of restaurants. I should also mention that Vietnamese food is fantastic. And I should also mention that our hosts never hestitated to keep our plates full. The result? I brought a couple more kilograms back to Korea with me. Time to hit the treadmill.

Seriously, though, the trip was quite special. I put together a video of the trip, which unfortunately I had to separate into five parts to upload to YouTube. I think it turned out quite well. Have a look.

I’ll be back later to upload some photos of the food I ate. Good stuff.