The Iceberg

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.

Boy, it sure is cold here in Korea, isn’t it?

But in just a few short hours that won’t matter to me, because I’m off to VEGAS BABY!!!

Tomorrow’s weather forecast for Vegas: Sunny, with a high of….

51 DEGREES????????  Doh!!

No worries.  I’ll be spending most of my time at the poker and blackjack tables in a climate-controlled casino anyway.

Take care of the place while I’m gone.

Last night I went to a bar in Anyang (more specifically, in Sanbon) called Wild Bill’s No. 10 to drink some beer and play some darts. Back in my Seattle days my friends and I often went to sports bars for the electronic dart machines (and the beer, of course) and it was kind of nice to find one at Wild Bill’s. It brought back memories.

What also brought back memories was the bar itself. In 2001 I discovered a Wild Bill’s in the Gangnam area on my walk home from school. It was located on the opposite side of Gangnam station from the nightlife zone - a good ten or fifteen minutes walk - and as a result business there was bad to say the least. During the week there was a smattering of businessmen from nearby offices having a beer after work, but on weekends you rarely found more than five or six people at the bar. It was a shame because it was a pretty nice bar. I talked with the manager about hosting a weekend party for teachers and students of the academy where I worked. (Adult students, for all the haters.) I told him that, if he promised to open the bar only to members of our academy, I would deliver a hundred customers. He was up for it. We arranged a set price for all-you-can-drink draft beer. Other drinks were extra. Some friends and I put up posters and sold tickets at the school. The manager was kind enough to throw in two large “side dish” platters of french fries, sausages, and what have you for every six people or so. The party was a raging success. After a couple of hours of drink we moved the tables to the sides of the room and turned the bar into a mini-nightclub. It was good fun. We ended up having two more parties over the next couple of months.

The Wild Bill’s in Sanbon had a similar feel to the one in Gangnam, though it tended to wind around a bit more while the Gangnam bar was spacier. The bar in Sanbon appears to be quite popular with the locals, however. The place was bustling. And god! there were a lot of hotties there. Only problem was, with one or two exceptions, they were all with dates.

One final note - I wonder when Korea is going to finally ditch the whole music-blaring, Tom Cruise-in-”Cocktail”-style bottle spinning, fire-blowing cocktail show and come up with something new. I mean, that shit has been going on for at least ten years now. Enough already.

Hello again, everyone. I just finished a hellaciously busy week at work. The past five days I have listened to and evaluated approximately 70 student speeches, conducted over 100 four minute one-to-one speaking tests, written a final exam, and entered the semester grades of over 200 students onto a Korean government website. Oh yeah, and I managed to squeeze in a game of soccer yesterday.

I gave up a goal, but my team won 3-1. Concerning the goal, one of the fun things about learning a sport (or anything, for that matter) from scratch* is that you experience something new nearly every time time you do it.  Until yesterday, every shot that came at me was some variety of power or touch, high or low, deflection or point blank. I thought I had seen them all.  But I was wrong.

Though I have a long way to go to become a real asset to my team (my goal kicks, for example, while steadily improving, are still complete shite), the one “weapon in my arsenal” is a fearlessness toward throwing myself in the mix to get the ball. I’ve got the raspberries and bruises to prove it. As the nuances of positioning and timing have become more instinctual, my confidence has grown. You might even say I had become a little “cheeky” in front of the net. I slowly began to think, “I’ve got this game by the balls.” (In a manner of speaking.)

Yesterday’s conceded goal provided a needed dose of humility. We were playing a group of high school students. Though the students have a considerable advantage in conditioning (the little bastards never tire), the teachers are physically stronger, savvier, and more skilled (with the exception of one or two very talented student players). I approached the game with a mindset of, “No punk high school student is going to score on this goal!” (Note: The students are not really punks. In fact, they are good kids. It was just an expression of my cheekiness.)

But then it happened. Our team was leading 1-0 and the game was entering the final ten minutes. I grew increasingly comfortable, at one point thinking, “This game is in the bag.” Not more than two minutes later, one of the students found some space about ten meters in front of the goal and fired off a shot. The ball had good pace and started off to my right, but close enough to me that I wouldn’t have to dive for it. I instinctually lunged to my right to block it, but instantly realized that the shot was like what we call in baseball a “screwball”. It kept hooking back to my left. It was the first time since I started goalkeeping that I had seen a shot like that. I tried to stop my momentum and lunge back to left, but it was too late. I managed to get my hands on the ball, but not enough to deflect it to safety. The ball flew comfortably into the back of the net and the score was tied 1-1. Oh, the humiliation! Fortunately for my soccer self-esteem, my teammates quickly rallied to score two late goals to win, but the deed had been done. I was humbled.

One extra tidbit from the game to throw your way. We play these games during the students’ dinner time, so there are usually around 300 students watching the game. There was one moment during yesterday’s game when I tried to direct one of my aforementioned crap goalkicks to a teammate on the right side of the field but ended up shanking it over the sideline. I knew it was bad as soon as I hit it and, briefly lost in the moment, expressed displeasure with my effort. “Oh shit,” were my exact words. The sound of laughter emanated from my right. I looked over and saw about 30 male students sitting in the concrete stands with smiles on their faces . They were not laughing at my kick - they’re much too polite for that - but rather the fact that I had (so naturally) used profanity. They looked at each other and, giggling, repeated what I had said. “스캇쌤 ‘Oh shit’이랬어**…hahaha.” For the next two minutes I was entertained by chants of “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit”. I felt a tinge of embarassment that I’d unwittingly given the students license to swear, but mostly it was pretty funny.

*For those who haven’t read earlier posts, I played soccer for the first time in my life less than three months ago.

**Scott said, “Oh shit!”.

A couple of milestones have recently been reached at the Iceberg. The first is that this blog crossed the 100,000 visitor threshold a couple of days ago. Thank you, Google Search.

The second is that I received my first hate e-mail this morning courtesy of a Mr. Dong-wan Kim. Two of them, actually. Here they are for your reading pleasure:

The first:

From: “dongwan kim” <kimdwan@yahoo.com>

To: scott@icebergkorea.com

goddamn it, another asiaphile in korea. if i ever see you here i will punch your nose into your skull. my do-hyoen? give me a break. go pick up a hooker or something. or go back to your trailer park in your country. loser.

The second:

goddamn asiaphile. also, i’ve contacted yonhap since you’ve been using their photos without permission. hire a lawyer loser. or get your ass deported. nice.

Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Kim. Glad my blog stirs you in ways previously unimaginable.

Here was my reply to my new friend:

Wow!

You are one angry fella.

동완, you need to develop a sense of humor.  You may not have
gotten it, but the "my Do-yeon" comment was a joke.  Of course she is not
"mine".  Feel better now?

I'm sure Yonhap will be bangin' on my door any day now.  Hahaha.  Good
luck with that...and good luck with your hatred.  Thank god the vast
majority of Koreans that I meet are not like you.

P.S. - Check back with the blog.  I'm posting your e-mail.

By the way, Do-yeon, if on the small chance you read this, if that whole marriage thing doesn’t work out, drop me a line.

My plan to take over the world (of home entertainment) is one step closer to fruition. Buhahahahaha!!! I present to you the Abigs Multimedia Player (Model DVP-370) by Sarotech.

I paid 280,000 won at Yongsan Electronics Market for the player and a 500-gigabyte hard drive that is installed inside.

What exactly is the Abigs Multimedia Player, you ask? It’s an external hard drive by day and a multimedia center by night. Plug this puppy into your computer and it’s a hard drive. You can save anything onto it, including music, photos, and videos. I, of course, only load videos that I personally have shot. I would never save movies (or music) that have been downloaded from BitTorrent sites such as Mininova or BlueYoyo. That would be illegal. But if you are the immoral type who has no problem with that you could then proceed to disconnect this device from your computer and plug it into your television or home theater system…

and voila! You have a list of every form of media saved on the disk at your fingertips.

The multimedia player comes with its own remote control, so volume, screen size, fast-forward/rewind, captions, and a host of other options can be selected from the comfort of your sofa. Just choose a (home) movie, microwave a bag of popcorn, and enjoy.

Well, it’s been decided. I’ve cast my lot with the Suwon BlueWings. I went to another K-League game, this time between Suwon and Incheon United. The difference was, this time I went with one of the P.E. teachers from our school, who happens to be a tried and true member of the “Ultras”*. Who are the “Ultras”, you ask? They are a hardcore group of about twenty people who lead the Suwon cheering section behind the north-end goal. Thanks to this man, I was able to venture deep into the heart of the “Blues”(about three rows up from the field). Despite a heavy downpour at times, it was good fun. I was surrounded by shirtless men in their 20s, moshing high school boys, and shrieking schoolgirls. Yes, that’s right. I said it was fun. You’ll just have to trust me. Or watch the video and decide for yourself.

Nice goal by Lee Gwan-woo (이관우), eh?

The first game I attended at Suwon World Cup Stadium (a 3-1 Suwon victory over FC Seoul), I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the crowd was chanting. “Suwon….what? Blah-blah-ing” This time I got it. They are chanting, “Suwon BlueWing,” only they’ve got their own interesting pronunciation. It goes, “Su-won Buh-loo-wing”. It grew on me.

After the game I returned to Anyang for some barbequed beef (소갈비살) and beer. Good stuff.

*I also discovered that there is a bus in Anyang that goes directly to the stadium. Actually, it drops you off about a ten-minute walk from the stadium, but close enough.

Went to the Seoul-Suwon soccer match last week in Suwon. Final score: Suwon 3, Seoul 1. Impressions: The Suwon fans are better than the Seoul fans. I prefer Seoul’s stadium, but only slightly. The big minus for Suwon: it is a bitch to get to the stadium. Plus the tickets cost W10,000. Leaning towards Seoul.

Students at the high school took their mid-term exams last week. Made for an easy week for me. I proctored exams in the morning and was done for the day by noon. On Thursday we had our “teachers sports day” in the afternoon. It was nice to be able to get to know some names to put to the faces of many teachers I see walking about. The activities were badminton (I signed up but didn’t play…damn these Koreans are good at badminton!) , dodgeball (for the women), group rope jumping (not for me), a balloon relay race (not going to bother explaining it…didn’t take part), and…basketball. The teachers were divided into two teams - blue and white. I was on the blue team. We defeated the white team in a high scoring affair, 7-5 (counting baskets as single points). I humbly submit that I was our team’s star, as I scored four of our baskets. Thank you. Thank you very much. When the sports were finished, there was a raffle where we received prizes of various household items (top prize was a humongous bag of rice). I won bottles of shampoo and conditioner, which should prove quite useful for my shaved head. Afterwards, the entire staff went out for fried pork (삼겹살). There were over fifty of us. We took up the entire restaurant. Beer and soju flowed. Good times.

Last Saturday night I paid another visit to the Lucky Seven casino. Once again it turned into a profitable night for me. I came out about W200,000 ahead, but it was the way I won it that made it fun. My friend and I were there for about six hours. I was doing very well the first three hours or so. I was up about W300,000. But then I hit a cold streak over the next couple of hours and dropped down to around W80,000 ahead. That’s when this attractive woman in her late-20s or early-30s sat down next to me. She started out fairly subdued - just playing her hand and not making conversation. She was also playing the casino’s “side bet”. The side bet pays 11 to 1 odds if you are dealt two of the same cards (for example, two “sixes”). There is a circle in front of everyone’s regular blackjack betting location where you can place money for a side bet. After awhile, the woman started placing side bets of W10,000 in front of all the players at the table…and winning it quite frequently. Whenever she won a side bet that came from one of the other players’ cards, she gave that player W20,000 or W30,000 of her winnings of W110,000. She won three times from my cards. Nice little chunk of change that I received. Plus, I ended up getting hot again, so the money was rolling in. I would have come out way ahead except that - caught up in the euphoria (and having downed about eight to ten rum and cokes) - I started placing side bets all over the place as well. Still, it was a great time. AAAANNND…as my friend and I were leaving the table, the woman asked me for my phone number. Hoo-ah!