There hasn't been much writing for awhile owing to a simple lack of inspiration. It is cold and there are remnants of frozen snow all about. We have been in hibernation mode all of December up until now. Part of this is us saving money for our upcoming trip to Southeast Asia, and part is pure laziness. Oh, there have been some highlights. For a few weekends before the snows I would play basketball over at my school. I would go to just to shoot, but inevitably a group of high schoolers would ask me to join in half court three on three. Being bigger and stronger, and (unlike my youthful competition) having received the benefit of actual instruction in my youth, I dominated the games like a young Shaq.
A week before Christmas we had some people over for a gift exchange and holiday party. We played King's Cup on the floor of our apartment which was a good time, but our Korean friend was understandably frustrated every time a nine (bust a rhyme) was pulled. As you can imagine, this is a difficult feat to perform using your non-native language. We drank enough that we ended up at the karaoke room. We learned that if you order enough beer (which is apparently illegal, but they all do it anyway) they will give you extra time to sing. I am still not sure if this is a good thing.
On Christmas night we went to a foreigner Christmas dinner put on by a brewery in Seoul. We were lucky enough to go first in line at the buffet and we loaded up our plates with standard (but sorely missed) Christmas fare. Since we were first, we even got to take a turkey leg which made us quite happy. I can't say the same for the people who went after us. We actually tried to get back in line for seconds before other sections were given the go-ahead. This did not go over well.
These last two weeks, I have only been going to school half days to teach an English camp. The first week was 3rd grade, last week was 5th and next week will be 3rd again. The first week wasn't so bad. Thanks to Sami, I have awesome materials for all my classes so that isn't a problem. The 5th grade session, however, was horrendous. I just don't have the patience for this. Why do the boys, who are soon going to be in sixth grade, have to be hitting each other and shooting each other with fake guns constantly? I don't get it. I actually had to take away a water gun that looked exactly like a real gun. The whole time I am thinking, if this happened in the states, it would be news. Whenever I get really worked up about it, however, I remind myself that it is only a half day and I usually forget about what a pain it all is soon after I get home.
I have spent a lot of my downtime reading some really great books. I finished Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," (very dense and filled with imagery. Had to re-start it 100 pages in, but epic. I will definitely be reading it again and can't wait for the movie), "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Dreiser, Anthony Bourdain's "A Cooks Tour," "One Day" by David Nichols, "Beloved" by Toni Morrison and "The War for Late Night" about the whole Jay/Conan fiasco.
I would recommend "Beloved" to anyone who hasn't read it already. I easily understand why it ranks up there with the best American novels. Very moving, but what I was most impressed with how the other weaves her way through the scenes, present and past. Just really great writing.
Because I am such a late night junkie (I am now a certified "Jay" guy whereas I used to be solely for Conan) I devoured "The War for Late Night" in two days. It was a very interesting insider account of how it all went down, and I hate to say it, but I don't totally blame Jay anymore like I used to. I think it was just a little mismanagement on the part of NBC and an overreaction by Conan. And now he is on TBS and while I can't see it, I am imagining it isn't going too well. I wish he would have just stuck it out. That still doesn't mean I think the joke-machine Leno is the least bit funny.
Of course, the biggest thing that has been occupying my time has been following all of the coverage leading up to the National Championship Game. I continue to devour all of the news I can even though everyone is saying the same things we have heard all season: win the day, one day at a time, Oregon plays at a superfast pace, the defense is underrated etc etc etc. The one thing I keep thinking back to was seeing Darron Thomas in person for the first time when he was a true Freshman. In a previous life I helped put on a charity auction in Eugene and I was fortunate enough to usher some VIPs for a meet and greet with the players as they ate after practice. Darron had on a bright blue Aldine High hooded sweatshirt and I thought, "This kid cannot weigh more than 160lbs." Dennis Dixon had just been drafted and most people thought that Justin Roeper was going to be the starter based on his performance in the Sun Bowl and the fact that Nate Costa was injured. Man how things have changed.
I don't want to say more than I have to about the potential of me missing the first half of the game Tuesday (Monday back home). It is too depressing. My plan is to find some games the kids can do without much input from me so I can watch online. I guess I would be even more depressed about this fact if I didn't have Vietnam to look forward to next week.
Yes, our much anticipated vacation is finally less than a week away. The twenty-three day itinerary goes like this: Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh)-Cambodia (Phnom Penh)-Vietnam (Hanoi/Ha Long Bay)-Thailand (Bangkok)-The Philippines (Palawan). The icing on the cake is that after our trip we go back to work for two weeks and then take off again for Bali for nine days. Yep, before you know it it will be March and the snow will be a memory.
In preparation for our trip I have lined out four movies to watch: "Apocalypse Now," "The Quiet American," "Bridge on the River Kwai" and "The Killing Fields." I have yet to see the last two, but feel I must because we have visits planned to both the Japanese WWII bridge in Thailand and the mass Khmer Rouge Graves near Phnom Penh. I watched "The Quiet American" yesterday and have to say that it is almost as good as the book by Graham Greene. Yes, some things were cut out and changed, but doesn't that happen with all movies based on novels?
"Apocalypse Now," of course, is one of the all-time greats and I am pretty sure I could watch it once a month for my lifetime. After my sixth or so viewing the other day I found myself wondering how Kurtz could be so heavy out there with his cult Cambodian followers. He looks fit from the pictures in the classified files taken not so long ago and then of course Willard explained how he finished airborne school at nearly 40 and how physically demanding that is even for 20 year olds. I mean, sure they sacrifice a water buffalo every Sunday night let's say, but still, there are a lot of skinny damn people on that compound (not to mention body parts strewn about, but that's a different topic).
Then I thought, oh it's probably just that Brando got fat.
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