Day: December 29, 2010

Caveat: Leaving Work On the Day With the Snowstorm

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / My Photos

I had a bad day at work.  The kids were hyper and distracted by the snowstorm, maybe.  Or maybe I was off my game, for the same reason.  Or who knows?  A student, Geon-u, told me he hated me today.  Sometimes, not knowing Korean might be an advantage – it was only because I understood his Korean that I felt badly about it.

So I felt melancholy.  I took some pictures.

Here's the view out the window from the hallway, right outside the door of the second floor classroom I've been using for my winter camps. 

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Here's my bus.  It went very, very slowly.  It only fishtailed once, on the slippery roads.  I wore my seatbelt.

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Here is the view down highway 23 (looking southbound just beyond the traffic circle), which is what I walk down to get to the lovely middle-of-nowhere place where my apartment building is located.

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Here is a little house (business?) that always makes me think about the Boxcar Children novels.

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Here is my front yard.  Which happens to be a gas station.  And the home to many happy dumptrucks.  Though that's not why this blog is called caveatdumptruck.  Just coincidence, that.

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I'm home now.  I'm drinking some Korean ginger tea.  I'm watching some weird Korean reality show.  I don't understand it.  The year will end, soon.

Caveat: And I stepped out into a blizzard

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / Life is a Dream

It was a full-fledged blizzard when I stepped out of my building this morning at 7:40. Wet, sticky, dense snow falling sideways due to the strong north wind. I made my way to the bus terminal. By the time I got there, the snow had stuck to my long woolen coat and I looked like an abominable snowman. The Koreans were unimpressed. I caught the 7:30 bus at 8:01 – because it was running so late. So I actually ended up at work 5 minutes early. By the time I landed in Hongnong, however, the sun was shining. Men were throwing salt on the slippery roads, and arguing about something. My classroom is getting warm. The clouds, the clouds, at ten minutes to nine in the morning, look like sunset: silver, grey, white, gold. Blobs of snow packed onto the sides of pine trees.

Caveat: 27) 비방 함으로 인해 악연이 된 인연들에게 참회하며 절합니다

Buddhism & Zen / The 108 / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

This is #27 out of a series of [broken link! FIXME] 108 daily Buddhist affirmations that I am attempting to translate with my hands tied behind my back (well not really that, but I’m deliberately not seeking out translations on the internet, using only dictionary and grammar).

…
25. [broken link! FIXME] 원망하는 마음으로 인해 악연이 된 인연들에게 참회하며 절합니다.
        “I bow in repentance of the ties that become like an evil destiny due to a resentful heart.”
26. [broken link! FIXME] 이간질로 인해 악연이 된 인연들에게 참회하며 절합니다.
        “I bow in repentance of the ties that become like an evil destiny due to the divisions sown between people.”
27. 비방 함으로 인해 악연이 된 인연들에게 참회하며 절합니다.

I would read this twenty-seventh affirmation as:  “I bow in repentance of the ties that become like an evil destiny due to slanders done.”

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