Category: Banalities & Journaling

Caveat: The First House

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

I'm staying at the first house that I ever lived in, where I spent the first 17 years of my life (with some interruptions).

I'll not provide much narrative. Here are some pictures, with a few comments. I had put these pictures on facebook too. 

This is the house. It has changed a lot, but it's still the same house. Peggy and Latif live there now.

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This is the park 2 blocks from the house, where I went an infinite number of times as a child.

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This is my high school, where I graduated in 1983. Children are still suffering there now, I imagine.

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This is me with Peggy, my de facto godmother and once-upon-a-time 6th grade teacher.

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This is Arthur sitting by the window in the dining room, in a spot he sat many times during my childhood. It's strange – all the furniture has changed, the house has been remodeled, but the space still feels the same, and the Humboldt overcast waits outside.

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No visit to Arcata is complete without a trip to the Arcata Co-op – the biomagnetic center of the People's Republic of Humboldt.

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This is a view from the street of the house on L Street in Eureka, where my dad and stepmom lived during my high school and college years.

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This is the Helliwell's house, where David and Vivian live. David was very generous with me (in spirit) during the early 1990s, and I spent some time here.

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A salmon we prepared for dinner – David is a fisherman and has ways to get fish.

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This is David with his dog, on a redwood stump of a newly cut tree. He is logging some of his land up behind Eureka.

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Here is a broken-down excavator (cat) parked where some of the logging is going on.

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Arthur brought in the big fish from the barbecue.

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We ate the fish. Here are the Helliwell siblings (center two, David and Peggy's kids), Erilynn and Dustin, with their spouses, eating dinner.

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That's my visit to Humboldt so far. 

[daily log: walking, 5km]

Caveat: You eat what you can can

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

No, that's not a typo in this post's title. It's drawing on the two meanings of "can", one as an auxiliary, one meaning "to preserve food". 

Juli does a lot of canning. Her pantry is full of jars of preserved foods, and as the late summer fruit harvest appears, she cans applesauce, blackberry preserves, etc. I took a picture of her pantry wall.

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Another notable bit of news, today: my container of personal effects, shipped from Eagan, Minnesota, has arrived on the dock at Craig, Alaska. It has beat me there by a week. This is pretty amazing, as it was originally supposed to take 4 weeks. My representative at Alaska Marine Lines was very generous and kind, looking out for me. I'd told her I specifically didn't want it to arrive too fast. This might not be a common problem for people shipping to Alaska, but she'd been understanding, and had put a delivery date of September 1st. So the fact that it got there early means that normally I'd have to pay "storage" fees for the dock in Craig. But because it's early relative to the promised delivery date, she has waived this storage fee. I was very pleased about this.

Today we drive down to Arcata, California. This is the town where I was born and spent my first 17 years (with quite a few interruptions, but more-or-less). 

Countdown to Craig, Alaska: 7 days

[daily log: walking, 3km] 

Caveat: One month job-free

Banalities & Journaling

A month ago, today, I had surgery to remove my job.

So I'm floating through life, a bit. This was an intentional move, but it's strange to be living this way. And eventually I'll have to have reconstructive surgery to restore the job-state. Meanwhile, my full time job is accompanying my uncle, I guess. Which he somewhat resents, because he feels like nothing's wrong with him. That, in itself, is one of the characteristics of the brain trauma he suffered. So there's some difficulty there.

Countdown to Craig, Alaska: 8 days.

More later.

[daily log: walking, 4km]

Caveat: 낙원한국음식식당

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

So this morning was Arthur’s last VA appointment. They’ve released him into the wild, such as it is, and he’s free to return home to Alaska.
We’ve bought tickets for next week. Meanwhile, we’d planned a small road trip down to Humboldt (my hometown where I grew up, and where he lived with us for many years, during my childhood). This was planned when we still weren’t completely certain of when we’d be able to go to Alaska. Now, we’re squeezing it in before we depart for the north.
Today, to celebrate the end of the infinite series of doctors’ appointments, we went to a Korean restaurant called Nakwon (Paradise) over in Beaverton – about halfway between the VA hospital in downtown Portland and where Juli and Keith live in Forest Grove. We were joined by Juli and Keith’s daughter Jenna, who is visiting with her husband up here from where they live in Southern California.
Here is the lunch. Arthur is looking angry because I said “smile” before taking the picture. That’s Arthur’s personality – if you say smile, he puts on a grump face.
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[daily log: walking, 3.5km]

Caveat: A photogenic bumblebee

Banalities & Journaling / Found Online / My Photos

I keep intending to write something longer. But then I lose myself in some other undertaking, and I don't get around to it. I'm trying to keep up the discipline of regular blog-posting, but it feels a bit low-quality lately, to be honest. Not that it's that great to begin with.

Meanwhile, here's a joke:

'i' before 'e' except after 'c' – disproved by science!

And here is a picture I took of a photogenic bumblebee this morning. It's a bit blurry, though.

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[daily log: walking, 4km]

Caveat: Just a day

Banalities & Journaling

Just a day.

Walked down the hill to the river with Juli and some dogs in the morning.

Drove into Portland to see a neuropsychologist with Arthur and Juli, mid-day.

Drove back and do a little bit of shopping.

Picked a lot of blackberries.

Actually, things are wrapping up. Arthur only has one major appointment left at the VA Hospital. We have bought tickets for Alaska, in 10 days. Next week, we'll take a short trip down the coast to the town where I grew up, Arcata. Think of it as a trial run for the trip to Alaska? Just to see some people and places, too.

[daily log: walking, 4km] 

Caveat: armed and ready to blow

Banalities & Journaling

Yesterday Art and I drove to East Portland to see his tax accountant – not so much for him, as for me, since I need a new tax accountant, and I have some issues to resolve because I haven't behaved properly with the US tax authority (IRS) since my cancer surgery, 5 years ago.

So we drove there in Juli's Prius (the hybrid electric car). We were parked there, and I noticed this flashing red light blinking on the car's dashboard, after turning the car off. I didn't know what it was.

"What is that flashing red indicator on the dash?" I asked Arthur.

He said, "System is armed and ready to blow!" Not even the hint of a smile. 

I said, "Oh. Okay… that'll help us out a lot."

Arthur's personality is still the same.

[daily log: walking, 3km]

Caveat: Cause for Optimism

Banalities & Journaling

We had some good news at the VA Hospitals and Clinics for Arthur. His fractured neck bone (technically, his right occipital condyle bone, the base of the skull) is healed sufficiently that he was permitted to remove the nefarious neck brace, which he's hated wearing so much. This allows him to look and feel more like himself, not to mention he doesn't have to feel so conspicuous when out and about in public.

Further good news came from the ENT (otolaryngology) specialist, who said he didn't need any "remediation" with respect to a chronic ear issue. So overall, Arthur is healing apace. 

In the car driving back home from the hospital, I said, "Well, it's all cause for optimism."

Arthur's reply, in his classic Arthur style, was, "Now I just need to be an optimist."

[daily log: walking, 3km]

Caveat: Blackberry Pie

Banalities & Journaling / Food & Drink

I got one full day off before the slew of appointments resume with Arthur.

So we took a walk up to the tree farm. There were a lot of ripe blackberries along the road, so he and I picked berries, and brought them back to Juli's house. Juli made a blackberry pie.

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Blackberries remind me of my childhood, since my home in northern California was surrounded, as Juli's home is, with abundant wild blackberries.

My body is still sore and achey from my storage unit adventures last week.

[daily log: walking, 4km]

Caveat: Unburdened

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

Just for the sake of recording for posterity (as if that was necessary), I will show my move-out process from my storage unit in Eagan, Minnesota. After spending a week sorting out my stuff, dividing it into "keep", "throw away" and "maybe piles", the day of reckoning came. Last Friday, I had an appointment for the shipping container to arrive, when I could then send my stuff off to Alaska, where I'm moving.

I got all the stuff out of my storage unit, "staged" and ready to load. My friend Bob arrived to help me load. It was a very hot day.

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When the truck came, about noon, they had the container on the back of the truck. The truck backed down the driveway of the storage place, but we still had about 25 yards across which we had to carry everything. So we got everything at the back of the truck.

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We got it all loaded. The driver and his wife (they were a husband-wife trucking team, which are very common for long-haul truckers in the US), were extremely friendly and helpful. I felt very lucky. They helped us load and gave us good pointers on how to secure stuff too.

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So we closed up the truck and sent my stuff on its way. It will arrive in Alaska before I do. The container will have to sit and wait for me on the dock in Craig.

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Yesterday (Saturday), I went back and paid some junk guys to come and take away all the "throw away" stuff from my storage unit. They were very efficient and did a great, fast job cleaning everything out.

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Then I told the office at the storage place that my unit was empty. They inspected it and pronounced it clean.

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And now, after 20 years, I have finally managed to get all my possessions out of storage. I feel like a great burden has been lifted from me.

 

Today I flew out from Minneapolis back to Portland, and I'm back with Arthur, Juli and Keith. I'm very sore from moving all the boxes, and sleepy from taking such an early flight. 

Here are some volcanoes I saw from my airplane window as we landed at Portland.

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They are, from left to right: St Helens, Rainier (farthest away), Adams.

[daily log: walking, 2km]

Caveat: Goodbye, Minnesota

Banalities & Journaling

I had a lot going on today. Busy. Clearing out the storage space, then spending some quality time interacting with my good friend Bob, his parents, and his two sons. It was a good day. But I didn't leave myself much time to work on a blog post, and I'm still exhausted from yesterday's loading party. So I'll keep this short, and give a more substantive update when I get back to Portland, tomorrow.

[daily log: walking, 6km]

Caveat: Loading stuff

Banalities & Journaling

My friend Bob and I loaded my stuff into the Alaska-bound container today. I took some pictures, and was thinking to write about the experience in detail, but I'm very tired. So maybe tomorrow I'll give more details.

[daily log: walking, 5km; carrying stuff, 2tons]

Caveat: White Bear Lake

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

I drove out to White Bear Lake this evening. That's where my best friend Bob's parents live – where David, who is Bob's dad, grew up. Bob has Minnesota roots.

Bob and his two sons drove up from Wisconsin (near Madison) today. I will be staying with Bob in White Bear Lake for the rest of my stay in Minnesota, because Mark and Amy are hosting a big family reunion type event in their house, so I wanted to not be in the way for that. It does mean a bit more of a commute to my storage unit, which is in Eagan just a few miles from Mark and Amy's while it's about 30-45 minutes' drive from White Bear. But it's OK. And I'm happy to see Bob, his parents, and his sons. They are my midwestern family, in many respects. I met Bob my first day of my first year of college, and we've been best friends all these long years.

When I drove out to White Bear Lake, I was just a bit early, and so I waited for Bob to call me and let me know where to go. I stopped next to the lake that gives the town its name. I took this picture of the boats and the summery lake.

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[daily log: walking, 3 km; moving heavy things, a lot]

Caveat: The Migration of the Jareds

Banalities & Journaling

My representative at Alaska Marine Lines, who has been very helpful and personable through this process, sent me a confirmation email with the following line added on as an observation. She'd mentioned on the phone earlier that there was another "Jared" whose account she was handling, and it was causing her some confusion. So she wrote:

"This is so strange, what is the likelihood of 2 Jared’s loading in MN (one in Cohasset MN) on Friday the 10th and both moving to Southeast Alaska!?"

It is quite strange. What is causing Jareds to migrate to SE Alaska? Sunspots? Pseudo-Mormon pseudo-apocalypse?

[daily log: walking, 2km; moving heavy boxes, yes]

Caveat: Shipping Junk to Alaska

Banalities & Journaling

I'm trying hard to have things as organized and sorted as is possible over such a short time, in such a cramped space. But I face the fact that the container will come, on Friday, and I will still be shipping a lot of "random junk" off to Alaska. Really, once I decided to go with the container, it becomes a fixed cost. As such, whether I ship only exactly what I want to keep or whether I end up shipping stuff I should have thrown out becomes a bit moot – the container will have some surplus space, either way. So I'm shipping junk to Alaska. Such is life. Mark reminded me of the old science fiction satire series, "Bill the Galactic Hero," by Harry Harrison. In that book, a certain planet deals with its excess of trash by mailing it, one small package at a time, to random people on other planets. In a Galactic empire, this is apparently possible. In our own continental empire, likewise, it becomes practical for me to "mail" junk to Alaska. I doubt my uncle would approve. But it'll get dealt with eventually.

[daily log: walking, 2km; and many heavy boxes]

Caveat: Loss of Momentum

Banalities & Journaling

I have definitely lost momentum on my clean-up and sorting project today. After a rainy few days, the sun came out and heated everything up. So when I got to my storage unit at 10 am, it was a bit uncomfortable. That didn't help.

And I dropped a box on my arm. No major damage, but a fairly noticeable bruise. Pushing too hard, I think. I need to be careful, right.

So I slowed down, and played at being a semi-sentient slug for the rest of the day today. Mark and Amy and their son Charlie are spending a Sunday afternoon laboring on a patio construction project for their backyard (which looks impressive, by the way). But I begged off and have tried to spend some time relaxing. I've been reading some blogs and contemplating this next phase of my life.

I started trying to write a little short story about a teacher who quits his job and moves to Alaska, but I found the character uninteresting. What does this mean?

[daily log: walking, 2km; heavy boxes moved, a few]

Caveat: This ain’t for the best

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Not My Poetry

Being in the US again is weird, sometimes. I have a bit of reverse culture shock. Seeing US television and flipping through radio stations as I drive my rental car can be slightly disorienting.

This song was on a radio station as a I drove around Eagan, today. It's a song one of my students found and prepared for one of my "CC" classes, at Karma. Is it possible to feel nostalgic even though I'm only two weeks removed from being there?

What I'm listening to right now.

Taylor Swift, "Delicate."

Lyrics.

This ain't for the best
My reputation's never been worse, so
You must like me for me
We can't make
Any promises now, can we, babe?
But you can make me a drink
Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?
Phone lights up my nightstand in the black
Come here, you can meet me in the back
Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you
Oh damn, never seen that color blue
Just think of the fun things we could do
'Cause I like you
This ain't for the best
My reputation's never been worse, so
You must like me for me
Yeah, I want you
We can't make
Any promises now, can we, babe?
But you can make me a drink
Is it cool that I said all that?
Is it chill that you're in my head?
'Cause I know that it's delicate (delicate)
Is it cool that I said all that
Is it too soon to do this yet?
'Cause I know that it's delicate
Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
Delicate
Third floor on the West Side, me and you
Handsome, your mansion with a view
Do the girls back home touch you like I do?
Long night, with your hands up in my hair
Echoes of your footsteps on the stairs
Stay here, honey, I don't wanna share
'Cause I like you
This ain't for the best
My reputation's never been worse, so
You must like me for me
Yeah, I want you
We can't make
Any promises now, can we, babe?
But you can make me a drink
Is it cool that I said all that?
Is it chill that you're in my head?
'Cause I know that it's delicate (delicate)
Is it cool that I said all that
Is it too soon to do this yet?
'Cause I know that it's delicate
Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
Delicate
Sometimes I wonder when you sleep
Are you ever dreaming of me?
Sometimes when I look into your eyes
I pretend you're mine, all the damn time
'Cause I like you
Is it cool that I said all that?
Is it chill that you're in my head?
'Cause I know that it's delicate (delicate)
Yeah, I want you
Is it cool that I said all that
Is it too soon to do this yet?
'Cause I know that it's delicate (delicate)
'Cause I like you
Is it cool that I said all that?
Is it chill that you're in my head?
'Cause I know that it's delicate (delicate)
Yeah, I want you
Is it cool that I said all that
Is it too soon to do this yet?
'Cause I know that it's delicate
Delicate

[daily log: walking, 2km; moving stuff around, a lot]

Caveat: implausible geometries

Banalities & Journaling

I'm working extremely hard, physically. I am shifting boxes and furniture in my storage unit, but because I don't have any free space in there, and I can't leave anything outside unattended, it's a matter of "unload, shift, reload" each time I go over there. Yesterday and today I did a "morning shift" and an "evening shift" – and so far I've got all the book-boxes in one place, now, and the refrigerator and some throw-away furniture in the back (I'm going to have the container pickup on Friday, 8/10 and the trash pickup on Saturday, 8/11, so I want all the "throw away" things at the back). There is no dumpster on site at the storage, so I can't go along slowly reducing the amount of stuff – I just have to keep shifting. My next step is to try to get the futon sofa, which is at the back, up to the front, because it's a nice piece of furniture in good condition, which  I want to ship. I also have a number of boxes in very bad shape – 11 years sitting at the bottom of the pile squashed a few into implausible geometries. So I need to do a bit of repacking on about 5% of the materials. But overall, I did a pretty good job organizing 11 years ago, keeping in mind I intended to move into a new apartment after only 2 years in storage, rather than what ended up actually happening.

I'll just keep working at it.

[daily log: walking, 2km; shifting boxes, alot]

Caveat: A reconnaissance

Banalities & Journaling

I made a reconnaissance to my storage unit. It is a bit overwhelming. It occurs to me, that if my effort to clean and sort my possessions in Korea over the first 3 weeks of July was a "clearing out" of the my last decade's worth of accumulation, then cleaning out and sorting this storage unit represents a "clearing out" of the previous decade's worth of accumulation, because I didn't do an adequate job when I departed for Korea 11 years ago. So now I face it. 

There are some heirloom furniture items in there, and there is of course my vast collection of books. There are some nice newer furniture items, worth keeping too. There are a lot of things not worth keeping: old clothes, some appliances, a lot of old broken electronics stuff that I hoarded for some unfathomable reason. I have to sort into two piles: "send to Alaska" and "junk." Here I go: my full time job for the next 10 days.

I'm tired already. But I am going to face it with optimism. My friend Amy had excellent, aphoristic advice, which I'll paraphrase because I don't remember her exact words: "be brutal with the stuff, but kind to your self."

[daily log: walking, 3km]

Caveat: nothing a little money won’t solve

Banalities & Journaling

I have been spending some time arranging logistics. I have to order a way to deliver my household goods from my storage in Minnesota to Alaska. So far, as my uncle Arthur would say, "Ain't nothing a little money won't solve." It's coming together well. But yes, it's pretty expensive to move from Minnesota to Alaska.

I don't have much else to say. Feeling busy. I fly to Minneapolis tomorrow night. Tomorrow morning we have a very long appointment at the VA hospitals, with the neuropsychologist, working on sorting out where things stand on the cognitive aspects of Arthur's recovery.

[daily log: walking, 4.5km]

Caveat: Some Very Old Photos

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

We drove down from Olympia back to Forest Grove today. I don’t have anything really prepared to post on this blog, but I spent time going through some old photos, and decided to post a few.
This is a picture of me in 1972.
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This is a picture of me an my sister dressed up for Halloween in 1974.
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This is a picture of me dressed up as a mummy for Halloween in 1976. As some of you know, that is not the last time I ended up dressed as a mummy.
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Finally, my favorite picture of my sister, on a horse, in 1976.
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So that’s pretty interesting, maybe.
[daily log: walking, 3km]

Caveat: gatherings

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

When I was a young child, every year around Thanksgiving, my family and various friends would travel from Humboldt down to the Bay Area to stay with other friends in a little town called La Honda. At that time, La Honda was quite rural, nestled up among the redwoods at the center of the South Peninsula, and felt quite remote from Palo Alto, just down the hill. Nowadays, of course, La Honda is fully overtaken by Silicon Valley bazillionaires and quite uninhabitable by air-breathing folk. But the tradition, back then, was to have a kind of extended, hippyish get-together with lots of guitars and good food and hanging out. It wasn't always just Thanksgiving – there were summer reunions, too.

Well, that tradition has drifted around, geographically, over the intervening decades. Mostly, I haven't made it to these reunions. A few times I made it at Thanksgiving, because it was typically hosted at Juli and Keith's in Oregon. But the summer gatherings were not something I ever made it to. Many of these have been hosted at the Hohstadt's property in southern Humboldt, but as the generations have shifted the location has relocated north to Olympia, where Sherry and Greg live.

Anyway, all these years later (I guess, about 40 years later relative to the last time I was part of this), it's still happening. It ends up a very nostalgic time for me. The oldest generation are often people I knew who were young adults when I was a child – people like Juli and Keith, David (who is now with Vivian), Pat and Steve. They remember me as a 10 year old boy. Subsequent generations are not so well-known to me. I know about them but in many cases have never met them before. Anyway… 

Here's a picture of Pat and Steve. Bear in mind that I remember these as a young adult couple, parents to a boy a year older than me who I often played with. They're maybe a few years younger than my parents. I remember them playing guitars and singing old folk songs, back then. And they still are, all these years later.

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Arthur attended these gatherings too – much more than I have, over the years. So having him come has been good for him, I think. It ties into old memories, he knows most of the people, and he can feel comfortable in a larger social setting. I tried to get a picture of him – this picture is a bit low-resolution, because it was dark, but he's there.

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When we drove up, we didn't go through Portland. Instead, we went up west of Portland and crossed the Columbia River at Kelso. Arthur managed to figure out how to take a picture of the rather old-style, very high bridge with my phone, while I was driving.

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[daily log: walking, 2km]

Caveat: Still Capable of Occasional Happiness

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

I caught my uncle smiling.

He hasn't been doing that much, these days, so I felt very lucky. I don't even know what I'd said in that moment – something about replicating the custom of photographing food. We were having a dinner out at the King's Pub – the restaurant that my cousin owns in Forest Grove. It was a pretty good dinner, anyway. And Arthur smiled – the photo was pure luck, since I didn't realize he was smiling until I was looking at the photo I took later.

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Today, we're driving up to Olympia for the weekend, to visit old friends as a sort of large gathering up there. I may see some people I haven't seen since I was a child. It will be interesting. I think Arthur's up to it – he gets tired easily especially in social situations, but he'll be able to just stop interacting if it gets to be too much, I reckon.

[daily log: walking, 4km]

Caveat: Student Goodbyes, Part 3

Banalities & Journaling / Kids / The Wonders of Work

The last two days have been busy with various medical appointments for Arthur, my uncle, but I took some time to get the last of my "student goodbyes" organized. These are just scans of papers they made for me – unlike with the "yearbook" I posted in the last set, these were done at my request, which I felt more-or-less okay about doing with the younger students.

The youngest just made pictures. The next older cohorts made messages, often in Korean, while the oldest would sometimes write in English.

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[daily log: walking, 4km; driving, 70km]

Caveat: A Daily Trip to the Tree Farm

Banalities & Journaling / My Photos

In the mornings, before it gets too hot, Arthur makes a walk up to the "tree farm," which is basically the end of the road out here in Cherry Grove. It's all uphill walking up the road, and it's therefore all downhill walking back. It's good exercise. The road continues after the top of the hill, but he stops at the top. Perhaps oddly, there don't seem to be many trees on the tree farm – that's because, as a tree farm, the trees have been harvested and there are only very young trees growing for now.

I walked up there this morning with him. When we paused at the top, he took a picture of me.

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There are many wild blackberries growing in this part of Oregon.

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Here is the gate to the tree farm, with a sign on it. The gate is always open.

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[daily log: walking, 5km]

Caveat: Student Goodbyes, Part 2

Banalities & Journaling / Kids / The Wonders of Work

Here are some more goodbye messages I have received from students. It being currently 4 AM in Oregon, and feeling wide awake from jetlag, I decided to make this post.

Firstly, my student Jun Hui, 7th grade, gave me this painting. She painted it from a photo on my blog, here.
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My coworker Grace created this “yearbook” with her students. It’s quite amazing and beautiful. Grace managed to do this without me being aware that it was being worked on – she was good at getting all the kids to keep the secret of its creation.

On the front cover is “See you later alligator” and on the back cover is “In a while crocodile.”
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There were many envelopes and other goodbyes handed to me, too. I’ve put these into the yearbook.
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My student Shelley created some paper flowers. Inside, was a secret note that explained how all the students were making letters for me. She had to keep the secret, see, but she had to tell, so she made a note and put it in the flowers which she would give to me.
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My heart is touched.
I have some scans of some other goodbyes papers I’ll post later, in a part 3.
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Caveat: The Flight To Oregon

Banalities & Journaling / Hiking & Travel / My Photos

The flights from Seoul to Seattle and then Portland presented some good "airplane window photo" opportunities.

Here is downtown Seattle, iconically recognizable.

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Here is the volcano Mount Saint Helens, just north of Portland, as we came in to land we went right over.

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Juli and Arthur picked me up at the airport, and we drove back to Forest Grove by an alternate route, avoiding a downtown traffic jam.

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Caveat: Tune in next time…

Banalities & Journaling

I am now in Forest Grove, Oregon. I have arrived.

I wanted to post some pictures from my trip but I'm too tired: I didn't sleep before I left and now I"m jetlagged too. So I'll post more detail tomorrow.

[daily log: walking, 4km (mostly in airports)]

Caveat: Reversal

Banalities & Journaling / Hiking & Travel

This will be an automated post that might appear on this here blog thingy while I’m flying back to the US.
This here blog entry reverses the effects of an older blog post, seen here.
What I’m (maybe) listening to right now.

Tripswitch, “Strange Parallels (Koan Remix).” This type of music makes good airplane music, maybe – at least for me.
picture[daily log: walking, 4km; flying, a lot]

Caveat: Student Goodbyes, Part 1

Banalities & Journaling / Kids / Teaching & Methodology / The Wonders of Work

I didn't make it an official homework assignment, but I told my students I would welcome thoughtful goodbye messages. Mostly the elementary kids wrote on paper, while the middle schoolers wrote me emails.

I will scan the handwritten messages tomorrow and maybe post them once I get to Oregon. For today, here are some of my older students' typed messages. I place them here unedited in any way. I can only say that I am deeply touched by all these messages, and I will miss these students greatly.

지은

 

My Dearest Friend Jared

Hi, Jieun – Joy – Park Daegi is writing this letter.

I sincerely cannot believe where you are going tomorrow. I’m very sorry to say good bye to you. But I also know that you have to be, you must be, should be happy despite of your living area. And you will be, too. You are the one of the best teachers I have ever met. Jared, You taught me so many valuable things including English skills. Speaking, Writing, Listening, Comprehensive Class, and all the kinds of games, – such as Mafias, Beans, Board, Taro – I will never forget what you gave me. In the moment of writing these sentences, I feel like I’m gonna cry a little, thinking about the past (with you). Maybe, …I remember when I first met you in 2012. Even though I did not know much about you, I felt comfortable and I liked you a lot. (Still I do.) You are like my father, and sometimes you are like my best friend. I really like the way you are and respect you as a great teacher. Whenever I have a talk with you, it is fresh, new, and fun. You are highly helpful person to me. You respect me as a human. So I’m gonna respect your every decision. This flight is by your own decision, and I respect it without saying a complaint. You are estimable. Except me, all of your friends would think like that. The person who made my dream is you. Jared affected me very much. From now on, I am going to learn Spanish and Latin, sometimes Japanese to realize my hopes. I would love to write stories, I love talking with ‘my’ people. When I am more than 20 years old, I want to be a writer who writes essays, novels, and plays. I want to be a linguist as I told you. I want to be counselor for young wandering children. I want to be a linguistic professor. One thing is indisputable. Even if I do not realize those dreams, I am sure I must be happy anyway.

There are still many words to convey, but I cut it out because there are also many letters to write later.

Just remember you will do well. The road you take would be the best way for you. Take care. Will miss you a lot. Will often write a letter when I feel relaxed. God Always Blesses You, haha.

 

Thank you again for all you have done.

To. 왜 저래 쌤, Jared, Mr. Way, Jared Way, Jared Owen Way, My honorable teacher

From. 지은(2003.10.03.)

2018.07.20 on a sweltering Summer day in front of my black laptop

수민

Jared. I'm Su Min. Wow, you are leaving ? I can't beileve it. I think it was so short time for us to share our episodes. I can have so interesting informations from your class. Thank you. I always expected to get fresh stories in Toefl class. It was really fun. I wish you had feel how concentrated I am. I can remember El Nino and la nina. Of course I can't understand yet. I only know that it is the climate changes that give negetive effects when temperature is stop by 10 years … bla bla Whatever, good information. I am exactly surprised when you can explain everything about any topics and I haven't heard you are yelling. I really respect about that points.^!^ You are my role model. I love teps listening because I like your style. Thank you for making interest in teps listening even if it was hard.  In addition, I really want to thank you that you are always confident about me. Believe it or not, I felt in my heart. I wish this is true! I built confidence because of you. Thank you. I'm afraid that I can't speak with you, so I can't get awesome stories. I felt I gradually hear what you are speaking and now I can understand excatly 98.3%, because 1.7% is my vocabulary skill. See~~ I get confident in this section. My strength is listening!! Thank you for being my best teacher. Oh! you said I have to write Who I am and Why You should remember me. Okay, Don't forget me Jared. I can't forget you either. And you should remember me because I'm the student who likes your class most. I have seen many foreign teachers for 10 years. However, you are my best. You should be proud of this. ^^ I think Every students will think like me. I will work hard and of course I will get in touch with my curious questions. I will expect incredible reply. Please be healthy. And be happy. I will miss you and your greeting, Hi alligators~! Are you ready for fun English?~~ (Is that right?)  What ever, Thank you so much Jared. Thank you.

소연

Here we go

 

Um…This kind of thing is so shy….

 

When I first saw you, I wanted to go out. I mean really!! You were too scary to me. But later, when I read a book with you, I started to think that you are not scary. And the next day, I became the top student. At that time, I have never been to an academy I just studied alone so it was hard to do homework or memorize words. Bu t because it was easy for me, I started to do homework in Karma. Of course, it was a wrong choice. When I went to honors the homework was too hard for me to do it. Anyway, I'm so sorry to hear that you are going to Alaska. I'm still a little bit sad. But if you don't forget me, I won't forget you either. We really had a long time with each other. When I was in honors, a teacher came instead of you. It was really boring. I didn't have anything to eat. Oh, never mind. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I wish you to be healthy wherever you go. You were a nice teacher. It isn't 300words but I did my best. I really wish that we can keep in touch and visit Korea someday. OK, I think this is real goodbye. Bye!! -from your lovely student who wrote your last essay, soyeon-

 

은별

 

Hi, I am Olivia.🙂

I am very surprised to hear the news that you leave Korea. To be honest, I am very sad that I have to say "Good bye"to you. To tell the truth,you are the first native English teacher I have ever met. And I have studied with you in Karma since last December. First, I could not speak English very well. But after I met you, I practiced speaking more. So my speaking skill became better than that time.  Your explanations and own stories helped me very much. Oh I think also my listening skill became better. Now I can concentrate on what others are saying in English too. I think I could not became better without your help.

 

And I also feel sorry for you because,I did my best but I could not write my essay well.(This means homework..haha) But you told me how to write essay correctly. From then on, I am practicing writing essay correctly.. I think I would be better more and more if I practice many times.

 

You also helped me adapt to Karma. Your classes and games helped me to get along with my good friends. And your story and joke  always made us to have fun. (Like 'Jamesfied'..) You made classes fun!

I do not know other people's opinions, but I think your class is the most fun. So I always waited for your listening,speaking,writing class.

 

You were very good teacher for us. You have many knowledge and experience, so we could learn about culture of the world, what the tornado is, why did the water dried on some river,..more than that. So I am very sorry that you are leaving. But I will keep in touch with you after you leave Korea!!

 

From. Olivia

준희

 

Hi, Jared teacher. I'm June.

You must go U.S.A. Your uncle is sick. When I was six grade, I met you.  I was nervous when my foreign teacher was not familiar. But my teacher is really good, so I think I enjoyed my class. It was good that you always teach me a lot, but I feel bad because you go to America. I had a class with you for 7 months after I came to middle school. It was so fun! I don't want you to go, but I have to go because someone like your father is sick. Teacher must be sad because uncle is sick. I don't know when you will come to America, but you can contact me! I still don't know who I'll be with if you go to the States. I wish I could be an interesting person like you. Teacher, if anything happens, I'll listen to your advice. I'll think you're going, but it's next to you. I will get along well in my school life, so I want you to get along. Take good care of your uncle, too. I will also pray so that the disease doesn't get worse. Of course, you should take care of your health. I will stay healthy, too. Let's meet in good health the next time we meet. Teacher! Then you should always be healthy. Then I'll write it down to here. Goodbye! See you later.

승훈

 

Hello, Jared teacher. I am writing this letter because you will come back to the United States of America. I met you when I was in 5th grade. And you are always seem happy. When I listened you will come back to the United States of America? I was little bit sad. You always kind to everybody. When I was in the Newton1 class? I played many games with you. It was very fun. I want to play that many games with you again and again. But you will come back to the America because you’re uncle is sick. I do not have that experience. But I empathize your situation. You said that your uncle is like second father. That means you need him and he loves you. So maybe I think your uncle is very important in your life. So if I am in your situation, I will do like you. I will pray your uncle is not sick. If you have some times in the United States of America? I believe you will check the E-mail. If I have some problems, then Can I send you E-mail? It was a very good time. Time is very fast. As I said, I met you when I was 12 years old. It is just 2 years. I want to see you everyday. I am happy to go to the Karma. Because there are many teachers like you. I think you are very kind. Lastly, If you want to come to Korea? Then come to Korea. Maybe there are a lot of memories. Bye bye teacher. I will pray for your uncle.

 

-Toby

 

지윤

 

Dear Jared

 

Hi teacher!! It's Julie. It is really sad that I can not see you anymore.

Beacause you taught me hard from when I did not know alphabet until I was in the highest class now.

I learn a lot thanks to you. Such as history and how to talk with foreign well. Also you make me love English.

Thank you. Actually I was young,  I was scared when I saw you.

That is because you were the first foreigner I saw.

It is mean you were my first foreign teacher. But now, you are my favorite teacher><

Please stay healthy and happy when you go to America.

And do not forget me. I will not forget you, either.

I want to keep communicating with you.

Will you help me even if you are in America?

Please contact me if you come Korea again.

I want to see you until I'll become adult.

Bye teacher. You are very good teacher to me.

 

재연

 

To Jared teacher

 

Teacher I'm great students James. I'm so sad when I hear the news about you have to go to USA. I'm so happy when you teach our class. I have seen you for two years. I remember the first time when we met. I was in 6 grade, and I was in newton 1 class. There was Ray,me,Toby,Harry,Eric. However, now there is only Harry,Toby, and me. I learned writing,listening, speaking from you for 2 years. and my English is more improved. I want talk about your personality. Jared teacher, you have very special personality. I envy your personality. You have very good personality, because your personality can make many friends. I think you are very funny and very kind. Also, I want ask some questions for you. I wonder why you pick Korea about your job. Maybe you like Korea, but I want your answer. If you have time, please answer me. Korea is not famous country, and I wonder how can you know Korea and why you move to the Korea. Also, I think Korea's food is spicier than other country's. How about your first Korean style spicy food? Also what's the food? Our class wants to buy you a very spicy food. That name is stir-fried Rice Cake. If you want eat that, We'll buy that. I'm so sad because I met you only two years. If I come Karma early, and I could met you for 3~5 years. I want you don't forget me, and my classmate. Our class is very noise but our class always like you, so don't forget us. I'll call you after 3 months with my classmate. So please don't forget me……

 

By great student James.

 

준서

 

Hello Jared, I am Jun Seo. I think you will be one of the best teacher in my mind. Because of you, I learned a lot of things. I had a very good time with you and I hope that the time we were together will be the best memory in your mind. I know that you will lose many things if you go to the U.S.A. The first time you said that to us. I was very sorry to heard that. After that, I am trying not to forget you forever, because you were the first teacher who made me laugh and it was very impressived. The first time we met in the Academy, I always looked you very strangely. However, oneday I realized that you are very kind to me and my classmates, so I became a person who do not look you strangely. You know, you are the best teacher that I have seen in the Karma Academy. When you teach our class, I thought that the time we had was only 20 minutes, but it was about 45 minutes. All the time you said to us, and all the time you teach us about something, and all the time you play with us were always fun for me, and I am very sad that we have only two weeks to see each other in HS-1 class. I will miss you and other students like Julie, Toby, Andy, James, Olivia, Linda, Harry, Kevin, Junes, and so on will miss you, too. I am very sorry that I have no present for you. You gave us a lot of information and a lot of present, but I have no present for you. I am really sorry for that, because I do not even know that you will leave this country in a month, and I am busy these days, so I can not give you a present. Thank you for everything, and I hope you to see me someday.

규민

Hello teacher I'm 규민

I'm sorry to hear that you will go Alaska.we will miss you so much.

Thank you for teaching us until now.You are my the best teacher.

I want you to come back to see us.We never don't forget you.

GOOD

B B B B B B B B Y Y E E E E E E E E E E EE E E E

B B Y Y E

B B Y Y E

B B Y Y E

B B Y Y E

B B Y Y E

B B B B B B B B B Y Y E

B B Y Y E

B B Y Y E E E E E E E E E E E E E E

B B Y Y E

B B Y E

B B Y E

B B Y E

B B Y E

B B B B B B B Y E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E

승민

Hello, Jared. I'm 승민 I'm sorry to hear that you will move. 🙁 I've met you since I was 12. You were a good teacher for me and your listening class was always fun. My listening skills became better thanks to you. All the moments with you were meaningful and fun. I hope you will come back.^^

ㅏ ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

ㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈㅈ ㅔ ㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹ ㅏ ㄷ

ㅈ ㅔ ㄹ ㅏ ㄷ

ㅈ ㅈ ㅔㅔㅔㅔㅔ ㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹ ㅏㅏㅏ ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

ㅈ ㅈ ㅔ ㄹ ㅏ

ㅈ ㅈ ㅔ ㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹㄹ ㅏ ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

ㅏ

 

민재

To. Teacher Jared Way
Hello. I'm Min Jae Kim. Thank you for teaching about listening. I hope your uncle health become healthy. Also I hope I meet you again before I quit Karma. Finally I'm so glad to meet you. If you come back Karma, I will welcome you so so so much. I'll miss you so much.
By. Min jae

 

찬희

Teacher, We will miss you so much. I will not forget you. So please don't forget us. I'm really sad when I heard about you go Alaska. I hope that sometime we see again.

소현

Hi, teacher.

I came to Karma Academy late and did not see you much. You said your uncle is very sick. When I heard that, I'm very sad.

We have a short time with each other but I will miss you. Bye.

 

성연

hello i am 성연

i entered this academy 2 months ago.

we have few classes and i"m so sad that i have to say goodbye.

but i was very happy because i had a nice class with a nice teacher.

i won't forget you if this is the last time.

appreciate to you for giving me a nice time

 

[daily log: walking, 9.0km; carrying heavy box to post office, 0.5km]

Caveat: I’m gonna make it out

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling

I spend my mornings trying organize, pack, and clean my apartment. Since my apartment will be taken by my succussor teacher, whom Curt has officially hired, I feel even more obligated to leave the apartment in good condition than I normally would.

I was scrubbing some walls and cupboards, and when I was done, I felt depressed, because it still doesn't look that great. I guess there're just flaws and stains and stuff that don't really scrub off easily.

What I'm listening to right now.

Grace VanderWaal, "Clearly." This song is a "reinterpretation" of the old song "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash, and famously interpreted by Jimmy Cliff. One of my students prepared this song for our CC class, and it was popular, so I recycled it for a few of my other CC classes. I think the kids are more interested because the singer, Grace VanderWaal, is currently 14 years old – she's their age. They're curious.

Lyrics.

[Verse 1]
There's a world outside my door
I don't know it anymore
I'm gonna stay here now
I'm gonna stay here now
Close the curtains, cut the lights
Match the darkness in my mind
It's gonna take me down
It's gonna take me down

[Pre-Chorus]
All the roads I've been before
Same mistakes always got me shakin'
And all the signs I once ignored
In my denial, I didn't want to face them

[Chorus]
I can see clearly now
The rain has gone
I accept all the things that I cannot change
Gone are the dark clouds
The dawn has come
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day

[Verse 2]
There's a world outside my door
I forced my feet down to the floor
I'm gonna make it out
I'm gonna make it out
Take a breath and say a prayer
Find the strength in my despair
It's not gonna take me down
It's not gonna take me down

[Pre-Chorus]
All the roads I've been before
Same mistakes always got me shakin'
And all the signs I once ignored
In my denial, I didn't want to face them

[Chorus]
I can see clearly now
The rain has gone
I accept all the things that I cannot change
Gone are the dark clouds
The dawn has come
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day

[Bridge]
All the pain in my sorrow
Won't change today, only ruin tomorrow
All the pain in my sorrow
Won't change today, only ruin tomorrow

[Chorus]
I can see clearly now
The rain has gone
I accept all the things that I cannot change
Gone are the dark clouds
The dawn has come
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day

[daily log: walking, 7.5km; carrying heavy box to post office, 0.5km]

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