Bidding farewell to Ilsan, walking to catch the airport bus. I love to visit the very tame but quite abundant redwoods of Ilsan. These dawn redwoods (metasequoia) are planted everywhere and grow well here.
Category: Life in Korea
Caveat: reunion with old colleagues
My former boss Curt and I had lunch with another friend of ours, Helen. She used to work for Curt as his vice principal at English Karma . She has her own hagwon now. Anyway we had lunch and reminisced.
Caveat: back at Gobong Hill
I hiked up the small Gobong Hill to visit the little temple I used to visit when I lived here: 영천사. A monk there remembered me, that American who had cancer.
Caveat: tacos in east Seoul
Mexican food with good friends in east Seoul. Mexican food is easier to find in Korea than in rural Alaska.
Caveat: reindeergator redux
Stopping by the school (hagwon) where I used to teach, 카르마어학원, with my friend and former boss, 금문찬, I find that after 6 years, a piece of my whiteboard artwork has been preserved on a corner in the computer lab. This is a weirdly deeply moving tribute.
Caveat: Tree #1916 “Contemplating modernity”
This tree was between a Buddha and a cell phone tower, in Seoul in November, 2010.
[daily log: walking, 4km;]
Caveat: Tree #1913 “At a hermitage”
This tree appeared in my past – at a small hermitage along a mountain trail day hike, in southern South Korea in October, 2010.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 9hr;]
Caveat: Tree #1904 “출근길”
This tree anticipated spring, but six years ago, in April, 2018, along my walk to work in Goyang, South Korea.
[daily log: walking, 1km;]
Caveat: Tree #1889 “소방서 뒤에”
This tree was a scraggly, bare tree planted in the sidewalk behind the fire station across the street from my apartment in Ilsan, South Korea. I was noting that some snow had fallen in December, 2013.
Still haven’t been feeling super healthy. So I ended up being quite lazy today – didn’t accomplish much at all.
Saw this online. It’s interesting to think about.
Grab a couple of dice. Roll them. If you get below 5, those are rookie numbers. Shout at the dice, let them know they’re underperforming. If you get above 9, that’s what we want to see! They’re good dice, and you should acknowledge that. Repeat that and keep a record. You’ll notice that negative feedback often results in better performance on the next roll. Positive feedback, conversely, can make them get lazy. When you truly understand why this method of dice management works, you are ready to give feedback to people.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km;]
Caveat: Tree #1882 “태극기”
This tree is under a giant Korean flag. I took this picture in January, 2009, walking home from work on a Saturday afternoon.
It’s good to not get too monotonous with the local tree-pics.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km;]
Caveat: Tree #1869 “손병희”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture in July, 2009, in Seoul. The tree is behind a statue of Son Byeong-hui, a Korean religious leader, modernization advocate, and later independence activist, who died in Japanese prison in 1922.
[daily log: walking, 3km; retailing, 3hr]
Caveat: Tree #1802 “Flameout”
This tree is a guest tree from December 2007. I took the picture walking around Goyang City in South Korea.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Tree #1792 “Christmas Adam”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I do these guest tree pictures when I’m too busy to have taken a picture in a given day.
I took this picture in February, 2010, at 금산사 [Geumsan-sa = Geumsan Temple], in Jeollabuk Province, South Korea. I was doing a “templestay” – where you live for a very short time (a long weekend) at a Buddhist monastery, doing the monk lifestyle thing.
We had a record sales day at the gift store – based on my and Jan’s memories of working with Wayne and Donna when they ran the store, combined with more accurate records over the last few years, our gross sales today were the highest ever. It’s actually typical that it’s December 23rd – that’s the “last minute shopping” day for Christmas. I think we combined that with doing well with stocking good inventory, and the fact that today was the day that Santa visited the store (a tradition at Alaska Gifts for a given Saturday before Christmas).
Here is a picture of Santa with some elves he met at the store (i.e. store staff: Kim, Jan, myself):
We also had one of those typical “gale force” rainstorms in Craig today. So as I went to head home from work, a tree (two trees) had blown down on Port Saint Nicholas Road, meaning that work crews had to get out there and clear the tree – so I was delayed getting home until almost 8. And I got home to darkness, because the power was out. That’s been a quite frequent occurrence this damp Fall.
I learned recently that today is called “Christmas Adam” (meaning, December 23rd). The reasoning: “Christmas Eve” is December 24th. We all know that Adam came before Eve, so… December 23rd is “Christmas Adam.” Call it Patriarchy Remembrance Day.
[daily log: walking, 6km; retailing, 11hr]
Caveat: Tree #1787 “The living clouds”
This tree (I guess one of those silhouettes on yonder ridge) was witness to a spectacular sky – picture taken from my apartment window in Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea in January, 2018.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Tree #1773 “강선로”
This tree is another guest-tree from my past. I took this picture on New Year’s Eve, 2011, a block north of my apartment, on 강선로 [gangseon-no], a major road in Ilsan, South Korea.
Quote of the day: “Earth is literally the worst planet I’ve ever lived on” – a meme on the internet. I don’t mean this in a bad way. Earth is also the best planet so far.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Tree #1750 “NASA휴먼어드벤처展”
This tree is another guest tree from my past – I traveled all day and was offline. I took this picture in December, 2014, while walking to work one day in Ilsan (Goyang), South Korea. I wanted to show the banner on the footbridge, advertising a NASA exhibition at the local convention center, but the tree bore witness.
[daily log: walking, 5km; driving, 6hr; ferrying, 3hr; airplaning, 2hr]
Caveat: Tree #1736 “The janitor’s closet”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture looking out the window of the janitor’s closet at my place of work in Goyang City, South Korea in November, 2012.
[daily log: walking, 3.5km;]
Caveat: Tree #1709 “Moments past”
This tree is yet another guest tree from my past (can you tell I’ve been really busy, and not taking pictures of photogenic trees around me, lately?). I took this picture in November, 2017, from my apartment window in Goyang City, South Korea. I guess I mean the tree that is down in the sidewalk in front of the building opposite on the right, the building with all the advertising on it. It was a tree I walked by frequently, in many years in that neighborhood.
I had weird, intense dreams of my job at Aramark, last night. I was reviewing complex data structures and dissecting very baroque invoices which the company sent to customers, looking for errors.
[daily log: walking, 3km; retailing, 6hr]
Caveat: Tree #1706 “파주시”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture while on a hike through a rural area near Paju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (경기도 파주시), in October, 2011.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 5hr]
Caveat: Tree #1690 “메타세쿼이아”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture in October, 2011, while walking around the neighborhood where my work was in Goyang City, South Korea (경기도 고양시 일산서구). It is a metasequoia (Chinese dawn redwood), which abounded as planted ornamentals in my area in Korea.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Tree #1664 “Bright red leaves”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture while walking to work in Goyang City, South Korea, in November, 2015. The route was frequent enough that I know exactly where this tree is, even 8 years later.
[daily log: walking, 3km;]
Caveat: Tree #1641 “경복궁앞에”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. It was growing in a row with some other trees along Sejong-ro, in front of the Gyeongbok Palace (under restoration at that time) in downtown Seoul, in July, 2008.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Tree #1627 “한국의 봄”
#Photography #Korea
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture in April, 2013, along my walk from my apartment to where I worked, in the Ilsan district in Goyang City (경기도 고양시 일산서구).
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Tree #1612 “보문사”
This tree is yet another guest tree from my past. It’s in the courtyard of a Buddhist temple called Bomunsa (보문사) which is on an island west of Seoul. I visited the temple during an excursion in August, 2013.
[daily log: walking, 2km;]
Caveat: Tree #1608 “경기도 고양시 정밠산공원”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. There’s a tree and a magpie on a rope fence. I took this photo almost exactly 10 years ago, in June, 2013. It’s in the park on the hill a few blocks from my apartment in Ilsan (Goyang City), South Korea (경기도 고양시 정밠산공원).
[daily log: walking, 6.5km; dogwalking, 3.5km]
Caveat: Tree #1601 “광주 무등산”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture of a tree just outside of Gwangju, South Korea, in June of 2010, on the flank of Mudeung Mountain (광주 무등산). I had gone there on a day-hiking trip with some colleagues from work. I believe the reservoir is this one (map link).
[daily log: walking, 4km;]
Caveat: Tree #1594 금산사에 갔던 기억이 나요
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture in February, 2010, at the Geumsan Temple in South Korea (금산사), where I was staying for a 5-day “templestay” – a kind of intensive lay Buddhist monk experience. It’s the entrance area. The temple is one of the more famous ones in the peninsula.
[daily log: walking, 5km; dogwalking, 3km]
Caveat: Tree #1578 “전라남 영광군”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture from the window of my bus on my morning commute in Yeonggwang County, South Korea, in November, 2010. 이 사진은 2010년 11월 전라남 영광군에서 촬영했습니다.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Tree #1558 “Magpie tree”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. The tree has a magpie in it. I took the picture in May, 2013 (10 years ago) in the neighborhood near my place of work in Ilsan, South Korea.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Tree #1467 “The past is a beach on a distant sea”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. It’s a tree among others on a rocky beach on 무의도 (Muui Island), which is an island off the west coast of South Korea southwest of the Incheon Airport (I believe it’s here on the map). I visited this tree in August, 2015, with my friend Peter (who subsequently has visited me here in Southeast Alaska.
I had a very unhappy day at work – one of those days when I am reminded that I never had any actual training to be a “matting and framing guy”, but rather, I’ve always been in a kind of “fake it till you make it” mode with this job. I made many mistakes, working on challenging projects. I made mistakes with cutting mat board, which I corrected but always is wasteful of mat board, I made mistakes with cutting glass, including an oversize piece that had high visibility since I needed help from my boss Chad to make it happen. I’ll have to go in tomorrow and try to cut the oversize piece again. Anyway, I felt incompetent all day. Such a salient feeling.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 8hr; breaking glass, 4pieces]
Caveat: Tree #1453 “A new spring”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture in May, 2011, near my apartment in Ilsan (Goyang City), South Korea. I had just moved to my new neighborhood to start my new job at Karma Academy, where I stayed working for 7 years – the longest I’ve ever had one job.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 7hr]
Caveat: Tree #1440 “A view toward Bukhansan”
This tree is a guest from my past. It’s alongside some metro rail tracks between downtown Seoul and Ilsan, where I used to live. I took this picture in January, 2009.
The mountain in the background is the prominent Bukhansan. The large, highly-visible sign on the roof says “Dream Tree Daycare”.
[daily log: walking, 5km; dogwalking, 3.5km]
Caveat: Tree: 1426 “Snowy day along Ilsan-ro”
This tree is a guest tree from my past. 10 years ago, next week, on December 28, 2012, I took this picture in my neighborhood in Goyang City, South Korea. It was snowing.
Art and I went to town today for our shopping day, and spent some time at the Veterans center, too – longer than usual. Art normally just drops in there if he chooses to go there at all (it’s open every Thursday), but today he seemed inclined to hang out for a while.
The road to town continues to be horrible. It’s like doing a bobsled course in the car, between about 6 mile and 8 mile – pure ice.
[daily log: walking, 5km; dogwalking, 3km]