Lies I've Told This Week

I opened the window on Saturday morning and tried to count the dragon flies winging around but the cries from the Cicadas pissed Saejin off. He slammed the window shut on my morning fun.

When these insects are out you know that the rainy season is drying up and August's humidity will soak every body fold on your body. If you wanted to do something outdoors in comfort Saturday may of been the last time to do it. Saejin and I went down to Cheonggyecheon to see some of the new art they were to be putting up.

Honestly there wasn't much to look at. There were lines of white fish strung up, a plane being flown by a robot and spotted lizards to be sat on to soak your toes from. I'm all new to this blogging so forgot to snap pictures of the submerged fish made from cans of beer and coke. I also forgot to get the shots of the fashion show that was going on right where Saejin and I sat down to rest.

I did capture his photo just because he asked me to. While we sat I let a lie crawl out of my mouth. I told him since it's been opened, four bodies have been dumped into the Cheonggyecheon Stream. I passed it off as gangster hits and the bodies were thrown from the bridges that cross it. Saejin accepted it as verbatim. It's so easy to fool people who never read a newspaper.

After dinner we then caught a taxi home. As we passed a group of homeless men, Saejin asked me about a friend of ours named Joel. Last Friday I lied to Seajin saying that Joel had been addicted to drugs a few years back and had lost everything. He was forced to spend a year on the streets trying to survive. I told Saejin to watch Joel whenever we are out because he'll always give his money to the homeless. Saejin thought he remembered seeing this happen. As I giggled inside about the lies I was pulling off I just couldn't keep up the facade. I had to tell the truth. I envy people who can spin lies.

Sunday's Tremolo #1

The Common Loon has a call named the tremolo. This "insane laughter", voiced rapidly is an alarm that shows agitation or fear of predators or other loons in the neighbourhood. On Sundays, I have chosen to be opinionated and to share news, policies and or laws that agitate and scare me.

Charity in Las Vegas is under attack. The city where gambling employs thousands, has hooker magazines handed out along the strip to be perused for midnight affairs and makes alcohol readily available from any street corner has chosen to attack soup kitchens that use it's city parks. City residents it seems don't enjoy having to share these green spaces with the homeless. Seeing dirty, troubled and sick people eating doesn't make able bodied men and women feel all that good.

The way a society chooses to help the weak speaks volumes. If a charity like a church or society have manpower and money to aid the downtrodden I can't understand why a fine and jail time would be used against them. A nice meal in the park next to successful men, women, children and Rover helps juxtapose the squalor they live in. The blades of grass have no way of knowing who is using the pitch and further more don't care. People have to try learn to coexist in this way.

Segregation breeds hatred and continues to exploit the paranoia the rich and poor feel towards one another. The homeless never dreamt of being in the state they are in, as children they too laughed and had a dream. Living under a bridge or tented up in the forested outskirts of town wasn't one of them. Forcing them into the one part of town where aid is made available does help them see a doctor and give them a clean bed to sleep in but why limit the menu? Aren't market forces supposed to solve everything? Mobile soup kitchens help the homeless to have options and help in creating a choice that aids to empower the powerless.

By closing kitchen's through fines and the threat of jail will to make it harder to get a meal. The lines it creates at the legitimate soup kitchen won't march the pissed off homeless back into a house and job. A caring heart will. A man, woman, child or Rover with compassion can help and that means sharing a piece of common land.

Taxi Roulette

From midnight to three in the morning, the one place in Seoul you never want to be catching a taxi from is Kangnam. The worse stretch of road runs parallel to the Giordano Store where traffic always crawls. To snag a taxi here you're supposed to shout out your destination while the taxi driver processes the total profit he'll make. Then this man and it's always a man, except on a Sunday afternoon's when a compassionate girlfriend or wife takes a shift, will either stop for you or continue trolling the street for the highest bid.

Last night I was home with a tummy ache but Saejin and his friends were living it up in Kangnam. He said he'd be home early but I doubted those slurred words each time I talked to him. To get around the taxi situation he and his friends pulled an old favorite of mine; they jumped into the taxi before the driver could say anything.

A second trick Gray and I once drunkenly pulled was to pick the farthest suburb on route to the place we wanted to go. So to get to nearby Itaewon we called out Uijeongbu which neighbours North Korea. Once in our cab and safely across the bridge Gray's alcohol "wanted out". Let me tell you, Gray knows how to play ill and he convinced the horrified driver to end this trip short. So we hopped out where every second car was an empty taxi and safely made it to Itaewon. The taxi driver won't complain if your acting is good because there's nothing worse than a night of puke soaked floor mats. It's a cheap trick to get where you want but the odds of picking up a taxi in Kangnam favour the man so I say, cheat if you must.

Pink Flamingos (John Waters 1972)

A couple of nights ago I watched a program from Channel 4 Films that ranked the Top 50 movies to watch before you die. I liked how varied the movie choices were. Hollywood didn't completely dominate and there were many movies on this list I had never even heard of.

At number twenty-eight is Pink Flamingos by John Waters. The movie was probably the cheapest movie to make and destined to become a cult classic. The critics loved how this movie challenged the audiences to get up and leave. I'm writing this entry minutes after watching and have to say that this movie is completely and utterly disgusting and yet I couldn't stop watching.

Every taboo is present as two groups of people vie to be named "the filthiest person in the world". This movie is over thirty years old and I can't even place how it would of been received in 1972. Eating dog shit, fucking chickens and then eating them, kidnapping and impregnating hitchhikers for baby sales, the selling of heroin to kids and much much worse are offensive now. This movie is so wrong, that I can see the appeal. I won't watch it ever again but I know I want friends to see it just so I can hear their opinions. You can't watch this and not feel something. I feel the need to shower and scrub these images from my eyes with a pumice stone.

The Fishing Life

As I was waiting for my train to arrive I poked my head out the window of Dongjak Station and my eyes were suddenly pulled to the men gathered under a bridge. They were busy fishing in the Han Rivers overflow area. Usually it's a still fetid pool where garbage practice their backstroke but today it was a where the fish were. Do you think these men keep the fish or do they throw them back when they see their fish has an extra eye? The Han River can't be the best place in Korea to find a meal.

Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain.......

Seoul has been under attack for the last month by rain. At times its a simple wet haze refreshing your face but then the heavier clouds roll in to make puddles. When the rain fails to stop these puddles grow into sidewalk lakes you have to wade through on your way to work.

On the days when the mean clouds enter town you don't want to leave the apartment. These guys slam the rain down until the streets become rivers. They make damn sure your pants are wet from the knee down in the first five steps from exiting your building. These guys are in town today.

The Han River swells at this time of year. Two weeks ago when a Monsoon hit the Han River flooded out streets and parks that line it but I didn't get any good photos. Today I decided to go check it out. I went to Dongjak Station just a few stops away from my apartment. Just outside of exit 1 a little park hugs the Han River. If I wanted to play here I'd need my water wings because not one piece of land was dry.

Beaver Love

Blogger attackers beware. I have bionic powers whereby I lose control. My two front teeth rip themselves out of my skull and want to attack. It's uncontrollable when others piss me off. Don't worry, rude comments will fall on my deaf, secure ears. Do you like how defensive I am from the start? As I've said, I know how blogs work and am prepared to ignore. Don't try being an ass with me. If you're an ass with the requisite shit stained shorts keep your opinions to yourselves or create a blog. But if you're a good person, let's be friends. Send me an e-mail and we'll share beer, or a Menthol light cigarette.

Menthol Lights

I just started smoking. The buzz these things are giving me is amazing. As I hold the white smoke in, I'm tricking my mind into thinking I'm high. Cheap thrills for an English teacher here in Seoul. To savour this feeling I will smoke a single cigarette as a Sunday night treat. I've been four years removed from pot filled nights so this light five minute buzz is heaven. All the carcinagenic warnings fall on my deaf ears. Korea provides few drug opportunites other than alcohol and after four years of liver abuse, I'm ready for this weekly high.

This blog is dedicated to being honest and opened minded like the author. As an expat for the last four years I'm no longer really concerned with cultural comparisons nor do I want to bitch about the difficulties or cuteness of my job. I want to show you my life, interests and things that annoy me. I love Seoul and am happy with my life here. I'm not the best at keeping in touch so I'll try it this way to see if I do any better.