Otaku life

I hurried to Japan to be back home today. Today is the 대보름 (Daeboreum), celebrating the first full moon of the lunar year. It's something of a Spring Festival - which is hard to believe if you listen to the weather forecast. Actually, Spring already started on Saturday, on 입춘 (Ipchun) and, amazingly, the temperatures were a little bit above zero. For this week in Gangwon do they are expected to fall to 20 below. Today the first snowflakes appeared here around lunchtime but it was a false alarm. I have a strong feeling that the white crap will cover everything during the night.
I saw also some sunshine on Saturday when I went to Busan to board the ferry for Japan. Like always I boarded with a bag of beers to fight the boredom of a night on the ship, having no idea in what fun it will end. I already froze my ass drinking a bottle of beer on the roof of the ferry terminal, so I choose to drink the next in the smoking room on the ferry. And I almost choked myself when a pretty girl approached me. Not for the fact that she approached me, but for what she asked me.
"Hi! Are you Korean?"
How the hell did she know? Oh, she was just joking, she laughed heartily and asked me if I speak Japanese. Ah well, another situation when I bitterly regret for being so dumb at Asian languages. And then she told me that I look like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean. I can only guess that was a compliment. After some small talk she introduced me her boyfriend and that sucked big time. (No, not him, a pleasant guy, just the fact that she has a boyfriend...) And after more small talk and more large beers she introduced me her sister. Single. Which made big time. And it went even better when after some jokes on my drinking I said yopparai des. "But you can speak Japanese!"
No, not really, I know just a few words that I picked here and there in Japan and watching anime.
"You like anime?"
No denying this time. Yes, I'm an otaku. "Sugoi!" chirped the sisters in chorus. "And which is your favourite anime?"
Easy question, was, is and always will be Evangelion! "Sugoi!!" I almost saw the double exclamation mark. "Mine too!" explained the older sister.
"Chincha?" I was already so drunk that I started talking in Korean. The next moment I was taking of my clothes, the girls looked somehow worried, but only till the moment I stayed in my Rei t-shirt - they just wanted to take some pictures of a crazy otaku in his Evangelion underwear. It's how they put it, I really don't have Evangelion underpants. It seems a nice idea, though.
It's not hard to guess what came next. A drunken chorus (oh yes, in the meantime we were joined by two Korean otakus) singing, shouting, grunting and squealing Zankoku na tenshi no teze... and the ferry hasn't left Busan yet!

"And what is your second favourite anime?" Deddoman Wandarando. "Sugoi!"
"The third? The third!" Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. "Sugoi!"
As for what went on later I'm a bit confused. I do remember talking about Tokunoshima and singing (sic!) Shima uta and I remember being a translator from Korean to Japanese and vice-versa. I was also invited for some homemade miso soup next time I will be travelling in Japan.
I woke up in Japan with a monstrous hangover and a painful stiff neck - I just hate those bricks that serve as pillows on the ships. The Immigration made no problems on my statement that I'm just on a visa run and the Customs officer took his time to check minutely all my stuff, stinky socks included. Funny thing, I clearly remember that just the same guy did the same three months ago. He just doesn't like me.
Three hours to wait. A short walk in the neighborhood and a check in the nearby park to see how my homeless friends are doing. There was only one, still sleeping, using a cat as a blanket.

Way to cold outside, back to the ferry terminal. I took my textbooks with me - to do my homework in Japan! Don't you agree that it's a bit stupid, ironic, crazy etc to do Korean exercises in Fukuoka? Well, I like it.

Before boarding I couldn't resist to take a picture of a warning in the Duty Free Shop. It's not engrish by definition but it's a good lesson in how to complicate the simple act of stealing.

I slept almost all the way back to Korea and had enough good sense to choose a queue with a woman Immigration officer. Yes, I did it out of a sexist reasoning. Because women are more nosy. When guys go through my passport they keep asking where do I go, what will I do, when will I do.. but all they want to know is WHY. And they never ask it. Because of that they feel miserable. But they have Power and they take revenge on me, making my life miserable. And actually there's another reason that has nothing to do with sexism but with racism. Koreans can be racist bastards and it's more probable to meet a male racist than a female one.
The girl - clearly I choose a pretty one - asked me immediately. "You are going to Japan every three months for one day and the rest of the time you are in Korea. You can't work legally so WHY are you doing this?"
At which I made an embarrassed and shy face and almost whispered "I have a girlfriend in Korea". She maintained a professional expression, but I saw the corners of her mouth bending upwards. "Is this your girlfriend?" she asked and pointed at the address of Sang Pyeong that I wrote as my address in Korea. "Oh no," I replied as I was in total shock, "we are not married, we don't live together! This is my friends' house, they live in the same village." And all her professionalism was gone, replaced by a broad smile.
"Welcome to Korea."
Fuck the karma if for being honest you get kicked in the ass.

Bread, Rice and Dragons

Years ago, on another planet and in another life, my girlfriend asked me to which food I could compare her. My answer, without thinking, was bread. She wasn't exactly pleased, so I explained: "I could say you're like some delicious gourmet dish, something spicy, or sweet or you name it. But, the fact is, you're like bread because I can eat bread every day and never get tired of it and I just can't live without bread."
Ah, blessed naivety of fools in love! Bread? Who gives a fuck about bread!
Today is the first day of the Year of the Dragon. I arrived in Korea on the eve of the Year of the Tiger. What a year it was! A Winter with my sweet little princess, a Spring volunteering after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a Summer of slavery on raddish fields, a Fall in a quiet place I might really start calling home. Without bread. With lots of rice. I started to learn how to mix different varieties to make it even more pleasant. At times I have five or even six different types of rice in my room - yes, I sleep with my rice. When it was in the kitchen, the mice were stealing it way too much. And you can make rice even better adding different beans and grains.

It's been pretty much boring in the last few days. New year holidays. Everybody gone for family gatherings. So every day I feed the animals, I make a patrol in the village to check if everything is OK, feed the neighbor's cats and go back home to find myself some work. So far there was enough firewood to chop and pile, but for tomorrow I really have no clue what to do. Maybe it's time to study a little bit. Or a little bit more. I read my second book in Korean - I think the cover says it all.

I almost stopped watching Korean movies and dramas. I just can't find movies that I like anymore. And I spoiled myself with the drama City Hunter, after it all others are plain boring. So I switched to Japanese anime. With a smile. I always claimed that I'm not an otaku. Till the moment when my son almost choked himself laughing at me when I was explaining this to a Japanese. It was because of my Evangelion T-shirts that I was again "mistaken" for an otaku. I was a bit drunk so I explained to the guy: "You see, I'm not really into anime, I'm fan only of Evangelion... and yes, I do like all Miyazaki's movies. And Otomo's Akira and Cowboy Bebop and Galaxy Express and Photon The Idiot Adventures and Fullmetal Alchemist and Space Battleship Yamato and..." Ummm... what was I trying to explain?
So I asked a connoisseur for some good stuff and for the past days I was glued to the screen all evenings and most nights watching デッドマンワンダーランド

ひぐらしのなく頃に and ひぐらしのなく頃に解

and today I started Serial Experiments Lain

But... but... you have to believe me, I'm no otaku... and it really really DOESN'T matter that I'm listening to 分島 花音 while I'm writing this, really!
To complicate my life I installed the Korean Windows on my computer also. It's for learning, you know. And to challenge myself. For fun I connected another monitor to watch anime while comfortably lying in my bed and I found a pair of broken speakers, repaired them and no we go full volume. And yes, I still have too much time so I started another blog, Conficturae, dedicated only to fiction, poetry and photography. Feel free to visit it.

If Days Can Be Called Crazy

It's almost boring hearing this one "I had a crazy day". How can a day be crazy? As far as the latest statistics goes, a day still has 24 hours, 1440 minutes and so on and this day starts for everyone of you in the moment you wake up. I remeber a time I was really allergic to newspapers news saying "the road killed two people". Come on, are you kidding me? Did the road awaken in a movielike and strangled the innocent drivers?
Uhm, this switch was totally unexpected, seems my subconsciousnes is working all the time. So, let's go back, for many years, when I was still a happy teacher in Surobenia and we had a great award trip for the best students from our school. Yeah, we did some amazing rafting in the Kolpa river, had a great time and on the way home... our bus minced a biker. The moron was racing with one of his friends and in one bend he just happened to be under our bus. His fucking bike got to flames when he was dragged under the bus so also our bus caught fire.
Was it a crazy day?
Days have nothing to do with it.
Like a day when you're invited by a yoga master to visit his ... well, whatever they call it.. a yoga 道場, till I don't learn the Korean word, his yoga center. And again, I have to make another jump in time, but only four days. It was a Sunday like many others, not many work to do, so a lot of time for gathering and having common meals. I was excited and happy my teacher was back, so we could start our lessond after three weeks of vacation, but... the Doc (friend of the Yoga master) had planned an all-out drinking night. So it was, for me, at least it's how I see it, since I don't remember shit of that night and I awoke at 1PM. My dear teacher was waiting for me at 9AM. I missed many appointments in my life, but I never felt so bad like that day. I was even too ashamed to call her back (I had two missed calls from her on the phone), not to say to go to her home to apologize. Clearly she was way pissed with me - and I really really do agree with her for being it - but she just smiled at me when we met for the umpteteh common dinner of our community the same day. I managed to send her a text message saying "I'm sorry". In Korean, of course. Everyobody predicted some hard beating as punishment, alike in Korean schools still nowadays, and, to tell the truth, I would feel better if she just whipped me instead of just smiling at me and giving me the look I-know-you. Next day was same, common meals, and in late evening two drunk fellas dropped in my house. With plenty of beer and soju. I suppose it was the first time in my life I said, loudly and cleraly, "NO! GO AWAY! I DON'T WANT TO DRINK! EUN SHIL WILL KILL ME!¨" I did my best to resist to these Asain barbarians, but they overwhelmed me. I had to drink with them.

Believe it or not, I was so mad at myself and at them that I woke up at 6AM, made my breakfast, ate it, brushed my teeth, drank coffee, set fire in the gudeul and took the wrong books to my lesson. Crap again. No matter how much I want to learn Koran (and no matter how I really want to please my tecaher) I keep doing everything wong. But I'm happy to have my own GTO. Well, fuck the latin letters, I have my GT은! I survived even this lesson. And here the scary part starts.
We went to Jinju, to the Yoga master's place. Two hours of yoga killed me. I feel better after after ten hours making wood. Not to talk about th embarassment. It's a sort of public secret here how to make a couple of me and my teacher. Well, my first yoga lesson turned into ero-yoga (not my invention, it was laughably explained like this to othres later)and I really don't want go into details. Now, don't you dare to think it turned in an orgy or anything the like, no way, there's just some.. some things.. you'd be happy to do when you're alone.. I mean, when you're alone with her, with him..
Anyway I was a good boy today and I made my engrish homework (on a pissed note: I submitted some really good pics in the last year to the site but the admin seems not to like me). My comment on this is I miss crrasicar music

After lunch it went on some more common railways. I mentioned the Chalengger guy few times in my posts. He's not only my friend and my challenger (a challenge still unresolved), but he's one of the best floor heating builders in the area. To become his apprentice -wow! Well, we visited him on his latest work site, where he's trying to make a record floor heating. Bigger houses in Korea usually have separated heating systems for each room, but his project is to heat the whole house with only one furnace. For this house.

Later tehre was work waiting for me, digging arrowroota(Maranta arundinacea), unpleasant and hard work to do, but I'll have some dices of this medicine to make a good hangover tea.

After digging the roots we had dinner with three bottles of soju. Yeah, dream on, that wasn't the dinner, we have to go Mi Jeong ssi house... AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH eat, drink, sing!

A Memorable Birthday

I was born in the year 4297, the year of the Wood Dragon, on the second day of the twelfth month. But I'm not used to the lunar calendar yet, so I missed my birthday. And I didn't care much about my birthday according to the solar calendar, but, as it usually goes, somebody else did care.
For a few days I was working in a factory of 된장. We had to make a few tons of 메주, bricks of crushed boiled soybeans. And during the afternoon break my coworkers made me the funniest birthday cake ever. It was made - or, should I say, built - of choko pies with a candle on top. And the boss had makkoli and soju instead of coffee for us. Just for a toast, there was more work waiting, but it was really nice.
On our way home in the evening 경희 said that we must hurry because dinner is waiting. What dinner? It's your birthday, isn't it? So 영란 made a ginger cake for you!
And we went to the house of my teacher, we were a bit late but it was not an issue, the cake was really there, with candles and the writing 꼬끼오 (which is an onomatopoeia for the sound of the hen) and my teacher made also seaweed soup (which is a must for a birthday in Korea) and 상평 hurried to open a bottle of red wine... and I was on the verge of tears. I have rarely been so touched. Because I rarely met such people. The food was simple (yet delicious) and the wine was nothing special (yet we drank it all), but the feelings were all so warm, friendly... hard to describe with words. Have you ever been lost on a cold winter night? If you haven't, you'll never understand these feelings.
I was happy that next day I had to wake up early again, so there was no abuse of alcohol, just that bottle of wine. To much drinking would have spoiled the greatness of the moment. In aeons I didn't go to sleep sober on a birthday evening, but it was also aeons that I didn't go to sleep so happy.
During this holidays I also managed to read my first book in Korean, 노란 우산이 좋아.

Yes, it's a book for small children, but it's a start. And I also had the guts to send a text message to my princess, without asking anybody for help and I could read (and understand) her reply by myself.
In few weeks is 설날, the New Year according to the lunar calendar. It will be one year - lunar year - that I'm in Asia. What a year it has been!

Another Goodbye

Also the Japanese friend left. Almost a week earlier than planned, but it was the only option to get to Tokunoshima in time, ferry tickets sold out for the holidays. So he'll be spending a few days in Nagasaki before going to Kagoshima.
But I supposed you weren't fooled, he's no Japanese at all. He's my son. And he's Japanese in the way that I'm a Korean. We may not have almond eyes, we can't speak the language, but our hearts and souls are Asian to the core. And soon we'll also be speaking.
All in all ended well. He had a farewell party, too. Actually he had two. The first one was supposed to be just a normal drinking party. We went to a restaurant with some friends and then in a bar to eat more. I mean to drink more. And there it started. Few rounds of beer. Next step was somek (soju and mekchu, beer), the Korean screwdriver. It was not enough, so we did a few rounds of somakmek (soju and makkoli and mekchu). Bad idea. My drinking challenger was in the mood and he announced that it's a perfect day to have our contest, he went to buy beers and we went to my house. On the way home Ramon raised the white flag, he threw up all the alcohol to the last drop and he looked pretty much like a piece of crap. No more drinking for him. The yoga master quit even earlier, but not by his will - his wife forbid him to drink so he actually joined us just for a few drinks and later drank only tea. His doctor friend was already wasted which left The Challenger, The Poet and Sangpyeong to drink with me. And Sangpyeong had enough of beer so he brought soju and some other alcoholics with him.
Now, I'd be very happy to write that I won the drinking challenge. Hell, I'd be proud to write that I lost to such a man like my challenger. The sad point is, nobody knows what happened that night. Who gave up first? Nobody can remember. When did we fell asleep? Nobody knows. I woke up at noon and found that I have bruises on my arms and painful ribs. Did we have a fight? Nobody remembers. I couldn't have fell from the bed because I sleep on the floor.
It was then that Ramon found out it's his last day here. A farewell dinner was organized in a hurry, Sangpyeong offered him a lift to Busan and we started drinking.

Sangpyeong cooking

The Challneger

And his cute daughter Jin

The Doctor

And his cute daughter

Eventually we couldn't stand really a lot of beer. We returned home early and spent the last hours together like father and son, reading together the manga Evangelion. Then we watched Puchi Eva - Evangerion Atto Sukūru and before sleeping also the final scene from Evangerion Shin Gekijōban: Ha

Now he's gone. The room seems so big.
Have a safe trip, my loved son!

Why Am I So Boring

Tiziano Terzani is an Italian journalist and writer who spent most of his life in Asia. In the late sixties he spent some time in North Korea. At the time he was correspondent of the German Der Spiegel and he wrote a long article about N. Korea. I remember the beginning, it went something like this: While the rest of the world is still struggling in the year 1969, people in North Korea live in the future, they are 15 years ahead in time. (If you don't get the point, do some quick adding, how much is 1969+15?) And on he went with descriptions of happy people marching for the glory of the loved leader and other similar crap. When translations of the Spiegel article arrived in North Korea, Terzani became the most loved foreign journalist by the government officials. They paraded with his article, bragging that he's the only foreigner who can see the deep truth of the communist system. Terzani was quite ashamed with the situation, but not for long. Someone decided to explain the meaning of irony to the officials. The very next day he was expelled from the country.
Irony is a very hard thing for most Asians, be it Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, you name it. It's a totally alien concept and I think it's because of the deep roots of Confucianism.
My posts used to be full of irony, if not sarcasm. Probably you noticed it's not so anymore. I'm afraid I can be taken seriously like it happened to Terzani. I'm afraid someone could be offended. It doesn't really sound like me, does it?
I fully realized what is happening to me just a few days ago. On FB I have a profile picture with the little chap on the bamboo stick. I took it the very last day the family was still here before moving. So, few days ago a friend commented that it's a nice picture. I replied saying that the pic is nice just because the chap is so cute and that I miss him so much since the family moved. And then it hit me. No, it struck me. I miss people that go. It's me who is staying. Transforming my home in a computer junkyard. Preserving vegetables, cooking jams and juices to stock them. Looking where to hang the 2012 calendar.
And last week I had a phone chat with the little chap, he is missing uncle Dag.

Mountains! Mountains!

A trip to the Hwagmaesan last week... with unfriendly wind.

Hey, I can see our car down there!

And later dinner in a fancy restaurant.

A snapshot of how a Korean winter morning looks like...

And how my fridge looks like...

Yesterday's trip - Mosan.

It almost fell down! If it wasn't for me to save the day...

Our yoga master friend just loves scary places to meditate.