“Three is good, two, no good,” I said, at once believing myself and wondering why I mentioned how much I like to drink. Stopping in to my surrogate Korean mom’s restaurant so she could cook me my favorite pork cutlet with brown sauce and all the trimmings. I bumped into the bus drivers at my kindergarten. I forgot that they would most certainly ask me to sit down, and that they would even more certainly be drinking soju. Continue reading
Author: william
Like…
“I don’t like him.” It hurt me to hear that; and I was completely unprepared how to stop the feelings from being hurt. The other boy quickly replied (unconvincingly), “I don’t like him either.” I could see from his drooping head that he felt sad. Kids are not nice, they don’t need to pretend they like someone because they work with them, or live near them, or have mutual friends, or need something from them. Kids tell others how they feel, when they feel it. They are filter-less, emotional creatures with terrifyingly simple opinions. Continue reading
Super Monday?
Super Sunday is a party day in America complete with gathering friends, extensive dip selections, cursing at the TV, watery beer, and the inevitable disappointment. The disappointment for me comes knowing it’s seven months until football season again, sometimes disappointment in a boring, lopsided game, and for others it is the disappointment of being the supporter of a losing team. For the lucky few who support the winning team, it is pure exhilaration of bragging rights for the whole year (despite having done nothing to contribute to the winning cause except second guess every 3rd down play and pretend to support the time they went for it on 4th and goal). As we know, all games need to have a loser (except in that rather excessively gentlemanly game of European football, where draws leave a sour yet satisfactory flavor in the mouth of its fans). Continue reading
Oh, Thunder Road
About six or seven years ago, I was working construction with my father. It was probably summer time. We were renovating a 19th century mansion on the big hill overlooking my childhood town. It was not an easy job. There were nasty days full of the worst grease, grime and grit you can imagine. There were days where we felt like nothing was getting done and the job would never end. There were days when I wished I were anywhere else but there. And, of course, there were days that I’ll never forget—quality time with my pop learning his craft. Continue reading
Not So Fast
Sand falls through the hourglass in the incessant, inevitable march of our collective moments. The sand represents only the quantity of time. Memories provide the qualitative quotient expressing our tenuous grasp while drifting among the currents. Nobody needs to be told, “Life is short.” Continue reading
SCUBA in Thailand
The videos prepare you for the worst, the instructor prepares you for the dive, the panic prepares your concentration, the excitement prepares your anticipation, and yet nothing can truly prepare you for the quiet, pulsing energy of breathing underwater. The barnacle crusted line leads downward toward the dark, sandy bottom. Equalizing the pressure against your ears as you swim, the calmness begins to envelop your body. Continue reading
Kim Jong-Gone
We were sitting at lunch, in a kindergarten basement in Seoul, when the school bus driver came in and said one sentence in Korean before leaving, “Kim Jong-Il is dead.” I waited for the translation and then assessed my feelings. Continue reading
Customs
Customs are the basis of a society. Customs are the routine of a people—the proper etiquette of a shared land. We learn in sociology about these things and how they are not to be compared to or judged by your own customs. We are taught that, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Don’t take your idea of proper behavior farther than your own country. Continue reading
American Thoughts Abroad
America. It was always home, and when it becomes the place that you only read about or hear about, it takes on a special, enchanted vibe. A place where there is delicious food from every country in the world, a place where pizza is sold in slices, a place with ice hockey rinks, water parks, and Whole Foods stores. It is a place where English is spoken widely, a place with crowded highways filled with massive cars—not crowded public transit filled with skinny people. Continue reading
Conformity
After watching a beautiful youtube video: RSA—Changing Education Paradigms, I realized how dangerous conformity really can be. After spending a few months in Korea, and experiencing the gold standard of conformity, I started wanting to scream on the subway just to disrupt the routine or wear my shoes inside and watch the reaction. I have been shushed for talking on the subway, pushed for standing on the sidewalk, and stared at for being white in an Asian land. Continue reading
William Sabia 