A house near Jeongbalsan Park.

Lots of brocolli means it's got to be healthy. This brew also has chicken and cashew nuts and is not as spicy as Korean food.

Thai A Yellow Ribbon

We had lunch at a Thai restaurant today called Aroi Aroi. The lady was surprised to see us again as we used to go often and she'd not seen hint nor hair of us for 4 months.
The food, as usual, was delicious and healthy.
After being home the whole day yesterday, I really needed to get out today, and felt a lot better today as well.

E-mails 'make you stooopid'

London - We all know that technology has its advantages, but a new survey has revealed startling results.

E-mails, text and phone messages pose a greater threat to your IQ than smoking dagga, a survey, commissioned by technology firm Hewlett Packard, has found.
Eighty volunteers took part in clinical trials on IQ deterioration and 1 100 adults were interviewed.

Doziness, lethargy and an increasing inability to focus reached "startling" levels and e-mails in particular have an addictive, drug-like grip, according to a report on The Guardian.

Apparently the brain finds it hard to cope with juggling lots of tasks at once, thereby reducing its effectiveness.
Respondents' minds were all over the place as they faced new questions and challenges every time an e-mail dropped into their inbox.
"This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist from King's College, London University, told The Guardian.

The average IQ loss was reportedly measured at 10 points, more than double the four point fall found in studies of dagga users.
The most damage was done, according to the survey, by the almost complete lack of discipline in handling e-mails.

Wilson and his colleagues found a compulsion to reply to each new message, leading to constant changes of direction which inevitably tired and slowed down the brain.

In fact, he said it is a recipe for muddled thinking and poor performance, but the most effective way to deal with the problem is to "switch things off".

Copied from: www.news24.com

Work For Me!

I woke up at 11am this morning after basically slipping into unconsciousness last night, in my clothes.
Last week is a blur. I have one outstanding memory, from yesterday, which really pisses me off. I did a teaching demo and was trying to illustrate a few things at the same time, cause and effect and also transitions and then did this:

1 are
2 were

In my beleaguered state, that didn't make sense, but I also didn't have the awakeness to simply say, okay, 1 - is, 2 - are, (present tense) where 1 = singular and 2 = plural. 1 - was, 2 - were, (past tense).

I should have written: 1 - is/was
2 - are/were

Someone pointed out in my demo that I'd made a mistake and then I also said something, defensively, which also wasn't true. I said:
'If you say, Health and happiness are important to me, that's singular. Health and happiness are one.' I was just in such a dwaal.

I didn't want to dwell on this, this morning, because it is just silly stuff.

This morning I woke up, despite so much sleep, feeling really really tired.
I was wondering, sipping tea and honey, what it was I did to allow myself to get so sick. I don't believe sickness happens to us, it doesn't just happen, at some point, we consent to it, by the things we do, or are too lazy to do.

So I think it is a combination of things. My exit from South Africa was profoundly stressful, given that my body was tired, and the rush to organise and pack and get a lot of things done just meant I didn't have time to really think about what I was doing. I was trying to do that, and soak in the sunshine, in the few scattered moments of peace after the Ironman.
It was also hard leaving behind someone I had grown really attached to, and having my cellphone stolen at the airport added a lot of unnecessary emotion to an already draining experience.

So that is the foundation of stress that can lead to illness. I was in a way responsible for the cellphone. It probably would have been more prudent to have kept it in my pocket. I'll know next time.

Once in Korea I needed to get my sleep patterns in order, and although I made some valid attempts, I needed to have suffered a bit more to finally get into a good day/night sync. I know for at least a week I was going to sleep at 6am, and waking up at 5pm, which is roughly the pattern in South Africa. 5pm in Korea is 10am in SA.

The next thing that stressed me out a lot, was wiring money to Marelize Slabber in South Africa, to pay for the phone I'd borrowed from her. I wanted to get all the loose ends done through her, including topping up my credit card, paying my sister for a very old unpaid cellphone bill, and keeping some money in my account in SA where it can grow with a lot more interest. I emailed her beforehand to find out whether she was prepared to help me, and felt that I could relie on her. It was important to get my money out of the Korean Savings Account because it had been sitting here for 3 years at 1-2% interest per annum.
It boggled my mind when she said she'd received the money, but I guess she must have heard some rumor about money laundering or something. She told me she had received 'expert advice' and then grew really suspicious of what I was doing, and she said she wasn't going to have anything to do with the money. So she wired the money back.

It cost a lot to wire it there, over R1000, and the exchange rate didn't do me any favors coming back, the same money I wired to myself (basically) came back minus R1500. That's annoying.

I know a large part of what adds unnecessary stress is our own psychology, particularly in this simple thing: what you resist persists, so accept and do what you can do to improve, to flourish in your life. I find I am often resisting, and I hate to say it, complaining. I mean this post is ample evidence of that. It needs to be habituated out of behaviour. I guess the good way to do that is by going:
what's happening? okay now what can I do?

At the same time I ordered some books on Amazon, and once I confirmed the order saw that I had about 10 books, 5 of which were being shipped separately. I was paying, again, another $50 or so just for shipping. I tried to cancel orders, and some were successful, some weren't. I just got the feeling that you work, you labor to make money, and then the dodge tricks, and well meaning intentions from friends (that are ultimately misinformed and costly), all that time you spent working, and saving, not catching a taxi to save money, eating rice and pieces of fish instead of something more expensive, all those small savings got wiped out because you were essentially tricked by other people not caring about your money, or trying to scrape some off for themselves.

These aren't the rantings of a greedy person, it's really an ode to lost youth, lost time, where you've really determined to work smarter, work hard, and then you realise how hard it is to keep the precious bit that you have accumulated from just trickling out a small incision made at the bottom of the bucket at that one moment when you weren't looking.

When you waste money, you waste the time and effort that went into making it.
It's basically like realising you went to jail for nothing. That's sickening to me, and it's happened a lot recently. What can I do: get well, and get working.

Now I am back in Korea and I am here to save, and my first few weeks have just been a drain on my savings. Only in the last days of the week, did I even realise that I was paying double for my subway trips because when you transfer you have to follow the arrows away from the exits, so the turnstiles don't swallow up your tickets. Another waste.
It also agitates me that there is stealing going on wherever you are. In South Africa my cellphone was stolen. Here, it was a bicycle.
I know someone in the back row is muttering, 'Nick, that's life, get used to it.'

I am. I'm just explaining that the strain of getting used to it is why I am sick. The world is a bit sick. I listened on TV about suggestions to avoid the yellow dust. They suggest people stay indoors as much as possible. And wash themselves. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is before the advent of radiation right. This is BEFORE any kind of nuclear event?

In terms of work, I may have made a mistake not taking that job in Hwajong. The prep time for the company I'm training with is 2-3 hours, and they provide no benefits at all, which makes that spectacular looking salary a lot less spectacular. It's hard then to justify all that prep and professionalism, when you could work for a cosy mom and pop operation, in a relaxed environment, and earn about the same amount. Do I need to feel important or better than the other teachers here, by joining this company, when the bottom line, the bottom line pay is essentially the same. No.
When they ask us to be 'passionate' I wonder whether it is not a subtle way of requiring as to work hard at following every procedure and every detail like robots.

I'm 33 and I'd like to think I will possibly not attend another job interview, or look at the classified section in the paper (for a job) again in my life. I'd like to think so, and I'd like to bring my life to the poijt where that is a reality.

Sorry about all the griping. I'll try to be more positive as I become healthy again.

Outside spring is springing quite beautifully. Looks a bit like Christmas - lots of pink and white blossoms in the trees.
The flower festival is going on in the park 5 minutes from here. That's quite a big deal for this area, and a lot of people from Seoul and elsewhere come to check it out.

I"m going to spend today reading.

Idea Guy

LOS ANGELES - Orthopedic surgeon Gary Michelson said Friday he is considering philanthropic alternatives for some of the $1.35 billion Medtronic Inc. plans to pay him to end a patent dispute.

"All you can really do with that kind of money is give it away. There's no way you can spend it," he said. "What I'm interested in doing is setting up a medical research foundation and seeing if we can't make a difference in the world."


The 56-year-old Los Angeles doctor has pioneered some of the most popular technology used in spinal surgery today, as well as more commonplace gadgets. He's patented a new paper clip and is still perfecting a lid that would eliminate the task of scraping dog food out of a can.


"It's not bad for lifting out pickles without getting your fingers in the water either," said Michelson, who has received more than 500 patents.


But the medical inventions are his life's work.


"To be around him with his inventions is to see boundless enthusiasm," said his attorney, Marc Marmaro.


During trial of his lawsuit against the medical-device company last year, Michelson would hop from the witness box to explain to the jury how his gadgets worked.


"He'd say, 'Look at this, isn't this neat?'" Marmaro recalled.


Under the settlement, which has yet to be finalized, Medtronic would pay $800 million for spinal-fusion technology, as well as another $550 million to settle the legal claims.


Michelson has long had a contract with Medtronic to license many of his inventions. The legal battle began after he felt he wasn't getting sufficient royalties from Medtronic's booming sales of his products and sought to sell some of his products elsewhere. Medtronic sued him in 2001 for $820 million, and Michelson countersued for more than twice that amount. Last year a jury awarded him $510 million in the case, but the settlement announced Friday will replace the award.


"These inventions are his children," Marmaro said. "He's not a man who's going to allow anyone — as he views the world_ to take his life's work."


Many of Michelson's patents relate to improving the implants, instruments and methods used to fuse vertebrae and alleviate the pain of degenerating spinal discs.


Michelson says he has always been curious about how things work. As a child he used to take things apart, regardless of whether he could put them back together or not.


He became interested in orthopedics as a boy watching his grandmother suffer from a crippling spinal disease.


A native of Philadelphia, Michelson, attended Hahnemann Medical College, where he also did his internship and residency. He says many fellow residents would shy away from treating patients with spinal problems because the technology was still so bad, and unhappy patients would continually return. Michelson would try to treat them.


Before his legal battle with Medtronic, Michelson was working as a surgeon at Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center in Inglewood.


"He'd do surgery during the day and come home, work late into the night on his inventions and wake up early to go to work," Marmaro said.

Dr. Mark Spoonamore, director of the University of Southern California's Center for Spinal Surgery, called the settlement "very significant," adding that roughly 60 percent to 80 percent of spinal surgeries today include a product or method patented by Michelson.

Spoonamore said his main concern was that Michelson's more than 700 patents and patent requests get made into products that doctors can use to help their patients.

Michelson agreed and said he plans to spend the next few years working closely with Medtronic engineers to develop as many products as possible.

from: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/
ap/20050422/ap_on_bi_ge/medtronic_settlement_doctor

Did You Know No: 1

Why Do Some Popcorn Kernels Not Pop?

It's long been known that popcorn kernels must have a precise moisture level in their starchy center —about 15 percent — to explode. But Purdue University researchers found the key to a kernel's explosive success lies in the composition of its hull.

It turns out there is an optimal hull structure that allows kernels to explode, and leaky hulls prevent the moisture pressure buildup needed for kernels to pop.
"They're sort of like little pressure vessels that explode when the pressure reaches a certain point," said Bruce Hamaker, a Purdue professor of food chemistry. "But if too much moisture escapes, it loses its ability to pop and just sits there."

There you have it.

From: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story
&cid=624&ncid=753&e=2&u=/ap/20050421/ap_on_sc/
popcorn_s_secret

Vengeance Is A Lazy Way To Grieve

That was probably my favourite line in this movie, The Interpreter. It was not what I expected, actually not even close. I liked that it was about an African dilemma, and that Nicole Kidman, especially at the end, takes the woes of Africa's children to the temple of the Evil Dictator, and says, 'Are you responsible for this?' I wish someone would do that to Mugabe, for one.

The movie was also interesting because of the dynamic between Kidman's and Penn's characters. Both are grieving, both are defined in large part, by their grief, both are called by their work, by altruism - but the heart seeks a resolution, and brings strange coincidences for both characters, materialises strange new people into their lives.
Penn's role in the movie was simple, but delivered powerfully. This, coupled to Kidman's mysterious ailments, resonates with the underlining theme of Africa, the misery, the heartache, confusion coupled with powerlessness. Their interest in African affairs seems sincere, and Africa's relevance to Kidman, touching.

I do wonder when we will see a movie about an African country that actually exists. Is there a law against referring to an actual African country in cinema, especially a troubled one? Are we so petrified of the Dark Continent not to dare speak of (gasp) a real place and wake the terrors that drift there?

So Kidman's accent is appropriately anonymous, neither South African - though one or two words in the film seem to have inflections borrowed from the beloved country - nor, at first appearance, anything else. It seems strange, nonetheless. As an African, I would have suggested adopting one of the South African English accents, especially since these, while definite, are often untraceable to foreigners. Otherwise the rest is neutral, some British 'testing' s and t words, a few American 'yeahs'. The voice is starved of vitality, and punched a few times to lose color, to gain a neutrality. Is that how to achieve an accent that doesn't exist?

Some of the horror of Africa is shown with stark clarity in the leafy suburbs of America - the danger, the potency, the lack of remorse, the cold blooded cruelty. But right beside it is the long lost love and beauty, which has that ring of truth, because if this is true of any continent, this bittersweet tension, it's Africa.

I walked out of the cinema wanting to go home, and wondering why on earth I wasn't STILL in South Africa. It took a long while to remember. It's the title of this blog, and it has brought me here, before it will take me back.

It is ironic, and good, and clever, I thought, that Kidman's statement came back to haunt her in the end. The movie had a gritty hardness about it, strayed sometimes towards the sacchrine side, but had a genuineness, illustrated perhaps more by the fact that there is not a single kiss in the entire movie.

Watch out: The one and only explosion in the movie is ferocious enough so leave you quivering in your seat.

I wonder if publishers and filmakers are about to look toward Africa, and then the world. Let's hope it's Africa's time at last.

Do You Believe In Luck?

Today was the first day this week that I woke up, ignored the alarm, and went back to sleep. I finally dragged my corpse out of bed and threw it onto the toilet seat. No toilet paper. Fast Forward: The sleepy plot was to catch an additional 10 minutes of desperately needed rest, and to make up for that time by cycling, instead of walking, to the subway stop. Downstairs, the bicycle lock was lying between all the bicycles, like a strangled, frozen snake. But no bicycle. Bad luck?

A taxi happened to be hovering nearby, but the black Delux one, that charge more than twice the rates of the ordinary ones. I hailed an ordinary one, but it ignored me, and I could see why - someone was inside. I got inside and watched the meter glow red with those monstrously large numbers: 4000. In a normal taxi it's 1500. Just as I climbed in, a normal taxi swished by.

I was so tired I slept almost the whole way, 2 hours worth, and got to work 20 minutes early. Despite sleepwalking between stations, I caught all the trains in good time, got seats, and at school, sat down on the loo there and, no toilet paper.

Sorgyoung wasn't there, and a few others have dropped out too. Paul Lim emailed me and said I'd gotten 73% for my test, so just missed the pass by a single mark or so.
My throat felt a little better as the day wore on, better I mean, than the green stew that was choking and stinging it when I woke up.

I did have to leave Laura's class at one point. You know when you get a cough, and it keeps growing, and you can't hold it back, and you start going red in the face, and you have this growing dry, itchy, nagging thing growing in your lungs and throat. I kind've had to flee the room for some water.

I heard that we may be required to work on weekends too.

I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. In the afternoon class I am the only non-Korean in the class. There are only 2 foreigners left, besides me, in the morning class.
There's not much left of the course, but I am going to finish it.
There's just tomorrow, then Monday and Tuesday, and then a last trip just to write the test, then I'm done.

I had a strong urge to leave Korea today. I really could see myself flying back by the end of the week or no later than the end of next week.
But then I remembered the real and valid reasons that brought me here. I need to be mature and in a stable state of mind emotionally. I don't want to sacrifice whole portions of my lifetime, where I am not where I want to be, or doing what is not best for me. But I also don't want to be a 50 year old hippie, living with a nutty old woman who can at least offer me a room and board.

I do feel a strong sense that my time in Korea is done, and that I need to be elsewhere at least. Japan, Singapore, Scotland... The good thing is that this is a professional organisation, whatever happens. And that, for Korea anyway, work will be at a higher level, higher rate of pay, more disciplined effort overall. It's important, after the Ironman, to also require more from myself in other things, because I know I should, and I believe I can.

When I arrived home I had a few packages waiting for me from Amazon and Trisports. One of the books is called SIMPLICITY. Once I've assembled my swedish style swimming goggles, they arrived with everything else today as well, I'll be able to swim again.

Want Some Honey?

What Causes a Sore Throat?

Sore throat is a symptom of many medical disorders. Infections cause the majority of sore throats and are contagious. Infections are caused either by viruses such as the flu, the common cold, mononucleosis, or by bacteria such as strep (remember I had this in the beginning of March), mycoplasma, or hemophilus.

While bacteria respond to antibiotic treatment, viruses do not.

Viruses: Most viral sore throats accompany flu or colds along with a stuffy, runny nose, sneezing, and generalized aches and pains. These viruses are highly contagious and spread quickly, especially in winter. The body builds antibodies that destroy the virus, a process that takes about a week.

Sore throats accompany other viral infections such as measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, and croup. Canker sores and fever blisters in the throat also can be very painful.

One viral infection takes much longer than a week to be cured: infectious mononucleosis, or "mono." This virus lodges in the lymph system, causing massive enlargement of the tonsils, with white patches on their surface and swollen glands in the neck, armpits, and groin. It creates a severely sore throat and, sometimes, serious breathing difficulties. It can affect the liver, leading to jaundice— yellow skin and eyes. It also causes extreme fatigue that can last six weeks or more.

"Mono," a severe illness in teenagers but less severe in children, can he transmitted by saliva. So it has been nicknamed the "kissing disease," but it can also be transmitted from mouth-to-hand to hand-to-mouth or by sharing of towels and eating utensils.

Bacteria: Strep throat is an infection caused by a particular strain of streptococcus bacteria. This infection can also damage the heart valves (rheumatic fever) and kidneys (nephritis), cause scarlet fever, tonsillitis, pneumonia, sinusitis, and ear infections.

Because of these possible complications, a strep throat should be treated with an antibiotic. Strep is not always easy to detect by examination, and a throat culture may be needed. These tests, when positive, persuade the physician to prescribe antibiotics. However, strep tests might not detect other bacteria that also can cause severe sore throats that deserve antibiotic treatment. For example, severe and chronic cases of tonsillitis or tonsillar abscess may be culture negative. Similarly, negative cultures are seen with diphtheria, and infections from oral sexual contacts will escape detection by strep culture tests.

Tonsillitis is an infection of the lumpy tissues on each side of the back of the throat. In the first two to three years of childhood, these tissues "catch" infections, sampling the child's environment to help develop his immunities (antibodies). Healthy tonsils do not remain infected. Frequent sore throats from tonsillitis suggest the infection is not fully eliminated between episodes. A medical study has shown that children who suffer from frequent episodes of tonsillitis (such as three- to four- times each year for several years) were healthier after their tonsils were surgically removed.

Infections in the nose and sinuses also can cause sore throats, because mucus from the nose drains down into the throat and carries the infection with it.

The most dangerous throat infection is epiglottitis, caused by bacteria that infect a portion of the larynx (voice box) and cause swelling that closes the airway. This infection is an emergency condition that requires prompt medical attention. Suspect it when swallowing is extremely painful (causing drooling), when speech is muffled, and when breathing becomes difficult. A strep test may miss this infection.

Allergy: The same pollens and molds that irritate the nose when they are inhaled also may irritate the throat. Cat and dog danders and house dust are common causes of sore throats for people with allergies to them.

Irritation: During the cold winter months, dry heat may create a recurring, mild sore throat with a parched feeling, especially in the mornings. This often responds to humidification of bedroom air and increased liquid intake. Patients with a chronic stuffy nose, causing mouth breathing, also suffer with a dry throat. They need examination and treatment of the nose.

Pollutants and chemicals in the air can irritate the nose and throat, but the most common air pollutant is tobacco smoke. Other irritants include smokeless tobacco, alcoholic beverages, and spicy foods.

A person who strains his or her voice (yelling at a sports event, for example) gets a sore throat not only from muscle strain but also from the rough treatment of his or her throat membranes.

Reflux: An occasional cause of morning sore throat is regurgitation of stomach acids up into the back of the throat. To avoid reflux, tilt your bedframe so that the head is elevated four- to six-inches higher than the foot of the bed. You might find antacids helpful. You should also avoid eating within three hours of bedtime, and eliminate caffeine and alcohol. If these tips fail, see your doctor.

Tumors: Tumors of the throat, tongue, and larynx (voice box) are usually (but not always) associated with long-time use of tobacco and alcohol. Sore throat and difficulty swallowing, sometimes with pain radiating to the ear, may be symptoms of such a tumor. More often the sore throat is so mild or so chronic that it is hardly noticed. Other important symptoms include hoarseness, a lump in the neck, unexplained weight loss, and/or spitting up blood in the saliva or phlegm.

When Should I See a Doctor?
Whenever a sore throat is severe, persists longer than the usual five- to seven- day duration of a cold or flu, and is not associated with an avoidable allergy or irritation, you should seek medical attention. The following signs and symptoms should alert you to see your physician:

Severe and prolonged sore throat
Difficulty breathing
Difficulty swallowing
Difficulty opening the mouth
Joint pain
Earache
Rash
Fever (over 101°)
Blood in saliva or phlegm
Frequently recurring sore throat
Lump in neck
Hoarseness lasting over two weeks
When Should I Take Antibiotics?
Antibiotics are drugs that kill or impair bacteria. Penicillin or erythromycin (well-known antibiotics) are prescribed when the physician suspects streptococcal or another bacterial infection that responds to them. However, a number of bacterial throat infections require other antibiotics instead. Antibiotics do not cure viral infections, but viruses do lower the patient's resistance to bacterial infections.

When such a combined infection occurs, antibiotics may be recommended. When an antibiotic is prescribed, it should be taken as the physician directs for the full course (usually 10 days). Otherwise the infection will probably be suppressed rather than eliminated, and it can return. Some children will experience recurrent infection despite antibiotic treatment. When some of these are strep infections or are severe, your child may require a tonsillectomy.

Should Other Family Members be Treated or Cultured?
When a strep test is positive, many experts recommend treatment or culturing of other family members. Practice good sanitary habits; avoid close physical contact; and sharing of napkins, towels, and utensils with the infected person. Handwashing makes good sense.

What If My Throat Culture Is Negative?
A strep culture tests only for the presence of streptococcal infections. Many other infections, both bacterial and viral, will yield negative cultures and sometimes so does a streptococcal infection. Therefore, when your culture is negative, your physician will base his/her decision for treatment on the severity of your symptoms and the appearance of your throat on examination.

How Can I Treat My Sore Throat?
A mild sore throat associated with cold or flu symptoms can be made more comfortable with the following remedies:

Increase your liquid intake.
Warm tea with honey is a favorite home remedy.
Use a steamer or humidifier in your bedroom.
Gargle with warm salt water several times daily: ¼ tsp. salt to ½ cup water.
Take over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol Sore Throat®, Tempra®) or ibuprofen (Motrin IB®, Advil®).

Self-diagnosis: given the timing of the sore throat, immediately after two consecutive nights out, in very smoky closed quarters, and the loud noise neciessitated shouting, so it was caused by tobacco smoke irritation and straining the larynx. The pain though, is fairly extreme at this point.
Will treat by drinking tea, honey, and salt water.

copied from: http://www.sinuscarecenter.com/throaaao.html

Kings of Crabs

walking by, perchance to see

just crabs, just people
like you, like me
just us, hand in hand

and them
piled in a pyramid
of life, death

eyes on sticks, legs in beaks
this meddling beside a boiling steaming pot
for melting cretaceous shells and delicious shrieks

underwater creams and garlic screams
steam, or a mist, or a screen of smoke
to suck the breath from some living thing
the brittle spine cooked out of life
detritus reduced to rot

a restaurant, or Dachau, or something else to find
a crab for a full stomach, or a wing
a tribe, a world,
that's all we have to sing
all we've got for a song
an empty mind
with nothing left to find

the grand design
drowning out diminishing stars
flashing lights and everything unfurled
for a pirate flag
and its parasites

where is the vegetarian flock
what draws their furrowed foreheads
this mad?
and bright flashing countenance from this only living planet
who shepherds them away from wrong?

can they not hear the panic bursting bubbles, the underwater throes and shock...

who are you and I
just working, watching, wherever we are, with whatever goes
while nuclear fires, gnaw and glow, poisonous dusts fly and corrode

what else prevails for us to pursue
to erode
to spoil
for war is also here, in our hearts, in our shoe, as we walk a street

we, eating ourselves, with teeth or fire

Yellow

Each day is getting harder to get through, since each day I feel worse and can barely even speak. A lot of people are sniffing or have colds so I am not alone, but tomorrow we have a serious session of mock teaching and my voicebox is holding on by a thread. It's just not a fun situation for me at all.

Only 2 of at least 20 trainees passed those grammar tests we took, in other words, only two got 16 or more out of 20. The average was 12. We get a re-test on Wednesday, after having concluded the entire course, and I am now wondering whether it is worth it. Each day is just 4 hours of miserable subway travelling, and the associated costs, and no guarantees even now of where I will be working.

A professional work environment seems like a worthy goal, but so far it is proving very very highly regimented, and this grammar test kind've shows they are going over the top in terms of their evaluations. It's not very realistic, and this is after all about graduates and better doing training to be elementary school teachers. It feels like we're like first time astronauts being led step by step into space.

So I am seriously wondering whether it is worth it. I have already invested a lot of myself, and made a good impression, but now starting to feel I am committing myself and submitting myself against, you know, what I really, honestly want or am comfortable with.

I guess this is like that point you get to on the run in the Ironman, where you realise you are nowhere. It's frustrating. I guess one must just keep on going. I hope the analogy works. I had committing myself genuinely and responsibly and then finding it was actually an abuse of my trust, and just service to the selfish ambitions of a company that actually doesn't care about me one way or another.

How about an online vote. Write your comments below, how many feel I must continue and try to complete the course, how many say, Hey, move onto something else?

Below is an article on yellow dust that is hanging like a shroad over Seoul. Visibility is 1-2km.

Worst yellow dust storm to hit Korea today

The season's worst yellow dust storm is expected to hit Korea today, blanketing most parts of the peninsula with a layer of dust.
"After the morning rain, the thickest yellow dust will land in Korea, carried by strong eastward winds from China, and will affect the country before dissipating tomorrow," the Korea Meteorological Administration said on its Web site yesterday.
The weather authorities warned citizens that the density of dust particles and pollution blowing in from northeastern China could reach the highest level of over 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter.

The KMA issues the highest warning when the dust level in the air reaches and remains over 1,000 micrograms for an hour.

In the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia where the sandstorms began yesterday and the day before, dust storms of a density over 9,000 micrograms per cubic meter were reported, KMA said.

"People should take heed of weather news tomorrow since there is a good chance that the highest level of warning can be posted," KMA said.
When the highest warning is issued, schools should consider suspending classes and even closing for the day, and children, senior citizens and those with respiratory diseases are urged to stay indoors.

Livestock raisers should also prepare against the yellow dust storm, KMA advised.
(milaya@heraldm.com)
By Lee Sun-young

Blood Makes Noise

Blood Types

Human blood is grouped into four types: A, B, AB, and O. Each letter refers to a kind of antigen, or protein, on the surface of red blood cells. For example, the surface of red blood cells in Type A blood has antigens known as A-antigens.
The Rh Factor

Each blood type is also grouped by its Rhesus factor, or Rh factor. Blood is either Rh positive (Rh+) or Rh negative (Rh-). About 85% of Americans have Rh+ blood.

Rhesus refers to another type of antigen, or protein, on the surface of red blood cells. The name Rhesus comes from Rhesus monkeys, in which the protein was discovered.

Blood Transfusions

Blood types become very important when a blood transfusion is necessary. In a blood transfusion, a patient must receive a blood type that is compatible with his or her own blood type—that is, the donated blood must be accepted by the patient's own blood. If the blood types are not compatible, red blood cells will clump together, making clots that can block blood vessels and cause death.

Type O– blood is considered the “universal donor” because it can be donated to people of any blood type. Type AB+ blood is considered the “universal recipient” because people with this type can receive any blood type.


Blood type/% Americans this type/who can receive this type
O+ 37% O+, A+, B+, AB+
O– 6% All blood types
A+ 34% A+, AB+
A– 6% A+, A–, AB+, AB–
B+ 10% B+, AB+
B– 2% B+, B–, AB+, AB–
AB+ 4% AB+
AB– 1% AB+, AB–

Did You Know?

* Blood type is inherited, just like eye color.
* Certain blood types are more common in certain countries. In China, over 99% of the population has Rh+ blood.
* Different kinds of animals have different kinds of blood. Dogs have 4 blood types; cats have 11; cows have about 800.
* Some people think blood type tells about personality. Legend has it that Type A is calm and trustworthy; Type B is creative and excitable; Type AB is thoughtful and emotional; and Type O is a confident leader.
* In Japan, the idea of blood type as personality type is so popular that Japanese ask “What's your blood type?” about as often as Americans ask “What's your sign?”

From: www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0877658.html

Bad Days for South Korea's Type-B Men

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL (Reuters) - Lee Sung-san is a 24-year-old South Korean student looking for love and hoping that the women he is wooing don't ask him for his blood type.

Genetics and pop culture have teamed up to make Lee's love life miserable. Lee is blood type B, which nudges him near to the nadir of the dating scene in South Korea.

"I have had women tell me flat out they don't date blood type B guys. They say we are selfish and hot-headed," Lee said.

South Korean magazines, TV shows and Internet chat rooms have been buzzing about blood types for years. But, these days, the subject of attention is just how difficult it is to strike up a relationship with type B men.

Scientists say there is no link between blood type and personality. But that hasn't stopped self-proclaimed experts from declaring, for example, that type-A women, with their shy ways, should avoid type-B men, who are likely to be cads.

Associating blood types with personality traits has been going on for decades in North Asia. Most of the original interest started in Japan early in the 20th century and it has also taken off in South Korea.

There are many characteristics associated with type-B people, but the bad rap going around about type-B men in Korea is that they are selfish, mercurial and absolutely useless as caring and devoted boyfriends.

Type-B women, on the other hand, seem to have escaped the wrath of pop culture.

Last fall, a song from singer Kim Hyun-jung called "Type-B Men" soared to the top of the charts. The song had lyrics that said type-B men are quick to get angry and quick to make up, but in the end, they will break your heart.

THE BLOOD TYPE OF BAD BOYS

Author Kim Nang has been ringing up steady sales of her book, "Dating a Type-B Man," in which she lays out strategies for women of various blood types to deal with the pitfalls and pleasures of striking up relationships with type-B men.

Another assault on pop culture came earlier this year with the release of the romantic comedy, "My Boyfriend is Type-B," which tells the frustrations of a type-A woman who falls in love with just such a man.

The man in the movie makes his girlfriend wait for hours in his car so that he doesn't have to pay for parking. On a date, his head is permanently swiveling to check out other women.

The movie, made for about $2.5 million, took in more than $10 million at the box office in South Korea and is to appear on Japanese screens later this year.

Director Choi Sukwon said he had first worked on a movie about blood types as a film student at New York University. He produced a short film that was well received and later returned to the subject for his feature in South Korea.

"Bashing is too harsh a word to describe what is happening to blood type-B men. For women they are seen as bad boys, but they are also appealing because they are charming and attractive," said Choi, himself a type-B man.

"Those traits make blood-type-B men notorious for girls in Korea. Girls all over the world want their men to be sensitive, to listen to what they need and what they feel," he said.

Choi said the more he investigated the subject of blood types, the more conflicting information he received.

BAD BLOOD, BAD MATCHES?

In Asia, the subject of linking blood types to personality took off with the 1927 publication of a series of articles by Japanese scholar Takeji Furukawa called "The Study of Temperament Through Blood Type."

The concept hit pop culture and mass media in 1971 when Japanese writer Masahiko Nomi expanded upon Furukawa's ideas and wrote "Understanding Compatibility from Blood Types."

Type-O people were described as outgoing, expressive and passionate. Type-A were considered introverted perfectionists while type-AB were an unpredictable, distant lot.

And then there was type-B. They were considered independent spirits with strong personalities.

Nomi's works and other similar books from Japan have been translated into Korean. At most major bookstores in Seoul, there are works from Japan on subjects such as how a type-A mother should raise a type-O son.

These days, South Korean women's magazines and Internet sites dedicated to trends seem to be fixated with the subject of romance with type-B men.

According to a recent nationwide survey conducted by Internet portal site xyinlove.co.kr, type-B men were considered to be the most difficult type to date and about 40 percent of women said they did not want to marry a type-B man.

The Internet message board at the blood clinic of Seoul University Hospital has postings such as one from a woman seeking medical advice to find out "if it is true that type-B men have more extramarital affairs than other blood types?"

Kim Tae-suk, a doctor in the department of psychiatry at the Catholic University of Korea, said younger Koreans were buying into defining people by blood types because of what they see on TV, movies and in print.

"I can definitively say there is no scientific evidence that links a person's blood type to their character," Kim said.

He added that every jilted lover should just calm down and stop blaming a break-up on a bad blood match.

Click on the title of this post to link to the webpage where this article was found.

My blood type is AB+, which is apparently very rare, and very useful since I can get a transfusion from almost anyone.

In addition, AB+ plasma donors can give to all blood types. However, doctors generally prefer to give people blood of the same type as their own, if it is possible.

It is also rumored to be the same bloody type as Jesus, Marilyn Monroe and JFK. Even so, I believe it is all hype, no substance, and the only good blood types do that they leave a trail that allow us to trace our genealogies including tribal beginnings, but even then I guess one could just aswell use a toenail or a hair from your armpit.

There are also books suggesting diets that suit certain blood types. I think the people who really believe in that stuff are looking for security, and answers outside of themselves. To them I say, Get Real!

On another subject, raised in the previous post, Tyler Hamilton, a guy who won the gold medal for cycling the timetrial in the 2005 Olympics, is accused of blood doping, putting someone elses enriched blood into his body (carrying more oxygen) and apparently this can significantly improve performance, but it can also kill you, and its illegal.

He seems like an honest fellow, and like Armstrong, has a website and fund dedicated to people with ADD or something, not sure exactly what...just googled it: multiple sclerosis. Doesn't seem the type of guy to cheat - he also did a large section of one of the Tours de France with a broken collar bone, and still finished 4th. No, not broken, fractured. But that shows he has guts.

On cnn.com:
"Not for a second did I think it was going to turn out this way. The bottom line is an innocent athlete was suspended from competition. You could say it's a victory for USADA (U.S. Anti Doping Agency), but I think it's better to say it's a tragedy for all athletes. I'm innocent."

The arbitration panel ruled that Hamilton's positive sample was from a transfusion of another person's blood. That would increase Hamilton's red-blood-cell count, increasing his endurance, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said.

You can alos get his opinion at http://www.tylerhamilton.com/.
It's interesting because sometimes it is easy to make big grandiose statements, self righteous statements if you;re a government body or someone else, and you just ignore technical data which actually render old, fairly staic laws to be quite dogmatic. I once was pulled off a medical trial, without explanation, then asked for a hearing, and won it on a technicality, even though before that the burden of proof, they thought, was against me. So it is a good thing, if there is any doubt, rather believe someone is innocent.

That's just my opinion. What do you think.

Some Things Change

This morning I was awake before the alarm went off at 6:30am. I had odd dreams that I was trying to sell my less than perfect Ford Escort. I think the theme of the dream was fear, and stress, where you seek a certain result that cannot be guarantee.

I was a corpse this morning, and it crossed my mind to email the school and excuise myself from the course, and then restart it next week.
But I didn't want to repeat a single day already done. My biggest concern was that my voice was extremely hoarse, I was The Hoarse Whisperer, and we have to do DEMOS in class, and obviously if you are just squeaking, that's not going to work. I just kicked myself out of bed anyway and as it ruend out, as the monring wore on, the hoarseness wore off.

The test though was really convoluted, extremely not straightfoward, and only 15 minutes, so I found it not very easy. I'm not sure how many people found it easy. We need 80% to pass, and if we fail, we get one more chance next week.
Problem is, I am not sure to what extent you can study it. I think, grammar for example, especially when you theorise about it in a very indirect way, it's not very easy. If you're talking about gerunds and passed participles and what their patterns are, it's very hard to know if you can't quickly forumlate and compare examples.

Some of us, including me, arrived a little late for the next session, due to sandwiches that we ordered taking forever. In the end we guzzled them in about 3 minutes, and left a small duststorm in our wake to get back to class. I got back first, about 1-2 minutes late.

The volume of material is HUGE, and it makes me wonder if the extra pay is worth it as we work extra EXTRA hard. My reasoning is that I want to move forward, and upward, and grow, and the financial side is very important too. Convenience is important, but not when that translates to laziness.

I'm happy to hear that despite the requirement of working 1 weekend day a month, we can also take time off after every 9 months, which means I will be able to do the SA Ironman next year, which would not have worked had I signed the traditional 12 month contract at any other school.
Another bummer is I may have to run around between 2 schools, but that might be more interesting, and I will probably get to know a much larger community of teachers that way. The toughest thing though, is whether to commit key money now (a deposit of about R25 000) towards an apartment here, and then I hear later that they want me to work in Mokpo or somewhere MOER anderkant - far away. I need to get a place soon as the buildings have just been finished and units are being snapped up.

Lance is doing the Tour, Tyler is banned, and a New Pope is on the vote. Some things don't change. Tyler says his blood showed evidence of another person's blood (evidence of doping) because when he was in utero he had a twin that ultimately died. Interesting theory, possible, but doubtful. If true, tragic for Tyler. Will Lance win the Tour a 7th time? Will some things change...?

"The independence created by philosophical insight is — in my opinion — the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth," Einstein wrote in 1944.

Verb Tenses - Mystery Solved

Remember I had that hated interview for a CELTA course in Cape Town, the one where the guy wanted to know a.....smoker. Answer: heavy. Remember? Well, in the grammar poortion of today's ;ecture we dealt with it, and it's actually quite simple:

There are 12 tenses:
present, past and future x each of the following:
- simple (3)
- continuous (progressive) (3)
- perfect (3)
- perfect progressive (continuous) (3)

Examples:
Simple: merely simple forms of the verb in present, past and future:
I drink milk/I am happy/I eat food/I am a teacher
I drank milk/I was happy/I ate food/I was a teacher
I will drink milk/I will be happy/I will eat eat food/I will be a teacher

Simple is basically the be verb form in present , past and future, but in the next tense, Progressive (continuous) it is be + ing.
So:
Examples:
I am drinking milk/I am enjoying the movie/I am eating food/I am teaching you
I was drinking milk/I was enjoying the movie/I was eating food/I was teaching yesterday
I will be drinking milk/I will be enjoying the movie in an hour/I will be eating food with you this evening/I will be teaching tomorrow

Perfect: have/had + past particple (pp = know - known/ pp = know - knew)
So:
Examples:
I have eaten that since I was five/I have enjoyed that movie as long as I can remember/I have taught you for a while now
I had enjoyed that movie, until the part where I vomitted/I had taught English for a while, then I changed directions
I will have studied for a week by the end of the month.

Perfect Progressive is a combination of have/had + pp + be + ing
So:
Examples:
I have been eating all day
I had been eating all day when you found me
I will have been eating all day by this time tomorrow

It's easy when you know, but when you don't, it's a mystery. Another flick at Mick Riggs: today the entire class spent by far the most time debating just this area of grammar. It goes to show that almost no one automatically knows about this, and I am not sure that they must. I agree that it is good to know, that we as teachers should, but it is being very unreasonable, and daft, really, to suggest that the seat of English lies here. If you want to confuse, bore and terrify students, all at once, (or teachers for that matter), focus on verb tenses ad infinitum, ad nauseum.