Descending Life Line (four)

     Almost every restaurant in Korea will give you complimentary side dishes. If you go out for pasta, you'll usually get some sweet pickled cucumbers and some sliced peppers. The more Korean the meal, the more side dishes you'll get.
     I go out for kimchi jjigae {김치찌개} and along with my large bowl of still boiling stew and side bowl of rice they leave me all types of pickled and preserved....stuff. Everything from squid to cucumber, from mushrooms to soy flavored jello. Masitda! {맛있다}!

Descending Life Line (three)

     Public transportation is very, cheap, easy, and convenient in Seoul. Sometimes there are subway stops just half a block from each other, and buses run everywhere. You can buy rechargeable cards that will scan on both the buses and the subways through your purse or wallet. A trip from Suwon to Seoul by bus costs a mere 1,700 won (about $2 in US money).
     Unfortunately this means that the public transportation is also extremely popular. I have have heard stories of people missing subway stops, because the train was too crowded to exit. If I leave Seoul coming back down to Suwon at the wrong time of the night I sometimes have to stand in the aisle of the bus, and a few times I've actually stood on the stairs at the door of the bus, because I couldn't get any further in.
     I know Ken Kesey often said, "you're either on the bus, or off the bus." Sometimes to be on the bus you just need to be able to get a good finger hold, swipe your card, and pray for a quick ride.

Descending Life Line (two)

     Here is the latest installment of Descending Life Line. If you can't read the text in the image the mommie is telling the baby, "Say hello! Say hello!"
     At the bottom I wrote, "Often when Parents see you on the street they will try to get their children to practice English..."

Descending Life Line (one)

     Here is a little comic that I doodled while I was sitting in a coffee shop in Seoul. I was thinking about the strangeness of teaching children in a language that they don't completely understand. The particular class that I was envisioning has the disadvantages of almost no English, attention span, or chances to release excess energy before class. Luckily there has been no actual fires, yet.







     The boy in the comic is saying, "Wayne teacher! Wayne teacher, homework check! Wayne teacher! Teacher! Wayne teacher, homework! Teacher~~~!"
     The caption at the bottom reads, "...And then there are whole classes that I fill with a sort of monologue: "Nick, don't stab Steve. Why is John on fire again? Alex, please get off the table. Andy please get in your chair. One moment Paul. Steve wake up. Paul help John, please. Dan put your toys away. Nick, don't eat Steve. John stop burning..."