T1B

Posted: **Sat May 06, 2006 10:59 am**

Rack you! Poptart

Well, it's 9 pm here on the west coast... so time to head to bed.

I'll look out my window and look over at Oakland and think of the of you and the 8 loses that will occur over there in 2006. Oh well, it is Oakland.

m2

Posted: **Sat May 06, 2006 11:56 am**

Cicero wrote:I remember when we lived in Korea. The smell was unbearable at times. Esp when you went into "town." Back in '85 my father had a nice car and you would have thought we were the Rockefellers by the way they would mob the car when we drove thru "town."

Keep on, keepin on, pop.

That is what I recall as well.

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 9:57 am**

Diversity

A certain segment of America loves to bang on the 'diversity' drum.
"We NEED diversity", they cry.
Multiculturalism.
Language multiplicity.
Affirmative action.
etc...

Didn't take me long here in Korea to recognize that there is virtually NO diversity in this culture......compared to the U.S.
I'm certain that the same can be said about MOST countries in the world.
Diversity does not exist.

Why must some within the U.S. endlessly bang the diversity drum ..... when the level of diversity within U.S. borders DWARFS the level found in most other areas of the world...?

Is there racism in the U.S. .... ?
Oh yes.

Is there racism in places like Korea...?
Oh yes.

More damn opportunity to do what you want to do in the U.S. than anywhere in the world.

Just go out and do it and STFU.

Diversity = code for put the screws to whitey

Sorry, jus' the troof.

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 11:57 am**

^
Homesick already, 'eh. :wink:

Do things at least slow down there some on Sunday's?

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 12:51 pm**

The roadways are JAMMED on Sundays, tl.
Not a day for leisurely driving.
Hell, I don't know that there is ever leisurely driving in this nuthouse.
Slants seem to think a two-lane rd means two cars may travel on each side of the road.
Wierd, wild, wacky .....
I don't plan on driving while I'm here.
Never know though.
The subway stench might end up making the decision for me.

Stay tuned.

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 3:21 pm**

pops,how's it feel to finally have the biggest dong on your block :P

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 8:12 pm**

Hey Pop,

Just be careful. If they ever ask you to "take the Dog for a wok",

What they mean is they're expecting you to cook dinner.

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 9:20 pm**

How about some pics of your general area?

velocet

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 9:45 pm**

poptart wrote:I arrived on my new 'home' soil last Friday evening. Intend to live here for 2 years ...... maybe more. We'll see. Wagon has set the over/under at 90 days. haha

First order of business at the airport in Inchon was to exchange some American green into Korean won. One US dollar will get you about 940 korean won. So just roughly, if you want to buy something that would cost $10 you'd fork over about 10,000 won. Walking around a shop at the Inchon airport I was immediately struck by the number of zeros behind the listed price for each item. This book costs 8,500 won, that bag costs 11,000 won, this goes for 10,000 won.....and so on. Hey, it might be time to update your currency system and LOSE a few of the zeros, slants. But, what the hell does a yankee know...?

My wife's brother picked us up at the airport. His name is Yong Mun. He has an older brother who lives in Houston, and his name is Yong Un. There is yet another brother who I will meet later, and I fully expect his name to be Yong Yun ..... but I dunno. Sort of the George Foreman, all five of my sons are George, sort of deal, I guess. Yong Mun is a sweet guy. My wife tells me his is the nicest of her four siblings. When he first saw me at the airport he gave me a VERY warm handshake. Not a nutcracker handshake, but a warm..... e x t e n d e d ...... shake, ya know...? Wouldn't let go of my hand. Feeling me up. Looking in my eyes. Warm. Swear the man had a mind to kiss me on the lips. But....naaaah. Seriously, a VERY nice man.

Drove about an hr to Yong Mun's 'house'.....where my wife and I have been staying for the past few days until our apartment is ready later this week. Very gracious of him to let us stay in their 'house'. BUT, a house it is not. It is a small 2 bedroom apartment. Most all folks live in apartments here in S. Korea. Land is scarce, and only the very wealthy can afford to purchase land to put a house on. You'll drive (that's another story) for a while and see nothing but beautiful hills and low mountains, and then arrive on a few square mile area where there are 20 to 30 20-or-so story apartment buildings. So what you've got is pockets of VERY dense population. We arrived at Yong Mun's apartment building complex fairly late, around 11:00, and we were flat SCREWED on finding a parking spot. None to be found. Cars parked slanted EVERY damn direction all over the friggin' lot. Cars boxed in, and what not. Yong Mun shrugged it off, obviously having seen it all many times before. Said if you don't get home by 6 or 7 o'clock at night you simply won't get a place to park your car that night. I laughed. He drove us up to the door of the building, weaving in and out and around cars placed in all different directions. Yong Mun, my wife, and I unloaded our many bags from the car, and Mrs Yong Mun then came out to take the car 'somewhere' to park it for the night. Yong Mun helped us carry the bags to his 5th floor apartment, and his wife came back from parking the car somewhere about 30 minutes later, sweat on her forehead. haha
Most peeps take the train system around Korea, and it didn't take me long to see why.

I had serious jet lag, so I slept until 6pm the next day (Saturday). My wife, Yong Mun, and his wife went out around 3:00 to do a few errands, and she woke me long enough to inform me that they'd be back later, but that Yong Mun's son, Ye Chan, was in the living room playing some computer games. If I 'needed' anything I was supposed to get help from him. At 6:00 I came out of the bedroom and walked into the kitchen to see about a cup of coffee. Immediately, I felt the laser eyes of Ye Chan on me. Kid was dialed in on EVERY move I made. Appeared that the sight of a yankee rustling around in his kitchen had him shaken just a bit. haha He's 11 yrs old, but that's actually 10, because kids are considered to be one yr old at birth in Korea. Smart boy, Ye Chan is. He approached me, introduced himself to me, saying, "I am Kwon Ye Chan". Last name first in Korea. Ye Chan helped me make some coffee, got me some yogurt and toast to eat, and then showed me how to dispose of my garbage. Yes, 4 separate bags to place garbage in. One for plastic, one for light paper, one for heavy paper (newspaper or cardboard), and one for food. You can't just slop everything into one bag like you can in the good ol' US of A.

After I ate, Ye Chan took me across the street to a NICE park to place some soccer with him. He took a liking to me, and just kept on rambling on and on and on to me in Korea lingo. I'd just sort of nod, smile, and say "yeah? really? is that right?" And on and on he'd prattle about who knows what. Lovely park it is. Five nice clay tennis courts, five clay badminton courts, a nice skate park, a track, a heavily wooded walking hill, with many trails, and a VERY nice soccer field with field turf. Folks all over the area, doing their thing. Saw a sign at the entrance area and could make out that it was built in 2002. Still looks new. Couldn't help but think of my 'hometown' of Houston, and wondered how long a beautiful public park of this sort would last there before the vandals tore it all to shit. Hey, the people here are not interested in tearing their shit up. Refreshing.

I must say, however, that I don't know if there is a shower curtain to be found in Korea. The Koreans are technologically AHEAD of the US in some ways (I'll discuss another time), but they are strangely VERY far behind in bathroom ways. ha
Yong Mun's shower tub has no curtain, and the shower head is a hand-held job. Yeah, water flies EVERYDAMN where, and..... that's how it's supposed to be. There is a set of rubber flip-flops at the entrance to the bathroom, and you are to put them on whenever you go in the bathroom, because there is routinely water on the floor, ..... and everywhere else too.
I don't think I'll get comfortable with this.
Hand-held shower head sprays water, flushing up into Yong Mun's Chatahoochie Canal, and all manner of unimaginable matter is sprayed up into the room, on the mirror, the toilet seat, the floor, .... and the sink where I brush my teeth.

:?

Mix in a shower curtain, Ping...?

More later.

Peace to all, and may God bless the US of A.

Greatest land on the face of the earth.

Out..............

Vintage Poptard.

Unreadable.

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 10:44 pm**

Lighten up, Eagle, most of us are enjoying this.

Pop said he was in Anyang, South Korea. A google search revealed these pictures:

Main Street

****************

A theater on Main Street. Pop is waiting to see, "Kirrer Dirrer" staring Rucas Brack, Wiram Ree Scott, and Fred Wirrard.

****************

20 story apartment building near a town called, believe it or not, Suk-su Dong.

****************

Rip City

Posted: **Sun May 07, 2006 11:02 pm**

Never mind, Pops, Luther took care of that request. I didn't want you to go to any trouble: I figured you'd probably be taking pics anyway. The ones Luth posted are what I had in mind, so rack him.

velocet

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 2:58 am**

Eaglebauer wrote:
Vintage Poptard.

Unreadable.

And yet, you found it necessary to quote the entire post.

Would that someday you could post something that someone, anyone, gave a shit about.

Get the hell out of 'tarts thread, you stupid motherfucker.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 7:45 am**

Regalblower,

A whiny A.D.H.D.-maligned pecker checker could find that post unreadable.

Perhaps The Cat in the Hat Picture Storybook is more up your alley ...... ?
Farmhouse Fables ..... ?
Flubber ... ?
Rumple Foreskin .. ?
or ..... The Communist Manifesto ..... if you can manage to drag 'John' off mommy long enough to have her hummmmm ...err.. read... it to you.

Yeah, a take on 'diversity' like mine will often finally goad a leftist sponge-muff to chime in to a thread and offer something illogical, ill-advised, and ill-mannered.
Predictably amusing to know that I can make you sopping fucking wet, jacked-ass.

Hey, your own takes are not only unreadable, buttock-breed', but they are an absolute afterthought.
Better (or worse) yet, a NO thought.
A scroll wheel calorie burn.

They said, cum scroll away,
Cum scroll away
Cum scroll away with me, ba-by .............

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 9:05 pm**

I loved Korea. Would move there in a heartbeat if I could.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 9:21 pm**

CalaLily wrote:Would move there in a heartbeat if I could.

The bangs on most women in Texas are taller than your average Korean. Get away from Texas. Place is a dump.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 9:42 pm**

Bizzarofelice wrote:
CalaLily wrote:Would move there in a heartbeat if I could.
The bangs on most women in Texas are taller than your average Korean. Get away from Texas. Place is a dump.

I love Austin.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 9:48 pm**

CalaLily wrote:I love Austin.

Too bad its full of Texans.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 9:51 pm**

Bizzarofelice wrote:
CalaLily wrote:I love Austin.
Too bad its full of Texans.

We should just make out and get it over with.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 9:56 pm**

Sorry. I don't think I've made out with a Korean in quite some time. I usually just push their face into a pillow, rip off their underwear and pile their top half with unwashed laundry until the only thing showing is the half that I plan on using for my own devices.

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 9:57 pm**

Bizzarofelice wrote:Sorry. I don't think I've made out with a Korean in quite some time. I usually just push their face into a pillow, rip off their underwear and pile their top half with unwashed laundry until the only thing showing is the half that I plan on using for my own devices.

I don't get it. Is that a No?

Posted: **Mon May 08, 2006 10:05 pm**

CalaLily wrote:
Bizzarofelice wrote:Sorry. I don't think I've made out with a Korean in quite some time. I usually just push their face into a pillow, rip off their underwear and pile their top half with unwashed laundry until the only thing showing is the half that I plan on using for my own devices.
I don't get it. Is that a No?

It was a hell yes.

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 1:14 am**

No, Trev. Although my comment was a yes, it wasn't a hell yes.

A hell yes would look like this:

Me

+

You

+

+

Think of the ways we could get off!

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 1:37 am**

Take my watch, build a car and I'll find the keys and drive us out of here.

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 9:45 am**

Actually it was terevrison into a watch, JCT, but I raffed.

Was going to put this in Jobocky's 'Mother's Day' thread, but decided to keep Korea in here.

They don't have Mother's Day and Father's Day in Korea.
They have Parent's Day, and it just was ..... 2 days ago .... May 8th.
Two birds with one stone, I s'pose.
Harrmark Korea is selling low.

They also have KID's day, if you can believe that shit.
It also just was ..... last Friday, May 5th.
Kid's day is a national holiday.
Gubernment buildings closed, schools closed, etc.
Many 'festivals', celebrating children, all over Korea on that day.
I attended one.
A church-sponsored 'sports festival' held in the 'sports field' at a local elementary school.
The 'field' is dirt ..... as are ALL of the 'fields' that I've seen here.
The Koreans, being prideful people, like to call the fields CLAY, *wink* *wink*, but ..... they are dirt.
Hard-pan dirt, with some smallish pebbles mixed in.
I didn't do much at the sports festival.
Was gawked at a lot though.
Sat on the cement bleachers, right behind the 'first aid' table.
Lots of bloody elbows, knees, and a few hands.
One 5 or 6 yr old girl with a deep scrape on her knee was howling at the moon, ..
..... but most 'victims' smiled and joked while getting patched up.

Well, at first I balked at the idea of fucking KID's day.
I later softened my stance after considering that public school kids here are REQUIRED to wear uniforms.
Boys uni' complete with tie, and girls wearing a plaid, just-below-the-knee, skirt.
The kids here regularly WORK and LEARN at school too.
My 'nephew' Ye Chan leaves for school about 7:30 and usually comes home after 7pm.
He (and many/most Korean kids) attends a study 'institute' most days for a few hrs after school is over.
On non-institute days they do some sports activities, or SOMETHING.
They also are required to go to school every other Saturday.

These Korean kids deserve their own day, yeah.
I salute 'em.

American kids deserve squat.

American leadership deserves squat.

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 4:44 pm**

Have you asked where you can find some comfort women yet?

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 4:45 pm**

JCT wrote:Have you asked where you can find some comfort women yet?

They never existed.

Sin,

The Japanese Government

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 5:41 pm**

poptart wrote: They also have KID's day, if you can believe that shit.
It also just was ..... last Friday, May 5th.
Kid's day is a national holiday...

Lots of bloody elbows, knees, and a few hands.
One 5 or 6 yr old girl with a deep scrape on her knee was howling at the moon, ..
..... but most 'victims' smiled and joked while getting patched up.

Which team injured the most kids?

do they score more points for a deep scrape as opposed to just a bruise?

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 6:07 pm**

poptart wrote: Yeah, a take on 'diversity' like mine will often finally goad a leftist sponge-muff to chime in to a thread and offer something illogical, ill-advised, and ill-mannered.
Predictably amusing to know that I can make you sopping fucking wet, jacked-ass.

Dude, you simply can't write. Not worth melting over.

Posted: **Tue May 09, 2006 6:10 pm**

Bizzarofelice wrote:
CalaLily wrote:Would move there in a heartbeat if I could.
The bangs on most women in Texas are taller than your average Korean. Get away from Texas. Place is a dump.

I was just in TX a few weeks ago. I was actually quite impressed with the women I saw.

Posted: **Wed May 10, 2006 4:10 am**

Eaglebauer wrote:Dude, you simply can't write. Not worth melting over.

So says 'tard who offers a two sentence 'take' and then finds need to edit it.

Yes, Regalblower, your input has been noted.

Posted: **Wed May 10, 2006 5:05 am**

Pop,

Give us a rundown on the water system, and the sewer system where you are. Obviously, when I was in Japan in the '60's, it was pretty Redneckish.

What have been your experiences when you've been in the town/city etc. with your wife and kids? Any semblence of racism? How are children etc. treated that might be Korean/American ?

Can you get access to the cheaper rates at any of the U.S. bases nearby?

What can you expose on the N. Korea vs. S. Korea situation ?
Is China and their lately sudden surge toward power, ah, accepted ?

What is the beer situation? Whiskey...anything locally brewed?

I know how you feel, bud...Rack the U. S. of A.

Rip City

Posted: **Wed May 10, 2006 1:40 pm**

South Korea is supposed to be the "hip" part of Asia, largely due to their film industry. Any evidence of this?

Also, my dad went to Taiwan and visited a snake restaurant, when you looked into a pit and selected your dinner. The guy would rip the skin off of the live snake right then, and toss him into a pot.

DO they have that kinda stuff in S. Korea? Maybe with a little more garlic?

Posted: **Wed May 10, 2006 1:43 pm**

^
Maybe with a little more dog? :wink:

Posted: **Sat May 13, 2006 8:25 am**

Luth,

Here in Anyang the water system is adequate, although my morning piss exits my pipe with more pressure than does the water from most faucets I've dealt with.

I've not been drinking ANY tap water and don't plan too.
Bottled all the way, baby.

The sewer system seems to be fine, although the all-too-frequent 'whiff-o'-jiff' one gets when walking around town makes one go "hmmmmmm........". Pressure is low, and the ol' double-flush is routine when hoping to have more than the 75th percentile of growler safely put to bed.

I have not experienced racism, although some of the looks that I get can be interpreted as such. More so from the older folks. I dunno though. I get stared at a LOT. Basically anytime I am out. Honestly, most of the folks here have been very gracious, polite and friendly. An occassional kid will straight up walk over to me, stand and look at me, and then smile and say, "hello." When I respond with my own hello he will sometimes just walk away. A few have followed it up with some other banter. The kids here are routinely taught English 'basics' and they see an American walking around as an opportunity to 'test' their stuff.
Many MANY things here are in dual language ..... to an extent. Many signs have English sub-heading, and most of the Koreans understand a pretty fair amount of English. They are hesitant to use it, I suspect out of fear of sounding dumb.
Bottom line is that it's a HELLUVA lot easier for an American to be in Korea than visa versa.

My understanding is that 'mixed' kids have traditionally been looked down on by most Koreans, although that is starting to soften some now. Steeler Hines Ward (half Black, half Korean) has actually made in-roads with the Koreans in that regard.

I'll be 'exploring' the US bases in the near future. I hear they could be good shopping areas for one such as me.

North Korea ... ?
I'm closer to it than I'd like to be. haha 50 miles or so, I guess. Well, there is a divide in the country as far as how they look at N. Korea. The old-timers have no love for 'em, but some of the younger generation are eager to buddy up with 'em. They want to be friendly with N. Korea more than they want to be friendly with the US military, who they somehow view as an 'enemy' to them.
Whatever.

Feelings on China are sort of 'neutral' I guess you'd say. China's 'surge toward power' as you put it is seen an an 'opportunity' for Korean advancement too. That's an over-simplification, but we're short on time. ha 'Cautiously opptomistic' is how I'd generally say Koreans are about China, and what their 'surge' means to them.

I'm not a drinker, Luth, so I don't really know that much about what the liquor situation is. Yes, there is 'local' whiskey, and definitely cheaper than anything coming from the west. You'll generally pay TWICE here what you would in the states for US food or drink items.

Saw a liter of Chivas and a liter of JW Red Label in 'E-Mart' yesterday. Both were going for 105,000 Won. That roughly translates into $114 US dollars.

I'll research some more, in case you're planning to come and visit me. :wink:

Dave,

I don't know about the film industry. I'll check into it. But hey, as I mentioned earlier, there are metrosexual freaks EVERYWHERE on TV here. Long, frosted, teased hair, ..... multiple earrings, ...... and BRIGHT colors are the thing here. Seems to me that they won't put a male in front of the camera if he isn't overtly androgynous.

A LOT of men here carry purses too.

Well, they serve a purpose because riding public transportation is SO common and necessary here. People carry around all the shit that WOULD be laying on the passenger seat of their car. Myself....? Backpack. A fucking purse .... pfft....

There could be some snake restaraunts here, dunno. I'll search. There is a LOT of strange shit here, that's for sure. I've been to a handful of 'quality' Korean restaurants ...... and they've all sucked.

Actually I'm pretty sure the food is good, if you're Korean. It's all just lot of grass, paste, fish with heads still on, soupy-shit, and some beef tidbits here and there.

Beef is not plentiful here, and it is EXPENSIVE.

The biggest pisser about the restaurants is that the the tables have no legs and people SIT on the fucking floor to eat.

WTF ..... ?!?

Sitting cross-legged on a hard floor is no way to enjoy your grass, weeds, paste, fish with their heads still on, soupy shit, and beef tidbits. I'm here to fucking tell ya, man. Get off the floor, Tang.

There are a lot of US chains here. Pizza Hut, McDonals, B-King, Baskin Robbin, etc.....many ....
They don't make you sit on the floor at any of those places, thank God and God.

Pizza at Pizza Hut has been seriously 'koreanized' ..... so that it sucks. Mission accomplished. lol

Yes, garlic is mixed in everything except Corn Flakes here. Prevents cancer, or something.

I'm pretty sure I'll die here, but it won't be from cancer.

Wonderful.

Posted: **Sat May 13, 2006 11:59 am**

I changed my mind.
I'm not dying here, e.
Gotta see the 'duds go the distance at least one more time.

I'm no fool, NO SIREE, I'm gonna live to be a hundred and three.

You can pick up the record player from my son ..... when he dies.

Posted: **Sat May 13, 2006 12:38 pm**

MORE STORIES, PLEASE!

Sounds like a real experience, 'tart. I'm envious. Could you ask around and see how hard it would be for a hack country music dj that only speaks American to land a gig there? And I'm guessing it would need to pay like a billion won a day if I wanted to keep my scotch and beer habit satisfied, but I'm not good at math, so I suppose my numbers could be a little off. Also, how hard is it to score weed in the Land A Few Doors Down From the Land of the Rising Sun?

Posted: **Sat May 13, 2006 5:37 pm**

poptart wrote: There are a lot of US chains here. Pizza Hut, McDonals, B-King, Baskin Robbin, etc.....many ....

The best Big Mac I ever had was in Hsin-shu,Taiwan. If it hadn't been for the U.S. fast food joints, I woulda' starved during the week I spent there.

So 'tart, have you had to use a public restroom there yet? The shitter's on the floor and you have to squat over the bastard and grunt out the growlers? Like that in S. Korea also?

As for Luth's question about the beer: They have some piss in a bottle labeled as being Budweiser, but that crap is about as far from being genuine Bud as Miller Lite is...undrinkable. Don't know where they brewed it, but it damn sure wasn't St. Louis, Mo. You can get a real Heinekin, if you're willing to pay about a bazillion $NT (New Taiwan dollars) for it.

Posted: **Sun May 14, 2006 9:53 am**

Elvis,

1,000,000 won is roughly $920. Not a bad day's work. Unless you can't stay away from the 'comfort women', as JCT likes to call 'em, you'd prolly be able to scrape up some change to buy somesome scotch, beer, and heroin.

If you can only speak 'American' you might be bent over though. Your boy-next-door good looks will only get you SO far, and then you'll have to produce something for the slants. 'Soiled' Brett Favre memorabilia won't impress.

'Weed' is EASY to score. No shit, there are small groups of 'grandmas' that sit around in in the grass during the daytime. They dig up something out of the ground. To eat, I presume. I'll wander up closer and investigate a little more.

Wagon,

The US chains are a lifesaver, yes. Never all that big on the places when I was in the states, but NOW, a McDonalds sign is almost like seeing the pearly gates.

I have yet to squat and shit yet, but yeah, I HAVE seen those crappers. Most places don't have 'em, but some of the 'old' places do. The day I am REQUIRED to use one is the day I plug my asshole. Having a plugged hole didn't kill Luther, did it .... ? NO, just gave him a bad case of pink eye. I can live with that.

Thanks for your concern.

Posted: **Sun May 14, 2006 10:55 am**

WW Wrote:
The best Big Mac I ever had was in Hsin-shu,Taiwan.

It prolly had to do with his height.

Poppers:
Sorry if I missed it; what is your purpose for being there?

Posted: **Sun May 14, 2006 11:10 am**

I'm a spy.

T1B

South Korea

Re: South Korea

Re: South Korea