I will likely put up a few new posts in the next day or two about the various things I saw in Beijing. But for now, I am uploading my pics onto my flickr which I haven't updated in way way way too long. There was a horrid smudge over a part of my lense under the outer glass for the first 3 days. So a lot of the pictures have a dark spot. :( Oh well. It randomly went away on day 4 so the later pics are much better.
Check it out.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Pittsburgh and James Dean
More Pittsburgh love.
Also...3 Korean women I work with agreed that I look like James Dean.
Things are good. ^_^
Also...3 Korean women I work with agreed that I look like James Dean.
Things are good. ^_^
Monday, August 25, 2008
Brown-nosing
Word: Teacher
Sentence: We're teacher is beautiful
Word: Teacher
Sentence: My teacher (Kevin) is handsome.
Both sentences are from 9 year old girls. Pandering will get you anywhere! Bring in an apple next, bitches!
Also funny...
Word: Enemy
Sentence: "I have a enemy its my younger brother."
Sentence: We're teacher is beautiful
Word: Teacher
Sentence: My teacher (Kevin) is handsome.
Both sentences are from 9 year old girls. Pandering will get you anywhere! Bring in an apple next, bitches!
Also funny...
Word: Enemy
Sentence: "I have a enemy its my younger brother."
Monday, August 4, 2008
Kyoto
Most everyone I had talked to said that Kyoto was a must stop in Japan. I was not disappointed. In some ways it is the city that time forgot. While there are massive, sprawling malls and shopping districts that go on for a few city blocks, they are still frequented by women wearing kimonos. Moreover, these women are without question all among the most stunningly beautiful ones I have EVER seen in my life. Jacob and I kept passing a woman and turning to each other aghast.
There are well over 100 temples and shrines that pepper the city. Although we only saw about 5 or 6 of them...we made sure to hit the big and most stunning ones. Some pictures will be forthcoming.
Perhaps the coolest part was a complete unplanned accident. After the three of us got dinner we heard a drum beating and some Japanese music from a nearby park. We walk over and watch about 50-100 Japanese people, mostly in kimonos, dancing these traditional dances in a circle. Within about 10 minutes of getting there...a young guy spotted us...came over to ask us to join the dance. After I coersed Jacob and Diane into coming out...the three of us went out and one middle-aged Japanese woman was teaching us the dances as we did it. Everyone was excited that a few foreigners were out there. It was so awesome. After I got the hang of it, a couple younger Japanese boys came out and copied my moves. I am so awesome.
Despite only truly being in the nation for 3 days...it's going to be hard to ever top this.
Pictures will be in my flickr shortly.
There are well over 100 temples and shrines that pepper the city. Although we only saw about 5 or 6 of them...we made sure to hit the big and most stunning ones. Some pictures will be forthcoming.
Perhaps the coolest part was a complete unplanned accident. After the three of us got dinner we heard a drum beating and some Japanese music from a nearby park. We walk over and watch about 50-100 Japanese people, mostly in kimonos, dancing these traditional dances in a circle. Within about 10 minutes of getting there...a young guy spotted us...came over to ask us to join the dance. After I coersed Jacob and Diane into coming out...the three of us went out and one middle-aged Japanese woman was teaching us the dances as we did it. Everyone was excited that a few foreigners were out there. It was so awesome. After I got the hang of it, a couple younger Japanese boys came out and copied my moves. I am so awesome.
Despite only truly being in the nation for 3 days...it's going to be hard to ever top this.
Pictures will be in my flickr shortly.
Hiroshima
All the history books I read and classes I took could have never prepared me for what I felt when I stood 600 meters beneath where the world's first atomic bomb detonated. There is a building that still sort of exists in what is an otherwise eerily rebuilt city. It's odd being in a city where NOTHING is more than 65 years old. This one building has been preserved a memorial to the 140,000 people who died. Check it out.
Nearby is a museum and memorial to the fallen. It is at least on par with the Holocaust museum as the most visceral and heart-wrenching museums I have ever been on. They have things taken from the fallen. Pictures of bodies that are burnt beyond recognition from a fireball that killed almost everyone within a mile radius. There was a clump of hair that a mother had cut from her dead daughter and saved for the rest of her radiation shortened life. The hair is singed on the end from the fireball. There were fingernails from one boy...one of the few things that survived the blast. One booth contains a watch that a man was wearing at the time of the blast. The crystal face is smashed in and the time is stopped at exactly 8:15am.
This little 4 day trip to Japan was probably one of the most worthwhile experiences of my life.
Nearby is a museum and memorial to the fallen. It is at least on par with the Holocaust museum as the most visceral and heart-wrenching museums I have ever been on. They have things taken from the fallen. Pictures of bodies that are burnt beyond recognition from a fireball that killed almost everyone within a mile radius. There was a clump of hair that a mother had cut from her dead daughter and saved for the rest of her radiation shortened life. The hair is singed on the end from the fireball. There were fingernails from one boy...one of the few things that survived the blast. One booth contains a watch that a man was wearing at the time of the blast. The crystal face is smashed in and the time is stopped at exactly 8:15am.
This little 4 day trip to Japan was probably one of the most worthwhile experiences of my life.
The injury
I got the first 14 stitches of my life and of Korea 2 weeks ago. I got into a nasty fight with a drinking glass while I was doing dishes. And while he may have won the battle cutting a giant chunk out of my thumb...I won the war. Suckkaaa. He's now in the garbage.
While Korean medicine is veryy good...I always fear that the doctors might be crazy...and being that we don't speak the same language, they can't calm my fears. After getting to the hospital, I had to call for my Korean boss, John, to translate for me. He tells me that he wants me to stay there for 5 days...for stitches...no kidding. After telling him flat out..."No"....he sends me home to get the skin that came out of my thumb. Otherwise, "I'll have to take from other body." Being that I didn't know if the other body would be Korean or my own...I went home to get the skin that was still hanging from the bloody glass.
Picture attached...if I figure out how.
While Korean medicine is veryy good...I always fear that the doctors might be crazy...and being that we don't speak the same language, they can't calm my fears. After getting to the hospital, I had to call for my Korean boss, John, to translate for me. He tells me that he wants me to stay there for 5 days...for stitches...no kidding. After telling him flat out..."No"....he sends me home to get the skin that came out of my thumb. Otherwise, "I'll have to take from other body." Being that I didn't know if the other body would be Korean or my own...I went home to get the skin that was still hanging from the bloody glass.
Picture attached...if I figure out how.
Monday, July 21, 2008
USA Today Pittsburgh Profile
Also for the Pittsburgh Pride homies out there in the big 412...check out this link from the USA Today. It is undoubtedly one of the more fair and correct descriptions of Pittsburgh by a national column.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
