The top 3 hits in Korea right now:

Big Bang - Lies
Wonder Girls - Nobody



Big Bang - Haru Haru

The 3 most annoying commercials in Korea right now

1. Fast Cash
2. Rush and Cash
3. Matiz

I just love this song:

Prodigal Me
by Shane Barnard

what have i done to get me here?
unraveled and undone, i need my father
what have i done? i've followed my feet to nowhere
now i'm here! as i ran, i can run no more
prodigal me

the mountains to the west, i know they laugh at me
they know i'm scared to cross and leave this life i lead
oh my pride! i give you up a barter for my freedom
what will they think as i come stumbling down to join their lives?

i need to cross this mountain and find my way home
i seek no greater fortune, rescue me
oh unmerciful divide be merciful tonight
show me the other side
prodigal me

the mountains to the east, they¹ve swallowed my beloved
this house completely incomplete, where is my mortar?
where did he go? he followed his feet to nowhere
please come home! you¹ve done me no wrong
each evening i look down that road
i hope and i wait for you
and my servants they look down that road
we watch and we pray for you

master, master, who's that man stumbling down that road?
could it be the one? could it be? could it be?
master, master, it's Your son
coming home to join our lives!

i'm looking down this mountain, i see my way home
there is no greater fortune, i believe!
oh unmerciful divide you laugh at me no more
oh i've reached the other side!
prodigal me

could i be the one? could i be? could i be?
Father, Father, we're Your sons
coming home to join Your life

we've finally crossed this mountain, and found our way home
there is no greater fortune than Jesus
oh how merciful is our God who gave His only Son!
oh we worship You tonight!

This is my first Blog trying to use Google Docs. I'd call it interesting. What should I write about?

Today was the first day it snowed. It was ushered in by one of my kids in kindergarten shouting at the top of its lungs right in the middle of my lesson: "ITS SNOWING!!!!!!"

I know its a little hard to make out- hopefully there'll be more to come. All I can say is its California upside down. And its been too cool - literally. =)


First Snowfall in Bundang for the Year from David Lee on Vimeo.

So look: at first I was too afraid to post anything because I felt like I would never get anything done. But now, I feel like there's just stuff I have to write about- actually there are a million things to write about being here, just the whole idea of living somewhere other than home for 20 years is a lot in itself. But I think Korea for example, is just a different breed of its own. One of the things for example, I find, is that its a small country. I think small countries have their own personality- as opposed to big countries obviously. But in Korea for example, everyone lives in tiny apartments. Even the super rich, still live in apartments. And you might say, 'well duh, that's how things are' but alright, even more so is the fact that because its a small country, it feels like all the facets and things of life seem crammed into it. The four seasons of spring, summer, winter, and fall are all nicely compartamentalized here. There's no question here its fall. Its as clear as the leaves are starting to make their way to litter the sidewalks and streets with red and gold and yellow.

I really wanted to harp on this because I really think its a special little country. In general too I think the adage really applies here: be faithful with little, you will be faithful with much. One of the things Esther really loves about being here is all the craziness companies, restaurants, pastry shops, and just stores in general is they all really value their service. From the bow and greeting every customer gets at the door, to the carefully and exquisitely wrapped, completely unnecessary bowtie that comes in a box of pizza. Every edge on service they can find, they do. Tutoring in English? Just teach an extra five minutes, its a nice gesture.

I mean I guess this has kinda turned into a spiel on korean service, but oh what the heck. Service here is completely different here. I wish America would learn a thing or two. Take for example, cell phone service. Got a broken phone? No need to trash the old one if you don't have insurance, just have one of the customer engineers to take a look at it. At the very worst, they'll replace the main board for 80 bucks. No 400 dollars for a brand new phone. And man, can I just say, I'm not sure if its just Verizon, but service there is just complete garbage. I once waited over thirty minutes for one tech support staff when there were like 4 sales reps just standing there. I was next in line. It made me racist, elitist, pissed off and fuming mad. None of that here.

What else? Did I mention ALL foods here do delivery? McDonalds, Chicken, you name it. AND, no tip. You eating there is their tip, they believe. Man, maybe if more restaurants in the US did that, less people would be food critics.

I'd care earlier since I'd want to include every last bit about the korean service thing, but really I just don't care anymore. I'm not gonna edit, revise, or care. This is what I wanted to write: service here is gold compared to America. Maybe that's why Korea gets taken advantage of. But that's another blog in and of itself.
=)

Good stories always prevail.

hopefully part 1 of many to come... at first I tried making a humongous post, but I got stuck worrying about this and that, the way things sound or look, so the pictures of the place and audio of cicadas will have to wait. Until then, here's a bit of the first few moments...

Awake at 4:30AM. Its a funny feeling to wake up when its completely dark. Not by accident, but the totally unable to go back to sleep kind. My mind is already racing for things I've got to, could do, should do before actually starting work. Today's actually day 4 since we've arrived, quite a bit has happened since we left our lovely country tis of thee.

Following the movie hopping that took place on the flight for both of us, (I watched 4 movies, Esther five), we were immediately met with Esther's cousin who took us back to his place. We had visited 5 months ago with connie and Derek, but this time everything felt a little more comfortable and less fast-paced than before. After some good grubbing and conversating with him and his parents and our 96-year-old-and-still-thumping-along gma, we took a 2 hour car ride to Bundang where we'll be living for the next year.

The first thing we did is get to the tutoring academy. If any of you were wondering, we're teaching preschoolers. (and kindergarteners and elementary kids) We're charged with instructing the english language first, before starting to assign memorization, grammar, and all the unnatural stuff that happens when trying to study a foreign language. It seems to be a decent philosophy, implemented through research about the way people learn language, and the problems with the way koreans right now are trying to learn. Another strange fact we learned about koreans is that they don't like koreans to teach English- they prefer Caspar white, full-bloodied American Americans (or Canadian Canadians) to our twinkie type of identity. The reason seems to be when you want to learn the Tango, you'd prefer to learn it from the Spaniard with the ruffled silk shirt and tight pants as opposed to a korean who's been there his whole life, but doesn't look the part. Fair enough, but I wouldn't trade that for being able to know and speak a little korean here. Its already come a long way in living negotiations and already I'm excited to learn it all before I have to go back home. But at the school, relatives have told us its important to act like we don't know korean at all; in order that students as well as their parents feel that its a completely foreign environment, one that they can soak up the language and conversating with.

That's all that's ready for now. For most of you you also know about our current 'situation'. I'm not really ready to go into it, the latest is just waiting for about a week. Your guess is as good as mine. =)

Yesterday I took a trip to Universal Studios to show my cousin around. I hadn't gone in maybe 5-6 years, and was hoping that maybe it was worth the wow price of admission. I'll leave it up for you to decide.

We took the "World Famous" Studio Tour, (you know, Jaws) and found out from the brochure that there was massive improvements to the ride including Fast and the Furious, and War of the Worlds segments, so I thought, "hmm... cool!" But you be the judge, I mean honestly, some fire, dancing cars, is it really that cool?

And I don't know... maybe I just grew up on roller coasters and things, but this was just me looking at a wreck with a fog machine... Am I being too harsh? I forgot to mention that we stood in line for over an hour for this thing on a Wednesday. We even got fed up and opted for the Spanish version of the tour. Tonto.

Then we rode the Mummy Returns ride. At first we saw 'no wait time' and thought 'COOL!' But then we found out why. Its over before you really get a chance to experience it, and its just a bunch of projected ghosts and darkness. Lame.

Special Effects Stage? Eh. Shrek 4d? Eh. Backdraft? Nothing new. SIMPSONS the RIDE!!! coming soon.

So I'd say that the trip itself would've been pretty lame, EXCEPT this:

iFly. Its a wind tunnel. Pretty cool right? I thought so. Anyway this was the one redeeming part of the trip: watching esther and her cousin soaring 2 feet off the ground with their faces rippling with wind. So that's my shameless plug for the experience of a lifetime. Its not cheap (and its only a minute) but it definitely looks fun. I wonder if heaven will feel like this?

That was the trip, if you want to see all the pictures, check them out here

I'm hoping to write a korea post soon. Maybe.

One thing I cannot, MUST not leave out is this picture:

FOR ALL YOU GUYS OUT THERE WHO FEEL DRAWN TO THIS CARNIVAL GAME: LOOK TWICE! That's right, the rim is distorted. It looks normal when you look at it head on, but from the side you can clearly tell that the front part has been squished to make the basket much harder. Its funny how they don't tell you that important fact though. I'm sure some of you are looking at this and going, "I bet I can still make it..." you're a dork then.

I'm in Korea right now. Its awesome. Its so cool to be in a different part of the universe where nothing and everything can be the same. I've learned a lot about my family and culture while I've been here. I must map out a family tree for all of you when I can. Not to brag, but coming from a family so nuclear I don't care. My family's huge. AND awesome! I've found among three sides a creative director, a famous potter, an ice cream machine salesperson, and a distributor for industrial power cables, not to mention a comedian and professional singer. All in all it reminds me not to live in fear of the world and to know that I have a rich (and interesting) heritage.

Mograph speaking, korea is in a state of flux. It sucks and yet its good. Some places are just rows and columns of mindless text, no images whatsoever. Other parts of Seoul are as design-ded as New York. It much reminds me of korean websites with tons of info and not so tonnish design.

Anyway you can't beat the food. Must've gained 10 lbs. Great trip. Great wife. good times