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Welcome to JennPedde.com |
Halifax is the kind of town that people flock to, not so much for the opportunities, but for the quality of life it has to offer. Sea breezes off the harbor keep the air clean and parks and trees nestle between heritage buildings, cosmopolitan eateries and arty shops. Several universities keep the population young and the bars and nightclubs full. Stroll the historic waterfront, catch some live music and enjoy the best of what the Maritimes have to offer.Done and Done. Flight booked (for me, $90 + 17,000 United Miles) for Friday night to Monday afternoon. AirBnB utilized for a place to stay and found an amazing house on the water and a cheap car booked through Budget Rental Car that came with a few upgrades (GPS was extremely necessary, in hindsight). We lovingly referred to it as the Bouncy Castle - A Chrysler 300C. Tack on a $30 Global Data Plan for 120mb on AT&T, a $20 Lonely Planet Guidebook (a travel must) and we were good to go. I think the whole thing really took an hour, maybe two to plan. And man - did it feel great to be out in the world again talking to people with different perspectives and wordly experiences. There are just some conversations about travel you can't have in the United States for fear of sounding like an entitled douchebag.
Peggy's Cove, South Shore, Nova Scotia |
Wolfville, Minas Basin, Nova Scotia |
View from the Citadel in Halifax, overlooking the fog roll in in the Harbor above the Clock Tower |
Alright - I've purposely waited to write this final post. I've been home now for 3 weeks and have had time pause, catch my breath, and really kind of figure out what's what.
I flew home on December 19th. I partied in Gangnam on Friday night with some of my favorites, walked an hour in the blistering cold to find a cab, was home at 4am, packed, and was out the door by 6am to catch the bus, and take my 930am flight. I flew to Beijing where I waited for 2 hours and soaked in my last remaining Asian moments. I hopped on a plane that was something straight out of the 1960s, complete with lack of any in-flight entertainment and cigarette ashtrays in the armrests. There were some very pleasant conversations with random people on board, and 14 hours later, I landed at JFK in New York City, literally minutes before an impending blizzard ravaged the east coast.
Sharon, Jess, and Jennette were waiting for me amongst the hundreds of people outside the door, and I only knew they were all there because I could hear their 3 voices somewhere in the crowd bickering (in a good way). We drove to Manhattan, I purchased an iPhone, partied until 4am - including bowling at the Port Authority - and finally got myself to sleep after 48 hours. I woke up on Sunday - completely exhausted.
Spent a few wonderful days in Manhattan, very wide eyed and happy to be home. Moved on upstate to be with family for Christmas and New Year's, seeing old friends, and sleeping - A LOT - because of all the jet lag and excitement.
The first week of 2010 has seen a lot of excitement and the same amount of boredom. I've settled into my house - cleaned out my room, donated tons of things to charity, and sent out dozens of emails and resumes. I've got projects to work on, a lot of writing to get done, and have settled into a great workout routine at the local gym (and struggling to stay on top of it). Things still seem new and exciting.
So far, there are only a few things I really miss about Korea... my friends, the randomness, constant entertainment, celebrity status, food, transportation, and neon lights. That was probably the first thing I've noticed actually - how dark everything is. Even in New York - EVERYTHING is that depressing orangey light. All storefront signs are dim or missing letters. Sure, it's probably more green and such to not have a thousand bright flourescent lights on every inch of space like in Asia, but it sure does keep you happy.
There are a lot of perks about being home though - for one - my mom makes me dinner everyday and I spend no money. And we're talkin', good old fashioned homemade Italian sauce and things of that nature. I can talk to anyone I want about anything because there's no communication barrier. I can go to the grocery store and be overwhelmed by all of the choices for everything, and the deli - don't even get me started on that. I can jump in my car and drive anywhere. I can go to Syracuse basketball games again. I get to be a part of my friend's lives again instead of just hearing about it.
The only negatives come from the fact of being unemployed and the uncontrollable weather (it has snowed for the past 12 straight days). Everyone's doing something exciting in Seoul, in New York City or in Denver, and I'm sitting in CNY attached to my computer looking for a job that will get me somewhere where I can have a rewarding career, money to travel, and a daily routine again. However, I have to keep in mind that this is only temporary and there are plenty of things on the horizon. The faster the better.
Coming home has been good. It's an adjustment for sure, but it's also nice knowing that chapter is closed and I'm starting a new one. One thing I know for sure, that living in Asia wasn't my last extended abroad experience, because I will live abroad again someday (soon if I can't finda job). For now - wish me luck, and if you're someone I don't know reading this - I'm only an email away for Korea/Asia related questions. I can't wait to go back and visit Seoul - that's for sure.
It was the experience of a lifetime, and I don't regret a minute of it.
PS - I'll be speaking on my time in Asia at Syracuse University's Career Center Lecture Series in the spring. I'll post once more when that gets closer.
I suppose this has been a long time coming. When you sign on to come to Korea, you know you have an expiration date because you're only signing a one year contract. It seems like it will be a forever amount of time, but in reality it's only one year. When you get here, within a few months, you know of know if you're going to finish after the one year time frame, or possibly extend. For me, going to Korea seemed like a seamless transition and the most right decision I've ever made - going home was the farthest thought from my brain. I drank in all the adventures I could.
Settling into Suji was of course, a bit of a shock, as you'd expect. I got there after the longest flight I had ever taken and dumped into a spare bedroom of a guy's apartment with no air conditioning in the middle of a heat wave in the dead of August across the street from a dump. Within 6 days I had gone from working with A List Rappers to working with 100 6 year old Asian children, and within the first two days I had 20 new friends that quite a few of them are still some of the best people I know to date. To say it's the weirdest situation is an understatement. It goes without saying that the question, "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" repeatedly went through my brain the first week.
With all of that being said, there is nothing more liberating and mind opening than being abroad for any amount of time. I got addicted to it and kept pushing my leave date back time and time again. I love who I am when I'm living here. I'm an ex-patriate. I'm unique. I use my passport, I'm seeing the world. Everything is new and shiny because it's nothing you've really seen before. I meet other travelers who share the same opinions I do, and all have that same lust for life and love of the open road. Sure - you meet a lot of directionless people, or weird vagabonds, but mostly you just meet people that are inspiring. You're living the dream and are not just able to say that.
The next few weeks are going to be insanely difficult. It'll be weird because I really am looking forward to going home, so I'm not sad, and after the year that I've had it'll be nice to catch my breath a bit, hear and speak English again, be a part of the majority. But in a lot of ways, I love not understanding everything perfectly around me, I have made some amazing friends that I know I won't get to ever see again, I will miss the food that I have come to crave daily, and all of the benefits of the lifestyle here. The new friendships, the healthcare, the work sometimes, the freedom, the lack of a closing time in most places, outdoor markets, bartering, the impeccable transportation system, the cities I get to visit, the reasonable pricing of everything, the lack of taxes and tipping, no open container law, the challenge in the little things, the bars/clubs, the randomness, the events, the sports, all of it will be sorely, sorely missed. On the other hand, there are things I am looking forward to not having to deal with such as the basic questions "What is your name, where are you from, do you have a boyfriend, what are your hobbies" over and over, not being able to find simple food I want, living in a state perpetual college life, the temporaryness of everything, and the constant saying goodbye to great friends.
December 19 I fly out of Korea, most likely for good. Crazyness all around.
I am convinced, that there is no other drinking culture in the world quite like the drinking culture in Korea. There hasn't been a day yet where I haven't seen someone passed out in the street, or slumped over in a bar indefinitely. It's fascinating to watch, really.
Basically people work 6 days a week, sometimes 12-14 hours a day. And the business culture here is to take your clients out to dinner and show them a good time. That good time generally means going to a BBQ place and pounding Soju and beer for hours on end, parting ways, and stumbling home. I can't even count how many times I've seen a dressed up businessman just peeing on the side of the road, on a sidewalk, or in the bushes. Once a guy even saw me, turned while peeing, and waved at me.
What's really brought this into focus for me though, is a new website called blackoutkorea.blogspot.com. It is an epic website of pictures of Koreans passed out all over the place. Sure, it might be an invasion of privacy, BUT if you're that stupid to pass out in the worst positions and places publicly then you should really suffer the consequences.
Drinking in Korea is perhaps a bit out of control, but if you're a person with any kind of self restraint it can be a lot of healthy fun. There's no closing time, no last call at most places, an age restriction for 19 and under, and you can buy Soju for a buck and wander the streets with their lack of open container laws. It really is a fantastic playground for alcoholics.
You always hear these stories about people going abroad, and learning the language over time. They don't seem to study, they just kind of pick it up via osmosis or something. Or maybe they just really focus on trying to learn new words and sentences each day, practice in conversation, and then over time it all just kind of ... happens.
That has not been my experience here.
Firstly, Koreans speak English pretty well, and if they don't their skills at charades are impeccable. Secondly, 90% of foreigners are here to teach English. The Koreans have such a lust for learning English that it's almost impossible to try out Korean on them without them responding in English and turning the conversation around. You're a one trick pony, and if that pony starts improvising they lose all interest.
That being said, one should take it upon themselves to learn some things on their own. I can read the language (luckily it's phonetic, and this can be done in a matter of days), write it if necessary, and I can say basic phrases and directions. One of my biggest regrets is not making a better attempt at learning the language though. Time just... got away from me. The first 6 months here are spent getting the lay of the land, and then the last 6 months you're preparing to go home. For me, I stayed 3 months longer. Then 4 months longer, then 5 months, and finally 3 months and didn't take one Korean class and money was an issue. This hasn't entirely bothered me until today. A regret for sure, but bothered? Not so much, until now.
I go to this little shop 3-5 times a week, easily, to get Galbi Mandu (meat dumplings) and tteokboki (spicy thick rice noodles). The staff changes there fairly often, every couple of months. And lately, there are these two people - a man and a woman, who don't speak a lick of English. They get a kick out of the fact that I come there so often, order the EXACT same thing, and go off on my way. It's also on my way to and from home a lot, so they're really friendly, wave, and say anyong every time I walk by. But tonight, they were just rapid fire Korean speaking at me, and I didn't pick up one word. Usually I can figure out the subject of a conversation, but this was tough. I finally heard the words "hagwon" and "Eolmayo" - "Academy" and "How much?" and then they started rattling offer numbers like 30, 40, 50. I assume they were asking how much money I was making working for a hagwon. I tried saying I don't work for a hagwon, and we all laughed at how hard it was to communicate. Then some random customer decided to offer his translation services, and turns out, they just wanted to know my age, but I didn't realize this, and kept telling them that I was 50. Slightly embarrassing that I never bothered to learn the phrase, "How old are you?" in a country where age is of the utmost importance.
This obviously, isn't an isolated instance. A few weeks ago, a man stopped me on the street and asked me for directions, and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out what he wanted and how to tell him. He was so excited that I did it that he gave me a fist bump and yelled "MIGUK!!" (America!!). I believe he was just testing me, since there were dozens of other Koreans around.
So while I'm not the only one who didn't learn, and in some cases I'm better than most, I still should have made a better effort. If anyone reads this who is coming to Korea, its VERY easy to get by without knowing the language. A word of advice though, it's much more fun to learn to read it, and it would have been really helpful to have attempted to learn to speak it.
Korean dating practices and weddings are in stark contrast to western ways. A friend forwarded me an interesting article about Korean Weddings in the NY Times and the unique practices that go along with them. Which got me to thinking about what I've witnessed in my time here, and I think by mapping out the whole process, you'll be entertained (of course, this is an overall generalization, but I'd say it represents 90% of what I've seen):
First, dating here is amusing. I really do think that sometimes this country is what America must have been like in the 1940s and 50s. Most people (especially the majority of women) live at home with their parents until they get married. The ideal marrying age here is probably sometime between 26 and 32 for women, and maybe 28-35 for men. After that you're considered too old to get married. Oh, and of course these are in Korean ages, which means western age is probably 24-30 and 26-33, respectively. So, dating is pretty much of the utmost importance to almost everyone because they have to meet that target. Occasionally you will find the random forward thinker who's focused on their career, is looking for love, or who just isn't focused on marriage.
Anyway, being that everyone lives at home for the most part, there are hundreds of places called "Love Motels" all around this country. And they're just that... a safe haven for those who need it for, uh, "activities" that can't take place in the home out of courtesy and respect for parents and rules. You'd think with a moniker like Love Motel they'd be the seediest places on earth, but I can assure you, they're actually quite clean, and very nice if you can get past the fact that there's free porn in every room, and that they hand you a toothbrush, soap, and maybe a condom when you check in. I have stayed in quite a few (sometimes while traveling in this country they really are your only option) and they're just basic motels...with character.
As for me personally, I had an American boyfriend the majority of the time I lived in Korea, but once that ended I did attempt to date Korean men of curiosity and slight interest. And what I found was kind of laughable. A first date cannot be just the boy and the girl. It must be the boy and his guy friends, and the girl and her girl friends. Right there I was kind of at a disadvantage because I'm not the type to have a bunch of girl friends hanging around. Subsequent dates can and will be alone if the first goes well, but it's very cutesy and there's a lot of texting involved. And it's not the sweet single text of, "Had a great time" or "Thinking of you" or whatever, it's the Asian cartoon type text of "kekeke
Here is a classic example of Korean Dating Efficiency of someone I know:
A 32 yo Korean guy wants to meet a girl. He has his friends set him up on dozens of blind dates. Nothing really interests him over the course of a couple of months. He goes to his bank, which also has a matchmaking service. The bank system is kind of like match.com and asks for your personal profile, information, likes/dislikes, etc. The interesting part of this, is that it also asks you for your assets and income. Then it cross references everything and finds you the perfect partner. So, the man does this, and bam, it sets him up with a 30 year old woman who happens to also live in his same apartment building. They actually have a lot in common - both educated in the States, both have advanced degrees from prestigious American universities, and have a multitude of interests. They met in August, two weeks before she went back to the States to finish her Masters degree. They keep in touch, and she visits once, and they discuss marriage. He tells me her sole purpose in returning to Korea when she finishes school in December is to get married because she can't wait as she's considered too old. The guy has a choice to make, marry her or not marry her. He also wants to get married, because he is also considered to be getting too old. And literally, they are perfect on paper. He told me he will probably propose in late December/early January (by just asking, not doing anything romantic, and will be married by the end of summer next year.
No where in there do you hear him tell me of love. In fact, when he showed me a picture of her and I said she was beautiful he told me she wasn't (trust me, she was). It's kind of nothing short of being a business transaction.
Ok Ok, so this is a BIT on the extreme side, but it's not too far from the norm. In fact, once Koreans do get married, another sad fact happens a little later on down the road. What happens is that children usually come VERY fast after a marriage. The idea could come from the woman or the man, or even both, but it happens fast because that's the point. The women stay home and tend to every single thing in the home. More often than not they also quit their jobs to do this. In order to provide for the new family the men now will work from early morning until well into midnight. The sad part comes in here... since dad is spending so much time in Seoul working sometimes he will go to one of the many "massage" places here, or, even frequent one of the many love motels while the wife turns a blind eye or worse, really just doesn't know. I had a student tell me once, "I don't see dad often because he spends some nights in Seoul. My mom says his company pays for a hotel." Doubtful. I even knew a guy once who actually went all the way to divorce his wife, but still stay in the same apt for the sake of the kids because they didn't know, even though he was oftentimes out with other women.
Now this clearly isn't all Koreans, as family really is very important. Many go off to be very very happy. And their weddings are big, lavish affairs to start off their happy lives. In fact, a wedding is one of the best times to show off everything you can. Korean weddings are kind of great in the fact that they take at most 3 hours and they combine the ceremony with the reception. You say hello to the bride and groom as you enter the reception hall, and there's a giant alter in the middle of tables set up for probably 500 people. EVERYONE is invited to the wedding - business partners, every relative, colleagues, every friend, anyone the entire family has ever come in contact with. The ceremony starts up, and a few minutes in, dinner is served. The ceremony ends, and you're probably into course #2. Then the married couple and the parents of each side make their rounds to each table. That's it. There are some traditions afterwards for the smaller family, but the wedding does not take up the whole day. It will end up costing you a pretty penny though. I attended one high class wedding this year that was about $150 per plate. Luckily I did not have to pay that, as to have a foreigner at your wedding ups your status by about 50 cool points. Each guest is supposed to bring an envelope of cash as their present to help offset the cost of the wedding. Which this is the very subject of the NY Times article, as this has been considered a means for bribery to happen amongst elected officials during times of weddings and funerals.
It has been an absolute pleasure to really get to know how truly different another culture can be in the arena of love. In so many ways its better than what I know, and in so many other ways its worse and limiting and holds women back. I gotta tell ya though - and this is purely personal preference - I'll be holding out for love and happiness, and be pretty happy for a chance at a wedding with all the bells and whistles (as long as its small, and a destination wedding, ha).
I have never been more mad at myself for not doing something earlier. I've been here for two solid basketball seasons and I've foolishly spent all my time worrying and paying attention to games back home (as an AVID Syracuse fan, not that silly NBA stuff). What I should have been doing here is being a fan of the Korean team, the Samsung Speed Thunders!
What's a 'Speed Thunder' you ask? I have absolutely no idea. My guess is that it has something to do with lightning as their very effeminate mascot has a lightning bolt on his stomach, but I can't entirely explain it. Taking a further look into it, it seems the whole organization doesn't know what its doing as we have teams that are the Sonicbooms and the Land Elephants. A 'Land' Elephant? Is there a 'Water' Elephant I'm unaware of?
The arena is next to Olympic Park at the Sports Complex stop on the green line. The tickets are 7, 10, or 14,000 won and there really isn't a bad seat in the house. The only downside is that you cannot purchase beer INSIDE the stadium. This seems VERY counterproductive and against normal Korean operating procedures - but don't worry. You are of course, allowed to bring in all the beer your heart desires and drink it inside. It is just a matter of thinking ahead and stopping off at the GS Mart or Burger King near the subway station.
The quality of play is hilarious. Each team is allowed to have only 2 foreigners on the team and they are only able to play 3 of the 4 quarters, so they have to choose them wisely. But as everyone can guess - any self respecting basketball player worth anything would obviously go to a European league if he had any chance of maybe someday making it to the NBA. Playing over here in Korea kind of means you're not going to be Michael Jordan at any point in your life, or even hope to be. But you are going to provide people like me with hilarious entertainment with how fast you rack up fouls, or with how much time you spend lying on the floor clawing after a loose ball.
I now have been to baseball games, soccer games, world cup games, and finished my collection with basketball games and 100% wish I could go back and get season tickets. I hope that I can get to at least one more before heading home, but to all of those out there who enjoy sporting events - its so cheap and fun that there's no time like the present.
Halloween is a funny tradition. I believe it started in Mexico as All Hallows Eve where they honor the memory of the dead and worship spirits and have a dinner to commemorate the occasion. There are variations of it all over, and as an American, I can say we're just in for the candy. It has become less of a "scary" day and more of a costume party for adults to dress up in ridiculous things of any nature.
However, being in Asia for a few Halloweens now, Korea at least tries. Any child who's enrolled at an English Hagwon (academy) gets to celebrate the day with candy and costumes, and maybe even a party if the school really gets into it. My school the first two years completely turned a common room into a really scary haunted house (where I will say the goal was to see how many kids we could make cry). This year I was temping at a school, and during the 5 minute breaks between classes, the kids were able to run up to a different floor and solicit candy from the teachers. It was all pretty fun and it gives the chance to the kids to do something, well, childish, and they so deserve it.
But with anything, when you're away from home on a holiday you just want some kind of connection to it. The foreigners here go all out in full force to the usual areas of Itaewon and Hongdae and just party even harder than normal (which is pretty hard to do in a place of cheap soju and no closing times). This year, I decided to stay away from the masses primarily and just went to a friend's house party in Haebongchan (the neighborhood behind Itaewon). We wandered over to the bars afterward and of course, costumes and drunkeness aplenty.
Not sure how its done in other Asian countries, but if Halloween is your favorite holiday you can at least get a taste of it here.
One of the greatest things about living in the city of Seoul is that it is the perfect combination of old and new. Tradition and Modernism. Nature and Urban. I don't know how they did it, but these krazy koreans have figured out how to have it all in one place. In this case, I'm sure they just picked a place, built a bunch of stuff, and decided to work around the mountains as this city has grown overtime, but that's neither here nor there. In the center of the city is Namsan (which actually means South Mountain) and its not too big. It's where the tower is, and it's hard to miss. A little more north there is the national park of Bukhansan which is about 700m tall, and on the northeast part of the city is Suraksan (Not to be confused with Seoraksan in Gangwan-do) and Bulamsan. Due to my timing issues of needing to be down in Bundang (south of the city) to teach a class in the evening, we went with the smallest of the 3 northern mountains and did Bulamsan standing at 508m.
Bulamsan in October is absolutely gorgeous. Truth be told, everywhere in Korea is absolutely gorgeous in the fall. The amount of colors and trees everywhere is breathtaking at times even if you're in the dead of the city. We took the subway up to Dangoggae on the light blue line, followed some ajumahs (little old ladies) who looked like they were about to get their hike on, and eventually found a map of the area. There is no shortage of trails to follow, and we just decide to walk until we got onto one after we passed a few apartment buildings. Probably about 2 km in total all the way up, it was pretty easy. The only real difficult part was when we got towards the top and there were actual vertical inclines where the koreans had installed ropes in order to help people get to the very top. Difficult, but very worth it.
All in all, we left our apt around 11, took the subway about an hour, got up the mountain and down, had dinner, and I was at my class by 7pm. Definitely unlike anything at home, for sure.
Well, no one is more surprised than me that I've somehow managed to spend not one, not two, but three birthdays abroad. Planning any kind of activity is time consuming no matter where the location is. Inviting people, picking a place, coordination all equals work. BUT true to form, everyone had a good time. This year's party included a 1 hour booze cruise down the Han River in Seoul under Banpo Bridge, followed by a club outing at The Hive to see a local electro-rock band, Swingset Committee.
The bridge is really sweet, if I do say so myself. As we all know I'm a gigantic nerd for everything and anything Gizmodo posts, and when I read about it from them a year ago, it was just something I had to see. The bridge is akin to the fountain at the Bellagio in Las Vegas with 10,000 nozzles drawing water up out of the river and putting on a very colorful waterworks show. Take the boat from Yeouido Island (close to Yeounaru Station), one hour round trip for 11,000w, bring a couple of beers and some snacks on board with ya and enjoy the sights. I recommend it at night, of course.
Afterwards we headed over to Itaewon and went to one of the newest hot spots, The Hive. This place is pretty sweet looking, good location, but truth be told its not worth the cover unless there's some kind of event there. In this case, Swingset Committee was playing and they're a band from California, but they've been doin their thing over here in Korea and will be taking their show on the road to Japan, or so I hear. Either way, if you have the chance, check 'em out.
I'm pretty sure that this will be the last of my birthday's in Korea, but I suppose one never can say never...
You remember camping at home as a child, right? Pack up the car to the tilt, sleeping bags, tents, food enough to last months for a small village. One of the things you don't really imagine doing while you're abroad because of all the equipment you would need and probably don't own. Well, yet again Korea has taken care of all of that.
Chuseok is Korea's version of Thanksgiving. It's a harvest celebration based on the lunar calendar, so the dates change every year. When I got here in 2007 it was 5 days, last year was 4 days and this year, 3 days because it fell on a weekend. Chuseok travel is unlike anything I have ever seen, and as someone who once got caught on a bus for 13 hours here for a trip that should have been 4, I vowed to never travel outside of Seoul again unless it was fleeing the country (like last year's Philippines trip). This year, 18 foreigners decided to pack it all up and go camping at Seoul Grand Park.
There are two sites directly in Seoul. Grand park and Nanji campground. Nanji is a newer facility near the World Cup Stadium in a much more urban area, whereas Seoul Grand Park is in a much more appropriate area surrounded by forests and mountains with access to Museums, the Zoo, and the Seoul Land Amusement park. It also has more camplike facilities including a campfire area, basketball courts, streams, common areas, and hiking trails. The sites come already set up with tents that sleep 4 people very comfortably for 15,000w a night and you can rent sleepings bags and mats to go in them for 1500 and 1000w each. We also got a special deal where we got cheap discount tickets for 13,000w for the day to Seoul Land so for two days/nights and an amusement park, the whole total was 45,000w (~$39) for the weekend + food. It was incredible. My only complaint? The fact that it got down to near freezing temperatures and I had a sleeping back that was about an inch thick.
There are a few main differences in Korean camping, however. At 11pm it is lights out and basically a zero noise policy. Also, campfires really are frowned upon if you light them using the 15,000w grill you've rented from them and now have a raging fire and half the forest in it as firewood. Also, Korea doesn't believe in graham crackers so it was really difficult finding stuff to make s'mores. Also, the campsites are of course, so close they're basically piled on top of each other. If you can get past all of this, your experience will be a ton of fun. A great way to spend a weekend though, that is for sure. Again, pictures speak for themselves (including being stuck in a bubble for the best amusement park ride I have EVER been on/in):
Why more people don't do destination weddings I'll never know. They tend to be cheaper, a more manageable number of attendees, and everyone has an amazing time. Whilst being in Korea, I was lucky enough to meet a couple worth flying halfway around the world for to be in their wedding, and they definitely picked one of the best places on Earth to get married: Corfu, Greece.
After 26 hours of travel (Seoul -> Dubai -> Athens -> Corfu) we landed at the tiny airport in Corfu Town on Saturday September 12, and took a 35 Euro cab ride over to the Pink Palace in Adios Gordis on the Western side of the island. Corfu Island is the northern most island in Greece, about 1 km away from Albania, and just utterly beautiful. The Pink Palace is rated as one of the best hostels in Europe for 25 Euro per person, per night, for the top level room with a view. It is also a place full of sin and debauchery, and I am extremely happy that I was not there during peak season. There was a hot tub there that the Australian bartender told me, "Don't go in there unless you want to come out pregnant, fathered by 10 different nationalities." It all turned out really well though - spent a day drinking with the staff, rented ATVs and drove around, and then rented kayaks and found a small private beach on the last day before heading up to the main event.
Going from Adios Gordis up to Paleokastritsa was like night and day. It's the richest part of the island with the most resorts, we settled into a really nice apartment and then went to find the bride and groom. We got there on Tuesday, and ran into people as we went along in this one street town. With only about 4 bars in the area, we frequented all of them for the nights, and then we did beaches and stuff during the day. One of the days we rented scooters to go back around the island and as I'm returning to the apt, I ended up crashing it and had to 100 Euro to fix it. They wanted 200 but 100 is all they got and that was the end of it. Not entirely fun, but a story nonetheless...
The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and just stress free, simple, and fun. The reverend was an old college friend of the groom's who got himself ordained on the ol' internet (much like yours truly did a few years back) who said some really nice things, married the two in a short ceremony overlooking the ocean at La Grotta Bar, and the next 8 hours we spent eating and drinking and swimming. About 45 people made it out both family and friends, and overall, I have never seen a more perfect wedding in a more perfect location. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
I don't entirely recommend uprooting your life to come to Korea and do what I'm doing - and while it has its fair share of ups and downs, I've found myself in a pretty sweet deal for the moment (with an expiration date).
When you make the decision to quit everything and travel abroad [to teach English] you have to know that you'll be in for a world of the different and unexpected, and of course it'll be life changing hopefully for the better. I celebrated my two year anniversary August 21, and as of today have been here for 25 months with only a brief 2 week vacation back to the States somewhere in the middle. The plan is to head back to the homelands at the end of December and stay there, but I'm not entirely sure my feet have stopped itching yet.
If you've kept up with my inconsistent blog posts, you'll know that the job situation has been interesting this year and right now I'm currently freelance teaching and living in Seoul. I'm a tourist and have to leave Korea and reset the ol' visa every 90 days - and that has allowed me to see Canada, the U.S., China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Greece all in one year. Right now I determine how many hours I work, where, when, and for who and how much. Generally I teach 1-3 hours a day (yes, even weekends) and make enough to pay rent, pay bills, travel, and save a small amount. I work on referrals, setups from friends, and by researching sites on the interwebs. Will this last forever? No. In fact, the end date is tentatively set for December 20th. This gig is a very inconsistent way to make money, and sometimes a lonely existence without coworkers to spend time with and company politics to talk about. It has to end sometime.
The next few months will be interesting. I'm enjoying this position of technically being a small business, and the ability to come and go as I please - but there's more to life than teaching English and I'm determined to find it. ;)
Koreans very much live in a competitive, "I want what my neighbor has and more" society. This is very evident by the simple fact that I am here with thousands of my western comrades who are getting paid handsomely for doing something that comes naturally.
However, today in the Washington Post there happens to be an article that talks about South Koreans and their atrocious savings abilities. While I'm not entirely interested in financial matters, it does get at the heart of how and why Koreans do what they do.
Take a second to read it... I absolutely love living here, and I think that education IS the most important thing in any culture, but does this kind of thinking actually lead to something catastrophic?
Well, I've been quiet this month... and its time to break the silence. Sure, losing your job, your apartment, money, visa, another job possibility, boyfriend, and living in a country with the constant threat of World War III from the neighbor to the north, hasn't been easy. Best part about it all is that whole work business and then being offered a job by the same boss that let you go. Ridiculous. BUT when you hit rock bottom you can do nothing but try and crawl your way out of it.
It's actually been pretty good - moved into Seoul and living with a friend of mine, Garak Market to be exact in the Songpa-gu Region. I'm so close to so many things, its great - only 10 minutes from Jamsil on the bus. And this area is above and beyond Seongnam, and even in some cases better than Suji (even though Suji will always be my first home in Korea). I joined a gym here and that's made a big difference. Nice to have a goal to work on. I've been temping at a school for the past 2 months and the money has been excellent. Actually ended up making more money in May and June than I did in any month I've been here. Korea's amazing for that actually. I finish up this week with the school and will be piling on private lessons hoping to save as much as I can before heading home in the fall.
As a tourist now, I have to leave the country every 90 days to reset the tourist visa. In two weeks I will be heading to Tokyo for 2 days to see one of my most favorite people from home, who's hooking me up with some tickets to see Simon & Garfunkel. It is going to be nothing short of a blast. After that there's the annual Boryeong Mud Festival with Matthew's Club, and then the Jisan Valley Music Festival. SO it'll be busy summer, but a fun one. If all works out I may even have a visitor! I'll also be helping out Syracuse University's Study Abroad Program, when the Hong Kong Director comes to Seoul in July for some meetings. All I'm looking forward to now, is Greece in September, and home sometime after that. Life's funny sometimes... unexplainable, but funny. I'm looking for jobs at home, and also into doing some free lance writing MAYBE. Just trying to keep moving... and watching a lot of TV ;)
One of the things I've been working on is creating some advertisement for Matthew's Club. A language group I've been apart of almost the whole time I've been in Korea. If you're reading this, and curious, check out the Matthew's Club Group on Facebook. Always a good time.
And since these are the last few months, I'll attempt to blog a bit more when something comes up. Sad to think I might not be an ex-pat for much longer... OR even scarier to think that I could maybe wind up an ex-pat somewhere else. The world is full of delicious possibilities...
It was nice to get away from all the drama of the past couple months. In April I spent nearly two weeks in Southwestern China & Hong Kong. Flew into Chengdu, met up with friends a day later, and then we overnight trained it to Kunming. Afterwards, we flew to Shenzen and walked over that beautiful, beautiful border to Hong Kong.
Chengdu was an unexpected delight. I got in a day before my two friends did due to their lack of understanding numbers and dates, but it worked out really well. I stayed at the Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel, and it might have been the best hostel experience I have personally ever had. First, I booked a 3 person suite because I assumed there would be 3 of us, and since there wasn't was just going to eat the cost. However, since the hostel was not full, the staff was so sweet that they just put me in a single room for the night which was much cheaper. And having a huge double bed with my own bathroom was a nice way to start my trip. Woke up bright and early and decided to walk around the city. Just took a map and asked them to point me in the direction of town. Now, if I had been smarter I would have done the Panda preserve this day as I learned it was definitely an early morning activity, but instead I had a wonderful day of walking and sight seeing. I stopped by the WoLin Monastery, one of the 4 largest buddhist temples in China and had tea for a few hours while reading my book in their tea garden. Beautiful weather, incredibly nice Chinese people... couldn't have asked for a better day.
Sim's Cozy Garden as seen from my room ^^
WoLin Monastery Grounds vv
My friends showed up that night and we walked around and drank a bit (gotta love that Tsing Tao) on some street corners and set off the next day to wander around town a bit more. We spent the next night at the Sichuan Opera at the recommendation of Sim (the Hostel owner) and he swore by it so much that he said if we hated it, he would refund our ticket price. Well, the man from Singapore did not lie. The Sichuan Opera was incredible, and perhaps the word Opera is a bit strong. It's more reminiscent of a 1920's vaudeville act with Chinese flair than a boring ol' Opera. There were fire breathers, and puppeteers, and bands. Excellent experience in an outside theater with tea & peanuts at your seat, and offers of ear cleaning and massages while you waited for the start. We spent our last day renting bikes and biking out to one of the people's parks in the main area of town and finding food. My counterparts might not agree with me, but Sichuan food is some of the best food I have had in the world. The spices they use are just otherworldly and delicious. I had these cold noodles in a red spiced glaze twice in my 3 days, and still crave it. They were just at street food stands, and super cheap.
No Trip to China is complete without a viewing of Mao^^
The Sichuan Opera ^^
Funny Grass Signs are the Park vv
We booked an overnight train from Chengdu to Kunming that totaled 22 hours. We chose the soft sleeper cabin, and in my mind there is no better way to travel in China. The three of us had our own 4 person cabin, and enjoyed the unbelievably surprisingly gorgeous countryside views of China. The only thing that ruins it is the sporadic factory dotting the hills and fields, but eh, such is China.
Kunming is almost tropical. It's fairly close to the border of Laos and has red dirt and palm trees everywhere. It's a small city, but has been rated the most liveable in China (Chengdu being #2). We stayed at the Cloudland Youth Hostel, and while no where near as incredible as Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel, it did offer clean rooms, free wi-fi, a convenient location, and a decent restaurant. We stayed in a dorm since their private rooms were all booked, but it wasn't a terrible experience.
We did a tour of a number of Kunming's parks and did some hiking in the 3 days that we were there. Kunming is vastly green and mountainous and is truly beautiful. We even went up to the tomb of the man who wrote China's national anthem, and it was much more lavish than the tomb of the man who wrote the Star Spangled Banner, I can tell you that (his grave being in Rome, NY and has very little fanfare surrounding it).
After spending a significant amount of time in these two cities, I would never again recommend Beijing or Shanghai to anyone. Those cities are great don't get me wrong; they're worldly, beautiful, and the epitome of China's future & history. However, if you want something that's distinctly Chinese, a place where English is around, but not enough to be used, cleaner air, natural beauty, and has an abundance of traditional culture, head to another part of China. I mean - this guy looks relaxed doesn't he?
Told you I'd be back more often. ;) This weekend was the usual St. Patrick's drunken fiasco. In some ways it was better and some ways it was worse than last year. The venue had been moved from the spacious Cheoggye Stream area to the more compact Hyewha Station / Park area. It was a bit colder than last year, but the entertainment was much better this year.
There was a Korean U2 Cover band that was actually QUITE good. There were also more areas to find beer and the like, so it kept things nice and consistent. It was nice that I got to see more of my Korean friends and their families as well.
My group happened to have missed the parade but I guess it wasn't much of a parade. Just some people walking in a small line around the park. Due to the economy and all, a lot of the sponsorship was missing and the city was forced to scale back the celebration. In my opinion it was still an excellent day and hey... there was even an actual leprechaun runnin around:
Yea, Ok, shut up. I've taken quiteeeee some time off of this blogging thing. I started a new school in December and went home for two weeks over Xmas, and then have spent the last 3 months just attempting to get my gameplan going on top of basically helping to rebuild this school that I currently find myself at (that I currently don't like).
Basically - expect me back in action pretty regularly from here on out. The cold, disgusting, depressing winter is over and I'm ready to get going on things I've only been talking about. I have quit my job as of this week and have less than 30 days here. I will be coming back to Korea - it is absolutely stupid to leave this kind of lifestyle and go home to the economic woes that everyone else seems to be going through. Even though the exchange rate blows (1000w = 64 cents right now) it is still worth it to stay.
I've got my batteries recharged, new things that I'm going to be doing, and goals for this year. I'm gonna go some much needed traveling, and do some more hiking and things. I've got some friends here, but not too many, and that'll do me just fine.
Now... anyone want to employ me? ;)
Ahhh don't let the name full you... Harvard University does not have a presence here in Korea (that I know of at least). However, true to Korean ways they do massive amounts of copyright infringement and have just "borrowed" the name. Actually last year the school finally got in trouble from some random other company and now go by "HLS" professionally.
Aaaanyway, December 5 was moving day and the Friday night beforehand I just did a nice, casual, chicken galbi dinner and didn't drink knowing that I had to wake up very early to move. Well, didn't matter cuz I woke up with massive food poisoning and could barely stand. Did NOT make for a fun moving day - but with the help of my favorite Kiwis I was able to move in the afternoon across town into my new digs.
The location is better (for Suji anyway) - right around the corner from my favorite restaurant that I lovingly call 'sticken' (chicken on a stick) - but I now sleep in a twin bed, and have a completely broken bathroom. Ah the fun of working for a low-budget private, private school. They say they'll fix it for me soon, but we'll see how that goes.
First week was kinda rough... no real training, thrown right into the fire my first week and I was thankful that I had someone to at least show me the ropes for 10 minutes before class started. There's a ton of drama at this place b/c the director is leaving and the management has NO idea what they're doing, but we'll see how it goes... a lesson in life I imagine. Wish me luck...
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
Curiosity drives me. I am a lifelong learner, an early adopter, and lover of travel to far and remote lands. Currently I'm at Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm overseeing the alumni program as well as corporate social responsibility initiatives, and forging new paths everyday. I'm also fortunate enough to teach in the Communications@Syracuse Masters program at Syracuse University.
I got my start in the Music Industry in radio, record labels, and artist touring, learning the art of negotiation, business, & marketing people as brands. With a serious passion for the world-at-large I then found myself in South Korea, teaching English as a Second Language for the next few years. During free time I built communities between expats and locals using new-at-the-time social media tools and traveled Asia extensively.
Upon returning to the United States, armed with a completely different world view and a love of education, I started community building as a consultant in a variety of industries (relocation, recruiting, publishing, and even astroturf - yes, there are communities online surrounding an interest in astroturf!). I then joined 2U (edtech startup which IPO'ed in April 2014), and continued honing skills surrounding inbound marketing, community building, and online communications. After 2U I became a Lead Community Manager / Senior Account Manager at Emoderation, and oversaw Oprah Winfrey's online communities for engagement and customer service, as well as a trainer for social media crisis simulations through Polpeo around North America.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or opportunities.
Areas of Expertise: Education / Teaching / Training, Community Building, Customer Engagement & Retention, Alumni / Ambassador Program Development, Corporate Social Responsibility
Adjunct professor at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communications, Communications@Syracuse master's degree program 2016:
COM627: Social Media for Communicators
An adjunct professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies 2013-2014.
Instructing two elective graduate level courses on an occasional basis:
IST 600: Social Media & Community Management
IST 500: Online Content Strategy & Application
TheCommunityManager.com is an excellent resource for community management-related information, including CM stories & insights, case studies, and reports. www.thecommunitymanager.com
From February 2014 through December 2015 I was the Lead Community Manager working on Oprah Winfrey's online communities, customer service, and marketing. Spent the rest of my time as a Senior Account Manager where the focus was to create strategy and improve client management across a number of global brands.
Designed and instructed the "Community Management Workshop" on an ongoing basis.
Inbound Marketing, SEO, Communications, Social Media, Blogger Outreach, Project Management, Community Management, Ambassador Programs, Content Management, and more.
Built a literary publication for daily serials for up and coming writers. Ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise $7,000 and featured on prominent online publications.
For part time work I created content for various companies & managed accounts. I also tailor made plans that worked for any level of social media interaction. Managed twitter accounts, facebook fan pages, and blogging editorial calendars.
Lived in Seoul, South Korea teaching English as a Second Language. Started at SLP and then moved to Harvard Language School as the head teacher for the foreign staff. Responsibilities included teaching, English curriculum development, interviewing, reporting, and research.
Also spent time as a Freelance Business English Instructor working for large Korean corporations such as Sports Toto! and KACO Korea.
I was also the lead foreign instructor for a cultural exchange group called "Matthew's Club" and organized their social media initiatives to increase membership by 50% each month.
Assisted the Senior Vice President of the Urban Music Department and handled everyday activities for the music industry's biggest talents. Assisted in the execution of Jay-Z's 9 cities in 1 day tour in 2007 and interacted with record labels, managers, public relations companies, concert venues, and promoters daily for over 100 A level artists. Conceptualized themes/tours, presented ideas, researched requests, negotiated and executed contracts, packaged tours, developed relationships with new buyers, increased sales, and implemented successful events nationwide.
See Above Description
See Above Description
Typical Internship for VP of Publicity for Island Records
- Assembled press kits on various artists such as Mariah Carey and Ashanti, Coordinated a national interview call in for college & university radio stations, Monitored meet & greets for Artist showcases
This is my musical and mental speed today. Lots of bluesy rock. Got any other recommendations for me?
"Everything is awesome."
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Everyone should read this post by Anthony Bourdain. I love the integrity! Ya know, which is so rare nowadays. (h/t @Alexa)
"I don't know karate—but I know ka-razy" –James Brown
For the past eight years, I've been making a television show called NO RESERVATIONS. I wrote it. I executive produced it. And I appeared in it. My partners and I always tried hard to make it good.
During that time, I understood the way…
Dragon Noodles (made w Sriracha, soy sauce, brown sugar, etc). Was 100x better than it looks. #foodporn
There was a present on my desk this morning… #debates (Thx @kratzpr) (Taken with Instagram at 2U, Inc.)
God I live everything about this band. @mutemath #lifechanging #nofilter #baltimore (Taken with Instagram at Rams Head Live)
I'm in love w this building that time forgot. Looking up an old elevator shaft. (Taken with Instagram)
Six months ago if you had asked me what my dream concert lineup would be, I would have said this list of bands that have each profoundly changed my life and prefaced it with how highly unlikely it would be for them to ever be put on the same bill. While I could see it making sense, I didn't think most people would.
Enter… the Honda Civic Tour 2012 to make my dreams come true. At the time that I bought the most expensive concert ticket I've ever purchased (through an Incubus pre-sale code), it was only Incubus and Linkin Park (and that honestly was enough for me). Then I found out that MUTEMATH had been added at the opening and I'm pretty sure that my brain exploded. Like always, the Honda Civic Tour is routed in the worst possible cities on the most obnoxious weekdays. I would have easily bought tickets to see them in multiple Northeast shows if anything had been on a Thursday/Friday/Saturday curve. But oh well. To Camden, NJ we went.
The show began PROMPTLY at 6:30pm, which for us, was extremely unfortunate. We left New York City at 3:30pm, and drove the 2.5 hours down to Camden, but didn't get into the arena until 6:45pm, and MUTEMATH only had a 20 minute set. Even typing this now makes me want to cry a little. We heard "Break the Same" as we walked in, sat down for "Spotlight" and "Reset" and then when it was over, we hit the bar for some very tall beers to drown our sorrows. Thankfully we have tickets to see them in Baltimore in October… and because of how we got shortchanged, we may actually have to add another date onto this.
Due to the aforementioned beers, and a serious lack of iPhone battery, videos below are not my own, but they are from this show, and at a much better angle than even I would have been able to take. Enjoy…
MUTEMATH: Spotlight
Weird to see them as an opening band in the daylight at an arena, but I think they pulled in a few new fans.
Set List: (IF anyone knows what songs MUTEMATH did on this date, let me know???)
Incubus: "Rebel Girls" (B side) (New Song for me, so this was a great find).
Set List:
Linkin Park: Lost in the Echo / Numb.
Stole the show. Seriously one of the Top 5 concerts I've ever seen… hands down.
Set List:
My friend and I bought tickets to this show what seems like months ago now… so of course, exactly one week before the show that was taking place on Wednesday August 1st, I managed to break my foot. Fortunately it was a week before and not the day of, so I wasn't going to let that stop me. With crutches in hand, I hobbled from Brooklyn to Hoboken to see the first stop on the Mumford & Sons tour. It was on a pier, in front of 15,000 fans, and it was going to end with fireworks – oh and it had been POURING rain all day, and magically stopped 30 minutes before the show for the rest of the evening. With New York's skyline as the background it turned out to be a pretty great evening:
Oh, and did I mention that because of the crutches my friend and I got let into the ADA Section (Americans with Disabilities) so not only did we have an amazing view, we also had seats the entire time. If there ever was a perk of having a broken foot – this was it.
Very appropriately, they covered Frank Sinatra's "New York, NY"
And one of the best covers was of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer"
In case you missed it, or if you want to relive it, here's the setlist:
And then had my mind blown by @linkinpark! (Taken with Instagram at Susquehanna Bank center)
Then enjoyed some Brandon Boyd in @theincubusband… (Taken with Instagram at Susquehanna Bank center)


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Earlier this summer, a movie called "The Purge" came out. The premise of this relatively disturbing thriller is that for one night a year – a 12 hour period-all crime is legal. As you can tell from the trailer below, the "legal crime" that first comes to our depraved minds is murder, assault, rape, robbery, and every other type of violent crime.
Please click here to see video.
Of course, us in the legal profession generally occupy our minds with things significantly less provocative (but sometimes equally disturbing), so one of my first thoughts went to what a 12-hour free-for-all would mean to intellectual property laws. In my mind, I saw rogue factories firing up the conveyors and ready to spit out bottles upon bottles of unauthorized pharmaceuticals (What's the FDA going to do about it?). I envisioned pirate ships off the coast of California prepared to flood the market with knockoff handbags. I saw teenagers sitting at their computers firing up the old Napster with the intent of willfully violating copyright laws to get their hands on advanced copies of Taylor Swift's most recent drivel. And then, I saw my anarchist fantasy crumble as I realized what actually constitutes infringement under intellectual property laws.
You see, intellectual property laws generally don't provide a single bite at the apple for infringement purposes. Patent laws make it unlawful to "make, use, offer to sell, or sell" the patented invention. Good luck accomplishing all of that in a single 12-hour span. Copyright grants the owner the exclusive right to, among other things, reproduce and distribute the copyrighted work. Given the broad scope of what constitutes a copy/reproduction, you could probably get away with downloading Taylor Swift from Napster initially, but they'd get you when you made a new copy the next morning by downloading it to your iPod. Trademark infringement would probably be the easiest to get away with on Purge Night. But seriously, who's going to buy trademarked goods on Purge night knowing that they likely did not originate from source that you've come to know and trust!
So what does it all mean? You just can't believe everything that happens in the movies. Most of it is totally unrealistic.
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DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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Dollarhide Construction
6020 Highway 418 SW - Deming NM 88030
Be the first to review this businessDeming, NM 88030
Phone: 575-544-****575-544-9922 (click to view the number)
Additional Information
Services Offered: | Additions and Remodels Engineers Handyman Landscaping |
Are we a residential contractor? | YES |
Are we a commercial contractor? | YES |
Do we offer financing? | NO |
Do we have emergency service? | YES |
Do we accept credit cards? | NO |
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Dollarhide Construction - Handymen in Deming, New Mexico.
Hours Please call to confirm
9:00am - 7:30pm | 9:00am - 7:30pm | 9:00am - 7:30pm | 9:00am - 7:30pm | 9:00am - 7:30pm | 8:30am - 3:00pm | Closed |
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text:
Jack Cowie was born March 30, 1912. Had he been born at the right place in the right time, he might have been remembered today as one of the greatest bowlers in history. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at one of New Zealand cricket's earliest superstars.
Jack Cowie played for New Zealand; from 1937 to 1949; only against Australia (a solitary Test) and England, the strongest sides of the era; and he lost crucial years of his career to the Second World War. Change one of the parameters, and he would probably have been remembered among the greatest.
Instead, he had to be content with the tag of one of New Zealand's earliest superstars. Given that his numbers read 45 wickets from 9 Tests (these were the only Tests New Zealand had played during the era) at 21.53 and a strike rate of 45 one can only imagine the heights his numbers would have reached had he had a proper career. "Hadlee is the only NZ pace bowler who may have been superior, and he had vastly greater opportunities," wrote Wisden.
To put things into perspective, if we put a 40-wicket restriction, Cowie has the best average among all New Zealand bowlers (ahead of Richard Hadlee and Shane Bond; they are the only three with a sub-25 average) and the second-best strike rate (after Bond; Hadlee had a strike rate of 50.8). His performances were all the more incredible given the fact that he never played Test cricket on the winning side. Wisden wrote: "A couple of generations later his career might have been very different."
What was Cowie like? Len Hutton had mentioned that Cowie had "terrific pace off the pitch, a forked-lightning off-break and lift and swing away from the right-hand batsman." He would have known: he was, after all, dismissed by Cowie 4 times in 7 Tests; and it was not only Hutton. Cowie had troubled the best of batsmen with his mysterious movement off the pitch at a deceptive pace.
Cowie never had a middle name, and was, for whatever reason, referred to as JA. His other (and more appropriate) nickname was Bull. Wisden wrote: "His trademark was a hand-raised appeal-cum-roar of 'Aaaaaat?', though his next remark to the umpire could be: 'You know, I reckon it's getting a bit chilly. D'you think I could have my sweater?"
First-Class cricket in New Zealand was sporadic in the era; Cowie had managed to play only 86 First-Class matches with a haul of 359 wickets at 22.28 with 20 five-fors and a ten-for; only 42 of these were played on home soil. He never got the First-Class experience some of his contemporaries had. "Had he [Cowie] been an Australian, he might have been termed a wonder of the age," wrote Wisden editor Wilfrid Brookes.
Early days
Cowie was born in Devonport, Auckland of Elizabeth Cromb Roach and Andrew Cowie, a grocer. He was a frequenter at the Devonport Domain ground, helping Ces Dacre with the rolling. Dacre, who had toured England with New Zealand in 1927, had a substantial career with Gloucestershire. Cowie started off for Devonport School as a leg-spinner but changed to fast-medium later.
He joined the Mount Albert Grammar School and subsequently the Takapuna Grammar School. He played for the Auckland Under-21s at an age of 14 and was called for overstepping 6 times. He got his action corrected, and had apparently bowled only 2 in his entire First-Class career.
The 20-year old Cowie made his debut in a Plunket Shield match against Otago at Dunedin; he bowled only 4 overs, and did not get a match for 2 years. On his comeback match against Canterbury at Lancaster Park he impressed with figures of 3 for 53 and 3 for 66.
Fiercely competitive matches were hard to come by in those days; Cowie had to wait till 1936-37 for his maiden five-wicket haul: as Wellington amassed 445 at Eden Park, Cowie returned a haul of 5 for 81. When MCC played New Zealand at Basin Reserve next month, Cowie managed to get Wally Hammond out cheaply. He finished the season with 21 wickets at 14.90, and was an obvious choice for New Zealand's 1937 tour of England.
Test debut
It was on the England tour that Cowie found international recognition. He finished with 114 wickets at 19.95 and a strike rate of 45.3 on the tour; 4 other New Zealanders — Jack Dunning, Norman Gallichan, Sonny Moloney, and Alby Roberts — had all gone past the 50-wicket mark, but none of them had numbers comparable to Cowie's.
The New Zealanders were not expected to create a big impact on the tour, but they did: Merv Wallace, Moloney, Walter Hadlee, and Martin Donnelly captured the imagination of the locals with the bat; Curly Page with his astute leadership skills; and Cowie, thanks to his destructive bowling.
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Oxford University became his first prey: Cowie returned figures of 6 for 50 and 3 for 70; the batsmen let him down against Lancashire and Derbyshire, though he picked up 11 wickets from the 2 matches. As the first Test at Lord's approached, there was no doubt that Cowie would be the spearhead of the attack.
England had two debutant openers in Jim Parks and Hutton; Cowie bowled Hutton first for a duck, and followed up by bowling Parks as well. He also bowled Charlie Barnett, but England still managed to reach 424 thanks to a 245-run third-wicket partnership between Joe Hardstaff junior and Hammond, both of whom scored hundreds. Cowie finished with 4 for 118.
After the tourists were bowled out for 295, Cowie struck again, removing Hutton for 1 and Parks for 7. The middle-order hit out, Cowie finished with 2 for 49, and set to bat 4 hours to save the match, Wallace and John Kerr saved the Test for them. In the very next match he helped his side to a win against Somerset at Taunton with figures of 3 for 66 and 5 for 60.
At Old Trafford, England batted first again; Hutton survived Cowie's first spell and scored a hundred; Cowie picked up 4 for 73 (including Charlie Barnett, Eddie Paynter, Arthur Wellard, and Walter Robins) but could not help the hosts from piling up 358 and acquire a 77-run lead.
What followed was an outstanding performance from a man bowling for the then "minnows" of world cricket against a formidable line-up. Wisden wrote: "He always bowled at the stumps and considering he was sometimes handicapped by the slow pitch and wet ball, his was a masterly performance."
His 6 for 67 included the likes of Hutton (again), Hammond, Hardstaff junior, and Robins. He had reduced England to 75 for 7 at one stage before Les Ames and Freddie Brown bailed them out as New Zealand was "plagued by dropped chances." Set to chase 265 a demoralised New Zealand collapsed to 134.
Cowie delivered another victory for his side before the third Test at The Oval, this time against Essex at Chelmsford with 3 for 56 and 5 for 66. The third Test ended in a draw with Cowie returning a match haul of 3 for 88.
The Cowie juggernaut continued: 3 for 46 and 5 for 36 against Combined Services at Portsmouth; 4 for 88 and 3 for 70 against Kent at Canterbury; 4 for 41 and 3 for 38 against Sussex at Hove; 3 for 105 and 4 for 57 against England XI at Folkestone; and finally, a near-absurd career-best of 8-5-3-6 (all batsmen were bowled for ducks) to bowl out Ireland for 30 at Dublin. Wisden called this spell "well-nigh unplayable."
An expensive wicket
On their way back home, the Kiwis had a short detour of their trans-Tasman neighbours. Against South Australia at Adelaide Oval New Zealand were bowled out for 151 and the hosts were 64 for 2 at stumps with Don Bradman on 11. A huge crowd had turned up to watch their hero in action against a fast bowler they had heard of: the contest was expected to be a mouth-watering one.
Cowie's first ball to Bradman took the edge and went straight into Eric Tindill's gloves. As the great man walked back, so did the spectators, and the spectators supposed to come in during the afternoon did not. It was a bittersweet experience for Cowie: on one hand he had dismissed the greatest batsman in contemporary cricket; on the other he had robbed the squad of money with that one delivery.
Wisden wrote: "The crowds found another way to spend Saturday in an era when the visitors' tour income depended on their share of the gate. NZCC treasurer Sammy Luttrell took Cowie and keeper Tindill aside when they came home to tell them they owed NZCC £1,000!"
Cowie rounded off the tour with 4 for 76 and 2 for 27 against New South Wales [he bowled Stan McCabe in each innings — for 12 and a duck). Once back home Auckland thrashed Otago at Eden Park. Once again Cowie was the hero with a match haul of 7 for 130, but he did something else as well.
After Otago scored 259 they had got Auckland down to 338 for 9 when Cowie joined Bill Carson; Auckland already had a lead, but they needed to extend it; and Cowie, the quintessential no. 11, a man with no pretension whatsoever of being a batsman, got going.
Carson and Cowie added 119 for the last wicket — still a tenth-wicket record for Auckland. Carson finished on an unbeaten 108, but to the delight of the home crowd Cowie went on to score 54, his only First-Class fifty. Unfortunately, when he was just at his prime, The War happened and took away what could have been the best years of his career.
Cowie was almost 34 when Plunket Shield resumed, and he celebrated his comeback when 4 for 77 and 3 for 16 against Canterbury at Lancaster Park. The Australians came along that season — sans Bradman — to play a solitary Test at Basin Reserve.
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Hadlee decided to bat, and in 39 overs Bill O'Reilly (5 for 14) and Ernie Toshack (4 for 15) bowled out the hosts for 42. Asked to bowl against the wind after Don McRae, Cowie shattered debutant Ken Meuleman's stumps in his first over. He could also have had the stand-in captain Bill Brown who was dropped on 13 off his bowling.
Brown and Sid Barnes then added 109 for the second wicket, but once they fell (Cowie bowled Barnes) our hero scythed through the middle-order, removing the formidable quartet of Lindsay Hassett, Colin McCool, Don Tallon, and Ray Lindwall and finished with figures of 21-8-40-6.
Brown declared with a 157-run lead, Toshack (2 for 6) and O'Reilly (3 for 19) led the rout once again, and New Zealand were bowled out for 54 in 32.2 overs.
England came over a year later: the solitary Test at Lancaster Park was not washed out despite the addition of an extra day; Cowie batted at No. 9 (something that certainly did not speak very highly of the New Zealand side) and scored a Test best of 45. Hadlee declared at 345 for 9 and rain came down with England on 265 for 7.
Of course, Cowie had his customary bit of glory, accounting for 6 of the 7 English wickets for the cost of 83 runs. The scalps included the likes of Hammond (in his last Test innings), Denis Compton, Bill Edrich, and Cyril Washbrook. When ICC calculated their rankings for the past in retrospective, it was found out that Cowie became the first New Zealand bowler to reach the top ICC ranking among Test bowlers after this Test; Richard Hadlee is the only New Zealand bowler to have emulated him. At this stage his career read 31 wickets from 5 Tests at an average of 16.70 and a strike rate of 36.9.
The final England tour
Cowie was 37 when he took his final tour of England. New Zealand impressed the world by drawing all 4 Tests; despite being past his prime and having cut down his pace Cowie was still the spearhead of the attack. He finished with a mere 14 wickets from 4 Tests at 32.21 (quite average by his lofty standards), but still finished only after Tom Burtt and Trevor Bailey. Wisden wrote that Cowie's figures did him "far less than justice".
He started the series with a haul of 5 for 127 at Headingley, and it seemed that day that the golden days of 1937 would be back. Cowie was, as per Wisden, "the only bowler who presented England with any serious problem" on that day. However, he was never the same bowler anymore, and the "minor strains" that kept him out for three weeks during the tour did not help either.
Despite all that, Cowie still bowled better than almost anyone in the series, but it was evident that he was nowhere close to the form of 1937. He bowed out of Test cricket with 4 for 123 in his final Test innings at The Oval. He finished the tour with 59 wickets at 27.14.
Cowie played only one First-Class match thereafter, for Auckland against the touring Australians the following New Zealand summer. He picked up 2 for 59 before hanging up his boots for good.
Cowie had joined the insurance sector at 21. He was transferred to Wellington by Australasian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society soon after his First-Class career ended; he did not return, and had a 47-year long career. He had married Nyrie Wallen at Auckland on September 12, 1936; the couple went on to have two daughters (Janet and Sue), and two grandchildren.
He also went on to become an umpire, and stood in the 1955-56 West Indies Test at Lancaster Park and the 1958-59 England Tests at Lancaster Park and Eden Park. In between, he also stood for two unofficial "Tests" when Ian Craig's Australians toured New Zealand.
From his early days, Cowie had been a keen footballer, playing as the Auckland goalkeeper for in 1933, 1938, and 1939. He later went on to become a member of the New Zealand Football Association for 14 years, and remained their Chairman from 1967 to 1974. Wisden wrote: "He was a stickler for the national soccer team retaining their black-with-silver-fern colours; after he retired, they became the All Whites."
Cowie was awarded an OBE for services to cricket in 1972 and was made a life member of NZFA in 1976. He was also a delegate to FIFA, and managed several New Zealand touring teams on overseas tours.
Jack Cowie passed away at Lower Hutt, Wellington on June 3, 1994.He was 82.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in and can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)


text: A hit man takes a vacation and finds both danger and faulty workmanship follow him wherever he goes in this offbeat comedy from Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Kyoji (Asano Tadanobu) is a hired killer based in Macau who works for Japanese crime boss Wiwat (Toon Hiranyasup). Kyoji poses as a chef to maintain his cover, and he gets to put both skills to use when Wiwat asks him to kill his wife Seiko (Tomono Kuga) with a poisoned meal, not a difficult thing to arrange since Kyoji has been having an affair with her for several months. After dispatching Seiko, Wiwat thinks Kyoji could use a little R&R, and sends him on a cruise to Phuket. However, Kyoji discovers he's been given a cut-rate stateroom in which anything that can go wrong does on a regular basis. However, this turns out to be the least of his troubled when he discovers he's being trailed by two mysterious figures -- an attractive single mother who may or may not be flirting with him (Gang Hye Jung) and a large man in a Hawaiian shirt (Mitsuishi Ken) whose motives are difficult to ascertain. Invisible Waves received its North American premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi


text:
Getting a handle on scrap removal
Efficient scrap handling keeps stamping operations running smoothly
The ability to efficiently remove scrap from production areas affects the production up time and cost of production. Therefore, scrap removal should be part of the production planning process.
It happens all too often. A stamping facility is modernized, expanded, or a new facility is built, and during the planning process, minor attention is given to the handling and removal of scrap and trimmed pieces. The stamping process, level of automation, and scrap handling capabilities all must be in sync to maximize efficiency.
Scrap Life Line
Contracts are won and kept by producing quality parts quickly, in sufficient quantities, and profitably. To that end, stampers need to analyze production equipment thoroughly to ensure strokes per minute, reliability, and productivity.
Budgeted amounts apportioned for these profit centers are justifiable, because they guarantee production levels are met — they are the heart of the stamping operation. The "veins" of the system, however, are given little or no attention until the planning of the project is well on its way.
The arteries, or the automated material feed equipment and automation, support the heart of the facility — the presses. However, the veins, the scrap handling system, keep production running smoothly. The ability to remove scrap efficiently from production areas affects uptime and cost of production.
When sufficient means and capacity to remove scrap materials from the presses and the facility are not provided, they have the same effect clogged veins have on the heart and body, which suffer and shut down. Therefore, scrap handling systems are the life line of stamping operations.
Consider, for example, the just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing environment in the automotive industry. If the body panels stamping line were to shut down during the morning shift because of scrap backup, within 24 hours the welding lines would grind to a halt for lack of parts. And within 48 hours the paint lines would be down; then final assembly would cease. Inventory levels are monitored closely to make sure this does not happen.
However, scrap overload also causes the line to shut down. Too much scrap affects operator safety and puts tools, dies, and other equipment at risk.
Volume of Scrap
Efficient handling of scrap does not require expensive or sophisticated equipment. To start, each application should have a set of parameters, both objective and subjective estimates that can be guidelines to determine if automatic or manual scrap handling is needed.
The type of press and operation will determine the amount of scrap generated. A press producing square or rectangular blanks will generate little, if any, scrap, while those forming near-net-shape blanks, or transfer presses performing multiple operations, may yield larger amounts.
From the size and shape of expected scrap pieces, you can determine how to handle awkward weights and characteristics and identify the potential for injury in manual operations. The known shape, along with the type of material used, helps you to calculate the anticipated volume of scrap.
Today volume is critical, perhaps more so than weight. For example, a ton of lightweight, 3-D aluminum scrap requires more conveying capacity than a ton of flat steel pieces. Other considerations include plant layout and press automation; presses in pits or with a basement area; and the availability of scrap hauling equipment, such as containers, trucks, or rail cars.
Depending on the amount of scrap generated, scrap removal and hauling efficiency will affect the operation of the facility. The size of available scrap containers or trucks and the time required to change them, plus the hauling distance to the scrap-processing center, will affect the operation and design of the discharge system.
For example, when a facility generates a truckload of scrap every 30 minutes, but the cycle time to change trucks is more than 45 minutes, a backlog will occur. Eventually the production line will shut down when the scrap container is full and cannot resume until an empty truck is available.
Research Parameters
While some parameters can be measured, others have to be predicted, based on experience and history. These parameters include the labor market and wage levels in a geographic region.
Research whether workers are available to do the work (consider the work environment) and how costs for manual operations (wages, hiring costs, and benefits) compare to the initial investment and projected maintenance of automated equipment. How long are production contracts expected to last? And what levels of flexibility may be needed for different parts and facility expansion?
After these questions are answered, and if an automated conveyor system appears to be the most efficient solution, develop recommendations and final design criteria. Specific details will vary by application, but here are three general principles of scrap handling:
- Use equipment of sufficient strength and sturdy construction to provide maximum uptime. This ensures the conveyor system won't collapse under the weight of the material being moved.
- Incorporate reliable and durable components to ensure service longevity. This minimizes major repairs and replacement needs and facilitates preventive maintenance.
- Offer a reasonable initial investment.
For optimum scrap handling efficiency, make sure the conveyor provides a buffer or surge capacity that allows scrap to accumulate in case of problems down the line, as well as ample width to prevent spillage and jamming. Conveyor component selection should be based on a worst-case scenario — when the conveyor is fully loaded at the maximum surge rate. Heavy-duty drive system components should be selected as if they were going to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week at full-load capacity.
These other fundamental design criteria should be considered:
- A conveyor belt must be wider than the largest possible scrap dimension. For example, 24- by 24-inch scrap requires a much wider conveyor than 24- by 3-in. scrap.
- A branch conveyor directly under each press requires less volume capacity and freeboard than a main conveyor collecting from numerous presses.
- Larger facilities may need to increase conveyor belt speed automatically as scrap rates change. However, slower is better. For example, when several presses feed scrap into a conveyor system, the burden depth increases, and the depth of scrap increases weight. The calculated belt pull increases, and the ability of the conveyor to move material up inclines decreases. This is why it's important to have a balance between speed load and belt capacity.
- Main conveyors in large facilities may need to have variable-speed drives to allow operators to control the speed of the conveyor in varying production conditions. Variable-speed drives and interlocks should be used in facilities incorporating balers, compactors, or other downstream equipment.
- Large facilities need the ability to bypass final processing equipment to maintain a continuous scrap flow, because sometimes a shutdown of downstream equipment is required for maintenance or equipment failure.
- Control systems should be selected based on a facility's need for flexibility, operator attendance, lack of operator attendance, and planned production schedule. Is the system to be 100 percent automated, or is a full-time operator required because of material volume, facility size, or lack of scrap hauling capacity?
Bernard N. Goldstein, P.E., is chief engineer with Mayfran International, P.O. Box 43038, 6650 Beta Drive, Cleveland, OH 44143-0038, phone 440-461-4100, fax 440-461-0147, e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com, Web site www.mayfran.com. Mayfran Industries manufactures conveying systems, filtration equipment, separators, briquetting, and chip processing equipment to facilitate material handling and coolant recovery in various industries.
Bernard N. Goldstein
Published In...
STAMPING Journal
STAMPING Journal is the only industrial publication dedicated solely to serving the needs of the metal stamping market. In 1987 the American Metal Stamping Association broadened its horizons and renamed itself and its publication, known then as Metal Stamping.


text: Please, We've Been Doing This For Years! (Minus The Yoga Part.)Sadie Stein1/27/10 7:20pmFiled to: eat pray loveYogaFoodExerciseNew York Times37EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalink"All had signed up for a strange new hybrid of physical activity: first an hour of vigorous, sweaty yoga, then a multicourse dinner of pasta, red wine and chocolate." [NYT, Image via Tony Cenicola/NYT]Reply37 repliesLeave a reply


text:
WHITE BIRD Women's Bible study for Pleasant Valley Baptist Church will conclude in a few weeks completing the Beth Moore study. The women's one-day retreat is scheduled for Saturday, March 15, at the Grangeville Christian Church. Registration is $25. Seating is limited so sign up early. Contact Kathy Stefani at 839-2220 for information.
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