JoongAng Daily articles on Chuseok (in pdf format) Yes, here are a few articles on the Korean Harvest Moon festival called Chuseok. It’s on right now, and today’s newspaper had some interesting discussions about the history and context of Chuseok. Did you know it was once basically a competition day when women tried to outdo one another in weaving, dancing, and singing. Of course, there was also feasting.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a major lunar festival all over Asia… in China and Japan, as far as I know, the holiday is the same as in Korea. It’s what is called in Korean “Chuseok,” or in English “The Harvest Moon Festival”.

… are very endearing. Even when they don’t stand a chance.

I’ve been sleeping poorly and eating less than usual, but still basically in a good mood and feeling better-rested than before. (Could this have to do with much-reduced net access?) I’ve been very busy writing on one of my other blogs, which I’ll once more plug here: New Sophist’s Almanac, a blog run by my friend Marvin and I, for the purposes of egghead philosophical discussions. Current topics include religious language, cross-cultural and cross-belief-system communication, the strengths and weaknesses of postmodernist theory, and aspects of Korean culture in connection with marriage and with barbershops. I’ve been listening to Beck, George …

On Monday Night I dreamed that was going on a trip to Tibet. I flew to Bangkok to buy a ticket there because, as everyone knows, the tickets in Bangkok are cheaper no matter where in Asia you are going. When I arrived, however, they told me that I would have to go through southwestern Australia, as that route is the cheapest in the world for getting over to Tibet. I couldn’t understand how, and it was only after a lot of asking that they explained Tibet had been relocated to Antarctica. Apparently that was the only deal they could …

Well, my students are… hm. They’re interestingly varied. Things that work extremely well in one class fall flat in another. I think in another week or so I’ll have a good enough idea of the level of each class and tailor my basic lesson to each group, without the pain of planning 11 different lessons. Still, I am very much getting the hang of teaching the same lesson something like ten times a week (it’s two different levels, and except for night classes two lessons per week). But it’s going okay. As for other work stuff… it turns out the …

Yes, the computer is back to life! I am absolutely ecstatic. It turns out the problem was not a Windows problem, not a virus problem, but rather a problem with my hard drive. It cost me W180,000 (which is about $200) to get it fixed, and now it’s running better than it ever has. I spent most of today updating the Windows Installation on my PC, because I had to install an English version myself. I still need to get over to IBM to get my hands on the Thinkpad-specific software, and to get some discs back from one of …

I saw this on A violently executed plan and decided to do it. The original seems to have started at Green Boogers, or at least that’s where Adam saw it… Thanks for the questions, Adam! (1) What do you like the most about living in Korea? It’s hard to formulate an answer to that question because I am asked it very often, in more- or less-coherent forms. Usually I give a throwaway answer like, “The soju!” (a sort of hard liquor unique to Korea) or “The wimmin!” (which I actually enjoy but very rarely “enjoy” if you know what I …

Well, Jeonju. I didn’t go in to the office Thursday or Friday, because all my classes were canceled and I finished all my preparations for this week by Wednesday afternoon. So I just spent time getting my apartment sorted out. Friday night I met Myoung, John Tallman and his family for beer. It was a nice chat out on the veranda of the rather cheesy Hite Zone bar in our neighborhood. (Hite is a Korean beer company. Think of a bar called Miller Time! or This Bud’s For You and you’ll get the idea. Wait, there is a bar called …