Uncle JJ

Sports for Teacher’s Day

Posted on23. May, 2010 by Johnathan.

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Teachers are still thought of as important in Korea, and are afforded their own day off complemented with a celebratory sports afternoon. This year had fewer events to reflect South Korea’s mourning of recently murdered soldiers. But the show went on and featured tug of war battles between classes for more than just bragging [...]

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Take me out to the ball game

Posted on08. May, 2010 by Johnathan.

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Went to the baseball game today and watched Busan’s team, the Lotte Giants, pull an upset over the Dusan Bears. Lotte is the worst team in the league, but they were able to pull off 13 straight runs after giving up the first 4 in the opening inning. Baseball has a special culture in Busan, [...]

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Afternoon around Nurimaru

Posted on02. May, 2010 by Johnathan.

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Back in 2005, Busan was the proud host of the APEC Conference and furnished a local island to receive its international guests. Today, the venue is reserved for display, but visitors are welcome to walk around the island and enjoy the view. It leads into the largest beach in Korea (Haeundae), making for a picturesque [...]

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Korea in Coasters

Posted on07. Feb, 2010 by Johnathan.

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While hunting for interesting things that I could bring over from Korea, I came across a neat set of coasters that featured artwork from Kim, Hong-do, a famous Korean artist from the late Choseon dynasty (1392-1910). His work illustrated everyday life simply and succinctly. The set of six features weaving, iron forging, harvesting, wrestling, education, [...]

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Thank You, Stubborn Ajeoshi!

Posted on22. Dec, 2009 by Johnathan.

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고맙습니다 아저씨! I need to do a post on my favorite parts of Korea, but until then, I’ll give little anecdotes and idiosyncrasies like this. Today I was toting around three bags of blankets that I’d gathered for Christmas donations. Inauspiciously, it was the same time as rush hour, which doubles the flow of traffic [...]

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Korean Birthdays

Posted on06. Dec, 2009 by Johnathan.

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What do you get the person who has everything for their birthday? How about a knock on the head?
Before getting into it, let me first say happy birthday to Gina who turns another year older today and to Double Agent L who celebrated last week. They can be thankful that they weren’t born here because [...]

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A Pleasant Treat

Posted on17. Nov, 2009 by Johnathan.

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Today Busan was treated to its first snowfall of the year. Despite getting colder over the last week, it was a surprise to see white on the hills when I left my place this morning. At 3 am, Kim Frost–Jack’s Korean half-brother–paid a visit and threw a few handfuls of snow over the city. Before [...]