NOTE: Guest Editor

I am currently working on a multiple-part journal entry detailing my trip to North Korea. For those of you who have been waiting, I apologise. I have been very proactive in job hunting, writing final exams, photo editing, etc. and have had very little time to do any productive blog maintinence.

If and when (God-willing) I find a better university situation in Seoul, I solemnly promise to blog more often; my work hours doubled and my prep time vanished due to the loss of ten teachers...As a job, it has been a wonderful and life-changing experience, but I am ready to move on to more professional challenge and less, shall we say, lifestyle challenge...

That said, I did squeeze out some time to write a review as "LadySapphire" for another blog:

http://www.eflgeek.com

The blog itself is very well-written and has good information about the EFL instructor's life and job here in Korea. Check out my review of the Global EIL Conference last Saturday if you are interested in such things. I have been invited back as a guest editor.

PHOTOS: Beauty Among Squalor

This is a rare moment of color in Byengjeom. The azaleas (Korea's national flower) are in full bloom along the gloomy pathway that heads under the bridge. I am standing a few feet in front of my apartment complex, looking left. You can see the train tracks opposite the flowers.

This is a hanbok (traditional dress) shop across the street from "the hood." Above it is a bank. In the window, the bank advertises in several different languages for the migrant workers. Philipinos and Bangladeshi are the "Mexicans" of Korea.

The Korean farmers grow chili pepper bushes to protect their main crop (rice) just as Americans plant corn. The only time of day that this scrubby bit of farmland is lovely is at sunset. Although it is not evident in the photo (my camera being what it is) the sky was actually mixed with violent shade of pinks and oranges; the sun appeared blood-red. I am standing at the bus stop as I take this in.

JOURNAL: Gloomy Tuesday

I haven't blogged much recently lately because my situation is so ridiculous I can't find too much positive to say. "When you can't say something nice, don't say it at all." My experiences this year are of such a nature that public acknowledgement of the facts would sound like the lost episode of "The Sopronos. " After my ordeal is through and I am secure in a better place, I will expose all that has been happening. My sense of humor has (belatedly) kicked in, however; unfortunately, not many people find my sense of humor "normal." I find humor in the "theatre of the absurd" realm; literati, think Samuel Becket.

What I can't say in words (for fear of reprecussions), I will show in pictures. For those of you who are thinking, "She is such a drama queen, I don't believe it is that bad"....drumroll please.

My 'hood:

This is the bridge I have to cross under every night. I took this photo during daylight for obvious reasons...

Another view from the opposite side of the bridge. The dark corner behind the support is a popular "public bathroom" for drunks, and I have beeen more than once startled by a "patron."

Local massage parlor. As near as I can tell, operation is sporadic. The barber shop next door offers special "services;" note there are two barber poles. Although the rolling door is down, men come out the side and front entrance late at night. I peeped upstairs thourgh the windows one day when they were opened

(airing out?); they appear to be bedrooms.

One of many dog soup (boshintang) restaurants. I have posted this sign before; in context, you can see that it is right next to the police station.

The photo below is of a very cute puppy on a banner...Animal clinic? No. MEAL. I found this sizable banner in extremely poor taste. As much as I hoped that it was a banner for an animal rescue service, I am able to read Korean well. The blue lettering says "Gae go gi" which means dogmeat.

I believe the sign refers to this, the gaegogi farm next to my house (shown in photo). There are two puppies you can't see in the first cage; they are sleeping behind the board. Although the kennels are pretty dark, the puppies usually come over and wag their tails as I pass by. They are very curious about me, and press their darling little noses through the iron bars and raise their paws at me. This dog is bread specifically for meat. I have seen the dogs (dead, of course) without their skins in the freezer outside one of the boshintang restauraunts. I thought I was seeing things, but when I went closer, I saw that the carcasses still had the paws attached. The freezer was clearly labelled "Gaegogi;" the freezaer cover is taken off at night when the sexy clubs open. Presumably, you can choose your own meat. They look like stringy, tasteless meat to me; these dogs appear to be all coat. I can't imaging them tasting very good, and the aroma is very gamey.

Dogs aside, there is an evil aura on this side of town. Some people have perception beyond the temporal world; my friend is one of them, and this place scares her. My Korean friend from Seoul was also uneasy about this place. Some dark deeds have occured here in the past, and a malicious spirit lingers. Although not gifted with the Second Sight (thank God!), I knew something wasn't "right" the first night I slept in that apartment. There is a spirit of hopelessness and heavy oppression in these parts. Korea's only serial killer stuck in this small town; maybe his deeds were performed on this spot. The building is only 5 years old, and this land was country wasteland before. Who knows? It is a dark, unfriendly road that leads to the complex, bordered by the train tracks. It is the perfect place for a quiet murder...