Beyond Borders

"Today the weather is perfect" Sannah said to me when I first noticed her outside the front gate of campus. She was right.

Sannah and I worked on a film piece together today. I've done several of these types of pieces already on Korean university students, and I was excited to do another since I'm starting to get better at them. We drove to a park not too far from the school, and spent the afternoon filming and becoming more acquainted. It's really a pleasure to work with some of these students in this capacity outside the classroom.

When I approached her earlier this year about possibly doing a short piece on her educational background, she instantly agreed. I love that sort of confidence. You can also see it in the photo above. And you'll surely see it if you watch her piece on www.krtv.tv when it's released.

We enjoyed a cup of coffee afterwards, while the weather was still perfect.

Keep the faith.

Long Overdue

The van I own and drive in Korea is a Kia Towner. Best name of any vehicle ever.

I originally bought it for two reasons only: Road trippin, and toting furniture. At the time, I was taking the bus to work. Nearly 6 months after I purchased it I was still taking the bus to work, or riding the motorcycle. Now every winter I can't live without the Towner.

At the time of purchase, it had a cassette deck. That obviously had to go. I had a nice Pioneer detachable face CD player with USB option installed, and it's been the most convenient, easy to use head deck I've ever owned. Just copy some MP3s onto a thumb drive. Car music has never been easier to listen to.

About a month later I returned to the same shop to have speakers installed, but the man who originally took care of me must been having a bad day, because he sent me away with the guidance to go to Kia if I wanted new speakers. Who in their right mind would ever desire to replace stock speakers with stock speakers?

Approximately two years have passed, and so have my speakers. I've been running on 1 blown front speaker for about 6 months now, so I decided the time had come to get some ones.

Getting them installed right now. Yippee ki-yay muthahuckers!

Keep the faith.

Mac in Korea

I recently crossed the threshold of smartphone land. This is a place many people already reside, especially in Korea.

I'm not special. I'm not special at all because of this. I am, however, more glued to a phone now. I slide that little touch screen lever across the bottom portion of the phone, punch in my 4 digit security code, and in my heart of hearts I know deep down this is better for me, though I still haven't convinced myself.

One of my former students who has more recently become a friend went with me to purchase the thing. Without her it would have cost me more. I'm convinced. I just know I received some special Korean discount, and even if I didn't, I still feel like that's what happened. She showed me how she was given this free case from the Apple customer care center for her Iphone which she had had for awhile. After seeing some of the other more bulky cases, I became set on the sleek one she had gotten for free.

I had another friend (Korean of course, what would I do without them?) who went with me to help me find a customer care center in Seoul. This second friend also conveniently has an Iphone. And not surprisingly, the place was packed with customers. What did strike me (though it shouldn't have) was how all the Korean employees were mostly using Macbooks to service these customers. Anyone who knows Korea at all knows how PC this place is, and how anti-Mac they've built their internet. (I can't even check my online banking from my Macbook.) Apparently, Korea is starting to catch on. Who knew.

So anyhow, I can tweet, kakao chat, and check my email all from the little device in my pocket. Am I special? No. But it sure feels like I am.

Keep the faith.

No free rides

Steph and I rode so many trains on this recent 1 month excursion through Europe that I felt like I became a train master by the end of it all.

There’s really nothing to riding a train if you think about it. Simply buy your ticket, arrive to the station on time, find the proper platform, make sure your ticket is printed, find your car and seat, and then hope no one is sitting in it. How hard could that possibly be?

In one case, we had purchased tickets online returning to Tuscany from Rome, but didn’t have them printed. On the way to Rome a day earlier we skated by not having them printed, and we weren’t the only ones. When ticket-checkers came around, I provided them information I had written down, and we were fine. But on the way back, however, they didn’t even check our tickets. Deep down that troubled me, because these tickets weren’t cheap. Out of all our train rides, attendants may have checked and punched our tickets maybe 50% of the time at best.

So, near the end of the trip (after well over a dozen train rides), I got this wild idea of riding the train from Bologna to Rome for free. Bologna was in between Firenze and Rome, and from my previous experience train attendants only do a walk through checking bookings right after leaving Firenze (Florence). I hadn’t seen anyone check tickets the previous trip through Bologna, so why was I to believe they were planning to do so this time around?

Steph was strictly against my (not so) evil plan. Moments before we left our hotel for the train station we ordered tickets on the web. Good thing we did. I ended up having a reserved seat next to the only person I would have wanted to chat with on the train anyway. I spoke with a gentleman (an Italian) more or less the entire way from Bologna to Rome who had lived several years in NY (where I’m from), and in San Diego where I’ve also lived. We hit it off.

Near the end of the ride he asked me if I’ve ever been to a bar in San Diego called Alibi. If you’ve ever been there, then you’ll probably agree with me that it’s one of the sneakiest, coolest bars in all of California that hardly anyone knows about. He also mentioned that he liked my project I'm filming about Marco's story, and that he may be able to put me in contact with someone in Italy who may be able to have it broadcasted on national TV there. If it's good enough of course.

Good thing we purchased tickets.

Keep the faith.

Old Friends

Who knew a student of mine from only two years ago would become an old friend. That's what she told me we were as we parted ways yesterday after sharing a cup of coffee. With the exception of Facebook, I hadn't seen her for more than two years.

Se Hee was a student of mine who almost failed my class over two years ago. I remember her well from those days, but not for the usual reasons. Most students at my university aspire for an A+, and Se Hee had given up on the prospect of passing due to an illness that kept her from coming to class for about two weeks. What I secretly believed happened at the time was she was just tired of a system that asks too much of her, and doesn't give much back.

After that semester she decided to take some time off from school. She visited me in my office to ask about studying abroad in the U.S. I doubted at the time I was much help. She called me days before she had planned to leave that summer to tell me she was actually doing it. I couldn't have been happier for her. That was the summer of 2009.

She spent two full years in Champagne-Urbana, Illinois.

The woman I met yesterday for coffee was nothing, NOTHING, NOTHING like the young student I once had in class. She had grown up, looked confident, and above all seemed happy.

She gave me a hug as we said goodbye yesterday, and university students in this country never hug me. EVER.

Keep the faith.

It’s not all peaches and cream

As a child I didn’t receive everything I wanted. I wasn’t allowed to get goodies while waiting in line at the grocery store, for example, just because they looked good on the shelf and I wanted them. This was directly due to an attempt by my parents to instill a sense of working hard to get what you want in me.

As I grew, I quickly developed a sense for what my parents could and could not afford. By 8th grade, for instance, ‘Air Jordans’ were the coolest new sneakers on earth. That was 1989, and those were the early edition Jordans if I remember correctly. (I checked, and the ones I distinctly remember were the Air Jordan IVs) I knew my parents couldn’t afford them priced at over 100 dollars a pair. I also had to be picky regarding what 8th grade formal suit I chose since not all of them were priced accordingly. I seriously doubt this sort of understanding by teenagers at this age is in any way special.

As an adult, these two very different philosophies are now very much intertwined for me. I would really like to know the difference between teaching a child they have to work hard for what they want, and allowing children to know that you (as parents) can’t afford something. Does that mean the child should go out, find a part-time job, save, and then buy the item themselves?

Come to think of it, what are we really working so hard for? Material goods? For our bosses? What if you work super hard, and still cant afford something you would really like, like a private jet? Most people will never own a private a jet. I sure would like one, how cool would that be? (To my friends in San Diego: Yeah, I'll be there on Saturday, you know for the beach party. I'll just hop in my private jet.) Are there really that many people out there working so hard just to be middle class?

And, do the people who make $250,000 or more actually give a shit at all about the middle class? I would like to think they do, but then again I’ve been known to be wrong.

Keep the faith.

Elizabeth Warren

Though some of you reading this may not have even heard of her, I'm super excited to hear that Elizabeth Warren is running for Senator in the state of Massachusetts. This is welcome news for anyone who cares about America.

I was so excited when I heard the news that I made a video response. (I know, I know - excitement over someone running for office is a little out there. She's that honest and sincere about what she believes, something almost the entire federal government is lacking at this point.)

Anyway, here is the video response I made upon receiving the good news.



Here is your video proclaiming that she is running.



You be the judge.

Keep the faith.