Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Some photos from last week's Air Show
thankfully I can be a member of certain Korean websites, which allows me to copy or download pictures that others have taken of me. Anyway, here are some pictures from last week's Air Show that were just uploaded today or yesterday.
with some of the kids at the Space Exhibition
outside waiting fort the others
the older guy in the hat I think is the Korean Air Force General
with some of the kids and the directors
great shots of stunt planes
almost a full group picture for this one
Happy Birthday Buddha!!
Yes, it's a national holiday today in Korea -- It's Buddha's Birthday, so I'm not working today. That works for me.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Thoughts on 30 -- just a few days late
So I had this blog post planned out in my mind a few times over the last week or two and just never put the words in this little box. Now, that I'm too tired and sick to do much on this somewhat gloomy Saturday I'm getting the job done. Don't worry about the sick part -- For some reason I let some nice lady talk me into thinking I could be young and party again a few times this week. Message from body to stubborn self -- late nights + hard workouts = not so happy immune system - you aren't as good as you once were Tower. As I'm typing this -- I've been trying to jump rope off and an for the last half hour or so. It keeps the mind fresh (yeah right!).
This post is supposed to kind of be a reflection of how things have been in life thus far -- or some things I've noticed about what goes on in the world.
I never thought I'd turn 30 in a foreign country such as South Korea. Let me retract on that one -- I never thought that I'd turn 27,28,29, or much less 30 in a foreign country where most foreigners don't even appreciate the local language. One of the coolest things -- I can remember what I've done for every single birthday from 18-30 -- now that's what I call a good memory.
I could recall them all right now, but I may fall asleep in the process. Since last week was number 30 -- I'll recall number 20 here -- that was a dumb move. Middle of finals week of course was my birthday -- what did this dumb college kid do? I sat on the bed of a truck in the gravel lot at Farmhouse (my fraternity), and drank and drank. By maybe 5:30 or 6 pm, I had drunk a half-case of Bud Light -- needless to say I took a little nap that lasted until well, 6 am or so the next day. Yeah, that wasn't exactly a smart move -- neither was 21 -- but I'm NOT going there.
Some of things I've learned along the way (probably too many, but I'll keep the list as short as possible):
This post is supposed to kind of be a reflection of how things have been in life thus far -- or some things I've noticed about what goes on in the world.
I never thought I'd turn 30 in a foreign country such as South Korea. Let me retract on that one -- I never thought that I'd turn 27,28,29, or much less 30 in a foreign country where most foreigners don't even appreciate the local language. One of the coolest things -- I can remember what I've done for every single birthday from 18-30 -- now that's what I call a good memory.
I could recall them all right now, but I may fall asleep in the process. Since last week was number 30 -- I'll recall number 20 here -- that was a dumb move. Middle of finals week of course was my birthday -- what did this dumb college kid do? I sat on the bed of a truck in the gravel lot at Farmhouse (my fraternity), and drank and drank. By maybe 5:30 or 6 pm, I had drunk a half-case of Bud Light -- needless to say I took a little nap that lasted until well, 6 am or so the next day. Yeah, that wasn't exactly a smart move -- neither was 21 -- but I'm NOT going there.
Some of things I've learned along the way (probably too many, but I'll keep the list as short as possible):
- Everything happens for a reason
- A mistake is just a lesson in life
- which means
- girlfriends
- jobs
- vacations
- purchases
- etc
- they are all something to learn from -- even those girlfriends that play with your mind and take you for a fool
- The people that love you in life are always going to love you no matter what
- sometimes they take a while to forgive you for certain things
- or you may take a a while to forgive them
- or you both may choose not to communicate with another no matter how hard one side has tried to do so in the past few years of living abroad
- No matter what they are gonna love you and be there for you whenever you need them
- I've not always treated folks the way they should have been treated
- I feel I've been paid back for such treatment at times
- By being taking for granted by others
- As they say -- what goes around comes around
- Being able to speak a second language is pretty awesome --even at the age of 30
- Even though I majored in communications in college -- I'm still not that great of a communicator
- My Grandpa John R. Tower is my greatest Hero -- 100% Gentleman
- Sometimes I wish I was as good of a man as he is
- But I know it's my responsibility to carry the torch of chivalry as a Tower
- I am thankful for love and support that Grandpa Tower gives me
- I never met my Grandpa Levy
- But I know he'd be impressed with the impact I've had on the lives of young children
- My other heroes
- The owner of my old health club in Daegu
- we have this great respect for each other
- I'm humbled in his presence
- The Lakota Warrior Crazy Horse
- American historians may never get the right side of the story on this guy
- We could all learn about humility from what he did
- Heck, there's even a mountain being carved in his honor in South Dakota
- George Jones and Johnny Cash
- Two great men
- Wonderful musicians who can move your soul
- My Uncle Tom Moody
- A brother
- A father
- An Uncle
- Just one hell of man
- Blogging has helped me realize that I've got potential as a writer -- If I dare pursue that adventure
- Finding love has definitely been a challenge
- As one song says "I've been looking for love in all the wrong places"
- I try not to worry about it so much these days
- Making a pretty woman smile is good enough most of the time
- As the top bullet says -- Everything happens for a reason
- I should still be a chivalrist at all times though -- I may have made that word up.
- The title of my favorite book -- Keep Going - now you understand the title of this blog!!
- There is so much in the world that I still want to see
- I have some awesome friends back home
- I have some awesome friends here in Korea as well
- I can still eat like a teenager
- Screw caffeine -- I got your energy right here
- I'm not afraid to admit that I cry when something touches my mind or soul
- Sports movies can still move my emotions as well
- I sometimes wonder how my life has occurred the way it has
- But people can live vicariously through what I have done
- Many folks support what I've done, no matter how far away I may be
- Chivalry while never die as long as I am alive -- did I mention that already?
- There are many people have done too much for me in my life
- I may never be able to repay them all fully
- But I can always honor them with love, respect, and gratitude
- The last two months have been a big challenge for me living in a place where I don't know anyone within two hours of me
- As I say though
- Keep Going -- nothing in life is too difficult
- Attack those fears
- I definitely complain a lot less than I used to
- I have everything I need in life
- There are too many people that don't have as good of a life as I do
- I leave you with this last thought --- Reading this strange bulleted list may have helped you think about something you would like to do in your life -- I hope in some way that this has affected someone out there.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Ending of a four day work week
This week has been quite interesting, though the work part of it was kind of a piece of cake. I worked on Monday and Tuesday though my schedule has been reduced due to middle schoolers having mid-terms these this week.
Wednesday was our Children's Day Party at work, which was awesome -- since the previous academies I worked at never did anything such as this for the holiday. I got to be in my own classroom during the whole party and play Jenga with the kids -- mostly I was just supervising though with one of my coworkers.
Yesterday was Children's Day, which is a national holiday here in Korea. I utilized my sharp knowledge of Korean express buses, and took a bus from where I live to an area called Cheonan. Cheonan is near Seoul. I had to take another bus from there to a city called Ansan. I met the Daegu Young Falcons there -- my group that I mentored and worked with last year. Yesterday was the opening day of a very big Air Show, in that area. It's known as Northeast Asia's premier air show, and it was a big one. Having a opening day fall on a national holiday was a super idea -- it seemed like there may have been one million Koreans just at this event alone.
I am not sure that there were actually that many folks, but they had anything and everything at this festival. You could find Starbucks, an auto show, traditional Korean music and dancing, an air show, with exhibits galore (of course you would have an air show at an air show), stunt pilots, and much, much MORE!!! I got to watch a famous American girl do some pretty incredible stunts in her vintage plane, along with a group of Europeans who were dazzling to watch. The crowd was astonished at watching the various groups perform. The infamous Black Eagles of Korea did a heck of a job too -- especially on my ears! I got pretty sunburned at the event since I didn't wear any sunscreen and forgot my hat was in bag too. I'll leave ya with some pictures!!
Wednesday was our Children's Day Party at work, which was awesome -- since the previous academies I worked at never did anything such as this for the holiday. I got to be in my own classroom during the whole party and play Jenga with the kids -- mostly I was just supervising though with one of my coworkers.
Yesterday was Children's Day, which is a national holiday here in Korea. I utilized my sharp knowledge of Korean express buses, and took a bus from where I live to an area called Cheonan. Cheonan is near Seoul. I had to take another bus from there to a city called Ansan. I met the Daegu Young Falcons there -- my group that I mentored and worked with last year. Yesterday was the opening day of a very big Air Show, in that area. It's known as Northeast Asia's premier air show, and it was a big one. Having a opening day fall on a national holiday was a super idea -- it seemed like there may have been one million Koreans just at this event alone.
I am not sure that there were actually that many folks, but they had anything and everything at this festival. You could find Starbucks, an auto show, traditional Korean music and dancing, an air show, with exhibits galore (of course you would have an air show at an air show), stunt pilots, and much, much MORE!!! I got to watch a famous American girl do some pretty incredible stunts in her vintage plane, along with a group of Europeans who were dazzling to watch. The crowd was astonished at watching the various groups perform. The infamous Black Eagles of Korea did a heck of a job too -- especially on my ears! I got pretty sunburned at the event since I didn't wear any sunscreen and forgot my hat was in bag too. I'll leave ya with some pictures!!
 |
| Watching the kids play Jenga at our Children's Day party |
 |
| Some of my students posing and others not wanting to pose |
 |
| My sweet little Cathy, who always manages tries to speak English with me , every chance she can |
 |
| These two either get on each other's nerves or really work well together |
 |
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| Some of my youngest students |
 |
| some of the Air Show pictures |
 |
| this little one was actually an academy student of mine last year -- great kid |
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| this one wouldn't leave my side as we were leaving -- good kid too |
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Where does one start?? How about a Tower at Thirty!!
I kind of stole the second part there from Jimmy Buffet -- I am pretty sure there is a book he has written called A Pirate Looks at Fifty -- or something similar to that. So I had this ginormous (if the word is spelled wrong please correct me) plan set out to type up this super-sized post all about how it felt to reflect on the past decade of my life -- then to look toward the future decade that has recently just begun.
We'll review the weekend that was to start with for now. It was a very pleasant weekend, although Saturday started without any plans until the evening. By 1:30 pm, the day was pretty busy. I met with my friend Mr. William, and we had a wonderful lunch at a new rooftop restaurant called Poom (what Poom means, I haven't the slightest clue). We enjoyed some wonderful rib-eye steaks, along with a glass of wine and some great appetizers as well.
We talked about all kinds of things during our few hours in the restaurant, and our time outside at the local park. Mr. William is a very busy business man who was kind enough to make time in his schedule for me. Mr. William is one of those who really humbles me with his kindness, and is always full of compliments for me. He even told me that I should turn some of this blogging stuff into some book writing -- I'm not sure about all that, but I do believe some of my experiences over in this corner of the world, could make for some interesting reading.
I left downtown after our time together, and then went back home to get ready for a short workout at my favorite gym in the world -- Life Health Club. I didn't spend but thirty minutes there, but it was nice to see some of the older folks that I love to practice my Korean with. The owner's daughter usually works the counter and she's a trip to talk with as well.
A good friend of mine, Timothy, helped me out with some of my Korean for an hour or so after my workout. We met a Starbucks that had Alison Krauss and Union Station playing for about ten or fifteen minutes. I had to pause and explain who it was to Timothy. Our friend Kai met up with us there for a few minutes too. Kai had found out on our English club website that it was my birthday, so he bought me a little gift certificate that I can use at any of the major movie places or restaurants in Korea.
We then departed and went to our English Club meeting. I am a member of an English Club in the Daegu area, that is about 75% Koreans, but these days there's a decent number of English speaking folks from various countries too. We usually have prepared topics with questions that we discuss from 7pm - 9pm on Saturday evenings almost every weekend. When we are finished, we go to one of two local restaurants to eat and drink -- I usually just prefer the eating part. This time there were two of us that were celebrating birthdays in the coming week. One younger lady who I didn't meet until this past weekend's meeting was having a birthday on Tuesday, and of course my birthday was on Sunday. So there was a cake that had a candle for each of us on it.
I was kind of unlucky to get the pink candle on my side, but beggars can't always be choosers I guess. We did Happy Birthday, in English, for the most part. I forgot to do the customary "make a wish" thing before blowing out my candle, but I usually don't wish for anything to great. Perhaps it's because I don't usually get what I wish for. Anyway, my mom sent some party stuff from the good 'ole Party Superstore, since I was turning the big 3-0!! Balloons were seen bouncing all around the restaurant, as everyone was carrying on in their separate conversations.
I went home about 11 pm, hoping I could fall asleep easily, but that didn't happen at all. I was so hoping to get some shut-eye before my homemade Korean breakfast at 8:45. I think it's because there was some caffeine in my tea from Starbucks -- gotta blame something besides myself right? My Sunday was a lazy one. Uncle Koo had wanted me to go play soccer with him and some friends, but I don't even own the proper stuff to play soccer. So I just stayed at home and watched UFC 129, like I was planning to do anyway. Little Sis Eun Byeol who was supposed to plan an afternoon with some friends and I, decided that she didn't want to do anything but stay at home and watch TV. So, I ventured out on my own and visited my former bosses at the Daegu Young Falcons Office.
Though I don't tutor these young kids anymore on the weekends, I am still invited to some of their special events and gatherings. Tomorrow there is an Air Show in the province near me, so I'm going to join a large group of them there. Tomorrow is actually a holiday -- Children's Day here in Korea.
The Koos (family that I stay with when I go to Daegu), treated me to a nice dinner, and the mom even bought me a nice gift of manly cosmetic stuff. I told her not to bother with buying anything but she felt pretty compelled to do so. She and Eun Byeol walked to the store, when I went to meet a friend and bought the stuff. I walked upstairs to my room and noticed a box and a letter on the table that weren't there when I had left earlier. I was pleasantly surprised to have the gift. I met my friend Michelle who studies in a coffee shop almost every night. She's a Korean who is trying to go to school in Australia, so she's studies English quite a bit for hours and hours every day. She does speak pretty well, so I gotta give her some credit there.
I'm gonna take a small break from this typing for now, and complete the latter part of this post later. I'll add some birthday pics and Children's Day pics soon also.
We'll review the weekend that was to start with for now. It was a very pleasant weekend, although Saturday started without any plans until the evening. By 1:30 pm, the day was pretty busy. I met with my friend Mr. William, and we had a wonderful lunch at a new rooftop restaurant called Poom (what Poom means, I haven't the slightest clue). We enjoyed some wonderful rib-eye steaks, along with a glass of wine and some great appetizers as well.
We talked about all kinds of things during our few hours in the restaurant, and our time outside at the local park. Mr. William is a very busy business man who was kind enough to make time in his schedule for me. Mr. William is one of those who really humbles me with his kindness, and is always full of compliments for me. He even told me that I should turn some of this blogging stuff into some book writing -- I'm not sure about all that, but I do believe some of my experiences over in this corner of the world, could make for some interesting reading.
I left downtown after our time together, and then went back home to get ready for a short workout at my favorite gym in the world -- Life Health Club. I didn't spend but thirty minutes there, but it was nice to see some of the older folks that I love to practice my Korean with. The owner's daughter usually works the counter and she's a trip to talk with as well.
A good friend of mine, Timothy, helped me out with some of my Korean for an hour or so after my workout. We met a Starbucks that had Alison Krauss and Union Station playing for about ten or fifteen minutes. I had to pause and explain who it was to Timothy. Our friend Kai met up with us there for a few minutes too. Kai had found out on our English club website that it was my birthday, so he bought me a little gift certificate that I can use at any of the major movie places or restaurants in Korea.
We then departed and went to our English Club meeting. I am a member of an English Club in the Daegu area, that is about 75% Koreans, but these days there's a decent number of English speaking folks from various countries too. We usually have prepared topics with questions that we discuss from 7pm - 9pm on Saturday evenings almost every weekend. When we are finished, we go to one of two local restaurants to eat and drink -- I usually just prefer the eating part. This time there were two of us that were celebrating birthdays in the coming week. One younger lady who I didn't meet until this past weekend's meeting was having a birthday on Tuesday, and of course my birthday was on Sunday. So there was a cake that had a candle for each of us on it.
I was kind of unlucky to get the pink candle on my side, but beggars can't always be choosers I guess. We did Happy Birthday, in English, for the most part. I forgot to do the customary "make a wish" thing before blowing out my candle, but I usually don't wish for anything to great. Perhaps it's because I don't usually get what I wish for. Anyway, my mom sent some party stuff from the good 'ole Party Superstore, since I was turning the big 3-0!! Balloons were seen bouncing all around the restaurant, as everyone was carrying on in their separate conversations.
I went home about 11 pm, hoping I could fall asleep easily, but that didn't happen at all. I was so hoping to get some shut-eye before my homemade Korean breakfast at 8:45. I think it's because there was some caffeine in my tea from Starbucks -- gotta blame something besides myself right? My Sunday was a lazy one. Uncle Koo had wanted me to go play soccer with him and some friends, but I don't even own the proper stuff to play soccer. So I just stayed at home and watched UFC 129, like I was planning to do anyway. Little Sis Eun Byeol who was supposed to plan an afternoon with some friends and I, decided that she didn't want to do anything but stay at home and watch TV. So, I ventured out on my own and visited my former bosses at the Daegu Young Falcons Office.
Though I don't tutor these young kids anymore on the weekends, I am still invited to some of their special events and gatherings. Tomorrow there is an Air Show in the province near me, so I'm going to join a large group of them there. Tomorrow is actually a holiday -- Children's Day here in Korea.
The Koos (family that I stay with when I go to Daegu), treated me to a nice dinner, and the mom even bought me a nice gift of manly cosmetic stuff. I told her not to bother with buying anything but she felt pretty compelled to do so. She and Eun Byeol walked to the store, when I went to meet a friend and bought the stuff. I walked upstairs to my room and noticed a box and a letter on the table that weren't there when I had left earlier. I was pleasantly surprised to have the gift. I met my friend Michelle who studies in a coffee shop almost every night. She's a Korean who is trying to go to school in Australia, so she's studies English quite a bit for hours and hours every day. She does speak pretty well, so I gotta give her some credit there.
I'm gonna take a small break from this typing for now, and complete the latter part of this post later. I'll add some birthday pics and Children's Day pics soon also.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Sorry for another delay . . .
I kind of had an unexpected long night last night!! In the next 12 hours there will be an update though. Sorry for those who like to read my adventures.
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