Not Exactly Barney

Here in S. Korea, there are a lot of English-learning programs. Some seem to be better than others. I think it's amazing that around 4-5 channels on cable usually have English movies and TV shows and another 2-3 usually have English learning programs on.

I am extremely impressed with the children's programming, especially this one show called "Hello Dharma School." Dharma is a spiritual term used by Hindu and Buddhist philosophy to mean the righteous path. The show doesn't have any fun-loving purple dinosaurs like "Barney the Dinosaur," but I think the kids will still find much joy and excitement from "Bob the Buddhist Monk!"





On this show, kids will learn valuable Buddhist lessons as well as useful English phrases such as, "I will not drink or take intoxicants."



Also, they will learn "I will not kill living beings."




And let's not forget, the most useful phrase of all: "I will not be involved in sexual misconduct."




In place of the "I Love You Song," Hello Dharma School ends every episode with a 5-minute reciting of Buddhist scriptures.

(Note: the show is real, but no, the monk is not named Bob and no, they do not actually read scriptures)



Random Snack of the Day: Rice tard. Am I the only one that thinks this is funny?

I Don't Have A Sweet Tooth

I have not been a fan of sweets since I was a little boy that enjoyed going Trick or Treating for candy on Halloween. I have always naturally preferred my food salty and fatty. Foods like cake, ice cream, or brownies never made me feel satisfied and sometimes they made me feel a little sick.

The Korean typical palette unfortunately, tends toward the sweet side. Everything I have tasted here has either a tinge of sweetness or is sweeter than it's supposed to be, such as:

plain bread
french fries
ketchup
chips

Fuck, I'm starting to get pissed off because I can't find snacks that don't taste like they were made for a glycophilliac 5-year old girl.

Spaces that Confine Our Relationships

Growing up, I accepted the space bubble of men. I never questioned the issue of why us men had to sit with one seat between them at the movie theater -- I just accepted it. As you would guess, it blew my mind when I saw President Bush holding hands with that Saudia Arabian prince many years ago:

Being the mature individual that I am, my initial reaction was, of course, a mild chuckle. Following this, time was spent questioning the male space bubble -- the issue obviously must be a cultural-social issue and not a naturally-occurring rule if men in different parts of the world can acceptably lock hands.

I guess I am learning more as I grow older and meet different peoples. My male students have been a great teacher of this: their randomly telling me, "I love you" and their "touchy-feely" attitude has really led me to seeing male relationships in a different light. Because they are not gay at all, but they are just building relationships with other men in the way they see fit.

They are not gay, but sometimes, I really have to wonder:

(Background: We were watching Mulan and this one student wanted to get a better view, so thus, the human booster seat was concocted. Some of the other students thought it was funny too, but it wasn't at all a taboo thing like it would be in America... *mild chuckle*).