Time to start writing again. We are in the final weeks of my computer class. Learning about blogs and such. Hopefully I'll be putting up some new cycling info. Looking forward to a cross country trip in the near future. So this site will hopefully become a place to report exciting developments in the lead up and eventual process of that ride.

Inspired Bicycles - Danny MacAskill April 2009

One day I'll be riding like this.

ESL and Computer Class

Today I have three classes. In the morning I taught an intermediate class. This afternoon I am teaching a computer class. We are learning about blogs. Thus my post. Hopefully I will have more opportunity to write and post pictures as I model blogging for my class. I finish my day at 8:30 tonight with a class for beginners.

I'm back in the States.  Moving to Harrisburg, PA soon.  On the verge of employment.  Looking to buy a touring bike.  Reading good books.

So I have a month left in Egypt. I will flying into JFK on the 9th of July. I will happy to escape the heat, the crowds, the noise. Yet, will also be sad to leave many people. Yesterday we had a party at the school I've been teaching at for refugees. I've been able to spend a good amount of time with a number of students and other friends from the school and greatly appreciate the time I've been able to spend with them. It is always a learning experience to be with people from such different circumstances than yourself. And I always find I receive more than I could ever give. Above pictured with me are a few of the guys I've been able to spend a good bit of time getting to know. Most of the people I've worked with are coming from Darfur, but I've also met many people from a range of areas and circumstances. Spending time with them in class, at the church, and in the local Sudanese coffeeshop and restaurants, I've come to a greater appreciation of the struggles refugees face in a foreign country. Surely everyone knows of the problems in Africa. It's something different to meet the actual faces living the lives of refugees.

So outside that experience Arabic has been coming along. Less quickly than I would like, but I have reached a higher level of proficiency which allows me to converse more frequently and with greater confidence. The coming week I will finish my classes, both teaching and studying and do some traveling with friends. I'm very much looking forward to coming home. So see you all soon. Probably before I get up many more pictures. There are more at the album linked to this page.

All has been a full schedule each day. Rest in the mornings and afternoons periodically, but I have been meeting many people at coffeeshops. This with other classes both in Arabic and English provides me with plenty to do. No complaints, I should be making use of my time and am glad for the time. This weekend I will go to the Red Sea to spend some time with some old friends and some new ones as well. I think it will be good to swim and be out of the city. I've gotten back into some soccer. My body still needs to make the transition back into athletics, but we're coming along. I had a header in the last game that gave me a crick in the neck that has lasted for some time. Still not in full range of motion.

I will hope to get some pictures up from the beach next week. It should be rather nice. But for now I need to get going to class.

I moved into an apartment with two Italians last weekend...Marco and Donatella. They are fun. It's right back in the neighborhood I used to live in 4 years ago. So all is well in residential terms. I have also changed teachers and classes are much better now. I feel in a good place and situation these days. My English classes have also been going well, and I have been spending some time with some of my students, speaking both Arabic and English. And learning a few words in Amheric...the Ethiopian language.

Today is very windy. I didn't do much but laundry...by hand, and some food shopping. I have here some pictures from last month. I suppose i have been here over a month or so now. If you want to have a look more pictures should be up at the album i have linked at the side. I'm working on it now, so hopefully they will be up after a bit. Sorry if there are any problems.

My quest for kimchee is yet to succeed. I spent several hours yesterday searching for a korean restaurant and found it, only to be turned down in my request for goods sharing the nature of kimchee. I've met some Koreans since my arrival and actually attended a traditional Korean musical performance at the Opera house here in Cairo. Only 3 dollars quite a difference from anywhere else I would see such a show. Anyway that should be all for now. Trying to do many things on this computer.

The weather has cooled. It has been more than nice for the past week and a half. I continue to teach at the refugee program and have spent several nights with the guys in my class. Last night we ate Sudanese fool...i.e. Sudanese refried beans. By far my favorite fool to date. Its been good to hang out with them and start to learn about their situations. I've met many interesting people. It's also been good practice in Arabic. They work on their English and then we fall into Arabic after a bit.

So my Arabic is improving, but I need more time out with people to practice speaking. I'm looking to move into an apartment, but presently I'm changing teachers at my Arabic school and waiting to see how that goes. Its been nice to live in a hostel, but I will soon like to be in a more set routine.

Tomorrow I have a four hour class from 8 to 12 with some teachers at my Arabic school, to help pay for the classes. This will be our third class. It's good because they are all very motivated.

Cairo life goes. It's nice. Not too fast not too slow. Thats it for now.

Cairo

So I'm in Egypt. I have been here now for almost a month. It is good. It was very hot, but now it is cool. I am teaching English at a program for refugees two days and week. I am studying Arabic 4 days a week and working out English classes for some of the teachers there, as a sort of swap. Im making some progress in my Arabic. The food is good, the rhythm of life is good. Its a little noisy. But its Cairo so its life. Hopefully I will take more time to write later. But for now I must go. Hope everyone is well.

Jirisan

From about a week ago...Joy and I climbed Jirisan for our Lunar New Year vacation. Its beauty was accentuated by the lack of any real traffic on the trails, which Korean parks are infamous for. Holiday hiking is the way to go. I'm also quite excited that my hip has ceased to cause pain to speak of. I wasn't sure, but I took a shorter hike the previous weekend, and have been feeling fine. Great news. Now I can start thinking more about backflips.
Anyway, two more weeks. My kids are ready for graduation, like I've never seen any class ready. We're good. It's going to be sad these last days, but I'm going to do my best to be mindful of the present moment, throughout. Hope everyone is well.

DMZ Panmungak

Here. Sorry about my filming inadequacies. Still learning.

Korean Octopus

I hope you like this video taken from our octopus meal last week. I will have more pictures up and also video from the DMZ hopefully soon. But you can find some new pictures on a link here http://picasaweb.google.com/lukebauer36
I just found I could do this and so I hope you can enjoy the pictures. More to come as time allows. The Octopus was not especially delicious nor grotesque, merely ill textured.

Seoul 2008

As I said I was in Seoul with Joy and Matt for the first weekend of this break. Got a new camera for a decent price. And am now sharing the fruits of its first use. It looks like all i did was go to historic sites but the first few days were spent eating, walking and playing. We got reservations for a show called Nanta, which was awesome. A modern mix of traditional drumming, dance, and theater. (To any who might visit Seoul check it out.) We were mixed up on the show's time, so we waited it out in an arcade where we played games and sang a Cher song in a tiny karaoke booth. (Also highly recommended.) Of great pleasure early in the trip were shawarmas at a Turkish shawarma stand, also all you can eat curry at an Indian restaurant.
Still nursing a chronic injury, I have been limited in what I can do this break. I can rest and relax while finishing the last Harry Potter and begin organizing for my departure from Korea, less than two months away. It snowed the last two days, so I am debating whether to go out for a short hike or not. It could give me more pain in my hip, but how could I miss my last chance to be out in snow covered Korean mountains? Anyway I'm enjoying the time off and the snow. Though it has been dreadfully cold as of late. Hope you are all well.

Seoul

So I just got a new camera in Seoul. With it I can take videos such as this. It is vacation now and I spent the first few days in Seoul, eating shawarma, taking in a show and just walking around. This shrine was beautiful and cold. Luckily I came prepared. Hope you enjoy. More pictures to come.

October Korea

It's a very exciting week... tests and evals are done for the month..halloween on Wednesday. Cool temperatures and snotty kids, ah.
This weekend Joy and I took a trip to the south coast, back to a town I had visited last year. This year there was much less rain and we were able to be at the temple on the cliff for the evening bell and chanting. My first official Korean sunrise also came at the chance of being woken up by loud ajummas (older women) making the trip. It was beautiful and complete with applause from the audience. Luckily another spot I've been meaning to see was on the way home today. We stopped by the green tea plantation in Boseong. It is a beautiful area, but more than that, an opportunity to take pictures like a Korean. If you ever travel through the country you'll come to find that generally Korean's love to pose in dramatic fashion. Thus Joy helped me begin my own album of glamour shots. See below.
The word is my aunt and cousins are headed here this month, so well have to get in touch again to check in on details, but that should be fun to see some familiar faces in a now somewhat familiar land. It should be exciting.
Unfortunately, they've missed out on all the huge fesitivals of the year. This month has been a festive month indeed. Plenty to see and eat. I finally found the kimchee i've been desiring to buy, at the Kimchee Festival. We also tasted some more wild boar there. I've seen Korean yodelers, breakdancers, drummers, and more. All in Gwangju: the place to be in October. Good news from the apartment: a new chair. The due return for my recently stolen bike. It doesn't get me from here to there, but it is a good reading space: leather and comfortable. That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures.

Kids are Funny

So I will just give a few stories to validate my claim.

1. Dean- Sneezes a great sneeze...with this to his credit- he covers his nose with his hands...on the pullback he notices some remnants of mucus membranes...then proceeds to lick what had been projected onto his palms. (My reaction- amazement and disguised laughter)

2. Brien- After a somewhat frustrated warning to the class on their volume I overhear Brien explaining to Jay "Luke Teacher is very busy. Not only morning class. After morning class there is afternoon classes...two." Thank you Brien for your understanding.

3. Fred- As with any story from Very Easy Reading 1 I ask my normal comprehension questions. "What does the elephant use to pick up the woman?" Several hands go up. "Yes, Fred." Fred puts his hands together creating some kind of form I'm sure I've seen before..."Teacher...Dog!"... a moment of what is not clarity..."Yes, Fred...'dog'. Very good, thank you." (enjoyment of the moment) "Now can anyone tell me what the elephant uses to pick up the woman?" (his trunk)

4. An anonymous student of another teacher- In the midst of their childish energy set loose in the playroom a fierce game of scare the other person breaks out: growls, angry looks, and hand guns. Unnamed Student #1 approaches his teacher with a double barrel hand gun...stares with fierce eyes and shouts..."Kazakstan Police!" (a first year student mind you...the teacher surrendered, no negotiation)

5. Lance- Notorious throughout the school for his large skull...following the construction of a vest in one of our art projects, we proceeded in the fitting. Unknown to me Lance had proceeded on his own and one could only guess the outcome of his endeavor. As I made my way to his table I faced a broken vest and a defeated look. And the only appropriate response, which I have been waiting for for some time...perfectly spoken he informed me "Teacher my head is too big!" ( the vest was fixed)

Chusok 07

It is now the Chusok holiday. I have off till Thursday, thus a little time to write. I was up in the center of the country for about a day and a half in the pictures that you see here. Some good and bad things happened on that trip. Bad- 1. My ongoing hip pain was exacerbated to the point of not being able to sleep on my side, or shift my left leg to the right or left. 2. The weight from my new backpack was bruising my hips. Good- 1. I got to see a lot of those cool spiders. 2. I got to see a lake. 3. * a possible reallignment of my hips as the pain has ceased (my hypothesis being that the weight on them from the pack added the pressure needed to shift back into place) We shall see if this conjecture holds true or perhaps the pain is just taking a short vacation. But right now I am home, hoping to make it through the day before I test my mobility with a bit of soccer.

One thing which came to attention again this week was the need for Korea to think up better names for their cities. In America it's pretty easy to get around in the sense that if you ask for a ticket to Chicago it's likely you can get there without too much confusion. But in the past week I have traveled through Chunju, Chongju, and Chungju. The latter two happen to be an hour apart so at least your not far off with a mispronunciation. But really who does this? It's like putting a Hauston in Texas. I couldn't have survived without my excellent Korean phonetic skills. I appreciate Korean community in many aspects, but this lack of indivualism when it comes to name is a bit of a nuisance.

I have been in a bit of a rut with the lack of physical activity but hope that the recent progress will result in a return to normalcy that will allow me to get out of the house a bit more now that I have the time. I hope you all like spiders.

Well I am back in Korea after a wonderful time home with the family and a few friends. It was a great time of relaxation and time with my family. It was a bit of an adjustment coming back to the Korean heat, but it just broke two days ago and has been rainy with highs in the 70's: sweatshirt weather. I can't describe it, its sooo nice. Yesterday Joy and I were able to go to one of my old (her current) student's piano/violin recitals. It happened to be the same music school for several of my students. So I was able to witness Korean musical training. It is safe to say I was at a near to world class performance. It is unbelievable to see how quickly these kids learn. The student I went to see was an 8 year old girl and she was performing the first movement of Vivaldi's Concerto in a-minor on the violin...not a short piece by all reasonable judgments. This after a year and a half of lessons. After the recital we went out to dinner with her family. Sarah was too shy much to me, but I did get to talk to her 3 yr old brother as he ran through the restaurant.

Tomorrow will be the first day of my new schedule. We are doing a switch of afternoon classes for the last half of the year, and this means that I will not be working so late. A welcome shift. We also have a new teachers room on the 6th floor which is very nice. We have a little courtyard outside, which is the roof. Hopefully the transition to new classes will go smoothly. But I cannot express the relief shorter hours will be. Thats the latest news from Korea. I am also on the injured reserve. I went to the doctor to check out some hip pain I've been having for the past few months. I was able to get an x-ray for $40. It seems that I have an area of higher bone density caused by stress from overuse/poor posture, so I will be out for this soccer season and any possible racing opportunities. Not the best news, but at least I know what I need to do now.

It is now July. The rainy season began about a week ago. Though we've had a day or two of sun. Yesterday was incredibly hot and humid. The sun here is more intense than the one I remember in America.
I'm just on the other side of one of my more busy two week stretches. I had parent conferences yesterday. They went very well. I was lacking the nervousness I had last year. I feel my teaching has improved dramatically since the time I have been here. Last year I wasn't as confident. So knowing more about teaching and being able to talk more confidently about the kids and what they can do to improve has made life a lot easier with regard to meeting with parents. I also feel a much better rhythm to my teaching this year and I can more easily sense the class and what I need to be doing to maintain their interest and make sure they understand what were learning.
After a hot day yesterday, it started raining at night. It was a very strong rain, and we had lighting and thunder...a rare occurance in this area. I slept wonderfully to the sound of drops on the window. I love the rain.
So the word is not certain yet, but the hopes are that I will be headed home at the end of the month for a little vacation. I should arrive late on July 28. My aim is to have a relaxing time mostly at home with my family. Though I'm sure a few days to visit Harrisburg won't hurt. I'm very excited. It will be very nice to not teach for more than two or three days. I also have a mind for fig newtons and beans. I trust they are both still available stateside. Hope to see some of you soon.

It's been a while I've been wanting to visit Gyeongju, one of the biggest historical cities in Korea. It was very nice weather. They have bike rentals right outside the bus terminal so we were able to take some for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we biked way out to Bulguksa, a very big famous temple; which took us long enough we spent the rest of the night in that area. This morning we road back into town and hit up some of the sights in the city. Of considerable enjoyment were an open field and a relatively clean river with snakes. On few occasions will you come across either of these in Korea in the foottracks I have made. We had two rather delicious meals for lunch yesterday and today...Ssam bap and Poori bap. Good things with rice. The large mounds above are burial sites for royalty. Not too exciting, but it was nice to see grass hills. There were a lot of random burial spots, temples, museums, etc. I thought the greatest idea was renting out bikes. That way we only spent 10 dollars on all of our travel the two days, rather than pay for buses and taxis that wouldn't afford us the flexibility or pace we were able to have. It was a very nice stay and a place to see if you ever do happen upon Korea. I hope I've offered enough pictures.