em's article

hey guys;
here's the link to a front-page feature i recently wrote for 'The Canadian National Newspaper' on the possible North American Union: http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2007/03/26/01439.html.

love em.

just 'being'

(by emily)

there are days when i miss canada terribly. days when i don't know whether i can stomach another piece of seaweed, or another teaspoon of red chili pepper. today was NOT one of those days.

the blossoms are bursting on winter-old branches; the air is fresh and saturated with birds' songs... and the koreans are out and about in their red hiking jackets and walking sticks. it's a great season to be in wonju.

why was today so special, you may ask? i'm not sure... i woke up earlyish to go running with my friend naomi. i always love our talks.

then i read the bible for an hour, and trenton worked out. i painted an abstract picture, and ate a salad. nothing out of the ordinary.

following that trenton taught me (once again) how to ride the scooter -- and i finally got it!!!!!!!! yippee skippee (in the words of trent's mom lol) :) it was so fun zooming (ok, crawling) along the streets in my yellow helmet.

the best is yet to come... at 3 pm we gathered with good friends of ours to play a rousing game of volleyball (which our team won!). we then took advantage of a $4 all-you-can-eat korean buffet. this was jill's official going-away party. her contract is finished.

after our stomachs were tight with food, jill, emma (a new girl from new zealand) and i went to the local sauna to scrub and soak and scrub some more.

what a day. i like staying home. i like watching our turtle grow and cooking my husband fried chicken and mashed potatoes (like i did last night), watching documentaries and spending time just 'being'.

my restlessness has ceased... momentarily.

(pictures: trent, in a tree, overlooking wonju; us setting up the volleyball net; naomi, emma and angela doing a cheerleading pose; some korean side dishes; and finally, two of the three crosses that surround our apartment building -- which i treasure)

Hockey Night in C...orea

Last weekend I had a hockey tournament in Chun Cheon.

In photo number one you can see me completing my hat trick to win the game 8-4.

Photo number two shows me scoring the game winning goal as we won 5-4.

And in photo number 3 I am tying up the game at 3s; we went on to win 4-3.

It was lots of fun. Afterwards we went out for tak kalbi (pronounced duck galby), which is a BBQ spicy chicken. (see photo number 4).

Some players from all the teams went so we had a group of thirty plus. They gave me some lessons on korean drinking ettiquette.

For starters, you are never supposed to fill your own glass. You are never supposed to fill your own glass. When someone pours for you, you must accept it with two hands if they are you equal/elder. They same thing goes if you are pouring for your elder, and if you are going to drain your glass you must have someone join you in a cheers type format.

I also now have a korean name 'Gang Miran'. The 'r' in Miran is haveway between a 'r' and a 'l'. Gang is my last name or family name. It comes from the begining of the province I live in: Gangwon-do, and Miran is name of our Hockey team.

By now you may have figured out that there are no pictures as I FORGOT my camera. But someone was supposed to email me pictures. If I get them, then I will add them. Don't hold your breath.

Trenton

couch surfing

we just joined a site called 'the couch surfing project.' you can find it at: www.couchsurfing.com. if u make a profile, random world travelers who need a place to crash for the night will contact you! plus, it's a swap-deal; say, for example, some dude from italy spends the night on your 'couch.' the next time you're in italy, you can stay at his place! the world is shrinking by the second... it's really tripping. check it out! (ps. this is the city where we live)

emotional rollercoaster?

for those of you who aren't married, we decided to put together a little portfolio of emotions that a typical couple might go through together. being overseas has put us through an intensely emotional rollercoaster ride. not convinced? just look at my (Trenton's) face.




this is us angry.













here we're happy.











sad.














very excited.











scared senseless.













now that we've scared you senseless, we'll sign off. it's now time to make 'funny faces.'
As you can tell, I make some awesome faces. Just wait till you see my 'Blue Steel' face...

white day and yellow flowers

warning: sappy post :)

so this is me, sweaty from my morning run, just having received a lovely bouquet of yellow flowers from trenton in honor of march 14 being "White Day" in korea. kind of a racist day, if you ask me :) but i don't mind... being white and all. just joking, lol. it's actual just another valentine's day, upon which the boy is meant to give his special girl something sweet.

anyway, trent's card was very touching -- it said:

"Dear Mumbles (that's his nickname for me because i mumble all the time), Happy White Day! Will you be my white ... person? I love you. You are the most important thing in my life. SHMILY."

SHMILY stands for: "see how much i love you."

this year in korea's been really good for our marriage. and even tho we're going to have to separate soon for awhile, i know that moments like this will keep us deeply connected forever. ok, enuf mush. just wanted to share :)

jill and i chill with some monks

this weekend my friend jill pateman (who i've known since high school) and i headed to a place called 'gyeong-ju' for a peaceful temple stay. little did we know, we'd be forced to wake up at 4 am to chant and sit still then walk in countless circles in the freezing cold, all in the name of meditation... but it was an 'enlightening' time in the words of jill. before even getting to the temple (which required a half-hour walk from the bus stop) jill insisted on brushing her teeth by the side of the road. i gave into peer pressure and brushed mine as well. so we arrived minty-fresh at the temple, and revelled in the natural beauty of the place for.... hours... until finally supper rolled around. all of the meals were the same, but thankfully, they were also delicious. steamed rice, various kinds of fresh kimchi, tofu and soy/mushroom soup. the monks insist on doing every quietly... and quickly. meals are wolfed down and conversation, 'opsoyo' (absent). after dinner we learned some martial-arts moves (which i sucked at), did some fancy yoga tricks, then settled down on warm korean floors to sleep at 10 pm. the next day consisted of a trip to visit various temples, as well as the ONLY underwater tomb in the entire world (king mumu's)... below you'll see women burning incense by the japan sea, where the king is buried. you'll also see an adorable little boy who was trying to skip rocks. all in all, jill and i decided that, while we admire the monks for their discipline, we ourselves could not be monks. even in spite of the cool balloon pants that they get to wear (i'm wearing some below). so we headed on home to our cushy apartments, to get some much needed munchies and rest.

information overload

something's happening here... what it is ain't exactly clear... there's a man with a gun over there, saying "children, you've got to beware"

you've gotta stop, children, what's that sound, everybody look what's going on....


these lyrics are stringing through my mind like endless pearls, driving me nutty at night, because of current information overload. yet i wouldn't change it for the world.

as for my lifestyle, it's definitely going to change. most of you know me as an extremist. trenton, on the other hand, is a very balanced individual. he keeps me grounded. yet the issues we've been facing over the past week require dramatic and extreme measures, in order to make a difference. he and i both agree on that, for the most part :)

what am i talking about?

well, all i can say is -- watch these documentaries! they will change your view of the corporate world, billboards, global warming, life in the red light districts of calcutta, our 'fast-food' lifestyle, and more.

"the corporation"
"born in the brothels"
"an inconvenient truth" (with al gore)
"Jesus camp"
"the grizzly man"
"murderball"
"who killed the electric car"
"super-size me"
"the high cost of low prices" (wal-mart)

also, we've been told to read this book: "the irresistable revolution" -- you can order it through www.thesimpleway.org. we've put in a request for a copy, so we can share it with you once we're done.

another good book (we've been told) is "the fast food nation." and have i mentioned my love of "no logo"?

whirrrrrrrrrr.... that's the sound our minds and hearts are making right now, as we prepare to avoid the corporate hand as much as possible, strap on our bike helmets, and pledge to a 'hippyer' more grassroots lifestyle. because, according to these documentaries, that's the only thing that will save this planet for future generations.

keep in mind, i'm a passionate extremist. but it would appear the world's in dire straits.

a BIG thank you to our friends who've opened our eyes and helped us see how we need to change. we'll never be the same.

simple living

trent's and my life has been shaken up lately, through the documentary 'the corporation', and the book 'no logo.' next year we will be living with another couple near toronto, and thankfully, they're very conscious of the environment/social issues/and the danger of living under the power of the corporal hand. trent and i are in the midst of uprooting our former way of life and changing everything from how we eat to how we live out our christian faith. if any of you have ideas on how to reject corporations and change the world by living organically and simply, please share them! in the meantime, our friends sarah and ted bingham have really been challenging us and referred this web site to us: www.thesimpleway.org; from this site, i exerpted the following which we're going to try to following over the next year:

• A number of people have asked us to come up with some simple, practical ideas around social justice. With the help of our friends at Geez Magazine, we’ve come up with the following… add your idea to the mix and let’s brew up some holy mischief.
• Go out to eat with someone who is homeless, or invite them to your home or cafeteria to eat with you.
• Leave a random tip in the college bathrooms for the folks who clean them.
• Find out who makes the clothes for the athletic department and if those companies reflect the values of Christ.
• Learn to sew and begin making your own clothes.
• Start tithing 10% of all income directly to the poor (relationaltithe.com).
• Connect with a group of farmworkers who grow food for your cafeteria or favorite restaurant (such as Taco Bells Immokalee workers ciw-online.org).
• Give your winter coat away to someone who is colder than you are.
• Ask to see the budget of your school. What do the workers get paid compared to the administrators? Make sure folks know -- if you are proud of this, affirm the folks who make those decisions... If not, begin a conversation with both workers and administrators of how this could be better.
• Ask where the campus gets its energy. Is it renewable? If not begin a plan for moving toward renewable energy (talk to folks at Eastern University about how they have done it by an optional ecological tax that is tacked onto tuition -- it's only a few dollars per student).
• Write one CEO a month -- affirm or critique the ethics of their company (you may need to do a little research).
• Write only paper letters for a month (go computer free)
• Try sitting in silence for 15 minutes a day.
• Kill your TV -- or go TV free for a year.
• Go down a line of parked cars and pay for the meters that are about to expire... Leave a little anonymous note of niceness.
• Beat a war machine into a plow, without hurting anyone of course (Isaiah 2:4) -- NOTE: you might want to plan on a little sabbatical after this one, a little reading and writing retreat -- in jail.
• Write to one social justice organizer or leader each month, just to encourage them in their work.
• Experiment with a post-oil era by going fuel free for a week -- ride a bike everywhere, carpool, walk or hitchhike.
• Gut your TV and turn it into a pot for a plant.
• Try reading only female writers for a year (since many of our problems seem to be stemming from men).
• Go to a retirement home and ask to visit a few old folks who don't get any visitors.
• Spend some time with someone who cleans the campus, get to know each other, share your stories.
• Invite one of the college cafeteria staff to your home for dinner or go to their home.
• Try jack-hammering the church parking lot to make space for potato plants.
• Track to its source one item you eat regularly
• Give your car away to a stranger
• Convert a diesel car to run off veggie oil.
• Try flushing your toilets off dirty sink water (for a little guide, check here).
• Buy only used (thrift) clothes for a year.
• Cover up all brand names, or at least the ones that do not reflect the upside down economics of God's Kingdom.

i'm a ladies man

In China I bought I new ping pong racket and I went to my 'ping pong' hang out to test it out. I was hoping to find my regular ping pong guy but he was not in. There were three elderly ladies who where practicing with the coach (the guy with his hands up). He got me to practice with the ladies, and I did for two hours. They are quite good, and all of them have a mean forehand. They fed me a apple, and then ask me out to dinner. I was tempted but alas I am a married man.




























Before the ping pong, i watched a bunch of Koreans play some type of game. You can see them playing it here. It consists of throwing four sticks at the same time and you need three of them to stay in a square, and one of them to land out. They were also drinking and singing and eating. They gave me a beer and some food, and tried to talk to me. One guy was very insistent on telling me something, but i did not understand a word he said. But he was drunk so it didn't matter.

(by Trenton)

final day -- panda bears and ipods

zoos should be happy places. sadly, beijing's zoo was not. its cement walls and bare floors housed lonely, shivering animals from worldwide, animals longing to be set free from their cold prison. nevertheless, the panda bears were endearing... one even danced for us (see picture); another climbed up one side of a slide and down the other (i guess no one taught him how to use it properly).

we also came upon some frozen looking monkeys (the weather was rainy and chilly), an elegant camel and some other marvelous creatures like giraffes, zebras, and elephants.

the day concluded with our visiting a local market, where we happened upon some wicked deals. trent and i scored some sweet snowboarding gear (SPYDER-brand snowpants/jackets, gortex gloves and goggles -- all for under $150 CDN), a ping-pong paddle for trenton, an IPOD nano for Emily ($30 CDN!) and some Abercrombie and Finch shirts...

China's the place to shop if you're in the neighbourhood. we're now semi-regretting buying our camera in Japan :(

thus concludes the official agenda of our beijing trip... tomorrow we'll be wandering the city solo (without a tour guide); Saturday it's back to Wonju to plan our lessons. thanks for accompanying us on this journey. we hope you enjoyed the experience! with all of our love...