Money....

 Yogita and I had a very nice conversation during our walk yesterday (6.7km walk!) about money. We are of the opinion that we need to be self-sufficient, not to run after riches in this world. What will having millions and millions of dollars really do for us? A government could decide that because we believe in Jehovah and in his word the bible that we are against the established order. They could then sanction our accounts. Boom a digital block means we are as poor as a beggar in the street. Money did not save Steven Jobs. Money has a place. It can afford comfort but we need to not allow it to rule our everyday pursuits. 

It is a difficult balance for us right now. However, in time we will find that balance. Right now interests rates in India are favorable for us. Of course, we need to do more research on this topic. I think that it is best to think first, and then slowly act. I have made the mistake in the past of rushing in and making decisions too rapidly and I ended up wasting time, and money.

When buying a car we will research for a year or more until we make our choice. Even if it comes to a place to live or work we need to take time before making a move. It could save us a lot of trouble.

/tata

2021 is ending...

 This year was surely a strange one. We all thought that we could get on with our lives in a "normal" way. Instead, we are all caring proof of vaccination and even that is not enough. Soon I will be required to take a 3rd "booster" shot. Science does not support the need for a third shot. I think a lot of money is being made from the fear of this new omicron variant. Deaths are on the rise in South Korea of course nothing like in other nations.

This year seemed to fly by. We have been fortunate in South Korea. However, family members in America have not been so fortunate. Two cousins passed away within days of each other. My father lost his second wife to this virus as well. 

We have made plans to be ready to leave South Korea. Our aim is to push for work from home jobs, while Yogita makes use of her Korean fluency to get a nice position in her hometown. So now that we are at the end of the year preparing for another one may we all get through the next year as well.

/tata

A very Strange couple of days.

 There are days when living in South Korea can seem like any other place. Then are days that remind you that yes you are living in South Korea. Yesterday, I finished my class at the normal time. I was handling some paperwork like I do every Thursday. However, this time I get called to the front desk. Paul my friend and boss is standing there looking worried, and annoyed. I am then informed that we have to watch three videos. They are required for Teachers or any jobs where one is in contact with children. 

The deadline? Today Friday at 7pm. Ok, that is not such a big deal. But actually, it is. You see I needed to register at two different websites. This is no easy task as an ex-pat. The menus are totally in Korean. It took some time but now I was able to fully unlock my phone's services.

Previously, I could not use Samsung pay or Kakao pay. I could not authenticate my identity. Now my smartphone is my wallet. I can go shopping online at the click of a button. For example, before I needed to buy Amazon gift cards then go shopping. Now? I can just start shopping when let's say there is a really good deal on some product I have my eye on. 

So it was crazy difficult but now life here is going to more "free" than before.

/tata

We are living in times of great distress

 Right now I am living in a very stable place. I am earning more money than I ever have. Actually, I have made more but I worked FAR more hours. I am able to spend a lot more time with my family. My wife and I are getting closer year after year. Yet we are all in great distress. There is a possibility of two wars that can start at any moment. We should not ignore the fact that proxy wars are being fought right now as I type this. These two wars that I am talking about will bring great nations to their knees. It could lead to widespread devastation and death. Of course, I am talking about Russia and China. Russia is looking to regain territory lost after the fall of the Soviet Union. While China is trying to "retake" Taiwan. Both issues point to a war in which the United States and its allies will be drawn into a conflict with both nations. 

So while I am sitting over here feeling stable, I know what dangers are actually out there. Money in a bank is not safe if you are not in the one percent. They are the ones really controlling this world. I read my bible and I smile because finally after being told all my life that Jehovah's day is coming. It is REALLY coming to pass. I can see it now. The signs are everywhere. Too bad many wish to live in this system of things. 

/tata

Relationships today what a state they are in...

 We know of a person I will not mention gender nor the person's name, who has an issue with staying in a loving relationship. This person seemed to be in love with another person. They were playing to get married. However, due to betrayal, it was called off and they broke apart.

Now this person is in relationship after relationship. They have told us that they feel lost. I think that people today are too quick to throw in the towel, give up, and walk away. It results in loving relationships like one that I have been looked down on. Many around us even think we are "faking". Needless to say, we have limited contact with said persons. We used to meet around 3 times a month. Now, we meet once in a blue moon. I like it that way.

You see in this world people really do love misery. They enjoy complaining about their significant other. At times they do it in front of other people. I do not realize the damage they are doing. Placing relationships today in such a negative light. 

In Korea, many young and late teens have said they do not want to get married. The main reason one girl said was "Then I do not have to fight with that person". In Korea, the birthrate is very low. In fact, many people do not even want to get married. They have seen so many negative scenes growing up at home. The hidden abuse comes in many forms. It is a sad thing today.

I will try to do my best in my own marriage. 21 years and counting! 

/tata

Updates

 We are nearing the end of this year at a breakneck pace. We have some important decisions to make for 2022. Namely, if we will stay in South Korea or not. Maybe change my workplace, or stay on for another year. 

Our family has really gotten closer together after what happened this summer to George. The boys have fun with their hobbies, and take nightly walks two or three times a week. Yogita is doing a great job at work. Her Korean languages skills are like a native Korean. My own skills are developing slowly. I can understand a conversation, but I can not really speak that well. I watch movies with Yogita sometimes without subtitles. 

Yogita and I continue to lose weight at a reasonable rate. I took a picture of Yogita's legs earlier this year. I then took another picture a few days ago. We were both shocked and happy at the result. It is like we are moving backward in time. 

Sunday of this week we walked 7km! Yesterday, we were not prepared for rain, so we only walked 2kms. 

I have an issue with my clothes. I am wearing the same clothing from last year. So it is hard to see how much weight I have lost since all of my current clothing "looks big, and baggy". 

Techwise I have not made any upgrades. I am still waiting on the global chip shortage to make any moves in that regard. I might be getting the Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3. I was interested in it three years ago but I have been waiting. I do not like jumping on new technology when it first debuts. 

I like the fact that it can be a small tablet or a smartphone. Also, the price has dropped about 30% since it came out.

Yogita and I have started a new game called New World. 

/tata

November just got COLD

 Usually this time of year in October it is very warm during the days and gets cool at night. Very nice for walking. It feels like spring at night. However, since last Saturday the temps have dropped by about 50%. It feels like December. I can only wonder what winter will look like from the weather we are seeing now. One of our friends had pipes bursting to result in loss of hot water, and a very expensive repair bill. 

Our boys are now walking in the evenings now. Which is a very nice thing. I feel that at home we need to be more efficient with our time. These days cooking has been taking a bit of time because the boys start later wanting to finish when we return from our walk. George and Jeyo have hobbies they want to spend time on (1hr) that they can not always enjoy due to it being too late. So perhaps tonight I might order food and the food cooked today will be set aside for tomorrow.

/tata

Tech companies are so greedy...

 Engineers at various tech companies are pushed to design devices that will feel great for a short time. Then your device will slow down. It will get very hot, and sluggish as you use it. The battery will not last as long as it used to. If you have a notebook computer then you might need to stay plugged in after 3 years of ownership. Or fork out money for a replacement every few years.

If you look at smartphone design you will see that smartphone innards are basically a massive battery with a small logic board or motherboard. I am oversimplifying things of course. But the multiple cameras, ram, storage, CPU, GPU are really tiny in a smartphone. 

The tech companies know that if they build phones, or computers too well. No one will buy the newest devices. So they have planned that the device you just bought will not last long after the warranty period. 

There are ways to help your smartphone last longer. Do not always use superfast charging. If you do have some active cooling for the device. I use a USB fan. If your phone is very hot use a USB fan to cool it down. It is the same with notebook pcs using a cooling pad. Check which one will work for your system though. 

For cars, one thing I am going to invest in is a battery tender and a scan tool. These maintain your battery (battery tender) and can catch issues before they become a big problem. With a scan tool, you can check your car's various systems and if you find an issue it is easier than just "hearing a weird sound". 

All in all our tech is designed to fail, so we can buy new stuff. However, sometimes engineers make a product that is a bit too good. They produce cars that can run for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Smartphones can do that with software tweaking and replacing batteries can last more than 5 years.

Unfortunately, they are rare cases.

/tata                                                                                                            

Updates

We have been so busy these days. An update is needed. I have decided that I do not wish to continue working at the school I am at. It really was not a hard decsion and I might change my mind later depending on circumstances. I will update about my reasons why at a later date. 

We had a real scare last month. We nearly lost George. I will not go into details why for it is private. I realized that I have been taking them for granted. Not any more! 

I plan to and have been spending more time with them. This is needed. I can learn a good lesson from my own father. He did not spend time with us as he should have. However, he did provide for us. We had a roof over our heads, we did recieve guidance from him. 

Time has taught me many things. One thing is in this world trying to "please" people is a futile exercise. We should be looking to the heavens to our father there. Here on earth if one is making good money others will not praise that one. Instead they will be jealous and seek some way to undermine them. 

This nearly happened to us last year. Note to self...keep your mouth shut not everyone around you who say "I consider you to be my friend" are actually a friend. We often forget that in life the friend we have is the one we take for granted the most. Our wives, and husbands. 

So to conclude (this took ages to post due to scheduling changes at work), I will end my time working were I am at soonish (7 to 10 months). We will spend more time with our boys. Also, in this world friends are trully hard to come by. In this world. 

/tata

My first level test here...

 Wow, I usually level test kids on a regular basis. That is not the case here. Reasons for this I suspect is that my schedule is quite full.

What a mess! You see level testing allows a school to place a kid in the right class. We have to test speaking, reading, vocabulary range, and listening. It is possible if you do it right you can learn a bit more about the student.

I always demanded that if I am going to level test, Moms or Dads could not be present in the same room. Also NO OTHER KOREAN teachers. You see in Korea there is a way that Koreans talk when they speak to kids. It is a sort of a fake high toned voice. I always use my normal voice. Kids can feel the fakeness. The teacher I was with was using that "voice" in spades. The mom was there looking embarrassed. Her reseaon? Her child studied overseas in Vietnam. Likely this mother failed where many others have failed when is comes to teaching a second language to a child. First, just like my exercising make it a lifestyle choice. Use English in and around the home along with your native tougue. The brain is incredibly plastic. It will make new language circuits that will last for a lifetime. Instead many language schools including the one I am at produce kids that talk in a very strange ways for someone who has been studying English for 5 to 6 years.

There is a reason Yogita is envied where she works. Why many Academy owners want to work with her. Actually, they do not care about the why of it, they just want students to bother follow her to thier schools, while having kids that quit come back. It is only about the short term profit.

I can say this, if this mother chooses this school she made the best choice. Her kid will likely speak using one word responses, but her ability to read, and her range of vocabulary will be the most advanced. 

I guess my next topic will be titled: Forena.

Ok time to go. Hopefully, Yogita and I are in the siege tonight.

/tata

The delta strain is in South Korea

 So it has finally reached South Korea. It was inevitable. Traveling was restarted all over the globe with a few places not allowing tourists. Here in South Korea, more and more people have started traveling again. We are going into a 2-week lockdown. No restaurants or gathering with friends. This means that we will save more money LOL. When we finish work on Saturday we will likely chill at home venturing out to an isolated area in a park later. Just Yogita and I no one else. I will instruct my boys to maintain more distance when walking Oskar. 

As we predicted it would hit Seoul and surrounding areas first. Then it would spread to the lower provinces as many people in our area love to visit Seoul for entertainment. Seoul is great for everything entertainment-related. Family fun, gastronomy, adult fun, couples, site seeing. Seoul has it all in spades. We got some very good exercise just walking during past visits to the capital.

It is no surprise that Seoul would be an epicenter yet again. 

Yesterday at work it was hunky-dory. I was asked to "air out" my class between classes. My goodness if it is so serious "airing" a room out with no active airflow OUT of the room...means nothing is happening to air particles within the room. I comply because first I would not be understood if I tried to explain why "airing a room with no active airflow is blah blah blah..". A waste of time that would only lead to conflict.

Cleaning surfaces, washing hands wearing masks, this is effective. Actually, in this order washing hands, cleaning surfaces, and finally wearing a mask together helps prevent the spread of disease. As a teacher, I wash my hands two to three times a class. I need to wash surfaces more though. So tomorrow and for the next few weeks, I will be doing that. 

I should note that I still have not gotten sick with a cold or flu since I started wearing a mask along with washing my hands. I would say the washing of the hands was something I was sorely lacking. You would be surprised at how many times we touch our faces!

Ok time to head into the next topic!

/tata

Sometimes people think we are not listening...

 It has been my experience that since I listened to my mothers advice I have gained very good powers of observation. No I am not a dectective. I can get a vibe from people just because I "shut up and listen". Case in point I had a friend who for some reason didn't like my wife. He would make snide remarks, to which Yogi would respond with a smart witty reply. 

He decided (at a very bad time), to open an English academy. I really wonder what goes through peoples mind when they open a business with no proper plan or team in place. The new business was failing to put it simply. They needed a proper team. They knew how good my wife is at not only running a school, but as an awesome teacher as well. The night in question this friend was very polite and friendly to my Yogi. This struck me as very odd, but it felt so welcoming because I had love for this person.

Well Yogita is no fool either. She also felt odd. I still remember we were in a grilled pork resturant when Yogita asked: "You are never this nice to me, what is up with you?". At this moment I looked his wife  right away. The look on her face said "Do not screw this up!". Josh promply answered "I have to be nice to you if I want your help." His wife looked annoyed which told me his true feelings. He has always hated her. I should have known about this since my previous employer and very good friend showed how she felt about Yogita making one teacher a little embarrassed, and Josh then stating "She fucking loves Yogita". Of  course he was not smiling as he said this. I was distracted as I could not stop laughing. I was observing Mrs Choi the entire night and knew her intentions as she got up to leave. I am leaving out certain details on pourpose. 

I heard other things as well that led me to sever ties with certain people. The end result, I am happier, less stressed, and can focus on the people that truly matter. I have learned some very valuable lessons. I have also shown a remarkable amount of self-control. 

Even where I am currently employed, I listen very carefully. It has helped me in so many ways. The bible says to be Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;. 

The result is that when I do get angry my words have far more of a postive impact, I need to work more on this, MUCH MUCH more. But to the other reader of this blog...it is so funny when people do not realize you silence means you are actually listening very closely, and learning things.

/tata

Knowing your place is not a bad thing....

 In the United States as a child I was taught that all people were equal. However, the schools that I attended were a mess. They were in very very poor shape, the teachers where not motivated to teach well. Basically, they were just counting the days until payday. One class room had a hole in the floor. Through this hole you could see the classroom on the lower level. 

There were times boys would pick on others and fights would break out. NO ONE BROKE these fights up. I would defend my friends and fight those bullies. The teachers would watch. Just watch. I would go home and shadow box, do push ups, and sit ups. I did this because it made me stronger. I could fight longer, hit harder, take more physical punishment. The result? I shamed those bullies. If they attacked or bullied a friend of mine I would wait until that person was alone then I would attack them. Teachers...did....nothing. 

So if we  are equal why is it that other schools did not have this environment. Other schools were very concerned about test scores, how they ranked against other schools. Teachers taught with gusto. There were so many after school programs. You see those schools were in white neighborhoods. Are we equal? There so many examples of how we are not equal. Even our DNA can show how humans are not all on an equal fitting. My boss can not drink the same amount of alcohol as I can. I recover from wounds faster, and rarely get hangovers. Yet, my boss is taller, stronger, ages very very slowly. We are not the same. 

In my job we have people who have made a lot of money in setting up private academies. Many have also lost money. The point is some of these persons are from native English speaking countries. When they see other foriegners they want to make friends. This is natural. However, once you sign a contract with said person, you are now under them. Yes the contract protects you, makes sure you are well compensated. But, you are now not on the same level socially. 

You see where I work there was guy who worked here with me. He became fast friends with the boss. However, he over stepped his bounds one too many times. The result? He was let go earlier than the original release date was. It cost him thousands of dollars in pay, and hundreds of dollars in severence payments. 

I know I make my boss feel uncomefortable when we are in a social setting and I keep referring to him as my boss, yet he calls me his friend. Yes I view him in a very friendly way. Yet I know that there are levels or a hierarchy in every aspect of our lives. 

In bible God allowed people to buy and own slaves. Angels refer to themselves as slaves. Yet modern society wants to make the word slave and evil thing. Even though we have many forms of slavery in this very day. Rich still get richer and poor still get poorer. If I have more than 10000 usd in my account the IRS will get a notification. 10,000 bucks??!?! It does not take long to save up that amount of money. Yet the rich roll around not even having money in bank accounts. If I have 40,000 USD in my account (a tiny drop compared to it takes to truly rich in this world) I will have some tax officers looking into me. 

For me knowing my place has helped in many ways. I hold on to jobs much much longer. The people that I work with really enjoy working with me. If there is an issue my employers know that we can resolve it in a quiet respectful manner, with very little to no stress. 

So know your place. If you are in a higher position be loving, kind, and show respect. You will have success. 

/tata

Working and working

 These days are very busy days. Even the pandemic could not slow us down. We are very forunate for this. You never what is around the corner. This world is full of uncertainty. At any moment things could from bad to unbearable. We have been forunate as of late. It is hard these days as we facing mass vacination. Everyone knows that this thing is man made. We just don't why they did this. We have so many theories. 

So as I am working and working I scan the news, and gather information. I it is better to be awake. To realize some truths about the world we live in. One truth is human nature. Due that I have made this blog private. First my opinions and views should not be shared openly. I need to test if the settings work though. If you know who I am you can figure out a lot of things about my life by reading this blog. I feel that there are certain people who I considered friends but they actually hate my wife. If you hate the one I love that means you hate me too. Another reason to limit access to information about my daily goings on and movements. I need to test if it is working though. Or I will archive this and delete this account. 

Ok so after some testing to access this blog you will need to sign into a blogger accoun via goggle id. Since that is linked to an email ID only those who I send an invite too can see this blog. 

/tata

Spring is ending soon...

 We are able to feel the heat more and more. Humidity is creeping up as well. Also we are entering a rainy season (the first rainy season that kick starts summer). We have not stopped our nightly walks. Instead, we find that we are walking a bit more. Stressors are main cause of this. Work related mostly. Foruntately they were minor issues. However, it resulted in us walking an extra kilometer or two more than average. 

George is feeling more and more healthy with his nightly walks. I am thinking of having Jeyo join him.

Marvel phase 4 is full effect we just watched Loki season 1 episode one. It was so entertaining. However, for the next 5 weeks I will only download the episodes. I hate waiting week to week for exciting episodes to air. So I will find something else to enjoy while Loki completes airing. Then have a very nice 5 hour long Loki experience. So basically, we will not watch it until the end of the first week of July. 

Meanwhile we are on the hunt for ebook readers for our boys. 

Ok time to get the work part of the day started!

/Tata

Actually, we will have to walk in the rain this week!

June is here!

 So we are in June. Middle of the year and the pandemic looks like it is slowing its spread in India. In America is is also spreading. However, in Peru after looking over certain statistics they doubled the Covid deaths there. I feel that all over the world the actual number of people who have been infected, or died from this virus is a much larger number than is reported. 

This year is looking good for us so far. I pray that we can get through this year in a stable way. Who knows what is coming next year. We have been exercising since last November and I can see the results on both of us. As the weather gets warmer and warmer our bodies will burn more energy in order to keep cool. In the winter we are under warm layers of clothes so the body is a more homestatic environment. This means that it will burn less energy in order to stay warm. 

However, the summer presents another issue. Here in South Korea just like in Philly summers are hot and very humid. There are about two rainy seasons that can last for days at a time. So our main struggle will be to make sure we keep active dispite this. The preparations that I have outlined for our second Miruk mountain walk will be used for our daily nightly walks.

Yesterday we walked 6.3 kilometers. Today I am aiming for a bit more but perhaps today will be the same. Last week we walked about 34 kms for me, and perhaps 28 or 30 for Yogita. George walks about 4kms day 5 days a week. I feel he needs his walks to help him work through his feelings, and thoughts. It helps Yogita and I in the same way.

So yes June is here and summer starts on the 21st of this month. Lets see how we tackle this!

/tata

Upgrades...yeah another one of those..

 I have changed my mind about tech as things change in this field. For example now that graphic cards are in short supply they are very expensive. Actually, too expensive. People are actually making a profit by reselling these items. So upgrades for our main rigs will be frozen until this nonsense subsides. With Bitcoin tanking perhaps miners will mass sell GPUs and the price might drop. 

Our boys are voracious readers. I need to limit their time when it comes to gaming. As I have done this I noticed that they are going back to reading. So I will be ordering ebook readers and downloading all sorts of books for them. For example I have a collection of over 200 sci fi novels. Ebooks are great because they do not take up physical space. You do need massive storage on the ebook reader. 32 giga bytes is huge as one book might be several megabytes. Of course I will not get a unit with only 32 gigs of space. Or..I might. Some ebook readers have storage expansion options with micro sd card slots. 

Ok time to go!

/tata

The couples who...

 I have been married for almost 21 years. One thing that I think is important to me is that if you do not LIKE your wife or husband it is harder to accept other annoying habits they have. I am not going to go into what annoys me or my wife. However, there are many things. BUT, I really like her. I really like her as well as love her. 

You see love is kinda painful, good, wonderful, sad, all mixed into one. 

When I met the lady of my dreams, I thought...Nah I'll never be able to get a chance to win her heart. Well, after over 21 years of mariage I am so happy I won her heart. She is loving, giving, forgiving, patient, super kind, extemely polite, and of course drop dead gorgous. She annoys me as well, as I also annoy her. But, when I am upset because she is annoying me, or not doings things the way I think she should...it feels normal.

We were very different people when we first married. Now we are an amalgamation of both of our personalities. 

I think couples should : talk a lot, merge entertainment (share each others interests), exercise together, if there are children be on the same team, do not argue about money (have an united idea of what your finacial goals are), and understand that the person next to you is a part of you.

I was talking to our sons on Monday night about how as we age we percieve time differently. I have been married for 21 years. Yet, I remember the first two times I saw her like it was yesterday!

Ok time to finish up the work day on this hump day!

/tata

No more holidays until September!!

 Holidays were cool pre-covid 19. Now I feel like the spread of infection will ebb. This means stability for us and others. Some people that I know have run into very hard times starting new businesses or seeing an existing one fail. I have seen eateries and drinking holes go under in our area, and others around the city. 

Holidays really sucked because numbers would would rise (new covid ininfections), and social distancing levels would rise. In turn private coaching schools would close. I would say this year and last we have lost out on 3 or 4,000 dollars. This has not hurt us alot though. Actually, we have saved more due to lockdowns. 

So for the next almost 20 weeks we will have no holidays that fall on a weekday. They won't even fall on a Saturday. So I am hoping for a stable middle of this year. After chuseok we will have no holidays until Decemeber. 

So lets get this Tuesday workday started then enjoy the evening walk! Last Saturday we walked for about 10kms! A new record for us! This week has started normally with about 6.4kms yesterday. Our shoes are falling apart as expected, so next month we will buy new pairs for us. Goerge might need a new pair in July as he is walking every evening. 

I think my next topic will be on the high end gaming laptops I will be getting this winter for Yogita and I. Also so updates on tech for our boys.

/Tata

Took a rest!

 It is so funny how things turn out. Instead of walking to the mountain we chilled at home. So this day we rested for two days. We took two dear friends of ours to our favorite Chinese resturant. It was very nice. Of course this means next week we will be back to our normal walking schedule. A famous youtuber posted a video earlier this week. He is morbidly obese. I do not know much about his private life. However, in his videos you can see that he is a very heavy man. 

He decided to make a lifestyle change like Yogi and I did last November. In his video you can see how on his first walk (perhaps 1 mile or 1.6kms) he was tiring. I hope he keeps it up. When we started I felt odd. We walked about 3.5kms. It felt nice but so strange. As we kept it up it became a normal part of our routine. In fact, it has become one thing we both look forward to. I hope it is the same for him and others who need to lose weight. Diabetes can kill in so many ways! 

/tata

Our second attempt!

 Just a sidenote my previous post might seem judgy. Korean mothers are only following the information THEY trust. Like all of us that information is flawed. More on this in a later post.

Well we have our sandwhich week part two this month. Tomorrow's weather forcast looks great! Partly cloudly and no rain! So this time we are going to prepare headware, sun screen, and see if we can find some fans that are wearable. I'll have my massive backpack filled with some supplies. I'll water, spare batteries, towels, raincoats (you never know), and energy drinks. 

We will of course take breaks. I am excited more for this attempt. It should be about 12 kms. We expect to burn about 1100 calories. So once we are done we will order some nice Korean food and watch a movie or two. George has started nightly walks and I feel that it is good for him mentally, and physically. He saw the changes in his parents and so he is doing the same.

I enjoy not only being with my wife, but the greenery. On the way we will walk through all kinds farms. The air is so fresh (although we will be wearing masks). 

So here it goes will we make it? I hope so!

/tata

Korean moms ... they have no clue...

 So many students are working hours longer most adults. The result? Kids that are stressed out learning things that are NOT useful for them. I think a lot of University students here in South Korea would be labeled alcoholics. I do not blame them for the super heavy drinking they do. I feel bad for them. Finally, they are in a system where they will pass (90%+ of Korean Uni students graduate). They can finally have more free time to just try to be themselves. 

I know all families are not like this. Others see this issue and send their kids to only English and Math academies. Then if they can afford a third that academy is something the student is interested in. 

However, some of my current and past students have described their studying routine to me. First they study for hours with no breaks. I do not mean those who go to study cafe's but are actually socializing and doing every BUT study. I am talking about the kids are monitored closely by parents, and teachers. It is grind for more than 12 hours a day. This includes several hours of school, several hours of academy classes, and finally followed by a few hours doing homework or studying at home. 

Middle and high school students have it really bad. They are getting close to the ONE test that will have a MAJOR impact on their lives. My friend my best friend of 16 years is so embarrassed that his son could not get into a top tier school we have lost contact. I'll send him a message and he replies with a wall of text about how his son will have to settle for being a pharmacist. Settle for being a pharmacists? What is wrong with that? Doctors are really married to their work. Yes they earn more money but it really isn't much more than normal unless you are in a highly specialized medical field. They have long training. A pharmacists is a job that will always be needed. His son will have more time for himself. 

This industry is dominated by powerful influential mothers. They are highly educated. Yet they do not trust experts to do thier jobs. Instead, we follow a select few that have released ESL books thar create parrots. Our school, and I have done this for over 20 years need to augment the textbook matierals. They are terrible! Yogita has gained ALOT of respect in another neighborhood because she takes the reins. She tells mothers that the regular cucciculm offered in academies are lacking key things. She is polite but very firm. In some cases blunt. I think it is refreshing to these parents to be told "sorry but your child does  not know how to read, they have memorized what words should sound like". One mom told Yogita that she suspected it all along. She pulled her kid out of that academy right away. 

Even though many of these moms have no clue I do not blame them. Cramming a large number of kids into a class (I have seen 12-13) for 30 minute classes with a native speaker, then 28 to 25 minutes with a Korean teacher in utter bullshit. You create parrots. Many see this as a norm, and kids can learn social skills. Huh? That is another topic all together. 

So Moms are misled by money hungry business models. These practices orginate in Seoul. Then trickle down to the lower provinces. 

Ok time to get the workday started!

/tata

Another tech update!

 Due to the shortage of semiconductor chips new gpus are more expensive. Some people have bought up large numbers of these limited gpus and are now offering them for very high prices. 

I am so lucky that I was able to get 2 gtx 1060 6gb cards. These cards are very different from the original 3gb version. The 6 gigabyte version is roughly 12% faster than the 3gb one. I think what is more important is the amount of vram. 6 gigabytes allows us to do much more  with these cards. 

Archeage takes about 2.5 gigabytes of vram. So we are able to run 2 accounts on one pc. Our systems both have more than enough system ram to run this game. 

So this is a very odd year. Even if I wanted to upgrade our gpus it would cost far more than the cards are actually worth. The one gpu that I am keeping an eye on is still the gtx 1080ti. This card will be what we will use for several maybe even 10 years. Today for the type of gaming that we do the 1080ti is over powered which means that yeah no upgrades in that department for years. MMO rpgs are memory hogs. They really do not stress gpus like triple A titles do. Large maps need lots of vram. Even in Eve system memory because more important in large battles (3-6000 players on one node). 

I am going to looking for cases for Yogita's pc upgrade, as well as a all in one water cooler. I also need a newer AIO water cooler. I am so glad that we are not in dire need of a GPU at this time. 

Also looking to get kindles for the boys as I am tired of books taking up so much space in our apartment. Might take a trip up to Seoul, or Saejong city to buy em. 

Time for a walk!

We have been averaging about 40 kms a week.

/tata

We did it!!!!!!!

 Tuesday it rained and we met with friends for some good food and drinks. We complied with the social distancing guidelines. Wednesday was a beautiful day. 

You see in February Yogi and I decided to set a challenge for ourselves. We were going to walk to the mountain here in Iksan. Miruk mountain is about 12 kilometers from our home. This would be a record for us. So daily we would increase our walking range up from 4.5 kilometers to 6 kilometers. We were building stamina and endurance. 

Well we set a target date to make an attempt on the holiday yesterday. Well once we were about 5-6 kilometers in we decided to keep going. We met a friend who regularly bikes on that road. The road is actually a bike trail. It winds through farmland and low hills. It was so nice to just walk and talk. 

Of course we stopped multiple times for Yogita to rest or take pictures. Surprisingly Yogita did not have empty her bladder. Usually we have to map a route that has clean public bathrooms. This time however she just soldiered on. 

We reached the mountain after a little over 3 hours. We looked around a bit, then hopped in a taxi ordering food as we got close to our home. 

Somethings I am going to prepare for making this mini trek again: Sunglasses, wide hats, sun cream (Yogi and I got mild sunburn), towels, water, portable wearable fans, back up battery packs x4 for our phones, and the fans. Of course I will be the pack mule for this. I also think we should wear knee braces. Anything to give protection for our joints. I'll look into it this Friday night.

So yes we walked 12km in one session and burned an estimated 1100 calories. I will document our next attempt. 

/tata

Rainy days and getting our walk in...

 These days our oldest George has been going on nightly walks / jogs for a couple of weeks. For Yogita and I this is a great time to talk, to communicate. To get to know each other better. We hash out problems. We make plans update and modify plans. 

Sometimes the weather does not cooperate. In the winter it meant walking very slowly. Yogita slipped sometimes, fortunately she did not get hurt. It was not as enjoyable due to having to map out each step. 

Now that we are in spring the issue is rain. One of the things I like about Iksan is that the weather is far tamer than that of Gunsan. Here it was drizzling when we left the house. However, as I got closer to the school I work at, it stopped. Gunsan it would have been drizzling, with heavy downpours all day. To that mix you have to add very strong winds too. This makes being out doors in Gunsan potentially dangerous. 

So we have a plan to deal with rain. In convenience stores in our area they sell one use rain coats. Of course they are not really one use. That is marketing. These raincoats are made of plastic. So if dried and stored in a dry area after use they can be reused. We have a couple of them in our "walking" backpack. We will use them tonight. It will look odd but who cares? 

We have been walking on average about 38 km a week. I have seen that now my pants literally hang on me. My shirts are oversized now. Yogita has seen remarkable weight lose. She looks like she is shrinking! LOL 

Ok I have to go and troll second hand car websites.

/tata

Making money....

 We are doing the best we have in years in the money-making department. However, what does it all really mean? A currency can be devalued at any time by the same ones who really control it. Putting money into land is the best policy today. However, I hear the powers that be will try to take even that. 

Money is important, it is what is running many systems on this planet. People give money power. Money allows us to buy things. These things can make our lives more enjoyable. I think that there is a certain point where even if you have millions of dollars, there is this need to get even more. 

As we are raising kids money makes things even easier. When Jeyo was sick well our money helped in that case. If we want to upgrade PC's (which I did recently). Money was not an issue. I was able to go out and get the things we needed. Now granted I knew the products I needed and did waste money on something overblown and overpowered. 

I think while money is important, that importance is finite. Once you have enough money where you are not worrying about it. I would say do not seek to get more and more. Keep things steady and focus your time on other things. Kids remember those special times talking, or doing things with mom and dad. The "stuff" they got as a kid often gets broken, or so outdated that they lose importance. Memories are the most important. They really are the sum of who we were, and where we might be going. 

I know that I need to make more money. However, it is not the most important thing in my life. My family is the most important thing. I hate covid-19 so much. I feel that some things as a family could have been dealt with sooner if we had more time to go camping and get away from it all. 

Anyways, tomorrow is a Tuesday / Friday because Wednesday is a holiday. We have 2 weeks like this in May. Oh yeah, May is here....summer is around the corner. I am so glad we have 2 air conditioners this year. 

/tata

World will not got back to "normal"

 We are too far into this pandemic for us to be able to go back to normal. With governments talking about covid passports. A virus that now has different strains. People trying to back to normal activities and once they do this those areas experience a wave of new infections. You see unlike the Spanish flu (more like the United States flu) people went back to normal activities due to transportation not being as developed as it is today. Covid spread on ships, planes, buses, trains, private cars...you get the point. We did not have the same travel options as we did in 1918 to 1920.

Masks will be a thing now. Covid documents that show either a vaccination, or a negative test result will be needed. This will be our new normal for a long time to come. 

We had a work meeting and covid is always somewhere on the agenda. If we make plans for anything this pandemic enters the conversation. Likely where I will be working next year will be largely dictated on covid. More people will be working from home. Youtubers are going to become even more famous as they produce more content than other broadcasting services. 

So here it is a new normal that will last for some time. We all thought 2021 would bring us a big relief from this virus. This year as we enter the 5th month is THE SAME as last year. 

So keep wearing your mask! (Maybe I will buy one of those fancy masks with patterns on it).

/tata

India is showing us what China isn't!

 Hats off to India during this horrible pandemic. China could have told the world what to really expect and could have saved lives to this day. Instead we got bullshit reports of them knocking out the virus with very few deaths. There is so much evidence online that many many more died as a result of "flu like symtoms". Covid-19 and the flue ravaged China. I mentioned last year that China took draconian methods to stop the spread of this infection. However, they should have shown what it can do. How oxygen canisters should be made available. 

Why do people play the blame game, instead of just taking care of a problem. Since Adam we are blaming each other first then tackling an issue. The blaming phase wastes SO much time. In many cases innocents have to "take the blame". China killed those who spoke out at first. There is more information on youtube. The youtubers who posted this information were demonetized by Youtube. They still posted and are still posting the truth about what happened in China. 

The channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/serpentza 

another channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/laowhy86

These two are friends who have lived in China for over a decade. If they ever step foot back in China they will be killed. 

Shame on China's government. 

Not to say that other governments have a lot of blood on their hands too.

/tata

India....Covid-19...its back...

 Wow, heard some terrible news from family on the ground in India. You just can not trusts the news sites that are often controlled by governments. From the sounds of what they described likely large metro cities (by American standards) are seeing several thousand cases daily. With a large number of those persons in serious condition. 

Oxygen tanks are in short supply, many are simply passing away at home. This is far worse than what was posted on the net by CNN. Far far worse. Many countries are stepping up to help India. I hope red tape doesn't slow down aid. Our family members are in good condition which is a blessing. Too many in India live in housing that just isn't safe from a pandemic view. Heck here in South Korea we are also living in boxes what share the same air circulation, people use 1 or 2 elevators which which means dirty surfaces. 

In bible mankind was told to "spread out and become many". Instead we crowded ourselves in large cities and now this is a result. China even sprayed disinfectant down sewers due to the fact that the virus could survive in human waste. 

We are now feeling stressed as it seems all over India they are being hard hit in this fourth wave. In the United States it seems to be stabilizing. Here in South Korea we are have seen a large uptick in cases 700's last week. In our area it spread throughout schools but the numbers were small. 20 here, 6 or 7 there, and seems to spreading in tight family circles. Several hundred people are in self isolation at the moment. Likely this number is far higher. Some schools have gone back to long distance learning.

People need to stop traveling for pleasure stay with in their locality. In Iksan we had 15 new cases last week. With numbers so low they have lowered the social distancing level back to 1.5. I think we did a good job. I hope that people limit travel in just our immediate area. Iksan has many nice green spaces, restaurants (take out is better), camping sites, and other types of recreation. We have this here! If we get sick it is easier to track. Also churches need to go online. Some clusters of infection in our area came from church gatherings. 

We are ending our lockdown this week. However, we will still take certain precautions. We will avoid packed eateries. There is a restaurant in our area that has widely spaced seating outside. This might be our go to place this week. Keep fighting India! May God bless you and aid you this struggle! 

/tata

Fast food!

 I am here with one of my students his name is Danny. We were looking at an app that allows us to order food via our smartphone. I have found that this is really interesting. We have tried Chinese food, Vietnamese, Korean, American style food, and others. To be honest if covid-19 was not here we would not know about most of these places. With this app we can explore different food from the comfort and safety of our home. 

Tonight we will be having Indian, and Korean fusion. We will buy Korean style fried chicken, rice (Korean rice), Dal (Indian style lentils with spinach), and fresh fruit. So no exploring on that app tonight.

However, many of our friends have been raving about a new sandwich place in town. They serve American sandwiches. I am going to order a Ruben sandwich. I have never had this sandwich. So I am looking forward to Saturday. 

Walking has been going very well. We are at 18.5 kms so far this week.

Here is a picture of the Ruben sandwich.

Oh Saturday here we come!

Time flies...

 It is so odd that here we are about to finish April and start May. It feels like this month just started. Today on my way to work it was so warm. Of course now it has become much cooler. Time really flies here. Now that we are back at level 2 of the social distancing index we are saving more money. I feel for other businesses that are hard it by this virus. A mortality rate of  2% does not seem to merit this response. 

One sound that has become normal this year is the near constant hum of scooter motors. Since most people still avoid eating out (many still do but the majority don't.) delivery service workers are super busy. Several have died due to over work. 

In America the police officer that killed a black man in public was finally found guilty. I remember my friend and wife talking about missing home. They could connect over the idea that home is a nice place. I on the other hand could not. When I was a teenager I felt fear when I saw a police car drive down the street. When they would slow down and stare at me it caused my blood to run cold.

I have memory to share. I was walking my dog a Labrador Retriever. It was in the morning. It was my usual routine. While I was heading to the park a police car slowed down! The white office inside was staring at me!! I instantly froze. The officer knew exactly why I was reacting like that. He immediately threw up his hands in a non threatening way telling me that he was dog person and loved Labradors. 

For the next 2 weeks we would have a quick chat. I have had other experiences but why delve into the negative. 

/tata

Upgrades will be postponed

 So due to a recent surge in cases and local government is suppressing information on exactly how many patients there are I will be postponing our upgrades. Locally, people talk with in their social networks and then they spread information to other networks. It is how we communicate. Communities are set up like this. So we already know that there have been outbreaks in several schools in different neighborhoods. We know this yet the local government is not taking strong action. 

Due to this we need to be ready for any changes that might come. I do not want to be "shopping" when some emergency occurs. So not only are we locking down (not meeting friends, avoiding restaurants, parties, large gatherings and so on). We will do this until the end of the next week. we will then evaluate what to do next. 

So no upgrades right now. I will be looking and reviewing our options though. 

/tata

When I was young...

 In the bible it says that one will reap what one sows. This is so true. When I was young I had things rough in school. I mean it was hell. I was bullied, I had to deal with peer pressure. I basically did not go to school at times. My parents did not know this. I had a clever way or so I thought of forging my report card. 

You see people are different, we all know this. However, there is as my own father would say: "an easy way", and "the hard way". 

I was very stubborn when I was young up until my mid teens. I would argue and argue. I would ignore orders. My mother reminded of that verse in the bible. I of course knew better and ignored those words of wisdom. 

That is until I was 15 years old. I realized that in 3 short years I would be 18.In America being 18 and Black means you are a very ripe target for law enforcement. It means you make a mistake and the book gets thrown at you. There is no slap on the wrists. My mother was explaining this to me. For some reason I guess it was fear, my ears opened. After arguing with her I would go back to my room and sort of replay the words over and over. Finally, I got it! She was trying her best to warn me, to help me. She knew things that I did not. You see when I was young it was popular to get your high school diploma and move out. Be your own man so to say. To be free. I envied the guys I saw doing this. 

Yet, they did not seem happy. They seemed overly distracted by bills, or debt, while driving their new cars. When they married they would complain about life at home. These guys were 18-20 years old. Some of them would run afoul of the law and get locked up for 2 or 3 years. 

Ok, so once I realized my mom was actually trying to help me I did the smartest thing I have done in my life. I shut the hell up. I listened more, I asked questions, and examples of the things she was telling me. 

So when it came for my turn to decide I followed her advice. It was simple get a degree in a field that would allow you to do many things. Science, business, IT or computer science, law, medicine which is closely linked to science, just a name some examples. So I made my choice. 

Since then I have never worried about work. I have options all over the world. If I choose to enhance my skills that is not difficult. Parents know best. We have been there, done that. So many teens today ignore parents. They do this at a peril they have no understanding of. 

This world is changing fast. The skillset needed for tomorrow will not be same as we have today.

There is a reason most universities reserve a number of seats of foreign students. American students will not take courses in the "hard" subjects. 

Mom and Dad know best. I am even listening to advice given to me by my Indian mom and dad. You know what? It has been helping me to this day.

/tata

I am planning on a shorted walk today due to the siege coming in Archeage later tonight.

700 new cases in South Korea...

 The change in the alert messages really sucks. However, it is nice to see that due to social media people can still pass on useful information. I now know that there is an outbreak at an elementary in this city. So for 2 weeks students from that school will be tested, and will be staying home for 2 weeks. 

This is nuts. Now we have just come off a 2 day lockdown (no work). I think it is due to what I posted above. People just went on like normal because they were not getting the alerts which acted like mini warnings. So 2 days of work was lost, and Yogita is going to be off for the rest of the week. It looks like I will work on Saturday to make up lost work. 

It is so strange today is Wednesday but it kind of feels like Monday.

/tata

Walking update this week we are already at 23.5 kms walked.

South Korea needs to wake up..

 For years there has been regular debate on how to cope with the fact that South Korea's population will decline. There are many reasons why people are deciding to forgo raising kids. That is a topic for another day though. Now the issue is with how South Korea plans to "fill in gaps" in the work force. 

South Korea has promoted a number of "professional" visas aimed at bringing in highly skilled people who they hope can fill the shortfall of native job seekers due to a shrinking population. HUH? There are thousands of people like me, who would actually consider South Korea a long term option if they changed some rules regarding our visas. Under the new system they are allowing these highly skilled persons to have a type of "open" visa. Basically, they are not tied to their workplace. They can change employment, and likely work in other fields if they so choose. 

Now here is the kicker, there are very few foreigners who are attracted to Korea to take advantage of these visas. Korea needs to wake up and realize that long term residents is where their focus needs to be. Once we leave South Korea we will be coming back. I have been blessed to work at two wonderful schools here in Iksan which has allowed us to become more and more financially stable. 

This would allow me to invest more and more in Korea. However, my visa is locked to my workplace. Yogi's and the boys are locked to my visa which makes doing something has simple as buying a car, setting up a internet connection, or smartphone a hassle. The reason? Our visa's are only 1 year long. We make more money than the small group of "highly skilled" persons South Korea seems to prefer. Most of us in this group make between 50 - 70 million won a year. If you look at our CTC it is nearly 60 - 80 million won. Many of us simply save money, send it to bank accounts overseas. Why? Why should I invest in a country that looks at me like I am a visitor? 

If I have a 3 year fund, but I have to leave because of a one year visa .... that is a nightmare! Not to mention when you go to banks to seek ways in which we could invest we are met with the "you are not Korean". Stupid stupid stupid. This group of people are in fact highly skilled. I mean the thousands of foreigners who have made Korea a second home. They should roll out the red carpet for us. Give us proper access to the financial system. South Korea will end up reacting too late when this large group of people start leaving the country.

/tata

Beautiful Cherry Blossoms

During the day.

 Down the street where I work.

At night they look even better under the new LED lights they are installing everywhere.

And here is another night shot.

The odd thing is that they are blossoming earlier every year. They start blooming late March. Now they are shedding pedals now. Global warming, climate change yeah it is here. These were taken last week at the start of our evening walk. I love the pictures this Note 10+ takes. It is hard to imagine but smartphone cameras have improved even more today. 

Some really odd stuff happening...

 So last week was a normal week. Well as normal as normal can be. I started and finished all of my visa paperwork. I was actually at the hospital and I heard a doctor tell a patient to remove his mask. Perhaps it was a respiratory related issue. I made up my own mind that I will not remove mine. Of course no one asked me to. 

So I am relaxing at home late last week. I get a notification on my phone. I translate it. It basically says that due to the improving situation (a slow down the spread of the disease), they would no longer be sending alert messages. 

Ok so I felt good for moment. Perhaps this is a good thing. Uh no it was not. You see when I saw those messages I would then take certain actions. Avoid certain areas, or even stay away from restaurants period. Due to the lack of alert messages we would go out more. The alert messages allowed me to prepare my family for some of the short lockdowns we had last year. Now, they will only update on Iksan cities social medial sites. Last week there were 8 confirmed patients. This means that perhaps 30-40 others are self quarantining themselves. These people are not counted. So this means that when they report numbers you must assume that there are more cases. 

They the authorities do not want to create a panic. However, it seems to me they want to limit our access to almost real time information. So we will be locking down again for 2 weeks. No social meetings, no visitors at our house, restaurants are a no go, as well as bars, we will be ordering out a bit more. What will not change is our exercising. We might change the hours though on Saturday. Many people are on the routes we like to walk on the weekends. 

So there you have it. No more alerts due to the situation getting better (last week was the largest increase many weeks) due to things getting better. Ugh.

/tata

Walking and walking...

 Thursdays is a major walking day. I walk to another neighborhood to meet Yogita. That stretch is about 2.5 to 3 kms. Then when I meet Yogita I try to get at least 4km in for her. So I usually average 7kms on Thursdays. However, this pattern has now been in effect for nearly 5 months. 

My Note 10 like all modern smartphones has apps that record that data. I know they use it, and sell it but that is another topic for another day. I have walked about 600 kms! Actually, it is slightly higher than that due to a lag when you stop walking then start again. Of course this happens when you are at a stoplight. However, with Yogita we often stop if she sees something nice. Lets just say we stop walking often because of her wanting to click pictures of various things. 

So I am very happy with the changes we have made. We walk about 7 hours every week. The best part of my day starts when I meet Yogita and we start walking. Talking things out while burning energy is so helpful. I hope this week we beat our 7 hour average. I have found a new spot where we can have a few drinks, that is so safe (social distancing friendly). That location has a field so we can get about 4 kms on a Saturday n the evening. I love it! 

Ok time to start the work day, I will be meeting a new group of little people today.

/tata

 Musings Of An Inquisitive Soul!

Today as I was going to work...waiting to take the elevator down..two boys from next door...also waiting for the elevator...were animately talking...talking about games..normal...however, this is where it gets a bit strange..as soon as they got on the elevator..both of 'em started checking themselves out in the elevator mirror...one boy mentioned ..with a slight hint of panic in his voice...how he forgot to put sunscreen on before leaving his house...and bemoaned how his skin is going to turn dark now...OH NO!...the other boy laughed and then screamed...because...he just discovered two pimples on his face...THE END OF THE WORLD....and the punchline...these boys looked like 5th graders so around 12....LOL

Now, the fair skin craze is all over Asia..including India...but I have to say... I've met some of THE MOST self absorbent people in this country....constantly obsessing over their looks and complexion...no wonder Korea is the country of selfie mania and a plastic surgery haven.

I wonder how are they going to deal with the fact that soon most of their populous...including them...will be OLD....right now, no one wants to talk about it...the situation is not that bad yet....but what about a few years or a decade from now....when you look around and everyone around you is up there in age...your own skin is starting to wrinkle...hence all the anti-aging creams....well it can slow it down..maybe...but it CAN'T STOP it! sooner or later....probably sooner than later...people here have to wake up and smell the coffee....You CAN'T cheat nature...you CAN'T cheat life!

Spring is here...

 I was actually enjoying the winter. We started our walking back up. I could feel weight burn off of me. Now spring now means starting a new contract. Well the papers are done for the year. Covid-19 really seems to be ignored by most people around us. People are still wearing masks. I assume people are washing their hands more when they are out and about. 

The cherry blossoms are blooming and the area we live in is very beautiful. I will take pictures and upload them from my phone. I will take some pictures at night, and during the day. They look great in both settings. Yesterday as we took a walk there was a super moon. It looked amazing. So bright and clear cutting through the light pollution like butter. It was a highlight of our walk. 

I am feeling that we can get through this year more smoothly, even though last year was not too bad for us. I lost about a week of work combined. However, we recovered quickly. Now this year we are looking to buy a car, and make some upgrades. 

Some changes this year: No movie theaters we will buy movies from the google / YouTube store.

I will download all of the marvel tv series and put them on a dedicated SSD (1tb in size). We will continue with our nightly walks. We will try to keep an average of 6kms a night. I might go on a drive to a nice spot and have a nice walk on Sundays. We do not walk on Sundays now so adding a little activity will be good for us. Our boys will be going completely digital this year.  No more heavy books (20-30 paperbacks really do add up). They will be getting some upgrades likely hand me downs from Yogita and I. George will complete his GED, and take the SAT. We hope to enroll him in online University classes by this fall. If not then 2022. Jeyo will start prepping for the GED earlier. Wow such a wall of text. 

Time to start the work part of the day!

/tata

Another year to begin in South Korea.

 I am sure the paperwork to renew our visas will go smoothly. This coming year we will see a number of upgrades. A far more active lifestyle is in store. We got through last year without getting sick. I have had no colds, no fevers, flu ... nothing. I feel that wearing a mask all of the time while outdoors has kept a lot of the dust out of my system as well. 

I plan to travel this year. I have not seen the east coast for years now. Also, I plan to try glamping and pair it with some long walks as well. Fun is fine but we ought to burn some calories at the same time. We both enjoy walking so why not? 

This year we are going to go completely digital. Ipads will be full of ebooks (textbooks as well). I will overhaul our pcs this year as well. I will be moving to m.2 SSD drives. They are even easier to travel with such a small form factor. Yet these drives can have huge storage capacities. George will get his GED which has been delayed due to the wonderful COVID 19. I think we will have Jeyo get his done next year. I hope to have George taking online classes this year. Perhaps this fall. He wants to study coding, which is a very good idea with the way I.O.T (internet of things) is coming along. Coding can be done from home with the internet bandwidth we have available today. With the hardware in PC's today, you can run tasks anywhere. 

We will be upgrading our internet plan from 100 Mbits/sec to 1 gigabit/sec. We used to have this speed in Gunsan until we moved to a crappy apartment. At that time we were not really using the bandwidth. Now? We have so many PC's. Our boy's stream, we stream, all our games need regular updates. At times we have to reinstall some of our games. This means downloading over 18 gigabytes. I am going to move away from having a side pc and will use a third monitor.

Yogita and I are excited but also reserved. A lot can happen this year. Yogita will be taking the Topek exams this year. When she aces them there will be some major changes! 

Ok took 4 days to get this post out LOL.

/tata

 Sometimes...Sometimes.....

Sometimes change is hard....but sometimes it's a welcome change...

I'm so excited and at the same time nervous about May...May will be the next turning point for me..for us... I'm excited because I know change is coming and I'm nervous because I know change will happen...so screwed up but so true...I EXCELL in tests..not bragging ..it's a fact.....on the same note I'm nervous as S**T because it's gonna be so different than what I'm used to...not like I haven't worked with adults, or in a company or done conflict resolution...I KNOW I'm gonna ace that...it's just the fact that I'm REALLY going to Live, Breathe and  Think in another language...of course, I do it now..but to do it consciously is totally another beast...guess what though. I'm ready and I'm going to do my best...feeling excited, nervous, and feisty! This is gonna be an AWESOME Year..YEAH!

Living abroad for over 20 years...

 What can I say? I love what I do. Ever since I travelled to England in 1999 it changed my life forever. When I traveled and settled in I found out that language is much more complex. I actually cried in my room during the second week of my stay. I could not understand the English accent. I told myself that I need to get with the program because I could not just quit. 

So I decided to go out and make friends, and learn British English. Well, my brain did an awesome job once I stopped holding it back. I made friends EVERYWHERE. I learned a bit about English culture. I was only there for 6 months. However, what I learned made we want to stay there forever. My love attraction, and fascination with Asia drew me here. 

Once I married and we figured out a way to make ends meet, we stayed here. I can not imagine a life where I stayed in Philadelphia. I dream of Lucknow, Seoul, Iksan, Gunsan, Hyderabad, Mumbai, London, Hong Kong, Osaka, Seok-cho, Manchester and so many other cities. This represents only a few countries. However, I do not believe in back packing....... I believe in living and breathing a new location. 

Overall it has been easier than many who discouraged me 21 years ago thought. Fools who did not know where South Korea was. Fools who said "But you do not know anyone there" when I was headed to England. If your heart yearns to live in a place far from where you were born...go for it. You never know who you will meet. I met the love of my life and now we have two wonderful boys. Of course we are living in times that are difficult to deal with. There are so many "isms" we live with now. Recently violence towards people of Asian descent is in the media. People of non-white descent have ALL experienced crap due to our skin color. That is a topic for another day!

Walking has been good last week we took break on Wednesday but still clocked 31 kms. This week ought to be 34 or 35kms.

/tata

Mid week events...

 We both decided to take a rest from walking yesterday. Wednesday is our siege night. We have an online battle very late at night. I love this night because we listen to music (at a low volume). We also change the class of our characters in Archeage to better suit the defending or attacking armies we are members of. We play with friends who are mostly from Europe. 

This is our mid week tradition. Over the years we have had many different events mid week. We used to go to a chicken restaurant our neighborhood. It was very nice to just take a load off over beer and fried chicken. Another tradition that lasted for years and years was our movie night. In Korea perhaps 15 years ago there used to be a large number of video rooms. You could sit in your personal room and watch a movie for a nominal fee. It was like having a personal movie theater. The sound system and video quality was excellent. Yogita and I were their top 3 costumers. We could even bring food with us. The owner only allowed us to do this as we always left the room cleaner than we arrived! It was such a nice thing to look forward to. 

So now that it is Thursday we have other events that take place on this day well. 

Ok time to go my students are watching me.

/tata

The Scale Of Happiness

For some it's money..for some property or accessories...a big house...a nice car.....a fancy job.....but is that REALLY happiness..or just fulfillment..a sense of satisfaction...

Totally different than true happiness...I might be fulfilled because I finished a job successfully or I might feel a sense of satisfaction because I helped someone in need or because I had a really delicious meal...BUT is that HAPPINESS?

According to a popular survey likely NOT...Happiness could not be measured in monetary terms...while money was an important factor in answering the questions ...the focus was on overall satisfaction...and for a LOT of people QUALITY of life was more important than the QUANTITY or MATERIALISTIC VALUE.

Can money substitute waking up every day in a loved one's arms or spending quality time together or sharing a kiss or a moment...The ANSWER for most of us believe it or not is a resounding NO.

Most of us know it, realize it... AND.....yet find it so hard to break away from ...

I just wanna say...Don't give up! Keep trying! The truth is out there. GO FIND IT!

Copy cats...

 In the ESL industry, it is cutthroat. One thing that you can not escape is people copying your teaching methodology or curriculum. In private academies it is annoying. You find that teachers are printing documents that you created then telling the students they made them. 

This really is easy to get around you have two choices use your own tech, or just ignore it. Really most teachers when I saw this happen only taught for one year. For them, Korea was not about a real job just some fun to fund backpacking. So it is easy to ignore them. Actually, we tend to not want to spend time with people like that. 

Now when you play in the big leagues because most of the money made is ESL is in running your own private network of privates along with your regular job, or actually running your own academy. I laugh when I hear "professors" with Masters degrees brag about teaching at a Uni. 

When you own your school the copycat nonsense can get very serious. People end up "stealing" students from a larger school. Starting rumors which are just mean and childish. On the other hand, it can cause a loss of money. Then people start taking people to court, it can get that serious. 

I feel that there is competition, then there is surviving. Which is more important in the midst of a pandemic? So many have lost jobs. A lot of good talent left South Korea due to covid-19 fears. That means those that are left it is easy to see, which parents and students are really happy about. Which students are really learning, and are excited to come to class. 

Since coming to Iksan I have been spied on. Yes, one person actually pretended to join my class and have an interview. While this was going on the mom went around watching the teachers. She decided that whatever I was doing at the time was the best. In Gunsan we were the leaders in adult ESL. So people would join our classes for a short time. The whole while asking strange questions that students do not ask. At one point on the second day, it felt like we were at an information-sharing workshop. Then I realized that it was not actually sharing. It was me lecturing on classroom management of adult classes, and how they differed from other age groups. 

Once I fired a few questions at them they let slip that they have a school in a nearby neighborhood. A very strange experience. But people only do that when you have some measure of success. It is not a good feeling. If they need help just ask me. Anyways, we do not want to stay in this field for long. It is NOT sustainable how ESL is being taught now. Parents are more internet savvy. They can examine the materials their kids are studying. They are going to make a shift towards smaller schools, that have smaller classes. Parents are going to want REAL fluency, not this parroting that is still popular. 

Wow...a wall of text. 

Walking has been going really well. We did over 35 km last week. We will likely do a bit less this week but still in the 30km range. Yesterday we started with 6.5kms!

/tata 

 Change Is In The Air

It's time to change to a butterfly...

time to fly...

to soar high...

Another time this world has let me down and 

realize it's not a place for me,

not somewhere, I love to live and thrive.

The jealousy, the hatred,

the messed up superiority complex.

Nah! you ain't high,

If u can't even fly,

calling stuff. that's not even yours,

stuff, you don't even own,

point day ain't even yours,

so stop calling it yours,

before I have a fit,

cause that's not gonna be a hit,

but let me tell you this,

this ain't it,

I'm gonna come back,,

and kick your ass,

cause' you don't know,

how far I can go,

I'm me,

I'll make you see,

you can copy,,

but you can NEVER be me,

Peace Out!!!! 

 Live Your Life!

I was talking about how Jemal and I like to do things together...how we have so much fun together...in fact, given a choice..we would choose to hang out with just each other, instead of with other people....

Now, on average, most people tell us how we are an unusual couple because we like to spend time together...or how we are so LUCKY because we like the same things...I hate and cringe a little every time I hear the latter statement...because let me tell you, just for the record....it's not easy and it's definitely NOT Luck...Believe it or not, we WORK on our relationship...we take time to listen to each other ...to talk and to spend time with each other.

I think the difference is that we Don't Care about how other's may perceive how we live our lives...or how society and culture dictate, how we should do things...or simply what other people think we should or shouldn't do...

We do what we think is right...what works for us.....not saying that it's the right way...just saying it's the JeYo way...it works for us...we are happy because our priorities are our kids and each other...staying together...spending time with each other...

I think if more people stopped comparing (and/or) competing and just lived their lives...did what works for them...they will be happier!

Live your life...do what makes you happy...Stop existing, Start Living!

Online MMOs

 The world truly is a smaller place. Via the internet we can connect with people all over the world in almost real time. MMO RPG games are massive multiplayer online games. This means that a large number of people can connect to the same game server and play together. However, this brings new aspects into competitive game play. 

Yesterday, well actually this morning we had a siege, an online battle over a castle in Archeage. Sounds childish until you hear people in their 20's to 50's shouting at each other as we struggle to fend off a major counter attack. Or, we are about to breach the walls. MMO's started way back in 1990's with telnet based MUDs. These were, and are text based mmos. The internet at that time could not handle the traffic that game servers send today. It makes sense to have a text based game. I loved it! So did many people my age 20 years ago! 

Fast forward to today those people never lost their love of these games. In one sense these games seem like an extension of real life. We send messages about events in the game to each other on various social networking applications. 

In the game winning competitive events grants your faction advantages. For example in Archeage now that we have 3 castles we can craft higher tier gems that makes our armor and weapons stronger, and more effective. We are also able to level up faster with some protection. Players can also earn in game money from completing various quests on a daily basis. 

I pity those the label things with a big brush. Those that call us MMO gamers childish need to understand "different strokes for different folks". 

Ok I have to go, and I look forward to next weeks castle siege. I think we will be defending next week.

/tata

 The Choice Is Yours!

This is an Urdu Shayari or poem. Shayari is a form of poetry that comes from the part of India I'm from. I've loved reading and writing poems since I can remember. Growing up this was one of my favorites. What it means is:

that failure is only experienced by those who try (Only riders fall from the horse), and how can you expect anything even failure from those who never try (how can someone fall if he doesn't even walk).

Another one of my favorites is:

this is so true...everyone falls...we make mistakes....it's NATURAL...it's NORMAL but what's important is what you do next....do you stay down or do you get up, brush yourself off and continue....staying down is a CHOICE....staying in a toxic situation or abusive relationship or a job you hate..not saying it's easy to walk away...just saying walking away is STILL YOUR choice....

SO why am I rambling is ..because I don't understand and agree with this generation that has it so easy that as soon as the going gets tough they want to quit...they give up at the first sign of hardship.....

so I'm watching this documentary on youtube about poor kids in AMERICA..get this... they get social security benefits plus the food stamps ..but they are suffering BECAUSE they CAN'T buy chicken nuggets...when there are kids in Africa and India that are 7 years old working as manual laborers providing for their families...go figure!

We feel so ENTITLED...that's WHY we are so selfish...that's why LOVE IS DYING OUT

it's not hard to be nice and kind...smile instead of frowning...be kind instead of being a smart ass.....be polite instead of being rude...show love and compassion...smile first...be the first one to hug..to say sorry..to say please',  'thank you' , 'excuse me' ...follow the Greatest Man That Ever Lived......live your life by Jesus' example...be blessed! be happy! be kind!

Cases are to spike back up...

So here I am talking to a good friend of mine. He is a professor at the local university. We discuss a number of topics and of course one of them is the cov-vid-19 pandemic. 

The seasonal flu is a killer. However, it can be a very silent killer. Lets say you go to the hospital for some minor surgery. Minor surgery from  your bodies point of view is an invasion. Tissues get torn and spaces can be formed when tissues are removed. The body moves in and clears this space, this causes an immune response. 

However, this hospitalization occurred during the flu season. So while you are in hospital, you contract it from a person, or just breathing. Boom, you end up with double pneumonia. Ok perhaps both lungs are not effected but you get the idea.

Locally, we are seeing a few more cases, and it looks like there might have been a super spreader event in the Seoul metro area. I have already said this but I will say it again. We have all likely already been exposed to this virus. My main fear is getting hit with a mutated form. 

My friend sent me a document that shows that the scientific community has not actually isolated the covid-19 virus. It is very likely that this strain is just a mutated form of the common flu virus. Still very dangerous but we do not need these crazy lockdowns. Masks, responsible social distancing, and lockdowns effected areas for about two to three weeks would be better. Millions of people have had their savings wiped out, and are drowning in debt. 

It seems this pandemic will result in people being worse off than before. If a person is debt ridden, they become dependent on the state. In that case they are easier to control. 

Ok time to go!

Walked 32 kms last week, and we did 5.6 kms yesterday!

/tata

High end systems yeah another tech blog

I have been building, upgrading, and troubleshooting my various computer systems for over 20 years. One thing I am starting to get annoyed at hearing is the term "high end".  This implies that a device that has a top-of-the-line CPU (i7 in the past i9 or i10 today) becomes obsolete very quickly. So many then feel that they need to upgrade every 3 or 4 years. THIS IS DEAD WRONG. The only thing you really need to change to keep your gaming rig in tip-top shape is a GPU with enough ram, and power to run your games. Also, pay attention to the bit rate of the memory bus. Uh ok, that sounds confusing. Basically, this number gives you an idea of how much data can flow into and out of your GPU. So if you have two cards that are similar but one has a bus rate of 128 bits, and the other has a bus rate of 192...get the 192. The best GPU for gaming today is still the GTX 1060 6gb card. It is not so pricey, and plenty of power for full HD gaming at 1080p. If you want 2k, and above then this card will struggle with more demanding games.

If you are not into video editing, gaming, encoding then you can ignore people who tell you to get a more powerful GPU. You can run Netflix, social media websites, and more on an integrated graphics card. Uh..inter what?! You see you can save a lot money today if you understand the tech products you want to buy more clearly. Some modern CPUs actually have a GPU on the same chip. In these compters or laptops there is no need to buy a GPU for it. It will allow for smooth surfing of the web, watching videos, typing papers, listening to music, video chatting, I think you get the idea. 

If you want to buy a pc and you are not a "power user" buy the cheapest machine from last year and upgrade the ram, and make sure you have a large SSD in it. Heck the cheapest model from 2018 would do it just as well. 16 gigabytes of ram is needed if you like having multiple windows open, and it helps future proof a work computer. Our office PC at my work is ok, it has an SSD, it just needs more ram. That rig could run for 5 of 6 more years with regular cleaning.

Gamers don't fall for the frames per second nonsense. The human eye is thought to be able to process images at 60-75 frames per second. If your rig can produce numbers like that in your game, and there is no system lag, you are golden.

My rig has a i7 4930k (6 cores, 12 with hyperthreading) CPU

GPU is a GTX 1060 6gb

64 gigs of DDR3 RAM

1 terabtye SSD (2 drives)

My system can run 90% of all games at full HD 1080p. You can get those components second hand for super cheap! There so many configurations that can allow a gamer to build a cheap but VERY capable system! Another thing that can not be ignore is your internet set up and lag. But that is another post for another day!

Yesterday we walked 4.6 kms, hope to do more this three day weekend. 

/tata

Drinking...

 Living in East Asia drinking alcohol is something that is more open than in the west. It annoys me when I hear westerners say "Oh I only drink so so, and I never drink too much". Usually, this is a flat-out lie. Most westerners that I have met told one story that seems universal in the world of drinking in the west. That is underage drinking. When I was a teen I NEVER drank. Plain and simple. I NEVER touched drugs. I am not a saint. I wanted to try weed. I still would like to try it. It seems like a naturally growing plant that has many medicinal and erm "fun" side effects. 

In the human body during the teenage years, the organs of the body are still developing. One core amazing organ is the liver. It can replace its mass (stem cells are amazing in this organ). I think that when people drink at a young age. I do not mean taking a sip here and there. I mean blackout-style binge drinking reduces the livers "self-healing" abilities. Teens tend to slam drinks down in quick succession. I can only imagine what it is doing to the liver. 

Fast forward. I enjoy whiskey.  I can drink it enjoy it and here is a shocker...I get NO HANGOVER. I do however suffer if I drink beyond my limit. I will not mention it here but it has surprised everyone I know.

EVERYONE mentions it. I read a study that stated about 23% of people might have what could be called a "super liver" or they simply do not get hangovers like other people.

In South Korea, a common sight is drunk people (mostly men) stumbling home. In most places in America if the police saw you in that state they would take you to jail for the night. You will likely end up getting charged as well. 

Underage drinking in South Korea is prevalent too. I also think that it results in weaker livers when these teens hit adulthood. 

A common situation for me: Wow, Jemal you do not look drunk! Me: Uh yeah I feel fine. The next day: my boss (also a friend) looking terrible...Ugh Jemal...are you ok? Wait, you look normal?! Me: Huh? Oh yeah, we had a few drinks yesterday, yeah I'm fine.

Interactions like the above have happened throughout my time in Korea.

My advice if one of your friends has a "super liver" do not judge them and assume they are alcoholics.

Very likely they may have started drinking at a later time than you did. Or they just have good genes in that department. We all have strengths and weaknesses. One thing I tell those I drink with...do not try to match me, it is NOT A COMPETITION. Our health is one of the few things we have some influence over. 

/tata