Down and Out

I don't know what happened, but I awoke from an evening nap literally screaming in pain an hour ago. Something happened to my right calf muscle, and it remains in pain at the slightest movement, even touch. I can neither walk nor stand, nor lie on my sides. Even sitting is troublesome, as is lying on my back! It's too bad; Chae Young and I had intended to go to Gangwha Island tomorrow. She is going to come to visit me in my apartment tomorrow instead of enjoying the beautiful weather. Today was catchup day on email, but I'm afraid that I'll have to postpone some much needed responses (especially to JB & Sylva and Jen & Lyle). To make matters worse, my lower back is sore, and I need to put a cushion under my knees. That option's out, now, thanks to my right calf. H*ly crap; this Canadian English teacher is a wimp when it comes to pain! Well, I'll hobble (with the aid of the dresser and table), back to bed, although I likely won't be able to sleep.

At another point, I'll post some pictures of my trip with a former middle school student to Jongmyo, the shrine for the dead kings, queens, and persons of repute, when I feel better. I did a lot of walking and subway travel today, but I don't think that was totally responsible, as I've done similar walks before. Come to think about it, I did attempt to make the "half lotus" position on the floor of my local Buddhist temple--that's what did it! It's the leg that was forced up unnaturally! The next time I'm chatting in broken English and Korean with a monk I'm going to decline to attempt to sit in either the lotus or half-lotus position!

Wednesday & Yesterday

Two days ago I had a delightful meeting with three of my former adult students: Sook, Myunghee, and Young Hye. It was so good to see them all again! I miss them (and the others) very much!

After heading home from the cafe in the City Hall area, I was surprised to see my language partner, Hee Jung, in Dongdaemun Station, where I was transferring from the #1 to the #4. It was a serendipitous meeting, and we had a bite to eat in McDonald's together.
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Yesterday Chae Young told me she talked to her mother about me--and, her mother is ok with the fact that I am a foreigner. We're not sure about her dad, yet, though. We had a really nice chat yesterday.
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Today I will meet Ian, as I do every Friday, for supper. I miss seeing him as much as I used to.

A Different Axis of Evil, and What I Won't Write About

There have been a few news stories on former Prime Minister Jean Chretien's links to the oil business under Saddam Hussein, but here's a new piece of gossip with links to both Canada and the Koreas: our old buddy, Maurice Strong, of all people, is under investigation for alleged misconduct in the UN Oil-for-Food scandal. Usually this is the sort of thing that the Marmot would post, but he hasn't yet, so I will.

At the same time, it's nice not to have to blog about Korean politics, for several reasons. First, the Marmot, and some other bloggers here, already do a good job of that, a better job than I could do. In the second place, I always seem to be in the minority of opinion on politics. In Canada I voted, and campaigned, Conservative (for economic and political--NOT--social reasons). On this blog this Canadian defended the Republican Party's candidate (with reservations) for the White House election of 2004. Here in South Korea I'm annoyed that so many people make up conspiracy theories to justify their prejudice and lack of gratitude to the USA, while turning a very real blind eye to the human rights violations of the North Korean regime. So it does get frustrating to be always on the unpopular, losing side of politics (with the exception of the US election of 2004!). Sometimes, it seems that I just can't get no, dah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah political sa-tis-fac-tion! Dah, nah, nah... So, instead I will continue to write about my experience of Seoul and South Koreans, my relationships and friendships here, also photographing and chatting about those things which are either interesting to me culturally or historically, or are merely very strange from a North American perspective.

I'm wrong!--The White Smoke Heralds Ratzinger

I'm extremely surprised! Now yours truly is eating humble pie--I lost 5,000Won on this one! ;-)

On the other hand, I was correct that the Pope would be a Western European (I bet my equivalent of $5 CDN in the office pool on an "unlisted Western European"). It's interesting that the cardinals did not elect an African Pope, as I had feared. We might call their reasons for not doing so the "Kofi effect." Well, you heard that one here, first!

About the new Pope Benedict, I'm surprised the article I linked to didn't mention the first famous Benedict in Catholic history, choosing instead to briefly mention the last Pope with that name. Even before I read the article, I knew exactly the message that Ratzinger was sending with that name. After the heady reforms of John Paul's I and II, with their focus on getting back to the Bible and the New Testament, Ratzinger was saying, in effect, "look, I'm Benedict. Like the first Benedict, I'll follow a Rule of simplicity and love, pursue a middle of the road course, and conserve the traditional values of the Catholic Church." The first Benedict, of course, is the apparent author of "The Rule of St. Benedict," which I have read. Nowadays it sounds rather ascetic (it recommends whipping boys for minor infractions, for instance--hardly an encouraging note at this point!), but in the context of the patriarchal culture of the day, however, it was quite moderate, as it continued to be in the context of monastic history. Certainly the eponymous Benedictine order who obey the Rule is much less severe than other orders (e.g. the two types of Cistercians, and the (in)famous Carthusians).

I couldn't help thinking of two analogies that come to mind: Paul Martin's succeeding Jean Chretien as Prime Minister of Canada (both Martin and Ratzinger were right hand men who succeeded, finally, to the top job), and Mahmoud Abbas, the successor of Yasser Arafat, who deliberately took office on an extraordinarily low-key note, like Ratzinger has done. Let's hope that Ratzinger can outshine both men, and please note that I am not comparing the late Pope to Arafat, although he has one thing in common with Chretien: patronage appointments to the most senior "House."

I was disappointed with the election of Ratzinger, because he's a very hardline, dogmatic disciplinarian who has resisted some much needed fresh theological thinking. On the other hand, I think he'll preserve the beautiful liturgy of the church, and hopefully he'll encourage better contemporary sacred architecture. At least he isn't unpredictable, flighty, and entirely precritical in his thinking.

An Update on the $CDN vs. the Won

Well, the news is reporting that the Canadian dollar is at a "six week low versus the American one." What's interesting to me is that the Won seems pretty steady against the US dollar. When the Canadian dollar rises against the US dollar, it usually rises against the Won, too. When it falls against the American dollar, it usually drops against the Won, too. Right now it's just short of the February high against the Won that has been the highest Won-$CDN exchange since I got here last August. A low Canadian dollar, naturally, is good for me.

Black Smoke

Well, I had mentally predicted that this would take more than one day. It would be unseemly to elect a new Pope so soon after the death of the old one. But I genuinely don't know how long it will take. The fact that so many cardinals are from the third world may make a consensus difficult, now that there is a greater diversity of backgrounds in the College. A previous post of mine already dealt with my hope that a third world Pope will not be elected, but I make no predictions on that score.

Finally, if there's one person who most certainly won't be elected, it's Ratzinger. He's been the disciplinarian of the Vatican for years, and can't be too popular for that. Frankly, I'm shocked that the media keep mentioning him as a leading candidate.

Cherry Blossom Festival

On the weekend Chea Young and I went to Yoido Park and to the National Assembly again. I've updated the post on Yoido Park in question with a few new pictures from this time. There was a cherry blossom festival here which we took in on Thursday, too. It was very crowded. We also went at night on the weekend, but unfortunately I don't have any suitable shots to post. The night scene there was very beautiful, aided by colored lights illuminating the trees.


Cherry Blossom Festival

Crowded Subway

Subway pic

I've wanted to do this for a long time. Actually, the photograph appears less crowded than it should, because I held the camera up high. Many people were too short, and thus didn't get in the picture. You can see one such person's head at the bottom. This picture was taken in the early afternoon on the #4 line on a Saturday en route to the chess club's special Saturday meeting last weekend.