Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

Around 4:30am there was a buzz at the train station. By 5:00am the buzz had grown and a flurry of morning activity was underway. Shopkeepers were opening their stores, cleaning crews were putting away their tools, gates were being opened - Seoul Station was waking up. I smiled as I picked up my belongings and made the trek around the corner. Seoul Station was about 1/2 mile from the subway stop that would get me to Gimpo Airport, where I would transfer onto the AREX for the ride back to Incheon. I reached the subway station just as the gates were opening. I bought my ticket and boarded the first train to Gimpo. Once there I bought my ticket to Incheon and made the transfer with no difficulty. Incheon is quite a distance from Gimpo, which is already a good 30-minute subway ride from Seoul. Once at the airport I made my way to the ticket counter. It was 7:15am and the ticket counter didn't open until 8:00am. I made a run at some last-minute souvenir shopping and mailed some postcards...

With a twinge of sadness to color my overwhelming joy of heading home, I checked out of my hotel and headed to work for my last day of class. The students were reaching a saturation point - eight straight working days stuck in a small classroom with me. I suppose too much of a good thing can be, well… At the end of the day we said our goodbyes and I headed for the train station. I called Tony and we planned on meeting at his post, Camp Humphreys. Two trains and a taxi ride later I was in Pyongtaek at the gate to Camp Humphreys meeting Tony for dinner again. He brought me onto the post and showed me around. Compared to Camp Henry (and all the other posts I've been on the past two years), this place looked like a country club. Just inside the gate was a taxi stand (!) where we caught a cab for the ride back to his barracks. The rolling hills and green grass provided a pleasant backdrop for the different buildings that were more established and beautifully architected. One building th...

I realize that I haven't written much about the food here in Korea. Being in a different country does expose one to other cuisines. But I must admit that based on my experiences with Korean food back in the United States, I was a little apprehensive. Other than the Bibimbab that I had once in Ann Arbor, there wasn't much in the way of Korean food that I liked. And the in-flight meal on my way over here wasn't that spectacular. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that it was airplane food I would have been even more troubled. Much to my surprise and delight, the food here has been quite delicious. Most of my lunches on post have been at the KATUSA Snack Bar (KATUSA is an Army acronym referring to Korean soldiers assigned to the US Army). Lunch was never more than 5000 won (US$4.75), and there were a number of menu items to choose from. I tried several, and each one of them was fantastic. There was the Spicy Pork with Rice, Fried Rice with Beef, Dol Sot Bibimbab (Dol Sot ...

Today's class got off to a good start. Most of the students from last week returned this week, and some new students joined us. In fact the class was so enthusiastic we stayed until 5:30pm working on lab exercises. Afterwards I decided to walk back to the hotel following some different side streets. Twenty minutes later I was in the restaurant and shopping area just across from my hotel. I decided to be adventurous and head into a Korean restaurant for dinner. I sat down at a table and the waitress brought me a menu - all in Korean. There were enough pictures that after a few minutes I was able to point to her and explain what I wanted - a plate of spicy chicken with rice, and a cake-like thing I saw. She nodded and returned with the check listing my order - in Korean. I checked the total and thought that the price reflected more than what I was willing to eat, so I motioned for her that this was too much. She nodded, ran off and made the adjustment before the kitchen cooked too mu...

I woke up at 4:30am, enjoying the relative quiet of the morning as the sun rose over Tokyo. I caught up on emails and other paperwork, showered and packed. By 9:00am I was in my brother's room talking about yesterday's game and the injury toll on the team. There are a number of bumps and bruises to be sure, and only an X-ray will determine the presence of fractures. Hopefully he and the others heal up and rest before their final game on Friday against Korea. The game is in Dubai, and while the thought of showing up for that one has crossed my mind, I think I would really like to get back home and see my family. I had to leave for the airport by 9:30am. And so, with a big hug I bid my brother goodbye. It's hard enough that we live on opposite sides of the planet. It would be so much nicer if we could pop in on weekends to visit with each other. Alas, I like Michigan as much as he likes Dubai - I guess it will be this way for a while longer yet. The flight back to Korea was l...

I've watched sunrises in many different places. I've been to stores before they open for business. But I've never watched an airport start up. When I arrived at Gimpo the lights were dimmed and all the counters were closed. The signs said that the counters would open for check-in at 6:10am. So I camped out on the chairs, nodding off while time marched forward. Around 5:00am the first signs of stirring - a janitor came out to sweep and dust around the check-in line area. By 5:45am the lights were turned on. And at 6:00am ticket agents appeared behind the counters. Excited I hopped up to be the first (and only) person in line. When 6:10am struck, all eight ticket agents stood up in a row with their three first line supervisors standing behind them. An announcement was read over the PA system greeting the new day and inviting us, the flying public, to receive service from these trained professionals. As the announcer said, "Good morning," both rows of employees bowed...

Today class went rather smoothly. Students finished their labs and had time to redo their favorite lab. Upon completing their labs they all filtered out back to the office to catch up on some work prior to the weekend. My contact was gracious enough to drive me back to the hotel. There, I was able to use the Internet to make some plans for the weekend. Tony is a friend of the family who lives in Livonia, just a few miles from us in Michigan. I caught wind that he was stationed here in Korea. After reaching out to him earlier in the week we made plans to meet up in Pyongtaek, which is about an hour south of Seoul by train and roughly 2+ hours from where I’m at in Daegu. I boarded the KTX train in Dongdaegu and transferred to a “regular” (slower) train in Asan. By 6:45pm I was in Pyongtaek looking for Tony. It didn’t take long. As I came up the stairs from the platform and rounded the corner, there he was to greet me. After a big hug we made our way over to Dunkin Donuts for a quick snac...

After another delightful day at work I decided to explore the neighborhood around the hotel. Being in the Novotel City Centre, I figured I must be in the middle of all the excitement. After dropping off my bag and changing into more comfortable gear I headed out and into the maze of streets and shops that surrounded the hotel. The best way for me to describe the energy in the blocks across the street would be to liken it to Times Square in Manhattan, only with narrower streets and much more neon. The bright signs lit up the entire area. People young and old moved through the streets. Dining options abounded from the American (Burger King was sighted), to Korean, Japanese and Chinese. There was a "New York Pizza" Italian eatery whose signs showed a mix of Italian and Korean dishes. The variety of restaurants was stunning. There was also a large number of retail offerings, from the 1000 Won ($1 US) stores to high-end fashion. Even Nike has a company store here. This is certainl...

This morning started out early with a 3:00am Skype call back home. It was great to catch up with my family face-to-face. I then got ready for work, packed my belongings and checked out of the hotel, knowing that I would be able to check back in for at least the next two days. I left my suitcase at the front desk, ate breakfast and walked out the door. A short taxi ride later found me at the gate where my contact picked me up and escorted me onto post. Having the air conditioning run all night helped cool the classroom from 82F to 68F. And with that start to the day, I felt everything would be OK. For lunch we went to a small Korean restaurant on-post. I had the fried rice with beef, which was quite tasty. Overall, weather-wise, it was a bit cooler today. The walk back to the hotel was quite pleasant. I made a couple of stops, at an arcade and at a convenience store. At the store I bought a melon ice cream that I first learned about in Honolulu. For 700 won (about 65 cents) it was a wel...

Again, thanks to jetlag (and going to bed last night before 7:00pm) I was up by 2:30am. I must say that I enjoy waking up early and having this time to pray, think, read and set up my day. I suppose the key to that is getting to bed by 7:00pm. But that would seem so antisocial back home. I called the family, checked in on my technical support issues (resolved!) and got ready to head off to work. After breakfast I started walking to the post. I figured it would be a nice walk. A few minutes later a taxi slowed down figuring that he could pick me up. I smiled and took him up on his "offer" of a ride to the post. The cab ride was only 2900 won. ($1 US = 1100 won). I met my contact at the gate, went through the sign-in process and got to the classroom. Thankfully the heat had been turned off yesterday, but they hadn't turned on the air conditioners yet. So the room was still a sweltering 82 degrees. Today the students did lab exercises to make up for what didn't happen ye...

Thanks to jetlag, I woke up at 3:00am. I called home to check in with everyone and chat with them. After a shave and a shower, I made my way down to the hotel's breakfast area where I found a selection of Korean and Western breakfast items. There were a lot of military uniforms at breakfast. I suppose this is the place for servicemembers to stay. I hopped in a taxi and made my way to Camp Henry, where I'll be teaching for the next week and a half. Since I did not have a military ID the taxi driver dropped me off in front of the guard gate. I arrved at 7:30am and waited for nearly an hour before my contact picked me up. As they were unable to get me unescorted access to the post I will have to be met by someone at the gate every day and signed on. A little tedious, but every post works a little bit different. I arrived at my classroom, met the students and started the day. As could be expected, there were the typical Monday morning snafus: The heat was on in a small room with tw...

We landed in Seoul at 5:00pm Sunday afternoon local time. I said "Goodbye" to my neighbor and headed for Passport Control. I had to figure out how to get from Seoul's Incheon Airport to the Novotel Daegu City Center some 200+ miles away and get some rest before showing up to work tomorrow at 8:00am. After clearing Passport Control I made my way to the train station. The AREX (AiRport EXpress) train was able to get me as far as Gimpo Airport (Seoul's secondary airport) before I had to transfer to another subway. Problem was, there was no connection from this stop to Seoul Station, where I needed to go. I picked a subway that got me as close as possible to Seoul Station. From there I figured I could walk or hail a taxi to Seoul Station. When I came out of the subway in downtown Seoul I was surprised by how quiet it was. There was no hustle and bustle; no crowds of people that I could ask. Reckoning as best I could from the map in the subway I started to walk in the gene...

I woke up in Los Angeles to the sound of my cell phone. My sister knew that I'd be spending the night, so she picked me up and brought me to her house for breakfast. My mom met us there, and it was great to see the family for a couple of hours. Camille, my niece, is so verbal and cute in her demeanor and conversation. After breakfast Mom drove me to Target to pick up some shirts. In my haste I left three freshly laundered shirts hanging in the back of my rental car in Arkansas. (Yes, I called Budget and they have the shirts; I'll be picking them up when I return to Arkansas on May 25). Mom got me back to the airport around 10:30am, two hours before my flight. This is a good thing, since I knew that with the rebooking of my flight there would be a little commotion with finding the record and getting me on board. I was right. After a 15-minute search they were able to pull up my reservation and issue me a boarding pass. A sign that things were starting to get better was that the ...

As with my last two overseas adventures, this one starts in...Arkansas. The last week of April I was blessed with a class in Arkansas. Tim and Beverley make me feel like family while I'm there. Even more special, I was able to enjoy the first part of the week with Keith, a fellow Sunday School teacher from my church and a wonderful saint. It was such an encouragement to be able to have dinner with him Monday and Tuesday. Best of all, he loved the Whole Hog Cafe and AQ Chicken. The weather in Arkansas was beautiful, warm and sunny all week. Then, Friday came and with that, massive storm clouds. As I drove to the airport I was treated to a spectacular lightning storm, the likes of which I hadn't seen since my brother and I drove across the Plains back in 1993. Great, I thought, as I was worried about flight delays. My routing was from XNA (Northwest Arkansas Regional) to Memphis, where I had 90 minutes to make the flight to Los Angeles. Once at LAX I would have 3 hours to make th...

OK, so I've been pretty quiet for quite a while. Let me fill you in on where I've been: I came back from Afghanistan and rested at home. The following week the kids were off from school, so I took Benjamin with me to pick up the car from Arkansas. We had a pleasant flight out on February 19. We stopped for lunch at the Whole Hog Cafe before driving to St. Louis for the night. The next morning, Saturday, we made our way to the Gateway Arch and rode up to the top for a lovely view across the Mississippi River. After that, we hopped in the car and drove all the way home to Michigan. The next day after church I drove out to Appleton, Wisconsin for a week-long class. On the way back Friday night I was blessed by the hospitality of Brian and Cristina and their kids, Kayla and Michael. They are dear friends who relocated from Michigan for Brian's new job. Arriving home early the morning of February 27 I had no idea what was in store for March. Nothing. That's right. I spent th...