Articles by mgedwards

43 more hits

I need just 43 more hits to reach 3,000 for the month of August.  Visit early, visit often!  Help push World Adventurers over 3,000 hits in August.  If you really like this blog, you’re also welcome to submit it as a candidate for "The Best of MSN Spaces."  I definitely would not mind that at all.  I’m not too proud to ask for a little campaigning from dear readers like you.  Thanks for putting in a good word for me.
 
I ended up not going to Pusan today after all.  The situation resolved itself.  Instead, I will be out and about in Seoul today and will head to Daejeon again next week.  That’s OK.  I did get some sleep last night, but I still have a bit of a head cold.  I would prefer not to fly until I’m completely better.
 
I will try to write again tonight.  I have some thoughts on the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina I’d like to share.
 
 

Insomnia!

Last night I couldn’t sleep. 
 
I went to bed around midnight.
 
I tossed and turned until about 2 a.m.
 
I willed myself to sleep.  No such luck.
 
By 3:30 a.m., I started to worry.
 
I knew by then I wasn’t going to get much sleep.
 
At 4:30 a.m., I gave up trying to sleep.
 
I almost got up, but thought better of it.
 
Around 5 a.m., I think I went to sleep.
 
At about 6:15 a.m., I looked at the clock again.
 
I got up at 7:10 a.m. this morning.
 
I was surprisingly awake and alert in spite of myself.
 
I was fine all day until this evening, when I was exhausted.
 
Have you ever had a night or nights like that?  I have them from time to time.  Sleepless nights are caused by a variety of factors.  Sometimes it’s chronic.  Sometimes it’s caused by young children.  Fortunately, in my case, it never lasts more than a night or two.  Usually my insomnia is brought on whenever I have a lot on my mind.  Last night, I believe that the combination of illness, muggy weather, and heavy activity just before bedtime caused me to have insomnia.  I felt much better last evening and really wanted to do something different for a change, so I worked out on our treadmill.  (Working out is one of the crazy aftermaths of my recent "Whole Life Model" blog entry.)  I told myself, Self, why do you spend so much time at the computer?  There’s so much more to life than blogging or staring at a computer model.  So I did something different for a change.  Unfortunately, I worked out much too late.  My body was much too awake and alert after working out.  I know what you’re thinkiing–Mike, what are you doing working out when you’re sick?   Oh, I don’t know why.  Maybe I just got carried away because I thought I’d finally conquered this infernal bug.  It’s too bad something good (working out) resulted in such dire consequences.  I am not a morning person and cannot work out in the morning.  I’ll have to figure out a way to work out without bringing on sleeplessness. 
 
After I finished working out, I wound down and talked to my wife for awhile, then I read a bit, and finally headed off to bed.  The lingering illness and workout must have raised my body temperature substantially.  The room was warm and muggy, leaving me very comfortable.  It didn’t help that I couldn’t turn on the air conditioning, because it would pump cold air into my son’s room.  I settled on using an electric fan, but the fan’s oscillations left me either too hot or too cold.  It was miserable lying in bed.  The more I thought about how uncomfortable it was, the less likely I was to sleep.  After awhile, worry took over.  Oh man, I’ll never get to sleep.  I’m not going to be able to keep my eyes open at work tomorrow, I thought.  Fortunately, for some strange reason I felt strangely awake this morning and had a fairly productive day at work.  Perhaps I slept more than I realized, albeit in short increments.  I did fine today in spite of myself.  Nevertheless, when I got home tonight, I crashed for a couple of hours and slept very well.  I hope that I can sleep tonight.  I have to, because I need to go to Pusan tomorrow.  I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow, dear reader.

An old friend comes to visit

Darn.  When I woke up this morning I felt much better, but when I went to work I fell ill again with a head cold.  I felt worse as the day progressed.  I feel a little better now, but not much better.  Nevertheless, I stuck it out and stayed at work all day today.  My cubemate told me that I should go home and rest, but I had too much too do, too many fires to fight.  I was still very productive and accomplished as much as I could in eight hours while not feeling well.  I hope I’ll feel better tomorrow.  On Wednesday morning I have to fly to Busan for the day, so I hope I’m better by then.  Because I have a head cold, I’m afraid that the flight, even if it’s a short one, will cause my ears to plug.  When we arrived in Korea from Hawaii last February, that’s exactly what happened.  It took a week for me to completely regain my hearing.  Even now my wife says I’m often hard of hearing, so literally losing my hearing would be absolutely devastating. LOL
 
This weekend a colleague from Guangzhou, China arrived in town to stay for a couple of weeks.  He took the airport shuttle into town, and I picked him up and helped him settle into his temporary digs.  It was great to see him.  We hired in at the same time and went through training together in Washington, D.C.  He is a very jovial guy and rather comedic, the kind of person you want to volunteer to emcee a public event.  He’s also a new father and a bit more somber than I remember him.  It’s either because he misses his family or because he’s worn out from being a new father.  We went to dinner last night at a Korean restaurant, and he tried bulgogi for the first time (best to start out with the tried and true).  We talked a lot about living and working in Seoul and Guangzhou.  I have not yet been to Guangzhou, but I may go there for my next assignment.  He really likes Guangzhou.  He says that he misses Western culture, because Western culture is somewhat limited in Guangzhou.  For example, Guangzhou has an assortment of McDonald’s, Pizza Hut’s, and Starbucks, but other than that, non-Chinese dining is a bit hard to find.  It’s much easier to find Western food, particularly if you have access to a U.S. military base such as Yongsan Garrison in Seoul or Osan A.F.B. in Osan.  He gets his fill of Western whenever he leaves Guangzhou for destinations such as Hong Kong.  He’s very happy to see so much Western fare here in Seoul.
 
My colleague also says that, for a variety of reasons, it is somewhat difficult to meet Chinese locals and that his family spends most of their time with friends in the Guangzhou expatriate community.  I can understand that, because as I’ve previously mentioned, I rarely have an opportunity to get out and meet Koreans here.  Most of the time I either work, stay close to home, or go on family outings.  However, since my wife is from China and I know China well, I hope that my experience in China will be different than my colleague’s experience.  The Guangzhou Western expatriate community, at least those who live and work in the city, is apparently small–much smaller than it is in Seoul.  I believe that most expatriates who visit Guangdong Province are overseas Chinese (Huaqiao).
 
My friend has never been to Seoul.  This morning I showed him Seoul Tower, Seoul Station, Namdaemun (Gate), City Hall, Toksu Palace, the Statue of Yi Sunshin, the Blue House (Korean presidential palace), and Gyeongbok Palace on the way to work.  He thought it was wonderful to see so many Seoul highlights in one fell swoop.  I realized just how compact Seoul really is.  In the span of 15 minutes, we drove past most of Seoul’s famous landmarks.  I live and work around these monuments and have grown so accustomed to them that I forget about their significance.  Take the Statue of Yi Sun-shin, for instance.  On most mornings, I use my line of sight between the Yi Sun-shin’s Statue and Bukhansan, a mountain behind Gyeongbok Palace, to guage the day’s weather.  Much of the time the sky is hazy or overcast, indicating ominous weather patterns.   I rarely recall the historical significance of the statue.  Admiral Yi Sun-Shin is very significant in Korean history.  In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who unified feudal Japan, invaded Korea in order to launch an assault on Qing China.  Admiral Yi, credited with inventing the world’s first iron-clad ships, known as the "Turtle Ships," was instrumental in driving back the Japanese Navy.  I see Admiral Yi’s statue every day, but rarely do I think about the story of the man and the history behind his statue.  While Seoul is a vibrant, modern city, it is historical monuments such as these that make Seoul even more colorful. 
 
Blog Note:  I added some photo albums from our June trip to Gyeongju and the East Coast.  There are three albums–one featuring Bulguksa Temple and Lake Bomun, one with Gyeongju and Silla photos, and photos of the Korean countryside and seaside.  I’d been meaning to publish them, but didn’t have a chance until now.  Enjoy!