The Evening Show

This is the Evening Show with Sid Kim. I was invited to be a guest!



It was awesome being on another show! And I appreciate TBS having me!

-Sam-

Eclipse 2009

So I am going through all my videos and back blogging everything... I've been busy! I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up! I know SO many people are dying to read more! (sarcasm)

Anyway, this was the 2009 Solar Eclipse... On my side of the world, Seoul Korea, we saw a partial eclipse. But you know when someone says "hey, go look at the eclipse" you kind of forget you are going to be looking at the sun? Well that happened to me, and don't lie... it happened to you too!

We tried a few different things to see the eclipse, first there was looking directly at it, which didn't work, than looking at it through the video camera, didn't work to well either... then we took a pair of sun glasses and looked a the reflection, it worked a little better, but still couldn't really see the eclipse.

Then we made a breakthrough! Well, not so much a breakthrough as someone handed us a piece of packing tape and told us to look through it... that worked! It was really neat!

And we discovered another way...



if you look through the clear middle part of a CD it bends the light so you can see the eclipse...

BUT... the best way we discovered...



If you move the metal part of the floppy disk and look through the ribbon that looks the best, and on the video above that is what I am shooting through, the ribbon of a floppy disk.

And that was the Solar Eclipse of 2009!

Thanks for watching, reading and maybe learning a little something along the way!

-Sam-

Long Time

Wow! Its been so long since I posted anything! I have bunches of videos and stuff to post... so SOON!

Flaming Drink

Ok, here is my disclaimer...

Those who know me know I don't drink very often. So when I was out with some friends welcoming a new person. A couple of us were invited to do a flaming shot. Now I have never done one before and I love to try new things so I figured... "what the hey?" So I tried it! Yes it was on fire and yes it tasted good! Very sweet actually.

Mudfest 2009

I am so excited! I just bought my new Mac computer! And this is the first video I have made and it is so much better than putting up 20 different short videos. Tell me what you think cause I enjoy going the video blogging stuff!

So get muddy and get dirty, be free and have fun!

-Sam-

Mud Fest!

What is Mudfest?

Great question! Mudfest is an annual event held in Boryeong, on the West Coast of Korea. It is held at Daecheon beach. The mud in that area is said to have special properties that make for healthier skin. There are lots of products made by this special mud.

In order to promote the Daecheon beach area mud, Boryeong city started a festival where they would bring in mud for people to experience for free. Somewhere along the way, some foreign teachers started to attend the festival. Apparently, foreign teachers and others in Korea love the idea of painting themselves with mud, jumping into a mud bath, and sliding down a mud slide, or taking their chances with some mud wrestling.

Before long, word got around that this is THE festival to attend for anyone here teaching or living in Korea. It is certainly a unique event that will be memorable as one of the best times you had during your stay in Korea.

Now, it could be argued that there are probably more foreigners that attend the festival than there are locals. Going to the Mudfest is almost like returning to a beach back home. Well, except that everyone is covered in mud and drinking Cass from the Buy The Way.

The Mudfest also features live entertainment, contests, fireworks, exciting nightlife, and all kinds of other surprises.

Leaving Jeju

Peace Out from The Sideways Blogger :-D

Teddy Bears

Another trip to a museum in Jeju... We went to the Teddy Bear Museum! Teddy Bears are knd of a serious thing in my family. Every new baby gets a new teddy bear!
The story of the Teddy Bear starts here...

Teddy Bear story began in a strange place - the woods of the U.S. in Nov. 1902. President Roosevelt was on a bear hunting trip, something he really enjoyed. At the end of his trip, he had not had the chance to hunt a single bear.
One of his staff members caught a bear cub and leashed it to a tree for President Roosevelt to shoot. When he saw it, he said, "It is not a sportsmanlike behavior!" He lowered his gun and ordered his associates to release the bear.
Clifford Berryman, a cartoonist for the Washington Post, drew a cartoon to accompany the story of what happened at the hunting trip. The cartoon, published on November 16, 1902, was entitled "Drawing The Line In Mississippi."



Seeing this cartoon, Rose Michtom decided to make a jointed, stuffed bear like the bear in the cartoon. She got permission from the President to call him "Teddy's Bear." Thus, Teddy Bears were born.

In the the first gallery are "Century Bears" which shows history through Teddy Bears. Also, celebrities depicted as bears!












Then we move to the Art Gallery, famous pieces of art are re-done as... You guessed it! Teddy Bears!







So grab your Teddy Bear and give it a squeeze cause they come from a long history!

-Sam-

Jeju Carnival

Our first night in Jeju we were in an area called Topdong and walked along the board walk only to run into a carnival with rides and bumper cars!





We were on this crazy ride we called The Spinny thing... it looks like one of the ones that pins you against the wall, but no, not only does it spin it bounces! If you aren't careful you can hurt yourself on this thing!





I hope everyone's 4th was a blast!

-Sam-

Jeju part 3 Karaoke night

Yes we went to Jeju and ended up going to a karaoke bar, the same thing we can do in Itewon. But it didn't make it any less fun!

Jeju Vlog/Blog part 2

The Museum of Sex and Health is the largest sex museum in the world. It features the cultural differances between Korea, Japan, Pursia, China and Europe. Also features the history of love and sex, finding the erogenous zone and various sex positions.







Before I joined the Navy I was set and ready to go to The Art Institute of Pittsburg. Hence my short side note of art school. There were very interesting pieces at this museum. Paintings, sculptures and pages from the original Kama Sutra.



This is one of my favorite sculptures, simple and innocent.



This is a game that you have to take a ring and get it from one end to the other without touching the edges. We almost got it a few times but never to the grand finale!

-Sam-

Vlog

Vlog is video blogging, I have video on my camera and I decided to give it a try during my trip to Jeju. We left from Gimpo Airport for our short jump to Jeju Island.




Sorry, I can't flip the video...



There were 5 of us all together and we started planning as soon as we landed. Admittedly we should have planned beforehand, my friend H has a way of making things sound ok on the fly.

Languages

I have lived overseas for just over 5 years now. I have come across several languages in my short time, however I have a tough time learning them.

The first country I lived in was Italy. More specifically La Maddalena, Sardinia an island off of an island. Small, remote, absolutely beautiful...



I lived in the upper right corner, a small cluster or islands, Palau is the city on Sardinia.



Italian ( italiano (help·info), or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken as mother-tongue by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 75 million in the world[1]. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City.[2] Standard Italian, adopted by the state after the unification of Italy, is based on Tuscan (in particular on the dialects of the city of Florence) and is somewhat intermediate between the Italo-Dalmatian languages of the South and the Gallo-Romance Northern Italian languages. Its development was also influenced by the other Italian dialects and by the Germanic language of the post-Roman Barbaric invaders but first and foremost it has been directly and heavily influenced by Latin.

Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian has retained the contrast between short and long consonants which existed in Latin. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Of the Romance languages, Italian is considered to be the closest to Latin in terms of vocabulary.[3] Lexical similarity is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan, 85% with Sardinian, 82% with Spanish, 78% with Rhaeto-Romance, 77% with Romanian, and 52% with Maltese.[1][4]

I lived in Italy for 3 years out in town dealing with the locals everyday and still had a hard time picking up the language.

A a a
B b bi
C c ci
D d di
E e e
F f effe
G g gi
H h acca
I i i
L l elle
M m emme
N n enne
O o o
P p pi
Q q cu
R r erre
S s esse
T t ti
U u u
V v vi/vu
Z z zeta

Italian Alphabet



Italian Flag

My first underway was to the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. Where I attempted to switch from Italian to French, didn't work out so well.



French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended from Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France.

The discussion of the history of a language is typically divided into "external history", describing the ethnic, political, social, technological, etc. changes that impacted the languages, and "internal history", describing the phonological and grammatical changes undergone by the language itself.

The French alphabet is exactly the same as the English alphabet, except the letters are pronounced differently. Following are the approximate French pronunciations for each letter.

A ah N en
B bay O op
C say P pay
D day Q koo
E uk R ehr
F ef S es
G ghay T tay
H ash U oo
I ee V vay
J jhay W doo-blaw-vay
K ka X ex
L el Y ee-grek
M em Z zed

French Alphabet



French Flag

Next would be Spanish. My ship pulled into Rota, Spain several times. I have taken Spanish in high school, but our language classes weren't that great. So I ended up relying on my Spanish-Speaking friend.



Spanish (español) sometimes called Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade. It was taken most notably to the Americas, and also to Africa and Asia Pacific with the expansion of the Spanish Empire between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries.

In contemporary Spain, Castilian is just one of several regional languages spoken including Aranese, Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician. Today, about 350 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the world's second most spoken language in terms of native speakers but fourth in terms of total speakers. Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers.

Spanish is growing increasingly popular as a second or third language in a number of countries due to logistical, economic, and touristic interest towards the many nations which chiefly use Spanish as the primary language. This phenomenon is most notable in Brazil, the United States, Italy, France, Portugal, and much of the Anglosphere in general.

A: a
B: be
C: ce
CH: che
D: de
E: e
F: efe
G: ge
H: hache
I: i
J: jota
K: ka
L: ele
LL: elle
M: eme
N: ene
Ñ: eñe
O: o
P: pe
Q: cu
R: ere
S: ese
T: te
U: u
V: ve
W: uve doble
X: equis
Y: i griega
Z: zeta

Spanish Alphabet



Spain's Flag

The next country is Montenegro. We were there for their one year Independance Day.



I have explored the areas of Tivat and Kotor.

Montenegrin language (Црногорски језик, Crnogorski jezik) is the name given to the Ijekavian-Štokavian dialect spoken in Montenegro. It is recognized[3] as a specific language and is official language of the country, but some Serbs regard it to be a variant of the Serbian language. Since 2004 the Montenegrin and European academic and literary community has been slowly promoting the idea of the reinstitution of Montenegrin language to the public, a movement which has its origins as far back as 1993 and the fall of totalitarianism. As of Montenegrin 2006 independence, there is an ongoing political controversy over the subject, culminating with its promulgation into the official language of Montenegro in the new Constitution on 22 October 2007.

Montenegrin Cirillic Alphabet*


Montenegrin Latin Alphabet**




Montenegro Flag

From here the languages get harder. I moved to Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, an island off the mainland. Beautiful, again difficult time learning the language. At least Italian and Spanish I can make out what things mean, then dealing with a completely differant set of symbols.



Ancient Greeks spoke in different ways from place to place. That means that the language was taking different forms from place to place, forms which are known as dialects. In Sparta they had the Doric dialect ( ), in Athens they had the Attic dialect ( ) and other dialects in other places. This, however, didn't prevent them from communicating and understanding each other without great difficulties, because the differences between the dialects were not very significant. Their language was virtually the same. Take the Modern Greek word (mother) for instance. In Athens, it was , whereas in Sparta it was . The Athenian article was in Sparta. As you can see, the differences were not this important so as to make a different language, but only a different dialect.

The common language ( ), however, was developed much later, after the Classical Age, in the years between 300 B.C. and 300 A.D. This language, that gradually became the common language of all Greeks, came from the Attic dialect and in particular the one spoken in Athens between 500 and 400 B.C., namely the time that Athens had reached the zenith of their glory. But in order for the Attic dialect to become a common language it had to borrow words from other dialects as well. This happened at the time that Alexander the Great was conquering Middle East, so this common language became (with time) a language of the Middle Easterners as well. It was spoken and written everywhere: Syria, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Persia (modern Iran), Egypt etc. It had become in a way the international language of that era.



Greek Alphabet



Crete Flag



Greek Flag

Last but not least, Korea. And most likely the hardest language to learn so far.



Korean (한국어/조선말, see below) is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers. It was formerly written using Hanja, borrowed Chinese characters pronounced in the Korean way. In the 15th century a national writing system was developed by Sejong the Great, currently called Hangul.

The genealogical classification of the Korean language is debated. Some linguists place it in the Altaic language family, while others consider it to be a language isolate. It is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax.



Korean Alphabet



Korean Flag

I'm jelous of those who can just listen and pick up a language. I have to study and practice to pick up the basics.

-Sam-

Monsoon Season

Yes, Korea has a Monsoon Season. This was an article from Stars and Stripes about last years monsoon season.

Monsoon season makes its rainy arrival in South Korea

By Jimmy Norris, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, July 26, 2008




SEOUL — Monsoon season kicked off Thursday with forecasters predicting more than 6 inches of rain.

Master Sgt. Rick Webber of the 607th Weather Squadron said that up to 10 inches of rain was expected by Saturday.

He warned residents to be wary of low-lying areas and to watch for flooding on the Han River in Seoul, especially on the Banpo Bridge lower level, which is prone to flooding.

"Banpo is one of our main concerns as far as military people who live on the other side of the river," he said.

Sue Silpasornprasit, spokeswoman for Installation Management Command-Korea, said all of the Army garrisons in South Korea have taken measures to prevent flooding and mitigate damage.

She said authorities warn people to "use common-sense precautions, like reducing speed when driving and paying attention to warning signs posted in areas prone to flooding."

Monsoon season, during which South Korea receives more than half its annual rainfall, usually starts in the last week of June and ends in late July. It started later than normal this year, Webber said, because of shifting high-pressure systems in the Pacific.

He said he expects the season to end in mid- to late-August.

I think I'm going to buy some rain boots. Stay dry this season!

-Sam-

Always Injured

Well it seems that the Korean landscape is out to get me. My second week here I endured ankle sprain number 9. And this next injury didn't have anything to do with the landscape so much as someone who doesn't know how to run bases.

I was playing catcher for our team and someone was running home so the first baseman has the ball and whipps a steel rope to me, glove up, ready to catch and tag the guy out the runner ran out of the baseline and in front of me. In the process he knocks my glove out of the way and when he was out of the way BAM! right in the chin which makes my jaw go in a direction its not supposed to.



The laces caught my chin and left a nice little rasberry, and is still a little sore.



My jaw is swollen, I was hit on the left side of the chin and the right side was jarred.

I continued with the game of course. I wouldn't let something like that stop me. And it finally popped and felt a little better. Iced my jaw while we weren't in the field. I got a ride home with my friend and shock started to set in. I got home with a good time to call my mom. So I talked to her she asked me to go to the hospital and get it looked at. I told her I would think about it. I hate hospitals, they always tell me something is wrong. I ordered lunch and tried to eat and oh my goodness, the pain was aweful. And what started to worry me was the pain reached my ears, the other side of my jaw was tightening and my neck was getting stiff.

So I called a cab and went to medical. Waited several hours and getting impatient. Finally I get called back. They want to take some x-rays, took about 4 then I went back to my curtained off area to wait. Then back to the x-ray room! They took over 10 x-rays of my jaw, sinuses and neck. The doctor said she was looking for a fracture! But came back with nothing, thank God! I wouldn't even know how to treat a fractured jaw!

Then just the other day I was on duty, its 24 hours and we do regular security checks. So I was walking in for my final check of the night and in my route there is a particularly dark section. I'm walking along and my foot rolled right into a pothole. Ankle sprain number 10 takes place! It actually brought me to my knees and I hobbled out of the street and sat for a little.

Unfortunatley I don't have the time to go to medical, we are understaffed, a bunch of people are on leave and our headquarters director was visiting. If I can't take care of a sprained ankle by now, having 16 of them between both ankles then I'm useless.

Take care of yourselves!

-Sam-

Organization

I consider myself to be what is known as "Chaoticly Organized" it looks like a mess to everyone else but I know where everything is. And sometimes it gets a little too much! So then I go through and completely clean and organize everything!





Small barracks rooms and not a lot of storage has lead to just piling things up against the walls. So I went out and got some things to help me organize!







Put them together and loaded them with the crap that I had no clue what to do with! I also bought a lot of yarn to work on some new projects. Now part of my room looks like an old lady lives there.







And now I feel so much better! I predict it will last about a week... :-)

-Sam-