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Month: August 2013
Skinwalker Shards Linger
Just thought I would take a minute and send everyone an update!
My first book is available from Amazon – in digital format (soon in print)…please don’t kill trees unless you live way out and I understand!
.99 cents! a deal at twice the price!
Holding hands with a man!
Yep, I am sure that got your attention!
No I am not coming out of the closet –
1995 Seoul, Korea and my Korean speaking ability is about five weeks old! I am teaching in Seoul and need a bank account. The new teachers have a person assigned to them to help them get socially acclimatized. My person is Sam! Sam is this gentle old soul who can never get a “real” job in Korea because he was/is a conscientious objector due to his faith as a Jehovah Witness. I respected his faith and his beliefs and we became good friends. “GOOD” as in hiking and climbing together…and he would sit and chat with me while I drank beer before class. Yes, we drank lots of beer before teaching – sue me!
I asked Sam to go to the bank with me and help me establish a bank account. Kookmin Bank was about a 1/2 mile from the school and so we cruised on down to the bank. As we crossed the street, Sam reached over and grabbed my hand. Yes, I was like what the heck! We made it through the intersection and I pulled my hand back and said “Sam, dude – guys do not hold hands in America!” He was mortified to have insulted me and apologized and explained that it was very common for two men that are friends to hold hands. (Yes, this is very true – but I had not been to the park or out late – it is very common.) I told him that in America only gay (of course his English – happy) men hold hands – he said exactly – I am happy to hold your hand! I then had to explain the whole “gay” thing to him! He was again mortified and said “oh we beat them up in Korea and put them in prison!” Situation saved!
He then took my arm and we walked the remaining 1/4 mile to the bank!
Shot in Korea
1997, Seoul, Korea Changdong! I am teaching at a Jehovah’s Witness “Hagwon” (private academy). It is my first job in Korea and while I am 
amazed at the lack of teaching materials – I am equally amazed at the perfect behavior of the children! The Korean children’s capacity to memorize is beyond belief. I could say memorize the first two books of the Bible and the next day every child would come in “In the beginning….” no really, I am serious! While it would mean nothing to them – it would be lodged in their super computer brains!
I am teaching vocabulary and this special little boy (English name Michael) is brilliant! He is like a product of Hitler Youth Korean style! Both parents are doctors – both parents went to Seoul University – one is a gynecologist and the other an ER Doctor (Seoul University is the Harvard of Korea – they went to Medical School stateside). He is seven years old and in my advanced English conversation class for high school students! The kid is a pain in my butt in a good way! He answers everything and the rest of the class sits back! I would ask a question – “what are some English words for happy” – and follow the question “not Michael!” Anyone Anyone Ferris Ferris…
Writing on the board one afternoon and bam airsoft pellet hits me right in the neck! Ahhhh, that hurt! I spin around and everyone is sitting placidly in their seats – I turn to continue writing and whack in the top of the head airsoft pellet! I am really hot spinning around I see Michael jamming the gun into his bookbag! Now I have a bad temper and shooting me in the head with an airsoft gun hurts so I grab Michael and pull him out of his chair spank him good and set him back down crying in his chair! That will teach him! Bottom line airsoft is a misnomer – there is nothing soft about being shot!
All of a sudden – I am an American teacher and thinking “oh no, I am in prison for child abuse!”
I shake it off and go home and forget about it!
The next day as I enter the school Michael and two Korean people are waiting for me at the entrance! I am thinking “oh great – I am dead eating Kimchi and rice in a Korean Prison for the rest of my life”! Michael’s parents bow low – (the lower the bow the more the respect) they both look up and take my hand while still bowed! (Now I am thinking this is some kind of Korean Karate move) and they both say in perfect English how sorry they are! They want to publicly apologize for the way their son acted. I was blown away! I accepted their profuse apology and offered to return the confiscated airsoft gun. The father smiled and said Michael would have no need for toys for quite some time!
I think I will let all of you reading figure out the moral of the story!
2nd Annual Fill Your Own Bucket Day: Prices Are Set!
Remnants
“The more you know, the less you need.”
― Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
Today, I was out for the first run in Tru Grit – carefully put my St Croix rod and reel in the bed wrapped in an old sleeping bag and grabbed a Clif bar and Mountain Dew for the road! Headed up to the 4H trout pond which would take me through the Sundance Grounds of the Crow people. I drove out of the sunshine and into the clouds literally and figuratively.
Shrouded in clouds I came down the trail and into a large grassy plain – the Wolf Mountains hold this small valley sacred for the Crow. I stop and walk the grounds and see if they left anything behind. Two playing cards buried in the grass, tobacco offerings, bright colored strips of cloth snap in the crisp wind while ropes that suspended the supplicants still tied to the tree. The whole of the grounds were quiet, sacred, holy – and I mused “what better way to spend Sunday morning church”.
I picked sage and bundled it together and remembered the Sundance Holy Water I drank that had been blessed here…
I am content with my old truck, Nikon camera, and old Mojo driving the backroads of the Crow Reservation looking for remnants of a time long past. Enjoy my day…
Related articles
- Sundance Holy Water (oldironadventure.com)
- Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia (swiss-miss.com)
- Interview with Yvon Chouinard (swiss-miss.com)
TRUGRIT – Dodge Powerwagon
irony since I live on the Crow Reservation!
I pull into the local IGA in my new 1990 Dodge 1ton Powerwagon! (The IGA functions as a social mecca for Lodge Grass because it is the only store – well aside from the Farmer’s Union which is a gas station with free coffee for the elderly and I refuse to submit)….
One old local drunk that hangs out panhandling in front of the IGA and whom I have never seen before – yells at me! I am thinking “great, she wants money and I am always such an easy target”. I walk over and say good-morning and she says “where is the Jeep?” I am thinking ya gotta be kidding me the local drunk knows me and my Jeep? She proceeds to tell me how sweet my Jeep was and how she looked forward to seeing it every day! I was stunned – I did not think anyone ever noticed me or my Jeep! I told her I sold it to a man in North Dakota and he gave me too much money! She laughed and said she liked my new wheels – “ya blend in now”. Mission Accomplished! This is what I love about Lodge Grass – everyone says hello and waves – small town Indian Rez life!
Tru Grit is the name of my 1990 Dodge Powerwagon! Oh, it says PowerRam on the side but I prefer the old title PowerWagon! I had one just like it a few years ago but I lost it through a misunderstanding. I love this old truck! Okay, I am Old Skool or as the local IGA cashier says “dang you are all vintage” which I took as a compliment (doubtful, since she is like 20). I found Tru Grit on Craigslist and talked the guy down and down and down…he threw in the big diamond plated bed box and I drove it home from Sheridan, WY. It has the venerable 360 in her and while I was toying with buying a diesel – I just could not justify the cost. I took the bed box out and now Tru Grit looks “Vintage”. So, if ya see me cruisin Lodge Grass, Sheridan or Kirby Saloon – wave or stop on in –
The only additions are a CB radio, and two stickers – one is “Support 81” and the other 2nd Amendment…so ya know I am locked and loaded and put a cowhide over the old worn out seat. I have been thinking bout getting a stereo…I probably look like a nerd cruising down the highway with headphones on…
Related articles
- Glonnie – Navajo word of the Day! (for Cass) (oldironadventure.com)
Old Iron Adventure 