The Den

We had dinner at the new Carter Green Steak House and used every penny of his 400 dollar comp. I wish that I would have brought my camera.  It was probably one of the best steaks that I have ever tasted.  I had a Filet Mignon topped with lump crab-meat. AWESOME!!!! We topped off the meal with creme bru lei and bread pudding. It was a good thing that I didn’t have to pay for the meal.  I would have had no money to gamble with.

We left dinner and hit the gaming floor for a few hours.  JJ and I ended up sitting at the center bar playing video poker and enjoying free drinks.  We didn’t win any money but still had a great time.

We got up around 8 and waited for the weather to clear before going out and buying fishing licenses and launching the boat.  The weather was still somewhat overcast but it looked like we were going to be able to have a great day of fishing but it was not to be.

Heading out into the Gulf

The Captain and his first mate~!

JJ and our friend Dana

JJ and Glen

It took us about 45 min or so to get out past Ship Island.  The sea was a little rough and JJ and I both were feeling somewhat seasick.  We were just about to start fishing when Jason checked the radar and saw that a storm was coming into Gulfport.  We decided that we would probably not enjoy being in really rough water so we ended up calling it a day.

Trouble Brewing

Even though we didn’t get to do any real fishing, it still was a great day.  I can’t wait to get back out on the water in better weather.  We did see some oil booms set up around Ship Island but didn’t see any oil in the water. We really didn’t get south of the islands and I was real curious to see if there was any oil washing up but the weather prevented us from checking it out.  We made it all the way to the harbor when the rain started.  We got the boat on the trailer in the rain and headed back to Hattiesburg.

Hattiesburg, MS 39402

원래 미국은 한 번쯤은 가고 싶었던 나라이고, 가장 미국적인 도시라고 생각된 곳은 샌프란시스코, L.A., 뉴욕 이렇지 않았나 싶다. 국민학교 사회시간에 사회과부도 책을 펼쳐 들어 미시시피 강 줄기를 찾아 내어 형광펜으로 죽죽 그어 봤던 기억이 난다.  솔직히 별로 가보고 싶다는 생각이 드는 곳은 아니었다. 한국에서 지금의 남편 제이슨을 만나고 경제적 요건, 학교 입학문제 등등 여러가지 이유로 제이슨의 부모님이 계신 곳 Hattiesburg로 이사오게 되었다.  내가 미시시피로 살러 오게 될 줄이야.  제이슨의 원래 고향은 미시시피 북쪽인 Delta. 수도인 Jackson도 그렇고 나머지 소도시들은 전부 비슷한 것 같다.  처음 이곳에 왔을 때 느낀 것은 사람들의 순수한 친절을 느낄 수 있었다. 덧붙여서 순박한 것과는 다르고 원래 친절이 몸에 밴 사람들이라고 하는게 맞다고 보겠다.

어른에 대한 공경은 유교사상에서만 볼 수 있다고 알았는데 아니더라.  여기서 호칭을 제대로 안하면 소위 북쪽 사람들 양키 취급받는다.  내가 그렇게 생각하는게 아니라 여기 관습이 그렇다는 거다.  영어 쓰면서 많이 건방지게(?) 얘기 하는 버릇이 겨우 들었는데 이제 와서 다시 겸손 하게 영어를 하자니 처음에는 말도 많이 꼬이고 실수하고 나서 자책도 많이 했다.  기본적인 매너 지키는 것은 물론이거니와 부탁이나 호의를 원할 때 적절한 문법과 톤으로 말해야 하는 것, 윗 사람들에게 말할 때나 대답할 때 Yes, Ma’am(Sir), No, Ma’am(Sir) 으로 일관하면서 계속 썼더니 이제 입에 뱄다.  어떤 부모들은 자식들 버릇들이려고 이렇게 말하는 거 많이 들었다.  우리네 식으로 하면 부모가 자식한테 존대하는 것처럼 말이다.

아직도 인종의 벽이 있는 곳.  표면적으로 흑백갈등은 없지만 아직도 서로 마음 속에 벽이 확실히 있다.  말하기에는 뭔가 복잡하고 특별히 싸우는 사람은 없지만 특별히 가깝지도 않은 백인과 흑인들이다.  나 동양인은 그 중간에 껴서 그 나마 대우는 좋게 느껴질 따름이다.

JJ is going to be a guest author for a few posts over the next couple of weeks. She has a lot of great information that she wants to share.

Father Godfrey, My Father, and Me

Three birthdays in a row.  Father Godfrey’s is on the 12th, my father’s the 13th, and mine on the 14th.  It was a nice quiet evening.

JJ and I are still recovering from our trip and I still have some more photos to process and posts to write!

A composite shot of some of the rocket's red glare.

Our plan is to leave on Wednesday morning heading to New Concord, Kentucky where we will get to visit with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle. My aunt and uncle are returning home on Thursday and we have plans to stay with my grandparents until Sunday. On Sunday we will head out to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. My good friend has rented a cabin at a resort in Gatlinburg and we plan on staying there until Thursday. On Thursday we will come home via Atlanta. JJ and I are both extremely excited about going through Atlanta as we will stop at an Hmart! I have heard that you can find pretty much every kind of Korean food at Hmart. We have started a huge list of items that we need and we will probably drop at least a couple of hundred dollars on Korean food.

We don’t really know what the agenda will hold for Gatlinburg. I hope to get out and go take some photos and maybe do some hiking as well.

We had a great 4th today.  We started off with a cookout at my parent’s house to celebrate my nephew’s birthday. 

I also grabbed a couple shots of my sister and her family after lunch.

We also had time to come back home and grab a nap. Our cat tends to be very social. She doesn’t ever let anyone sleep alone.

After napping we drove over to St. Thomas Church where there was a cookout and flag ceremony. It was a great celebration and the turnout was pretty good.

Even if you are not American, I hope that you enjoyed the day.

Two unread posts! Last week that would have been 200-300

Not my apartment, but my Google Reader, I deleted about 200 blogs that I was following.  I found that I was wasting more and more time reading various blog posts.  Most of the blogs that I deleted were concerned with photography skills and portfolios.  This is not to say that I don’t want to get better at photography or that I don’t want to continue with the hobby, but I got sick of reading the same thing everyday and felt that I was wasting a huge amount of time scanning through the blogs.  I have continued to add Korean blogs but mostly add those who are studying the language.

I was going to go through and delete a bunch of Facebook friends as well but eventually decided that I would just hide the majority of people on my friends list.

I also have plans to update this blog with a couple of new posts in the next week or so.  I usually get a couple emails a week either asking about Dongtan, Korea or from Koreans asking about Hattiesburg,MS.  I can hopefully cut down on the number of emails I receive by providing a little bit better information.

Celebrating

Daniel wasn't too excited about picking an item from the table*

The Birthday Crew. Do I stand out?

In the last couple of weeks we have celebrated a few special occasions. The first was Father’s Day. Then JJ and I celebrating our two year wedding anniversary and finally we got to celebrate the first birthday of our good friend’s child.

The birthday party was a great chance to meet some of Wanyoung and Cindy’s friends and to enjoy some fabulous Korean food.

We have become very good friends with Wanyoung and Cindy.  Wanyoung is a doctoral student at USM and he actually convinced me to get back on the tennis court.  JJ and Cindy have been spending a lot of shopping time together and this has been great for me!!!

*At the first birthday of Korean child, most parents prepare a table filled with various items.  The child is given a chance to pick an item and this is used to predict the child’s future.  For example, if the child picks money, he will be blessed with wealth or if the child picks a pencil, he will study well.

Cheering

JJ and I have been following the World Cup religiously. We have pretty much watched every match or at least the recap.  We watched Korea make it to the knock-out round and then later we watched the USA do the same.  We are both hoping that Korean and the USA advance so that they have to face each other in the next round.  I have joked that I may be sleeping on the couch after that match.  I can’t accurately describe the feeling of watching Donavan score his goal but it was similar to when I knew the Saints were going to win the Super Bowl.  Check out the video below for other fan’s reactions.

Soccer Snack

JJ and I are both excited about Saturday’s matches.  It looks like the whole day will be spent cheering on the Korean and American teams.

Cats

Just a little fun with Photoshop and layers

Corean

I have really gotten back into studying Korean and have spent time trying to develop a hardcore study-plan.  Click here to check out my Korean language page(It is still a work in progress though).  I have gotten inspired recently and have tried to at least devote an hour a day to studying.  I have been using Lang-8 to get help on some journal entries as well.  I plan to create a few Korean videos as well.  I will probably post most of these to Lang-8 or just on my You-Tube account.  I really need to work on my speaking and accent and feel that putting myself on video and getting some feedback would be a good way to get some help.  Also, if you are a frequent reader of this blog, you should expect more Korean content coming soon.

We traveled to Madison to visit with friends for Memorial Day. It was a great chance to catch up and meet some new people as well.

The last few weeks I have knocked out a few books that I have been meaning to read. I am trying to spend more and more time reading and less time surfing/reading blogs/twittering/wasting time.

Adding a plug-in for the Facebook like button(See Below). I am also working on a couple more pages for this blog mainly Korean language links and books!~

Outback with my dad and new friends

What’s a cookout without a sword fight?

Cutting up with Father Tommy

Jack and JJ and Landin's First Communion

First Class!~

What a difference a few months make.

St. Thomas First Communion

Cupidity........

The most part of each day is spent brushing up on my vocabulary for the GRE which I am scheduled to take on May the 11th. I am going through a Master Word List in Barron’s GRE Prep book. After every couple pages of words there is a simple test. I have been averaging 12 out 15 on these tests. I am spending most of my time going back through and reviewing the words that I am not familiar with. This week I have also start studying for the Quantitative section. My math skills are ……lacking so this section is going to be my biggest headache.

I am thinking of letting So-Hee take the test for me. She seems to always want to study with JJ.

I have also been applying for numerous jobs but have had trouble finding exactly what I am looking for. I am trying to find a part-time job that will not eat up most of my time but still has a large number of hours per week. I have applied for a couple and waiting to hear back from them. I also have a couple of photography projects that are coming up in the next couple of weeks and even one that I will probably profit from~! I did have a few photos that were used for the new church website. Check it out here!

I also have been slowly recruiting teachers to teach in Korea. I am about 60% finished with my website and still need to fix some bugs and write a few more pages before it goes live!

JJ and I have been trying to cook more and have really stopped going out to eat. Can you tell which meals she cooked?

So-Hee has learned where her food bowl is and has gotten bigger in the last month.

I have a few more posts planned for this week. Expect to see them sometime toward the end of the week.
Project 55
GRE Study Plans
Back to the USA

Mud bugs, crawdads, or crawfish whatever you call them…..They are South Mississippi/Louisiana staple in the spring. My brother’s girlfriend invited us to her family’s crawfish boil and I can actually thank her for the photos as well. She is in the market for a DSLR and wanted to try mine out. She took some great photos and we had a great time and enjoyed a few pounds of crawfish. This was JJ’s first crawfish boil and she real seemed to get into it! It has been over 5 years for me and I wasted no time in sucking some heads and pinching tails!(I don’t own this hat thought) Usually, the first batch is not that spicy but this one caused me to drink more beer than normal. I usually like to wait for the second or third batch when they are normally hotter but they cooked these up right!

The kids had a great time playing around in the pool!