Mississippi Life
Korean Party
21 year ago
Not unlike the majority of my time in Korea, I was the only non-Korean the other night at the party that my wife and I hosted. She and I had both been wanting to host some our Korean friends for dinner and drinks. The Korean community in Hattiesburg is fairly small, and most Koreans in the area attend the same church. JJ and I have made friends with most of them through our one visit to the church or through school. It was nice to see everyone, but once again I was reminded of how much my Korean language skills have diminished. I had trouble following the main idea of the conversations and was quite discouraged even though I have made some progress in the last couple of weeks.
It was a great chance to hang out with folks who I really didn’t get to see during the semester. We were all so busy with school that besides seeing them on campus we really didn’t get a chance to meet. JJ and I do not attend the Korean church so we don’t have as much contact as others in the group. JJ made kimbap, and I cooked my world famous baked buffalo wings. Our guests stayed late, and JJ and Jinju ended up cooking kimchi jjigae at around 2AM.
I am always amazed when I think that all of these grad students are attending classes, taking exams, and writing papers/dissertations in a second language. This really inspires me to continue with my Korean studies. Maybe one day in the future I would be able to take classes at a Korean university in Korean. Anyways, we had a great time, and it is a shame that it will probably not be until the end of the semester that we will all get together again.
Preparing to Make Kimbab
Making Kimbab
Healthy Choices
The Gang(Probably Should have made everyone look at me)
Some of Our Guests Had a Cat Phobia
SG Is Gonna Kill Me
Intense
Ed!
It Must Have Been Something I Said
Christmas
01 year ago
Taking a short break from the travel photos for a few Christmas photos. We had a great Christmas. We spent time with my family, got some great gifts, got to see my nephews open their gifts and had some great food! My mother bought everyone matching pajama pants; this is turning into her tradition. I don’t know how I ate as much as I did. My mother outdid herself this year.
My dad and my nephew.
Part of the crew with their polar bear pants
Mom with my new nephew.
Hugh Heffner?
JJ showing off her new coat.
JJ and I are getting ready to go to Kentucky to visit with my grandparents for a few days. We are not actually sure when we are leaving. We are waiting for a package from Korea to arrive and as soon as it gets here we are going to hit the road.
School starts on the 18th of January, but I will probably need to be back for a staff meeting on the 13th. We haven’t really started thinking about next semester, but we have ordered our textbooks and making scheduling plans.
I hope that you and your family had a great Christmas. I know that JJ and I really enjoyed ours.
Last Free Weekend
21 year ago
Our good friends ,Jason and Jennifer, bought a boat at the beginning of the summer and have been trying to get us to out in the Gulf with them all summer. We finally had a weekend that we were all free. It happened to be our last free weekend before school started. Our other friend who was joining us happened to have lots of comps from the Island View Casino so he hooked us up with a suite and free meals. Check out the common room !
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.
해티스버그
01 year ago
by JR
in Mississippi Life
Since I have received a few emails with questions in Korean and noticed that a lot of people were coming to my blog by searching for Koreans in Mississippi, Koreans in Hattiesburg, or where to buy Kimchi in Hattiesburg, MS. Most people wanted to know what to expect when living in Hattiesburg. I asked JJ to write a couple of posts in Korean for these visitors. Here is part 1.
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.
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