Korean Job Discussion Forums

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

No, this is not a spy story.

It rained hard last night and brought the temperature down. It�s a comfortable 76 in here right now, but feels cooler with the breeze blowing through. It feels like Fall. There is SOMETHING to the lunar calendar (which said Fall started a week or so ago). Fine sleeping weather.

In fact, it�s the best sleeping weather we�ve had since July and I was spending my second night in my new place. The stress of finding a new job is over; the heavy work of moving is over; I was ready for a good long night�s sleep. So what happens?

At 4:20 this morning, a rooster started crowing. (My complex is about a mile outside of town.) He did that yesterday morning, too, but I was able to go back to sleep. I almost got back to sleep this morning but at 5:10 the preacher in the church ( Lee�s Spicie Chicken Restaurant & Church) started singing, probably rehearsing for today�s services. He has a good voice and I like church music, but I prefer to hear it somewhat later in the day. I hope he takes requests. I�d like to tape a note to his church door asking for �Amazing Grace�. I heard it sung in Korean one cold winter night in Taejon. It sounded cool.

So what do you do when an insomniac rooster wakes you and the preacher up at 4, two hours before sunrise? I don�t know about anyone else, but I get up and bake things. Especially when the weather is cool enough again to have the oven on. I think my nesting instinct kicked in and is partly responsible for this burst of energy. I wanted my apt to smell like home. One way to do that is to bake. I baked Apple Bread. Lots of brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves. It bakes up a nice rich brown. Makes a pretty good breakfast. Too bad I don�t have any breakfast sausage ready to go with it. Sausage needs to age a few days before you eat it.

It�s nice being in a new home. It�ll be even better when I learn that my refrigerator is to my right now, and not behind me on the other side of the room.

�Epiphany! I now live an hour outside of Seoul. I can come in to the bookstores and get back home without taking an entire weekend to do it. Woo-hoo! And I can find a book or two to take with me on my visa run to Guam on Thursday and get home for an afternoon nap.

The charms of country life and city life, all in one. Life is back on track!

VanIslander · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:34 pm Post subject: Re: The Rooster Crows at Dawn

farmboy · Joined: 06 Sep 2004

La La Boy?

Are you a man?

Are you gay?

What exactly is your problem?

BTW, love your posts!

HydePark · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Location: Korea

coolsage · Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:39 am Post subject:

Just returned from LOS, and even in Bangkok, a city of some 10 million people, there are roosters to wake you. No need for that wake-up call.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

HydePark · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Location: Korea

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

HydePark · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Location: Korea

Thanks, Ya-ta Boy, I'll be sure to make a lot of long distance phone calls while I'm there. Laughing

own_king · Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Location: here

As far as your problem OP, a rooster has a thin neck, so is easily broken. And have you tried ear plugs? I had one living near me in Thailand and I paid the guy to buy the rooster and gave it to the family to kill and eat. Had the neighbor bought another one, I would have had to take my own advice, and creep over in black clothes and a ski mask, in the still of night. Laughing

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

pet lover · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Location: not in Seoul

My mom used to raise chickens when I was still a school kid. We always knew when we'd be having chicken that night...as soon as a young chicken learned how to crow, off with its head. Mom was big on getting a good night's sleep.

One rooster had a hoarse crow that wasn't very loud. He lived longer than any of them.