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charlieDD
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
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 Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:05 am Post subject: What you're missing ! |
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I'm back in the states now. Came back for a few months working on a special project . . . and have decided to stay.
What you're missing: Nature ! Nature! Nature!
I'm in a city of about 120,000 people, living near a very large university campus. Yet, on a daily basis I'm treated to more nature than you can get in Korea, even in their so-called "nature retreats" and mountain hikes.
I wake each morning to the sounds of Canadian geese stopping over in the nearby pond on their way back north. Oh, and birds, birds, birds - cardinals, robins, . . .
Deer find their way into the field behind my apartment each night to help keep the grass cut.
Skunks competing with racoons to raid the garbage dumpsters at night. An occasional fox joining them, . . or hunting them . . haven't figured it out yet.
A small group of wild turkeys living in the wooded area just behind the Walmart, coming out along the road to pick and peck the ground, completely unconcerned about people bothering them.
Frogs' pickup lines croaked throughout the night.
Road kill being cleaned up by a group of vultures.
Green, green grass everywhere. . . . How long has it been since you walked across a moist, sort of mushy, grassy field?
The smell of grass; the smell of freshly mowed grass.
Fresh air. Yeah, . . we may complain about the air being dirty in our cities . . . but all things relative . . . the air here is fantastic, after having lived in Korea for the past three years.
As I type, . . something not quite "nature", but sure reminds me I'm home: the drone of a private aircraft passing over on this sunny, warm Spring, summery day. Which reminds me: the sound of a distant train sounding its horn; there's something special about the way it carries in wide open spaces . . Miss that one?!
Other "not nature" . .
Space, space, space
Relaxed shopping (no hawkers shouting up their fish, fruit . . )
Sane, predictable traffic; relatively ( like compared to traffic in Korea ) no traffic jam at all anywhere I go in this city or outlying towns.
.. . So, . . make you miss home ? Think about |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| Did the place you lived in in Korea also have 120,000 people? |
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wo buxihuan hanguoren
Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Location: Suyuskis
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:59 am Post subject: |
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| Have you ever been to Africa? |
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charlieDD
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 9:07 am Post subject: |
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| wo buxihuan hanguoren wrote: |
| Have you ever been to Africa? |
Uh, no . . . but this is a forum related to life in Korea   |
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charlieDD
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 9:20 am Post subject: |
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Perhaps you missed this part:
| mithridates wrote: |
| Did the place you lived in in Korea also have 120,000 people? |
And . . yes, I have been everywhere in Korea, from small town to largests cities. You just don't see the . . uh, "volume" . . "quantity" (or "quality" for that matter" of wildlife.
The city I am in is a kind of "satellite city" to another city of about 500,000 people, and is not the least bit an isolated city. If you include the population a 100 mile radius, it's over 1 million. This is not a rural setting.
Related: Was teaching at a uni in Daejon. Noticed some rather large wild birds, sort of like turkeys, had taken up residence in the trees behind a dormitory building. Mentioned this to my students. Learned the birds were rare in Korea and highly prized for their tasty meat. Well, within a couple of weeks, a male student is bragging how his uncle came and bagged two of the birds over the weekend. And none of the other students seemed to see anything wrong with this; in fact, they expressed envy. Never saw the birds again after that. Guess they moved on to a safer place. |
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wo buxihuan hanguoren
Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Location: Suyuskis
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 9:21 am Post subject: |
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| charlieDD wrote: |
| wo buxihuan hanguoren wrote: |
| Have you ever been to Africa? |
Uh, no . . . but this is a forum related to life in Korea |
Then why are you talking about America? Africa is far more beautiful and spacious than America, and in many ways more modern, too. Oh, but that's right, you're not too quick on the uptake, my apologies, off to rape more Middle-Eastern places with you and your countrymen I guess... |
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charlieDD
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 9:52 am Post subject: |
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| wo buxihuan hanguoren wrote: |
| charlieDD wrote: |
| wo buxihuan hanguoren wrote: |
| Have you ever been to Africa? |
Uh, no . . . but this is a forum related to life in Korea |
Then why are you talking about America? Africa is far . . . . YATAYAYATAYATYATAYATA... |
And guess you never heeded the proverb: Better to let people think you're a . . . than open your mouth and prove it !"
YOU SIR / MA'AM, HAVE SHOWN YOUR HAND, AND BEEN DISMISSED, DISCOUNTED ! |
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Brady
Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Location: Bucheon
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:34 am Post subject: |
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Africa is more modern than America?
I can't wait to get back to my homeland in 12 weeks, even if we did rape and pillage the Indians for it. |
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SuperFly
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Location: In the doghouse
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:38 am Post subject: |
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| My friends who've been to Africa said it was 1 million times better than the USA. I wish I could afford that kind of a trip. It's a dream. |
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charlieDD
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Brady wrote: |
Africa is more modern than America?
I can't wait to get back to my homeland in 12 weeks, even if we did rape and pillage the Indians for it. |
Hey, that's what they get for being on our land before we got there.
( Just joking! Something I heard on some late night comedy show somewhere.)
Actually, I've been to Nigeria, Congo, Botswana, Morocco and Egypt, but I've never been to a country called "Africa" (including South Africa). The dude above asked if I had been to "Africa" in a comparison to "America" - - where I was talking about one country, USA, not a continent of countries; or, in the case of "America" a whole hemisphere of countries !
Beauty can be found in any country. My friend teaches in Saudi and thinks the "Empty Quarter" - - total uninhabitable desert area - - is some of the most beautiful landscape he has ever seen. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| Did the place you lived in in Korea also have 120,000 people? |
Well put.
I live in a Korean country town of under 50,000 next to a river not far from the south coast and there's no traffic, plenty of birds of variety, open spaces, green hills, fresh air, though admittedly limited kinds of small mammals (squirrels, pheasants) and farm animals (roosters, cows, horses).
| charlieDD wrote: |
| Beauty can be found in any country. |
And it was a criterion I used to choose where to go, since there is more than enough jobs here one can afford to be choosy. If beauty is a criteria, then Seoul, Incheon, Daegu and the like are out, though they possibly might have fringe areas of beauty, though fresh air near them is difficult. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 5:58 pm Post subject: Re: What you're missing ! |
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| charlieDD wrote: |
I'm back in the states now. Came back for a few months working on a special project . . . and have decided to stay.
What you're missing: Nature ! Nature! Nature!
I'm in a city of about 120,000 people, living near a very large university campus. Yet, on a daily basis I'm treated to more nature than you can get in Korea, even in their so-called "nature retreats" and mountain hikes.
I wake each morning to the sounds of Canadian geese stopping over in the nearby pond on their way back north. Oh, and birds, birds, birds - cardinals, robins, . . .
Deer find their way into the field behind my apartment each night to help keep the grass cut.
Skunks competing with racoons to raid the garbage dumpsters at night. An occasional fox joining them, . . or hunting them . . haven't figured it out yet.
A small group of wild turkeys living in the wooded area just behind the Walmart, coming out along the road to pick and peck the ground, completely unconcerned about people bothering them.
Frogs' pickup lines croaked throughout the night.
Road kill being cleaned up by a group of vultures.
Green, green grass everywhere. . . . How long has it been since you walked across a moist, sort of mushy, grassy field?
The smell of grass; the smell of freshly mowed grass.
Fresh air. Yeah, . . we may complain about the air being dirty in our cities . . . but all things relative . . . the air here is fantastic, after having lived in Korea for the past three years.
As I type, . . something not quite "nature", but sure reminds me I'm home: the drone of a private aircraft passing over on this sunny, warm Spring, summery day. Which reminds me: the sound of a distant train sounding its horn; there's something special about the way it carries in wide open spaces . . Miss that one?!
Other "not nature" . .
Space, space, space
Relaxed shopping (no hawkers shouting up their fish, fruit . . )
Sane, predictable traffic; relatively ( like compared to traffic in Korea ) no traffic jam at all anywhere I go in this city or outlying towns.
.. . So, . . make you miss home ? Think about |
Sounds boring. |
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