Korea Life Blog - Charles Jenkins

Isn't there some sort of statute of limitations on this sort ot thing? I think it's incredibly ridiculous to attempt to prosecute this 64 year old man for army desertion almost 40 years after it happened. It's my opinion that the US government has no other motive except to use Jenkins for what he may be able to reveal about North Korea. What do you think?



On a side note, out of curiosity I looked up "statue of limitations" on Google and it's amazing how many people have spelled it that way.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Book Review

A review of my book can be found here: Trenchman.com

By the way, the third and final edition is now complete. The story itself is exactly the same, but the text has been edited by my friend at On-Time Office Solutions, Ltd., Seoul Korea. There are no more grammatical errors (let's hope!) and certain sentences, paragraphs, and word choices have been fixed up considerably. My apologies to those who have already purchased the first or second edition, but rest assured nothing major has changed with the plot. This has all been a valuable learning experience for me. Note to self: have next book edited BEFORE publishing.

Here is the link to the new edition: http://www.lulu.com/content/74463

To those who have already linked or put banners ads for my book on your site, don't worry, that link will be directed to this one.

One downside to this is that the book reviews don't transfer when you create a new edition. Three people took the time to leave a review of the second edition. To those people: thanks and my apologies. If you could login to Lulu and rewrite your reviews, I'd appreciate it. If not, no big deal and don't worry about it. Also, my sales ranking goes back to the bottom for now...I had gotten up to the top 200 range from the first sale when I stood at 5000. Oh, well.

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Korea Life Blog - Bye Bye, Poopy


Julie put an ad for the dog online, and at 9:30 this morning a guy called. He came and picked the dog up at 11:00. He says he has a house and a yard and two other dogs. I hope he does, but for all we know he saw a free dog and took it so he can re-sell it or whatever. I thought he was kind of rude. We brought the dog to him in the rain over by Hyundai Department store and the guy jumped out of the car, swooped up the dog, took the bag of food, pet shampoo, and toys we bought, said thank-you, hopped back in the car, zip, zoom, and that was that. Oh, well. We did our best for little Poopy (a fitting, temporary name, trust me) by rescuing him from the street and taking him to the vet for shots, giving him a total scrubbing, and just taking care of him. We spent a total of 100,000 won ($80) all together, but we don't feel bad. We learned a lesson, though. No dog bigger than a cat should live in an apartment.

Here are a few last photos of Poopy:

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Korea Life Blog - More Foreigners Arrested on Drug Charges





I can never get over how stupid some foreigners are here. Another large group has been arrested (including several English teachers and a British professor) for buying and/or using marijuana. The Korea Herald had a better article about it in the paper a few days ago. They don't have it posted on their website, though. This is the only other reference I could find, and it's a very short one.

I just thought I'd send out a warning again to any users considering coming here: it's a good idea to leave your old habits at home. If you even have anything in your system, let alone have drugs on you, you can still get into big trouble. We're talking 30 days in a Korean jail, sharing a small cell with a gang of Korean felons, and then deported. And that's the penalty for simply failing a drug test. It doesn't matter if you used the drugs in Korea or before you came. Now imagine the penalty for actually having drugs on you. Forget seeing the sun for a long, long time. Now, on the other hand, if you like to get drunk out of your mind, then enjoy your stay in Korea.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Free Dog


Julie rescued an abandoned Alaskan Malamute puppy that was sitting helplessly in the middle of a busy street the other day. As a matter of fact, it was the same day I read in the paper how Koreans are ditching their pets in record numbers due to the recent economic downturn. Apparently man's best friend turns into man's expendable nuisance when money is little tight.

See this article: click here!



Here he is. The little guy had bad diarrhea for a few days, so we brought him to the Walmart vet (yes, Walmart has a vet here) and had him looked over. The doggy-doctor gave him a couple of shots and some medicine. The diarrhea has already stopped. He's in good health and he has a great personality. Very easy going. He doesn't get overly excited or jump in your face. While he's playful, he is also calm and will just sit by your side for hours on end. He's smart, too. We've already taught him to shake hands and sit. I haven't even trained Julie to do that yet!



One more shot. Very good looking dog. Though he's already grown on us quite a bit, we realize an office-tel is no place for a dog. Especially for one that is going to grow so big. We're willing to give him away for free. If you're interested, please send me an e-mail with your phone number. We really don't know what to do with him and we're rapidly becoming attached. However, we want the dog to have a family who can take care of him better than we can. Hopefully someone with a big heart and a big home will take him in.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Sick


The joys of teaching are beginning already. Whether it is a result of the change of seasons or of shaking hands with all the kids last Friday or a combination, I'm sick and I feel awful. It started with that sore throat on Monday and now it's progressed into something terrible. I just woke up from a two hour nap and will probably go back to sleep again soon. That 70's Show is on. I guess I'll watch it with Julie before going to back to bed. Note to self: Don't shake hands with germ infested kids.

Upsate: I took some medicine and feel quite a bit better (as if the whole world has been waiting to hear about my condition). Julie's been cleaning the apartment for the last few hours, the doll. I tend to pick things up and clean a little day to day. Julie likes to be a slob then suddenly clean everything all at once. (Shh, let's not interrupt her.) I'm going to lay back down and read. Current book: Don't Know Much About History. I've read this before and I still don't know very much about history. Maybe I should read a book about how to retain more of what I've read. I'm also reading Hitler's War (borrowed from JongnoGuru). It's very insightful and revealing but also very long and tedious. That's why I'm alternating between the two. Note to self: Pick up some new books. Any suggestions anyone?

Check out the donation page. Somebody donated today and also sent me a nice letter which I posted there.

The genorosity of people who support me and my website never ceases to astound me. I'm not just talking about people who make donations or people have bought my book either. That goes up and beyond all expectations. I read everyone's comments and e-mails and always appreciate when people take the time to share their thoughts. I make it a point to respond to everyone's e-mail, though it's not really easy to do the same in the comments part.

The letter and donation from CS, who lives in Besal, Swizerland, made my evening tonight. Time for sleep now, though. I'm beat. Maybe I'll bring my camera to work tomorrow and do a much-needed, genuine update (with photos) soon.

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Korea Life Blog - If You're Bored..


I know I haven't had the most exciting blog lately. Tonight I sat here staring at the screen with no new pictures or anything interesting to write about. I kind of feel bad about it. There are so many new Korea blogs out there these days, though. Check out the link section on this page to see what other people are writing about. I've been adding new links left and right.

I'm meeting with my friend tomorrow who happens to be an experienced editor. He has been diligently working on fixing my book for awhile and we should finish it up together using his laptop at a coffee shop. He's found a lot of errors that most people like me would never notice, and certainly some that most people besides me would easily notice (including some startling misinformation I wrote about the Korean War). As I said before, I had a couple of people look at it and they pointed out some errors, but nothing like what my friend has shown me. Wow! No wonder these guys get paid so much.

We're not changing anything too drastic, just fixing the text and making a lot of passages tighter and clearer. I'll upload the finished product tomorrow to Lulu and that'll be the end of it. I've already been secretly writing a bunch of new material for the next book, but I won't post it online this time around (though I may end up using bits and pieces of things I wrote about before).

Maybe in a month or two I'll have Island of Fantasy printed here in Korea to make it easier/cheaper for people living here to get it. Then I can also submit it for reviews in the Korean newspapers then, too. It's a good thing I have this friend helping me out beforehand. Really helpful.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - The Job...


Woke up with a sore throat and made my way the 75 minute trek (bus, subway, then another bus) to my job through a torrential downpour that eased off moments after I entered the classroom, drenched.

Later, I had some miscommunication with my assistant who I realize can't speak English all that well. Basically she went to the agency's office and they piled a load of paperwork on her and she relayed it to me after showing up minutes before class. And she didn't really know how to explain it all to me. Then she hands me some huge Thanksgiving theme packet I was supposed to teach today, I guess, but I already made a plan and the packet was made for kids in America...there was not a chance any of these kids would understand anything she gave me (all text information about the history of American Thanksgiving, a long, long text that must have been cut and pasted into the plan).

After that, she asked if I could come in the morning tomorrow (several hours before class) to make a monthly plan, and I said, "No, thanks." They pay me by the hour, which means I won't get paid if the kids don't have class. That is fine, but I won't be going in hours early to do paperwork off the clock. It'd be one thing if it was right across the street, but it's a hike. I told her I'd do it at home and to give me the file on disk so I can fill in the forms by typing. It's just for the school's records, not something I need to really follow to a T. They agreed - no big deal.

The rest of the day was fine. I figure once this first week is over, there'll be nothing to worry about. The only real downside is the travel distance. I get paid for the transportation, but the long hike, especially home when all the seats are taken, is more tiring than I anticipated...

written by shawn matthews    -|link