Shouldn't you be shuffling?

The last time I was able to write something like this, I wasn’t able to write. Well, probably not much more than my name or so since I was 4 years old and cared for football as much as I did about the national debt or Billy Idol. Anyways, this has been a long time coming.

So here we are 21+ years later and I can finally see the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl.

While most people who know me would describe me as much more of a basketball fan than any other sport, I’m sure those same people would know that I pay attention to Chicago sports just as avidly. Granted, I don’t know much about most of the other teams, and probably don’t understand the finer details of the game itself, but to hell with you if you think I care about that when it comes down to rooting for Chicago sports.

Besides the games I got to watch while I was in Chicago this year, I’ve had to watch most of the other ones on nfl.com’s Sports Center which involves looking at little football heads move up a green block of field. I didn’t even get to catch them winning the NFC championship even though I really should have. It seems I’m cursed to be thousands of miles away from my hometown every time a team starts doing well. The Bears got to the playoffs almost every year I was abroad, the Bulls have had a few playoff seasons, the Cubs almost made the World Series and the White Sox actually won the World Series. Now the Bears are going to the Super Bowl and where am I? Seoul, South Korea of course. Thousands of miles away from most people who even know what American style football is. Well, at least I have a plan this time.

The Super Bowl will start at 8:00am on Monday, February 5th Seoul time. That is one hour before work starts for me. I am not even sure if there are any places that will be showing the game at that time. However, do you think I’m going to be watching football heads move around on my work computer at my desk that day?

Hell no I won’t be.

I will find a place to watch this game and take a damn half-morning off so I can watch the hell out of this Super Bowl. So to all of my Chi-town homies who will be watching this game and partying like I know you should be, remember to raise a glass for me because I will be right there watching it with you.

DA BEARS BABY!

언어 배운 방법이란?

자는 요즘 한국어과 일본어를 열심히 공부하고 있습니다. 한자가지 배우고 있습니다. 과연 어렵습니다. 그리고 제 일본어블로그에 쓴대로에 일본한자랑 한국한자는 좀 다라서 한자 2동류를 공부할 것 같습니다. 죽겠어요. ㅜㅜ

왜 이렇게 공부하냐구요? 왜냐하면, 회사에서 지금 할일이 없어서 회사에 사용한 단어를 공부하면 좋을 것 같테니까요. 다음에 그냥 있으면 발사시키지도 모릅니다.
어쨌든 제 목적이 이 109개 단어를 다음주 금요일가지 다 기억하는 것 입니다. 자신에게 약속했습니다.

이 109개 단어는 쉽지 않아서 여러분에게 단어 공부의 좋은 방법 이 뭔지 묻기로 했습니다. 도워 주세요!

부탁들이겠습니다.

国國

最近、僕が思っているんですが、何で日本語の漢字と韓国と中国の漢字が違いますか？色々な場合がありますが、例えば“くに”は日本の漢字で書けば“国”なんだけど韓国と中国の場合は“國”とまた複雑な場合は“かんれん”は日本の字で“関連”で韓国と中国は“關聯”です。その三つ目の言語で大体同じ意味なんで漢字だけが違いますか？

最初から韓国の漢字が習いやすいと思ったがやっぱりそんなにやすくないんで困りました。僕がいくら日本の漢字を知っても（実は今の漢字能力は多分昔より何百倍ぐらい下）韓国の字を習うのは時間がけっこうかかりそうですね。で、何で違うかっていつも思っているがいい説明をまったく見つけられません。昔、日本にいる間に誰かいい説明してくれたがそれを忘れて苦しんでいます。何か歴史的な理由があれば、説明してくれよ！多分人によって色々な理由を聞きそうから興奮しています。

Membership Trainin'

You haven’t really experienced what it is to work at a Korean company until you have been on a company outing or MT (membership training). So after having been employed here at AC Nielsen Korea for two months, I can happily say that I have experienced my first MT.

It started out on Friday morning at 8:00am. I was going on only a few hours of sleep since I went out to chill with the Wonderland boys the night before and had to stay up and pack everything I would need. After consuming a Starbucks Double Shot and making my way groggily towards work, I saw the 2 buses we would be riding for most of the day. They were huge tour buses and were parked right out in front of the company building. After helping load some things and taking a moment to check my e-mail, we departed from the company at about 9:00am.

Most of us were pretty tired so from nine until about eleven thirty we all slept until the bus came to a halt at a stop over station. I roused myself so I could use the bathroom and have another coffee. After having lunch at a pretty cool fish restaurant, we started off again towards our next destination: the boat.

Me on the boat

The boat ride lasted about 2 hours or so and was very scenic. Even though it was incredibly cold on the roof of the boat, we all braved it for awhile so we could get some good photos. The wind was cold but clean and the scenery was really beautiful.

The boat we rode on from an elevated angle

View from the top of the boat

Would hate to fall off of that

After getting off the boat and back on the buses, we traveled for a couple more hours until we were at a cave. Everyone (except the upper managers) went through a 40 minute cave walk where I found out I am a mild claustrophobic. Some parts of the cave were really nice too look at but for the most part it was climbing wet, rusty stairs and steering clear of bumping your head on a protruding rock. The coolest thing about this excursion was the fact that I got to use the word “spelunking” about 10 times in context.

Inside the cave

After heading out of the cave, we hopped back on the buses and made our way to the final destination: the resort. The resort itself was pretty nice looking and you could tell that it was huge. After getting settled into our rooms, I met up with our team so we could put the finishing touches on the performance we would be doing that evening. We worked on it for about 40 minutes then made our way down to the main dining hall and dined on some delicious bulgogi with tons of side dishes. The main event we were all waiting for happened right after dinner.

Part of the resort we stayed at

The party room was set up really nicely. There were about 10 really large tables set up for people to sit down at and a little stage set up complete with karaoke machine. We started by introducing ourselves to everyone (there were about 100+ people involved in this after all) and as soon as we were finished, we had to drink a boilermaker in one drink. For those of you that don’t know, a boilermaker is a glass of beer with a shot of whiskey dropped in it. Most of us had to drink super-boilermakers (half beer/half whiskey) and there were quite a few red-faced girls by the end of it. We ended up spending about 4+ hours in the party room and did all sorts of fun stuff including: team games/ karaoke singing/ newcomers performances (we got 2nd place)/ and random drinking games. We polished it all off with a visit to the largest karaoke room I’ve ever seen and spent about two hours there singing. I got to sing Stevie Wonder’s “Lately” and Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” all to rousing cheers which were probably more for me having the balls to sing in front of the company rather than my singing abilities. It was fun.

The party room

Me introducing our team

Finally, we all grabbed a night cap in a room the company rented for solely that purpose. After hanging out for awhile there, I finally got to bed. The next morning I woke up, ate and hopped on the bus back home. It was a great trip and I got to take lots of good pictures and videos. I hope the next MT (sometime in summer I think) is at least as good as this one was but I think it’s going to be hard to top.

Here’s to MTs.

The view from my room in the morning

A Few Changes

English

Happy humpday begins this week with an announcement.

I have decided to make a few changes around here. I’m fairly sure this will turn my blog into more of a communication tool rather than the one-sided juxtaposition of thought it has been thus far. The things that will be changing:

1) I will now begin posting in English, Korean, and Japanese. Maybe one post will be in all 3 languages, others 2, some only one. It all depends on my time and level of patience. The posts themselves will not be exact translations.
2) I will open the blog so ANYONE will be able to post/comment/bitch. Inappropriate posts will be deleted promptly.

Remember anyone (that means you) can post now. Post whatever you want but keep it in context. This is my attempt to improve my waning language skills in both Korean and Japanese while maintaining a healthy blog for family and friends too. Needless to say, frequency of posts will probably drop, but length and quality should improve as such. Also, please feel free to correct my Japanese or Korean (I would appreciate it actually) since both are waning as previously mentioned.

On to the next order of business: my week.

A few, interesting things went down the last week. First, the boys who went to Cambodia and Thailand came back. It seems like they did exactly what I thought they would do; spend too much money, drink too much liquor, and have too much fun. I’m glad they had fun. All of them can choke a fat one for not remembering to bring me anything back, but that just means my trip to Japan will be a lot cheaper so I guess it works out.

Next I must stop to mourn the loss of my Bear’s sweater, my latest karaoke victim. Like all the greats, you were too young and too beautiful to last. I miss you Bear’s sweater.

Finally, I will be traveling this Friday with the entire company to a resort somewhere in the wilderness of Korea. We will then get on a boat and probably drink and carouse until sometime in the early morning. It seems like it will be fun so rest assured I will be taking pictures.

(Side note: Seems I didn’t lose my Bear’s sweater, George had it. Yay for my sweater!)

Korean (한국어)

안녕하세요~

제 불로그에 와주셔서 갑사합니다.

이 불로그에 영어, 일본어, 다음에 한국어로 쓰는것을 정했스니까 이것는 적성의 한국말포스트. 재미있게 읽으면 좋겠습니다.

제 이름은 마이클 페건입니다. 시카고에서 왔지고 지금 서울의 서교동 (홍대가)에 살고 있습니다. 제가 한국에 왔던 동류가 4까지 있습니다. 적성이 관광객, 학생, 영어 선생, 이제는 AC 닐슨 코리아의 신입원입니다. 다 추가하면 2년 4월 돼었습니다. 한국에 오기 전에 일본에 1년쯤 살었는데 일본어도 할 수 있습니다.
제 좋아한것은 너무 많아서 간다하게 말하면움직이고 있는 것을 보는것을 좋아합니다. 싫어한것도 많아지만 그런것을 처음부터 마하면 안 돼겠다.

왜 한국어로 불로그을 만들고 있나요? 역시 한국에 살고 있는 외국인(한국인이 않은 사람) 은 한국어 공부해야 탠니까 이 불로그는 그 공부의 한부분입니다. 다음에 월요일부터 금요일까지 회사에 있는동안에 한국어로 말하는 연습이 많이 있지만 한국어로 쓰는 연습이 전혀 없습니다. 이 불로그을 자주 엎대트를 하면 제 한국어는 차츰 잘 할 수있으겁니다.

현재에 이 불로그을 일주일간에 1회 정도 엎대트를 하겠습니다.

잘 하겠스니까 부탁드립니다.

Japanese (日本語)

皆さんへ

初めまして ! この私のブログまで来てくれて本当にありがとうございました。

私をよく知らない人にちょっと自己紹介しようと思っています。私の名前はマイケルフェガン（マイクでいいです）と申します。シカゴから来て、今はソウルで住んでいます。好きなことはけっこうあるので、まぁ簡単に言うと動いているものを見るのは好きです。嫌いなこともけっこうありますが、初めからそういうことを教えないほうがいいですね。趣味も信じられないほどあります。一番好きなことは多分言語の勉強と遊ぶことです。

今まで皆さんが一つの質問があると当てれば、こうです：

“何でソウルに住んでいるアメリカ人が日本語でブログを作るのは必要ありますか？”

“必要ない”だと言われたらだめなんですから、簡単に説明しましょう。５年前ぐらいに千葉大学へ留学しに行って１年間の間に日本語など日本の経済的なことなど勉強しましたが、アメリカに帰った時から日本語で話せる機会があまりなかったんです。ですから、今までの見た通りに日本語の能力がだんだん下手になっています。４年ぶり日本語を使っていない間はしょうがないだと言われても今からはもうそういうわけは全然だめだと思っています。

それに、うちのおばあさんは日本人です。私は四分の一日本人だっていうことです。まじで。

現在にこのブログは一週間で一回ぐらいアプデートします。頑張るつもりので、今からよろしくお願いしますね～＾＾

Whew~ That was tough.

Look forward to more in the future.

Not this quickly..

Of course I get to work today and read reality’s first attempt to knock me off my opti-horse, the execution of Saddam Hussein. Well, to be more specific, the videos that are circulating everywhere that detail the entire episode.

First, I will say that I believe Saddam to have been a rather shitty human. He was a person who had no right being in a position of power that had any sway over the happiness of millions of people and he did some pretty horrible things while he was in power. I do not believe, however, that he was the worst person to be in such a position of power through history, or even the last few decades. This is not an attempt to protect character, rather, an attempt to state the truth.

The whole media farce that was his trial did nothing to convince most people in the country he absolutely needed to die. He was on trial for killing 148 people back in 1982 (back when he was the U.S.’s good buddy and deterrent for Iran) in an event that separated his deeds from what the context of his trial should have been. He did much worse things than kill 148 Kurds, so why was this what he was convicted with? Fucking theatre ploys. Also, having fought so hard to establish international law for the last 50 or so years, even through the Hague debacle, we reduced the punishment of an international war criminal to this? This whole thing should have be executed (no pun intended) much better than it was and I’m sure it will have repercussions eventually. Honestly, I don’t believe in the death penalty at all, even in Saddam’s case, because punishing violence with violence doesn’t accomplish anything except proving we’re all animals anyways.

Everyone knew as soon as the execution was announced that the videos on you tube and other media sources would be popping up as soon as it happened. It was destined to leak before it even happened. The only thing I can think of when I hear about it (and I haven’t nor will I watch it) is shame on the fucking idiots who are passing this about like it was a video of a cat juggling socks. As compelling as it could be to watch another human being die, please refrain from soiling your eyes with this.

Still optimistic, I promise. ^^

Grabbing 2007 by the teats

2007 is here.

I have the feeling that I have been waiting my whole life for this year to come. I don’t know why nor could I explain what I will be attempting to accomplish during the next 52 weeks but I am convinced it will be great. I hope to be able to carry this attitude well into 2008 and beyond. Stay away from me reality and don’t you dare touch my optimism with your sobering hands.

Now that that’s out of the way, here is my post-New Year’s post.

It’s funny how expectations can change so much in just a few moments. At 10:57pm, just over an hour before 2007, I seemed content to sit in my apartment and play video games with a bottle of wine to myself. Granted, it wasn’t anywhere near the big party atmosphere I have grown accustomed to over the years, but it had a quiet, almost nurturing vibe about it. Needless to say, I was enjoying myself. Then in walks my friend Dan, who I haven’t seen in a long while and proceeds to invite me out for the evening. I got dressed and embarked on what would be my last evening in the year 2006. Getting into details concerning the night isn’t nearly as important as describing how I felt when I got home.

I was empty.

Completely and utterly empty of all of the bullshit that happened in 2006. It was revitalizing despite all of the alcohol and second-hand smoke I imbibed and all of the weight of a full night without sleep on my shoulders. I could have been accosted by a group of super ninjas with snake nunchucks and convinced them they didn’t want a piece. So, needless to say, I had a damn good New Year’s. I hope everyone had a great New Year’s and looks forward to 2007 with as much expectation as I do.