March 2009
1 post
3 tags
The Sadness
This is the story of a man. Not a smart man, it is freely conceded. A simple man. A man who likes Korea.
No, not likes. This man loves Korea. Not just likes, loves… To the extent that he wrote his MA thesis on Korean issues. To the extent that he pursued the dream of, and succeeded in becoming, the first western foreigner to live and work on Ulleungdo. To the extent that he went to Dokdo. Twice....
January 2009
3 posts
4 tags
If it has an airport...
… it ain’t worth going to.
Great Britain has a troubled relationship with islands. Aside from being one, and deporting people it didn’t like to one, and abusing some fairly innocent farmering communities on a nearby one, Great Britain also “owns” some right up to this day.
Which is not to say that Great Britain actually wants to be a colonial master anymore. Apart...
1 tag
There once was a time...
… when people would have been keen to read what I wrote. For you see, once upon a time I lived and worked on Ulleungdo. That, I guess, was momentous. Perhaps not to a Korean; the girl I convinced of the necessity of the idea was less enamoured than I, I now realise, but it seemed worthy of note, a footnote in the anals of English teaching in Korea.
It was also happy. Blissfully so,...
1 tag
