Hello from Seoul!!!
Sorry for the the three month lag in keeping you up-to-date. things have been busy, strange, and fun.
Busy:
Work has kept me busy and I am enjoying the teaching. The relationships I have with my students makes it all worth while. I may have a house full of kids, as they all want to come back to KC with me. Warn the Korean restaurants!!!! One of my classes has gone from identifying letters to full-blown reading, that is an accomplishment of itself and VERY gratifying. I have been doing some work at the Guemho-dong (where I live. A Dong is a smaller part of a Gu, which is like a 'suburb') Community Center and have taken those children from letters to words. They should be able to read 'War and Peace' with me, soon. I made the Seongdong-gu newsletter and my picture was featured!!!! Not my face, but there I am, for all of Seoul to see!!!! I was happy my mugshot wasn't the first picture published.

Strange:
The ordeal of my laptop. I sent it to Firsttraxx in Palo Alto on May 23rd to have it serviced and to have a new motherboard installed. LONG story, but the gist: Microcenter dropped the ball. IN THE BIGGEST WAY. Their lack of communication and the fact the sent my laptop to THEIR HQ, rather than HP's HQ has made this process much worse than it should have. It was sent to HP the other day and I am going on SIX weeks without my laptop.
Thanks to my co-worker, Richard, for letting me use his old computer and keeping me from going to the PC Bongs and letting me be able to update the iPod!!!!. Before you ask, Bong is Korean for ROOM. Nothing more. So don't read into that...... PC Bongs are rooms full of computers, all with internet access and all loaded with the newest games all of the Koreans are playing. 'Sudden Attack' is the most popular game, with 'Maple Story' (an adventure game, I liken it to 'Zelda') coming in second. Other games are a dancing game, which all people play, several driving games, and a basketball game with English Dialogue (most of the dialog drives me crazy, as it's replayed over and over and over). The cost of these Bongs is 1,000 Won an hour ($1 US dollar) and it's a good deal, but I was going up there twice a day, so it was starting to cut into my 1,000 Won bills collection.

FUN:
The future Mrs. Kinneman paid a visit to Seoul and we had a blast!!!!!!! It was wonderful to have her here to talk to, be with, and see her. It made the time here worth it. I say FUTURE Mrs. Kinneman, as we are planning our nuptials. Well, she is. It's hard for me to contact and make the plans myself from 10,000 miles away (13,000 KM, Gramma Pat).
6.28.2008 is the date and we are pretty much ready to go, with some of the smaller details to be worked out. Stella (the Future Mrs. Kinneman) has taken the reigns and is fully organized. Amazing woman, she is.... She will be writing a column on 'Axton's Seoulshine' to give her firsthand view of the city, gu, and dong. I kept her moving and walking the whole time she was here. Look for it here in the very near future.

I have been to a bunch of KBO games and had my picture taken with the ace of the LG Twins pitching staff. The players here are so approachable and will sign autographs until all of the people are gone. They let everyone take pictures with them, too. I am searching for Kim Dong-joo, 3rd baseman for Doosan Bears, so I can have my picture with him. He quickly became my favorite player after watching him play: he hits for average, power, drives in runs, and plays a decent hot corner. I saw his 1,000 game with the Bears, which is an accomplishment, seeing they play about 125 games a year. All of the Korean I have learned is from the baseball games, as I go with a Korean friend who was introduced to me by Richard. She is a HUGE Doosan Bears fan, so we catch a game on the weekends the Bears are in town. She helps me with my Korean and I help her with baseball terminology, it works out well for both of us.

I promise to be much better at the updates. It took me a while to figure out my page, as it was in Korean. Then the updates from the blogspot came and I was able to switch to English and navigate this page. I was afraid to click anything, as I didn't want to erase anything. Links to the picture albums will be sent out, too. I was unable to load my pictures from my camera, as the USB ports on the laptop were fried and I could hook the camera up. There are close to 800 pictures to look at, so please don't expect captions for all of them, as it would take me WEEKS. So, if you have a question about a picture, send me the link and I will do my best to describe it to you!!!
I look forward to seeing comments and hearing what's happening with all of you. New columns are coming and maybe a story or three...........
Axton