Skip to main content

Climate Change

For several weeks after our arrival in Korea in July, the weather was quite consistently steamy and hot, changing little.  Whether rain or shine, the humidity was unrelenting. 
But on September 1st, it seemed to shift, with cooler and dryer evenings, and a different feel to the air.  The crickets and cicadas changed tune as well.  By now it is downright chilly at dawn, and wonderful warm weather at mid-day.  I suppose autumn and winter are coming -- this has been a clear change, something different from the New York back-and-forth up-and-down temperature swings.

Our weekend at the staff retreat, at Taejeon Beach Association cabins, was just in time.  We caught the warm sun and warm water, for a truly restful weekend.   I swam at two quite different beaches-- one open to the mild waves, a very public beach with lifeguards and snack shacks and rental boats; the other, just around the point, in a sheltered bay with no waves, few people.    Unfortunately we had to depart early, in order to get back to Seoul to receive our shipment of boxes from Saudi.  We walked in to the beach town, took a taxi to Taejeon train station, and bought standing-room tickets (it was Sunday afternoon, after all!) on the 2-hour train back to Yongsan Station.  As it turned out, we sat for the first 30 minutes and last 10 minutes of the ride; everything was quite calm and civil, despite the crowds.  We appreciate the calm and civility.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fleeing Trump, Americans go to Portugal

  Fleeing Trump, Americans go into exile in Portugal. “I'm afraid to go back” Not only minorities feel threatened by the Trump administration. Three couples, a mother and an academic tell us why they chose to live in Portugal. Some say: the American dream is over.      The above is today's headline article in our favorite trusted newspaper in Portugal, O Publico .  It's a centrist newspaper, owned by a big supermarket corporation.  Let's combine this with the recent news that Portugal's Air Force is now shifting away from its planned purchase of F-35 jets.  Even though Trump has not even mentioned Portugal in his various diatribes against former allies, Portugal and the rest of Europe are reeling from the attacks.  We hope it has the ironic effect of freeing Europe from American dominance and improving the chances for centrist leadership (against Trump-like parties that have been gaining prominence).  The original text follows: Em fuga de Tru...

EUA: tanto estrago em tão pouco tempo

 As part of my effort to learn about Portugal, both the country and the language, I'm subscribing to the centrist newspaper, O Publico .  There are plenty of newspapers: conservative tabloids, and socialist and communist-sponsored daily papers; I find O Publico to be most sober, with consistently interesting columnists and opinion pieces, in addition to some local (Porto) news, with just enough sporting news to keep me chatting with the taxi driver.   Today's opinion piece sums up, I think, European pundits' view of the U.S. government.  As the title puts it: so much damage in so little time.  I shudder at the rank incompetence and corrupt behavior, demonstrating a cynical attitude toward public service, showing indeed that the cruelty is the point. What scandal, what damage will be the tipping point to collapse this government?   And what will it take to recover from the damage?  Who will be able to trust the US government again, ever?   Only ni...

Captain America dominates the news, in many ways

KoreaTimes newspaper of April 5, 2014:  the front page features five items: a photo of the Avengers2 film shoot, with Captain America posed on the set; four stories with these headlines:   Japan adopts absurd claims in textbooks ; Obama plays favorites ; Ortiz’s selfie makes White House uneasy ; and ‘US knows japan at fault on row with Korea’ … all about America and Japan!  (Obama is said to be favoring Japan -- he even supposedly pressed the Virginia governor to veto the bill requiring Virginia textbooks to add the name “East Sea” to Sea of Japan!). And the Avengers2 filmshoot dominates public talk -- students and teachers alike discuss sightings of the film crew or actors, and the resulting traffic delays at the bridges in use. But it is considered worth the effort, to show the world that Korea is a hip, modern place, worth the effort for Captain America to defend against the villains (from the north, perhaps?).