Jeffrey Miller's Blog: Jeffrey Miller Writes, page 25

SolBridge International School of Business: Fall 2012 BBA and MBA Graduation

Just like that, another semester is over at SolBridge.

Doesn’t feel like it, though.

I am teaching a winter intersession until January 4th. Then, I will finally be able to catch my breath and continue work on two major writing projects.

I Scream, You Scream

We all scream for Ice Cream Headache.

I love this book so much.

Okay, so that is what you would expect the writer to say but what I love about this book is the nostalgia that I serve up in the story about the lives of five people intertwining one day in 1968. I do that a lot in my fiction and I guess a lot has to do with living overseas for as long as I have and missing the States. For one year I immersed myself in this story. There many things which I drew upon when I was writing it but in the end it took on its own life.

Steady as she goes

The Lespo Standard.

Your all-weather bicycle.

And why do we say, “steady as she goes?” Why not, “steady as it goes?”

Either way, this gentleman was not about to be dissuaded by snow and ice. Look closely, you’ll also see his cane and an industrial-strength chain to make sure no one steals his Lespo.

Deep-Freeze Daejeon

It’s been wicked cold in Daejeon for the past three days; the coldest December that I can remember in a long time. Most of the streets in my neighborhood are still sheets of corrugated ice and snow. There won’t be any city department crews sprinkling salt on these streets.

Some folks have taken to spreading crushed yontan (charcoal briquettes used for heating and cooking) on the streets for traction. Last night, I saw a guy using a blow torch to melt the ice on one patch of ice on a side street near my apartment so he could move his car.

This deep freeze is supposed to last until the middle of next week.

It’s a good time to curl up with a good book.

How about Ice Cream Headache?

Or, Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm?

The loneliness of a winter day

A photograph is worth a thousand words.

And then some.

For as long as I have lived in Korea, now starting my 23rd year, I have never seen this much snow in early December. And I’m lovin’ every minute of it!

Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm

Literally.

This was my first morning in Korea, December 8, 1990.

My apartment, which was located in Chamsil 2-Danji (in the background you can see 5-Danji), would be home for the next two years.

Kimchi Chocolate — Namdaemun Market, December 2002

On assignment for the Korea Times in 2002, I decided to write a story about Christmas shopping at Namdaemun Market, Seoul’s oldest, traditional market where you can find practically everything including Kimchi Chocolate.

And the taste?

Never tried it.

Like this photo? Want to see more?

Want to read about what living in South Korea was like in the 1990s?

Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm

Snowy Night in Daejeon

Went out with a group of my mentees for dinner at the Solpine Restaurant on the Woosong Campus. It was a nice way to end the semester as well as, on a personal level, to celebrate my 22nd year in Korea. It had been snowing on and off all day, and as we were having dinner, the snow started coming down again. From the 13th floor of the restaurant, you get a very good view of the area.

In years to come, I will be most assuredly wax nostalgic about this night.

Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm — Naksan Temple, 1992

One of my favorite places in Korea, bar none is Soraksan National Park. The first time I visited there was during Sollal in 1991 and again in 1992 shortly before I left Korea to return to the States to get a new visa.

You can read all about it and Korea’s rugged beauty in Waking Up in the Land of the Morning Calm.

Twenty-two years ago…

I landed in the Land of the Morning Calm.

And I’ve been waking up here ever since.

What’s it been like all these years?

Find out here.