2015-10-03 TNKR on Saturday: What have I done? :-)

Many South Korean office workers look forward to the weekend--so they can sleep! At least, that's according to what many of them say, when I ask, "What do you usually do on weekends?"

Well, Eunkoo Lee can't answer like that anymore! Before we got more serious about TNKR, she would sleep or watch baseball on weekends. But now almost every Saturday (and some Sundays), we have some type of an event related to (TNKR) Teach North Korean Refugees.

Ah, but yesterday, at last, I was going to have a Saturday off. My Korea Times column is due, I have several other pressing projects. But it was Eunkoo who was telling me that I should come out on Saturday! That's because she was going to be at our new study center in Itaewon to meet with some of the refugees studying in the program. I was making up excuses why I couldn't join, but she didn't want to hear it!

I started yesterday by shooting some hoops. After that, I joined up with Eunkoo. We all had a great time, talking, eating. One refugee started our program at the ABC level, but he has now gotten to the DEF level. Yesterday, we pushed him to utter some phrases in English. He hesitated at first, insisting on Korean, but after a lot of prompting, pushing, and teasing, he did it! He looked up some phrases, perhaps some he learned from his tutor, then he began asking questions.

And the young lady who joined us yesterday has been studying in our program for several months now. She is really eager, not the least bit shy about trying English. She said, "I always think about the nice TNKR volunteers who help North Korean refugees."

So yesterday, Eunkoo got me! I came out on a Saturday when I had planned to act like a Korean office worker, sleeping until Monday arrived.

The next few weeks we will be REALLY busy. I'm sure that the people who don't read messages closely will get confused and go to the wrong places or not properly apply.

October 10: TNKR Open House (Itaewon)
October 17: TNKR Orientation for tutors (Itaewon)
October 24: TNKR English Matching session (Bangbae)
October 31: TNKR English Rematching session (Itaewon)

In addition, we have several private meetings planned.

www.lovetnkr.org/donate

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

Back in America, 4 days and counting

I got back a few days ago, I'm still unpacking... Some of the highlights so far: * Friday morning I was in the audience for a CNN/The Root discussion about being Young and Black in America . As a veteran of so many of these Washington talking events I am less than enthusiastic about them these days. Still, I bumped into a few friends, some of whom are neither young nor black. The discussion seemed so 1980s, with the panelists trying to figure out how to politically empower young black people. I guess it was appropriate then that the head of the NAACP was there. His most irrelevant concern was about hate talk radio...or I guess Rush Limbaugh being on the air all these years explains the high level of black-on-black crime. 20 years later, how is the Stop the Violence movement working out? The highlight of this particular panel was running into old friend David Plotz, who is now editor of Salon Magazine. I don't think I've seen him since college but he recognized me. I forgot...

Michael Vick ain't got nuthin on me!!!

After football player Michael Vick admitted that he had been running a dog-fighting business I wrote that he was an idiot. If he was going to engage in such activity he should have gone to Indonesia or somewhere else. He certainly had the money to do so at that time. If he knew then what he knows now then he would have spent $10 million to run his dogfighting ring in Manila. Today I did something that probably not even Michael Vick ever did: I ate dog meat. I never expected that I would do so. It is a bit scandalous because Koreans don't just kill the dogs and eat them. Rather, they will beat them to death while they are still alive. That allegedly is to get the adrenaline flowing which allegedly makes the meat more tender which allegedly improves a man's stamina. I had told a friend that I wanted to give it a try. But as we sat down to eat I said: "I want to try this but don't give me any details until after we are finished eating." It just looked like regular me...

How not to get your ass beat by the police

The black president of the United States stupidly commented on the arrest of a black Harvard professor in his own home by a white police officer. Some random thoughts and memories: * I'm sure most people are still trying to figure out who Prof. Gates is. As G.K. Chesterton once wrote: "Journalism consists largely in saying 'Lord Jones is dead' to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive." * Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare." Perhaps. But having a criminal in my house is even more of a nightmare. Also, having the president of the United States talk off the cuff about me about something he doesn't know is pretty bad. And getting shot by a cop after I escalated a situation would also be worse than getting arrested. Anyway, I have had my own dealings with the police over the years: * Back when I was a college student many many moons ago, one of my brothers and I got stopped by police in Bro...

2019-12-19 Interview with Japanese reporter

"The interview is the honeymoon, publication is the divorce." --Shinae Chun I had a GREAT and FUN interview today with a reporter from Japan. Let's hope publication will also be great! www.lovetnkr.og

The Casey Lartigue Show!

Search This Blog