2014-09-21 Mulmangcho 2nd anniversary celebration

Wow, what a wonderful time! The Mulmangcho School (for Adolescent North Korean Refugees) opened on September 28, 2012, I started volunteering two weeks later. Prof. Park Sun-young asked me to teach English to the children, but I declined. Instead, I suggested to her that I might be able to find some teachers who would ENJOY teaching the students. I wasn't sure I could find anyone, but I told her that I would do my best to find teachers.

Most weeks, we have between 5 to 8 volunteers show up to teach North Korean refugees kids.

They honored me on Sunday by giving me another "Certificate of Appreciation," having me as part of the cake cutting ceremony, singling me out on another occasion. I also had a chance to swing dance to entertain the kids, which seemed to have impressed the adults (the kids probably would have preferred real magic).^^

Swing dancing http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6YGVFcRlQ

Thanks to my substitute dance partner Ginny Min-Jin Song, a new volunteer who has already volunteered at the school, been the translator for a refugee interviewed for a documentary, and, Sunday morning, was willing to dance on stage even though this was her first time to try swing dance (I taught her then led her). She's also the person who has taken on the impossible mission of improving my Korean. Good luck to her.^^

Special thanks to other special volunteers-Cielo Yoon, Maynard Villamer, Grace Stables, Serena Ha. They have all added something special to the school. Cielo, for a while, was the liaison who helped us avoid chaos. Maynard was the super teacher/guitar teacher who brings an incredible amount of energy to the school. Grace Stables (Sarah) shares her horse farm so the kids can go horseback riding once a month. Serena joined when she heard me talk about Mullmangcho at the Sunday Discussion group we are both members of...
FYI, I mentioned Sarah in one of my columns months ago.
http://freedomfactory.co.kr/bbs/bbsDetail.php…

Some of our other valuable volunteers: Rachel Stine, In-Jee Lee, Luna Yoon, Naomi Chambers,

Welcome to Greg Salvo, Peggy Inkorea, Julia, Kyung Ho, Kim Kyun-soon and Mike Ashley.

Many teachers and volunteers have come and gone during that time. Now year three starts. For me, that means chasing teachers who wait until the last minute to sign up, dealing with changes and cancellations, late arrivals calling me after the bus has left asking me where I am (My response: "On the bus."), occasionally some teachers who grumble about me asking them for a resume and application, oh, and emails every week from people interested or just curious.

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

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

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...

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...

Still writing (Korea Times, 2023-12-19)

Still writing by Casey Lartigue Jr. The Korea Times December 19, 2023 https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/12/626_365284.html

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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