Skiing (T minus one month)

So, I'm surely not going to be getting in as many days on the slopes this year as I did last year, but frankly, I'm not worried. I think the days I do get in will be all that much more enjoyable. In any case, I'll be hitting the slopes on January 7th and 8th and then again on the 21st, and frankly, I can't wait.

In other news, I visited a goat farm last weekend, and it was pretty darn interesting. Wage Farm (a play on the word "waygook" which mans foreigner) is owned and operated by Doug Huffer and his wife Bonghwa. I never found out her last name, and since most Korean women don't surrender their maiden name, I'm assuming it's not Bonghwa Huffer, but frankly, that's completely tangential to this entire account. Moving on...Erik, Marc, and I, on a bitterly cold Saturday, all made the 2 hour journey to Sa-Ra (a small town outside of Gyongju) and got to see the farm. More specifically, we got to see the two goats (Stella and Rosa...blue and red collars respectively) that that Bonghwa and Doug own. In any case, I was under the impression that we'd show up, chat for a bit tour the "farm," buy some delicious goat cheese (which Doug makes by hand) and then head back to Eonyong. Suffice to say, due to Doug and Bonghwa's overwhelming hospitality, I think we spent nearly 3 hours in their house, drinking coffee, talking about Doug's job as a professor at Gyongju University and Bonghwa's past job of being a professor of sculpture at some school in Italy. We discovered that Bonghwa speaks fluent Italian, and that Doug is originally from Kansas. And if they sound eccentric from those two details alone, you've gotten the correct vibe.

To back up a little bit...

Doug has been living in SoKo for about 6 years. He married Bonghwa in the past year (I think). They live in a very traditional Korean home made of unprocessed logs and some old-school building techniques. Check out the picture.

















In any case, the place was super cozy, and seemed quite perfect for them. To briefly describe Doug (and I know this post is ALLL over the place), he is a very quiet but deeply intelligent and witty guy. He took a little while to warm up to us, but regardless of that fact, he puts off a very friendly vibe right away.

I don't know what else to say. Doug and Bonghwa are living that type of life that the New York Times would like to write some "Person of Interest" blerb all about.

And as romantic as their artsy/goat-cheese-cottage-industry/cross-cultural life seems, Doug did add that he'd like to move back to the states somewhere in the near future.

I guess only time will tell if that turns out to be true.