Other Things

I do spend a lot of time on my residency project even when I’m not “working.” Often when I’m reading or listening to music I keep an eye out (or ear) for something that might fit into a lesson plan somehow. Other than keeping my senses peeled for lesson plan material and reading, I’ve been writing a lot of poetry of my own, as well as finally staying committed to journaling.

Although I still consider myself a beginner in Spanish I’ve tried to stay engaged with the language through poetry, sometimes the news (CNN en Espanol), and most recently by writing a “pen pal” from Columbia. 

Here’s a photo of the bilingual edition of Pablo Neruda’s “Los Versos Del Capitan.”

(Yeah pretty cool right, since I don’t bring my camera with me when I go on bike rides or walk around, this is the sort of thing you get to look at. At least it fits in thematically with my discussing trying to keep immersed in the Spanish language over the summer)

If any of you have heard the repetition of unknown words coming from room 604 it might be because I’m practicing Korean with Pimsluer. Although I’m a fellow at the Nam Center for Korean Studies I don’t really know how to speak any/much Korean, and since I’ve already committed myself to learn Spanish during my undergrad at Michigan, I don’t have much time to pursue my interest in another language during the semester (or over winter break because that’s tentatively when I’ll be writing my second research paper for the fellowship). Hence, some of my free time in the summer is dedicated to it. Hopefully I will learn enough to be able to expand my knowledge and efficiency with Korean by interacting with other fellows during the semester. I really should look more into the Hangul characters. 

Mike Park is the man responsible for starting the record label that has been most influential to me. He works for a non-profit called, “plea for peace,” that fights racism though music. Now that I have had a taste of the non-profit world I feel a little bit closer to one of my high school role models. Side note: try ordering products off of AmazonSmile if you want some of the money you spend to be donated to Plea for Peace Foundation! Also, if any of you like punk rock/ska/acoustic music, you should check out “Asian Man Records,” and buy some music (support a great label, great artists, and great people). 

This is the guitar that I’ve hardly played during my time here. I broke the low E string last week, but before that I was able to record a new song on sound cloud called, “The Song of the Owl.” I have about 9 songs on my sound cloud you can jam out to if you’re so inclined. Here’s where you go:

https://soundcloud.com/nate-schmall

I’m going to add a special surprise just because. The surprise video represents just one of the many reasons I want to learn Korean. For some it might’ve been “Gangnam Style,” but for me it’s a song by Crying Nut, “Hot Farewell(뜨거운 안녕).”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGyl2hReZks]