Pop Chinn Stew. That's what Ken called his circumstantial evidence case he tried in 1983 as a young Deputy DA. I listened as he painted a wonderful word picture of his father putting together various ingredients to make a delicious pot of stew. It's been 30 years but that image of his father making the stew hasn't left my mind. In honor of Ken's dad, Vernon Chinn, we want to make some Chinn Stew of our own. Stop by from time to time and enjoy some Chinn Stew as we share some of our family happenings.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Daniel Gets His Braces Off!

Happy Daniel with his braces off.  Backup choreography happily provided by Robert and Mary.

Earlier this week Daniel had his braces removed.  He seems a bit shy about his face full of straight teeth, but hopefully Susan can get a picture of the metal free new smile (see above).  We celebrated by taking the family out to lunch after the orthodontist visit.  Another professor had introduced me to a Korean BBQ buffet up a steep staircase on what we call "fun street".  It has the BBQ style grill at every table and delicious marinated pork steaks, octopus and assorted other goodies to cook at your table.  Susan especially liked the thin Korean style unsalted bacon that you wrap in lettuce and mint leaves after grilling.  There was even a dish for Robert who is our picky eater.  Robert found that he could eat endless bowls of chocolate cereal with milk.  The best part was the price, which came to under $10 a person - really inexpensive by Korean standards for a BBQ restaurant.

While we are on the subject of Daniel, I should mention that he is turning into a computer geek - not unusual for his generation.  He runs circles around us on the computer and handles all things having to do with technology at his ripe old age of 13.  The current project is building a computer.  Surprisingly, computer parts are much cheaper when purchased in the US even though most all are manufactured here in Asia.  The McCormicks are coming for a visit in about 10 days, and Aunt Mary back in Anaheim has been busy assembling the parts Daniel will need for them to carry here for their visit.  This is one of the down sides to visiting the Chinns in Korea.  We actually had a family bring us cans of Bush's Grillin Beans cause I like them and they aren't available in Korea.  That goes for pudding, bulk bags of M&Ms, and lots of other tasty items.  So, if you're planning on a visit to Korea, expect a laundry list of items to bring.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that Daniel was going to audit a class on beginning Korean at the university.  He wasn't enthused about attending a class with much older students, but agreed to go if I would tag along at the beginning.  The professor is a vivacious young lady who made the first day fun by using some games to introduce the international students to the Korean language.  The students are a melting pot from around the world and Daniel fit  right in.  By the end of the second class (which I also attended) they had started to memorize all the sounds of the Korean vowels, consonants and combinations of the two.  Notice I say "they", for I was hopelessly confused.  The students would run through a whole series of sounds from the combinations of vowels and consonants and they all basically sounded the same to me.  Daniel, on the other hand, had no difficulty at all since he'd already mastered this part of Korean with his tutor last semester.  Thankfully I wasn't added to the class roll sheet, so my future transcripts won't reflect me dropping out of an introduction to Korean language class.  Daniel, on the other hand, is still faithfully attending and building his language skills.  Mary and Robert will have tutors this semester since they are a bit young still for the university class.

While on the subject of the Korean language, we now have a GPS device for the car which is entirely in Korean.  Pretty soon I will be the only one in the family not able to use the GPS system for our car, a bit of a humbling experience.  Thankfully, I've had plenty of experience in in the area of humility over the course of a life time.  That just may be my spiritual gift.



Monday, March 11, 2013

Denny's Dilemma

One of my favorite pleasures in the states is an occasional breakfast out with the boys.  Of course this was also an excuse for biscuits and gravy and other fattening fare that doesn't make it too often to the breakfast table at home.  Still, it was always fun to solve the world's problems with another couple of guys as we consumed plates of sausages, hash browns, scrambled eggs and, of course, a fresh glass of orange juice.  It occurred to me that I should try and spark a similar breakfast meeting here in Pohang.  All I needed was a good American style breakfast place serving ham and eggs and all the other favorites.  I soon learned about what the local expats refer to as the Denny's Dilemma.  Korea has not yet discovered the joys of the calorie and cholesterol laden Southern style breakfast offerings like biscuits and sausage gravy with a side of bacon and scrambled eggs.  The closest offering (and this will show how desperate the need is) is the breakfast menu at McDonalds.  You seldom read anything critical of Korea in this Chinn family blog - it is a wonderful place.  However, it is not paradise, and any hopes of attaining  that status will require a solution to the Denny's Dilemma.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Spring arrives in Korea


Spring officially arrived today in Korea with a cool (as opposed to "cold") day.  The cherry trees are in bud and promise to explode into glorious blossoms in a few weeks.  They have a saying in Korea that Winter is jealous of the Spring and often brings a cold spell before surrendering to the warmer temperatures.
 
Here at HILS (Handong International Law School) we had a retreat to celebrate the new school year with an outing to the historical city of Gyeoungju - about an hour drive away.  I took our kids along as Susan stayed home to enjoy some peace and quiet as she continued her recovery from a recent bout with the flu.  We had a wonderful time visiting a fully restored ancient complex of Buddhist temples and a national museum filled with relics dating back to around 700 A.D. 
 
A primary goal of the retreat last Friday was to initiate family groups for the upcoming school year.  Each law professor has about 14 law students assigned to their family group.  I met my group and we spent the day together visiting the historical sites and getting acquanted.  It is a wonderful group of students and I am very excited about our weekly times together.  We will get together for chapel on Tuesdays with a lunch afterwards, followed by attending a Christianity and the Law class on Fridays with a meeting thereafter to dig deeper into the course material.  Today was our 2nd Tuesday chapel and Susan prepared a taco lunch for my family group afterwards at our apartment.  We've discovered that the Korean students really enjoy western food as a break from the standard Korean fare offered at the campus cafeteria.
 
Daniel is auditing a beginner Korean class at the University.  He is not excited about the class, but admitted that it was better than he expected after his first class session.  Last semester each of the kids had a Korean tutor.  Our goal is that each of the kids is fluent in Korean by the time we move back to the states.  To my surprise, all of them are making nice progress.  I, on the other hand, have only accomplished a rather poor Korean version of "Thank You" which often brings a puzzled look from the Korean listener.