Arlon aka Nelson Parish

Greetings from the Land of the Morning Calm!

Misnomer Alert: Korea's not really that calm in the morning. Well, maybe North Korea is, but South Korea certainly isn't!

This is A(rlon) Nelson Parish reporting. That's "Nelson." I mean, seriously, why are you guys listing me as "Arlon" Parish? I haven't gone by the name of Arlon since...

Never mind. At any rate, I guess I'm 38, but in Korean years, that's 39 or 40 (you're awarded about one year for gestation and the rest is too convoluted to explain here)! Hah! I got the jump on all y'all! Wait - Is that a good thing? Searching...

Anyway, here's a rundown of my life since May 1987. I must admit that I haven't had that much time to write about my last 20 years, so a lot of this I just cut and pasted bits and pieces I found about myself from Wikipedia, IMDB, that one site where you can find what movies certain actors/actresses/economists have appeared nude in, and the 2004 CIA World Factbook (Clarification: In 2004, I was briefly, but mistakenly, considered by the U.S. to be my own country. Heh - Arlonistan! Suckers!).

Anyway (again), I went to UNM-LA for my first two years of college and then hit NMSU in the fall of 1989. In 1992, I graduated with bachelor's degrees in personnel management (yawn) and anthropology (not yawn, but also not lucrative in any way whatsoever.). In 1994, I got a master's in economics, also at NMSU. I married a fellow New Mexican named Kristin in late 1994 and moved to Austin in early 1995. I lived there for 3-1/2 years, working at the Public Utility Commission of Texas. I also taught economics part time at Austin Community College for one semester. I realized that I really wanted to teach, not analyze cost studies or testify in regulatory hearings. When Kristen got the idea to go abroad and teach English, I decided to tag along, thinking it was for just a year. What the heck - I'd never been outside the U.S., excepting the times I was a designated driver ferrying chums to/from Juarez. Does that even count?

On November 24, 1998, I arrived in Busan, S. Korea, and began teaching at a private language school called ESS. No, not the "ESS" from the Michael Keaton movie Johnny Dangerously. Uh, I think. I never actually found out what the initials of my former place of employment stood for.

It's a long story, but Kristen and I decided to get divorced soon afterwards, and I've been living in Korea ever since. So much for the one-year plan, eh?

In late 2000, I married a woman of beauty, brains, kindness and grace, Kyoung-Hee Jung, a native of Busan. Some English speakers call her "Cage" (sounds like "KH"), which is not her name, but it makes her sound like a professional wrestler. She's not, although I'd put my money on her vs. Andre the Giant, but mainly because he's dead (and so is his posse!). I'm sure she'd be able to take out The Rock, or at least Ryan Seacrest.

By the way, am I allowed to have a bio this long? I mean, I could write a (really boring) book about my life over the last 20 years. I could write a really exciting one, too, but I'd have to lie a lot. I'm notoriously bad at that so I don't even try anymore.

Ushering the bio along then, in mid-2001, I quit my job at ESS. I had become the manager of its foreign teacher program in late 1999, and eventually found myself burning out because I couldn't teach as much or as well as I wanted. I was spending most of my time hiring, unhiring and putting out fires. Place Mr. Yuck sticker here.

After a two-month trip to the U.S., Kyoung-Hee and I taught English (and Japanese. She did - not me) to managers in an LG TV factory in 2002 and, in early 2003, moved into a nice little house ("Little" by U.S. standards; plenty big by Korean standards) in her childhood neighborhood, where her gentle and wise mother (I'm not at all being sarcastic or trying to be funny) mother has lived for over 30 years. I got a great job at Dongseo University, where I still teach. Kyoung-Hee taught at a few private schools in Busan until she decided to go on for another bachelor's degree, this one in English, in early 2006. Her previous bachelor's degree was in graphics. Because she already had a degree, she needed only two years to get another one, and will graduate at the beginning of 2008.

We have no kids (yet), but we have a beagle named HeWho, which is short for "HeWhocannotbenamed." We had trouble agreeing on a name for him, so... His full name actually changes from minute to minute, so sometimes it's "HeWhoatewhat?" or "HeWhoreallyneedsabath." "HeWho" also means "skin" in Japanese, so our Rising Sun amigos get a kick out of that.

Neither Kyoung-Hee nor I have much free time during the semesters, which run from early March to mid-June and late August to mid-December. HeWho pretty much always has plenty of free time. The spare time I have during the school year is generally spent lifting weights, writing, studying Korean and reading. Kyoung-Hee likes to swim and read in her few free moments. I still love teaching, but the best part of my week during the semester is on the weekends when Kyoung-Hee and I take HeWho on long, leisurely walks to either the seaside or the mountains, both of which are near our house. During vacations, Kyoung-Hee and I like to travel domestically and/or abroad. I've been to the Philippines, and we've both been to Japan (many times - we got engaged there) and Mongolia. Assuming the budget holds, we'll try to hit China this summer (The SARS "epidemic" foiled our first attempt.).

We hit the U.S. every year-and-a-half. October 2001 was the last time we went to Los Alamos, as all of our family members and most of the people we know there have long since left.

We last hit the States in February 2007, so we will not be able to come for the reunion ($3,000+ in plane tickets each time). We rarely get visitors from the States (Shout out to Brian Gray!), but if you're ever out our way, we've got a guest room (with a bed that is almost long enough for Brian...). You can even sleep with HeWhowillgetabathbeforeyouvisit if you'd like!

Nelson