Recently, I made my best purchases in Korea:




Mine isn't as colorful, and it doesn't have pink trim at the bottom, but it still works as well.  I had not used one of these before, except when I traveled to a malaria risk country.  But after dealing with unwelcome entrants through my air conditioner, small holes, faulty screens, and ill-fitting doors for longer than my threshold of annoyance, it was time to take action.   Life becomes easier when I haven't had to wake up for the buzz or waking bite.

I was was good at the one handed mosquito grab, but I hadn't mastered the "trapped in palm squish".  Thus I got another toy:



This is an electrified racket, which when it comes in contact with a living thing, makes a surprisingly large shock.  One swing will take down a mosquito or anything else flying through the air.  I got one with a rechargeable battery- one that charges by usb connection to my computer.  My hunch is that these come with an incendiary guarantee, so unlike this picture, mine does not rest on flammable material.



I have not put up some pictures about my vacation time, so here comes the first installment of: Catching Up with the Past.  This edition centers on the start of my vacation and a trip to Bangkok.



Jinhee and I were pleased to fly into Bangkok without problem, and could find our hotel easily.  I thought we were stuck in traffic the entire way to the hotel, but my guidebook told me that is the case any time between 6am and midnight.  Our driver told us he didn't know where the hotel was (obvious lie) and drove us to the place he gets kickbacks.  I mention it only to point out that studying maps and knowing where you are going is important before taking a trip to Thailand.  Or maybe having your hotel pick you up is a better idea.

Once we were there, transportation wasn't a problem.



As you can see above, there were walkways, railway transport, and taxis all around.  Bangkok was filled with things to do, so we tried to get a good mix into our travels.

We went to some temples,




Went to shopping districts, ate some street food,




Went to the man-woman show,





watched the sun set over the Chao Phraya River (the main river that runs through Bangkok),



and did plenty of other things in the city.

I enjoyed visiting Bangkok and would recommend it to anyone who isn't adverse to taking an adventure on their vacation.  I would recommend reading the guidebook on all the scams that happen in the city, as they were continually tried on Jinhee and I.  After reading about the scams, they seemed pretty funny.  The guidebooks even named the exact money amount for the scams (or seeming good deals).  Either that or the scammers read the guidebooks and followed them word for word, out of laziness.

Probably the most enjoyable part of Bangkok was the wide array of fruit available.  Every night, I could buy several cheap mangoes and carve them up to enjoy no matter what I was doing.  My travel partner, Jinhee, was much more interested in the massages, however, which would go on for an hour or more for less than $10.

More on our trip later.  Following in the Catching Up with the Past Reader: our flight and fun down to Phuket, the vacation island in Thailand.

For the past two months, I have been gone on a gap in my contracts.  The gap was self imposed:  I have been on vacation for all that time, so I feel refreshed and relaxed.

But now I am back into another one year contract, working for the same school as I was before.  The kids weren't quite sure it was me when I first arrived back- I guess the barber cut my hair pretty short.

Anyway, once I get everything in order, I'll upload some vacation pictures and details.  For now, you will have to settle for a few historical pictures.



Yes, that is right, a cache of photos from the Korean war.  You can find them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/imcomkorea/sets/72157607808414225/.  You might not want to go through all 900 photos, but it is worth a peruse.



This history stuff was brought on by a recent visit to Seo-dae-moon.  Being all scholars in Korean history, you all know that this is the site of a historical prison the Japanese set up when they had colonial rule over Korea.  Wow, I'm surprised you knew that- I had never heard of it before.  Anyway, smarty pantses, it was interesting to see the historical site and realize that it wasn't in the too near past that the prison became history.  Japan started their move to control Korea in 1876 and formally annexed the peninsula during 1910.  By my count, that means that about 100 years has past since the beginning of when there was a need for a colonial government to have a prison.  100 years!  And the Japanese rule over Korea lasted until 1945 (the end of WWII).  That means a little over 60 years since the prison ceased to have a function.



(Seo-dae-moon prison.  This photo was respectfully ripped off from someone else's Flickr account)

The buildings were interesting- how the architecture was arranged, and a zen garden-ish tree-in-the-middle-of-a-pond seemed out of place.  I guess I had never thought of the concept of decorating a prison.  It is obvious, however, that there was a lot of pain at this prison; and hardship from anyone who was unfortuante to become a political prisoner.

There was also an exhibit filled with real historical objects supplemented with wax figures to illustrate.  The scars of the only recent liberation of this land from Japan showed clear in the distasteful museum displays.  For example, instead of honoring the dead and those who were brave to resist for a country they believed in, the museum took on a strange zombie gore-fetish.  There was fake wax-prisoner blood splattered all over the walls and sound tracks of screaming.  Both of these things could be effective at making a point of the horrors of war, but it is obvious that the culture wide pain makes it too hard to deal with.. or maybe someone just needs to hire a new curator.  Also shocking was that a majority of the people walking through the museum were elementary school students, scared and wanting to leave.

Since I forgot my camera, however, all I've got for you is the war photos (same link as before).


 

Thanks for reading.  Be thankful.

I follow a few blogs about Korea and occasionally I get a few gems.

Here is one such gem, which is worth watching if you are interested in North Korea:
http://rokdrop.com/2009/02/11/national-geographics-dont-tell-my-mother-that-i-am-in-north-korea/

If you have an hour to spend, and the Internet isn't too slow, then I found this one to be pretty good.  I have seen a few people's footage from inside North Korea, and this one is the most factual.  It was produced by National Geographic.

The videos are on a blog that takes one soldier's perspective on Korea.  He is popular, but more often negative about Korea.

Enjoy

This last weekend was open for me, so I looked though some of the back pages in the guidebook.  There was mention of a Chinese medicine market.  Sounds like it could be fun, right?



It was nice.  I'm sad I haven't taken guests there in the past, as it is a unique market.  Here you can see piles of nuts, beans, and some fruit.  Not sure how well your reading glasses work, but if you look in the background, right under the outstretched hand is a massive bag of mushrooms.  I thought of buying one, but I guess it is a special medical mushroom- too expensive.



Here you can see some small mountains of ginseng.  Everyone loves their ginseng, which is why you can buy more than 10 different types at any location.  I would eat it myself, but since I have high blood pressure, I have to stay away.  I do drink a tea out of the milder version: red ginseng.  Somehow the "hot" energy is taken out by steaming/ boiling ginseng and collecting the condensed drops of water.  It tastes good if taken with some of the 100 types of honey-that-aren't-really-honey sold in Korea.



Here is a demographic shot.  I went to this area with Jinhee, and we were the youngest ones there by at least ten years.  I see why I haven't heard of this place before, as travel advertisements concentrate on more wealthy and glamorous (sterile?) areas.  Either that or boiled eggs and kimchi.  I guess I won't come here too often, as it is far from my house, but there is flavor and vitality seeing some part of the population living their normal lives.  For me it is fun to imagine how my life would be different if this was my life.



Here is my travel partner and I in the hole in wall dining room.  I skipped the "smiling at the camera photo" for one that shows more of the restaurant.  Again, more old people.  This time eating.  The fan looking things near the top of the picture are heating units.  What was for lunch?  1. Mixed vegetables and mushrooms on rice with some hot sauce 2. Spicy cabbage soup with some pig bits (heavy on the fat, light on the meat.. -not being sarcastic- a sign of quality here).  The descriptions sound so much better in Korean.

One last interesting thing I saw while I was there:




Deer antlers!

And what do these antlers do for you?  My partner did not know and had to do some internet research.  Then:
-good for kidney, liver, and bones.
-good for blood
-good for your nutrition, as in it will make you fat.. so give it to kids and weak people so they can grow strong
-but watch out for a weak stomach, as it can be too strong if it concentrates in one part of the body too much.  That also goes for people with weak circulation, those with high blood pressure (darn!), and lots of other warnings.

How much does it cost?
If you want to buy Korean deer antlers, 175 grams of powder (I think about 3/4 cup sugar size) is $150, with an entire horn clocking in at $600ish dollars.  No thanks, I'll stick to my fruits and vegetables.

Recently a website in Korea lists some of the designs that typify Korea. (http://www.designfo.org/koreadesign100.asp)

Some of them are:

*Korean style rice cooker;

Hearing they are high quality, I bought one myself. It doesn't have all those buttons, however. Not sure what is high quality about it, but it does cook rice quickly.

*A style of pens everyone uses here:



These have filled up the market so much that I have trouble finding different styled pens.

*A big metal box that all the food delivery people use:


It is the standard carrier for all food- and it has multiple levels of food storage inside


Here is there method of transport- which I would argue is another recurring image in Korea (delivery is always on a moped).

*The Olympic Stadium

*Traditional restaurants

*E-Mart

Not sure why these made the list, as big box retailers aren't specific to any part of the world. Or are they?  Anyway, Walmart used to be in Korea, but they went out of business. E-Mart took over their stores, didn't change much, but can remain in business.

*Cars- The article sites the Sonata, which is from Hyundai. There are many Korean cars on the road since there is a high import tax on foreign cars.

*Dooly the dinosaur. Has anyone ever seen this before? I've heard it is spreading around the world a little bit.

Update: sorry, Livejournal is not working now, you will have to click the links to see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcUgpnhhzjQ

Not sure if those kids look Korean... This is from the movie when the kids find the **magic** dinosaur.  In the video, the kids think it is a cat- after which *point of interest* the girl makes the local "meow" sound.  But it keeps crying "mom" to the dinosaurs on the TV, so they figure it out.  The cartoon is meant for young kids.

*A soda that is an approximation of 7up.

*Banana Milk (my personal favorite from the list):

*and lastly, the local booze; soju.

Not sure what would happen to the rest of the world if soju were as cheap as it is here.  Clocking in at 20% alcohol, for less than the price of a beer (sometimes half the cost) the street-beggar-alcohol-problem would be blown out of proportion.  Some fun statistics: average consumption of soju bottles per year= 72.  Each soju bottle is equivalent to 7 bottles of beer.  As in everywhere, many people abstain from alcohol (including children), which means there are some people drinking a lot of soju.  Don't worry mom, it isn't me.

If you want to check out everything, there are three pages of images: http://www.designfo.org/koreadesign100.asp


As a last note, I wanted to tell a quick work story.  I've got a boss that likes to pull Jedi mind tricks on me (These are not the droids you are looking for).

Update: sorry, Livejournal is not working now, you will have to click the links to see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnjaUoR15dU

As it is my job to do what my bosses say, I generally comply.  But here goes the conversation:

Boss: "I need you to print off "XYZ" in color and distribute it to the students."
Me: "Ok.  I don't have the file on my computer and I don't have access to a color printer.  I know it is on your boss' computer and she has a color printer.  I will need the password for her computer."
Boss: "Hmm... you must print it on your computer."
Me: (thinking back to the 5-6 times I asked for access to network the printer) "I could try to find the file again, but your boss has the file on her computer."
Boss: "I will email it to you. You will have to unhook her printer, carry it to your computer, hook it up, print it, carry it back, and hook it up to her computer."
Me: "You want me to go in her locked office and take her printer?"
Boss: (summoning Jedi mind trick)~~~~~ "It will be easier for you to move the printer."~~~~~
Me: "Are you serious."
Boss: "No...  I mean 50% yes...  (summoning Jedi mind trick) ~~~~~"You will have to move the printer"~~~~~
Me: "I don't think I can do that.  We don't need the color copy till next week, could we wait until the boss is there and she can do it in a minute?"
Boss: "Ok, do it in black and white."
Me: "Ok, I will print it as soon as you send it to me."

Epilogue: File never arrives in my email.


I normally do everything my bosses ask, but the Jedi mind tricks haven't broken me down yet.  Seeking more perspective, I asked my girlfriend what she would have done.  She said she has to do what the boss says no matter what.  It is the only way.

Happy 2009!

As a year end closing blog post, I wanted to cover some of the big items in the news this year (warning, long blog post):

First of all, this was a recent new item to catch my eye:



Fighting and kicking in the Legislature.  Apparently once a year, or so I've read, there is a violet brawl that takes place somewhere in the government.  Last year it was a bunch of people storming an office and the biggest assault weapon was a land line phone.  This year was a little more exciting.  There was lots of swearing and kicking furniture and spraying hoses of water or fire extinguisher foam on each other.



Here you can see some of the best action.  The room these lawmakers (not just street protesters) are trying to get into is roughly equivalent to a US congressional sub-committee room.  You can see some of the furniture blocking the way; there used to be a door here.  After pounding for a while, the opposition lawmakers got some sledgehammers and busted the doors down.  So the people inside piled furniture in front of the door.



After lots of screaming and kicking, the people on the outside got the emergency fire hose and started spraying water inside.  I'm not sure why police, military, or other security did not help all the lawmakers out of the building.  Response to the wet hose was a dash of foam from the fire extinguishers on the inside of the room:



Doesn't look comfortable.

The people on the outside were concerned with blocking the Free Trade Agreements between Korea and other countries.  United States has a big part in this, which is the country most Koreans have chosen to fixate on.  The big concern is that lots of farmers here will lose their livelihoods- as some of the agricultural imports can be taxed at over 100% of their original value.  It is an interesting debate for any country- and worthy of consideration.  Since it is such a media driven, nationalistic issue, lawmakers and protesters have acted in order to get media attention.

Another example of this nationalist media attention: Mad cow from US beef.



You can find some other pictures of protesters against US beef on a previous blog post.  During the debacle, most protests used emotional appeals, followed by news agencies reporting the claims as fact.  The starting point of all this was actually a nationalist group who took some clips from a PETA video.  The PETA video was about how all use of cows is inhumane and unethical.  I'm not sure if there was some mad cows in the video, but that is the only part Koreans chose to use (because there is no equivalent of PETA here- people like to eat meat too much).

Here are the after effects:
-Some people in the US realize there should probably be more tests of cows to ensure safety.
-US beef was pulled from the market in Korea, Australian beef and Korean beef was sold everywhere.
-Personally, all the beef restaurants in my neighborhood changed their type of beef to Korean beef and additionally started price gouging customers.
-Many restaurants are caught using US beef while advertising Korean beef.
-Some fights and a stabbing.
-(fast forward a few months) Everyone forgot about the whole mad cow thing, everyone buys US beef because it is cheap, Korea is (within months of a ban on importing US beef) the largest importer (in the world) of US beef by dollar value.
-Also, Korea started entering into talks for Canadian beef, even though Canada has had more problems with Mad Cow in the past few years.  No one noticed.

I don't think it is strange that people go through a health scare.  It is clear that this is about nationalism, not health, however, because of how the information spreads and how quickly people forgot about the problem.  One of the most hilarious parts of the nationalism is how the emotional appeals lose all their subtlety when broadcast continually over the news agencies.  Example in a common news claim: because of Koreans' genetic structure, they are more likely to get sick from mad cow disease than all other humans.

Sorry, I know this is a long journal entry.  Take a break.. you don't really need to read all of this.  But I think I see a theme emerging...

One last bit of news on this theme is : Dokdo.  Dokdo is the Korean name for what is known to English and French speakers as The Liancourt Rocks.  The rocks also have a Japanese name, Takeshima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liancourt_Rocks there is an interesting history behind the rocks, if you are curious.  Haha, just kidding, try other topics first, such as the shape of a sock, changes in local traffic citation laws, or dirt).



Here is a picture of Dokdo.  You can see that it really is just a few rocks.  There are seagulls there, but that is about it.  Currently there is one Korean police officer that sits there, on the island literally translated: solitary island.

While there are some important issues, such as fishing rights surrounding the island, unfortunately this has gone the way of Mad Cow.  This conflict is not new and the flare ups of nationalism surrounding the disagreement are the only thing that come and go.  This year, I'm told, nationalism was at a high, so Dokdo hit the map.  Again.

There is some hope that the conflict could be solved, if Japan and Korea would take the dilemma to the International Court of Justice.  Unfortunately, the Korean stance is "there is nothing to talk about.  It is ours."

But have no fear, you can go to a restaurant called Dokdo (which serves Japanese style food, haha), smoke Dokdo cigarettes, wear a Dokdo hat or socks, watch music videos, etc.  But don't expect this to make it big.. Korea still has a bigger territorial dispute.. North Korea.


A quick note on nationalism in the Korean language: two popular terms in Korea are "sesang" (세상) and "jeong" (정).  Sesang means, most commonly, the world.  Jeong means the feeling, love and circumstances of getting along with your fellow people.  Nationalism enters the picture because Sesang only really means "the world inside Korea" and jeong can only be felt, understood and shared by people who have lived in Korea for their whole lives.  Even people born in Korea that have been abroad for too long get excluded from jeong- which in a realistic context could actually be translated as "nationalist feeling and action".


So here is the theme of these news items: cultural connectedness is extremely imporant to people living in Korea.

Pros for Koreans:
People are comfortable around each other, they trust each other (relative to other places).  People are comfortable to hold hands, fall asleep on each other, and the act of eating involves eating everyone's food.  It is a sort of "Catcher in the Rye", or  "how can we stay innocent" attitude.  I think we would all feel more comfortable to trust and like our neighbors.

Cons for Koreans:
This leads me to my last news item: the effects of being kicked out of the Korean culture club.  This year there were a series of stars that committed suicide.  Why?  Because people started rumors about them on the internet or they were rejected by pop culture.  Being connected to this one culture is so important that any disconnection makes people judge, ostrasize, and fear a Dr Jekyll into a Mr. Hyde.  Mr. Hyde feels disconnection- and disconnects his or herself from it all.

A side note- Korea is not seen as producing many original thoughts/ styles/ etc.  With the above con as a result of cultural disconnection, this might be one reason why.

One more personal note, my girlfriend Jinhee claims that some of her high school friends treat her differently because she traveled abroad for three years.  Three years.


Ok, I'm going to be done, I'm sorry this was so long.  As one last piece of eye candy I found recently, I have an offensive image.  It is a pro-Nazi mural located in a smaller Korean town.  As in the picture, you can see it is right across from a children's toy store.  Also, it is on the side of a jewelry store and infront of a public bath.



As a last snarky comment, I want to point out that while it may be offensive to most of the world- remember that since this stuff happened outside sesang ("the world" i.e Korea), it does not affect anything here.

Next blog post will be positive.

So I went to the only casino in Korea that Koreans are allowed to visit.  It was called "Kangwon Land" and was plopped right on top of an old mining area.  I'm not sure why Koreans are not allowed to gamble in other casinos, but I'm suspecting the moral police made a few regulations a while back.  Only non-Koreans can go to all the other casinos, which just makes gambling here and online or unregulated gangster venture.

My best guess is the casino I visited was allowed there as a way to keep the local economy working after all the mines went out of business.  Since there is not much appeal for non-Koreans in the area, the only way to make the casino survive was to let Koreans gamble.

Joke: Out of the 55 million people here in Korea, what do you get if you concentrate all the Korean gamblers in a small sized casino?

Answer: The only Jonathan certified MUST MISS of Korea!  Inside of casino simulated in picture form below:



I take that back, losing a wallet or being shot would also be certified MUST MISS experiences in Korea.

Features of Kangwon Land include: overcrowded atmosphere, dirty looks, pushing, lack of a decent restaurant, a cafe that does not have any of the food items that it advertises on the menu, and dealers that look bored and occasionally yawn.  And has anyone ever gone into a casino that charges an admission fee before?  Luckily they waived my admission fee (as they knew no one would let me bid).

But more importantly, I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was good!  I had a good time, as I went to two Thanksgiving parties, one on Thursday and one on Saturday.



Yummy.  That is Jinhee and I.  Also, my dish to pass is sitting in the lower right of the picture.  This was Jinhee's first experience with eating a Thanksgiving dinner.  She enjoyed it, especially the green-bean casserole.



Here is a friend and a boss, and some other guests pictured below:



I'm looking forward to a nice holiday season, even though nothing noteworthy of holiday cheer happened last year.  But there is a break in the schooling of the kids.. so I get some time off to.. not sure what I will do.

One last note, I have entered into the world of suit wearing people.



I thought this picture was funny, as it looks like I've grown two feet in the past year.  It actually from the vantage point of a short person, standing next to miniature Korean furniture, with my head cut out of the picture.

Click below for the zoomed out picture that shows a better perspective.



Happy Holidays!

This post brought to you by: old dinosaur computer.

Well, once again I've had a computer nosedive out of functionality.  My luck with going to the store and buying laptops is a little distressing.  Thanks Compaq Presario v6000.  Apparently it is more a more common problem with these computers, even as much as 1 in 7 computers having the motherboard fry.  As this is a factory defect, of course HP/Compaq fixes the problem for free.   But wait... not in Korea.  So I took it to the HP/Compaq authorized fix it place here in Seoul and they said it would be no problem to fix, for a small charge of $300.  What about the factory defect?  I guess they don't think that is important in Korea.

I felt a little pissed, but not as pissed as when a normal laptop repair shop offered to fix the problem for $100.  I guess "HP/Compaq authorized fix it place" was only a little bit of lipstick on the pig.

I learned my lesson: don't buy nice things unless the company that backs them up (and the local parts that you have to deal with) is legitimate.  Duped!

I decided to go with a good standby: some old guy's used computer.  Value priced at $50 with bonus honesty (absent from local computer dealers).  As soon as it proved its ability to email, blog, and skype, I was sold.  For a laugh included a photo of this massive dinosaur, complete with a normal sized hammer for size comparison:



In other news, I took a trip this last weekend to the countryside.  I went to an area that used to be filled with working coal mines, when that once was profitable in Korea.  Everything developed just fine until everyone lost their job, which means that there is nothing left.  Except for lots of these:



This thing lifted cartloads of coal and miners in and out of the mines via some steep slopes.  Even though it looks like my computer, it is a little larger.

But there are other things to do around there: climb some mountains, watch country folk walk around, go to the museum someone built on an old coal mine, and go to the casino built on an old coal mine.  I'm normally entertained by the first one well enough, but I decided to check out the coal museum too.

Here is a view from the coal museum:



Nice mountains in the background, just one weekend too late to see all the nice fall colors.

This was all interesting to compare with the mines available for tour in Minnesota.  One big difference is that I could climb on all the equipment I wanted:



Upcoming blog entry: the casino visit and related topics.  Have a nice week!

The following pictures are all ripped off from other places on the Internet, not captured by me.

Starting with some of the recent protests against US beef:



Here you can see President Bush telling the Korean President Lee to eat well by ingesting mad cow disease beef.  I'm shocked that our president would say such a thing.  While no one has yet died of mad cow disease, there has been a jump in cow related costumes.

To combat such civil disobedience, the police often makes a show of force.  It is regular to see more riot police than I would normally expect at an event like this:



This gives new meaning to the term "lying in wait".  I've even heard police on loud speakers say "do not cross this line/climb this bus/move past this point/etc. because you do not know how many of us there are."

i think in some cases this much police response might be needed to stop major damage from happening.




This is one of the chicken wired police buses that transports all of the riot police.

Other times I think the mass number of police means more violence:



Not sure if that big splintered wooden pole is a part of the official weapons sanctioned by the South Korean government.  I think images like this often give the riot police a bad image.  Apparently the government here agrees, which is why the riot buses now look like they belong in Disneyland (they come complete with passive pastel colors and chicken wire on the inside of the windows.

Following in no particular order are some of my favorite protest images.  They are in no order and cover a smattering of issues.  While there is a diverse group of images, mostly stolen from one website, I have left out the following protest pictures: beheading effigies, piling dead dog heads, pulling a live baby pig apart, self impalement (japanese style), chopping off fingers (protesters chopping off their own finger).

On the lighter side:



Flag eating



Acting like clan members.  Yes, they did end up burning some stuff.



Throwing cow poop in the meat section.



Covering oneself in bees.  I heard this one made international news.



Burning holy books (not your own, but other peoples).  Behind the pile of flaming Korans is an English sign, which indicates I will have a job here for years to come.



Women protesting for prostitution, which is to say women forced to go to a march by their pimps.



Yes, we are this technologically advanced here that we can protest by throwing our computers in a big pile.  Soon the US will have enough ipod wealth to show solidarity.



????

Actually it says "Block the American-Korean Free Trade Agreement".  No, Koreans aren't wondering about mad carrot disease (more food actually comes from China, the land of melamine), but the phrase "carrot" also is slang for "of course/right".  Thus the bag says "I hate the American-Korean Free Trade Agreement!  Of course!"

Lastly, I have to include my personal favorite:



Look at that defiant stance!  The disapproving expression!  I feel a stir in my body- a call to action!  Rise my brothers and... wait, this man was only protesting Korea's loss to Switzerland in the 2006 Soccer World Cup.  I only wish I could understand this iconoclast's platform for change and how it can affect an already finished soccer game.

So my boss called me at 9 this morning to tell me he might have a new apartment for me.  That's good!  Now, I can't really complain, since my housing costs are free, there is one major detractor in my current apartment.  Below is a view out my only window.



To get the full effect, however, put your face about two inches away from the picture and dangle paper clips in front of your eyes- which simulates the anti-theft bars installed on my windows.  Next time I'll enlist the help of photoshop to illustrate.

Each time I feel like I'm moving to a slightly better apartment, but this might be a little bit of overkill since I'm soon to clock in at 4 apartment moves in a year and a half. 

As of the past few months, I haven't put anything on my blog.  I think it is because my life has become more routine.  Also, after a while, I feel a little silly taking a camera around to photograph the neighborhoods I have lived in for a long time.  Also, the same people would keep showing up in all my blog posts.  How boring.

In an effort to revitalize my blog, I will now ignore my previous rule of: "only blog about things I can take pictures of myself".  Thus my blog might be less personal, but still will reflect my journey in South Korea- and all the things that happen here.

To start off, one of the big items is the street protests.



No, silly, that isn't a water park!  (although I have heard their "being blasted by riot control fire hoses while gripping the walker sitting on top of the riot control bus" ride is pretty fun).

Since the 50s, Korea has had an interesting voyage into democracy.  One of the traditions is to meet protesters with overwhelming force and weapons.  One of the most popular was in 1980, in the city of Gwangju.  At the time, a pro-democracy group took over a city in the Southern part of Korea.  They did not like the military dictatorship in the country at the time- unfortunately the government didn't really like them either.  Not sure how many died, 150-200 maybe.

The history of the protests has been violent and often comes to its end quickly.  Recently, there have been more protests due to a change in president and government policies, along with a US beef scare (rumored to be blogged about in the future).



These last rounds of protests haven't been violent in comparison, but there were many violent standoffs.  Why do these protests turn violent quickly?  One theory is that many of the riot police are military draftees (all males must serve in the army or similar service unless there are health problems or hubris related wealth problems).  Since some of the uninterested draftees are turned into riot police and military police, they are ill equiped, ill trained, and generally disinterested in dealing with people yelling in their face.  Not in the force for a sense to "preserve democracy", scenes such as this one don't seem to be a stretch for the imagination.

--graphic image ahead--

Whatever problems occur, it is difficult to see the results of these conflicts:



Here is another one that was pretty popular for a while:



Here you can see riot police stomping a younger female next to one of the riot buses.  Yes, be is stomping her head, a fact that all the local news sources showed for quite a while.

I decided to do what any right thinking young man would do: go watch a protest.  While I don't have any pictures, I did find an approximation of what I saw:



Families sitting, old people, young people, teenagers, colorful protest shirts, signs, chanting, etc.  Later at night, there were some more confrontational tactics, including gettting on top of the riot buses (seen in the back) and piling sandbags all over the place.

Is this a case of legitimate democratic concerns?  Is it a case of normal protest to a president?  Is it over reaction to governmental changes? Is it fueled only by a small group of Korean nationalists?  Is there a health scare over the import of US beef?  Is it due to changes in Korean social security and medical benefits, coupled with a lack of education opportunities for the non-rich?

Next time: some of the more interesting protest pictures through the last 60 years.