Bob Dole Hair August 31, 2008

As it has started to cool off a bit here, I have been able to manage the fringe of ridiculousness that is my bangs and surrounding hair around my temples. Here’s a picture to demonstrate:

So the past few days I have been able to fix my hair in the morning and still look relatively put together at the end of the day. This apparently has not gone unnoticed by my boss, which at 7:30 Friday night said, and I quote, “Kristeen, you dune sumsing widda you heah. It looka good! You look like Bob Dole!”

And I thought to myself, “Wow. I really need to update my look. It apparently is so stale that I am starting to look like a 95 year old republican tight wad with a pompadour.” Then this realization….

Sunday School August 30, 2008

Hi. This post really has nothing to do with Korea (unless you count the famous Steven Colbert vs. Rain rivalry). When we saw this video, things came out of our noses. Maybe there is something intrinsically funny about Sunday School songs. For example, my cousin Patrick’s nose used to turn into a milk fountain whenever he heard “Father Abraham.”

Then again, I suppose the fountain effect maybe, just maybe also could have been a result of my older brothers Chris and Andy elbowing him in the ribs a little bit every time the words “Father Abraham” were spoken. Either way, chaos ensued. Sunday school might actually have been fun, or at least not miserable, if I’d been old enough to go with those three.

Kitchen Alley August 26, 2008

Kitchen Alley, originally uploaded by Jake & Kristin.

The Dongdaemun Market is a huge shopping area near the Great East Gate in Seoul. It’s set up so that certain varieties of businesses are all grouped more or less together. We walked by rows and rows of fabric shops, deep fryer shops, blacksmiths, shops selling camping chairs, and shops full of rivets for jeans.

Restaurants followed the same pattern of organization. The ladies here represent just two of a dozen or so similar restaurants lining one side of this alley, all of which appeared to specialize in smoked or baked fish. The restaurants on the other side of the alley all had roasted rib cages from some unknown animal on display. It was remarkably smoky and stinky. I couldn’t help but wonder what my old friends at the health department would say about this alley full of kitchens.

Hey, you! Yeah, YOU! August 24, 2008

You Americans living in another country–you really need to vote. There is a website that will help you do what you need to do in order to get registered, get a ballot, and vote in your home state. If you’re reluctant to vote, here are a few reasons why you should get over it and vote.

First, you’re still at least theoretically supposed to pay taxes to the IRS, so you might as well give your opinion on how that money should be spent. If you like your money to be spent on war and subsidizing corporations, vote Republican. If you would like a slightly smaller portion of your money to be spent on war and subsidizing corporations, vote Democrat.

Second, many of the decisions made by our elected officials are likely to still affect you, even when you live somewhere else in the world. Whether you like it or not, the US has a finger in so many pies around the globe that it’s inevitable that some of our policies will stir up problems. The current administration is amazingly adept at pissing off other countries, even close allies. For example there are frequent anti-US rallies to voice their complaints about being forced to import subsidized US beef. US meat, shipped from the other side of the planet, somehow ends up costing less to buy in stores here than locally grown Korean meat. In addition, the whole reason that Korea quit importing beef from the US in the first place was fear that it might be contaminated with mad cow disease. The purpose of ending the import of US beef was to protect public health and the Korean beef industry from contamination. After a little arm twisting by the Bush government, the Korean president changed national policy, against Korean public opinion, resulting in minimal, if any, benefit to the Korean people. And remember, unlike many other places in the world, South Korea has a generally pretty positive opinion of the US. Wherever you happen to live, think of how often you’ve gotten the stink eye from somebody when they find out you aren’t actually a Canadian? And why do so many of us seem to feel the need to say we’re Canadian anyhow?

Lastly, should you ever come back to the US, it’d be a real bummer to find that since the Republicans managed to either steal or win 3 presidential elections in a row, the Supreme Court is now full of a bunch of conservative justices that choose to more or less follow a biblical interpretation of the Constitution. In case you don’t know, supreme court justices are appointed by the president, approved by Congress, and serve either until they either retire or die. Bush has made a couple of appointments during his terms including the new Chief Justice. These appointments have shifted the court to a narrow conservative majority. If McCain gets the same opportunity, it is likely that we could see civil rights, privacy rights, environmental protection, property rights, and a whole pile of other rights that we take for granted set back for decades. Further, it is likely that wherever the US goes, so too will other nations. Nations where you may be living.

These are just a few of the reasons to vote. You may think that it doesn’t matter, or that our votes aren’t really counted, either of which could certainly be true. However, our collective indifference or inaction makes it a whole lot easier for those wielding power to successfully circumvent the interests of the majority. The decisions made in Washington do affect you, whether you live in the borders of the US or not, so exercise your rights and vote.

Surprise Party August 22, 2008

A package arrived on Tuesday that could best be described as awesome. It contained a complete birthday party in a box. Tiny candle-holders, tiny candles, balloons, a streamer, cards, pecan bars, and a simply magnificent pound cake. Excellent.

Glorious.

Jookjeon Happenings August 22, 2008

This week we figured out just how many days we’ve been in Korea. Today marks day 84.

We also…well, we worked a lot this week. The kids are relentlessly cute. Most of the time they’re great and teaching is a lot of fun. Sometimes they’re tired and it’s less fun. And sometimes we’re tired and it’s painful. On other occasions, when the native teachers get in on the action, the situation typically takes some sort of a turn, ranging from possibly innocuous to confusing to frustrating to absolutely infuriating.

Last Friday we stopped to get some coffee before work. At some point between ordering our drinks and receiving them, we noticed that the prime retail space across the street had gone from fully functioning to being closed and gutted. As it turns out, Jookeon is finally getting a Baskin Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s replacing a Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins that was previously located there. Maybe it’s my imagination, but there seems to be a little hum of excitement emanating from the locals.

This week was primarily remarkable in that all the action was intensely focused on maintenance of the status quo. Oh, I guess one thing changed–we finally completed our preliminary report on Korea. Here it is:

1) There are a lot of cool things in Korea.

2) There are a lot of confusing things in Korea.

3) There are a lot of irritating things in Korea.

4) Korea appears to be mostly harmless.

5) If you want a cheese pizza without corn, you should say “Cheezu peecha ohksusu baygo hahnpahn juseyo.”

I can’t believe I almost forgot. Another thing changed this week. One day it was miserably hot and humid, just as it has been since we arrived. We went to bed and sweat through our pillows as usual. When we woke up, we found that the climate was suddenly delightful. June and July in Korea really are awful months during which to visit. Or move here.

Alan Tew August 22, 2008

Most people who know us are probably well aware of the fact that we rarely call each other by our given names. We have a plethora of nicknames for each other, most of which are too cutesie for polite company, but we like them anyway. A few years ago, we tossed one of the nicknames into Google and out came a bunch of websites. Among them was one that housed a number of delightful sketches. I’ve recently found that the site has been significantly updated for the first time in a while. They might not appeal to your sense of style, but I think his artwork is worth a look. And no, the nickname wasn’t Alan Tew.

Great Hunter August 21, 2008

Seagulls, originally uploaded by Jake & Kristin.

This was one of the many seagulls that were attempting to catch and eat the passengers aboard the ferry we took around Daecheon. We were unaware of the danger when we signed up for the trip. Some of them, like this one, got within feet of us. Fortunately, the Koreans on board knew that the gulls could be fended off by throwing a steady stream of squid-flavored crisps at them.

In spite of the danger, we couldn’t help but be captivated by the sight of these birds flying so close to us alongside of the boat. They’re really quite pretty.

Better Than Adequate for Human Existence August 19, 2008

Today was the first day that the weather didn’t make us look like we fell into a swimming pool by the time we got to school. We normally face one of two realities in the morning: 1) sauna-like conditions that leave us soggy with sweat and smelling like week-old ham or 2) horizontal rain against which our umbrellas valiantly fail to provide any protection. Today there was no rain. It was sunny, but I didn’t sweat. At lunch time there was a hint of coolness in the air. After work it was actually even more pleasant. For the first time since June 11th, I was not covered in a layer of sweat all day long. This is a severely under-appreciated experience in the glorious dry Colorado air back home.

A further weather note: Helga, I noticed that it was 27.3 degrees C at the pizza shop on Daecheon Beach on Sunday afternoon. It felt hotter.

I was almost too preoccupied to notice however, as a new inconvenience has come to demand much of my attention in the last few days. My handler says that I’m not allowed to talk about it, but here is a picture of one of the items I picked up at lunch on the daily coffee run:

Korean pharmacies are great.

It’d really be great if they can counteract all the rice gluten. Either way, there’ll be a lot of cabbage on the menu for the foreseeable future.

Let’s Take a Moment to Thank Ol’ Swaddling Cloth for a Safe Return August 18, 2008

And Here’s Why:

I don’t know if you can tell, but the driver of THIS taxi don’t need no one telling him what to do, or where to go, or what a RED LIGHT means. If he wants to watch women’s Olympic Handball while, no, wait, there’s a channel change/lane change, no, not sitcoms…commercial…commercial…HONK…o.k. um…women’s handball again….FINE, women’s…SWERVE…handball it is…well by gosh far be it from ME to tell a man when and when he can’t watch television. I’ll just sit back quietly and pretend that I could not care less about dying. After all, we would be ending on a high note. We were at the beach all weekend.

And what a great time it was! We stayed at a bunker with wallpaper small motel…

…which was right, RIGHT off the water, which also means right, RIGHT off the swarms of people and the various sea life those people eat. It was cool to be part of this world for the weekend. I don’t need to mention here that we lived off of pizza.

Afore Mentioned Various Sea Life:

And just to clarify, that’s shark, sea penis, and two entire schools of fish.