Mery's Funny Pics

Recently I got an email of support from Mery who lives in Jakarta. She found my blog from my Virtual Tourist page (which I, for some reason, have not updated much over the last few months).

Hi,

I do enjoy reading your blog until now :)

Anyway, these pictures remind me of your posting quite some time ago about how Korean loves taking pictures!

Keep writing!

Thanks a lot Mery for the pics and your support. Take a look at these Asians doing their thing behind the camera.


Here's a guy perched on an invisible bar stool.


I'm sure this gal has caused a few traffic accidents in her time.


A little booty in this shot.


And as she moves in to the pike position...


He was kung-fu clicking...the tourists were a little bit frightened.


Limbo man!


A rare double-shot of the lean-back and squat-down positions...and a bonus: the Asian stiff-as-a-rod-take-my-picture pose.

Ok, that's enough on that. So, it ends up Mery decided to have her own blog. It's different from mine (meaning it's interesting) and covers a few areas I have no idea about...like Kabbalah (which seems to be some life-force idea that a lot of Hollywood stars, especially Jews it seems, are into).

"Serenity now, insanity later" - Lloyd Braun to George Costanza on his father's anti-stress tactic.

Mery also said that her nephew (in Indonesia) also had a 'choosing ceremony' on his first birthday (just like Koreans have) and that they do it in China as well. They have a similar selection (below):


Choices....choices...

But he just rolled over them like a freight train and didn't choose any. Not even the photo of F4 (the Taiwan pop group) could sway him. (They added it thinking if he chose it then he'd be a star too.) I guess 1 year old is a little young to make such as weighty decision.


Rollin' rollin' rollin'...

Thanks for all this cool stuff Mery!

Aegyo

Ok, I'm a little lazy today...see below an interesting little piece from this website.

애교/Aegyo 2004.08.31

Aegyo derives from the Chinese characters "love (ae)" and "beautiful (gyo)." The closest English translation of aegyo would be "winsome," defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as "generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence." Not surprisingly, aegyo is considered a feminine trait, generally attributed to women who can charm men and elders through a careful balance of sweetness, cuteness, poutiness, modesty, thoughtfulness, and submissiveness. A woman with aegyo knows to blush at dirty jokes rather than guffaw along with her mouth agape. A woman with aegyo knows to let out a modest and appealing squeal and grab tight her date's hand when watching a horror movie.

Aegyo is considered such an essential female trait that there is even a plastic surgery procedure called "aegyo surgery" in which aegyo sal [skin] is created on the bottom eyelid to create a sweeter and more innocent appearance. With women's changing social roles and evolving sensibilities, however, there is more room now for women who are less coy and more direct. Lee Hyo-lee, for example, who is unafraid to talk about her bowel movements on national television, is one of Korea's top stars whose popularity derives precisely from her easy-going attitude and uncompromising honesty.

With this, I bid you farewell. Thank you to all the readers, especially those who took the time to send me feedback, ideas, and words of encouragement.

Junhee (June) Kim (jun_hee_kim@yahoo.com) is a student at Yonsei GSIS' International Cooperation.

I had no idea there was an operation to add sweetness to a gal...until now.

Lies and Working Out

Ha! This is an interesting article on why people hang up on the phone (well, cellphone, to be specific). "Being in a business meeting" was the most popular choice, ranking 50%, and followed by "I am busy (working)" in second place with 44%. Other answers include "Tending to a crying baby," "I'm driving right now," and "I can't hear you."

Gee, how many times have I or my wife said these things when we've made our (sometimes multiple) daily calls? She'd say that my big excuse is, "I have to go to the bathroom," not because I use it a lot, but she seems to remember when I say that. (Sometimes the food here makes the plumbing a little weird, too...but that's probably too much information.)

Anyhoo, I've got to think that many of those 'excuses' are more like reasons than anything else. They're just common occurrences...here everyone works a lot (especially after-hours) and Moms should tend to crying babies, you shouldn't talk (too much) while driving and sometimes reception (especially in elevators) can get pretty rough.

Now for my exciting working out story. Every few months my local gym (where I had a membership last Summer, but let it lapse, lazy guy that I am, has an 이밴트/event or sale where they give a free month with every 3 months signed up for. That was last month, but I signed up yesterday. Of course I fully expected to get the deal, right? Well, the event was over...so I did what any Korean would: I insisted they give it to me anyways. They resisted but then gave me a free locker rental (for my new shoes). Just goes to show that Korean businesses will usually give you something if you make enough noise about it.

So, here goes my health kick...seem to have got a little plumper over the week in Canada so hit the inline course yesterday at 5AM and 8PM (my bud Jung-Su called and we went out...otherwise I would have watched Cold Case on AFN). Then this morning got up at 5:30 and got to the gym at 6AM...pecs and triceps today...man, I am so dedicated. And by the way, I beat jetlag in record time. I'm going to have to do my little stay-up-as-long-as-humanly-possible next time too. (Of course my boss just came back from the U.S. today and in true Korean fashion he seems to have beat his jetlag overnight...what is with these people?)

So, wish me luck on keeping with my workout schedule...I'll need it--especially since my bud Minaz is coming here from Canada tonight for a 1 week then 2 week visit to Korea, with stints to the Philippines and Thailand in between.

Kids are #1, Logic is #2

Well, I'm back in Seoul/Yeouido for another who-knows-how-long; maybe 2-3 months. Not that I can really complain, as I know many teachers are here for a year or two before they get a chance to get home at all...but you know, I'm a little spoiled.

Coming back I figured the best way to break jet lag was to stay up as late as possible. Usually I'll crash at about 8PM then get up at 2AM-4AM and be like that for the rest of the week. Instead of taking my cherished Singapore Airlines I was on Air Canada which means I got to Seoul on Saturday, not Sunday. Perfect. I called a bud and we went out and had a few beers (after a 2 hour nap). Managed to stay up late enough to sleep til 10AM today and make my lunch date with my father-in-law. Thus, today I think I can bed down at about 11 and then get up at a decent hour Monday morning. If this works I'm planning a series of instructional DVDs and books on "Beating JetLag with Beer".


The boys.

Ok, so I finally downloaded my pics from the week and my son's first birthday. For those who don't know, Korean (first) birthdays are a lot more elaborate than Western ones. They have the usual decorations but also traditional Korean displays (basically food) as well as costumes for the kids (and parents and some guests, sometimes) and the choosing ceremony (the Korean word eludes me now). Basically, the kid will choose from 4-5 items and their choice will determine their future. Some common ones are: thread (long life), bow (will be a warrior), money or rice (will be rich), and/or pen, pencil, book, calligraphy brush (will be a scholar). Nowadays they should put something a little more current on the menu, like a Gameboy or something. As it was, my wife loaded the platter with the scholar items and Winston managed to choose the same as his brother: the calligraphy brush. The video from Spencer's birthday was funny...I thought it was an artist's brush and did a 'dooooogh!' but was relieved when I found out what it really meant. Whew!


Choose wisely, my son.

As you might have guessed, Koreans have a bit of an infatuation with their kids. Being such a competitive society, all parents believe their kids are #1 and they endure and sacrifice a lot to give them everything they need (ya, like going to Seoul to work and having them in Canada to enjoy the fresh air). Anyways, they're actions are fraught with many contradictions as well, like: kids are rarely in carseats, no one wears seatbelts in the back seats of cars, kids are even held in the front seats or (this is unreal) I even saw a mom with her kid in a 아부바 (abuba, backpack carrier) get into her car and drive away. Here's another one (below). Not sure of the logic here, but I can only think that the parents didn't want to disturb the babe in this car so they cracked a window and left it inside! Ya, on a relatively hot day the kid was left in the car. Good thing they came back quickly or I'd a taken a round out of them...forget the safety factor and let's think of what goes through the (looks like 1-year-old) kids head when it wakes up all sweaty in a car alone. Good God!


Hello people, it's a hot day!

Well, feeling a little wiped now so will have to give it a go at blogging more tomorrow. Later.

Going Back Home (?)

Tomorrow I'm getting on the plane back home...well, not really home; Canada is my home. My oldest son (aged 3.5) seems to think that Daddy's home is Korea. "Daddy is going home," he says. Kind of heartbreaking, but makes sense if you figure that I'm there more than here by about a margin of 5:1. Hmmm....well, this won't go on forever. We'll all be in Seoul soon, then my 'college life' (studying some, working some, drinking...um, some) will be replaced by my Daddy life, which is fine. I figure also that since I'm with them for 24-hours a day when I am here my time:kid ratio on an annual basis is probably not all that bad. Heck, things could be worse...I could be in Iraq or some place where bombs are going off...although that's not entirely out of the question given the political stuff going on with the North these days (but this has been going on for decades).

My friend who is getting married to the gal in Daegu stopped by tonight for dinner. He was here for like 3.5 hours and he, my wife and her sister and I talked about Korea and Koreans...there's a lot to know and except for his little trip here last month he's really a newbie at figuring things out (well, so am I, but I've got a few years on him). It's interesting and challenging to explain Korean ideas to someone who has not been there for at least 6 months (the time I think it takes, in total immersion/submersion to get a grip in the slightest sense). All I can say is that you have to keep at it and remember that 'Western' logic does not prevail in Korea. Like a friend of mine who said to my statement, "There are no gays in Korea...but there are gay bars there": "But isn't being gay a natural thing for some people and they are just gay from birth?" I replied, "That's just Western thinking." Weird as it sounds, there are lots of things that Koreans just think differently about. I know Koreans who were 'born' southpaws but had their 'leftist' thinking beaten out of them (sometimes literally) until they wrote with their right hand. Draconian and medieval as it sounds, this still goes on.

I'd better get some sleep. That plane leaves early tomorrow and the kids are in bed early so should really make the most of this time.

Shopping at Wal-Mart and Minaz is Coming!

There is a few things I can do in Canada with ease that takes a heckuva lot of effort in Korea. One is buying shoes. For some reason, Koreans have this idea that if a shoe is about half an inch (or so) longer it looks a lot better...I do not concur. In fact, I really hate it. It looks like you're wearing bloody clown shoes. Plus, I have wide feet (and Koreans generally, it seems, do not) so anything that fits my width there looks like skis. I found one pair there...a pair of Kumkang's (brand) for 150,000 won (about 120USD). So, last time and this time I was in Canada I made a trip to Wal-Mart for some new kicks. This time I got the same dress shoes as last time plus some runners (for the gym when I get back to Seoul...things are getting a little out of hand on the belly front). I love it here. Shoes are normal lengths, come in half sizes and wide widths. Perfect. It takes me like 3 minutes per pair of shoes to pick them out and, although I really like it in Seoul sometimes, no need to spend 10-20 minutes haggling on price. And at Wal-Mart you know the prices are good...it's not just a slogan, they are pretty darn cheap!

Ok, next topic: food. Today we had pizza and (much like I said before) the taste just was not enough. I had to slather the slices with Louisiana Hot Sauce just to make it bearable. I fear my tastebuds have reached the point of no return. How can I visit London (as I plan to sometime soon) and endure bland English food? Maybe I'd better pack some heat (hot sauce, that is) for my trip.

I'd also like to thank Shawn for adding me prominently to his links area on his blog. His was one of the first blogs I read and I read it everyday (using the Blogarithm thingy to remind me...I have the same service if you'd like to get an email when I update this thing). One part of his writing I really enjoyed was his stories about his time on Geoje-do (where a few friends of mine are right now, as it happens). Well, he made them into a book and I put the link on my site...not just because I like his work, but maybe he'll give me a promo copy (hehe). Anyways, here is the link and cover of the book. If you want an entertaining read take a look at it and his blog. Oh, I also donated to his site and got myself a gmail address...and gmail is pretty cool. Thanks Shawn!



And, last but certainly not least: my bud of over 10 years is finally coming to Seoul for a visit. I really didn't believe it until he sent me the confirmation email from his travel agent: confirmed and paid! Really, he's been threatening to come for a while and see what Seoul has to offer, but now it looks like he's gone and done it. He'll be there next week (just a couple of days after I get 'home' to Yeouido myself) so looks like I'll have a busy schedule for a while. Man, I can hardly believe it: Minaz in September, Yusheng in October...what next?

Time for bed...got to get up early tomorrow for kids' shots and family photos (yay!). Ah, the joy of being a Dad. Better get all I can, though, as I'll be out of here soon and back to the life of a 기러기아빠.

R.E.M., Narcolepsy and Keepin' it Hot

I think I'm addicted to the constant stimulation of Seoul. Not that being here is bad at all...it's very relaxing...maybe too relaxing. Basically, I get 8 hours of sleep (3AM-11AM) and then need a couple of hours during the day too. Now, I've been busy trying to keep up with these 2 kids and it is a different routine from what I'm used to in Yeouido, but there is one other big difference: I dream here everytime I go to sleep and rarely do so in Seoul. Ya, even a 10 minute nap gets me some R.E.M.s. It's kinda interesting that this happens so much here...does it mean that I needed that sleep?

So, about all this napping during the day, does that mean I'm narcoleptic? The same thing used to happen when I went back to my parents' place out in the country after I'd been in the 'big city' of Vancouver for a couple of years. Whenever I went home things were so quiet it was all I could do to stay awake sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my parents, but when you're out in the boonies and they're feeding you steak (mmmm...steak) it makes for a recipe to snooze. If I went there now from Seoul would I slip into a coma?

I'm thinking that my body may be just taking a rest when it can. A couple of days before coming home I had like 3 hours sleep then did a full day's work and stayed up til 11 again--and I'll be pretty busy as soon as I get back, too, so maybe that makes a whole lotta sense.

Ok, on to food. I'm missing the hot 'n' spicy fare that I get on a daily basis in Yeouido and I want to keep my tolerance up so I'm downing a lot of Hot salsa sauce. You know, it used to be too spicy for me, now it's like ketchup. I think my tastebuds are turning Korean. Also trying to get my fill of grapes and watermelon while I'm here on account of they are really pricey in Seoul (like $10-$15 for a small/medium melon).

Big Time Birthday, Late Night T.V. and Startup.com

My son's first birthday was a blast. Lots of my relatives were there (many of my wife's were there for our first son's b-day in Seoul, so it evened out) as well as a few of our friends' families. The foreigners/non-Koreans were pretty impressed with the whole show and the food was pretty tame on the spices so no one got scared off on account of the food. We now have a ton of clothes and toys for both kids (on top of all the stuff I brought) which is a change from the Korean tradition of giving cash, but that's alright by me.

As I noted, the jetlag here is pretty brutal on me (no less because I know I'm heading back soon). So, if I'm not out with one of my friends (as I was tonight, a bud came over to watch a DVD: more on that later) I end up watching a lot of latenight TV. Now, in Korea there are many infomercial and shopping channels but I got to admit that Canada/the US has some interesting ones, to say the least. Here's a shortlist of some recent ones:
Beach Body, Cortislim - Your typical diet crap
Core Secrets, Bowflex - Your typical exercise machine/program crap
MHR USA - Hairloss miracle!
NGR - the secrets of how to get government grants
ProActive - the name of a dogfood...but in this case it's a skin care lotion.
Little Giant Ladder - how much for a ladder?!?
Transformervac - how much for a vacuum?!?
DirectBuy - Wow! Enter the exciting world of wholesale home furnishings!
Jack's Powerjuicer - You need vitamins!
MDR Vital Factors - You need more vitamins!
TurnerShop - Lots of stuff, compliments of Ted.
Inside Approach - The newest golf swing fixer-upper
MyAuto - Buy the factastic Tornado Fuel Saver!
The Shopping Channel - Anything and everything
4x Made Easy - Make millions of $ by trading the foreign currency markets...they give you all the tools of the top traders on Wall Street...except the advanced degrees, trading experience, talent and access to massive amounts of capital. Pure crap.
Making Money with Notes - Some sort of get-rich-quick scheme
Teach me to Trade - trading stock for fun and profit...it's so last century.
ePower and Profits and Auctions for Income - turn your worthless crap into gold by selling it on Ebay!
And finally: Tony Robbins - the king of the infomercial and he can be your personal life coach!

Ok, enough time wasted there. Like I said, my bud Minaz came over tonight. He's also threatening to come to Seoul just as Yusheng is...but he's planning on September for his trip. Cool. I've know Minaz for over 10 years and we've managed to stay friends even though we work in different areas of different industries and have about as different backgrounds as you can get. I guess we give each other an interesting viewpoint whenever we talk about stuff...which is cool. Deep down I think we're more similar than we care to admit, though.

Anyways, we watched Startup.com. It was a pretty cool movie. (I think I have to think of a better word than cool for everything.) It reminded me of when I had some dot bomb expereince in the ol' Internet gold rush age with a little firms in Vancouver. Man, we went to VCs (venture capitalists) and got the same reaction. The CEO dude was even extremely similar to the CEO of our firm. The difference was we started a bit later and didn't get the easy money...but from what I understand it has gotten funding since I left (and went to Seoul) but it's still looking to hit the bigtime. Minaz works in a pretty large Net concern now and we both saw parallels with some of the firms we've been involved with too: sweat equity, each person having a slightly different ideal in mind, conflicts and their resolution (or explosive end) and the simple fact that too many were trying to make too much with too little (well, not too little capital, that was the problem). Anyways, if you want a good idea of what went on during the Interet hey-day this is a good one. It's a documentary of a real firm, so the actors (of course) have no idea what is going to happen next...all real people. If you need constant action or don't have an interest it'll probably put you to sleep quick-like, though.

My 26th flight across the Pacific

I know that sounds like a lot of flying (at 10 hours a pop it means about 11 days in the air) but it's been racked up over the last 14 years, so maybe not that big of a deal. However, I'm still on track for 5 return trips every 12 months for the last while (which is, itself, a little scary).

I had to take Air Canada with the ticketing snafu, and took these pics in the airport in Seoul. On the first one: you'd think the airline (our two official languages are English and French, in that order-thank you very much) would produce a sign with 100% correct English in it...but, alas, no. The second one, from the mirror in the men's loo, is pretty funny. I'm sure we'll see it on a Korean or Japanese T-shirt soon.


"All passengers are reguested"....man, maybe I'm too picky.


"When getting hands near flushing hold, flushing operates"...um, ya....ok.

Well, it's a good thing I wasn't hoping to (as I sometimes do) get my shopping done at the onboard duty free; because it was closed due to the ongoing strike by Cara Operations. This reminds me of Korea, where strikes are quite common and involve marches, sit-ins and very adversarial negotiations. Hmmm...maybe Canada and Korea are more similar than I thought.

One more thing from the flight...and it finally happened after 26 trips: they lost one of my bags. I felt as if I had entered the 'real traveler' club. The good thing is I got it delivered to my door about 24 hours later. The card they gave me said that 95% of bags are delivered within 24 hours. I think that's not a bad stat, considering the number of planes in the air. I wasn't too inconvenienced but it really goes to show that if you have something that HAS to get there with you you'd better carry it on...you never know.

Been sleeping when I can in the day and staying up at night. I've decided not to bother getting over jet lag (although being here 7 days I might just do that) as I have to get back to work pretty much as soon as I get back. My trips are always to short...a week here, 10 days there...so I get pretty screwed up with the time change. Don't even bother trying to figure out what time it is anymore. (My post is at local time in Canada.)

Ok, time to watch some late-night TV.

I'm going on a jet plane...

...but I know exactly when I'll be back again. You know the story...I'm finally leaving for some W&B (work & babysitting) in Canada, after a one-week delay. A few good things came from being in Seoul for the last week:

1. Got a chance to go out with the guys from the office and drop some won on a bottle of Wild Turkey.
2. After getting over my initial apathy, I got a lot of work done here...much of it was via email and phone, but I guess being in the office made it a bit easier to do.
3. With unfettered access to the remote control and full control of my schedule I was able to watch a lot of the Olympics (Korea's standings here.).


Wow, my bed is on the information superhighway!

I did my biannual (every 2 years) cleaning of my place last night (just joking, biannual means twice a year) and found this label on my mattress. Can't say as I know what it means, though. Do I have fiber optic springs or something?

Ok, one more push of stuff to get done here before I head for the airport this afternoon. Later.

Koreans at the Olympics

I have no idea how my Canadian team is doing at the Olympics. The Korean government has blocked all non-Korean Olympic newsfeeds, internet pages and phone calls until the end of the games. Well, that's a joke...kind of a parody of when they blocked all foreign blogs and monitored everything else after some knucklehead put the b-head-ing on his blog. (I do know, however that Korea is #10 in the medal standing and Canada is tied for #38; aka last.)

Seriously, though...when I watch AFN I see predominantly American athletes (or at least competitions/races where the Americans have a chance at medalling). Here is no different...in Korea I watched the women's archery competition til like midnight. It's actually quite interesting...a lot like curling (which, by the way, is the #1 sport for wealthy North Americans). The Koreans got a Gold, Silver and Bronze in 2000 but this year just a Gold and Silver after one Korean was out-shot by a rather manish Taiwanese....um, Lady. Also watched (skeet) shooting where Korea got a Silver. Korea also got Silver and Bronze in Men's Individual All-Around Gymnastics...man, they got quite the powerhouse here. And just to prove that they can come up with a stat for anything...this article talks about how a Greek beat a South Koeran in taekwondo: it was the first time ever in the games in a Greek vs. Korean match-up that the Greek won. Greece is the word, Greece is the word.

There was a football/soccer game between Korea and Mali yesterday, too. Korea was down 0-3 then got 2 goals and Mali got a goal too...they ended in a tie and Korea is in the quarterfinals now. You read right...a Mali player headed the ball into his own net! Not off a foot or shoulder...looked like he took a calculated shot!


Yay! The Mali screwed-up! Ma-li screw-up!..da.da...da.da.da!
From this article.

Listen to the jingle of that change in their pockets! It's not just the medals that are clack-clanking...but the green. Some major cash can be made by getting a gold in some countries. Gold medal gymnasts from China now have their own (one of them is the largest) sportswear companies and the Ukraine is promising 100,000 USD to Yana Klochkova if she gets Gold (she has 2 already) and also the title of Hero of Ukraine. (Note: the average wage in the Ukraine is about USD71 a month.) Wow. Another country whose name eludes me at the moment is offering a free house to its Olympic hopeful...I remember hearing that the odds were pretty slim, but still...

English an official language here? And 3-side Gimbab.

This goes into the "they have obviously never been to Korea" category. From this article:

While information about neighboring countries such as Russia, Japan and China as well as North Korea seems correct, South Korea is falsely described as having English as its official language as well, which is a far stretch from reality.

You got that right!

And, from this article:

Korea's Triangle Rice & Seaweed Snack Pioneer Introduces Jumbo Option

As far as Kang Seung-gu is concerned, it all starts with size and shape. Kang, who introduced triangular gimbap in 1991, is now pushing the limits of the snack's seaweed wrapping by producing a jumbo gimbap that is about 50 percent larger. Fittingly, the jumbo version of the rolled-rice-and-filling snack is found on the shelves of 7-Eleven, the U.S. company that thinks big, too. Its "Big Gulp" drink size boasts enough volume to power a small car a few kilometers. Convenience stores throughout the nation sell more than 700,000 gimbap per day, compared to about 20,000 Big Macs sold by McDonald's. The snack contains the equivalent of a bowl of rice plus a modest serving of vegetable or seafood at a cost of 700 won.

Altering the size might not seem to be much in the way of hard work, but Kang, the president of Samgu Corp. based in Gyeonggi Province, spent 200 million won on purchasing and modifying a machine to produce the heftier gimbap. The process took 4 1/2 years. "I was hesitant to invest that much money, but then I thought that it would be worth my efforts," said the 59-year-old former navy mechanic. Samgu, which averages about 700 million won in sales a month and a 140 million won operating profit, is dedicating 30 percent of its production to the new item.

Kang expects a growth spurt from local appetites. "Koreans, especially guys, tend to eat until they feel stuffed. You might find that many purchase two triangular gimbap at a time, sometimes even with instant noodles," said Kang, who has gimbap every day. [I eat 1 jumbo or 2 smaller ones most days--JB] The food executive is less sanguine about a long-term impact. Copycat gimbap will soon appear, he confidently predicts. "There is nothing I can do, you know. The good news is that this time it will take a lot longer for competitors to figure out the new technology. I guess three months?" he said. [They already have--JB]

Currently, retail giants Lotte and LG operate their own gimbap processing plants, making small companies such as Samgu more vulnerable than before. Those market players are constantly putting forth new ideas such as gimbap vending machines. "Other than quickie food [nice choice of words--JB] and good service, convenience stores can hardly differentiate themselves," said Kim Il-jin, a public relations officer at LG 25, a convenience store chain run by LG Mart. Kang waded into the gimbap business in 1988. He had 10 employees working in a 99-square-meter basement. Little capital was needed. "All I needed was a rice cooker and a refrigerator," he said..."I am striving to make good-quality gimbap as a way of surviving. If not, I will just go bankrupt and will be chased away by debt collectors."

Sounds like he has a pretty tough row to hoe, but that's life in the commodity business in Korea.

Hilarity Online and is my Blog Finnished?

Everyday I take a read of the English language versions of the local papers like JoongAhn Ilbo, Digital Chosun Ilbo, Korea Herald and Korea Times to get a local view of the news (or, sometimes, a translated view of foreign news). Sometimes I take a look at Google News (I find it to be pretty good) and Bloomberg News for financial stuff or Institutional Investor for investment news (I have a subscription so all the stories are available). It's interesting to find a story from outside Korea about something happening here (especially if I know the real story) or to find one about a foreign story that the local press has applied their spin. Another blog, the Rathbone Press does a pretty good job of disecting the headlines and Joel's Blog is quite good to, as he is pretty fluent in Korean giving him a bit more insight--although lately he's been talking more about 고추/gochoo and basketball than anything else.

I also take a look at the online bulletin boards such as Korea Herald, English Spectrum and Youloveit (neat name). These boards have a line on things like Korean culture, the local bar scene (which is, bascially, just more Korean culture), things for sale and some pretty hilarious postings of people looking for love or jobs or whatever.

Here are some recent postings that cracked me up:

Is there anyone who has baby in Nowon? 김정은 2004-08-18

hi

i'd like to build good friendship with who has baby as Mom.
i live nearby Nowon area and expect baby soon also i'm fluent english speaker.
if u have interest, send me a mail,plz.
[email was here]

Ok, you're fluent, eh? I guess there's fluency and there's online fluency.

LOOKING FOR AGENTS WHO CAN SEARCHING JOB FOR ILEGAL WORKER.

Dear,
Sir/Madam.

I am bangladeshi ,30 male.looking for job as a Manuf:industry,factory,Hotel,Restaurant etc:
I have 8 year's working experience in abroad.I can speak above 6 languages.
My Education level is Higher secoandary level.

Plz:Contract by e-mail:[email was here]
H/P:[phone number was here].
Thank's.
[his actual name was here!].
Suwon city.

So, let me get this straight....you're an illegal worker so you're posting your name, city, email and phone number on the internet? That's so crazy it just might work!

Here's a doosey:

Lonely [her name], trade korean for english with benefit 2004-07-15

Hi this is [her name]. I am very lonely in Korea. I am from Italy. I need a man. Acutally any man. My preference is for fat guys. But it does not really matter what they look like. Just as long as they are big where it counts. This is not a joke. I am very lonely and I did not know what else to do. I have a talented tongue and I am sure I can please you. I have a big chest and I love to get it on. What have you got to lose. Call me [her name] at [her number].

I work late so it is better to call me after 11 or early morning around 5 am.

For the night of your life... call me. I also enjoy the company of woman.. so ladies who like ladies call to. Let's rock. Can you rock my world?

Man, so not only is she lonely, but she's into chubby guys...or any man or woman will do...and she even puts her number on the posting. Wonder who/how many responded.

There was even one that provided a link to her X-rated pictures...complete with an address! Either these gals are (i) fearless, (ii) desperate or (iii) stupid.

For something more sombre take a look at this blog posting by a Korean who can't be here to support his good friend (thanks for the link from BigHominid--careful, parts of this blog are pretty racey).

Now for the question of the day: Why are so many Finns reading my blog? Take a look at the stats:

Top 30 Domains (Unique) - Comment
(.net) Networks (151) - These two make sense, the U.S. is a...
(.com) Companies (144) big place and has lots of traffic.
(.fi) Finland (56) - Huh? No idea about this one.
(.mil) US Armed Forces (37) - Ok, I know a few people on base.
(.ca) Canada (17) - Yay! Someone from home is reading!
(.sg) Singapore (14) - These ones are all Pacific Rim so some connection
(.jp) Japan (7) - These ones are all Pacific Rim so some connection
(.au) Australia (4) - These ones are all Pacific Rim so some connection
(.ph) Philippines (3) - These ones are all Pacific Rim so some connection
(.uk) United Kingdom (3) - Lots of Brits here.
(.nl) Netherlands (2) - Know 2 guys in The Netherlands
(.at) Austria (2) - Maybe Arnie's dad is reading it
(.th) Thailand (2) - Pac Rim
(.edu) US Edu. Inst. (2) - Even schools? I feel so scholastic.
(.nz) New Zealand (1) - Pac Rim
(.za) South Africa (1) - Nelson Mandela? Nah!
(.de) Germany (1) - Ah, the land of (most of) my roots.

Ok, that's enough for now.

Be Careful What You Wish For (Credit Cards and Unions)

As you may have come to learn...Korea is a land of (if anything) extremes. Extreme friendliness to some, hostility to others. Extreme affluence for some, poverty for others (although not as pronounced as other Asian countries). Studying, working, playing and (especially) drinking are taken to the nth degree as well. You can see it in language as well. In Korean 'extreme' is 아주/a-joo, but most use the word 너무/neo-moo which technically does not mean extreme or 'a lot/much' but, rather, 'too much'. So here too much is not too much, it is just a lot. (You may have to be here a little while to really figure that out.)

Now, add to the mix credit cards. A few years ago (just in time for the 2002 World Cup and a few years after the 1997 Financial Crisis here: just long enough for people to forget the lessons, it seems) credit cards were all the rage. People and businesses (including restaurants and hotels for their World Cup supplies ordering) didn't even have to line up to get cards...the card companies went to the street (literally) and dragged them over to sign-up tables where they made them (immediately fulfilled) promises of tens of million of won (tens of thousands of dollars) worth of this fabulous thing called credit. Nevermind that the card companies didn't have any where near the sophisticated screening and portfolio management (portfolio of cardholders' ability to pay, occupation classes) systems of the West: they were after market share. Because, this is the broken record, once something succeeds in Korea EVERYONE has to do it too...and nothing succeeds like excess. In the end, Koreans had multiple cards (all individually scored and with individual credit limits, many of which exceeded their gross income).

There were even tax-breaks for using cards. If you charged 10% or more of your income on your card you got a 20% tax credit for that amount...or a 2%+ deduction in your tax rate! Unreal! Card firms also offered cash advance services which made it convenient (if expensive) to get money in a hurry. This was welcomed by the masses as banks here cut off ATM operations at midnight until 8AM so those late-night drinking or gambling binges couldn't be financed from a normal cash machine. Thus, men, women, children and even infants could, and did, get cards.

But it can't last forever. People started to get behind in their bills. They started to rob Peter or pay Paul by using cash advances to fund the minimum payments on their other cards. This happens in the West too, but there are also systems to check on this kind of thing (as far as I know) but not here. They also got home equity or insurance policy loans out (thanks to the telemarketters at the life companies here...a manager of the loan division I know said it was really quite easy to churn their book of customers to get loan business) but how long could that last?

Eventually some Koreans took thing to their 'natural' (too much) conclusion and committed suicide (but the debts of the parents flow to their kids, so they had to find a way to shield them from such a burden). Some of the horrors of Koreans in debt are in this article. Of course some cardholders are getting things under control, but some of that could be due to changing the standards of how the debts are categorized...you never quite know sometimes. Others are taking advantage of revolving debt that some card firms are offering (basically they change the credit card payment system to that of an unsecured line of credit).

So, have the companies and cardholders learned something? Well I hope so, because many of both groups are either bankrupt or on the way there. Card companies are worried about the Korean economy but they seem to be back to their old tricks (with the help of the government) as the newest plan is that it's ok to go in debt so long as it's to buy a digital TV. Here we go again.

Now for my second topic: the sale of the local ITC (Investment Trust Companies); namely: KITC (Korea ITC) and DaeHan ITC. Both are for sale (after having been taken over by the government after the 1997 Financial Ka-Boom) and both had/have foreign companies interested in them. However, the unions are getting pretty vocal about all of this takeover business (whether foreign or local firm is in the running). Take a look at the signs they've plastered on their marquis buildings:


KITC and DaeHan ITC's landmark buildings in Yeouido. Both are vehemently opposed to almost any takeover.

They've also (as of last Thursday) threatened a massive strike if the deals go through--something that any potential investor doesn't want to hear. Union strife has been a very problematic part of life in Korea for a long time (well, maybe it was needed when Park Chung Hee and the other dictators were doing their thing...but that was more of a human rights thing). So much so that many foreign firms simply will not even look at Korean firms as they believe that sometime (sooner or later) they will be held hostage by their workers no matter the pay or treatment.

Well, today PCA dumped the idea of buying DaeHan ITC, leaving Hana Bank to try to salvage the deal. We may never know why they pulled, but I have to think that labor leaving their desks for an indeterminate amount of time might have factored in some. So the unions got their wish. Instead of begin bought by a well-capitalized foreign firm they will be either bought by a poorer local firm (and have at least as many job losses due to redundancies) or (later) by another foreign company.

Update: The next day I passed DaeHan ITC's building and the sign was gone...I guess they like Hana Bank better than PCA.

This just in...I just found this little story about bribery in Korea. It seems a local bank (that had the lock on managing exchange rate and other risks for the massive KTX-Korea's bullet train-expansion) was set to get a little cash from good ol' Deutsche Bank in order to get the business. Nevermind that the bank's personnel didn't have the wherewithal to understand the products being sold, that didn't stop them from entertaining the idea. Bribery isn't a way of everyday life in Korea as it is in some countries (the passport office only collects the required amount, no greasing needed) but in some areas there is obviously room for improvement. Having such a global behemoth as Deutsche Bank implicated makes things even more interesting (although it may have been a local phenomenon). (I find it interesting how the Korea Times article linked above gives quite a different spin as this Bloomberg piece.)

Camcorderphone Killed the Payphone Star

Anyone who was around in 1981 when MTV aired their first video ("Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles; second video info here) will know that there is one thing that you can't stop...technology. Let me rephrase that: technology that happens to make sense to consumers who are bombarded by advertising and promotion that tells/commands them that this new, new thing is the thing for them. (The Guardian has this article on why Beta sucks and VHS rules.)

Korea (of course...how many times have I said this?) takes this to a whole new level. Remember way back when I extolled the virtues of my new camphone? Then I let you in on the super-duper new phones that are coming out? Well, here's the next logical iteration: camcorder phones! Yes, and I don't mean 30 seconds of recording time, either. They're talking ONE HOUR! Pretty soon they'll have all the bells and whistles of them fist-sized camcorders...unreal.

That's not the only thing phones can do here, though. Koreans can (thanks, I believe, in part due to their use of Qualcomm's CDMA-2000 standard that is far more advanced than the 'other' licenses) control the temperature and appliances in their homes (like a/c, heating, ovens/ranges, washer/dryers...as if you can't wait to get home to do the laundry) and transfer money to people (without even knowing their bank account number). They also have some pretty cool MP3 functions, and some of the phones have dual 1cm diameter speakers on them so you can really pump up the volume.

Of course, in the land of falling prices (no, Wal-Mart isn't big here, but almost every product has intense competition which leads to price-gouging and many unprofitable firms) cellphone charges are falling at a pretty alarming rate. Well, alarming to the cellphone firms more than to users...they are making the usual predictions that lowering fees will lead to less investment in the cell/grid, global warming and an attack by North Korea (or some such calamitous event). This is all fine by me. I use my phone A LOT. All of my long distance calls are from it (thanks to 90%-off discount services that I programmed in) as well as textmessaging and emails. In the 2 months since I got this thing I've sent/received over 2,800 text messages (about 50 a day), 200 emails/photos and about an hour a day of Go-Stop (Korean cardgame).

So where does that leave poor ol' payphones? You know, those clunky things that can only send voice transmissions (no photos) and you have to use coins or some card to get them to work and they cost an arm-and-a-leg if you want to call long distance. I guess they're just another casualty, but they sure come in handy when your battery dies after all that talking/texting/emailing/gameplay.

Still (Sulking) in Seoul

Remember how I said I was on my way to Canada to see my family? Ya, I was supposed to leave on Saturday night, 6PM. Well, it seems I'm needed here to complete this deal (oh the joys of investment banking). You know, I read about this in Monkey Business and other personal business expereince books, but I didn't think it'd happen to me. Heck, I'm a foreigner! How can the rules apply to me? But, as I know, being unique has its drawbacks as no one in the firm can do what I do...teh good news is: they can't live without me; the bad news is: they can't live without me. It seems they need me here for some documentation (um, I can't sign anything here...and everything I do is in English and either over the phone or by email) and possibly for presentations (but those are all in Korean and we have excellent internal and local partner staff to handle all aspects of those) so, really, there's no need for me to physically be anywhere.

Anyways, as it happens, all I've done today is email-related things and even that has been pretty sparce...things I could have easily done anywhere in the world (or even from Mars, for that matter). Now I know what it feels like to be Grey Davis and get recalled...but I didn't even get a stint on the talkshows to gab about it.

This is my only gripe session about this topic...tune in later for more insightful observations about Korea. I guess it could be worse...sounds like this guy had a tough time in Guam.

North Korea and Ireland's Connection

Ok, it's not at all scientific. I was just taking a look through my millions of jpegs and such and found these two to be, well, eerily similar.


DPRK's Kim Jong-il and U2's Bono

Is it me? Or does North Korea's (Democratic People's Republic of Korea/DPRK) "Dear Leader" look at least a bit like U2's Bono? Of course they have some pretty different ideas about human rights and the environment but I get the feeling that being in the public eye for so long, the throngs of adoring fans (well, in Kim's case adoring may be a stretch) and accompanying entourage/roadies may have made them both a little distant from work-a-day realities. At least Bono doesn't require visitors to put flowers at the foot of massive statues of his father, though.

Here's an interesting story that's sure to attract an obliquely-worded press release from the North.

Paparazzi and Foreign Buying of Korea Companies

Just in time for Mel Gibson's The Paparazzi movie, here is a candid shot of Tommy from 하나둘셋/hana-dool-set (1-2-3) fame!


It's Tommy!

Actually, he's on the snippet-show 'Wake-up' where he and a Korean girl (and a lovable muppet-like friend) say simple phrases again and again and again...all to the same music everytime. ("I'm hot...I'm hot...I'm cold...I'm cold...I'm hhhhoooottt...I'm cccooooolllld") I tape it every morning for my kids back home and try to learn a bit of Korean...everyone speaks so (relatively) slowly on the show and uses simple tenses, which is good for us gringos.

It was pretty funny seeing him...it was at Starbucks in Sinchon and I immediately recognized him (well, seeing him everyday with his two-tone hair makes him an easy mark). I was waiting for a bud and he was with a gal so I didn't intrude...but I did intrude enough to take this pic. I was going to approach him, but then I thought it weird to act like a fan for a guy who's on a kid's simple English program; but I'm sure if my friend showed up before he left I'd have done something. I'll probably hear from his lawyers soon anyways, on account of the pic. It's tough to make out that it's actually him, so I doubt any of the local rags would give me much for it...there goes my dream of paying for my trip home with a snapshot.

It's weird, you know. There are so many celebrities in Seoul (especially in Yeouido, as the MBC and KBS broadcasting firms are located here). When I went to that party after the MTV concert my friends said they saw lots of 'talents' (singers, comedians, actors, anyone in the limelight) but I hadn't a clue who they were.

One time I was in the gym with my 장인어른/jang-ee-neo-ruen/father-in-law and he introduced me to this guy while we were in the shower...he looked quite familiar but given the surroundings I couldn't quite place him. Then I got it...he was the anchorman from KBS news (now he's the Washington DC correspondent). There's also a popular comic performing in a bar in Yeouido (I think he's a part-owner of the place) but I had no idea until my junior from work told me (he got his autograph, too).

On another unrelated topic: remember when I said that foreigners are buying up Korean companies? Well, looks like they've bought about 44% (!) of the stocks on the Korean Stock Exchange. Wow, can you say takeover? What would happen if Americans bought large swathes of Canadian companies? Oh, ya, they already have. Anyways, some Koreans are calling foul (forgetting that you can't have capitalism without capital. The craziest idea is the one to levy a tax on the investing funds...ya, right...as soon as that gets serious many foreigners'll just sell pre-emptively and pull the rug out from many of the firms (not to mention the economy) here. Of course there'd be calls to prohibit capital from leaving Korea (as there was in the Park Chung Hee era (1961-1979) when emigrants could only take about $20 with them when they left the country--although I'm sure that didn't apply to government-types). That kind of thinking would put Korea about 10-20 back from where it is (which is, in many areas, 5-15 years back from the West).

That was close, almost sounded political there. Just so you know, I don't make this blog a sounding board for my political views, however when it comes to economics and business I think I have a relatively educated and experienced opinion...so be prepared to be bored (or aroused, depending on your view of the dismal science) every once in a while.

UPDATE: looks like The Donald is putting some more dough into Korea now as well.

Crazy times

Man, with all that is going on I can see my posting to the ol' blog getting bogged down the next couple of week. Got a ton of stuff to do at work as well as the trip (at which time I'll be in full-Daddy mode for the duration) which means precious little time to blog. Well, we'll see how much I can relate to you from Canada.

In the meantime, take a look at Shawn's blog. He's got some funny stuff to say usually, although lately he's been a little infatuated with taking pictures of his chubby bod (for those of you who know...we have similar body types).

Later.

Koreans Legal Adult Age and Captured Killer

Korea's pretty funny sometimes. Take a look at this article about changing the age of majority from 20 (already a year younger than the U.S.) to 19 (the same as British Columbia, Canada, but higher than the 18 that is prevalen federally and in some Canadian provinces). Here parents are commenting on the ability to take on rights and responsibilities at the tender age of 19.

"My boy is almost an adult now and the law now even considers him a man, but he has to learn his responsibilities and accept his own choices in life," Han Ho-sun, mother of a 20-year-old, said. "But what does he know? He is not ready to make decisions as an adult yet. And if he is granted too much freedom, I'm worried he'll get himself into trouble."

Other parents of young adults agreed. They nodded their heads to the idea that the government, before lowering the adult age, should provide training and programs to teach what adult responsibilities entail - such as building up a good credit record, making political decisions and getting married.

"What? 19 years? Kids that age aren't really mature enough to handle anything! Let alone complete adulthood," said one parent who asked for anonymity.

The first two seem pretty sensible, but the last one (if the name wasn't withheld) would be prime fodder for the Tonight Show's Headlines segment, I think.

Then there's this article about the capture of an ex-convict suspected of stabbing to death two police offices a few days ago. This part deserves special attention:

As police raided the house, Lee injured himself by stabbing his abdomen and thighs several times while holding a child and a 48-year-old woman as hostages to resist arrest.

He was immediately sent to Ehwa Womans University Mok-dong Hospital for emergency treatment...

What? Did I just read that right? The suspect stabbed himself enough to need to go to the emergency room? What was he trying to do? Commit suicide so as to evade capture?!??! Methink perhaps the (can I say vengeful?) police on the scene may have helped him guide the knife just a bit. Maybe he did stab himself, but it sure seems weird.

Here's an op/ed on the capture and how it was handled by the police.

James is Going to Canada and Foreigners are Coming to Korea!

Ya, I'm off to Canada/Vancouver again soon...ah, to be back in the land of fresh air, real mountains and diapers. Luckily, I think my oldest boy is out potty-trained now. Not sure, though, haven't been home for about 2 months...and a lot can happen in that time.

Now that we've done a deal here my boss/CEO would have me here all of August (well, all of the year, actually) but I have to go back as it's my younger son's first birthday, or 첫돌/Chot-dol (they have a different name for almost everything here). For Koreans the 1st and 60th birthdays are the biggies. 1st because the child made it through the often-treacherous first year (remember, Korea used to be really, really poor...so much so that is was a 100-days celebration as well, but that is starting to become less important as more babies are living past it). 60th because the Korean Zodiac is similar to the Chinese one...with 12 animals (ya, I'm a pig). There are also five colors which elude me at the moment, although I know two of them are black and gold. The Chinese use five elements: metal, earth, wood, fire and water. This year is Year of the Wood Monkey, which I guess is better than 1981...Year of the Wood Cock/Rooster. (Hehe, had to put that in there.) Anyways, at age 60 you've gone through all 12 years 5 times for each of the colors/elements...a truly magical time, I guess. Thus, by age 60 men (no mention of women) should have at least one grandchild, preferably a grandSON--one more reason to be happy that we had our oldest boy in my wife's father's 60th year!

Now about foreingers (as I/we call all non-Koreans...even in Canada for some reason). Korea ain't called The Hermit Kingdom for nothin'. Basically, there are very, very few foreigners here. Something like 200,000 in a country of 48 Million. Most of us are (like me) in Seoul and (not like me) teachers. Others are manual labour workers from China, India and Southeast Asia (doing the 3D-dirty, dangerous, difficult-jobs that Koreans feel they no longer need to perform en mass).

Foreigners (or 외국인/weigook-in or 외국사람/weigook-saram) are treated quite differently from native Koreans (and likely for good reason in some cases). We all need to register with our local 구/ku (ward/borough) office and do so (i) every 12 months or (ii) if we move to another 구 (whichever comes first). We get an Alien Registration Card that has our pic and address on it as well as our visa type (teachers are E-2, I fall under E-7 or 'other worker, director'). We need the ARC to get a job, get a bank account or do almost everything else official here. But it's not the same as a Korean Citizenship Card. Some promotions, for example the bonus card for Fantaseum, is only for Koreans, not me. So I can't get 10% off movies or get bonus points there...waaaaaaaaa!

Also, foreigners cannot easily buy land in Korea (although I've also heard that it just can't be done...not sure who to believe on this). Foreign investment companies, however, still did so--and did in great amounts after the 1997 financial crisis. (In fact, they were the first firms in Korea to EVER use due diligence/research before buying and developing land...Korean execs, it seems, did it based more on intuition than anything else before then.)

It's also hard for foreign firms to get market share here--unless they partner with a local firm such as Otis did with LG Group concerning elevators and escalators. Heck, foreign car makers have just 3% of the local market! (Not counting GM's recent purchase of Daewoo Motors, which is a small player anyways.)

One thing foreigners have had some success in doing is buying all or parts of troubled Korean companies. Korean firms put off foreign investment as long as possible, but in the end they can take on foreign investors--대한생명/DaeHan sengmyung/Life aka Korea Life Insurance is 5% owned by Australia's largest bank, Macquarie Bank. Korean firms, however are loathe, it seems, to disclose what most purchasers would consider to be important facts about the businesses. 교보생명/Kyobo Sengmyung/Life apparently had months of due diligence done on it by buyout firms, but in the end not enough was known to do a deal. Foreign firms have been able to buy billions of USD in Korean stocks, SK Life, large portions of Korean banks, other firms and one (PCA) is in the running to buy 대한투자증권/DaeHan Tooja Jeunkwon/DaeHan ITC/Investment Trust Company aka Daetoo (names here can get pretty long and complicated) though, so there is some opening up of this place.

Funny, the longer I'm here, the more normal all of this seems...not sure that is a good thing.

Yusheng's Coming to Seoul!

Ah, finally...someone else I know is coming here from Canada for a visit. First was my cousin, Lars in May of 2003. He came at the perfect time. Weather was getting warm, but not unbearably hot and Children's Day and Buddha's Birthday were celebrated (day off) during his time here too. That was cool. Here are some pics from his visit. We did almost everything you could as a tourist for a short visit (but light on the bar scene as I was not as educated as I am now on it...and he was so young and impressionable at the time).



Welcome to Korea...you must have SARS; Seoul City Hall traffic square; Myoungdong on the weekend; kids and wooden swords @ Korean Heritage Museum; us at the Korean Folk Village; on the bus heading to Incheon Airport.

He had a fever (from a normal cold) a few days before he got here, so that and the general lack on English language ability by almost everyone here lead him to be delayed getting out of the airport by over an hour. Next time I'll give my visitors a little note in Korean to show the airport staff saying: "I'm a top gamer from _______ please make sure I don't miss my tournament and speed me through customs quickly." or some such thing--Koreans love their online games here; they even have a TV station dedicated to it.

Lars had this to report about Korea (and he's flown about 1,000,000 miles thus far): it's similar to Europe, but just LOTS more people.

The second person was a guy I met through a teacher in Pusan/Busan I know through a friend of mine in Nanaimo (my old roommate, actually; funny how things seem to dovetail as we get on in years). Anyways, her sister's bud is getting married to a gal in Taegu/Daegu and wanted some pointers on how to not screw-up in front of the in-laws-to-be. He was here for a week or so and in Seoul for a couple of days...but I think we crammed a week of drinking into one night.

Yusheng should have a good time here and should be here sometime in the fall, date to be determined. The guy's some kinda world traveler and he takes some pretty cool pic of architecture wherever he goes. I've noticed that many of them are devoid of human presence...something he'd be challenged to do in Seoul. There's always people around you here no matter the time or place. If you want to see some cool shots of my other hometown, Vancouver, take a look here.

Ok, time to get my pubmaps out and plan Yusheng's course.

More on Yeouido

I think if I'm going to claim 여의도/Yeouido as my new hometown I should know something about it...and by extension you should too. I've got a little more to add to my background on it thus far.

As you may know, ~do can mean two things in Korean. One is: province, such as 경기도/Kyunggi-do. The other is island, such as 제주도/Jeju-do (also spelled Cheju-do, depending on what era the map or publication was edited in...things changed in 2002, just in time to confuse the heck out of tourists coming here for the World Cup). Since Yeouido (also spelled Youido, Yoido and Yeoido) is pretty tiny and part of 영등포구/Youngdeungpo-ku (ku is like a ward or borough such as Queen's or The Bronx) the ~do here signifies that it's an island. I had no idea that its ~do was 'island' because it looks as though they've filled in or paved over much of the water that once separated Yeouido from the mainland.

Anyways, way back when Yeouido used to be on the outskirts of Seoul and it housed the countries first real airport. (Later Gimpo/Kimpo Airport was built in the new outskirts of Seoul and now, since the city is not getting any smaller, Incheon Airport is the new International airport for Seoul; although Kimpo still handles much of the domestic traffic.) In fact, Yeouido Park, which until 1996 or so was a slab of pavement instead of the picturesque park that it is, was the runway of that airport! So, here in West Yeouido, near the park, is where the streets are named 양말산/Yang-mal-san or 'sock mountain'. I got to thinking why it would be called sock mountain...there wasn't a sock factory here to my knowledge and I hadn't heard a story about removing one's socks for any reason (although I wouldn't dismiss it if I heard it; there are so many different traditions here). When I heard about the airport I came up with this theory: sock mountain is the hill (here they call a mountain what we in Vancouver would call a knoll, I find) where the windsock was placed. Make sense?

For more exciting and ground-breaking news stay tuned to this blog.

Gays in Korea and Korean History (no real link, though)

Being gay in Korea is like being gay in the U.S. military...in 1950. Let's just say that it's not near as lovingly embraced as in the West/US. Gays marrying in Korea? C'mon! There are no Korean gays! Of course, if one is gay one can hardly be Korean. I'm not trying to piss of PCers out there, this is just the way many Koreans (especially men and older ones) think. Although the younger generation are more open to other ideas, it's the older generation that controls politics, education, finance, and even media and culture to a large degree. The CEOs of the TV stations are all men and all old guys, as an example.

Things are changing, though, as evidenced in this poster for a gay bar in Itaewon. (Now that you know its name you can either (i) know where to go or (ii) know where to avoid depending on your preference.)


Yikes!

Here are a few websites on gays in Korea: here and here. This blog has a tongue-in-cheek explanation of what being gay is...basically a primer in 'gaydar' (how to recognize a gay in Korea or elsewhere). However, I think that many of the guys here have gay characteristics. It's pretty weird sometimes. In a business meeting one guy from a partner firm put his hand on my leg (just above the knee) as he spoke of my experience in finance and what I do for the investment process. This would be outrightly gay, but in Korea it's ok...it just shows (non-sexual) fondness and a measure of trust between two people. My boss does it also...much to the surprise of foreigners in our group...but, again, it's not 'gay' its just the culture here. My wife's uncle holds my hand, too...and not for 2-3 seconds; for 2-3 minutes. At first I thought it was pretty weird, but it just means that he really likes me. (Having said all this I know I'll have to put up with a deluge of gay jokes when I see my buds back in Canada, crap.)

Over here guys touch guys and girls touch girls, but it's just not sexual. Many young gals (especially) can be seen holding hands while walking down the road. Add to that the schoolgirl uniform and you have a formula for stimulation for most Western guys. You get used to it, though.

I really wonder about some of these Korean guys, though. The Face Shop has a model on all of their (make-up) stores that's pretty gay looking. There are others as well. These guys are (I hope) more metrosexual than homosexual, although the distinction is greying. Many of the boy bands have similar dudes in them-the clothes, the hair, the dance moves. I got to really wonder sometimes. (Remember this guy?)

Perhaps because of the stigma attached to being gay in Korea most gays don't come out of the closet--choosing instead to marry, have kids and be a 'normal' person or going into singing or acting or modeling and making the excuse that they're too busy with their career to find a wife. Either way, it's quite different from in the West where there is more acceptance of such things.

On another topic: yesterday I had lunch with my CEO/boss and he mentioned that China and Korea were having a tiff about the Gorguyeo Dynasty. He said, "oh, how can you know about that...it is just Korean history". Well, when I said that is was about 50AD-600AD and was concurrent with the Paekche and Shilla empires and before the United Shilla dynasty that preceded the closely-named Koryo Dynasty of about 1100-1300AD that was right before the venerated Chosun Dynasty of 1392-1910 he just looked at me. Not sure if he got all of what I said, but a colleague dining with us said that I do, in fact, know about Korean history...hey, I've been here almost 2 years-and not all of it has been in the bars. My dates of Koryo are a little off, but if you want more information of where Korea came from take a look at this site. It has a cool timeline...just right if you're writing a report! So, if you're speaking with a Korean don't be surprised if they assume that since you're a foreigner you can't know precisely anything about Korea--and if you do know some facts or stories from its history you can really impress them well here.

Oh, and just for the record: I'm not gay.

Bunshinsaba...Abandon Hope all Ye Who Enter the Village

As promised yesterday, last night I saw a Korean horror movie: 분신사바/Bunshinsaba.

First, though, there was time to kill before the movie so a little sam-gyup-sal was in order. We went to Don Don Restaurant in Jong-no (downtown) where there was an interesting concept. It's on the fourth floor and is entirely open-air...but they still had fans and air conditioners on full blast, too. Also, the condiments (쌈장/ssam-jang or bean paste, 상추/sang-choo or lettuce, 미역국/mi-yok-gook or kelp soup and other goodies that are hand-delivered in most restaurants were self-service after the initial place-setting. This was cool for me as (i) I love 쌈장 and 상추 with my pork and (ii) we were seated right next to the buffet. They also cut the pork right in front of you (Koreans are always trying to differentiate themselves, especially regarding food). Trouble is, it kinda reminded me of Lorena Bobbit...dooough!

Next stop was ice cream at LG25 (LG's answer to 7-11...is it really open 25 hours a day?) and try my hand at shooting a Gatling gun. Not a real one, mind you, it shoots pellets. (I'd like to see how my G.I. buddies do at that one.) Of course, the place was staffed by 2 little Korean gals (all the better to lure in the men), one of which was a pretty good shot with the Beretta.


Cutting the Pig; Shooting the Gatling; Scaring the Girls

They say that fear for Koreans is different from us Westerners (see article) but I think it had many similarities to the Western genre...although the setting and plot was a little different. I won't reveal too much, but let's just say that the director did a good job of creating a lot of suspense and fright in that theatre. There was one gal there who went just berserk at about every scary scene (especially in the beginning) and everyone laughed after each outburst. I think she was scared enough for the whole room. Hahaha. Just hilarious. Without that comic relief it would have been a lot scarier, I think.


Scenes from the movie...walking...a hand...raising her face (!)...then the final scene...and afterward.

Some pics above from the film--sorry, figured out my zoom after the first couple, and the lighting, as you might imagine, was not optimal. The effects were minimal compared to I, Robot but very, very effective for this movie. Afterward I took a picture of a lighted billboard. The girl in the white dress wasn't there when I took it...she must be a ghost! Ok, that's a joke, but it sure sounds scary. 푸하하하!

Korean Women Flex Their Muscles

I came across this in my daily readings of Korean news and sites...just trying to get a handle on this place.


The anti-traditional Korean lady...holy crap, they look strong! And push-ups!

More pics on the site (it's all in Korean, but no translation needed for the images. Now, I knew that Korean women are strong in spirit, but had not seen many like this. Most Korean men like their gals to be smaller, weaker (well, most guys do, it's just more prevalent here) so it takes real...um....balls for a gal to go into this sport. I don't mind it, myself. Maybe because even when muscle-bound Korean women still look relatively dainty--at least compared to their Western-lady body-building counterparts who start to look a little horsey.

Yeouido Park & Hangang Park

Seoul is a pretty good place for outdoor activities, as long as you live in the right part of town (which I do, thank you!). There are a few parks around but 2 of the largest are Olympic Park (a massive place that I lived near for 6 months when I stayed with my in-laws when I first came here...they were right in the '88 Olympic Village, which was nice) and Yeouido Park (which was like a parking lot before they revamped it and added trees and stuff). Yeouido Park is about 69,000 평/pyoung (1 pyoung = 33 sq. ft.) or 52.27 acres large; Olympic Park is much bigger at about 370.66 acres.


View of Yeouido Core; the park at 6AM one Spring morning...gorgeous; The Great King Sejong; and, to top it off, a guy sleeping in a gazebo.

Take a look at the scene above...this is like a block from my home and work. Before the office moved to this side of the park these views were my commute everyday...a 12 minute walk from door-to-door. Pretty cool, eh? Sure it costs a bit more to live in Yeouido and there isn't a Lotte Mart (Korean Wal-Mart) to be found in the immediate area, but it's real nice here, I think. The Great King Sejong is credited with 'inventing', or at least causing the invention of, Hanguel (the Korean alphabet, although it's not really an alphabet, it's more a set of sounds put to writing...very scientific for back then). His name and image is all over the place, especially at schools. There is also a book store and securities company named after him. And what stroll in Seoul would be complete without seeing a guy sleeping on the ground or floor (as reported before a few times). This guy looks prepared, though. He had the presence of mind to bring a mummy sleeping bag and get himself in the gazebo (and away from the early-morning dew that is so prominent here in the Spring).

For exercise, the little that I do here, I like to inline skate (as they call rollerblading here). Take a look at these shots:


LG Twins Building, 63 Building, and Traffic!

Here's the lovely LG Twins Building (owned by LG Group, formerly Lucky Goldstar, also owner of the LG Twins baseball team; there are rumored to be anti-aircraft guns on the top of these towers to help defend Seoul); the 63-story tall 육삼빌딩 (yook-sam (6-3) bill-ding) which houses 대한생명 (dae-han-seng-myung, Korea Life (Insurance), aka KLI by foreigners); and a couple views of how close you can get to the traffic on this path. It actually goes under the 88 (팔팔/pal-pal) Highway for a ways. Ya, probably not the cleanest place to workout, but it's all we got without going 1-2 hours from here. Many people actually drive 30-60 minutes to get to here, especially on the weekends and holidays when this place is a madhouse. On Children's Day I got a groin injury from dragging my skate so much in order to slow down for the (literally) thousands of kids on the paths.

And why exercise? Well, there are a lot of fun places in Seoul such as Bricx (click here to see the Playboy Party pics...man, think I have to check this place out; wet T-shirts involved, no minors) and good ol' Ohoo/Hodge Podge (some crowd pics here).

More tomorrow...going to see a Korean horror movie tonight (with subtitles), should be interesting.

Seoul...Fun Place

Man, how do I come across some of this stuff. Anyways, there are a couple things that may help get my buds over to Seoul sometime soon (you know who you are). Many have threatened to come here, and some read my blog and may be on the verge, but this should about do it.

Here it is: Seoul, home of the sexiest women on the planet. (Not that they have a chance at meeting them, but they are in the city limits, apparently.)

There's also the interesting theme parties they have at Bricx Bar in Itaewon. I've still never been to one, but the last one (the Bikini Party) almost got me there. The next one is a Jungle theme. Unga-bunga!


Ok, she's not Korean...she may not even be in Seoul...but it's a mighty fine pic.

Of course if you do hook up with a Korean (especially a Korean gal) you may find yourself a victim of "the Coupling". I've heard it's only with married couples, but I suspect that boyfriends get roped into this look as well. Watch out.


Beware "the Coupling".

The Road to Sinchon

신촌 (Sinchon, an area of Seoul near 홍대/HongDae, or the university district) is a pretty cool place. From Yeouido the subway is pretty inconvenient, but there's is a bus that goes there and cabs are a cheap and fast option as well. A few times, though, especially in this warm weather, I couldn't ignore the urge to walk the 45 minutes it takes to get there/home. It's a nice walk: flat, across a bridge (usually some nice breezes blowing by) and you get to see more of the city and its people that way.


Smoggy view; 2 black swans; impenetrable lock; stinky garbage (peeee-yew!)

The pics above are from a recent walk. The first is a lovely view of Seoul's smog. This is easterly; to the west the sky was clean (owing to the west-to-east winds from the West Sea) but it was too bright to take a picture of. Below the bridge, and fairly numerous along the Hangang (Han River) are 백조 (swan) boats. People paddle around in these things, but not too often. (The mascot of Mapo-Gu, where Sinchon-dong is, is a swan; Youngdeungpo-ku, where Yeouido-dong is, has a duck sporting a necktie as its emblem.) In the summer months people even sleep next to the river (well, not right next to it) fishing, eating ramen, drinking soju, talking...typical Korean stuff.

The odd spiral pic is that of a 'lock' on a gate next to a dilapidated apartment building. You can see that not only is it easy to open, but the material is nothing more than thin wire. I have no idea what or who this is supposed to guard against, but I guess someone had a reason for putting it there.

While walking back home I smelled something pretty putrid. I mean really rotten. God-awful, it was. Then I stumbled upon the answer (thankfully not literally), this pile of decomposing trash. Where's a garbage truck when you need one? Actually, I take that back. Once in Daehang-ro a garbage truck passed by and let me tell you the smell emanating from that thing was 100 times worse than a few bags on the street. Worst thing was, it came toward us and it left a lovely stench-ridden trail of liquid behind it...fantastic if you're walking that way. I guess that's why the trash-heaver was running so fast beside the truck--he wanted to stay ahead of the reek.

Anyways, yesterday night my friend Andrea's friend Travis came to Seoul with his Korean bride-to-be, 현정/Hyun Jeong. We went to a Korean tuna restaurant, then to 'my' Outsider (where he tried James Dr. Pepper: 1/2 pint beer, 1/2 pint Coke, 1 shot Amaretto dropped in and downed in 'one shot!') and then it was off to Sinchon for 산낙지 (san-nak-ji, living octopus) and 서피동파 (seo-pi-dong-pa, a mix of western pizza and Korean pajun/omlette) alone with 소주/soju and 동동주/dongdongju (literally comes from the fermentation process where dongdongju settles to the bottom of the vat and is separated from a clear moonshine-like alcohol by a thin layer of rice). Let's just say that we had a pretty good time and Travis did quite well for a guy who doesn't drink too much: not even a hangover the next morning. But then, we got home pretty early, at about midnight; on a weekend we'd likely had been out til 4 or 6 or 8 in the morning.