More updates!
Remember how I talked about Korea's election? I forgot to mention how different the campaigning is over here. In America we have commercials, debates, pamphlets, etc. The only advertising I got to experience here (partially due to my lack of Korean skills) were giant posters plastered on the side of buildings and little buses/cars. Why is that worth mentioning? Good question. The little bus things all had speakers attached to the top and the sides (many also came with giant monitors on the inside [it opened on the side similar to a truck that holds cargo]). Throughout the entire day they would park at one spot and blast K-Pop with terrible voice-over/singing advertising the candidate. This by itself would be annoying enough (considering they start bright and early in the morning and drive through our neighborhood) but someone decided that wasn't enough. Most of these buses also came with a dancing troupe. There would be about 5-7 ladies (I don't think I saw any men) wearing a neon-green and bright orange shirt with a white hat and white gloves. While the bus would blast really annoying (AKA ridiculously catchy) K-Pop they would have a small dance that was usually about one minute long. Now if you can imagine being stuck on a corner (for whatever reason - red light, waiting for someone, etc.) and on the other corner is a bus with crazy looking people dancing to some kind of weird techno, you will get a small idea of what the weeks before election time were like. I can't even imagine being one of those poor ladies who were stuck dancing on the corner to the same song for hours on end in the ever growing heat. I wonder if they were paid or if they were volunteers because no matter how much I would want a candidate to win, I would never volunteer for that kind of punishment. I would also see a man in a suit with a banner around his shoulder with a number on it (read further below) waving to people as his slaves danced behind him. Can you imagine if an American tried to campaign with a Pop song with a terrible voice over saying the person's name at random parts? Whose idea was it to campaign like that, who thought it was good enough and how did it become popular enough to become a regular thing?
Because I am really lame and I kept forgetting to take the camera with me wherever I went for almost a month straight, I have no videos or pictures of these wonders. Hopefully next time there is an election (who knows when) I will be able to capture the glory.
One more rant about the election. The candidates are numbered. As far as I could tell there were about eight or nine. This seems like a really bad idea. Who do you think usually wins? That would be number one or two (according to my source). I wonder if they draw for the numbers at the beginning of the election. The guy who pulls number eight would say, "Well I lost. That sucks."
Enough of elections!
A brief refresher: It's now Sunday.
Phew. Now that that's over with, let's continue. We had agreed earlier in the week to go on a trip with Mr. Chu (Audrey's co-teacher). He was nice enough to offer us a ride and take us out on a little adventure (just a little walking because Audrey's knee was still hurt). He took us to Admiral Yi Sun Sin's memorial. It was basically a big park with various little buildings around such as small museums and his house. The park was beautiful and I really enjoyed going out and seeing some of the sites Korea has to offer. I'm a tourist at heart, unfortunately. I love going to places with museums or some sort of historical significance that everyone goes to when they vacation in the country. I'm a big ol' nerd that way. Someday you will see me with a big blue Hawaiian shirt wearing a sun hat, sun glasses and a camera strapped around my neck. I'm all about it.
We walked around for quite some time, took lots of pictures and even got a few videos. We also got to explore the museum with all the artifacts from Admiral Yi's time. There was a miniature of his famous "Turtle boat", various tools they used (of course) and some really neat paintings depicting his life. Of course, we weren't allowed to photograph anything in the museum so you will have to just use your imagination (we later received a pamphlet that has pictures of all the things we saw so I don't really understand the point of the no picture thing). We also explored his house a little. It turns out that I would not really function too well back in the day because I would be too busy hitting my head on all the doorways. Oh well.
After walking around, we decided to head back to the car and start our little picnic. As we headed to the parking lot I noticed tons of little stalls for souvenirs. The tourist in me jumped out and I said, "I want a little statue!" so Audrey and I headed over in search of cool things to buy. I ended up finding a little statue (awesome) and Audrey ended up finding a hat. Of course, because we are five, we had to grab some Slurpee type drinks with our hat and statue.
Audrey really liked her hat.So we sat down and had a fantastic picnic. We ate PB&J sandwiches, kimbap, a peach and various drinks. It was very relaxing and we got to talk to Mr. Chu for some time. Audrey was wearing her hat the whole time and a bee decided that it wanted to set up camp on it. For the last part of the lunch there was a bee just sitting on Audrey's hat. Eventually he left, but it took a little coaxing. Overall, it was a fantastic day. I love being able to get out and see what beauty this country has to offer. We also took a detour through an older village on the way back home. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but every time we go somewhere (driving, by train, anything) my face is constantly glued to the window. I love looking at the trees, rice fields and scenery. There will be little shouts of, "Oh! Look!" every now and then as we are waiting to get to our destination. I mention this because on the way back, it was absolutely beautiful. After being stuck in a city like San Francisco for so long (and still living in a gray city), one begins to yearn for the smaller city with trees all around. I am really looking forward to when I don't have to get small glimpses of trees every now and then. I want them all the time.
The bee on Audrey's hat reminds me of something I've been meaning to rant about. The bugs here are huge. The wasps (and some bees) are gigantic here. It seems like they could impale you on their stingers (maybe some exaggeration, but close enough). During one of my classes I had my students jump up and say, "Teacher! *Korean*" I walked over and there was the biggest spider I had ever seen in my entire life. Instead of screaming like a little girl (proud of myself) I managed to crush it and impress my students (score). I had one of my students sweep it up and we put it outside for the birds. I wish I had taken a picture of it because it seems like something like that would be a trophy kill. I'm not going to lie, as I'm typing this out I'm checking my desk for spiders. I guess the overall point I'm trying to make here is that the bugs here are scary giants. No bueno.
Well I think a small post will be good for today. Pictures and other happiness will come later.
-Josh
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