Geongbukgung Palace

This is a restored palace in downtown Seoul. But you'd never know you were in Seoul by the looks of the place. It looks so rural and quiet.
Our visit was hot and humid, but we needed decent weather to go do anything and this is the first Saturday in a few that it didn't rain. Monsoon season is somewhat over then.
The place is really cool. There's other palaces, and we'll have to put that on here as well when we go.

Korean Fan Death!!!!

I couldn't stop laughing, and I hope I didn't offend the ROK Military Counterparts, but they actually believe here if you don't crack your windows a little bit when you're running the A/C or a fan, that you could die. It can smother you, they believe. So you see the cars with their windows down a little bit as well. So if you don't open your window a little bit tonight and run your A/C or a fan and you die- don't say I didn't warn you. I think they get confused between running a fan or burning charcoal in the house. All the Korean-made fans that are big have timers on them so you don't get killed running it. They do have a vacuum system over the tables here that you BBQ at- it sucks up the smoke and runs it outside, thus keeping Seoul nice and muggy. Since Monsoon season is mostly over (except it rained tonight!) it shouldn't be so humid, but it'll still be hot around here.

I went with my boss to Itaewon to exchange some money and we drove down an alley in the Antique district. Then we got stuck down there, a la Austin Powers. Ever seen a 20-point turn? It wasn't anyone's fault and the funny thing was you saw on the walls where the mirror-housings all scraped against them. We had lunch and the girl he's dating showed up and laid into the waiter about something. It was funny, because you could tell she was chewing his butt and she didn't want to sound mad or something. The food was awesome and we had some good conversation. Apparently you don't order meat for lunch, it's too much to eat or something. Then why was it on the menu? I don't get it.

Julie went out to a place that they get the dead skin off your feet- with fish. Julie screamed really loud when the fish started eating on her feet. And then the guy came around and told her to pull her feet out because she was hogging all the fish. Her feet feel softer, but she doesn't want to do that again. It was only 7,000 Won ($7) to do that. I wonder if people in the US would do that.

My $600 car is now up to 80,000 Won ($80) in repair costs. The door handle broke and it was getting annoying to have to unlock it from the other side or leave the window open. I had to take it back after he fixed it because the parts inside are all rusted apart and he had to pull them out and clean them up and weld them back together. I told the guy thanks and I'd see him next week. I hope he didn't think I was making fun of his work, because he worked really hard on the door and I also got a hor that works, but it's really quiet. Maybe I'll order one from JC Whitney and put it in. One that's really loud, because you need a nice loud horn to drive around Seoul.

Last night we went to Naemdemun Market up by Seoul Station. Turns out, it would have been better to take the subway, because it went right from Ichon to that station. Now we know. We ate dinner up there and paid tourist prices for noodles and pork that was mostly gristle. People saw us eating out there at the Market entrance, and a lot of people stopped to look at Violet and the other kids, and they did the usual- the hair touching and the holding like they own the kid, but it doesn't bother her or us for that matter. She gets all the attention and the modeling agents have Julie's number for shoots when school starts.

I had to take a moment to boo the North Koreans at the opening ceremonies. I get to watch them live since we're in the same time zone. I thought they were supposed to march with the South Koreans. Then again, they were propped up by the Chinese back in the day. It's just funny how some of the countries march in with the person holding their flag and about 2 other people. When my credit card has more buying power than their Gross Domestic Product, you get that.

W Visits Yongsan Army Garrison

We needed to do laundry and get the kids' TB tests looked at. Of course Spencer popped positive, so he has to get an X-Ray on his lungs because he's been exposed before to an old strain.
Violet was asleep, so we put her in a basket.
We couldn't go anywhere when it got closer to the time when the President was going to move. So we watched some of the speech and waited for him to drive by. That was quite the motorcade- there were a lot of vehicles- about 20 or so. It was neat to see the caddy and everyone cheered when they all went by. After that , the roads were open so we could get back to the apartment. Julie has her SOFA (Status of Force Agreement) license so she can drive the piece of junk that just broke on me. The driver's side door handle doesn't work on the outside. Along with the horn that doesn't work, it needs to go to the car doctor. In the US that would be the last straw and this car would be driven off a cliff. We can't do that here, Dang.

I've Gone Native

Well, that didn't take long. In just one trip, I ran a red (yellow) light, cut off 2 taxis, went the wrong way down a one-way street and sat in an intersection while I waited with everyone else (and got in the way of the people that had the green light). So it's official- I drive like the locals. Guess there's nothing left to do but wait until someone hits me.

Being well-connected

I heard somewhere once in the beginning of the US Internet boom "If you're not connected, you're irrelevant". While I can't argue with that, I can't totally agree with it, either. The goal of I'm sure many people is to get to a level where you can dictate when the phone/crackberry/email will be there at your beck and call and not vise-versa. This is the most connected country in the world, and I don't know the full stat, but there's more internet connected people around here than the US per capita (since there's 300 million of us and 43 million of them).
But what are the dangers of being TOO connected? The only other country that was probably better connected (and just as prone to mass demonstrations) was France in the 1980s. Their phone system has had a rudimentary e-mail system on it since the 1970s. So it's been really easy for the truck drivers to go on strike, because they can all connect that way. As their population shifts with the influences of the Arabs, it'll be interesting to watch what happens.
So with President Bush in town, they're mad at him about the beef thing. Beef imports from the US were halted due to concerns of mad cow disease and just recently resumed. So people are upset here- I don't recall anyone in Nebraska holding demonstrations against Korea for not buying our beef- then again, I wasn't paying that much attention. They could have sent some people over here to promote the stuff for all I know. But in a world economy, you have to be wary of any bad Public Relations snafus because during 'protest season' in Korea, you don't want to be the reason they're out there. I'll have to research how they all organize, but what if Al Gore had invented the Internet prior to the 1968 Tet Offensive? Would there have been more students involved?
Ask a Taxi driver here (as he's busy cutting ME off in traffic) if he's doing well financially and he'll probably say no and blame the economy. Everything is the economy. If I could understand the news around here I wonder what they'd say about it. We get a lot of feedback from the US media outlets about the perceived current economic situation, so I'd imagine it's pretty similar in Korea.
They have TV's in their cel phones and you see the people here watching them on the subways. They have good reception down there. They love their technology toys here. I don't know what they have here, but I'm sure it's all pretty nice. Maybe I could figure out how to build a really fast laptop or something. But until I can read Korean, it's probably not going to happen.
Bottom line, they have a beef with our beef and we literally don't have a beef with them over it. They advertise that all the beef is from Australia and not the US- and they're trying to set a better policy with it here. This president is one that's more conservative and gets along better with the US. Not that it matters, we're not going to pull 30,000+ troops out and let the N Koreans come down here and take everything.
My $600 car has a broken door handle. I'm interested in how it's going to look after it gets fixed, but there's not exactly a shortage of Daewoo Prince parts. It's just a pain in the butt to open the passenger door to open the driver's side. But it shouldn't cost much to get it fixed, either. Maybe I'll get the horn fixed so I can join the native drivers here at honking all the time.

So what did I think Korea would be like?

This is an interesting thing. I have to say my expectations were actually kind a low. I had no idea this culture would be so inviting and the people so friendly. I've been to Japan so many times, I'm used to standing in a subway station trying to interpret Kanji symbols and figure out where the heck I am- all the while 100,000 people zoom past me. It's not like that here- the Hangul is actually pretty logical and there's a lot more in English here than there. Besides, if a local sees you pull out a map, they ask if they can help. I never expected that.
The sidewalk cafes here are nice and cheap. The food is really good. I never expected to like it this much since it all seemed sort of bland the first time I had it (2004).
The city is really clean- which I expected, except for the air, but I've heard it used to be a lot worse. I can't imagine 25 years ago when they used leaded gasoline! And the place has really grown as well.
I knew they'd have a lot of respect for elders here and they'd like our kids. Violet can't stop getting everyone's attention. The people actually stare at us and it's funny. I don't mind. They see the redhead on my shoulders and just look at her. Fire red hair isn't something the Koreans have. They also are getting Westernized and are getting into plastic surgery and stuff. That's too bad. I think they're all really fine the way they are, but they're going to end up like us (unable to smile after botox or something).
I knew cars would be cheap and rent would be expensive but I didn't know utilities would be out of this world expensive. Driving would be crazy- you really have to be defensive here. I had 3 close calls one day coming home from work and decided I'd stay on base to the extent I could. I'm not ready to really hit Seoul, because I'm afraid they'll all hit me! We did see a bus driver get out of his bus at a light and yell at a lady that cut him off in traffic. I didn't think they had road rage to the extent we do in the US. I know he'd just honk and flip her off in the US because to get out of your car in a country like the US means you think you're bulletproof. In Korea, gun control works because NO ONE has guns. Just the cops- and they look like .22's to me. Not that there's all that many cops anyway. They all drive around with their roof lights on and you see about 10% of the cops you'd see in the States. They also don't enforce a lot of the traffic laws, either. They drive crazy here- they all do. They all want to get there first. But other than the bus driver that yelled at the lady (that actually rolled down her window!) I doubt everyone takes the getting cut off in traffic too personally.
I could go on and on about the food. It's good- I don't know about the fish- I hate fish and I don't eat it. I didn't think they'd eat it that much here, but it's Asia so they eat fish. Yuck.
But I knew there would be rice everywhere, it's Asia. They're pretty thin here, but they're getting chunky as they Americanize. Too bad. I wouldn't wish that on them.
All in all, the resilient culture is not wholly portrayed on MASH, but there's a few things they got right. Kim'chi pots, and an industrious people. I didn't think they all worked as hard as they do, but this place was flattened in the 1950s, and it's quite built up now. Not sure about North Korea, they invited me there, but I decided against it. I'm happy here, not because I know I'm leaving in 2 or 3 or 4 years. but because it's something different and interesting. I can get used to this place and they're probably used to me already.
If you read this, I hope you enjoyed it. As a historian, this sort of thing brings it all alive for me. They're good peeps. I can see how a lot of Westerners come and expliot their desire to make you happy. But they are serious about success here. They go to school a LOT.
Someday I hope there's one Korea and the South doesn't have to get leveled to get there.
KATCHI KAPSHIDA (We go together)

I'm Lovin' It!

Julie and I went to the Temple today. It's quite a few stops and transfers on the subway to get up there, but worth the trip. Getting a babysitter was the easy part, where it's usually the hardest part of the thing. Anyway, as we were heading back to the subway station, it was 1PM and we were starving, so we went to McDonalds, but I couldn't get a drink with my meal. There's a language barrier there. So we got a cheeseburger for Julie and I got a double beef bulgogi buger. Wow, that was really good! I'm sure the beef was Aussie, because they're still demonstrating against American beef over the mad cow disease thing. The Korean surgeon general ate some US beef on TV here to show it's safe, but they have a 'protest season' here, so they need something to protest here. First they're the protester, then the next year, they're the conscripted cops. So all the meat here is marked like that. A drink would have been nice, but it's OK. This is one case where the prices aren't really high, ironically. McDonalds is really cheap here. Pizza Hut pizzas have shrimp and fish on them- and corn. It's sure different.
While we were outside eating (there were no empty seats in there) a guy came up and asked if we were Mormons, because he was on the way to the Temple. He'd done his stint in the Korean Army at Camp Humphries- he was probably a KATUSA (Korean Attached to the US Army) since his English was so good. He said he could tell who we were by looking at us. That was a compliment, but it's not everyday in that part of Seoul you'll see Americans. He was really cool.
I've noticed one thing here. We burn through a lot of money really fast. Leaving the house seems to cost me about 20,000 Won for whatever reason. Good thing they pay extra money to live here, because I couldn't afford it otherwise.
We found a mini-van for Julie (she said she wouldn't drive one when we got married, but I got the last laugh). We could have shipped the Durango over here, but it's better if we sell it in the US and buy something here. We'll be able to get 2 cars here, since they have to grant special permission to do so usually. Not having 2 cars is really inconvenient here. Julie just doesn't like to drive, but it's really hard to haul laundry and groceries around without a car.
And yesterday I had to get the rent and security deposit. So I wired 8 grand to the local bank and got it in 100 dollar bills. So I took 85 Benjamins down to Itaewon and got it changed into 8.6 Million Won. Here's a pic of the money. I'm a millionaire. Then again it's 1,000 Won to the Dollar. But it's decent sized amount of money. Think of having to use cash and the biggest bill there is a 10. There would be a lot of Hamiltons floating around. Since the currency market changes so fast, they don't want to do electronic funds transfer.
Money goes fast here- but we're still getting settled in. So it's normal to buy more things right now. We're still getting settled into the routine of filling the day up with things to do. Once school starts, things will be easier and cheaper on us.
We did get cable hooked up and on the few American channels, we have Disney channel with Korean subtitles. It keeps the kids busy when it's too hot outside to want to be out there, but they're playing on the new playground more and the locals like to see the kids.