Costco to the rescue

All the threats, protests, boycotts, and general unrest aside, US Beef is coming to a Costco near you. An inside source Costco reports that they will begin selling begin selling choice US cuts as soon as they are made available. I couldn't get him to give me an idea of the cost savings as they "will be determined by market influences." That was to say if the leftist US Beef rebels and their ilk won't buy it, maybe the foreign communtiy can get a bargain on some of that meat that's been sitting in a Busan warehouse for the last seven months. Personally, I'm looking forward to a good old fashioned beef rib barbeque.

On a related note, a venerable professor emeritus with whom I chat from time to time would like to assure the foreign community that dispite all of the public protesting and hand wringing the "silent majority of Koreans" actually know that US Beef is fine and plan to purchace it when it is available. He would like us to know that it is the radical anti-American factions that are fueling the protests and the leftist 'hot' media are stoking the flames to make it appear more dire than it is. Assuming this is true, one of the questions that I have yet to see answered and one that could shine a light on the source of some of the madness is: Who is funding the production of all of those protest plackards and T-shirts for the protests? These things produced in large numbers are not an insignificant investment. Perhaps the answer to that question would help us to understand exactly who is the real driving force behind the protests. But, I digress.

See you at Costco!

Why US Beef is doomed in Korea

Because this is happening all over Korea right now:


It basically says, "We do not use any imported beef here."


So, being the obtusely inquisitive person that I am, I asked the director of the Pre-school, "Why did you put this sign up?"


"Because mother's are concerned about Mad Cow disease in imported beef."


"Duh," I thought rather than said and assured her that there is no logical reason to believe there is any problem with US Beef and I was unhappy with the choice to put up this sign.


This is in a pre-school that is part of a Early Childhood Education Department in an institution of higher learning! Basically, against all reason they are kowtowing to the wishes of a few mothers who are reacting to the media and lobbyist scaremongering telling them that US Beef is somehow dangerous. Instead of reducing the costs of providing meals for the children so that they can provide more educational value, they are paying (or in this case plan to continue paying) the exorbitant price of Korean beef (we can assume they are also not using Australian beef since the sign indicates 'imported' beef and not US beef by name) not to mention perpetuating the myth that US beef is somehow more dangerous than Korean beef. As Metropolitician points out a likely fact, more people have died of e-coli and such in Korean beef than of Mad Cow disease in the US. Someone with better Korean skills than I should call the KFDA and get those numbers and put them somewhere for all to see (anyone wanna race?).

Of course, it probably won't matter because, again as Metropolitician suggests (and something we all suspect), most Koreans view death or injury caused by foreigners as somehow more unacceptable than those caused by Koreans (for example, where traffic accidents are concerned) so the fact that Korean beef kills people wouldn't make the average Korean bat an eye but if (God forbid), a single person should ever die at the hands of US Beef whether from Mad Cow, E-coli, or just choking on one of those short ribs set to be imported, the media would go into a feeding frenzy and downtown Seoul would light up like World Cup 2002 all over again with protesters and candlelight vigils resulting in the banning of US Beef from Korean stores for the rest of time thus insuring the longevity of Hanwoo monopoly.


US Beef is doomed because the deck is stacked against it. The local Media, Lobbyists and Farmers, Politicians, Housewives and now even your local pre-school and restaurants are, against all possible logic, taking a stand against it. It has been made into a "national safety" and "Korean Pride" issue and those who would buy US Beef will be made to feel that they are somehow endangering those to whom they serve the beef.


I said it before and I will say it again that I would not be a bit surprised, after US Beef imports start, if some of the crackpots who oppose US Beef imports would actually somehow try to infect someone eating US Beef with Mad Cow disease or E-coli in order to perpetuate the myth and get rid of US Beef. After all, large amounts of money and national 'pride' are involved


What I really need is a 500 word essay in Korean about why it is illogical to hate Korean beef. This essay should supported by facts from reliable references from both Korea and abroad. I want to be able to just smile and hand it to any person (including my wife's family) who believes that US Beef is somehow inherently dangerous and should not be imported.

Hit and Run!! (or Why you should never buy a new car in Korea)

Recently, on three separate occasions and in two different locations, I have been the victim of hit and run drivers. Thankfully, I was not in the car at the time of my victimization but the scars remain. My few loyal readers will recognize that I have not had the best of luck with driving in Korea and I want to make it clear that I am not out there looking for trouble by parking strange or in such a way that invites disaster. I park just like everyone else and I try to drive as much within the law as reason will allow. I just seem to have had unusually bad luck with vehicle accidents (none of which have been my fault) and parking lot incidents.

The first incident happened a few weeks after I had my front bumper painted because a bus hit me on the way to work. I didn't notice it when it happened and it was therefore difficult to determine where it occurred. Though I suspected that it had happened in the parking lot of the local ward office. I really didn't think that I would be able to do anything about it so I just (albeit reluctantly) let it go. It's hard to see a nicely redone bumper reduced to this:

My suspicions were reinforced a couple weeks later when the second incident happened.
I was teaching my volunteer class at the local ward office and I received a phone call during my break time. I thought it was just to come and move my car since the parking lot is often overcrowded and people often have to move their cars. But when I got to my car, the person who called me told me that a woman hit my car and drove away. They managed to get the color of the car and the main four numbers off the license plate and gave me a description of the woman driving. I was pleasantly surprised that the gentleman (a 20-something fellow) who gave me the information also gave me his phone number and told me that if I go to the police with that number they can find the culprit. If I needed a witness, he said I should call him. So, with my wife and 2-year-old in tow, I went to the local police station nearest to the ward office. I explained to the fellow my problem and gave him the information that I had. He took the information and my personal info and phone number and sent me away. He told my wife someone would contact us that afternoon.
A little later, we did receive a phone call and were told to go to the local police precinct station and speak to a certain fellow in charge of traffic investigations. He took pictures of my car and told me that they were still searching for the offender. We went home and received a phone call from him telling us that he had located the woman who hit me and she told him that she had called her insurance company and was going to 'try and find me' (I'm curious if she even got my license number and if not how would she do that) and that she had to leave the scene because of some problem with her child. She felt like she couldn't stop and take care of the problem because of the child. So the policeman asked me if I want to press charges. I said under the circumstances (I'm a dad too and though I was angry, I tried to be sensitive to the situation upon advice of my wife) I just want the car to be repaired. It was and in the meantime I got to drive a Hyundai Grandeur Q270 which my kids didn't want to give back.

In the most recent incident, I had taken a subway across town and my wife called and asked me if I had backed into a pole or something. I replied that I had not and when I got home at 11pm to check my car I saw that the back door was dented badly in three places and my newly painted back bumper was scratched. I immediately began to take pictures and went to the apartment management office to search the CCTV recordings. Unfortunately, the fellow in charge of that sort of thing was gone for the day and I was asked to return in the morning. The next morning, I spent about 2 hours searching footage from the previous 3 days to find out when it happened. Even though you KNOW someone hit you and you suspect that it happened in your own parking lot, nothing quite prepares you to see the following:

As you can see, the truck backed into me not once but twice and then just took off. We managed to get the license number of the vehicle and I went to the police station. The police accompanied me to the apartment management office and viewed the incident on the CCTV. They looked up the number of the truck using their cell phone and got a name and address right away. Turned out to be an elderly fellow in the next apartment line who profusely denied TO THE POLICE that he had hit anything. Even after they told him they had seen the CCTV of the incident, he still tried to question his involvement. He was told to come to the police station and meet with me. I really wanted to press charges on this guy because I had wasted an entire morning trying to track him down. I even kept telling myself that I was just going to throw the book at him but the poor guy just seemed so clueless to what he had done and he was appropriately apologetic and fortunately insured so I let him go and went to the car repair center.
The guy at the car center should have seemed surprised to hear me say I had been hit again but since this was the FIFTH time I had taken my car to him to be painted, he seemed less than surprised and more amused. I told him that I would need a rental car and since it was Friday and I had plans to go down to Busan for a weekend with the in-laws, I would need more than the average rental. I needed a van to carry at least 9 people and I would need it till Monday morning. After some discussion with the rental car company, I drove off in a car almost identical to my own for the weekend. The insurance company, by the way, was not enthusiastic about paying for a 3 day rental for a 1.5 day repair but I basically said that it was this or I go back to the police station and file charges on the guy for hit and run and take it to court. That seemed to do the trick and I got my car back on Monday and didn't hear anything from anyone.

So, for the reader who is interested in knowing: HOW DO I REPORT A HIT AND RUN?
You should go to your local police office (경찰지구대) with a Korean friend (unless you speak Korean). You must report to the investigating unit in the area where the incident occurred and NOT to the precinct office. If you are hit in your own parking lot and there is CCTV. Just call the police and they will come and investigate right there in the management office.

I have decided that a few things are necessary to protect your investment.
1. Whenever possible, park your car in a lighted area with CCTV. Even if it is less convenient it will save you aggravation later.
2. Probably the most important thing you can do: Always do a walk around of your car and make sure there is no new damage. If there is then contact the management immediately. Take pictures whenever possible.
3. Get the protective coating on your car. There are several places that can do this and it is not too expensive. Many of the fender 'rubs' and 'dings' that happen in parking lots can be rubbed out if you have proper protection.

And finally my rant on the subject of hit and run:

These are not the first incidents I have had. I have been rubbed and scraped and dinged numerous times. It just seems like they are getting worse. It has gone from a little knick in my door or some rubbed off paint on my fender to severe dents and paint dragged off to the fiberglass. And I just don't get how people just walk away from that. I have slightly rubbed a car from time to time and I aways track down the driver right away and take care of it. More often than not with minor rubs and knicks people just say 'don't worry about it' and go about their business. But really, the way it works around here there is actually disincentive to report your infraction. It's like this: If you don't report it, you have about a 95% chance that the person you hit will not even notice that damage has been done until later, at which time it will be hard to figure out where the damage was done. The other 5% of the time you can usually bluff your way out of it like these two people did. In the name of magnanimity (that is so prized in Korean culture) the offended person will usually let it go. At the very least, your insurance company will take care of the whole thing for you and you actually never have to hear about it again which is what happens if you report it in the first place. The problem with doing that is that your premiums go up if you do it too much. So, unless the damage is so severe that the car cannot be driven, driving off is actually to your advantage. Play the odds and hope you don't get caught...when you do, lie and beg your way out of it. But before anyone not from Korea goes off on me about responsibility and before anyone from Korea goes off on me about how this is "part of Korean culture and I just don't understand" Well, culturally speaking, that is just the way it is done and I'm not endorsing it either way. Listen to your heart, your conscience or your wallet...either way, just don't expect anyone to let you know if they hit your car.

So, I guess my solution is just to keep doing the above suggested things and hope that I can catch someone hitting the sides of my car and maybe someone throwing something heavy on my car from an apartment window, then I can get the rest of the car painted the same color as the bumpers and the back tailgate (another annoyance being that you can't get the whole car painted like you might wind up back home and they can never actually match the color 100% on older cars)...maybe next time I'll ask to rent an Equus for a weekend.

Happy motoring.

Jumping on the "fly in my ____" bandwagon

Occasionally, I like to keep up with the Jones', Kim's and Park's so I thought I'd share my experience with a particular baby food company. The following picture is from a package of a popular Korean brand of baby gruel. The quality is not the best but it is pretty obvious to any observer that at least one of the little brownish spots has legs. My wife really wanted to just let it go originally but then I thought, what if this is a regular thing. I certainly didn't want my 1 year old eating 6-legged creatures and I'm sure others didn't either.

In retrospect, I probably should have made a bigger deal of it but all I did was contact the company. They sent out a representative who came over and looked at the offending rice and it's packaging (even took the evidence with him in a plastic bag) and offered to give us a few freebies of the company's product (by mail....as if). There were the expected, 'this is not a usual thing' and 'sorry about this' yada yada yada and an unceremonious exit. A follow-up phone call a few days later and that was the end of it. No closed down factory lines, no headlines. I was content pretty much to let it go until the recent spat of headlines about rats in snacks then flies and wood chips in the beer. Just thought I'd share.

I just have to wonder out loud though...if I was content to let well enough alone...how many other people out there have similar experiences with various food companies that have just tossed the offending food and chalked it up to O. Well and his friends G. Whiz and G. Willikers?

A WTF moment to share

I was at Costco purchacing the months supply of beef, chicken, scorched rice and a few sundry other items totalling about 120,000. I gleefully placed my items on the checkout counter and after the woman checked them out I gave her my credit card and said (in Korean),
"12 months, please."
"12 months!!!" she replied looking at me like I must have lost my mind.
"Is that strange to you?" again I repied in polite Korean.
"Yes. There will be a lot of interest." she said, still holding my card at the top of the swiper gadget and now having attracted the attention of most of the other 100 or so people in the adjacent checkout lines. As if, I didn't know this.
"That's what the customer wants, just do it." This response was NOT in the polite form. She swiped it, gave me the card and the slip with a smirk that thouroughly deserved to be smacked to the back of her head. I signed, took my card and grumbled off to take my 20 minute escalator ride to the roof parking lot.
Granted that it may not be the best decision to put groceries on 12 months payments; that was not exactly my decision either (wife's); but who was SHE to question it.

Woori Bank Credit Cards

I have had a considerable amount of experience with credit and banking in Korea (most of it inconvenient or downright unbearable) Now, A recent article in Korea Beat about the inconvenience that foreigners experience living in Korea reminded me of a recent experience I had with Woori Bank.

A man came into my office and explained to me about a credit card that was somehow associated with the Private Pension company and Woori bank. I listened attentively to the deal and decided that it was a pretty good deal. Having been assured by the gentleman that he was an official of the bank and he was sure that there would be no problem for a foreign professor to get a card, I decided to fill out the application.

I waited the standard 10 to 14 days to receive my card in time to make more Christmas debt but it never came. I called the man and he said that there were a "lot of applications" and could I please wait a little longer. Two more weeks passed and still nothing. I called the man again and he suggested me to call the banks customer service center. After getting my wife to help me wade through the phone messaging system (Anyone else notice that there is often NO way to push a number to speak to an actual person?) we spoke to a woman who said that my application had been denied because I have an E-2 Visa and only E-1, F (and a few other) visa holders could get them. We tried to explain that the copy of my ID that the gentleman who came to my office made was incomplete. I actually have an F-2 visa and have for 2 years, but that fact was written on the back of the card and now is almost illegible because it was written on the back of the plastic card with a 'permanent' marker. She basically said that it didn't matter because the application was received with THAT copy and I could not get the card. I was uncerimoniously denied and not only given NO notice of the fact, but denied for illegitmate reasons.

The man came to MY office and I applied for the card but got denied because immigration doesn't have the good sense to make permanent amendments to the alien card. The bank doesn't have the good sense to call me. They could't tell me that I was denied OR why I was denied or to even ask me why my registration card says that my E-2 visa expired 3 years ago but I still, obviously, hold a position at a local college.

On a good note for foreigners in Korea, both KEB and Lotte card have English speaking staff that are very helpful and they will accept applications from foreigners with good jobs (not an unreasonable request). I have also spoken to someone in English at Samsung card (which is very useful if you shop at Costco as it is the only card they accept) but it was a bit of a labor to get through. KEB will also extend private unsecured loans for foreigners with good bank relationships and the usual proof of solvency (you usually need to speak to the branch manager as you will undoubtedly be denied by the peons at the counter). The problem with credit for foreigners in Korea, also mentioned in the Korea beat article, is due to the lack of a proper ID number (that is a KOREAN ID number). Korean credit reporting company keeps no records of foreigners in Korea. So, even if you have a 10 year history of credit card usage and loans, there is no way for the bank to check your references. If they did, it would be a lot easier for foreigners to get loans at global minded institutions like KEB.

Hall of Shame: I have been outright DENIED even applying for a credit card from LG (TWICE) and BC card (multiple times). I had a Kookmin card but stopped using it because it was too much of a pain in the tush to get it renewed when it expired. When I applied again, I was denied. I also had to get my loan for my house in my wife's name because of the same kind of problems mentioned in the Korea Beat article. The rule of thumb when trying to get credit in Korea is to be persistent and have a willing translator by your side when you make the calls to the customer service numbers. I have made calls, written nasty letters, posted to bulletin boards and basically harrassed bank minions into going beyond their programmed "I'm sorry but that's impossible" and changing it to the more correct "I'm sorry, I really didn't know what the hell I was talking about" because they never had this experience before and it was easier to say 'no' and hope you go away and leave them to their uncomplicated existence.

I wonder?

I feel really bad for the folks on the west coast who have likely lost their livelihoods for several years before it will be able to recover. But I can't help but wonder in the face of this adversity, how long will it be before these wind up in your local supermarket...cleaned up and marked down of course.

Seafood just got a lot more expensive.

How the Korean Media Works

I've been sitting on this one a while but a recent "rant" by the Metropolitician just reminded me of how the Korean media lacks any sense of journalistic integrity. So, I must relate a story of something that happened to me a few months back:

On 11 Jul 2007, I was asked to participate in a taping for ?????? (I want to....sooooo bad I want to say the name but I don't want to wind up in the same boat as ZenKimchi was last year.) A Ms. Kwon (가명?) called my wife to ask if I would be willing to participate. She spoke to my wife to insure proper understanding of the issue (my wife is Korean). I was asked to help "verify" the abilities of a man in Daegu who had taken the TOEIC 14 times with a perfect score. Though I asked more than once and received an indeterminate email, the details of the “interview” were kept cryptic. Prior to my arrival, as any professional would, I prepared. I prepared a brief test of spoken English to verify that his speaking ability was on par with his test taking ability.
When I arrived, much to my chagrin, I was asked to take a 20-question head-to-head TOEIC-type test with this man for the sake of showing his ‘amazing test taking speed.’ I refused to participate in such a ridiculous display, the purpose of which is dubious at best and potentially embarassing. Teachers make tests, they don’t take them and such a test of speed has absolutely no educational or practical value and could leave the unwitting viewer with the impression that somehow speed has to do with ability. Does it seem reasonable that a college professor would be asked to do such a thing on national television? On top of it all, imagine my surprise when I arrived and learned that the man was an American citizen “Kyopo” being passed off as someone with an amazing ability. Yes, he was an exceptionally fast test taker (another reason I would not test against him) but the fact that he is a native speaker is a fact that was amiss in the final cut of the program and was never mentioned before I agreed to participate. I am sure the audience would find this omission distasteful.
Not wishing to have wasted my time, the PD/cameraman, the "Korean" man and I decided to try and film something closer to what I was told to expect. In hopes that they might use some of the footage. However, Friday July 13, 2007 when the show aired, none of the footage was used in the feature. I was not advised in advance that none of the footage would be used. In order to make the taping, I cancelled appointments and wasted an afternoon preparing for nothing except to waste my valuable time. I agreed to participate gratis because I thought there might be residual benefits from being seen on TV as 'the expert.' Family and colleagues were advised prior to the taping that I would be on the show. Imagine my embarrassment when I saw no sign of the time spent.

Needless to say, I was miffed. Enough so that I sent a bill for services rendered to the producer who lied to me in the first place (expecting to receive the exact same nothing that I did). I also learned that a Korean professor from a local college was asked to participate. After being told what he would be doing, he refused. I guess the PD had in mind something that she wanted to portray and the facts of the case were just totally unimportant. And the more I read stories like the aforementioned from the Metropolitician, the more I realize that there is little or no journalistic integrity in the Korean media.

Wrongly Accused Blogger: Metropolitician joins the list

First it was ZenKimchi getting accused of things he didn't do and getting dragged through the inJustice system, now the Metropolitician is dragged into the quagmire. It reads like something out of a Stephen King short story...a true nightmare. Basically, minding his own business and he gets verbally and odiferously assaulted by a drunk adjussi and then when he calls the police to get the guy to quit bothering him....HE GETS ARRESTED because the drunk off his kiester Korean guy said that the M kicked him and left a bruise. M has been printed and booked and I would assume is in need of some legal counsel (though he did not specifically appeal for it on his blog).

Now, I'm not one for sticking up for someone when I don't hear both sides of the story, so if you understand Korean, you can hear the real B.S. in a recorded conversation with the mephitic sot. There are some real dire consequences if this conviction sticks so I certainly hope he can beat this wrap totally. Unfortunately, the ill-smelling inebriate does not appear to have any money and therefore can't be sued for the likely financial damage that M will need to keep it off his record.

My advice, M...get legal counsel now! Contact anyone you might know or who might know someone who is a high ranking police officer to try and help you take care of this before it gets out of hand.

Why the Anti-Discrimination Law Must be Amended.

From the time I heard that the Korean Government was going to pass “Anti-Discrimination” Legislation I was skeptical; if not hopeful. How could a society such as this with such deep-rooted biases against even its own ever hope to pass legislation that would somehow protect those who need it most? Of course, my reasons for hoping for the passing of this bill were somewhat selfish. As a foreigner trying to raise a family in Korea I am keenly aware of the ways in which such a law could make life easier for me and mine.
But since I have been in Korea for a long time, I think I can sort of ‘step outside of myself’ a bit and challenge myself to find reasons why the government would choose to delete the 7 contentious items from the bill. It is said, to really understand someone you must walk a mile in their shoes. So, I am taking a moment to really try and understand, item by item, why it is necessary to remove these items from the Korean perspective. Prof. Gill Wonpyeong’s wise words (albeit something may have been lost in translation) have given me the necessary mindset from which to spew forth:

Family type –
Because it is important that we make sure that the people that we work for are only the most moral of people. We should not be forced to hire someone, regardless of their qualifications, if they are estranged from their spouse. It does not matter if a woman’s husband cheated on her and left her with 3 kids to feed, it must be her fault in some way and society must punish her for that by making it difficult for her to work a decent job with other decent people. This is particularly important in a society reaching a 35% divorce rate. In addition, we certainly don’t want to have to work with someone who comes from a broken family because we know that if someone comes from a family like that they must be messed up, crazy or both, regardless of their qualifications.

Nation of Origin
Businesses don’t want to pass this one possibly because they know that the ramifications would be far reaching in the area of employment. Employers would no longer be able to pay people differently based on the color of their skin….this would force many businesses to shut down because they simply could not afford to pay their workers. This can’t pass because that would mean that we would have to actually pay out a little more of our profits to those dirty-looking ASEANs. We have to keep their wages low to make sure that they will want to return to their home countries with the thanks that they were able to work in such a profitable environment. Never mind that they lost their right hand due to lack of a safe working environment. They should be glad that we gave them a chance to earn more money in a month than they could in a year in their own country. Also, we wouldn’t want to actually pay them enough money that they could live in the same neighborhoods and send their mongrel children to school with our own children.

Language
I didn’t originally know that this would be included in the bill. If I had, I would have known right then and there that there is NO WAY IN HELL that we can allow this because we have to maintain the purity of our 5000 year language and its 400 year old script that is the most scientifically logical and greatest invention of the most auspicious king that ever lived. And we certainly can’t have foreigners demanding that they be made aware of their rights in the law in their own languages. That would make it impossible to railroad them into confessing and making sure that the bloated statistics that we feed to the newspapers about foreign crime on the rise are kept accurate. Of course, we must maintain our linguistic superiority at all costs.

Sexual Orientation
Prof. Gill may have neglected to mention a few important points in this regard. This item cannot stand because we certainly wouldn’t want to have to actually accept the fact that there are homosexuals in our society. We must make sure they stay in the closet. After all, if they were allowed to come out of the closet freely how terrible that would be for all people. How could we continue to work side by side with someone knowing that they might be after our ass after working together for 10 years? How would we even be able to enter the bathroom for fear that we might be raped by one of these animals? Of course, the women homosexuals should be protected because of the benefit they provide for the lonely working man’s need for a little girl-on-girl action. Unfortunately, if we allow that then we would also have to reciprocate and that would be disgusting. So we just have to keep it all in the closet.

Medical History
This is related to Sexual Orientation because there is a need to discriminate against those who are HIV positive. We must make sure that they die quickly, and alone and penniless, without taxing our medical system. We must also insure that those who have some history of even the most treatable of mental illness should be kept away from the workplaces. How can we work with peace of mind knowing that the person next to us might be transferring their neurosis to us through some sort of evil mind control?

Educational Status
This one is a little hard to understand. Why put this in there at all. Educational discrimination is the backbone of Korean politics. How else would you get to know the people you need to know unless you went to the same school? Passing this portion of the bill would mean the end of discrimination based on the school you attended and everyone knows that it would be bad for society if we couldn’t make sure that we all worked with people of similar caste.

Criminal Record –
Because regardless of the fact that someone has paid their debt to society, everyone should be able to feel free to make sure that this person returns to exactly the same place in society that they came from. We have to prove our theories of ‘once a thief, always a thief’ by forcing them into such destitution that their only resort is crime and then we can put them away for life.
There is also the problem that when the head of a family commits a crime, his or her family census register shows the crime and even a grandson of a living criminal should be forced to work in only the most menial of jobs, regardless of his skill or education because he must be made to pay for the sins of his patronage.


Finally, if this bill were to pass unaltered, the litigation would be endless. Koreans cannot be expected to just change their system of discrimination and bias that has existed for five thousand years. Korea really doesn’t want to become a global society. It would just be too much work. Anti-Discrimination is not in line with a number of the most basic tenants of Korean Society. For Koreans, it is natural to discriminate and examples of this train of thought are found in daily life. So, why bother to change it.

Note to the hopelessly stupid (and Prof. Gill, just in case he is more confused than I think he is): The previous was intended to be sarcasm.

About the Waekookin mall

So, we have this new online mall called waekookinmall.com that sells mostly IKEA furniture. I'm thinking, great, maybe i can get that (Fusion) table i wanted to get. I saw it on another Korean site and it was about double the price from stateside and I just wasn't willing to pay that much for what is usually supposed to be cheap DIY furniture. So, I went to the mall to see if it was there and it wasn't. Then, I sent a message to see if they had it or could order it for a reasonable price. Below is my question:

Is it possible to get IKEA's Fusion table here for a reasonable price?...the
korean retailers seem to be marking up more than 100% and i'm just not willing
to pay that for what is supposed to be affordable furniture.>

The response took just a day or so, but was dissappointing to say the least:

Sorry, We don't have it in stock. Maybe you're right but here is Korea.>>Thank you,

This kind of response just puzzles me. Seems polite enough at the end, but those words "...here is Korea" just get me all hot under the collar. Particularly when dealing with businesses that claims to be 'foreigner friendly.' A company whose motto is "For your better life in Korea" and whose very name suggests that it exists to serve the foreign community seems satisfied to teach me about living in Korea. I can understand that they do not have the table I'm looking for and I can accept that but to come back with "here is Korea" just makes no sense. But having been in Korea a long time, I am used to communication difficulties and thought it might just be a communication problem. Nonetheless,I asked for some clarification:

Perhaps you could explain what you mean by "Maybe you're right but here is
Korea." Do you mean that I should EXPECT to be marked up 100% because this
is Korea? Do you mean that Korean businesses are normally usurious? With
this reply are you suggesting that this practice is ethical or justifiable? Is your glib
response simply a result of your desire to take advantage of the foreign community without using the appropriate global business practices? Perhaps it is just a lack of English communication skills. Please help me to understand this brief and enigmatic statement so I may share it with the foreign community as I am sure they would like to know where you stand on the subject of ethics.

Was I too harsh? I sent the previous message on 7 October....Thusfar, no answer has been posted. I guess they must be busy.

It must be the adrenalin

Talking on the cellphone and driving has been one of my pet peeves ever since a fellow doing the same while making an illegal U-turn knocked me and my motorcycle into oncoming traffic and a parked car. (not to mention that I suspect the fellow that gave me my neck injury also was talking on the phone) Of course, there is also the far too frequent fellow driver who just seems to be driving slower than everyone else and as you pass buy wondering if the guy is having a heart attack or something you notice that he is either talking on the phone or watching television or both. It is getting to be a real epidemic. And I say that because it IS a disease. One that the government has a responsibility to stop.
Korea Beat scoops a Yonhap news story that 70% of Korean drivers talk on the phone while driving even though 53.4 % of them believe it to be 'very dangerous' (read the rest at Korea beat).
Every so often, I just have to scream at a student who is driving around the campus talking on the cell phone (particularly when he/she just about runs over everything or one in the way.) and they just look at me like 'duh' and keep right on doing what they were doing. In addition the article cites driving while watching TV another problem.
Here are a few possible solutions:

1. Force higher premiums for insurance on people who have been involved in accidents that involve TV or Phone. (MUCH Higher)
2. Have the police actually do something like, stop drivers when they are talking on the phone. I've seen it a time or two but not enough.
3. Start taking pictures of these people and send them the ticket in the mail just like the speeding tickets.
4. The government could make the penalties for talking on the cell or watching TV while driving actually hurt instead of just a slap on the wrist.
5. Automatic 100% fault to any driver involved in any accident while talking on the telephone. (see Korea Law Blog for some ridiculous information on the way 'fault' works here.)
6. Have police automatically confiscate and destroy telephones and TVs from drivers who are caught in the act. Due process not needed...just take them out, put them under the wheel and tell the driver to go home and sin no more:)

Is it just ME or is driving in Korea really dangerous?

You'd think that after 6 or so vehicular accidents in my 11 years in Korea that I might think about taking public transportation. But, I'm a little hard-headed that way. Today, it became number 7. Now, I don't claim to be the best driver (like so many of those taxis that you see out there) but I try to obey most of the laws most of the time. I figure that might be my problem. Here's the rundown up until today:

1. 1998 - riding in a tour bus near Mai-san (Horse-ears mountain in Chollanam-do) the driver temporarily forgets that he is driving a bus and takes a corner on a mountain road like he's in a Ferrari in the newly fallen rain and ends up in the culvert on the side of the road. No one hurt, but it took a while to get out of the bus since it was leaning against the side of the mountain.

2. 1999 - Driving a motorcycle about 2 minutes from my house in Busan. The driver in the lane next to me decides to take an illegal U-turn at the crosswalk from the second lane from the middle; I was nearest the double-yellow line. I was broadsided and knocked into very fortunately stopped oncoming traffic and unfortunately into a parked van, head first. Damage: motorcycle pretty much totaled, 5 days in the hospital but no broken bones. The other guy didn't have any insurance and paid the medical but couldn't pay for the motorcyle (750Kaw Vulcan)

3. 2000 - At the request of my soon to be wife, I gave up 2 wheels for a jeep-like Rocsta (Kia/Asia). Driving outside of EonYang, I was trying to make a Pseudo-legal U-turn at a 45 degree angled three-way intersection(legal place for U-turn but I was all the ay up to the stop line) the woman behind me decided I was making the obtusely-angled left turn, but too slowly. She tried to pass me from behind and crossed the double yellow and smacked into my right front wheel. Seemed like everyone was ok but grandma in the passenger seat seemed a little shaken up. Trip to the police station had the men in blue advising her to drop it since it was her fault.

4. 2002 - Rear-ended by a MaryKay Cosmetics sales rep when the traffic in front suddenly stopped, so did I. She must have been working on her makeup or something because she just didn't stop until she crushed the back end of my Longbody Galloper with her Sonata III. No one hurt and insurance paid for a new rearend and a rental car.

5. 2005 - Rear-ended at a stoplight near downtown Daegu. This one hit me pretty hard and crushed both the "battle bumper" and the regular bumper. I didn't feel it right away, but I went to the hospital for about a week on that one. Suffered something called an Internal Disk Disruption which basically translates to "well, we know you are having pain but there is nothing we can really do about it because the surgury is more dangerous and could potentially leave you worse off than you are. So...bear it." I'm still working on proper compensation to this day. Car was repaired at the expense of the other guy's insurance company.

6. 2006 - Rear-ended (YES AGAIN!!) at a crosswalk stoplight on the way back from a trip to the hospital for a doctor's consultation about the 2005 accident. Also, not totally resolved. But I can tell you that having another accident while you are still working on a resolution for another more serious accident is a real pain in the petut.

This bring me to today's fiasco:

7. 2007 - Sideswiped by a bus in front of my school. Imagine sitting at an intersection waiting to go straight into the front gate of your school. There are two rows of cars turning left on a green arrow while you wait for the green to go straight. On the right, cars are turning right. When the light changes, the cars on the left start to hurry up to make it into the intersection and you start to head forward on the green. Then a bus comes hurtling down the RIGHT TURN LANE and proceeds to turn LEFT across your path. The back end of the bus clips the front right side of your car. No injuries but MAN!! was I annoyed. However, the driver was appropriately apologetic which soothed my ire enough to keep from ringing his neck. He gave me all the info I needed and told me to call later about fixing the car. I took photos and got a recording of the guy telling me it was his fault. I guess we'll see what happens next.

Fear and Loathing in Seoul

I try to avoid going to Seoul whenever possible and I think there are more than a few bloggers and readers out there that share my feelings (Nomad? can I have an "amen"?). Unfortunately, the US Embassy no longer has a mission in Busan, so from time to time, I have to pay a visit to Seoul to renew passports, register children, have some Thai food, etc.

I suppose if I were still single (or at least childless) I could probably stomach it a little easier. After all, Seoul does offer a variety of things that are not easily available here in Daegu. But since I have children, it becomes necessary for me to do the single most onerous thing that a father can do with his children. Drive to and in Seoul!

Unless all the drivers I saw were from out of town for some strange reason, I fail to understand why anyone would want to drive in Seoul. After all, the subway system is top notch and covers most of the important parts of the city. Everywhere I went, what should have been a 10 minute drive turned into an hour of 4-wheeled insanity. There is no WAY, I would do that every day.

I was pushing my son around in his stroller and I ambled past a real estate agency and just like back in Daegu, the windows were covered with advertisements for area apartments. I noticed a sign advertising the same apartment complex where we were staying with my wife's relatives and the price: 300,000,000 won!! Then I thought, "OK, this IS Seoul, I should expect things to be more expensive right?" Then I noticed the top of the advertisement: JeonSe (Key money deposited for rental NOT ownership)!!! and I realized that this amounted to almost twice the cost of my own equally sized apartment back here in Daegu. I later learned that the same midsized apartment in MokDong would have cost almost double that for purchace. Ladies and gentlemen, that is almost 600,000 USD (if you include closing costs and remodeling, etc. that must be done) for a 15 year old, 1140 Square Foot, Second floor apartment. So, I just thought, let's just see what I could get if I had that much money back home in Knoxville.

$524,500

Single Family Property
Status: Active
Area: 117
Subdivision: WHITTINGTON CREEK
Age: 4 year(s) old
4 total bedroom(s)
3.5 total bath(s)
3 total full bath(s)
1 total half bath(s)
10 total rooms
Approximately 3400 sq. ft.
Two story
Style: Traditional
Master bedroom
Living room
Dining room
Kitchen
Master bedroom is 17X14
Living room is 13.5X11.5
Dining room is 16X12
Kitchen is 25X13
Tennis court(s)
3 car garage
Heating features: Central
Central air conditioning
Interior features: Breakfast area, Cable TV avail., Dishwasher, Disposal, Microwave, Pantry, Range and oven, Washer/dryer hookups
Exterior features: Elect. srvc avail., Level lot, Patio, Porch, Tennis court
Approximate lot is 106X165 Located on a cul-de-sac

Courtesy Realtor.com

NO CONTEST!

Call me a redneck if you please, but I'll take that over a box of concrete any day I can.

Here's another tack, if you have an apartment outside the metro Seould area but you worked in the downtown area, you would probably spend an hour or two in traffic each way and spend a fortune in gas, not to mention the toll taken from your health due to stress. How about selling your 32 pyeong (1140 sq. ft.) Seoul Suburban box and moving to Daegu. Buy a brand new 60 pyeong (2134 sq. ft.) box in the best part of town, 5 minutes from the KTX and take 30 minutes a day off your commute, save gas, save the planet, save your sanity, go fishing, commune with nature sans the hour drive to get there. While you are at it, with the money you have saved on gas and medical bills, you can buy a nice car or two to tool around in.

Report 1 ring calls

If you have a cellphone and have received calls from 060 numbers that hang up before you can answer....you're no the only one. NEVER call them back...make a mental not of the number and report them to the SPAM police in English HERE.
If you call the number back, you will be charge in a way similar to those 1-900 numbers back home...per minute with a minimum charge.

PLEASE....report these idiots.

Fishing in Hazmat Gear?

Based on the information from the KMA satellite model, it looks like we are in for a big sand storm over the weekend:

This is the projected satellite picture for 9pm Friday evening. I'm no meteorologist (so I don't want any whining if I'm wrong), but it looks like with prevailing winds, unless it breaks up significantly over the Yellow Sea, we should see a potential 2000 + storm by Saturday or Sunday. So those of you getting ready for a nice weekend fishing trip, you might want to consider bringing hazmat gear.
If Ochre is bad, Yellow is hazardous, Orange is worse, Red is...well...you get the picture...can you imagine what the Burgundy would be like? Egad!

A Better Yellow Sand Monitor

Courtesy of the Korean Meteorological Association you can see a satellite picture of the sand that is here or on the way (This site is in Korean. The less informative though interesting English site is here) . The Yellow Sand Forecast Model (황사모델예측) is (purportedly) up to the hour and is adjustable plus or minus 12, 24 and 48 hours with arrows indicating prevailing winds and colors to indicate the severity of the cloud. This way, you can actually see it before it comes. Which is better than the one on the US Army site (the identical chart is available in the KMA site) because that one is often behind.

This site also has some other interesting satellite pictures but they are a little more complicated to read and see where and how much sand is on the way. Check them out here.

On another note, the last couple of weeks you will notice the yellow dust that covers your car. That IS NOT yellow sand. It is pollen, more specifically, Pine pollen I have been told. So, if you are like me, this season is giving you a double whammy of otorhinolaryngololgical nightmares and it I hope this will help someone out there avoid days like this day last month.

BTW, I am still looking/waiting for a way to get up to the hour Yellow Sand and Pollen warnings sent to my cell phone. If anyone knows a way to make this happen please let me know.

Yellow Sand goes above 2000 in Daegu

According to the 18th Medcom site (check the sidebar) the yellow sand level for sunday hit 2019 which is INSANE? I have to wonder if the reading was accurate. Evidently the monitor did not record for several hours after the peak. However, if you look at the picture from my office window below, you might start to believe it. I was only outside for a few minutes and from inside I thought it was just another rainy, dark day but I could literally taste the sand in the air. When I got home I felt like I had been playing in a sandbox all afternoon and so immeditely upon returning home I washed my hands and face, changed my clothes brushed my teeth to get the nasty taste out. According to the advisory levels chart, 1000 is "hazardous" 300-500 is considered unhealthy!

On another but related note: most mornings (afternoons and evenings too), the managment office in my apartment comes on the public address system and tells us about some person selling things in the parking lot as well as important things like water tank cleanings, planned electricity outages, servicing of elevators, etc. They even tell us of other items of news like the singing contest in the local park last Saturday evening. Something that would be of great use to everyone, I'm sure, is if they would come on and WARN us not to go outside because of the dust. I had no idea since I don't watch Korean news that much and on Sunday, I don't really read the news either.

There really needs to be some kind of system to warn of these things, no?




Here is the view from my office window at about 5 pm yesterday.





Here is what it looks like today.



And this is not from my office, but it is from the same campus and in the same general direction last Friday when the level was near zero. (with the same camera and setting) Notice that you can see the mountains in the background and the buldings far in the distance.

Yellow Sand is coming, read this to be prepared for it!!!

The papers are reporting high Yellow Sand (황사) levels to "begin" today (though according to several bloggers in the northern part of the RoK, it has already been here for a while). So, as a public service, I thought I would add a link to my sidebar for the 18th MEDCOM's Yellow Sand Level monitor. It is kind of cool, you can actually see the levels from day to day. It also has information in the sidebar as to what the levels indicate currently (level of danger?). You need to know what your nearest military base is though if you want the readings for YOUR area as they vary from place to place on the peninsula. Click the links at the top of the page to change the chart. Hope you find it as useful as I do:) . I hope they don't mind I ripped the .pdf from their site that gives lots of useful information about how to handle the Scourge of the Gobi. (or if it is unreadable on your computer you can just go here, but i think you need adobe. You could always just go to the link above and click the link on the sidebar that says "click to see information card")

What is 'quality' anyway?

If you have had or are ever considering having remodeling work done in your home or apartment, you should read this. It might leave you wondering if there is a word in Korean for "quality."
My in-laws live in an older apartment building and it is in dire need of a facelift. Particularly the bathroom is in need of a paint job. So, being a good son-in-law and also having a hankering for a little D.I.Y. time, I volunteered to take on the job. So, I went to a local paint store and picked out a color that I thought would look good I asked about spackle (called 'puddy' here) for fixing the imperfections and cracks in the wall and I started talking to the guy about paint remover. His response was a bit strange. Instead of telling me how much the remover was, he asked me why I need remover. To remove the old paint from the wall, of course, I replied. He told me that I didn't need to do that and that I could just fill in the places where the wall was cracked and the paint had chipped away with the spackle, smooth it out and paint over it!! I cringed a bit but tried to smile and rather than annoying the guy, I decided that I would buy remover elsewhere.
Having spent a few summers with a part time job painting houses, I have always been taught that a good paint job is 90% preperation of the surface and 10% painting; the paint job is only as good as the surface that it is painted on and not removing the old paint (particularly paint that is already chipping off in areas) means that the new paint will eventually peel and chip off as well. The best way is, without a doubt, to remove the old paint, spackle the cracks and pits, then paint. But this idea seemed to be lost on this gentleman. I guess he just thought a do-it-yourselfer would not need to do a 'quality' job.
This brings me to another story: Last year, I purchaced a used apartment. It was a 12 year old apartment that had never had any remodelling done. We decided that it needed a lot of work. After about 9 million won of work and about a week it was done and ready for inspection. Prior to the work being done, i mentioned to the contractor that the last time I had wallpaper done in my apartment, the 'paperer' did not completely remove the old paper and it therefore left indentations that could easily be seen in the right light and I didn't like that. I wanted all the paper removed this time. He assured me that the problem before was "cheap and thin wallpaper" this time I had chosen an expensive and hopefully longlasting silk wallpaper. He assured me that once the paper was done, it would be smooth as a baby's proverbial behind. WRONG!! The work was done and I inspected before the wallpaper was hung. The old wallpaper was not completely removed and the surface of the wall was not appropriately prepped (corners were also cracked or pitted and in need of some spackling.). The resulting job was less than the perfect job I expected (or at least that I would have expected if I had it done it myself). I was not happy but once it is done, showing them the imperfections recieved only mild amusement and a request for something to be done about it was an exercise in futility.
Along with the wallpaper, the pvc flooring (called "jangpan") was the most expensive brand but because the floor was not properly spackled and repaired before laying the flooring, the same problem with the wallpaper was evident in the flooring and the cracks in the floor were now bumps in my expensive imitation wood flooring (we opted not to do the wood type flooring because of the kids, spills, toilet accidents and other watery accidents wreak havoc on the particle board flooring and the real wood stuff is prohibitively expensive)
One of the comments the contractor made to me (and in Korean to several other people along the way) was that foreigners were much more difficult than Koreans. We are more demanding and expect the details to be perfect. He seemed politely annoyed by my constant questioning and inspecting and dissatisfaction. He also commented that "Koreans build home interiors and fixtures to last about 6 to 10 years, and Americans build them to last 100 years." His words not mine. Obviously trying to blow smoke somewhere down there.
WARNING TO THE WISE: If you are having any remodeling work done, be prepared to go to the TOP contractors (avoid the neighborhood guys in the small shops) and make sure they know up front the work you expect and are willing to pay for. Inspect everything at every step of the process and be FIRM about your demands letting them know that you are willing to pay for the extra work (I was not, this was my problem; financially overextended). I suggest having your whole home done by someone like the local "Hanssem" dealer or one of the other big kitchen fixture people. They did a wonderful job on MY kitchen (except the guy that did the tiles but seemed to have left his level at home, DUH!) and I think they would have done a much better (but much more expensive) job on the house.
Anyway...be forewarned.

Also, a big welcome to anyone who is visiting from Marmot's aggregator or blog list. Thanks Marmot!!