Korean missionaries/hostages in Afghanistan

There's a very good post on this topic at The Marmot's Hole.

Damn it's hot out there.

I went for another walk today, this time out behind Gwen's new apartment along the Geumgang River. I should have stayed in my nice airconditioned apartment. It was incredibly hot, humid and hazy out there. I took a bunch of pictures and then staggered home, drenched in sweat, overheated and suffering from quite a headache. I spent the remainder of my day naked and in front of the AC. My plans for tomorrow (my last day of summer vacation) include sitting in front of the AC all day long.

I found the new Geumgang Train Station. Not sure if it's open yet.

There were fields of farmland and giant waterlilies.

Only one was flowering. It's really big.

For some perspective, see how big the lily is next to the train station!

There I am!


There I am again!

The Geumgang River.
This was as far as I went, as this was where the headache struck.

On my walk to the river, down a tiny alleyway in the middle of nowhere was parked a Daegu city bus. The driver was conked out in one of the passenger seats, sound asleep with the AC running. On my way back, he was awake. I totally stared him down, contemplating asking to be let into his glorious air conditioned bus; he stared back but didn't make any move to open the door or wave me in, so I kept walking. About half an hour later, I looked back and saw the bus on the move. I wasn't anywhere near a bus stop (where I was wasn't on a bus route anyway), but I stuck my arm out and flagged him down. I was pretty surprised that he stopped, but thank goodness he did - my headache was pretty killer at that point. Luckily it was one of the buses that goes pretty close to my house, so I was able to take it nearly all the way home.

Some photos from today's walk

I have Monday through Wednesday off this week (our school's summer vacation), although I had/have no real plans for my five-day weekend. Saturday: go shopping with Donna. Check. Sunday: watch CSI with Gwen. Check. Today: no plans. I didn't set my alarm, so I had a fabulously long night's sleep and got a rather late start on my day. However, since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to try out my new hiking shoes (which turned out to be the most comfortable things ever - even if I detest the whole hiking-shoe-style). I picked a road that went north from my part of East Daegu which headed north towards the mountains, and set off. Here are my photos - Enjoy!

I took the road heading north from the Bangchon subway station.
It didn't take me very long to get out of the city.


I found the back side of K-2, the Korean Airforce Base here in Daegu.
I swear they take great pleasure in buzzing Banyawol with their F-16s.


There was a lot of farmland.


Such a pretty day.


See - there I am!


Rural railway


Beautiful!


There were hibiscus flowers everywhere.


The bees were having a blast wallowing in the pollen!


I found this in someone's garden. I wish it lived in mine!

A post to make Caitlin cringe

Guess what I've been doing nearly all day? Here's a clue:

That's me watching CSI Day 4 on OCN
24 hours of CSI New York

Gwen and Songi partook of the CSI and the air conditioning

This meant Mia got to torture Songi a little.

And then she got to sit looking cute!

Gwen and I took a break from CSI to go to the hair salon.
I got the back of my haircut trimmed,
as it was in danger of growing out into a mullet.

Look what Gwen had done:

Look what I bought!

Now if only I were still taking belly dancing lessons!

The Gnashing of Teeth and the Cuteness of Mia

This isn't Konglish, just really bizarre:
And the kid who was wearing it had no idea what it said/meant.

Meanwhile, here's someone who would never gnash her teeth.

So cute and innocent!

For all your low quality, pseudo-Italian, particle-board furniture needs!

Crapino!

Not to be boorish or anything...

A new fried chicken restaurant recently opened in my neighborhood. Can you guess what international chain they stole their logo idea from?

Still not sure?

How about now?

There aren't any scantily clad women or anything - just chicken.

Introducing Jane Simpson

Whaddya think? Should I move to Springfield? :-)
(You can make yours here)

Boo :-(

Well, it seems that I won't be going to Siberia next month after all. See, in order to go to Russia, you need to have a visa. In order to get a visa, you must first receive a visa invitation from the person, organization or travel agency which is sponsoring your entry into Russia. The person, organization or travel agency must apply to a visa office in Russia to receive the official visa invitation. I had been told that my invitation would be ready as of July 18th, at which point they would express mail it to me here in Korea.

Once I had the invitation in hand, I would take it down to the Russian consulate in Busan to apply for my visa. Now, you can get your visa in one day... if you want to pay something like $400. The longer you're able to wait for your visa, the cheaper it is. As such, I was very much hoping to have that invitation in hand as soon as possible. Then last night I received an email saying that my invitation would not be ready until August 10th. It would still have to be express mailed to me... that starts putting me in the iffy super-close-to-departure zone (I'd planned to fly to Irkutsk on August 25th). It also puts me in the paying-out-the-ass-for-my-visa zone. Boo.

I thought about this late into the night last night (hell, I even dreamt about it), and I've come to the depressing conclusion that it's probably best to cancel this adventure. For one thing, I need to know for certain when I'm leaving Korea, so that I can make flight arrangements for Mia. I'd hate to have everything arranged for a flight home in mid-September, only to have to make last minute arrangements to fly home at the end of August. Especially since they might not be able to accomodate a cat on the plane at the last minute. I'm feeling pretty bummed about this, although I suppose it's for the best. I'm also wondering what I will ever use a sleeping bag that can keep one toasty down to temps of 0F (-18C) if not for camping in Siberia? Sigh.

Putin’s Russia: All of this has happened before; all of this will happen again

This is a post on Russia’s political history. It probably won’t be interesting to a lot of you, but I was inspired to write this up by some comments left the other day regarding Putin. My apologies to my readers who come here looking for info on Korea :-) Before I begin this post, I want to provide a little bit of my personal background in this area so you’ll know where I’m coming from. When I was in college, I double majored in Russian (language and culture) and international politics (with a focus on US-Russian relations). I earned my degree in 2001, and since then I’ve simply been a dilettante when it comes to studying these topics. I am by no means an expert. I am also not a sociologist. I’ve never taken any classes in sociology, so all of my ideas pertaining to group behavior which I’ll present here are simply based on my personal observations on the ways people behave.

The first thing you need to know about my little theory is that I’m a believer in cyclical history. As they say in Battlestar Galactica’ religious philosophy, all of this has happened before, all of this will happen again. From examining my own life and the patterns (both good and bad) which continue repeating themselves, to examining historical patterns – in which humanity doesn’t seem to learn from it’s mistakes – it appears obvious to me that there are patterns of behavior visible throughout history. It would also seem to make sense that people from one culture would follow patterns of behavior different from people of another culture. (In other words, just because the USA follows one set of political behavioral patterns, it doesn’t follow that all other countries in the world should easily adhere to the same patterns. This would be one reason why Bush’s ideas for turning Iraq into a Middle Eastern bastion of democracy didn’t fly quite like the administration thought it would.)

In 2000, while studying Russian politics and history (in Russia, actually), I began to notice patterns which really stuck in my mind – to the point that I decided to write my senior honors thesis on it the following year. Don’t worry, I won’t subject you to the entire thing; it makes for quite dull reading. Instead, let me give you an interesting timeline to muse on:

• Approximately 1040AD – The Medieval monarch Iaroslav the Wise of Kievan Rus (the early Russian state) implements a written code of laws dealing with retribution for murder, accidental death or injury, reimbursement and repayment of debts, recovery of stolen property, etc, in an unbiased legal fashion. This code of laws applied only to free males (although free males did exist in all strata of society) but nonetheless it was remarkably advanced for its time.
• The Boyar Duma and veche traditions begin. The Boyar Duma was a council of nobles, which was created to advise the prince in all matters. The veche was a public gathering of free citizens from all strata of society which gathered regularly to voice their opinions. While the princes weren’t required to consult with the veche like they were the Duma, they often did nontheless.

At this point in time, Kievan Rus was the most liberal state in Medieval Europe. Then something happened in 1223AD to totally squash liberal democratic political movements: the Mongols invaded. Dictatorship of princes who kowtowed to the Mongols began, and these dictators (erm, Tsars) retained their power after the Mongols had finally been kicked to the curb. (I should point out that the Kievan province of Novgorod was able to maintain independence from the Mongol rule by negotiating a tribute system. This enabled even greater political advances in Novgorod than had happened in Kievan Rus: the Duma and veche dismissed the prince and elected their own leaders. This lasted until the late 15th century when Ivan III sent troops from Moscow to utterly crush Novgorod and bring the province under the mantle of Moscow.)

Until the 19th century, there was nothing remotely democratic to be found within Russia. The 19th century saw the following:
• The Decembrist Revolt of 1825 – Russian Army officers refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the new Tsar and tried to bring about a revolt to topple the Tsardom and replace it with a constitution. It failed miserably. The top leaders were publicly hanged and the others were exiled to Siberia.
• 1855 – Tsar Alexander II takes the throne. He allowed a relaxation in restrictions enabling various interest groups to form throughout Russia. These groups enabled people of all strata to organize around various political/social issues.
• 1861- Tsar Alexander II emancipates the serfs
• 1864 – Tsar Alexander II passes the Zemstvo Statute. This created a system of local councils, or zemstva, the members of which were elected directly by nobles and middle class townsmen, and indirectly by the peasantry (former serfs). This was the first time that all classes of Russian society had any say in Imperial Russian government. In 1864, the Tsar also established an independent court system modeled on western styles of jurisprudence.
• Near the end of his reign, Alexander II was seriously considering implementing an elected body akin to a parliament, whose role would be to advise the Tsar. This was still under consideration at the time of his death.
• 1881 – Alexander II was assassinated.

The new Tsar, Alexander III was wholly uninterested in reforms, the development of representative government, or in anything else which might erode his power. While he didn’t dismantle any of the reforms put in place by his father, he prevented further reforms and strengthened the autocracy.

In 1894, Alexander III died and Nicholas II assumed the throne. He held the same autocratic views as his father, although he didn’t have the same strength necessary to quell reformers.

Under Nicholas II, the following happened:
• 1904 – the National Congress of Zemstva was held. They gave Nicholas II a document demanding individual rights, civil equality, freedom of the press and of assembly, and the development of a legislative system. The Tsar essentially told them to take a hike.
• December 1904-January 1905 – A peaceful strike led by leaders of a newly created union was fired upon by Imperial troops. Reports ranged from 96 dead to several thousand dead, depending on the source. No one really knows for sure.
• October 1905 - St. Petersburg Council (Soviet) of Workers was formed as a representative of the working classes, in an attempt to increase their rights. The Soviet gained so much support, that Nicholas II realized he had to concede somewhat to their demands in order to retain his throne. He signed the October Manifesto, which granted various individual freedoms and created a Duma (parliament).
• 1906 – The first Duma elections were held. The make-up of the first parliament was so liberal that Nicholas II dissolved it and called for new elections. The second Duma was elected… and was even more liberal than the first. Nicholas II dissolved it as well.
• 1907 – Nicholas II changed the property qualifications for voting – meaning that only the nobles could vote for Duma representatives – leading to the election of a very conservative and weak third Duma.
• March 1917 – fed up with Nicholas II and his lack of willingness to allow reforms, the masses finally rise up and revolt. A provisional government was formed, which intended to create a democratic state.

This seemed pretty promising… but a democratic government can’t pop into place over night. Given the needs of the masses and the weaknesses in the infrastructure the provisional government inherited, the masses were not content, despite the regime change. The inability to placate the masses led to continued revolution…

• October 1917 – the Bolsheviks (under Lenin) led a revolt against the provisional government, leading to three years of civil war, culminating in the establishment of the Soviet Union.
• 1927 – Stalin takes control. Political participation was forcibly limited to state-sponsored activities.

Certainly there were acts of opposition to the Soviet government during the decades of its regime, but they were not organized democratic participatory acts. At least not until Gorbachev arrived.

• 1985 – Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union. Policies of glastnost and perestroika were implemented. Glastnost was the making known to the masses of everything that had been kept from public knowledge throughout the existence of the Soviet Union. Perestroika was as a restructuring of the Soviet system, in order to establish a democratic and self-governing system. Censorship was relaxed, organizations were allowed to form, and people began discussing their political situation.
• In the late 1980s, elections which seemed quite democratic were held… the Soviet Union seemed to be slowly turning into a democracy. But, things were moving slowly and the masses didn’t want to wait.
• 1991 – Boris Yeltsin leads a coup, effectively ending the Soviet Union. Yeltsin becomes president of the Russian Federation.

At this point in time, everyone in the west hailed this as a great victory for democracy and capitalism, and seemed to believe that from here on out Russia would be a booming capitalist democracy much like the US. People seem so damn surprised that it’s not. Well, seriously. Look at Russia’s history. Look at how Russia’s people will be content for decades – even centuries – under a repressive regime, only rising up and revolting when things finally become intolerable. Most of the time the masses are apathetic. Take a look at how nearly ALL of the democratic reforms that have occurred over there through the ages were implemented AT THE TOP, when an enlightened leader (Iaroslav, Alexander II, Gorbachev) felt that the country needed more political participation/reforms. Notice how when government leaders try to slowly implement reforms in a nice, logical manner, this leads to either revolt from below of quashing from above. Russia is the most stable under strong, authoritarian leaders. Why is the current situation in Russia a surprise to anyone?

Here’s a bit of an anecdotal story about the apathy of the Russian masses, and how they differ in political behavior from your average American citizen. Under the Soviet Union, a centralized system was created to provide hot water to the masses. Most Russians still get their hot water from central hot water sources. This means that for most of the year, your average Russian has unlimited hot water. Unfortunately, for a few weeks to a month or so every summer, the hot water is shut off for routine maintenance. That’s a few weeks to a month or so of no hot water. (And let me tell you, cold tap water in Russia – even in the summer – is REALLY cold.) Now, obviously in the US the government doesn’t supply us with hot water… but just imagine for a moment that it did. Imagine for a moment how the populace would react if every summer there was a month or so of no hot water. People would be writing/calling/emailing/visiting everyone from their local city council to their state and national representatives, lobbying to get this situation remedied ASAP. You know what the Russians do when the hot water goes out? They simply deal with it.

I am seriously light-headed.

As in my head weighs less now.
You know, without the hair and all.

I went back to the same place where I'd gotten my hair cut before - I walk past that place every day, and ever since that first haircut, they always wave at me. Anyway, our school's chain recently put out an advertisement containing pictures of all of the Oedae teachers in Daegu... so of course I'm on it. Here's what it looks like:

Anyway, as soon as I walk into the hair salon, they start saying something about a hogwan (private academy, such as the one where I teach) - I had no idea what they were talking about. Then they went behind their desk, rummaged around, pulled out the above ad, pointed to my picture and said "Jane!" (It's not labeled with my name, so they actually remembered my name.) So awesome. Then I gave them this picture and asked them to re-create it on my head. And they did.

You know those ring transporters from Stargate?

Yeah, well we've got one!
(Don't know what I'm talking about?)

GyeongJu: Bulguksa and Museum Q

As of Korean Constitution Day 2001, Melissa and I had been in South Korea for little more than three weeks. Constitution Day was our first holiday, and we decided to spend it by going to the nearby city of GyeongJu (often transliterated as KyongJu). As part of that trip, I made my very first visit to a Buddhist temple, learned how to properly mix bibimbop, how not to burn garlic while cooking galbi, and rode a bike 30+ kilometers. It seemed fitting that six years later I would return to GyeongJu to celebrate Constitution Day.

We took the bus from the Express Bus Terminal next to Dongdaegu Station (cost about $3.70), and it took approximately one hour to get in to GyeongJu. A visit to the bathroom in the GyeongJu Express Bus Terminal yielded this gem:

Turned out that the "foreigner only" toilet
was the only non-squatter. Yay!

After making sure to photograph the foreigner only toilets, our first destination was Bulguksa (sometimes transliterated as Pulguksa), a Buddhist temple originally founded in 528... and the very temple that Melissa and I biked to in 2001. Rob and I took the much easier way - bus No. 11, which leaves from a stop directly across from the bus station, costs $1.50, and drops you off directly in front of the temple. The entire bus ride out to Bulguksa I continued to be astounded by the fact that Melissa and I had managed to bike that far. Twenty-two year old Jane must have been in far better shape than twenty-eight year old Jane! (Er, that and Melissa and I had been assured by the tourist information people that the bike ride to the temple was easy... Bah!) Anyhow, Bulguksa continues to be as gorgeous as ever, and it still remains my favorite temple here in Korea:

Small lake on the temple grounds

Guardian statues in the temple gateway

Bulguksa temple front

Bulguksa temple front

Entering the temple itself

Inside the temple



One of the temple shrines

Detail of a temple carving
(I've shot this guy on each of my three trips to Bulguksa over the years!)

Another carving detail



Temple door-knocker

On our way up to Bulguksa, we had spied from the bus a museum named Museum Q, which featured two life-size and life-like (yet fake) elephants on its front lawn. We had no idea what Museum Q was - or even if it was open - but we decided that we absolutely must visit it on our way back. Additionally, having bought toy swords and bows and arrows outside of Bulguksa, we felt that some quality time hunting fake elephants was sorely needed!

Elephants at Museum Q!

Elephants up close - they're pretty realistic, huh?

I go all Legolas on the Mumakil!

It turned out that Museum Q was an Advertising and Communications museum, run by Gyeongju University. The museum was big, and full of all sorts of advertisements (mainly Korean) that had been released over the ages. There were also televisions airing all sorts of award-winning commercials, displays of communication/film/photography equipment, and various diaramas.

A room full of advertisements

Advertising office diarama

I took plenty of other photographs while in GyeongJu;

click here to see the full set!

feral cat habitat and a kitten dilemma UPDATED!!!

UPDATE: As of late last night, the kitten was still trapped in the yard next door, yowling. At one point, it's mother was on top of the wall, crying down to it - one of the saddest sights ever. This morning, all was silent. There was no sign or sound of the kitten next door. I was worried that the owners of the next door villa had gotten annoyed and chased it out into the street. I went up on the roof, and was only able to see one kitten in the attic. However, this evening I went up there and saw three pairs of eyes reflecting in my flashlight - the kitten has been reunited with its mother and sibling :-)

Today was Constitution Day - a national holiday here in Korea. As such, I had the day off from work. Rob and I decided to go to GyeongJu (after all, it was Constitution Day 2001 when I *first* went to GyeongJu!) and I have tons of photos to share with you. However, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow to see them, as I am exhausted. Instead, for those of you who have wondered how a family of feral cats ended up in my landlord's attic:

Meanwhile, there's a serious kitten-related problem. One of the feral kittens seems to have fallen into the neighboring villa's courtyard. The courtyard (like mine) is walled off by a six foot tall concrete wall. The kitten is big enough to climb trees, but apparently not big enough to jump to the top of a six foot wall. It has been over there wailing for over 24 hours now. I could probably climb into the courtyard - and if it were a friendly kitten, I would do that in a heartbeat. However, as it's feral and terrified of me, I can't imagine it would let me catch it. Then I would be trespassing chasing a feral kitten. Additionally, one of my students lives in that building! I'm going to try and talk to her about it tomorrow, but considering her level of English, I can't really imagine anything will come of it. Meanwhile, I don't want Mr. Yu thinking that this incessant kitty-wailing is coming from Mia! If only I had a humane trap. Sigh. Any suggestions?