Where The Hell Am I?

Friday, August 31, 2007

이화여대 2006학년도 후기 학위수여식 aka Commencement: Finish-shee!

Update 1 (@4:47pm):

Yep, I was right. I got a beautiful bouquet of roses. I'd held my composure together up until then but, literally, every professor the department that I work for and our two assistants were there.

I cracked. I cried. The new M.A.C. eye makeup (color: Lovestone) I bought yesterday at Lotte Department Store is a mess.

I feel bad when I cry because I'm not crying about getting a bouquet of roses, I'm crying about something else. So I say my thanks and then I run away and hide. That's what I'm doing right now. I'll recover in a few minutes.

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Graduation is done! I held it together when facing the university's president when she was handing me my degree.

Oooops! I just remembered that I was in such a rush to get out that I forgot to pick up my award (those were in my department's office.)

I'm at work now and my department wants me to stop by the office later. I'll probably get flowers which is a nice gesture.

Here is a pic of me and Soha, a graduate student from Iraq. Below that, a picture of me and my classmate Jiyoung.

More to follow later. Now I have to get ready for my 2pm class.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Pretty but ... ohmygod

"The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory." - Paul Fix

That's a good quote to start this one off with.

This video is just burning up over at YouTube.com. I heard about this story this morning as I was getting ready for work. Honestly, I know I'm a few days behind the curve, but it's depressingly hilarious. All I have to say is thank goodness for George Hotz. We need stories like that to, at least, try to balance stories like this out.

Here is Miss South Carolina, 18 year old Lauren Upton, a contestant in this year's Miss Teen USA pageant, trying in vain to answer this: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?

Before people rush on here saying that I'm calling her stupid, I'm not. I don't know the girl. Also, yes, people make mistakes and crack under pressure. However, whether it be merely nerves, bad public speaking skills or that she's a complete dimwit, she's the current poster child for the Dumb American.

I have to give a high-five to the US education system and that No Child Left Behind program for holding things down while I've been overseas.

I haven't laughed so loud in a long time. Too bad the laughter was at someone else's expense and tinged with some heartache.

Seriously, the educated elite (yes, the US has one even if it's not completely evident these days) is the exception, but most Americans really need to simply know more. I say this anecdotally. Sometimes just conversations I have with folks back home hurt because it's so painful what they don't know. The thing is I'm not talking about obscure, specialist topics and information. I'm talking about just everyday info, like the dismal state of education in the US. However, if this were actually common knowledge in the US then the system probably wouldn't be so dismal.

I'm not claiming by any stretch to be a walking encyclopedia, but I could have answered that question. In a contest that is supposed to judge not only beauty and charm but also poise, she should have been able to put together a coherent answer. In fact, this is one that really doesn't require facts. It's her opinion and she couldn't even articulate that. I know they teach this in just about all public speaking or interview classes: take a moment, collect your thoughts and THEN speak. Also, if the question isn't clear ask that it's repeated. Hint: this also buys you more time even if you did understand the question.

However, honestly, this flub will probably earn her more in endorsements than the winner. Not bad for coming in fourth place.

More links:
CNN.com: Miss Teen S. C. makes her mark with flub
Guardian Unlimited: Now, where is America anyway?
New York Daily News: Beauty queen: 'Americans ... don't have maps' and Beauty maps out better day
National Post: Yoni Goldstein translates for Miss Teen South Carolina
Toronto Star (TheStar.com): Miss Teen USA hopeful a superstar after flub
and in her defense, one from home - The IslandPacket: Give her a break! A few kind words for Miss Teen South Carolina

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Playboy Spoon? Hugh Hefner Would Be Proud ;-)

Update: September 1st @ 3:37pm

I saw a delivery/dirty dish scooter while walking home and I snapped a photo with my camera phone.

Yes, my theory was right. The delivery guys do double duty. The metal box on the left, which holds food, the driver basically held on his left. The blue bin is where the dirty dishes go. Okay, that question is answered.

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A new semester has started which means I went back to work this week.

I've been a bit reclusive lately and just didn't feel like going to the faculty cafeteria where it's a crap shoot whether someone will try to join me or not. I've just been quiet and not really chatty lately.

What's great about Korea is you can call local restaurants and they'll deliver a hot meal to you door. Now, yes, some restaurants do that back home, but it's NOT in the same way.

The one thing you notice is the guys on scooters zipping in and out of traffic (or on the sidewalk). Well, a lot of these scooters have big metal rectangular boxes on the back and in those boxes is food on it's way to be delivered. Others have trash buckets on the back and those are out to collect dishes that have been recovered to be washed and used again. I'm not sure exactly how it works because I think the guy who delivers can also be the guy who picks up, but, I'm not going to research this one.

Yesterday I ate lunch in my office. I had 모밀 정식(Japanese style buckwheat noodles a cold soya sauce soup, green onions and wasabi) with 조밥 (raw fish on rice - sushi). Today I couldn't shake my reclusiveness and ate lunch in my office again. Today I had 순두부 찌개 (a soup with lots of soft tofu, egg, small clams, and veggies in a deunjang (the very strong Korean version of miso)). If you need a Korean food primer check this link out or browse along the sidebar and click over to Mary Eats or ZenKimchi.

Anyway, tomorrow I think I'll do the same.

Anyway, today when my 순두부 찌개 arrived. It arrived it the usual "eat it now" dishes which they usually swing back by an hour or so later to pick up. The spoons in Korea are metal with handles that are much longer than table spoons are in the west.

Actually, the length of the handle is similar to an iced tea spoon (my dad had tons of these as he loved iced tea in the summertime.)

As I said, they come with dishes that the restaurant will turn around and pick up later. Today, I had to look twice at my spoon and noticed it had a replica of the Playboy bunny on it...seriously, check it out.

That was just so weird that 1) I was tempted to keep (okay, steal) the spoon and 2) I just HAD to take a picture of it and blog it (yes, life is pretty dull right now.)

Just a bit of weirdness, Korea style.

*Pics of the dishes lifted from this page.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Deal With Taliban To Free Korean Hostages

Update 3 (September 1, 2007 @10:31pm): Choson Ilbo: Hostage Drama Ends With Release of Last 7 Koreans and CNN: Released South Korean hostages apologize for 'causing trouble'

Update 2 (August 29, 2007 @9:04pm) from CNN.com: Eight South Korean hostage freed

Update 1 (August 29, 2007 @ 7:20pm) from CNN.com: Taliban frees 3 South Korean hostages

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This story is still developing and I read the headlines saying a deal had been made this afternoon. The Korean papers didn't give a lot of detail. However, this CNN blurb doesn't give a lot either.

Sohn Jie-ae is on CNN International reporting on it, so for those who still don't know, it looks like the remaining hostages will be freed soon. That's good news, so it's worth blogging.

Taliban to release Korean hostages

Story Highlights
Taliban agrees to release 19 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan
Two male hostages killed, two female hostages released by the Taliban
Christian aid group was abducted in Ghazni province on July 19
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean negotiators in Afghanistan have reached a deal with Taliban militants holding 19 South Korean Christian aid workers for over a month, a presidential spokesman in Seoul said Tuesday.

Seoul welcomes the deal, but the spokesman cautioned that many details must still be worked out and the aid workers will not be released immediately.

Under the terms of the agreement, South Korea agreed to stick by its previous decision to withdraw its 200 non-combat troops from Afghanistan, which work mostly in an engineering and medical capacity.

In addition, Seoul will halt all Christian missionary work in Afghanistan.

The spokesman said there was no agreement to pay the captors, nor was there any mention of releasing Taliban prisoners -- a major demand of the kidnappers.

Twenty-three hostages, all church volunteers, were seized July 19 by the Taliban militant group while they were traveling on a bus in Afghanistan. Two were executed and two others were freed, leaving 19 still in captivity.

Here is another article from the Voice of America website:

Taleban Agrees to Release 19 South Korean Hostages

Taleban representatives say they have agreed to release 19 South Korean hostages held captive in Afghanistan for more than a month.

A South Korean presidential spokesman has confirmed that a deal for the release has been reached.

The announcement came Tuesday, after the Taleban and South Korean officials held a new round of talks on the fate of the hostages.

Face-to-face talks between South Korean officials and Taleban militants had broken down after the kidnappers released two female hostages earlier this month in what they called a gesture of goodwill.

The militants earlier executed two male hostages and had threatened to kill the rest if the Afghan government did not release Taleban prisoners.

Kabul rejected a prisoner swap.

Taleban militants abducted the 23 South Koreans as they traveled by bus to southern Afghanistan to do charity work on behalf of their Christian church.

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