Where The Hell Am I?

Friday, October 31, 2008

WTF? 6 Days in Customs?!!!

Update: November 2, 2008 @ 8:07pm

As I thought, it did get delivered. It just got delivered 5 days behind schedule after languishing in customs. My vote is in...yeah!

But I still don't like that it took so long to get through something that should take maybe a day.
____________

Uh oh.

I mailed my absentee ballot back to the States on October 23rd via EMS. The form said it would be delivered by the 27th, and I mailed it EMS so I could track its arrival. What's cool is I get text messages that update me on the status when something changes. I got a text days ago saying it was in the system and on its way. I expected to get something at the start of the week but I gotten nothin', nada, zlich.

I just checked it online and nearly fell over. Check it out.

Foreign Acceptance, October 23, 2008, 3:43 pm, KOREA
Foreign International Dispatch, October 24, 2008, 1:27 am, SEOUL INTERNATIONAL POST OFFICE, KOREA
Inbound International Arrival, October 24, 2008, 10:37 am, ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS)
Inbound Into Customs
Inbound Out of Customs, October 30, 2008, 2:26 pm

I'm wondering how many other ballots are languishing in customs for six days?!!! Is customs just swarmed with ballots from abroad? And, couldn't they have predicted this?

I mailed it early enough that it still will get there on time, but wow...that's scary.

Anyone else tracking their ballots? This worries me.

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Big Weird Tuna Rice Ball

This week the store in my building at work got something new in the snack corner. It was labeled 참치주먹밥, (cham-chi ju-mok-bap) so I knew it had tuna (cham-chi) and rice (bap) but what the hell was 주먹? It was wrapped in foil, but I took a chance and got it.

Basically, it was a ball of rice covered in nuts and grains with a layer of tuna inside. Just for a sense of perspective regarding its size, it fit in the palm of my hand. It might look kind of weird, but it was quite good. I've actually experimented with tuna and rice concoctions in my kitchen and it tasted about the same.

BTW, I looked the term up and 주먹 means fist. So "tuna fist rice", I guess literally. K-blogger foodies...weigh in on whether I just botched that completely or not. Thanks.

It's random but I'm sharing 'cause it was the first time I'd seen it in a convenience type store.

Okay, now it's time for dinner ;)

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Trick or Treat - 2008 ;)

I was leaving for work earlier this week when I saw these two kids heading up the hill to the local preschool. Their mom let me take the picture (so don't freak out y'all).

I thought it was cute because I've seen kids in Korea dress up for Halloween before, but it's not something you see at the same level you see it in the States. In the States, it's a cultural phenomenon complete with stories and rituals and flaming bags of poo (I'm sorry that prank is gross but makes me giggle for hours.)

So have a great Halloween everyone. I feel a cold coming on, so I'm staying in my warm apartment tonight.

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Peru's shamans send US election vibes

This is great. I was up early this morning and saw a clip about Peruvian shamans performing rituals so that the US presidential candidate they believe will win will be successful.

Even among these 11 Peruvian shamans, Obama is in the lead: 9 to 2.

This also reminds me of the purifying rituals that Mayan priests died back in 2007 when George W. Bush visited Guatemala.

I couldn't find video, so I recorded it with my digital camera. Click here for the BBC link.

SANY0178
Uploaded by ExpatJane

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