One of the disadvantages about not speaking Korean is that we have no idea what the heck is going on in this country domestically. We get bits of information from the English language newspaper that is delivered to school, but it has only a little information in it. I know everything that's going on in the States because I read the internet everyday. Art and I have no TV so the computer is my main form of entertainment. Even in Spain and Africa though, I could listen to the news on TV, so I always knew what was up. Here I know hardly anything. Case in point:
South Korea was hit by Typhoon Nari on Sunday. It hit Jeju and swiped the southern part of the peninsula. It seems it destroyed some parts of Jeju City that we visited over the summer and killed 14 people. We didn't realize until yesterday, however, after reading it in the newspaper, that the torrential rain on Sunday was from a typhoon. No one had a clue a typhoon was even coming! I wonder what else is going on in this country that I don't know about...
The photo is one of my favorite examples of what we've dubbed 'family portraits'. We witnessed this funny Korean phenomenon over the summer. Koreans will be all laughing and having a good time up until the point the cameraman says "Kimchi!" For Koreans this is the signal to go straight faced and look as serious as possible. Once the photo is taken they go right back to laughing. It took several tries before we got good at keeping our faces straight for this photo.
Please feel free to comment on my blogs, by the way. I do like receiving them and it lets me know that all this is being appreciated by someone! Thanks to those who do comment!
4 comments:
Ummm...you know Dave, even though it may be in a different language, the pictures on the TV might speak volumes...weather radars are pretty translatable ;-)
I'm reading your blog Dave! Keep it coming! Its not like I have anyone else in Korea telling me what its like, so I look to you to give me the play-by-play experience. :)
I love the straight-faced look. It's so serious! And that's awesome that Andrea was able to visit you. I need to get off this continent sometime within the next couple of years. A trip to New Zealand with Katie might be in the cards. We'll see. :)
dave.. been too long. i just wrote you an email... then i figured id try to find this.
kathleen and i both miss you... and want to send you something. so be on the look out!
talk to you later man!
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