ELECTIONS IN SOUTH KOREA

ELECTIONS IN SOUTH KOREA

Elections in South Korea are loud. Loud, loud, loud. The candidates advertise through blaring mobile and still vehicles that blast loud messages and slogans.

Each Candidate also has a number attributed to their name- offering the convience of not ever having to know a candidates name and only remembering what number they are.

Their were banners all over Changwon for the presidential and gubernatorial candiates.

The presidential front runners were Park Geun Hye and Moon Jae In. Park Geun Hye was the first woman to run for presidential office in South Korea. She is also the daughter of former South Korean president, and later dictator, Park Chung-hee. Park Chung-hee did a lot to develop South Korea but had a less than favorable human rights record. In contrast, Moon Jae In was a human rights lawyer.

Park Geun Hye was the candidate for the conservative party and Moon Jae In ran for the liberal party. I don't know how they differed in most things, but what I do know was that Park Geun Hye believed in taking a harder line with North Korea, whereas Moon Jae In sought to try to begin working toward ammends, or at least would be willing to meet and converse North Korean leaders. They also both sought to low higher education costs an to improve public education, much to a Hagwon owner's chagrin. However, even if school's do get even better, parents will still put their kids in Hagwons.

Election day is December 19th. People have the day off from work to vote. Schools are not in session. Mine was because my work day begins at 2PM.

The election was pretty decisive. Park Geun Hye won. Younger people in South Korea lamented this outcome because they want to a Korea that is moving forward rather than (socially) stagnating and moving backward. Also the official TV results for the national election looked like somebody had just finished a game of Wii Tennis.

Wii Election

Again, I wish I could offer more perspective but, there was too much I didn't understand. Also they didn't do TV attack ads or anything. Just loud blaring music/campaign shouting everywhere for about 4-6 weeks leading up to the election.

Here is a video I took of a Park Geun Hye rally in front of my building. I later found out that she actually made an appearance there a few hours later, but I was at work already (turn down your volume- it's loud).

PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL IN SOUTH KOREA

PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL IN SOUTH KOREA

Like the pro baseball teams in South Korea the team names are based off the corporations that own the team. Some friends and I went to see Changwon's team: the LG Sakers.  Their website is here.  A "Saker" is a bird of some kind.

Each pro Korean team is allowed 2 foreigners on their team, which are usually big black guys who played college ball. There are two big tall foreign players on the LG Sakers named Ira and Rod Benson . Ira played ball for University of Texas and Rod Benson played ball for Cal.

I have actually hung out with and played darts with Rod Benson. He's 6"10. He's been in Korea playing ball for three years. He's active on Twitter and does  professional blogging freelance and has done some work for Yahoo. None of the LG Sakers live in Changwon. They all live in the Jamsil Sports Complex in Seoul and take a bus down for home games. So the times he does come down here he doesn't know about too many places, so there have been a handful of times where I've shown him a few places to go while out on a Friday or Saturday night in Changwon.

Rod Benson

I got into the stadium as the introductions began. The arena corridors were pitch black as I walked into the actual arena the house lights are down and there is just neon and LED lights everywhere. The cheerleaders were wearing LED butterfly wings and there were 2 LED-lit remote control birds flying around the arena. It looked like what basketball intros would look like in the year 3000. It was futuristic and surreal.

Basketball in the year 3000

The game itself was a good game. Sakers pulled off a come from behind victory. Naturally there wasn't any dunking. Also, some of the Korean players had tattoos. Koreans are not into tattoos because they believe their bodies are sacred gift from their parents so they shouldn't alter themselves. That's why in ancient times the men didn't even cut their hair (altering their body). Now, with the prevalence of plastic surgery in Korea, there seems to be a bit of a contradiction going on, but thats a conversation for another day.

The crowd was like a Korean crowd at most sporting events. Spirited and highly group coordinated. Each player had their own songs and chats. Rod's was "Call me Maybe." It sounded like this-- the stereo would be blasting: "I just met you/and this is crazy/but here's my number- and then the stereo cut out and everyone screams: ROH-DUH BEYN-SUN!! (thats a Korean accent).

The halftime entertainment was a Tae-kwon Do class of little kids punching and kicking boards. It was cute but also impressive. There were a lot of high flyers. And of course it ended with the whole class dancing to "Gangnam Style." Also there was a breakdancing bird mascot. He could put a basketball in his open beak.

Here is some video I took of the game:

Also I had to get a picture of the nicest stadium bathroom I've ever seen:

Isn't this the nicest stadium bathroom you've ever seen??

JUNAM RESERVOIR

JUNAM RESERVOIR

Junam Reservoir is located just outside of Changwon. It is home to seasonally migratory birds that visit in the winter. The weather has been hovering around freezing so much of the reservoir was frozen over, but if you looked closely you could see birds swimming in the water about a foot away from birds standing on ice.  It was a particularly foggy day. I went with two Korean girls named Ellie (the girl with the red scarf) and Sally (the girl with the grey jacket). I know them because they are my friend's co-teachers. Ellie has a car and earlier in the week had suggested going out to Junam. I took her up on that offer to try to see the migratory birds.

Ultimately, because of the fog I couldn't see much of anything but it was still a nice outing.

Also a note about Korean women's fashion: Just because you are going out in nature doesn't mean you are absolved from being fashionable! Note how both women are wearing high heeled boots. I got a kick out of that,

HOUSE OF CHANGWON

HOUSE OF CHANGWON

The House of Changwon is a historically recreated traditional village. It'd be similar to touring a pioneer village in the U.S. Here are some pictures I took:

SEOUL VISIT 2: DONGDAEMUN, LANTERN FESTIVAL AND MICROBREWERIES

SEOUL VISIT 2:  DONGDAEMUN, LANTERN FESTIVAL 

AND MICROBREWERIES 

After departing from Ange, Caley and Walker, I met up with my friend Van (mentioned here and here) up in Seoul.

Van with Darcie along the river

We met near in the Dongdaemun area of Seoul. "Dongdaemun" means "East Gate." Seoul has 4 main gates to the city (N, S, E, W).

Dongdaemun

Dongdaemun is also home to the Dongdaemun Market. A large shopping arcade with a wide variety of wares for sale. I ended up buying a nice flannel.

Dongdaemun Market

As with everything in Seoul, development is always quick and quickly advancing. This is the soon to be opened green-architecture inspired Dongdaemun Design Plaza. For more information visit here.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Next, Van and I walked along the stream that goes through Dongdaemun and soon discovered that there were lanterns on display for the Seoul Lantern Festival.

After killing some time downtown, we headed back to Itaewan. Itaewan, the foreigner enclave is quickly emerging as perhaps the hippest and most desirable neighborhood in all of Korea. It is an emerging hotbed of dormant subculture ready to emerge. Aside from all that hoo-ha you can find not 1 but TWO microbreweries there!  (You also have to realize that Korean beer is absolutely god awful, Miller High Life may be about as good as the best Korean beer)

The first microbrewery we visited was Magpie. Having recently opened, it's still quite small, but has 2 beers on tap: an IPA and an Espresso Stout. Both were phenomenal.

Next we went to the big dog of Seoul microbrew: Craftworks Brewery. It is home to about 7 microbrews (featured in the sampler below). I ordered the special: brisket with seasonal vegetables. The whole experience was heaven.

Next we had a parting drink at a classy cigar bar in Itaewan run by a Turkish guy. I don't smoke, but since South Korea has no sanctions against Cuba, you can get Cuban cigars.

Turkish Cigar Bar Purveyor

They had 3 beers on the menu. Two normalish beers (Heineken, Budweiser(?)) and then of all beers Anderson Valley; one of my favorite beers from my days in California.

This place was so classy it felt straight out of the glossy pages of a liquor advert. 

After this, I departed back to the train station to take the train back to Changwon leaving Seoul at close to 10PM

Pictured (l-r): Van and Me (and my new shirt!)