hello -
i hope and pray that things are going well with all of you. this weekend has been much more low-key for me, so i don't have any interesting stories to talk about. i could make something up, but that'd take much more work than i'd like; and in the chance that somebody might take it serious, and tell someone else about how Korean men like to hold hands in public (oh wait, they do that already), or how Korean people refuse to use anything second-hand, and so they throw away perfectly decent televisions (to be scooped up by the neighbourhood foreigners - ie, us) - sure, its a huge tv, and the picture's not perfect... but for us, if its something we don't have to buy ourselves, we'll take it. living in a Korean neighbourhood is almost nostalgic; something similar to dorm life at school. sometimes, you feel guilty about taking the stuff: when we were walking through the neighbourhood, we were running with the tv, because the tv seemed too good (to us) to throw away. but in Korea, if its left ON the road, then its fair game. for a country that's crazy about recycling, and saving anything for possible reuse (because of overstressed incinerators), they know how to throw away perfectly fine items.
right now, yellow dust season has just begun, and for the next few weeks, everywhere you go, you'll see Koreans of all different ages wearing those pretty little masks covering their faces. yellow dust you might ask? hawuh? for those of you don't know of yellow dust (just like myself before i came here), yellow dust is when the winds blow east over the Gobi Desert, pick up all of the yellow desert dust, and then just blow it all over China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, even as far as the US, depending on how strong the winds are each year. over here, it hasn't been that bad this year; i'm lucky, so i've been told. even still, its during this time that you see less children playing outside on the streets (always nice) if the weather is too dusty. over a short period, its not bad, and you don't notice the effect. but if you decide to go biking, or for a nice long leisurely stroll around the city, you'll think everything is fine. and then you try to take in a deep breath, and it feels like your lungs are going to cave in. that and you wake up in the morning with a hacking cough, and you think that you've just received one of those "acme" anvils straight to the chest. and this is in South Korea - i can't imagine what its like in Beijing, or the more populated cities in china, where they get it worse yet. it almost makes me want to wear a mask. almost. as rediculous as they look, you understand why the older people wear them, especially the ones who are outside planting rice and other mysterious old rememdy plants.
other than that, not much is new over here. in South Korea, the anti-Japanese rallies have been almost non-existent. most South Koreans are entirely non-violent. you just don't mention the words "love" and "japan" in the same sentence. for those of you not in the know over Japan's soft "glossing" over their own historical accounts/shame, just a usual "Japan" query on any of the international websites (bbc.co.uk, for one) will give you a decent picture. its somewhat shameful, but what can you do.
well, i need to get going - i miss almost all of you, almost.
okay, so that last part was a joke. ha ha. come on, i can't make sarcastic comments on a blog like i can in real life. its just not the same.
take care, and God Bless

Bryan