After You

The head of Seoul's Tourism Organization says that the country needs an "After You" campaign according to today's newspaper. He said that, "Please, Thank you, and Excuse me" are three phrases all Koreans should know.

I could not agree with him more. The pushing, particularly by the old women, is one of my two big gripes (don't get me started about the driving) about living in Korea. It seems that people are sometimes totally oblivious to others around them until it is too late...no problem give'em a little shove and you are on your way.  My Korean friends tell me it is a bit rude, but they ignore it. I wish I could say that I have gotten used to it, but I have not and  I generally give people a dirty look or, if it is a particularly hard push, I say something.

Koreans are some of the kindest, most welcoming people in the world, but the pushing gives the totally opposite impression and should not be tolerated in a modern culture.

No More Cambodian Brides

According to an article in today's Yonhap News,  it is now illegal for Koreans to marry Cambodians due to fears of human trafficking.  The Cambodians had made brokers illegal in 2008 which resulted in Korean-Cambodian marriages going from 551 to 1372...guess that did not work.

I find it interesting that they have only banned Koreans. The article says it is because 60% of foreign marriages are with Koreans.

I have no idea why this fascinates me, but it does.

Mail Order Couples Happier than Korean Couples

An interesting story from today's paper reporting on a huge survey (73,000 respondents) of inter-cultural couples.  The focus of the article is the foreign brides are much younger than their husbands. Not sure this comes as a surprise to anyone.  What does surprise me is:.

• They are happier with their marriages than Korean couples.  Over 50% of couples are happy with their  relationships which, according to the ministry that put the survey together, is higher than Korean couples.
•  64% have graduated from high school. I do not know the graduation rate from each country, but that seems higher than I would have expected.

This is encouraging to me overall, but I still think that this is not sustainable and the government needs to take more action to get the male/female ratio in line and make it easier for rural men to find wives.

Paranoia

Somebody shattered two of our car's windows, and our sense of tranquility, while Sandy was at school today. Was it kids at the school having fun with rocks and things got out of control? Do some of the kids really not like studying English? Is there some dude who is unrelated to the school up to no good?  Will things get worse?

Imagine..you can't understand the language, only understand the culture on the surface, do not understand  the customs? What do you do?  

The schools reaction was muted...seemed that they wanted to keep things very low key. Friends told me that you would not usually file a police report for something like this (this makes me wonder about the validity of crime statistics here).We have been treated so well by the people here and this shocked and shaken me.  

We decided to file a police report and the school will investigate I really hope it is kids being stupid, but I am finding it hard to accept this since it is two broken windows. 

Paranoia...hard to avoid when you do not understand anything.

UPDATE

A couple of kids admitted breaking one window, but they said they were not sure about the other.  The students gave some money to repair the windows and the teachers gave the rest.  We really did not want the teachers to do this, but they felt compelled out of a sense of obligation.

Health Care Updates

Since they are still debating the healthcare bill in the US, I thought I would give a couple of updates to our experience here.


My insurance rate has gone up $2 a month to $63 a month.


Two friends had to go in for serious medical tests.  One needed a cancer check.  She is from Canada and needs to reserve a slot 6 months in advance there (wow!).  She called for an appointment here and they said she could come in the next day.  It turns out she needs an operation and it will cost about $1400 with the insurance.


Another person went to the doctor and he thought she needed a series of tests that included all sorts of scans, x-rays, she was put under and got an endoscope check. The doctor made the call and the tests were done 12 hours later for about $100 including two prescriptions.


As I mentioned before, Korea spends 6% of GDP on Healthcare compared to 16% in the US and by many measures has a healthier population.  From my experience, access is excellent and afford ability is great.

1st Week Complete

I just finished one week of classes.  I am always a bit excited and nervous to teach the new students.  A couple highlights (lowlights?)

While walking around class I often put a hand on the should of students....amazing how many flinch as if I am going to hit them.

A student asked me what I was most proud of about America in class.  I went on about the freedom and opportunity for all people.  I always cite my grandfather and now Barak Obama since there are few countries, including Korea, where a man of his heritage and life experience could become the leader.  After I said this about Obama, one of the students yelled, "But he is a liar". I was shocked and thought, "How is she watching Fox News here?"

Se Teu

Saturday morning we met with Se Teu, the boy who needed throat surgery because he drank acid, and his parents.  He had the first of the last three surgeries he needs about 2 months ago.  His condition has improved a lot.  He can now eat some semi-solid foods.  His parents think that he is well enough to start going to school in April.  The parents were really thankful to my students for helping them.

The meeting happened in the last moments before we left Sangklaburi and I can not think of a better way to end our trip.

Great Billboard

There is a huge problem with human trafficking from Burma to Thailand.  20 yards from the border is this billboard telling girls to be careful of strangers, you could be trafficked and forced into prostitution.  

I really love this billboard because it has a great message, it is in the best place that the Thai government could put it, it has such a powerful image...scares me just looking at it.  A powerful picture is especially important since the ads will target uneducated people who may not be able to read anything.

Another thing I like is there is no English.  I have seen similar posters before, but they always had a fair amount of English on them.  Since the largely uneducated people will not be able read English, I think those posters/billboards are for show.

 

Old Project Update

I went to the project I worked on a couple of years ago and it was a bit discouraging at first.  The bathrooms had not been cleaned in a while and the monk decided to add a second floor onto the kitchen and dining room I built, so it was a mess too.  The clothes washing area and water tank were in surprisingly good shape.

At first I was a bit upset because things were not maintained.  Then, I looked at the kids and they looked great.  Their skin in the past was full of sores and they were filthy because they did not have a place to wash.  Their clothes were dirty to the point of being disgusting. Now there are no sores and the kids were in surprisingly clean clothes.

The reason I took on the project was to improving the health and living conditions of the kids.  They are markedly better than before I started the project, so on one level it is a success.  On the other hand, the place is really dirty and it was very discouraging to see it.

I talked to the monk about it, and he assured me he was fencing the area and then he would commence with a proper maintenance program. I will be shocked it that happens, but we will see.

My friend in the cage

Most people do not know any refugees.  Because we have spent so much time in the border town in Thailand, we know many. I want to tell you about a woman that Sandy and I love and what it is like to be a refugee.

I can not say her name because she still has relatives in Burma and fears that somehow she could jeopardize their safety by even mentioning her name.  This may seem paranoid to you and I, but as children we did not witness the heads of local factory workers the government cut off and put on fence posts to intimidate local people.  We did not have our family torn apart because our brother wanted democracy and participated in protests.  We did not have a sister interrogated for hours and threatened because she may have inadvertently talked with reporters in a store.  We are lucky.

My friend lives in the border area of Thailand and has very limited rights there.  Because she cannot legally own property, she has had "friends" put vehicles and property in their name so she could run a small business.  Ultimately, they took the vehicles and the property and there is no recourse.  She knows if she is physically attacked, the police will turn a blind eye to many things because she is from Burma.

I think the worst thing is that she is in a virtual cage.  She is limited to living in a small extremely rural part of Thailand.  To the Thai governments credit, they do provide a semi-safe haven for refugees there. Nonetheless, she can not leave.  There are many police checkpoints to be sure she does not.  

I wish everyone knew my friend. I wish they could know a person who finds people with no hope due to health problems and gives them hope and helps them be cured.  I wish they could know someone who has so little, but is eager to give what she has to others. I wish they could watch her drive a motorbike like a trolley car...stopping to pick up and drop off her friends she sees walking on the streets. I wish they could meet someone who sacrifices so much to care for her mother.  

When we say goodbye to her we always end up saying we love each other and crying.  I think it must be terrible looking out from the cage as we go free, but it is not a lot of fun look in the cage and seeing someone you love trapped.

Water Project

I have been working with a good friend of mine for the last few months on a water project inside  Burma.  This is a bit illegal (strange that helping others is illegal, but it is), so it has been a bit of a challenge.

Yesterday we had a meeting at the site.  Burma has many states and some, like the Mon state, have some autonomy from the central government.  We had gotten permission from the Mon state to enter Burma, but the central government will not give permission, so we had to hid a bit while being transported. I was not really nervous, but I knew that there could be a bit of a problem if one of the many Burmese soldiers stopped the car. 

We got to the temple where we will drill a well.  The driller has a good reputation, the other man neither my friend or I knew.  I was (am) a bit nervous about him since he was wearing a real gold Rolex on his wrist.  The meeting went ok.  

We decided to go with my friend to the well that serves the rest of the area.  It is already over capacity, no way to add to the capacity.  The man who manager is trustworthy, and he gave us a lot of good advice.  Our initial idea was to run a few taps with meters and have the local people put there money together to pay the monthly cost.  Turns out that the Burmese government will apply a tax which would essentially double the rate. Nobody wants to enrich the government, so we settled on a flat monthly charge much like the other service has.

I think that it is probably best to have the community gather money and if they raise a sufficient amount, we will contribute the remainder.  This is not just to keep the cost down, but more importantly to have a sense of ownership in the community.  People usually do not destroy things that they paid for (at least in theory).  

Hopefully, they will raise the money they need to and work can begin in April.  Kind of exciting.

Second Home

We lived in Sangklaburi, Thailand for a year and have visited it on many other occasions.  We love the slow pace, the friendliness of the people, our friends, and the children of Baan Unrak.

I really did not know how much I missed it until we were preparing to come.  Would people remember me?  Would the kids remember me?  Would things be the same?

We called Baan Unrak to let them know we were on our way and I ended up talking to some of the kids.  A couple said, "Do you remember me?"  Little do they know that we have shown their pictures to everyone and told everyone about them.  Either way, it was a relief to know that we were still remembered.

We got here, and there are some changes.  More foreigners working with NGO's, a couple of new markets and a 7/11 (is that progress?).  It has been great strolling the streets and chatting with friends.  It is strange, but we really do feel like it is a second home.  I guess as long as we live in Asia, we will keep coming here.

The best of humanity

For those who are looking for the best in humanity, let me introduce "Ying". She is a 12 year old girl who lives at Baan Unrak Children's home.  The other night we took her with a bunch of kids to a festival in town.  All the kids got a bit of money to buy something for themselves.

Ying was very judicious in her spending, I did not know why until she found a little necklace that you could have inscribed.  She is a young girl and young girls like jewellery...no problem.  I looked at the necklace after she was finished and it said, "Tatiana".  I said, "Your name is not Tatiana."  She said "My sponsor has sent me many gifts and I have never been able to give her one".

I guess I am sentimental, but when a kid who has next to nothing has an opportunity to buy something for herself and decides she should spend it on others, it really touched me.  I am sure her sponsor will appreciate the gift.  As for me, I told Ying, "You gave me the best gift of the night by doing that".  I thought it was a nice sentiment, but she thought I said, "You gave me the basket of the night by doing that".  After the confusion was resolved, she held my hand a bit tighter and we went on our way.

"Sit and Smile" Best Name Ever

I was in the market and saw some toilet paper with the best name ever, "Sit and Smile".

Petting Tigers

Some friends of ours joined us on the Thailand leg of our vacation.  We went to the "Tiger Temple". Some of the small cats were free to roam and be petted.

The big tigers are exercised like crazy and then fed, so they end of being like big hug toys.  You have an opportunity to have pictures taken while petting the tigers.  For those with a bit more courage and a few bucks, you can actually have a tiger rest his head on your lap while the picture is taken.

A few of the medium sized cats still had some energy left, so we were kept a short distance from them.

Communal water, making merit

Part of being a good Buddhist is doing good for others, called making merit.  Even everyday people can do this with simple tasks.  

My favourite is the communal water system.  Everywhere you go, you see clay pots filled with drinking water to relieve travellers from the oppressive heat.  The pots are unfinished clay, so they perspire a bit.  This allows for evaporation which makes the pots, and hence the water, a bit cool. The pots are filled on a daily basis by people making merit.

"Where you from?" to the extreme

One of the funniest things that happened to us occurred when we walked by the police station.  A truck with bars over the windows chock full of prisoners was backing out of the jail.  People could barely move, but somehow they got their hands between the bars and began waving and yelling, "hello" and, "Where you from?".

People love to engage with foreigners and it seems that the impending doom of going to prison was not going to prevent people from making new friends.

Memories of Burma

A few pictures of daily life from our trip.

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Funny Sign

I have to give the airport an "A" for effort with their bathroom door sign, but their execution leaves something to be desired.

Collapsing Burmese Toilets

Toilets in small villages are generally small concrete slabs with a small hole over a nearly full pit with bamboo supports for a light weight roof.

One morning I finished squatting and as I began to stand and pull up my shorts, I found out the hard way that I was over the weight limit of the concrete slab: It collapsed.  Luckily, the pit was nearly full and I did not fall into a deep pit (bad visualization alert).  The concrete, which was conveniently not reinforced, broke into a bunch of pieces. Luckily, I kept my balance.

Unluckily, the roof rested on poles which rested on the concrete .  Soon the roof rested on me. Less lucky, the roof caught on my sweater.  Even more unlucky, my pants were still around my knees. Completing the bad luck tri-fecta, a group of children came running to see what happened. 

I quickly got my pants up, the roof off and, to prove what an idiot I have become, could not wait to tell Sandy and Camille that the toilet collapsed on me.