Unexplored Venues and World Cup Lacking Luster

Last Thursday, a friend from college came over to visit from Hiroshima, Japan, where he is also teaching English. I gave Chris a “must see” list in Korea, and set him free to explore the city on his own while I worked. He said he had a wonderful time and really enjoyed himself and the shopping. He was blown away at the market for knock off goods! He said that this absolutely doesn’t exist in Japan, or at least in Hiroshima, where people pay full price for everything and police would shut down any such industry. He wound up spending all of his money! He bought gifts for family and his Japanese girlfriend (who, for the record, speaks NO English and has zero desire to learn. He said that his Japanese is good enough and he’s a master at charades! This is good, as he expects to spend another year or two there, improving his Japanese and loving the experience) and even a North Face ski suit for $40. He’d even hit some of the markets I apparently have yet to make it to, so this may be one more thing I’ll do before heading home in the next few months.

Friday night after work we headed out to meet my friend Suhjin at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. (I know hotels like to capitalize on tourists, but $15-24 for a drink is absurd to me! Seriously, what’s the point? They taste no better/clean your system no differently/improve the effects no more drastically…) so we could meet her co-workers and friends at a bar they’d rented out for Korea’s 4am World Cup match. $30/person for all you could drink and some finger foods. There were Koreans, Canadians, Americans, Europeans, etc., about 50 people in total when we arrived. I even met people from Missouri and Tennessee, who claimed to enjoy hearing a Southern accent. About 2am, I decided that, in true American spirit, I wasn’t interested in the game and saw no sense in staying up all hours of the night to watch something I cared nothing about. Of course my exit was protested and accused of being unpatriotic. I agreed and explained that I didn’t care, and that I was tired and drinking would only serve as a catalyst to my fatigued state, I had to meet friends at 1pm the following day, and if I was forced to stay at this party against my will and made unhappy, then those around me would be as well. They gave in at the thought of someone not smiling and screaming wildly for their beloved “Reds” and I headed home while Chris stayed to get the full Korean experience. Korea ended up losing anyway, so I definitely didn’t miss anything.

Saturday, after Chris staggered back to my apartment around lunchtime, we met my old Korean teacher and a few friends and went to InsaDong for some cultural relic shopping and then to Sincheon for some yummy Korean food, delicious Haagen Dazs ice cream, and a bit more shopping. Chris departed early Sunday morning, and I left my apartment shortly thereafter to spend 10.5 hours of my Sunday job searching and researching. (If anyone has prospects in Internal Audit, or in Hawaii, or better yet: both! please pass it my way!) It’s strange to think that I’ve been here 10.5 months already! And I plan to be home by the end of September—some travel between my departure of the Republic of Korea and my arrival in Louisiana. Ideally, I’ll spend a month exploring other parts of the world, a couple of weeks at home (which will include some bridesmaid duties in Houston and wherever else!), and then move to a place who will cover (or at least assist with) moving costs and pay me enough to afford the cost of living in paradise while substituting my lack of experience with the weight of the prestige of the IA program I went through. Yep, that’s the goal.

This weekend: celebrating America’s Independence the Korean way! Whatever that may be... Details next time!


On another note, I would like to send a special congratulations and lots of love out to two people I trust, admire, appreciate, and am very excited for:

Jacques Berry, my old boss from the Senate, and his new fiancée, Carrie Broussard.
Kerrie Johnson, my cousin who just found out she’s expecting her second baby in March 2007.

Copyright 2006 Olivia R. Reed

Seoul is World's 2nd Priciest City

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13550576/?GT1=8211

Moscow surpasses Tokyo as world's priciest city
Recent property boom pushes Russian capital to top spot


NEW YORK - Moscow has eclipsed Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city, a new survey says.

The Russian capital moved up three spots from a year ago thanks to a recent property boom, according to a survey released Monday, while the Japanese capital slipped to third place due to the weaker yen.

South Korea’s Seoul ranked second on the list, up from fifth last year.

The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 144 cities around the world, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 items such as housing, transportation and food. The survey is aimed at helping multinational employers determine compensation for their expatriate workers.

With cities around the world getting increasingly expensive for expatriates — notably cities in developing countries — employers may need to re-examine the way they provide compensation and benefits for their workers, said Rebecca Powers, a senior consultant at Mercer.

“As we see more and more movement into these emerging markets, a lot of those programs need to be looked at,” Powers said.

Overall, foreign exchange rate fluctuations were behind the majority of the changes in ranking, but in Moscow’s case, costs were buoyed by the surging price for large living accommodations. Prices for big houses rose some 50 percent over the past year, driven in large part by soaring demand from expats, Powers said.

“It reflects a much bigger demand for palatable housing for someone coming into Russia trying to replicate the housing they had at home,” she said.

After Moscow, Europe’s priciest cities were London, ranked No. 5 overall, and Geneva, ranked No. 7. European cities tended to fall in the rankings this year because of a weakening euro.
New York — ranked No. 10, up three spots from last year — remains North America’s costliest city, followed by Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Chinese cities — including Hong Kong at No. 4, Beijing at No. 14, and Shanghai at No. 20 — climbed the list due mostly to the yuan’s strength after being de-pegged from the U.S. dollar.
With the Brazilian real rising about 20 percent versus the U.S. dollar over the past year, Brazilian cities Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro surged to No. 34 and No. 40 from No. 119 and No. 124, respectively.

“What’s so interesting now is that we do see, year to year, more fluctuation in these rankings than we used to,” Powers said. “The investment and flow of capital and businesses into developing countries has made them a bit more expensive.”

Companies will likely have to pay expatriate employees more to retain them, and may want to consider working harder to hire staff locally in the long-term to help alleviate relocation costs, Powers said.

The least-expensive city surveyed was Asuncion in Paraguay.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Yankees and Dixies

It should have been noted that upon my arrival in Australia, I immediately noticed a much more beautiful sky. I asked people there if it was typical, or if it was just because I was on vacation. They assured me that this was normal, though I found no one who could produce an explanation. The lack of ozone, perhaps? Not sure, but it really was quite nice. I also met a really cute older couple from Pennsylvania before I walked across the Harbour Bridge. They told me that getting to the halfway point would take about 20 minutes—I was concerned because I had a plane to catch. I thanked them and proceeded to check out the view of the harbor from this point, scenic in itself. After walking the length of the bridge and back, stopping all along the way to take pictures and even talk to another couple, I checked my watch and had taken 14 minutes. I grinned to myself and remembered how cute the pair was. I went through Nurse’s Walk after this. It’s a really neat area that’s sort of Bostonian in feeling and appearance: Old but with modern stores and lots of independent, creative stores. Worth a few minutes if you’re in the area!

DMZ
A group of 4 friends and I went to the De-Militarized Zone on Saturday. A 7:30am departure from the USO office required payment of about $42 and check-in 30 minutes early. This group of tourists who had to book their tickets several weeks in advance was large enough for 2 buses. There was a very specific dress code because offensive T-shirts, tacky tourists and the like have been photographed by the North Koreans and used in propaganda advertisements distributed to their people. The ride was an hour and a half and our tour guide, much like the trip to the mountain I took back in October, talked the entire time. His English was pretty good, but it was really work to listen to and understand everything he said. So instead I talked to the man seated next to me, who turned out to have his PhD in metallurgy and currently works in Florida on developing weapons of the future—more so how they explode by how they are formed and what is in them, etc. It sounded interesting enough, though he was a bit of an oddball. We stopped at two different checkpoints, each time dismounting the bus and having our passports reviewed. We got to US Army Camp Boniface and went into Ballinger Hall where we were given an outstanding presentation by Mr. Fleming (whose rank is unknown to me) on the history of the area and what we would see and should expect. We were told of an awful 1976 event in which a US Army Captain and 1st Lieutenant were both axed to death over the trimming of a tree at this Joint Security Area (JSA), a zone occupied by both North and South Korean as well as US forces. The pictures of the fight were quite brutal and there was a memorial for the men as well as a building named in memory. The DMZ has been called the most dangerous place on earth for many reasons. One being that enemies face each other on a daily basis, since the countries have only signed an armistice and are therefore technically still at war. The North Koreans have what opponents have called “Propaganda Village.” They have set up what appears to be a happily functioning town (it should be noted that a recently silence speaker system urged South Koreans to defect), so that those looking across the border think these Communists are normal, eating well, and productive. On the South side is what is called Freedom Village, inhabited by about 200 people who make about $80k tax free and while women are allowed to marry in, men are not for fear of this encouraging them to marry in and avoid obligatory Korean military duty (all men must spend at least 2 years in the armed forces while in their 20s). We actually went into a meeting hall where we were allowed to cross the border into North Korea, but only technically because the line dividing the countries passes through the buildings. This is where UN meetings and whatnot are held. The UN flag on the table is made of plastic because last time the North Koreans were in there, they took it down and used it to shine their shoes. The country flags of all UN members are in a glass case for similar reasons—evidence of the manners and mentality of the Northerners. We got stamps on our passports, though not endorsed by the North. We had lunch at a Korean restaurant and then went on to Dora Observatory, but because of the rain and haze were unable to see the full range into the North. However, their mountains look just like any you’ve seen elsewhere, so not a great loss. You could see the flags of the two countries, the one from North Korea having been rebuilt so that it would stand high above that of the South. I’ve also been told that it’s the largest flag in the world and in high winds has to be taken down because it will tear under its own weight. We then went into the 3rd tunnel (of 4 found but 17 suspected) the North was building several kilometers under the ground, apparently bound for Seoul. It was a long walk down and apparently had been sprayed with coal, but the crazies told their people that they were digging for gold or something of that whacked out nature.

AMY'S FAREWELL
That night, Heeyun and I met Amy for dinner at La Petite France to bid her farewell. The restaurant was chosen by Sam and myself, because Amy requested not to be put on the spot and had recently eaten. It turned out to be overpriced and only mediocre food. Nonetheless, Heeyun and Sam discussed politics, all of us talked about travel plans, and then we offered our girl goodbyes. Amy is truly one of the most unique and courageous women I’ve ever met. She just spent a few days in Japan and is off to Mongolia and Russia where she will live for a few days with nomads, visit family in Siberia as well as the largest fresh water lake in the world, hit a few cities that may remind her of her days in Uzbekistan, and then fly home to New York from Moscow. She is doing all this traveling alone because she hopes to get all the harder exploring done while she’s young and able, but do the more typical vacations of Americans when she’s older and maybe moves less easily. She’s extremely ambitious and interesting, far beyond her ivy league education and years spent in the Peace Corps. She can communicate, at least a little bit, in 4 languages (English, Korean, Uzbek and Russian) and is about to learn Spanish as part of getting her masters in International Development, which requires her to spend a year in Costa Rica. Anyway, very sad to see her go, but as Sam pointed out, there’s no reason to be sad because good things are happening to good people.

ARMY FORMAL
Much to the chagrin of a co-worker or two of mine, I took Thursday off and went to the United States Army’s 231st Birthday Ball. This celebration of what is considered Area IV was held at the Hotel Inter Burgo in Daegu. I had a dress made, Sam sported his “dress blues” and we sat at the table for Military Police, a whopping 7 of us total, including 2 civilians. At our table was Major Weams, who was more entertainment than the actual entertainment. His dislike for all the pomposity set the stage for wisecracks and two bottles of wine (one stolen from the neighboring table of Korean entertainment, whose spirits had gone untouched, leaving us to assume it would be put to better use at our table). There was presenting of the colors, a guest speaker, dinner, birthday cake, and dancing, though only 1/40th of the 800 attendants partook. We toasted the President, blah, blah, blah, guests, and those who would not be with us. One of the most touching moments was the toast to the missing, both those who gave their life and those whose fate is unknown while they are POWs and MIA. An inverted glass on this small table for one because they could not toast. A rose, a single chair, an empty place setting, a yellow ribbon, a lemon for their bitterness and salt for the tears of their family. I almost got misty-eyed, as cheesy as it may sound, because these people really are in abundance, especially because of the ongoing wars but even those with explanations harder to understand. Maybe dating someone in the military has me more appreciative of the service they provide, but maybe being abroad makes me realize what these people undergo on a daily basis.


Copyright 2006 Olivia R. Reed

This Page Cannot Be Displayed

Ladies and Gents:

My apologies! Mian hamnida! Je suis désolé! Ich bin traurig!

I have written a blog for this week, but the computer it is saved on is down (for the record, this has also forced me to switch classrooms, since attendance/grade/progress information must be saved online during the course of the class so that parents don't get an SMS saying their child is absent, etc.). And the manager who was working on having it fixed is now on vacation. I plan to post it next week, but it will just take some time to retype. So if you will bear with this delay in publishing, I promise more (details on my friend Chris' visit this weekend-- from LSU to Hiroshima and a brief visit to Seoul, the World Cup craze) to come (c:

Thanks for your patience,
The Management


Copyright 2006 Olivia R. Reed

On Top and Down Under: 10 days in Thailand and Australia

Before I left on vacation, my friend Andy in NYC said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Have the time of your life!” And it sorta made me realize that I may never be able to do this again. I mean, maybe I can, but if I plan on it then I may not—you know how those things can work out. With that, I set out to have just that: the time of my life. Of course, my cousin was joining me and he’s apparently been having the time of his life for the past 30+ years, but that’s neither here nor there and would not serve to discourage me or lessen any fun just with thoughts of being able to do this forever.

Sam came up Friday night before my departure so that he could bid me farewell the next morning. We boarded the Airport Limousine (I never have understood why they call big buses limousines...) and headed to Incheon International. I checked in, went through customs, and hopped on a Thai Airlines flight bound for Bangkok International. Five and a half hours later, I was in the very humid—and therefore somewhat comforting, even—country of Thailand. Welcoming visitors was one of the grumpiest women I’ve ever encountered: overweight and hair so tight you wonder how it’s still attached, a frowning Thai woman who loudly growled at me when I responded that I didn’t know where I was staying. She told me she couldn’t let me in unless I had a destination. Crap, I thought. My cousin is meeting me here and I can’t even make something up! “Main Street” – yeah right! So I again told her I really wasn’t sure and explained the situation. She said she couldn’t let me in. So I turned to the Canadian girl at my left (who was dealing with a much nicer servant of immigration) and said, “Where am I going?” She said, “Koh Samui.” So I turned back to the crab and said, “I’m going to Koh Samui.” She rolled her eyes, stamped my passport so hard that I thought the desk might have an everlasting imprint, and let me through. They really should work on greeting.

I went through customs and the line of waving friends for others on my flight and made it outside. My first pleasant surprise was a row of Toyotas as taxis. (The brand is few and far between in Korea). I soon located my cousin and we headed to the hotel to drop our things. We went to an outdoor restaurant (pics of this trip already emailed) where I had the best Thai food I have ever had in my life. I’ve even had Thai food since and it didn’t match the delectability of the 3 dishes we had, along with beer, for a total of about five bucks. What a STEAL! Not only that, but the humidity was enough to make you sweat within five seconds of exposure, but unlike my airport greeter in the air conditioning, our waitress was always smiling and looking like she’d just found out some great news. No wonder they call it the Land of Smiles! We walked through the area known as Nana around Sukhumvit and the Soi (pronounced “soy”) streets and saw some of the seedier areas, which seem to be preferred by my kin. We made our way over to Lumpini Stadium so that we could see a Thai boxing match. Apparently everyone in Asia who wants anything to do with boxing comes to Thailand, and after seeing these 16-year-old –looking boys beat the daylights out of each other, I guess I understand why. Next we walked around Lumpini market, a collection of small boutiques with everything from pillows and jewelry to clothes and masks. Even at prices that are considered affordable to the average American, these shop owners must have made a killing off of tourists with “I have no idea how much this is really worth” tattooed across their foreheads. And such was the end of Saturday’s festivities.

Sunday began with breakfast at the hotel before heading out to see the Emerald Buddha at the Royal Grand Palace. According to my research, it was a “must see” for the city. And it was nice, but I’ve seen about a billion temples since I’ve been in Asia, so if I don’t see another before I die that’ll be too soon. This one was particularly ornate and I took pictures of the shrine and all the excitement, but honestly, I hardly saw what all the fuss was about. I still took my shoes off and refrained from pointing my feet to the deity being respected and taken seriously by many around. We walked around the grounds and saw lots of different buildings, paintings, and statues before hopping in a tuk tuk (which is, if you can imagine, a motorcycle with a station wagon type seat on it for passengers—they’re pretty cute and a breezy ride since the only cover you have is a flimsy top to protect your head from bird droppings. They aren’t ideal if you are in the exhaust of a bus, but they’re a pretty common, affordable and fun way to get around the city) so we could go down to catch a boat tour of the lesser seen side of Bangkok. Perhaps something about this reminded me of home, Cypremore Point, or other hidden parts of Louisiana, but I absolutely loved it! And you know that when you see a dilapidated house with people sitting outside beating their rugs with a broomstick and just spending their days lounging, when somewhere in the midst of that is a Coca Cola sign, they must have one heck of a marketing department. The ride was more than an hour and absolutely enjoyable. We watched fish being fed, passed by a floating market, saw the palaces from their back side but no less decorative and, in my opinion, saw what a lot of the country was all about.

Shortly thereafter was time for my cousin and I to part, him for the airport, me for another hotel. I initially checked with the Miami Hotel, based on location and price. However, the ladyboy, (ever common and accepted and indicative of what to expect here) working the front desk made me question the establishment as a whole, as well as the safety of a white, solo, female foreigner, and thus I went elsewhere and managed to bargain the price of my room (you can bargain ANYTHING in this country!). I decided to go for a swim before heading back out into the city to shop for some souvenirs and get dinner at an Indian restaurant. I met a cute couple, the girl a native and the man from Iowa. They were new to Indian food and initiated the conversation by asking me how it all worked with the nan and roti and whatnot. We sat talking at the restaurant until closing!

The next morning was Monday and I decided to take the recommendation on reliable and trustworthy dentists of the couple from the previous night and have my teeth laser bleached. I want them to be unnaturally white, and for $130, I got them five shades lighter than they were. And from my dentist I also located a driver, whom I hired for about $25 for the remainder of the day to drive me to Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand where I could ride an elephant. He waited around while I did everything, took pictures of me with the large animals, drove me to a few more temples he thought were worth seeing, and then to the airport a day earlier than originally planned. I’d had my fill of the country, my cousin managed to get me a little closer to the seedy industry than I would have liked or done independently, and an English-speaking place sounded pretty appealing.

Nine-and-a-half hours later, my second Thai airways flight touched down in the Land Down Under, with scores of people whose accents I could listen to for eternity and every native on the plane being easy to spot because of beach gear. Seriously, if they weren’t wearing tanks, flip flops, braids in their hair, the hats you always see that somewhat look like those for cowboys, or carrying a beach bag, they probably weren’t Australian.

I zipped through customs, hopped in a cab and headed to the Central Business District, where I would meet my friend at the Deutsche Bank building. I apparently looked like I’d spent the last half day in an airport, so I freshened up before going over to the Opera House area and meandering around the area to see what all it had to offer. I discovered a cathedral, a park, the Harbour, Circular Quay (said "key"), etc. I took plenty of pictures before meeting my friend again for a Thai massage and dinner at Fish Face, a pricey restaurant whose chocolate something-or-other with sorbet dessert beat any I’ve ever had in my short life—and I’m definitely a dessert person! The following day, I went out to Taronga Zoo via a day pass on the ferry out of Circular Quay. I watched a really impressive bird show by a guy who really knew his stuff. For about half an hour, he made all sorts of different birds do different tricks, including taking money out of audience member pockets. I took a ferry about sunset out to Manly beach, where I walked around checked out boutiques. I headed back after dark and got some night photos of the area—it was really beautiful. I met my friend and we went to MindBodySpirit for a 90minute session of hot yoga. And when they said hot, they didn’t mention that the instructor looked like Hugh Jackman! With an Aussie accent? Deadly, mate. After we'd sweated any remaining energy out via stretches, we grabbed my friend’s favorite Thai food in all of Sydney, for 10x the price I paid in a place that had the real stuff. It was great food, but I’m probably going to be a Thai food snob after having a meal as delicious as those in Bangkok!

So the next day it was off to Cairns (pronounced “Cans”) for me! I stayed at a hostel in a room with 5 other girls. I had roomies from France, New Zealand, Australia, England and I’m not sure where else. It turned out to be a pretty respectable group—though I spent little time with them, even the items of nearly no value that I left unlocked were still there when I returned. I booked a snorkeling and diving trip out the next morning. On the 730am departure boat I met a guy from Malta, an Italian-German, an older couple from Oregon, a cool girl from England I hung out with most of the time, another English teacher in Korea, and a recent MBA grad from Miami. My snorkeling trip was like none other I’d ever been on before. Maybe that’s because the extent of my snorkeling has been in swimming pools or murky bayous. I was amazed at the colorful coral and tame schools of fish from the first instant I sunk my goggles below the surface. Seriously! I just stuck my head under and I came back up and said, “WOW!” (maybe even aloud) and then went right back down and didn’t surface for a while. While diving, other groups saw turtles, and ours saw a sleeping shark. It was pretty cool. The boat made a speedy return to shore and we were left with the remainder of the afternoon to explore. As it turns out, the other English teacher was staying at the same hostel next door to me! So we meandered around the city, grabbed some souvenirs and dinner, and even listened to a band play oldies I recognized. I didn’t particularly care for the band, but was simply excited to hear songs I knew that I really enjoyed it!!

I flew back to Sydney the following day and helped my host prepare a formal dinner party. We got recipes from a Baton Rouge cookbook as well as epicurious.com and whipped together New Orleans BBQ shrimp, tenderloin of beef with vegetable-mustard ragout with port reduction, green beans, sensation salad, a trio of granitas (amaretto coffee, lemon-mind, and Muscat-orange blossom) and Alfajores with home-made dulce de leche. The meal turned out far better than either of us expected and seeing as there was no kimchi on the table, I felt right at home! Our entire group was 8 people, 6 of whom opted to go out after we finished several bottles of wine and port at home. The clubbing was short-lived though, except for Nick and Ali. It was really a great way to experience the life of a local in Sydney!

I journaled about all I did and realized that I had many opposite extremes to balance my 10 days: family and friends vs solo time, formal and informal events, time hiking and probably 30 hours flying, time in the water and on ferries, time exploring and time sleeping, a foreign land and language and another with many more familiarities... and so on. Sunday afternoon after having this wonderful excursion, I hopped on my plane and headed back to the country I will call home for a few more months.


Next week's installation will include a tale of the De-Militarized Zone as well as the Army Birthday Ball.

Copyright 2006 Olivia R. Reed