Slacking

So I'm a slacker.... but you all knew that, right? With that out of the way here we go. So it's been almost a month since I made my last post (Really? I guess...) so I guess I'll give an update as to what's happening here. The last week of July was officially my summer vacation. I didn't really do anything terrifically exciting or do any extensive traveling thanks to a procedure I had to have done on the 31st. It wasn't exactly what you would call pleasant, but I survived.... more or less.... I also had to go to get new glasses and lenses ordered since I managed to break my other pair due to my glasses flying off of my face after I tripped in the hallway at school. The frames broke at the nose and I managed to get some nasty scratches on the lenses. Fortunately I have a spare pare to last me until the 16th when I will be able to pick up my new pair. They turned out to be pretty cheap, only about 90,000 won (about $90).

On that note I'll move into a comparison of prices for things her in Korea and the U.S.
Glases (frames and lenses) U.S. $220 Korea $90
Gas (per gallon) U.S. $3.50 Korea $8.00
Beef (1 lb, ground) Korea $4.40
Movie Ticket- $9.50 (Korea)
Cheeseburger- (Mc Donald's) $1.70 (Korea)
Sliced Cheese (12 slices) $4.40 (Korea)

These are just things that come to mind off the top of my head. As you can see glasses are much cheaper here, as is health care in general (LUCKY!) but gas and some food items (mostly beef an cheese) are more expensive. There is of course a reason for this, mainly being that Korea refuses to import U.S. beef. They haven't for about 3 years, not since before the single case of Mad Cow disease (my student's stubbornly refer to it as Crazy Cow disease...) and if you asked an average Korean about it, they would probably say they are worried about it. There were big protests about two months ago because Korea had agreed to start importing beef again and the media was able to use peoples fears to get the government here to go back on the deal. There were claims made by the media that it was a big problem in the States and such... and what happens? We pay more for beef here. Then Korea gets angry at the U.S. after going back on the trade deal after claiming the "islands" of Dokdo in the Pacific Ocean which both Korea and Japan claim are uninhabitable. These "islands" are little more than rocks poking out of the surface of the ocean, but what ever.

Well, I reckon it's about time to head off to bed for me. Hope every one is well. Don't be afraid to leave comments. I like reading them and if anybody has a question they want answered about anything (well maybe not anything *points at one Mr. Josh N. and Trevor D.*) I'd be happy to do my best to answer.

I'm out I guess,

Shad