The Korea Times

I've been buying The Korea Times whenever I can find one in english. Because I walk by about 16 convenience stores on my way to work (ok really its about 4 but still it's a lot considering my walk takes about 6 minutes) I periodically check in to see if there is a paper in english for sale.

they must only get one a day because i've never seen more than one and usually theres none, so i have to pounce on the first one i see. if its not in the first store i'll just pit stop in on the next one and work my way down the line until i find one. except the "buy the way" on the corner they always charge me 1000 won even though it clearly says 700 on the front of the paper i digress

the crosswords are rediculously hard... these are no LA times monday crosswords, they're for some serious brainiacs. they remain general knowledge but more of an international saavy general knowledge. in other words, attempting the crosswords makes me feel like a dumb american. (the red white and blue kind no offense canada or mexico) unfortunately there is no sudoku for me to default to. not so much because i particularly enjoy sudoku, but being able to at least do a sudoku somewhat softens the intellectual ego blow that comes with not even being able to guess at a single clue in the crossword.

theres also garfeild, doonsburry which usually sucks but when its good its good, foxtrot, some sort of political cartoon which is hit or miss depending on the news, and then of course theres way too much space dedicated to "confused in connecticut" or whoever-it-is-this-time who can't muster the cojones to tell their mother-in-law how they really feel. i usually read dear abby anyway. at least the first one. it's like family circus - despite the fact that everyone hates family circus it remains a macabre circle of newspaper real estate. as if under some spell your eyes look to that little circle and before you can divert your glance you've read it!! why?!?!

anyway, here is the link to the korea times
the korea times


here are some articles that i thought were funny, interesting, or at least worth sharing

expensive fish cakes lead to violence
pretty funny if you ask me. these fish cake tents are on a lot of corners. we call it "street meat" they're really not that bad. its a spongy "cake" made of fish i'm assuming, folded up and skewered on a long wooden skewer. there are bunches of them soaking in large vats of broth usually one spicy one not with the "handle" sticking out waiting for a passerby to grab and eat.
sort of like this

-/\/\/\/\-----------

who knows when the broth was made. theres almost always some sort of potsticker, or spicy rice things, or tempura style vegetables as well. you just walk up to the tent and start grabbing and eating then when you're done eating you pay. it's really cheap. i mean REALLY cheap.

i think the best part of the whole article is at the end when it blames the whole incident on "the economic slump" way to hop on the bandwagon with that one!

4 foreigners busted for drug use
they are DANCERS from SPAIN.... again... DANCERS from SPAIN.... i had to check on this one to make sure i didnt accidently follow a link to an article for the onion. lol

US watching NK missile move closely
the us is watching closely. south koreans are not so much. the s. koreans ive talked are more interested in what color sprinkles are on their donuts than what NK is supposedly doing. its a case of the boy (kim jong il) who cried wolf. the SK's i've talked to do not take NK claims seriously for a couple reasons. first, they seriously doubt the cababilities of NK being able to launch a tin can into space let alone a "satelite" whether it be a satelite or missile or whatever. if they are being honest when they claim they're launching a "satelite" it's to boost the self esteem of the NK people who presumably have very low morale. second, SK's don't believe they're really going to launch anything because given the current state of affairs in the world claiming to launch anything, (possibly nuclear) while remaining shrowded in secrecy is like many people have said, "a bargaining chip" for a country that basically has nothing else to bargain with. in other words its a monumental inferiority complex.

in short - its been fun reading the newspaper over here the new perspective and broader scope of the world outside of america has been refreshing.