Media Update
The internet at my apartment has been very sporadic since last Friday, which is a bit of a disappointment. My apologies to anyone expecting an email or comment. This will be a short update so I can get to some of the email sitting in my inbox.
First off, I mentioned in this entry that the Victoria and Albert Museum was interested in using some of my photos from Jeollanam-do in an online companion to their exhibit on Buddhist pilgrimage sites but never did post the link once the site went live. The photos can be seen online here; mine are featured in the fourth and fifth rows. Not quite the format that I was expecting, but hey, having the world's largest fine arts museum use my photos is still pretty darn cool.
In other news, North Korea conducted another nuclear test on Monday. Their recent missile test seemed to garner a lot of attention in the United States but no one here brought up the topic in casual conversation. Compared to the North's 2006 nuclear test a missile just doesn't seem like such a big deal. On the subject of North Korea, I was clicking through links on YouTube and came across the following gayageum (가야금) piece that sounds amazing. It starts slowly, but stick around until the 0:40 mark.
Click to viewFinally, for anyone curious about what it's like to be quarantined for H1N1 while living in another country -- wonder no more. Brian in Jeollanam-do and kimchi-icecream have been covering the issue in South Korea and recently found/were pointed to blogs written by some of the English teachers currently stuck in quarantine. Check out An English Teacher Under Quarantine in South Korea, Ruby Rambling, and Sparkling Chaos with Brian Dear to see how things are going for them. An excerpt from the first site:
U.S. Embassyfail
So last night we called the U.S. Embassy just to inform them of the situation. We weren’t asking for help or anything, but just because we felt they should know that, I dunno…30+ OF THEIR CITIZENS ARE BEING DETAINED! It’s not like we’re worried the Korean Health Ministry of Medicine for Make Healthy of Koreans is going to take us out in the woods, shoot us in the back of the head, dump us in a pit and throw lye over our corpses, it’s just that a few of us felt better about our government knowing where we were, which I realize is an irony as I type it.
Anyways, the lady on the phone was very helpful!
Me: “Hiya! I just thought the Embassy should be aware that 30+ U.S citizens have been quarantined right outside Seoul for suspicion of swine flu exposure.”
Operator: “Okay, well it’s a weekend, and we’re closed. Monday’s memorial day, so could you call back on tuesday?”
Me: “You…you’re serious?”
Operator: “Is it an emergency? Cause if it is we have someone we can call.”
Me: “Um…let’s see, there’s 30 americans in quarantine for swine flu exposure. Basically, we’re arrested. It’s totally cool, don’t worry-we’ll call on tuesday-”
Operator: “Okay, thanks for calling.”
Me: “No wait-”
*click*