North Korea punching a gift horse in the mouth…. March 30, 2008

It amazes me the arrogance of North Korea.   First off, it amazes me that North Korea has arrogance.  What does it have to be arrogant about?  Ok, so it has nuclear weapons. But it certainly does not have a robust economy.  Nor doesi t have world presence.

So it astounds me that North Korea continues to make threats against South Korea.  Especially after the recent aid South korea gave North Korea to help with flooding in the north.  South Korea appearrs to be quite charitable to North Korea and yet that is not enough for North Korea to mellow out.

It would not be in North Korea’s best interest to annihilate South Korea.  To do that, would cut off any money they are receiving and it would come back to hurt them more.  Furthermore, South Korea really shouldn’t give any more money to North Korea.  THe north appears to be so foolish as to spend the aid money on nuclear weapons rather than on food for its people.

If North Korea was a relative of mine that I kept inviting for dinner out of the goodness of my heart, and not only did it keep declining my offer but threatening violence, not only would I stop issuing invitations, I would ignore them all together.

Funniest thing a Korean has said to me… March 30, 2008

I am used to having Koreans come up and talk to me.  I remember at Haeundae beach swimming and I used to get families come up and talk.  I enjoyed it.  But the conversation usually consisted of where are you from?, what is your job?, are you married?  But still, I thought it was nice that they went out of their way to talk to me.

That being said..the other week I was on my way to walk along Gwangali beach and I was at a crosswalk crossing the street.  Right across was an older Korean gentleman on a scooter.  He started to drive in my direction. I thought he was going to run me over.  Instead, he looks over at me and says ‘You have a nice body.’.

After I got over my shock, I laughed.  What an interesting phrase to come out, totally unexpected.  I of course wondered where he picked that phrase up.  It did however put a smile on my face.  And it does to this day.

Foreigner hangout ideas… March 30, 2008

I know the city was trying to come up with way to improve it for foreigners.  I didn’t do the survey because I didn’t have any ideas until now.  The culture for foreigners here is to meet at bars and clubs.  What about 24 hour coffee shops?  So people that like to stay out late can hang out without getting drunk.  Or even a coffeehouse?  With a stage, and desserts and coffee and no alcohol, where there could be noraebang nights and open mic nights and book clubs and movie events.  Or even social mixers, board game nights….  There are some of us that just like to hang out.  This would be perfect.    What other ideas do you have? 

God and his almighty wisdom. March 30, 2008

For months, I have been hidden away from the world and reading the bible, exploring South Korea on my own and attending church.  For months I have not let the world in.

There are an infinite number of truths you can get from the bible.  One very clear truth, that I have learned through trial and error rather than just believing, is that the ten commandments were designed so we do not hurt ourselves.    Covetness causes dissatisifaction with our lives, with what we have.  It causes breakdowns in marriages, in the workplace.  It can influence people to desperate measures, resorting to crimes.  But most of all, it brings on many forms of heartache.

It also causes us to place material things, things we cannot take with us when we die, above God.  When we engage in sin, we engage in a war with our soul.  We become torn inside.  It brings up all kinds of illnesses, paranoia, heartbreak, depression, desperation and most often fear.  This is not how God wants us to live.  He wants us to worship him, to love him.  But as long as we are engaging in sin, we are separate from God.  

I recently have engaged in sin that I am repetent of now.  But there are still ramifications of my actions occurring everyday and what I most didn’t want to happen.  I was content to be alone, I was content with my circumstances.  Now I am restless, regretful, sad, and separated from God.

I am still content.  I have everything I need.  However, I am now aware of how truly alone I am and thats caused the restlessness.  This feeling is one of the biggest temptatioin makers of all time.  It will be interesting to see how I develop over the next few weeks with this feeling in my stomach.