New Bike

I finally got a bike here in Korea.  I bought from a guy living near Ssangmun station--almost an hour and a half from where I live--but I really think it was well worth it.  Found it on craigslist: Seoul.  It's a white Lespo Rally (Korean make) with a nice smooth ride and compact design.  It cost me W280,000 (equivalent to $250) and it's definitely well worth it for how much use I'm going to get out of it.  I'm going to get the handlebars adjusted tomorrow at a bike shop down the street and s/he is free to ride!  Tonight it started warming up here as well, so a trip out tomorrow is in order!  The amount I'm going to save on taxi rides is going to be very freeing.  Tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be in the 40s, so I I better get some riding in before Thursday when it drops down in the 20s with a low of 3 degrees.  ChillAY!

I won't have many pictures up in the coming month of two because, uh . . . I lost my camera.  :/ Very sad, I know.  I'm still going to steal some from my friends' facebook pages, though.  Hehhe!  Any questions or comments, please submit them using the comment link below. 

False Korean History?

While thinking of movies that I would like to see and download, I saw show on TV that looked like some black and white footage of Korean history.  I wonder why I haven't gotten a chance to learn about Korean history before this point!  I know about the Korean war and how the south became democratic while the north became communist, but that's really about it.  My Korean coworkers don't talk about it.  Most of the references to historical periods or past leaders in museums and temples have mental "hooks," no frame of reference, to to "hang" the new information I read.

So I googled "korean history, and I followed the video links.  From there I found an 18-part series on the Korean war, but more numerous, however, were kind of lectures through text about how Koreans fabricated most of the major points of their history or stole them from China and Japan.  The videos said, in not the best English, that Koreans claim Confucius as Korean, stole Chinese symbols to use on their flag, and Seoul was a grand slum before the Japanese occupation made it a successful metropolis.  One video even claims "Korean cultural plagiarism."  Wow. 

With titles like, "Why Koreans Always Lose to Japan," and "All Your Culture Are Belong to Us (sic)," it's hard to just ignore such a great presence of this propaganda!  Korea's so small, why would people feel such a need to pick on it? My best guess is their fantastic global economic image is causing part of it, but if anyone has any comments on this, please post in the box below!

Japan Drei: More pics