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  • Three Cheers for Air-Conditioning

    Submitted by on

    Our lab purchased a new air-conditioning unit last week. Up until this time, we only had fans in the lab and an ineffective, medieval, centrally controlled unit that seemed to come on for a couple of hours at a time. I imagine the ajossi at the switchboard downstairs chuckling to himself as he turns it off everyday at 10am.

  • Korean Gender Reader

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    ( Source. See here for the details ) 1) A much needed American woman’s guide to dating Korean men. 2) Transgender model Choi Han-bit (최한빛) reached the final round of competition in the 2009 Asia-Pacific Supermodel Contest in Seoul, which will be held on September 25. See AllKpop for more pictures and videos, and FeetManSeoul translates an [...]

  • Klausland

    Submitted by on

    While in Thailand we visited a town that, well, let's just be polite and say 'skip it' ... although for some strange reason Klaus really seemed to have enjoy himself there.

  • ON THE MEKONG

    Submitted by on

    It's now hot. We've descended into the tropical part of the province, with palm tree lined streets and guys walking around with their wifebeaters rolled up around their bellies. The midday sun beat us down, and we spent the late afternoon drinking ice-cold cans of Chinese beer in the shaded area below our obscenely cheap hotel.

    Jinhong is a lovely town, feeling more like Thailand or Laos than China. Tomorrow we'll spend the day exploring the surrounding villages by bicycle, and on Tuesday we embark on a three-day jungle trek into the hills near the Burmese border.

  • My Wired Hiatus

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    A few weeks ago, I discovered The Wire. From then on, until I ran out of episodes, time that would have otherwise been spent reading, updating this blog, or writing elsewhere, was spent glued to the computer screen watching episodes, analyzing them, and reading reviews. It was a very sad period for my social life, but an enlightening experience as a TV fangirl.

  • OFF TO JINHONG

    Submitted by on

    I'm tired. My body is slightly sore and I smell of sweat and bus fumes. Yesterday was all about hiking, and today we rented bikes and cruised all over this city, seeing it the way it should be seen. Kunming is great because all of the big roads have large, well-established bike lanes, blocked from the rest of the road by metal barriers. A lot of locals do indeed get around via bicycles, along with electric scooters. It seems that China has banned gas-powered scooters in many of its cities, so people cruise on electric models.

  • Thomas's Dog

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    Studies have shown that patting an animal lowers your blood pressure. If I had time and energy, I'd get a fish, because there's not much space in Korean apartments. Attempting to pat a fish though, would probably raise the stress levels of both parties involved.

  • Korean Sociological Image #14: How And Why Koreans Became The World’s Greatest Consumers

    Submitted by on

    ( Source ) If you’re reading this, then the news that Koreans now spend more and save less than Americans may well come as a bombshell. I base that on the natural assumption that, as an English speaker interested in Korean sociology, most of your earliest and most-deeply held views on the subject were likely gained [...]

  • Time to Evolve

    Submitted by on

    While I've always tried to keep Lee's Korea Blog running in the background of my daily life, I must admit that it has grown into something I'm rather proud of at times. However, the downside of this is that it has become something begging a certain amount of upkeep. A compulsory voluntarianism of sorts. Usually a week after I blog, I feel fine. But toward the 2 week mark, the impending urge to update the blog increases to a dull roar.

  • KUNMING

    Submitted by on

    Well it appears as if the Chinese censors have UNBLOCKED livejournal for the time being. This is cool, since now I don't have to email posts to my girlfriend or go through unreliable and slow proxy servers.

  • LAST POST IN A NON-TOTALITARIAN STATE

    Submitted by on

    I'm off to China in the morning. I'll be posting through a third party for most of the trip, since livejournal is BLOCKED in China, along with facebook and any/all other "subversive" sites.

    What this means is that I will be generally unable to respond to comments, but don't let that stop you from pitchin' in your two cents or abusing this here silly blogger. Anywhow, the material should be juicy; let's hope it passes the censors' muster.

    Talk amongst yourselves.

  • JEJU-DO

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    I just returned from the requisite trip to Jeju-do, Korea's largest island and southernmost point. I've been here nearly five years and hadn't visited yet, despite the fact that it's only a thirty-minute cheap plane ride from my fair grungy port town. A flight to Jeju is only neglibly more expensive than a train to Seoul, yet I've been to Seoul about ten times now.

  • RIP MERCE CUNNINGHAM

    Submitted by on

    Merce Cunningham, ground-breaking American choreographer, died today. He was 90.

    Cunningham, along with composer John Cage, helped to put Cornish (my alma mater) on the map way back in the 30's. They laid the foundation for the experimental and orignal-work emphasis of the school, which to me, has always been its strongest quality. Cornish continually puts out artists who can self-produce.

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