It snowed this week in our part of Busan. It was the first time snow had settled on the ground since I've lived here. South Korea hasn't had an easy winter, but this city's location and our location within it - in the south-west by the sea - mean that it usually rains, if anything. The snow still falls on top of the nearby mountains though, which I have an excellent view of from my office window. Annoyingly, it often doesn't stop it from being bitingly cold, but it's nothing compared to Seoul. Our dog was captivated by what he saw out of the window, and outside our building a group of children, whose school was apparently closed by the weather, bravely tried to scrape together enough of the white stuff to build a snowman. I imagine this was their first and last chance of the season, and it was clearly hard work.




I had to go to the maternity hospital with my wife the day of the snowfall, because she had an ultrasound scan scheduled. There was no more than two centimetres of snow beneath our feet, but somehow the main road had become treacherous. When a taxi driver saw us, he apparently knowingly applied the brakes about ten feet away in order to slide to a stop beside us. It was clear that most of the road was ice - there had been no attempt to grit it.

As we skidded our way terrifyingly towards the hospital, it was clear that few drivers were prepared to compromise their driving style to accommodate the dangerous conditions, so regularly changing lane and cutting up people who couldn't necessarily brake effectively was commonplace. The saving grace was that the roads were so jammed with traffic, so nobody was able to go very fast, meaning the hundreds of accidents which doubtless occurred should have been minor.

Our doctor had not made it to the hospital - he was stuck in traffic - but we were able to see another, who at the end of a long conversation I barely understood asked if I had been bored. I'd tried to look attentive while fighting the constant tendency I have in Korea to zone out, but my lack of comprehension had somehow been detected or correctly assumed. It's unfortunate that my Korean ability has not progressed sufficiently, because this is a time when I want to understand every word and subtle nuance of the ongoing diagnoses, but instead all I can do is read the body language for any sudden negative revelation. It's incredibly frustrating.

The hospital gave us a DVD after the ultrasound. We hadn't had one after previous scans but this was a big one which incorporated a '4D' imaging technique which is supposed to be more comprehensive. The DVD contains a software application - Windows only of course - from which it's possible to view the ten minute ultrasound video, still photos and a general yoga video for pregnant women alongside some hospital advertising. We'll take the DVD back with us as the pregnancy progresses and they will continue adding to it until the baby is born. It's all part of the package but it's still a very nice touch. A friend of ours who's also pregnant has chosen a much bigger general hospital - as opposed to a specialised maternity hospital - where they don't do this, which seems a pity. Having the video has enabled us to share it with family back home to make the pregnancy more real to them than it would otherwise be, given the geographical difference.

Everything is fine and we continue along the road of the Korean pregnancy experience.

I am happy to be in a city with some good pools.  Well, I hope they are good pools.  Maybe one or two?

The 2002 Asiad Games pool complex is plenty big enough and includes two fifty metre pools that look like they could be fast.Well, fast if they were filled.  I think at full volume, this pool would be two metres deep.  It has been partially drained to 1.3 metres or so.  I was impressed that the water was clear; if it were designed to be two metres deep, the intake and return might be in the wrong places.  Most pools carry like 90% of their dirt on the surface.  Hair, flakes of skin, compounds released in sweat and more normally ends up in the surface layer.  Most pools have drains right at the surface to collect that water for filtering.  With the water level so low, I am not sure how it is filtered and kept clean.  Still, it smelled and looked clean and I enjoy 50 metre pools so I will return.  It is curious, though.

The Korea Times needs a copy-editor.  I’m not sure what the requirements would be for that job.  Print Kang Shin-Who’s crap with editing, would seem to be part of it.

Returning to Brian in Jeolla, his ‘shoddy journalism’ reports seem focused on the Times as well.

UPDATED:  Kushibo shows why it would be an easy job.  Perez or Paris?  He or she?

Perez Hilton, operator of her blog, Perezhiltontv.com, which reports news on pop songs, movies and other U.S. entertainment last Friday put single music videos of Bing Bang and 2NE1 on her blog.

Perez Hilton showed her favor to Korean pop songs, saying, “I love Korean pop songs,” after introducing Big Bang’s single “Lolli Pop Part II under the title of “K-Pop Amusingness.”

He had another reason to show her love for the music video. T.O.P., one of the four-member group, held the idol of Hilton for one minutes and 17 second, as if he was conscious of Hilton. Hilton praised the scene “very creative.”

From this article.