Living the Life

The admirable concern of rich countries for the tragedies of world poverty is thus channeled into fattening the international aid bureaucracy, the self-appointed priesthood of Development.-William Easterly

Gas Prices around the World

Dear little brother,
Upon seeing your pic on some desultory networking site that South Asians seem to adore, I am a little confused. First of all... is that you????? No wonder PK's parents are trying to marry her off to a Norwegian business guy!!! I mean, I know you have always had a supressed desire to express yourself fully and that you have always had a passion for good music, but you left for the highly coveted UK as a clean-cut, much shorter hair than this, respectable young man. Now, my darling little brother, you have reverted to the styles of Beebs and company. I think you are going to be a much more popular uncle when you come back. But...please don't tell me that you've gotten inked up as well.... you've got to wait and take Soraj for his sweet sixteen tattoo in two years at Go's shop.

But... I hear that Dad is coming to visit you soon... and I am anxious to hear his reaction about this new son of his. I'm sure he'll just love it*.

XOXO
Emma-dee :P

Seeing people passed out in the road at 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m. 5 p.m., 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. is just an everyday part of life.

You try to jump into an elevator only to realise that it doesn't have the automatic "bounce open" safety feature that most other countries have.... and your bag/foot is no more.

Antibiotic prescriptions are only for three days' worth.

The "Indian market" is the "western market".

Your favourite bookstore is called "What the Book".

Rodeo Drive means Apgujueng, not LA.

Electronic fat-jiggling devices are legitimate "workouts".

Uprooting an entire family to Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the US for two years for the sole purpose of teaching your kids English is an everyday occurrence.

Your "world" is divided into three categories: Koreans, Gyoppos, and Waygooks.

North Americans speak a language called "English-ee".

You know the advantage of having a friend in the military means a possible trip on base to Taco Bell.

You look to Morning Glory and Artbox stationary for motivational inspiration.

You have 18 friends with the last name "Kim".

Your friends believe that homosexuality "doesn't exist" in Korea.

Couples' clothing is cool.

Sex & the City reruns are aired at all hours of the day on basic stations for child consumption.

Wentworth Miller is the face of the most arbitrary clothing company AND 7-11ish brand of ready-to-consume iced coffee.

Your friends' motto from Kindergarten all through their PhD was "sleep five hours and fail, sleep four hours and pass".

You ask someone a question and they reply by clenching their fists and forming a giant "X" with both arms in front of their chest to signify "NO".

Paying $10 for a watermelon is a "steal".

"DVD room" is synonymous with hourly motel.

Everyone around you curses the Japanese but still loves their cartoons and cars. (ehm? what?!)

You've heard that Japan was first populated centuries ago because that is where Korea sent exiled convicts.

Drunkenness=karaoke.

You get asked if you know Jesus at least once a week.

At least one person you know believes that Korea can "teach" Cambodia how to develop - just like South Korea did (because, you know, Korea didn't have massive foreign investment or international loans or anything like that- all this development was the result of blood, sweat and tears).

It's normal to see a person covered in thinly sliced cucumbers on the subway.... and you are tempted to buy that nifty little vegetable slicer!!!

Putting $10,000 deposit on a studio apartment is normal.

Your friends have the most gorgeous birthday cakes you have ever seen, yet despite that that they look absolutely scrumptious it always tastes like cardboard with heavy cream on top.

Sweet potato is a dessert AND a pizza topping.

Spam comes in gift sets. And people like it.

More often than not, "Hello" is written as "Hellow?"

It's perfectly acceptable for 28 year old, straight, male PhD students to carry files covered with teddy bears, clouds and the words "Is it cloudy today?"

People around you have little to no interest in their northern neighbors - despite being one of the biggest international crises to date.

"Sometimes I just don't know about these Christian groups. The first thing I see them asking these people in crisis is 'do you know God?' when it seems like the first question Jesus would ask them is 'are you okay?' " -Dr. X; my new hero

Nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill says that North Korea will begin shutting down nuclear sites within weeks. In the mean time, North Korea continued with its THIRD nuclear missile test this month.

Apparently I live under some sort of literary rock and didn't even know it. I bought The Book of Laughter and Forgetting only because I liked the title and the cover art looked like that of One Hundred Years of Solitude. Probably because they are both Perennial Classics. I've come to find out that the author, Milan Kundera, whom I have never heard of, has a cult like following for works such as Immortality and The Unbearable Lightness of Being: books I have also never heard of. I'm hoping that some of my favourite little used book stores in Nepal happen to have either of these books when I get there. Man, I have some catching up to do! :)

Here's some interesting news about drug patents.

I am reading the book The Bridegroom Stories by Ha Jin and one of the stories in the collection is called "A Tiger Fighter is Hard to Find" and I started thinking about the tiger fighters I know. As of now, my girl, JiHye might be the biggest tiger fighter in my world. This woman is so passionate about the rights of North Koreans it is insane. She walks, talks, eats, breathes, and sleeps North Korean human rights. She gladly gives her life for North Korean justice - for free. She writes letters, organizes events, rallies support, brings attention, visits detained refugees, keeps reports of human rights violations and assists North Koreans newly settled in Seoul. Every single day she stands in the vicinities surrounding the Chinese Consulate in Seoul in protest to the way the Chinese government treats North Koreans in hiding. She refuses to be stifled. Police are threatening her everyday. I promise it is just a matter of time before this chick winds up behind bars. I've never in my life met a person with the fervency of Miss JiHye. Her name means 'wisdom' and the girl has got it. The thing about tiger fighters is this - they do not back down because of the ferocity or the size of the beast. Tiger fighters are dedicated to the fight because they know it is what they must do in order to live and to let others live. Even if they stand alone, they do not cower at the sight of glimmering teeth of a hungry, angered tiger. The tiger fighter refuses to be ruled by the beast, refuses to submissively allow others in the jungle to be devoured just for her own self-preservation. A tiger fighter sees the prey and has a compassion that drives her to the fight. This is a tiger fighter. I love you, JiHye.

I teach a class to Korean sixth graders called "Academic Writing." They write me a 5 paragraph essay EVERY week.

The first time I wrote a "proper" five paragraph essay was my freshman year in high school. I wrote one the entire year. It was about people who believe in ghosts.

My sixth graders have already learned about the IMF and past and present FTAs - and not by my propaganda. It was in the curriculum.

I learned about the IMF and FTAs in college.

My fifth graders already know how to do those Sin, Cosine, and Tangent things.

I still don't think I know what that is... but I think I learned about it when I was a freshman in high school.

My fifth graders know the meaning of the word "stalactite" in English AND Korean.

I learned that word two months ago.