Brought to You by Coca-Cola

So confession, in spite of the fact that I NEVER drink soda in the states, I have wanted a Coke so badly every day for the past week. That's some powerful marketing. Apparently their product is America. Congratulations.

Anywho, I'm thousands of miles away from home and yet the crappy American economy has screwed me once again. When I left, the exchange rate was around 1,000 won per $1 and now $1 only buys 800 won. Lame.

A couple of days ago, we went to the korean foreign ministry. Long story short, Korea's foreign policy consists almost entirely of being friends with America. I actually think that it's feasible now since North Korea poses a threat to American national security (or so we're told...). The U.S. has consistently supported regimes in which their interests are served and ignored everywhere else. Prime examples of the former and the latter would be the 'democracy' in Iraq and Omar al-Bashir's dictatorship in Sudan (although he FINALLY has been indicted on war crimes). Basically, I think this is another reason why South Koreans should postpone reunification for as long as possible as reunification will eliminate the North Korean threat. The disappearance of the N. Korean threat coupled with the almost inevitable blow to the Korean economy that would result from reunification would pretty much get rid of any interest the U.S. has in being friends with Korea. On the global stage, we're kind of like that friend who only calls you when they need something.

Today was the last day of classes, yay! We watched the movie "Taeguki." This movie, which is about two brothers forced to fight in the Korean War, set a box office record in Korea. It was so good. I cried so hard that I was struggling not to start wailing in class (btw I realized when I wrote that that this blog makes it seem like I cry every day haha). I heard some sniffling coming from the direction of the guys in the class but they of course did the typical 'oh my contact lense is irritating my eye' or "I'M just crying from the adrenaline/because I'm so angry" thing. I definitely recommend the movie though and would be willing to watch it again with anyone who is interested.

One of the actresses in "Taeguki" committed suicide a couple of years after the movie. Her name is Lee Eun-ju (Korean last names come first):

Apparently there have been multiple prominent Korean actresses that have committed suicide, which is incredibly weird when compared with the status that famous actresses have in the states. Additionally, following her suicide there was a wave of copy cat suicides in Seoul. In general it seems that suicide holds a much more visible place in Korean society than it does in America. I was curious about the rate of suicide in Korea so I looked it up and apparently it has more than doubled in the past ten years and it is significantly higher than the rate of suicide in the U.S. I'm not really sure why this is the case but my guess would be that it is due in part both to Korea's economic crisis in the late 90s and the premium placed on honor/shame in Korean society. Allegedly one of the reasons why Lee Eun-Ju committed suicide was because of her family's disapproval of her decision to film nude scenes in a movie in which she was starring. On a related note, as I was writing this, I looked up the Assembly of God official position on suicide and they changed it! The only person I've known who has committed suicide was a christian so a couple of years ago, I looked up what the Assembly of God's position was. I did this more as a search for answers as opposed to actually giving a crap about what the district had to say. But at the time their response was basically that because mental illness and resultantly depression is a sickness, the bible is unclear as to whether or not someone who commits suicide will go to hell or not. But apparently someone over at the district had an epiphany that suicide is 'self-murder' and thus a violation of the 6th commandment (Thou Shalt Not Kill). I just thought that was weird that the Assembly of God thinks that a change in their opinion is really that important. It's not like God is in heaven saying "whoa! anyone who committed suicide after 2007 has to go to hell, every one else can stay." Self-importance strikes again.

All and all life has been fairly grand. I'm looking forward to being able to sleep in later, enjoy the rest of my time here, and make some dough teaching english. THE REAL WORLD looms in the distance a harrowing place full of LSATs, grad school, and BILLS. But I feel so blessed to have been able to see so much beauty this summer, to have so many people that I love enough to miss and think about every day, and to know so many people in general that are so incredibly beautiful. Earlier this last point seemed particularly poignang and I wanted to listen to that song "Everyone's Beautiful" by Waterdeep but then I realized that some bastard stole my ipod and i didn't have it on my laptop (and it wsan't on youtube). All that to say, apparently everyone is NOT beautiful....