Saw this from Time Magazine. I guess this is the South Korean Special Army soldiers demonstrating their martial arts skills during a rehearsal for the 61st anniversary of Armed Forces Day at Gyeryong military headquarters.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/picturesoftheweek/0,29409,1927323_1957148,00.html#ixzz0WChsDQVb
A beautiful gallery of photos of the 2009 Busan (Gwangali) Fireworks festival is here on Naver.com
Sometimes the city is spelled “Pusan” with a “P” and so if you want to look up more photos, video and other details about the Busan (aka Pusan) Fireworks Festival, you may need to type in “Pusan” with a “p,” just fyi. Nevertheless, this show was one of the most AMAZING shows you’ll ever get to witness. They did it up quite well here in Busan and it seems to get better each year.
Following are some great photos taken by John Bernardi and also a link to the actual show on Youtube. It was impressive… Read the rest of this entry »
At first, I had a hard time finding this Big Bang song/video. It’s their newest release. I guess it was just released at the end of October on the 28th. The reason I had a hard time was because it’s in Japanese. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to play it on our radio station…so I guess I’ll have to enjoy it here.
U.S. State Department, U.S. Embassy Seoul
Consular Section, American Citizen Services (ACS) Newsletter
NOVEMBER 2009
The U.S. Embassy is transmitting the following monthly newsletter via its warden system as a public service to U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea. Please disseminate this message broadly to other U.S. citizens.
In this issue:
1. U.S. Embassy Seoul Launches Consular Information Unit
2. Online Passport Form Wizard makes applications a breeze!
3. Tips for a Smooth Consular Visit
4. Seasonal Flu and H1N1 Influenza Information
5. A Message to American Communities and Organizations in Korea
6. Twitter for Worldwide Travel Warnings
7. Recent Travel Warnings and Alerts
8. Upcoming Embassy Holidays: November 11, 2009 (Veterans Day), and November 26 (Thanksgiving Day)
9. Embassy Contact Information Read the rest of this entry »
Just saw this on Yahoo News images. Just thought it was too cool (or what kids these days sometimes say is “kewl”) to not post.
Enjoy!
Looks like Korea’s automobile industry is coming of age…
Ever since quitting smoking in 1st grade (yes, I smoked for a full week when I was 7 years old!), I’ve been an opponent of cigarettes. However, my folks run a convenience store and growing up, I’ve always seen prices of smokes up close since I handed over those “packs” to customers for a dollar plus and up. I saw this on Yahoo’s News & the images associated with the news and literally almost fell backwards in my chair. While I think this is a great thing that tobacco’s gotten very expensive, I was still a little floored at how much it now costs for a pack of cigarettes. I wonder though how much of this $10.50 is margin versus how much is actually the price going up. I realize that taxes and other tariffs account for a lot of this price, but just like gas prices, I wonder if the tobacco companies’ profits have grown in line with the prices of the products they sell.
On a side note, why is it that oil companies do make much more money when they’re gouging customers throughout the world with higher prices? I mean, while a barrel rises in price, why is it that the margins seem to increase as well for the leading oil companies in the world? It’s definitely not my parents or the many convenience store and gas station owners fault because their margins stay the same. I’ve seen it up close.
Tisk, tisk oil companies…
…Brandon.
a.k.a. Byung-hyu Na.
These days, I’ve been focusing on writing a book I’ve been wishing to complete for some time now. Actually, it replaces what I thought would be my first book titled “Hit or Stand.” I’m going to try and get this book done primarily for you great friends out there asking “So, why did you go to Korea?” and my boys who I hope some day will understand what their father was thinking all these years.
For now, I’m focusing on ER: The Urgency behind Korea’s Real Education Emergency or something like that. I have a few opinions on the future of South Korea and thought my 10 chapter book on it may help the future generations of Korea stay competitive despite Korea’s success thus far.
Back to the “day in the life of…” me…
These days, I focus a bit of time on Inside Out Busan at eFM 90.5. I should actually be writing for my radio show, in my opinion, but decided to take a couple hours for a break today since I feel like I’m non-stop with the radio show, my classes at the University and my privates which are nowadays on Wednesday, Saturday and a couple hours on Sunday. I’ve also been asked to do a couple more, but not sure if I want to spend more hours on Sunday and literally fail to have even a single weekend day off. The sad irony is that I’m still making less than I was before I decided to go solo and that I’m working every day of the week.
I do have Tuesdays through Thursday’s during the days off, but have to go into the station to do the show in the evenings so they’re just 1/2 days off with my only other day off being a 75% day off on Sunday. So, I guess I sort of have 2.25 days off split over 4 days. I use one of the half days though to catch up on sleep from the lack of it on my Mondays that are spent early in Korea Maritime University.
Oh before talking about my weekly schedule, I am very grateful in seeing my folks who visited recently. Also, on the near term horizon, I have Edwark Park, a Principal of a Chinese language school in or near San Diego, coming to visit. Looking forward to seeing Ed. What else? I think I need to find a cheap car for the winter as well. Any ideas anyone? Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. State Department, U.S. Embassy Seoul
Consular Section, American Citizen Services (ACS) Newsletter
OCTOBER 2009
The U.S. Embassy is transmitting the following monthly newsletter via its warden system as a public service to U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea. Please disseminate this message broadly to other U.S. citizens.
In this issue:
1. Introduction of new American Citizens Services Chief, Buck Waldrop
2. Online Passport Form Wizard makes applications a breeze!
3. Seasonal Flu and H1N1 Influenza Information
4. A Message to American Communities and Organizations in Korea
5. Recent Travel Warnings and Alerts
6. Upcoming Embassy Holidays: October 12, 2009 (Columbus Day)
7. Embassy Contact Information Read the rest of this entry »
According to a new report provided by the UN measuring Human Development in 182 countries, South Korea ranked #26 which would be in the top 15% of all nations studied. Korea ranks above other relatively developed countries which produce more gross income like China (#92), Mexico (#53) and India (#134). Korea still ranks behind many “Very Highly Developed” nations, but is ahead of countries like the Czech Republic, Portugal and Israel. At the bottom of the list was Niger.
The full list follows and an explanation is provided at the bottom on how HDI or the Human Development Index is measured.
U.S. State Department, U.S. Embassy Seoul
Consular Section, American Citizen Services (ACS) Newsletter
SEPTEMBER 2009
The U.S. Embassy is transmitting the following monthly newsletter via its warden system as a public service to U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea. Please disseminate this message broadly to other U.S. citizens.
In this issue:
1. Next Consular Services Visit to Busan, September 29-30
2. Federal Voting Assistance Program Available on Social Networking Sites
3. IRS Seeking to Enforce Penalty for Failure to Provide SSNs on Passport Applications
4. Seasonal Flu and H1N1 Influenza Information
5. A Message to American Communities and Organizations in Korea
6. Recent Travel Warnings and Alerts
7. Upcoming Embassy Holidays: September 7, 2009 (Labor Day)
8. Embassy Contact Information Read the rest of this entry »
Byeong Hun An - US Amateur Champion
Another one of the young and beautiful passes away at a very young age. More pics of this South Korean actress and former model follow. Read the rest of this entry »
This is why I am trying to be careful and you won’t see me doing wheelies:
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