Sunday, January 9, 2011

South Korea

... is much more developed than what I was expecting. I came over here expecting it to be much more sprawled out. We pulled in to a port area where there were very high apartment high-rises.

It is very urban in several locations and very built up.


Driving through South Korea really reminds me of driving through West Virginia with the mountains, roads carved into the jagged slopes and "Charleston-like" cities in very developled pockets. It is silly cold over here in the winter, much like West Virginia and the people have a long history of strong beliefs (much like the Hatfields and McCoys).

As we drove here, we stopped at a little rest area along the highway. One of the Marines with me asked what I thought the stairs were for in this picture. I just chuckled and said, "well, they are to go up." Well, what else are they for right? Maybe to go down?


Speaking Japanese is very frowned upon and can get you into social trouble. Koreans have a good memory and tend to remember what the Japanese people did to their forefathers back in the days of WWII and before. It seems more Koreans speak English better than we speak Korean or than Japanese speak English.

Internet access is not nearly as prevalent as it was in Japan for me and harder to get to, to stay in touch with family, atleast right now.

COLD.... it is extremely cold over here. From what the forcasters are saying, it is not supposed to get above freezing during our entire stay here. In my book that is cold. Even the highs are below freezing. Contrast that to Japan and we are, well, chillin!

Semper Fi,
m

2 comments:

Betsie Morris said...

Do you remember Curt? He was stationed in Korea back in 1987 and ended up finding a lot of loot for next to nothing! I ended up with a fur coat out of his stay over there. Any how, I find it interesting that they remember WW II bad blood with the Japanesse because I found that to be true with the Dutch and their feelings towards the German regarding that war as well. When I visited Holland they were so nice to me once I stopped speaking German. LOL! Try to stay warm and know that your family are covered in prayer. Bless you all :-)

Anonymous said...

Mark,

You need to find one of those fur coats Curt found!! Love the pictures and stories! Stay warm! The high here today is 9 degrees. Yesterday we got 6 inches of snow!
We love you!

Mom