Whities, whities everywhere (originally posted 18 January 06)

Saturday, we had to go to Wonju for a conference for all the new foreign teachers in our province. (It was supposed to be about 2 hours away, but the bus ride ended up being 4 hours.) So there alone, we saw more white people than we've seen pretty much the whole time we've been here.

From there, we caught a bus to east Seoul and rode the subway to COEX Mall, a huge shopping center downtown. (One of the biggest bookstores, with a good selection of English language books, is located there.) So this whole time, there are whities EVERYWHERE! It's a bit of shock after not seeing any for so long. Seriously, we sometimes go a week without seeing another foreigner in Sokcho. (I did my best not to stare at the freaks.)

At a "lifestyle shop" in TechnoMart (another large mall by the bus station) -- basically like Anthropologie, but more reasonably priced -- we saw a strange sign in the middle of a table of floor cushions. It was an anti-Bush sign. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture. There seems to be a lot of anti-Bush sentiment here...or, perhaps I should say, anti-Bushy, since that's what most people here call him. I don't think it's necessarily disrespectful, as the tendency is to end all words in a vowel...but it's funny shit to me! It makes me think of a Michael Moore line, "The Bushies are coming! The Bushies are coming!"