Bike News

The Joongang has quite a series of articles and letters about cycling and bike safety this year. Considering the snow today, I am encouraged to read that someone is thinking about warm weather activities.

It is hard to make a set of guidelines for safe cycling as people ride for so many different reasons. Children under, I don't know, 16 or so are in one group, adult commuters in another and maybe farmers and bike couriers (do they exist in Korea?) in one or two other groups.

I want my son to ride on the sidewalk and he is no threat to pedestrians at the speeds he travels (or, typically, the speeds I push him at). The way the bike path curves and bends on a straight stretch of sidewalk is not the problem for him it is for me. He doesn't mind sharing the sidewalk with other users at different speeds, nor stopping at each intersection.

I do. If I plan to ride to Yangyang or even Gangneung (20 and 55km, respectively), I don't want to be dodging pedestrians all the way and stopping at every intersection. I am completely willing to stop at traffic lights and even feel annoyed when drivers try to wave me through.

A traffic cop, he looked like a young conscript, tried to wave me onto the sidewalk and I ignored him (I do feel a little guilty about that, but only a little). In Canada, I was taught that adults cyclists should not be on the sidewalks. I try not to let my Canadian bias' take over here, but it just makes sense to me. If a commuter is going to travel even a few kilometres, he can't be stopping at every single intersection along the way, or there is no value to using a bike.

From the March 13th article:

To encourage more people to ride bicycles, we need more than just bicycle lanes. We need parking spaces, rental stations, repair stations and public shower booths.

Insurance programs for bicycle riders must be developed as well and drivers must learn to be careful about riders’ safety.

The schools must offer better safety education. In 2007, 22 percent of the 8,724 reported casualties in bicycle accidents were children.

It is a dangerous idea to start encouraging children to cycle to school when Korea still lacks the appropriate infrastructure and commitment to road safety needed to ensure that fewer youth get hurt on our roads.

I like the ideas suggested in the first paragraph. I would like to see almost a sort of locker for my bike - I have never had a wheel or seat stolen but the horror stories of such events are in my mind whenever I lock up. I don't know about repair stations but at least high-pressure air. The shower sounds like a great idea: maybe coin operated?

I will discuss the insurance idea a little later.

Letters to the editor agreeing with the importance of this article were printed on March 23rd and 24th. Both letters are fine but don't cover much new ground. The first letter does talk about the benefits of clean air, but I wonder. With the good weather these days, I have wanted to go cycling but have held back for fear of Yellow Dust, which is mostly a natural phenomenon and will not disappear even with electric vehicles or the like.

On March 28, an article about Insurance for cyclists was printed. In general, I think it is a good idea if handled properly (read, "the exact way I want") but could turn into a nightmare of red tape. If cycling insurance takes off, I can foresee a time when it becomes mandatory; a required tax with the purchase of a bike. Further, one would need proof of insurance, which means carrying a licence or papers of some sort. I want to be on the road a lot and could see the need for insurance, but many other probably just ride their bikes from their apartments to Expo Park, with only a short period of high traffic risk.

I rode my bike across most of Canada (Woo-hoo- 100th time I've managed to fit that into a post!) and have made a few longish trips in Korea. I've had problems but they've all been mechanical. I am more interested in bike travel education than insurance to make Korean (and Canadian, for that matter) roads safer.


Finally, and ironically as this is the older article, there will be a bike festival in Seoul:

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly hold a large-scale cycling festival for over 10,000 people on April 25.

The eco-friendly event is part of the city government’s push to get more people on bikes as a means of protecting the environment, easing traffic congestion and promoting health.

They also agreed to team up on a public relations drive to encourage biking and promote the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit 2009, which will be held in Seoul.

Korea.net has info on a bike tour and festival on April 25th, although no information from city hall. Indeed the Seoul City Hall website seems to be showing sports events from 2007 or 2008, with no bike or cycling festival listed.

I will keep looking and perhaps I can meet some fellow cyclists in Seoul on April 25th.

Surprise: more snow

I thought the last snow had been at the beginning of March. Surprise.

I don't expect this to last long: it's pretty wet stuff.

Winter on the mountain, one inspiring story, one sad.

The inspiring story:

A group of Korean organ donors and recipients successfully reached the 6,189-meter-high Island Peak in the Nepalese Himalayas on Dec.22. The Himalayan Expedition Team, called 'Life-Shared Group,' is the first of its kind in the world to climb one of the most popular trekking peaks of the Himalayas.

Some of their training was local:

The team trained for 12 weeks beginning September 2008, walking along the ridges of Mt. Bukhan, Mt. Dobong, and Mt. Seorak, and departed for the Himalayas on Dec. 11. Some members suffered from altitude sickness upon making it 3,500m above sea level, but their sense of mission helped them remain intensely focused.

Now, the sad story. A 51 year old climbing guide, checking and preparing an ice route for visitors to climb, was killed in an avalanche.

Police said that Kim was found to be buried in 1.5-meter-thick snow believed to be fallen from the top of 40-meter-high Yeomju Fall at Seorakdong.

Kim is alleged to have been killed, while checking the ice quality of the fall, after arriving at the foot of the fall 10 minutes earlier than the climbing club of 10 Hong Kong police officers. He was assigned to assist the Hong Kong police officers in their climbing, according to the police.

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something strange about the latter article. In searching for Mt. Seorak at the Korea Times, I was shown (I shrank the unimportant bit):

1.
Mount Seorak - National Parks of Korea (1)
Clouds hang humbly below the peaks at Mount Seorak, located in Yangyang, ... Mount Seorak, or Seoraksan National Park, is known for its stunning peaks, ...
www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2008/10/153_16673.html
2.
Buddhists Angry Again Over Temple Entrance Fees
``I visited Mt. Seorak in Gangwon Province last November to enjoy its full-fledged autumn foliage but was forced to pay the fee,’’ said Lim Hyun-chul, ...
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/03/117_40685.html
3.
Chase Away Winter Blues at Hot Springs
Seorak Waterpia, located at the foot of Mt. Seorak, Gangwon province, is one place where you can soak in an open-air hot spring tub filled with hot spring ...
www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/03/203_36324.html
4.
The Korea Times Nation News
A mountain guide was buried to death in bulk of snow from an icefall at Mt Seorak in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, Saturday morning, police said. ...
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_list.asp?categoryCode=117&page=26

But the article was not secure (Not an "https:-----" site). Strange. It took a little work to find the article. One other article above has an "https:" prefix, but the others don't.

S/He's firth!

Around this time last year (has it been longer than that?), I started seeing 'Dr You' products everywhere. I've tried many and they are pretty good. I am not sure how the chocolate pies are health food, but they are good. They are very good. Maybe, compared to other pies, they are "firth".

World championships events: Gangwondo can do them

Women's curling world championships are currently underway in Gangneung. I haven't seen them, but I am sure they are well organized. I have heard that non-standard stones are in use at the championship and some wonder if Korea chose them to give the local team an advantage.

There are two articles in the Joongang Ilbo about big sports events. One is exclusively about being, again, a candidate for Winter Olympics (this time, 2018), while the other compares running a big event, like Women's curling to running the Olympics.

Honestly, I haven't read either one, although I may yet. I did read the title of the one focusing on the next Olympic bid: Third time lucky for plucky Pyeongchang resort:
‘It’s about letting the world know we are fully capable of hosting international competitions.’

I think the world knows Koreans are capable of most anything. The concern for me is having hills big enough and having enough snow for the games to take place and, in my opinion, Korea probably meets these two standards, but only probably. I would vote for a country with similar organization skills but colder weather over Korea without much hesitation.

Friends went skiing through the winter and I'll ask them about snow conditions and report on the subject again but with a little more firsthand knowledge.

Andrei Lankov on bicycles in Korea

I confess that I have not followed Professor Lankov's articles in the Korea Times, but I know he is a favorite of the Marmot's Hole's writers.

In today's Korea Times, he discusses the history of bicycles in Korea.

Sorry, mom

I am learning how to use my new camera.

So, it seems that the trees are blooming in late March and not late April.

My mother will visit soon, arriving in mid- April and leaving in early May. She specifically asked me when the flowers would be in best bloom and I said late April.

Now, the trees are not yet in full bloom but the azaleas will soon be and the cherries, like the ones above, as well. Those are cherry blossoms, aren't they? I am more familiar with the whiter blossoms. Either way, Korea is quickly reaching peak beauty. Luckily, that peak is quite high indeed and Korea will remain a remarkable place to visit until late April or even later, so my mom will still have a good visit.

I remember a haiku contest at my university for elementary school students. One student's entry read something like:

I don't like the spring,
rain, mud, I can't play outside.
Come quickly, summer.

Man, that kid's haiku-fu is so much greater than mine! anyway, I have the last line right and it is so desperate a plea that it has stuck fifteen or more years.

And that is a Canadian (well, definitely an Ontarian, probably more widespread) spring. Korean springs are the highpoint, rather than lowpoint of the year.

Was the Pope right about AIDS in Africa?

A Facebook friend linked to an article in Il Sussidario titled: as a liberal, I say the Pope is right.
Dr. Green, the above-mentioned liberal, explains that condom use encourages more risky behaviour. He has the background to know what he is talking about: Dr. Edward Green is Director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard School of Public Health and Center for Population and Development Studies. He is a medical anthropologist with 30 years of experience in developing countries and in the fight against AIDS.

I wish I had commented earlier because I suspected this might be the case - but now no one will believe I was so insightful.

I thought the Pope might be right about condom use increasing the spread of AIDS because of reports of using 'protection' in other areas causing increased risky behaviour.

Hockey and football players are known to hit harder now that they have more and better armour. In the book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), by Vanderbilt (which I will get to reviewing some day), the same problem with safety features in cars. Anti-lock brakes allow people to go faster around corners, so they do, rather than maintaining the same speed and having fewer accidents.

Green also points out that condom use, in Africa, is often reserved exclusively for casual sex; unprotected sex with a spouse is still the norm.

I am not a fan of the Pope and I am not convinced that he is right, but I can see that he might be.

I can't resist; highlight below for the inevitable off-colour response:
The Pope should be knowledgeable on the subject; the Church has worked to cover up the results of illicit sex for years.

Slow, or Failed, Cities?

From the Joongang: "In Italian, citta slow means a slow life." Other places have it translated as "slow city", which makes a little more sense to me.
What is a slow city? From the slowmovement website:

Fired by the success and support for Slow Food the Italians set about initiating the Slow Cities movement. Slow cities are characterised by a way of life that supports people to live slow. Traditions and traditional ways of doing things are valued. These cities stand up against the fast-lane, homogenised world so often seen in other cities throughout the world. Slow cities have less traffic, less noise, fewer crowds.

The slowmovement site is not entirely thrilled by this:

Towns in Italy have banded together to form an organization and call themselves the Slow Cities movement. In their zeal to help the world they have formed what amounts to a global organization that sets out to control which cities in the world can call themselves Slow Cities and which cannot. This is not a movement. Social movements are movements from the bottom from the community. The seachange movement, the organic movement, the vegetarian movement, the homeschooling movement, are examples of movements. No-one controls them. No-one assesses you to see if you are allowed to call yourself a seachanger or if you can say you are a vegetarian.

From the Joongang:

The Cittaslow Association selects a slow city after visiting candidate cities, which has to pass a total of 24 assessments.

For example, the population of a would-be slow city should be less than 50,000, and the natural environment should be well preserved.

The city should also have its own locally grown organic products, and the city should not have big-box chains or fast-food chains.

Any city that is selected must undergo reassessment once every four years to ensure standards are maintained.

Here is a bit of nationalism:

Korea has five slow cities, but China and Japan, two of Asia’s most-visited tourist attractions, don’t have any.

Twenty cities from these countries have applied for recognition from Cittaslow, but they all failed to make the grade, apparently.

The association said Japanese farming villages don’t have their own character because they are far too developed and organized.

Hooray! Korean farming villages aren't well organized.

Alright, that's enough of the easy insults.

The idea of a slow city needs a little explaining but once the basics are covered, it does sound like a nice place to live. Small town friendliness, cleanliness and, um, local cultureliness all sound great. I have been away from my hometown (Bracebridge, Ontario) for ten or so years and, in brief visits, I feel disappointed by the Walmart and other big boxes (A&P, by contrast, felt like a local store- only because it had been there in my childhood). I would like my hometown, especially if I return to stay, to be the way I remember it; a small town in which I knew most of the people I passed on the street.


The examples in the Joongang, however, include the island village of Cheongsan in South Jeolla (a little poaching, Bizarro Brian):

This is nothing but a poor fishing village. A total of 2,613 people reside on this island. Most of them are senior citizens,” said Park Eun-kyung, the head of the local council.

Elsewhere: Officials from Cittaslow said the island came close to the very spirit of slow life when they went there to evaluate its environment in 2007.

I think the movie Mapado publicized the way Island communities are fading; basically becoming "silver towns" (for the silver haired). I can accept a "city" of 2,613, but it seems moribound tradition is being celebrated here more than low-key comfort.

another region is Sinan County:

Sinan County, South Jeolla, became a slow city because of Jeung Island, where high quality sun-dried salt is produced. Workers labor all day under the blazing sun drying saltwater and raking the salt.

After witnessing the slow process of making salt, officials from the Cittaslow Association kept saying “wonderful.”

I do accept that these places, and other in the article, are preserving important part of Korean culture and tradition and are worth bringing attention to. On the other hand, there is no point being poor for the sake of being poor. As the saying goes, "There is no nobility in poverty".

I know how to work hard and respect people who do so. I don't think that is an end in itself. If salt production, for example, is best and more environmentaly friendly using human labour, fine. If the village is small because it is poor, that is not a great reason to celebrate it.

On a contrary note, at the end of the article, they describe slow food, which does seem productive, at least as marketing:

Along with slow fashion, the importance of slow food is surfacing. Among typical Korean slow foods, fermented soy sauce, red pepper paste, soybean paste and kimchi are gaining attention.

“You have to wait at least two or three years to get authentic soy sauce and soybean paste,” said Kim Jong-ok, a 55-year-old housewife.

Kim is a daughter-in-law in the Sun family in Boeun, North Chungcheong.

The family has been making traditional soy sauce, red pepper paste and soybean paste for the past 350 years.

At one food fair which was held in 2006 by Hyundai Department Store, a 1 liter bottle of Kim’s soy sauce was sold for 5 million won ($3,541).

Transboundary waterblogging

For us in Korea, yesterday was World Water Day, with the theme this year being transboundary or transnational waters. Where is New Zealand compared to the dateline? I figured that since Australia is in a similar timezone to us, New Zealand would be as well.

Anyway, Daniel Collins at Cr!key Creek has a carnival or roundup of water bloggers, including me! Check out discussion of shared aquifers, the Great Lakes, and Korea's DMZ.
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UPDATE: Word Clouds are cool!

I don't want to be negative, but...

Korean politics and the management of same are hard to take seriously.

Recently, a law against junk food being sold within 200 m of schools came into effect.

However, the list of outlawed foodstuffs ― those high in calories and low on nutrition ― has yet to be decided, but noodles and fried chicken have already been removed.

So, the law took effect today, but the specific contents of the law are still unknown. It sounds a lot like the early days of the immigration requirements for E-2 visas. There were new requirements in place, but no one knew exactly what they were.

Now, have noodles and fried chicken been removed from school areas or been removed from the provisions of the law? I have no axe to grind either way, it's just confusing grammar. I figured junk food would include chocolate, well, anything, and most soft drinks. There might well be discussion over Powerade and the like; so-called health drinks with who knows much sugar and the like in them. Fried chicken seems a little high-end for snacking kids.

Island reef job

Around Christmas, Queensland, Australia basically started a lottery, disguising it as a job. That job, to live on a tropical island, in the Whitsunday region of the Great Barrier Reef, not as a hermit but in a very pleasant cabin in one of the most exclusive resorts in the world. Oh, and be paid $100,000 for the privilege.

I applied, as did 34,000 others. Fifty were selected for the shortlist (I was not one). Ten will be selected by Tourism Queensland and one by popular vote to go to Australia for interviews in which one will be chosen.

Today is the last day to vote. I see a Canadian has 50,000+ votes, while the two Korean contestants have around 8000(for the girl) and 2000 (for the guy). Not sure if the gender is significant.

I thought that the country that put Rain as entertainer of the year would be of more help to the Koreans. If you want to help out, for a Korean or another, click here.

Oh, today is the last day to vote, but I think they are on Canadian time, so you may have until tomorrow around noon in Korea.

Take the train from Seoul to Sokcho

This sign was next to a table of petitions for an express train between Seoul and Sokcho.

I'm too sick right now to comment or even think deeply about the subject, but here goes.

In my six years in the area, I've seen evidence of the old rail line slowly disappear. The old line seemed to go from Gangneung (where I guess it turned inland) into North Korea. There are still many supports for bridges, although the bridges themselves are gone.

If or when the border opens up, I can easily imagine the value of a rail line here and to points north, but right now, not so much.

We already know that nobody wants to fly here (search "airport" on this blog, if you're interested - I'm saving my energy for vomiting).

It would be nice get to and fro in comfort, and especially to have a bathroom available, but it would be strange to have a rail car all to myself, aside from New Year's eve or the like, I guess.
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Oh, the photo was taken with my new Sony DSC T-77. I handy little camera that I bought a few days ago. Thanks for suggestions on what to buy - I am not sure if I followed any or them.

First, I was a little athy...

Then I became athier. After some time, I was the athiest!



Also, in unrelated news, I am an atheist and today is apparently Atheist Pride Day.
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Wow, a whole lot of special days this spring. We've had White Day/ Pi Day, and Atheist Pride Day. Coming up are World Water Day (focusing on Transnational waters) and one of my favourite special days, April Fools Day. I'm having trouble coming up with a good prank.

Heros honoured

Bizarro Brian linked to an article in the Korea Times describing how "The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs designated four people who died while trying to save other people's lives despite danger as righteous deaths".

Two of the honoured died saving others who were drowning and one tried to save a drowning person but failed.

I was a lifeguard for nearly twenty years and a competitive swimmer before that. First, I can agree that these people were heroes: they attempted to save another at great risk to themselves. I do admire their courage and sacrifice.

On the other hand, I was taught, and, as an instructor, I teach, to "protect the most important person" - That important person being me, the prospective rescuer. If the rescue is too dangerous, then you are likely to need rescuing yourself - making two victims for the next person to attempt to help.

It's easy to say, "Stop and coldly evaluate your chances" but probably harder to put that advice into practise.

I think I have to admire these selfless people who lost their lives helping others, but I just wish Koreans could swim a little better.

World Water Day 2009: Transborder water

Cr!key Creek, via All My Faults are Stress Related has invited bloggers to post about water basins and aquifers that cross political boundaries for World Water Day (March 22).

Quoting Cr!key Creek:

There are hundreds of water basins and aquifers that straddle our political boundaries, at both international and national levels. Neighbours stick their own straws into the same glass. This has historically led to both conflict and cooperation.

"Over the last 60 years there have been more than 200 international water agreements and only 37 cases of reported violence between states over water."

In the spirit of World Water Day, and in an effort to contribute towards transboundary cooperation, I propose that all us waterbloggers (and other bloggers too!) dedicate one or more of our posts that day or beforehand specifically to transboundary water issues. What's more, I further invite you to email your posts' URLs to me at crikeycreek/gmail/com once they're up so I may link to all of them from one central location, and thus provide an archive of the collaboration.

The UN website has this to say:

The world’s 263 transboundary lake and river basins include the territory of 145 countries and cover nearly half of the Earth’s land surface. Great reservoirs of freshwater also move silently below our borders in underground aquifers.

With every country seeking to satisfy its water needs from limited water resources, some foresee a future filled with conflict. But history shows that cooperation, not conflict, is the most common response to transboundary water management issues.

© World BankOver the last 60 years there have been more than 200 international water agreements and only 37 cases of reported violence between states over water. We need to continue to nurture the opportunities for cooperation that transboundary water management can provide.

We share the responsibility for managing the world’s transboundary waters for current and future generations.

Gwynne Dyer is not so optimistic that cooperation with continue to be the norm.

Shared water is a big deal everywhere. We Canadians, especially from around the Great Lakes, constantly hear rumours of American plans to to try to pump or move Great Lake water to the southern Midwest, as their underground aquifers are drying up, leaving farmers with nought but sinkholes.

Here, president LMB's canal system could be jeopardized... ah, I'll leave that dead horse alone.

Here in South Korea, two-thirds of the Imjin River basin is in North Korea. A September, 2008, article in the Korea Times describes the effects a dam the North Koreans are building across the river.

``If [the imjin River] dam is completed, the amount of water flowing into the Imjin River in the South is expected to decrease,'' Kim said.

Beside the decreased water flow, Rep. Kim said water quality has worsened and flood control is at risk.

Kim urged K-Water to take adequate measures to secure the water supply.

The lawmaker also asked the government to sit down with their North Korean counterparts to discuss mutually beneficial use of water resources.

``The water resource issue should be addressed through inter-Korean dialogue,'' he said.

The lawmaker said the government should quickly complete the ongoing construction of the Peace Dam near the North Han River, which is designed for flood control in Gunnam, Gyeonggi Province.

Kim's conclusions are based on a dam, completed 2003, on the North Han River: A Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water) report found that the amount of water reaching the Hwacheon Dam in the South has decreased by 43 percent following the completion of the Imnam Dam.

Finally:

``The water resource issue should be addressed through inter-Korean dialogue,'' he said.

The lawmaker said the government should quickly complete the ongoing construction of the Peace Dam near the North Han River, which is designed for flood control in Gunnam, Gyeonggi Province.

Flood control is also an important issue in Flood Runoff Simulation Using Physical Based Distributed Model for Imjin River Basin. In this article, from the Journal of Korea Water Resources Association (Volume 12, #1, 2009/January, by Bak Jin-hyeok and Heo Yeong-taek), researchers attempted to use indirect means to estimate water levels and flows reaching South Korea. The methods are indirect as South Korean researchers are not welcome on that side of the border. The main tool used is hydrological radar.

I was only able to read the abstract, as the full article is in Korean (and didn't jump out at me on Google - I found the journal at my university's library). It appears that the radar measures rainfall. The result was not completely successful but peak flow was accurately predicted.

To complete my review of news regarding rivers crossing the DMZ come the, um, quaintly titled A Dragon Swamp is a Microfilm, which Taped a History of Nature. Fish Hunting of the North Korean Soldiers (Internet translators make reading fun!)
The article starts:

Visitors at the armies near the boarder (sic) area are carrying water bottles these days. The visitors of border area armies at places like Inje, Hwacheon, and Yang-gu run to the wells as soon as they are done with visiting their sons. They get to see their son and bring some clean water back. The scenery of people carrying water bottles is a new phenomenon caused by contaminated water supply in cities. The soldiers at DMZ must be happy with the water they are getting. It is free of the danger of carcinogenic chemicals such as Benzene or Toluene. The parents of soldiers at DMZ are even told that they should have no worries about their sons who reside in such a clean area.

This news may not be true as the water comes from North Korea, and, as the water is leaving their area of influence, they have no pressing need to keep it clean.

South Korean soldiers have the rivers under constant observation against infiltration by North Korean soldiers. Strange things interest the soldiers and intelligence officers. A rubber shoe, size 230mm, floated down and civilian habitation in the basin was deduced.

More seriously, a mass of dead fish floated down Seohwa Creek (near Inje, Gangwon - no date given) and concerns over poisoning were quickly raised. Eventually, it was decided that North Korean soldiers had gone fishing with explosives.

Interestingly, several rare fish were found among the dead. An animal called "tongari" was also mentioned - not in the river but in the area. It is brown, has a waving tail and looks 'cut' (probably 'cute'). However, it has a stinging tentacle.

The behaviour of the two groups of soldiers is to be expected: the North Koreans, at the point where the water leaves North Korea, don't waste much concern with how they treat the water while the South Koreans, at the beginning of the river for their country are not allowed to dip a toe in the river.

College professor and bicycle commuter killed by bus

I'm late in noting the story. From Korea Beat.

A math professor in Gwangju who had commuted to work by bike since 1987 was struck and killed by a kindergarten bus. The bus driver suffered from kidney failure and the medicine caused drowsiness or exhaustion, causing him to lose control of his bus.

The Joongang Ilbo (Korean) has an article describing him as the cycling professor. Sounds like someone I would like.

Wobbling weakly through my work day

I gave blood today. That and yelling to be heard over the roar of fighter jets training overhead have exhausted me. Time for a nap on my sofa before I take the shuttle bus (and nap on it) home.

Oh, the answers to the questions are two "Yes" and the rest "No". The last question is whether you have been out of the country in the past three years. Stating yes on this one is typically not going to disqualify you from donating.

Bad news for swimmers

I often hear of sharks appearing on the south and west coasts in the summer and making their way north through the summer but never heard of any in Gangwon Province.

The El Camino Packer has found a Korea Times article telling us exactly that. Click either link to see the 4 metre shark caught near Donghae. At 1.5 tonnes, I wouldn't want it around while I swam.

The El Camino Packer loves surfing and likely wears a dark wetsuit; the combined silhouette resembles a seal and is the staple food for great whites. He should be especially careful.

I may obey the lifeguards and stay within the buoy-line this year, especially if the buoy-line includes a shark net!

Leisure games? The PR guy seems cool.

This is Um Hong-gil, the first climber to climb all sixteen of the peaks over 8,000m in the Himalayas. He has also "been named the public relations representative of the Chuncheon 2010 World Leisure Congress and Leisure Games" according to the Korea Times (but photo is from a previous article).

I have a degree in recreation and leisure studies, so you know I am going to defend the field of study (a great deal of the coursework was in management). Still, I am not sure what leisure games are.

I know there are lifeguard games, in which lifeguards perform simulated rescues, judged on time and technique...

Ah, I'll let it go. I have to pick up my son from the daycare.