A few funny shots that had no home

Yes, I was as confused as you are now. The words "good morning" in yellow above that poor elephant didn't help a bit. However, the white words to his right are "hemorrhoids" and "colonoscopy". This is a billboard for a hiney clinic. It's in a subway station.

This is a t-shirt for sale at Namdaemun market. The text reads, "When Rovio began writing new versionsof thegame for other devices,new issues APP STORE". [sic]
We've all giggled at bad translations, but that's not what you're seeing. What we have here is part of a sentence pulled from roughly 1/3 of the way down Rovio's (company that made Angry Birds) official company overview. "App store" is a few paragraphs further down.

Ads for plastic surgery are everywhere here, but same with Birmingham. This one made us laugh though. The copy, "Do you wanna small face? Yes! I wanna" was funny enough, but then you have the teary-eyed pear, football, and slice of bread that represent common but unacceptable face shapes. Are you a football, pear, or slice of bread? Then you should wanna.

I'll let you come up with your own caption here. The ones I can think of are just too obvious. This is in Seoul's Children's Grand Park, which is an AWESOME place that everyone should visit. This guy will still be there, I'm sure.

Is it Dokdo? Is it Takeshima?

Every weekday morning, there is a familiar uproar in the form of impassioned speeches, group chants, and rock music across the street from the Japanese embassy in the designated protest area, which happens to be 7 stories right below my window.



(You can see the Japanese flag flying on the roof - upper right corner.)

Japanese/Korean relations have been icy for hundreds of years, but mostly since the occupation during the first half of the 20th century. Consequently, that protest area is backlogged with countless groups waiting their turn to shout their grievances at the front gate.

The most popular one nowadays involves a new turn in a decades-old dispute over a small hunk of rock WAY out in the ocean.






Detailed history here.
The international community has long recognized it as Korean-controlled Dokdo Island, but Japan disputes this claim and refers to the island as Takeshima. This disagreement has mostly led to no more than grumbles, until a couple of years ago when the Japanese Ministry of Education issued a directive that Japan's ownership over "Takeshima" would now be taught as fact in schools.

The day I took the pic above & video below, a large clump of Korean veterans from (believe it or not) the Vietnam War were doing the protest. Notice across the street that the police guarding the embassy are massed between two large busses.

There is a cool little model of Dokdo at Anguk metro station.


As Michael demonstrates here, there's just something about this island that awakens some real aggression.

Location:Japanese Embassy (aka outside my window), Seoul, South Korea

Korean lesson for the day:

"Belinda" is Korean for "blend".

Location:Mr. Pizza

Michael wuz here.

On Friday the 8th, we stood in the very room in which our son was born.

The clinic is located in the town of Uijeongbu, north of Seoul.

The social worker said, "We are here," after about a 1-hour drive, although we had stopped in the middle of an intersection of two alleys. There were fruit and trinket vendors every few steps, and dozens of motorbikes weaving past us with their cargo.



















On the main street, among thousands of shops and restaurants no larger than their own signs, she led us into Dr. Shin's Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic (신소연 산부인과). We had both been expecting to see a hospital. This was simply a doctor's office buried in an office building.

The Dr. who had actually delivered Michael was hoping to meet him, but ESWS gave her the wrong day. We were instead introduced to her colleague who was equally delighted.



Until they actually led us back to the delivery room, I didn't actually believe we were going to get to see it. Possibly I still don't believe it.

The post-delivery recovery room. Ms. Han had made Michael's adoption plan before he was born, so I'm not at all sure if she kept him in here with her.

















Sometime soon, I will translate these signs. I'm interested to know what else is officed here.