kickin' it in geumchon..

this is such an awesome video made by some 'wae-gooks' (foreigners) in a place called geumchon. it covers so much of the daily life here in korea, it's just ridiculous. i'm not sure how it would be to watch it having never been here, but i wanted to share it none the less.
enjoy.

a st patrick's day video..

unrelated to my last post, i wanted to post this video made around this time last year. this is st. patty's day last year at poppa's pub in st. stephen. rap star noah fitch in his prime.

holiday in spain..

although this video is a bit overdue, and not of very good quality, it's still worth the watch if you were on the trip. i'll eventually get it to be better quality but my editing equipment is lacking. this video highlights the ssu europe trip of 2006 as we traveled through spain - i plan to do a video of each country we traveled to. sigh.. good times. hopefully if it ever comes out in better quality i could put it on a cd for everyone.. i'd like to anyways.

emails and God..

i found this video on rogerflyer.com and i think it's pretty good- er.. funny. .. good and funny.

bill kapoun fund

i just heard about this today. here is an article that really hits home to me- mainly because he's not so different from myself. a few days ago (feb. 29th) bill kapoun was nearly killed in an apartment fire in seoul. i don't personally know him, but do know that we both shared being in south korea, teaching english to little kids. i wanted to post this to increase the awareness of his, and his family's situation. here is the article:

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, 29 FEBRUARY 2008--Early last Sunday morning a near-fatal fire destroyed the apartment of William Lawrence Kapoun in Haebongchon, Yongsan, Seoul, nearly taking his life with it.

William, an English teacher of 14 months in northern Seoul, was left with third degree burns to nearly seventy percent of his body. He is now facing numerous surgeries and a lengthy recovery that could potentially cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Because of William's contract in Korea he is now left without insurance. His parent's financial situation is no more promising. They have left 4 children, an exchange student and a grandmother undergoing cancer treatment at home. They are unable to work while taking care of their son in S.Korea, and Will's bills are already staggering.

Upon showing up at the hospital they were handed a bill for over $6,000 before they could even see their son. His first surgery alone cost $15,000. Our immediate concern is raising money for him to continue having the surgeries he requires.

Our estimated total is roughly $100, 000. This total does not include reconstructive surgery, physical therapy and various other treatments he will need to undergo in order to fully recover.

William is a world traveler, having visited countries across Europe and Asia. He holds a double bachelors degree in History and Economics from Indiana University, his home state. He is also member of the Acacia Fraternity. He is incredibly intelligent, confident, and caring. Againts all odds, he is fighting a battle inconceivable to the rest of us. We are all inspired by his strength and sheer determination to live.

WE have an opportunity to rally around William and lift him out of this terrible situation. Individuals are urged to join the Facebook group "Save Bill Kapoun". We will also be posting updates on his conditon and other ways you can help. There will be events scheduled in the near future, so please check back often.

This could be any of us. Please help.

this article is from www.billkapoun.com <- this is also where people can donate.
apparently there are many foreigners living in korea that have little to no insurance. there are also many who work for companies that will twist and change the contracts around in order to save themselves some money. i hope that in time, this horrible situation can get better..

yellow dust closes schools..

and you thought smog warnings were bad.. today, "yellow dust" warnings were issued for much of south-eastern korea. originating in china's gobi desert, the sand or 'dust' sweeps south enveloping the korean peninsula and parts of japan every spring. it gathers heavy metals and carcinogens such as dioxin as it passes over chinese industrial regions before hitting korea and japan. the korean environment institute reports that this yellow dust causes around 165 deaths per year, with about 1.8 million people becoming ill. it also estimates the damage this dust causes to be upwards around ($5.82 billion). this time of year has become widely accepted as "yellow dust season". the streets are nearly empty, but those who dare to be outside are wearing masks specially designed to cope with this season.
it disgusts me that we simply choose to cope with this problem rather than work toward fighting the source of the problem. humans seem to be able to adapt rather well in many different circumstances, but perhaps rolling with the punches isn't the best answer. we as a population need to stand up and stop buying cheap crap from china; stop buying so much stuff that has been shipped from other countries (buy local); stop supporting the big businesses; stop buying crap we don't need.. (i'm kind of tired and whiny- sorry bout that)
recently I've come to the realization that major changes in the world comes either comes very slowly (because the generation in power is often quick to educate, but slow to learn), or a little bit faster than very slowly because of the urgency of the situation.
although we all know that changes need to be made to clean up this world, it seems like we are never too worried about it. maybe it doesn't effect us directly, or we have ongoing projects that don't need finite due dates - but it seems that we are so slow to turn ourselves around when we've come down a wrong road.
i don't know. if we could educate (both the older and younger generations) about the many sustainable ways to live, maybe that would make a difference..

partially inspired by no impact man
yellow dust info gathered here.