A Cultural Experience

I've seen some crazy things in Seoul, notably right outside Seoul Station, which is the only place where you really see homeless people. It's pretty much the town square area of Seoul, where people with everything and anything to say come to. I thought I'd seen it all.

But this one takes the cake....



I'd like to say this picture just speaks for itself and leave it at that, but my curiosity led me to check out their website. Apparently it's a social advocacy organization called the WTA (World Toilet Association) dedicated to the global proliferation of high quality sustainable and sanitary toilets. It started off as a national organization simply to improve the quality of toilets in Korea. Now they have expanded their outreach into the world specifically the 3rd one...

From their website: "2.4 billion people do not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. About 2 million people die every year due to diarrheal diseases; most of them are children less than 5 years of age."

and..

"Promoting a new wave concept of 'Beautiful Toilets' and 'Toilets as a cultural' place is also one of our aims."

http://en.wtaa.or.kr/site/wta/wtavision.htm

Blink.

Today in one of my Middle School classes, a student called George Bush a "modern day Kennedy." I understood what she said, but I thought I must have heard wrong. Upon seeing the confusion on my face, she developed a frustrated look on her face and then said to me "Teacher do you know JKF? I mean he's like JFK today."

My feeling of confusion turned into a half state of awe and half state of disbelief, but upon recollecting her earlier comment that she liked George Bush, it all made sense. She also said at one point in the class that she liked Kim Jong-Il more than the current South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun because Kim is a stronger leader. I have to keep reminding myself of the obvious fact that Koreans are just as ideologically diverse (and internally polarized apparently) as anyone else.
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When I told a Korean English teacher about this however, she said Middle Schoolers were too young to understand...... Korean politics much less American politics, and that she couldn't have possibly meant what she said.





Anyway here's some pictures of out Mexican Halloween because we couldn't find traditional Thanksgiving food...