Although it’s only Wednesday in America as I write this, it’s Thursday here in Korea. Happy Thanksgiving. I’ve been a good boy with regards to shopping and I planned well. I have some turkey and cheese from my last trip to Costco and I plan on having a nice turkey sandwich. Sure, it ain’t like having a big-ass stuffed bird, but it’ll do.

Tomorrow, I’ll get up early and call to wish as many people as I can a Happy Thanksgiving.

I’ve written before on how lousy Korean drivers are. That’s not some stereotypical rant, but an attitude born of experience. Nearly every day I get on the road is an experience in incompetence, ignorance and even vehicular effrontery. While the average Korean driver that violates what most would consider decent driving is merely ignorant or not paying attention, its the taxi drivers and bus drivers that earn my particular scorn. They are truly malicious in the pursuit of their daily bread. Everyone needs to make a living, I understand that. But to treat all others and all rules with the disdain and lack of respect they do is beyond belief.

Since July I’ve been riding my bicycle several times a week to stay in shape. While I try to stay on the side roads, mountain paths, farm roads and walking/biking paths, it’s not always possible. Sometimes I have to get on a real road. Nearly everyday that I do, I watch a taxi driver or bus driver run a red light, turn left from the right lane, turn right from the left lane, cut someone off or turn a blind corner without so much as slowing down. Buses are actually the worst, for their 50 ton bulk would crush any that oppose them and they drive with that in mind. But taxis are more numerous and therefore their violations more frequent.  Many times, I watch from a distance and just shake my head as these bastards and shitheads run roughshod over the roads.

Sometimes, despite my vigilance, it is I that am the victim of these road warriors. More than once have I been cutoff, forced to the curb or come to a screeching halt. I remain unintimidated. I have taken to carrying protection: bricks, bats, flamethrowers and grenades – figuratively speaking, of course. Force appears to be the only thing they understand. Most won’t even get out of the protective surroundings of their vehicle. Being six foot and 230 lbs seems to act as a deterrent. Even if one does I am not terribly worried, even though most of them have studied Taekwondo or some other martial art. Most Koreans have studied English, too, but few can actually speak it. Without providing incriminating details, I’ll just say that more than one taxi and bus driver has left the scene humiliated. The shitheads.

While cruising through some of my usual news sites, my interest was piqued by a news blurb that said only 44% of US elected officials could pass a civics literacy test. Of course, the news site was a Chinese newspaper, China Daily, and its methods of how they came up with that number are unavailable. They just quote some bureaucrat on whatever number he gives without revealing who took the testm where they are placed in government and their education.

I, too, took the test. And found that the average for November was only 77%.  Even that is likely skewed and not a serious statistic of American civic knowledge. Participation is “self-selected.” In other words, it isn’t a random cross section of Americans, but those who a) see the site and b) those who opt to take the test. A person who doesn’t read many internet sites or has low confidence in their ability to do well might never see or take the test. I doubt the 44% number as a measure of ALL of American elected officials. The 77% for all November seems a much more believable figure.

So, I challenge readers here to the same. How much do you know about American civics, government and history?

My score? 88.78%  Not bad for a ex-pat computer geek. Take the test yourself. Put your score in the coments below.

I just sent 750K Korean won over to my bank in America. I need to buy some things in the US and have it stay there rather than buy here and ship home. Unavoidable. The exchange rate is up to 1450w to the dollar, so I lost close to $200 just in one transaction. I hopefully won’t have to do that very often.

I don’t know whether it was a virus or food poisoning, but for the last several days I’ve felt like hammered meat loaf. It started out with a headache and mild indigestion on Thursday afternoon. I struggled through work that day and again on Friday (which is game day, so I didn’t have to concentrate too hard.) But, by Saturday morning I felt bad enough to go to the hospital. My head hurt, my guts ached, my legs, arms, shoulders and neck moaned with every movement, I had started having bad diarrhoea and I had a fever.

The last time I felt this bad was when I had pneumonia and even walking to the bathroom was a chore. At the hospital they took xrays, sonogramed my guts, took blood and urine tests, poked and prodded me. And that was just the diagnostics. They they administered multiple shots – my butt, arm and an IV. MyeongHee and I were there for about 3 hours through all the tests and whatnot. It would have been tough without her as I wasn’t up to the mental tasks of translating from Korean. That was amazing since English is a requirement for college students including Doctors and Nurses – only the Doctor spoke a few words of it. The pharmacist afterwards spoke better English in describing how/when I should ingest the drugs she’d given me.

The good news: The entire visit to the hospital, including all the tests, xrays, radiologists, internal medicine guys, IV, etc was only around $160. Another $13 for the drugs. MyeongHee was astounded when I estimated the American health care equivalent cost at an order of magnitude higher. I’ve already submitted the receipts to the insurance agency (AIG), and unless they’ve already spent all their money on another lavish retreat for their execs I should get most of that reimbursed. I still have a hard time comprehending why this level of health care at this price cannot be made available in America.

I still don’t feel 100%, but better than late last week anyway.

“Miguk” is the Korean word for America and means “the beautiful country”  – or something like that. “Bap” is the word for cooked rice but generally means food or a meal.Together, the two words mean “American food” which has been sorely missed around the house.

We haven’t made a trip to Daegu’s Costco in a while and I was completely out of anything resembling American food. All I had left was a box of instant oatmeal and I had grown tired  of it. I tried variations of oatmeal with raisins, bananas, walnuts, cinnamon, raisin and walnuts, walnuts and bananas and various other combinations, but my palate longed for something else.

Yesterday, I stocked up on cheese – real cheddar cheese. Not the single-wrapped, plastic-tasting, inner-tube texture, orange-colored pond scum they try to pass off as cheese in the markets in town. And some beef jerky – yum. And real bacon – not the tasteless strips of fatty pig meat sold here. Other things I brought home included bagels, granola cereal, pasta, some American brats (jeez, you wouldn’t believe the vile things they sell posing as sausage or hot dogs here) some ceasar salad dressing.

And I got some real corn tortilla chips – made in San Antonio! Last night I made a big-ass bowl of fresh salsa (no lack of tomatoes, garlic, peppers and onions in town) and we chowed down on a favorite snack while watching a movie.

Today, its bagels for breakfast and tonight I’ll make some bean and cheese nachos. Or maybe spaghetti. My mother-in-law, still here and cleaning ferociously everyday whether it needs it or not, likes my nachos.Who cares if they’re technically not from “Miguk?” They taste like home.  The Koreans think they’re exotic.

It must be obvious to the casual reader how big a deal food is here. Almost everything else available in America I can get here, but not food from home easily. Sure, I like Korean food. And I eat it once a day if not more. But a man’s got to have something from home and my biggest dilemma now is to decide what to eat when.

Just a white guy in a dishdashi? Or a middle-eastern man of mystery? You decide, baby!

The kids did most of the masks at home. Store-bought costumes weren’t eligible for the big prizes.

We ended up going out to the foreigner bar on Friday for a costume party. I didn’t bring a camera, but wished I  had. The winner was a girl who dressed as kimchi – she had the smelly stuff draped all over her.