Change

...is really the one word that relates to nearly everything that I'm experiencing on this trip. I see change from '92 when I came here to work for Newsweek, and also from when I was a missionary here from '88-'90.

Some big changes of course are the construction and traffic. I hardly recognize any neighborhood I was familiar with in the past.

But some of the smaller changes deal with things that are much more subtle.

Cultural ideals that have shifted over time. These include the treatment of their handicapped folks. It used to be that if you were disabled, you were relegated to a life of begging, with others keeping the profit. In today's Korea, as I witnessed the other night at the parade, handicapped children being pushed in wheelchairs by their proud parents...onlookers applauding them from the sidelines.

I saw a group of blind students today at the Kyobo bookstore on a field trip from school. I have seen only one man begging on the street like I remember from years past. He was laying on a low-lying board with wheels...a kind of dolly that he could skoot himself around on. He was in front of the Buddhist temple hoping to get donations from those who were going to worship in preparation for Buddah's Birthday (see upcoming post...).

I see a young married couple thrilled and proud of their first child...a girl. The husband proclaiming proudly that of course she was beautiful. It used to not be the case that men would say that about their oldes child if she was a girl. Much the same attitude as the Chinese, and much of the same change I believe has happened there also.

Somethings however haven't changed. Student's still go to school ten hours a day, six days a week. Businessmen still work a ten hour day as well, and still get drunk after work. I do have memories of a lot more men drunk in the streets at night after work.

I've also only heard of one act of public violence toward women. The fight was heard the other night by one of the other members of our study abroad group. I am impressed that we've only seen one fight. Either they are fighting less, or they're keeping it indoors. Hopefully things have improved for women.

I think they have, and frankly I was surprized at the high rank in business and academics the two older women I met at the gallery opening have attained. I am also surprized that the women who owns the guest house I'm staying at now is a publisher of children's books. It does seem that women have started to make some ground here, although I do think it will take a while to crack that glass cieling...if ever.

I also heard from the man I had lunch with today, that a Christian rock group from Atlanta had been asked to perform at a festival in North Korea recently. Unheard of only a few years ago, I was told they actually performed their own material.

The car situation here has also really impressed me. I think I only saw one Land Rover during my entire mission, but I see them daily here. I've also seen Porsches, Lotuses, VW's, GMC full-sized custom vans, lots of BMW's and Lexus's (Lexi???), and even one Bentley. This tells me that Korean's are making a LOT of money. Any foreign car imported is tariffed it's value 100%.

That's one spendy Bentley.

I'm sure I will notice more as the trip progresses, but I thought I would jot down a few impressions to date.