환율 고민 ㅠㅠ

(or, Exchange Rate Woes)

Not being a homeowner, not having many assets, and not living in America, I didn't think this whole financial crisis fiasco would hit me too hard. Little did I know! When I came to Korea, the exchange rate was about 930 won to the dollar. So, if I wanted to buy a 1,000 dollar laptop, I would need 930,000 won. Up until about 3 weeks ago, the rate was about 1,100 won to the dollar (1.1 million won for the same laptop), which was still annoying, but since it had taken more than a year and a half to move up that far, I didn't think much of it.

But now! Oh, Christ! The exchange rate is now 1,430 won to the dollar. The same laptop that would have cost me 930K won a year ago now costs 1.43 million! That's nearly a 50% increase in the price. So, while my salary has stayed stable in won, in terms of dollars, in the past week it's dropped between 20 and 30 percent. Not only my salary, but all the money I'd saved up over the past year here.

My original goal when I came here was to send home the maximum amount permitted by law, 10 million won. Not to belabor the point, but up until few months ago, that would have been worth just a little less than 10k dollars. Now? Hardly 7k.

Slightly less frustrating is that I have no clue why this is happening. If the American economy is hurting, people ought to choose not to hold their assets in dollars - i.e. they ought to want to sell their dollars. When they do, dollars flood the market, and the price of a dollar drops- other currencies (like my Won) should become stronger. So, world, please conform to my economic theories and, more importantly, give me my money back, dang it.

Palin

I just watched about 20 minutes of Sarah Palin interviews here. Not a good way to set the mood for my day! Her inability to talk about anything other than opportunities we "cannot afford" to miss and to conceive of a scenario where things don't go exactly according to her(/God's) plan is breathtaking! Not in the magical pixar way, but in the "I've somehow been flung into outer space and the cold, heartless vacuum is sucking every ounce of life out of of me and I hope it's over soon because the pa[l]in is just that unbearable" kind of way.

She also apparently can't mention a single detail about any of her policies:

"Couric: When President Bush ran for office, he opposed nation-building. But he has spent, as you know, much of his presidency promoting democracy around the world. What lessons have you learned from Iraq? And how specifically will you try to spread democracy throughout the world?

Palin: Specifically, [emphasis mine] we will make every effort possible to help spread democracy for those who desire freedom, independence, tolerance, respect for equality."

Could you be less specific, please? HAVE YOU NO SHAME? It reminds me of the lowly sophomore (myself included) squirming in their seats trying to answer questions in Prof. Liebowitz's "H201 Intro to Modern Lit: Darwin and the Modern Ache."

But I digress:
"Couric: ....Why do you believe additional troops, U.S. troops, will solve the problem there? [Afghanistan)

Palin: Because we can't afford to lose in Afghanistan, as we cannot afford to lose in Iraq, either, these central fronts on the war on terror."

Huh? Troops will solve the problem because the problem needs to be solved? (Also, a "Central front" is a little oxymorinic, right?)

There was a similar moment regarding the bailout, but I can't find it in the transcript. The question - what will happen if the bailout fails? Answer: we can NOT afford for the bailout to fail! Ergo...er...huh? Is there some correlation between something being bad and its being impossible that I've missed out on all my life? Perpahs that's a corollary of believing you're doing God's work?

Please send this link to any of your friends who are terrified and not planning on being in the US come election day:

http://www.fvap.gov/

And the answer is: 은행나무!!

Extensive research has revealed to me that the old people are kicking "eunhaeng" trees. That happens to be the word for bank (the faltering sort, not the aquatic one), but in this case it means GINKGO BILOBA! I know that word from pharmacies and healthfood stores. Apparently doctors here tell old folks to eat somewhere between 5 and 20 ginkgo nuts a day, and they can be a little expensive, so people beat on the trees.

Unfortunately, it's illegal. I think maybe I'll go tell the police to do a little 6AM stakeout. That's what old people get for expecting me to insert honorifics and humilifics into my speech.

Something you've probably never seen

Last Friday, after finishing work at 10:15 PM, I went downtown to meet my friend Ashley/Insuk and some of her friends for her birthday party. The party was fun and we had a good time and yada yada yada, and I took a bus home at about 5:30AM. The bus dropped me off at about 6, and I was faced with about a 15 minute walk home. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the walk, given my utter exhaustion, but then something totally, unbelievably, life-alteringly awesome happened.

What happened was this. 6AM is apparently geezer-hour, when all those who have forgotten how great it is to sleep in decide to go out and walk around. Thus, I was weaving my way between grammas and grampses when I noticed that a select few were...uh...jumpkicking trees! For real!

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me to record the brutality in all its splendor, but, I kind of felt like I was in a David Lynch movie. Just imagine, a pudgy, scoliotic old Korean lady, with light puprle pants and a flower-print blouse, walking along with her cane, wearing some weird sun visor that makes her look like some lego spaceman. Now imagine her stopping for a moment next to a tree. You expect her to rest against it for a minute, or maybe just enjoy the dawn. Then, she grunts and delivers a roundhouse (the more incapacitated just looked like they were trying to kick the tree in the shins) blow to the little trunk. And then, imagine that you are walking home from a bus stop at 6 in the morning and you see 6 or 7 elderly warriors, each standing at successive trees planted along the sidewalk, alternating between kicking and panting. I am pretty sure that even if I were to take a bit of LSD, I wouldn't likely see something so whacky.

I am pretty sure I know the reason for this, but I'll let you folks make some guesses before I divulge! Maybe tomorrow, if I can manage it, I'll try to wake up early and do some stealth filming.

What fools!

Long-time readers of my blog may remember that I used to complain about the tribulations of procuring precious avocados here. Problems include: 1)costing 3 or more dollars each; 2)instantly transforming from rock-hard to mushy-rotten 3) coming in packs of 5, and therefore being impossible for me to consume without waste; or 4) just plain absence and blank stares from store employees when I ask them where last week's supply went, as if they had never heard of the fruit.

But this morning I struck gold! There's a discount produce rack at the store, for stuff that's bruised or poised to go bad. Usually the stuff's not worth buying, but because Koreans have no clue when an avocado is ready to be diced and then masticated upon, I got a pack of perfectly ripe orbs AT HALF PRICE. That means: today is officially a Good Day.