A Day Worth Talking About

Today, Friday April 13th 2012 is a day worth mentioning. 

This morning at 7:30 AM Seoul Time North Korea launched a rocket against the advice and restrictions put in place by the UN. A good article is listed below.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/12/world/asia/north-korea-launch/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

The good news about this launch is that it was unsuccessful. The bad news is that North Korea spent close to 900 million dollars on this project. 900 million dollars that could have been used to feed their population of starving people. It has now further isolated North Korea from the rest of the world by receiving offers of food aid from countries like the United States who then had to rescind their offers of food aid because North Korea flat out ignored sanctions placed on them by the UN. This means that the country who can't normally afford to feed all of their people have placed their population in an even worse situation.

The North Korean military recently had to lower the hight restrictions for admittance to 4' 9" which is a direct result of the poor nutrition the people receive. Apparently they are so short on food that grass has become a food staple for the people of North Korea.

So.... What to do? The country has been run by crazy people for too long. If you try to cross their borders they will either shoot you or not let you leave (which I think might be worse than being shot). We have no way to deliver food aid to the people who really need it and their new leadership does not appear to be any different than the last (sadly). They don't have the money or the resources to become a real superpower but there would have to be another war to liberate their people, which China wouldn't support. And, no one really wants to piss off China... So... here we are, back at the beginning. As a humanitarian, I want to send food aid to the people, but if you feed them, they might actually have enough brain power to successfully launch a rocket.

Now for something completely different:

I went off of base today to pick up a few things to put in a package for Micaela and Tim, along with their hats and sweaters etc. that they left at the house (because they obviously wouldn't need them in Thailand), and I stopped for lunch at my favorite place... The Noodle Restaurant. At first I thought they were closed because the sign on the door SAID "closed" but then a lady from the inside and her daughter (I think) waved at me from the inside! So... I popped my head in and they were indeed open for lunch. The lady and her daughter waved me over to them and invited me to join them for lunch. The older lady was a Math teacher at a public high school in Chinhae. She was originally from Chinhae but had lived in Oklahoma city for a year. She was the child of a South Korean Navy officer and LOVES the Navy. She was so excited to hear that my husband was in the Navy. After a very friendly chat that very pleasantly didn't involve any questions which were too personal, she paid for my lunch! I told her that she didn't need to buy my lunch but she had already paid for it and insisted. We said a very pleasant goodbye and that was all. She didn't want anything other than some nice lunchtime conversation. No one does that anywhere!!!!! I LOVE Korea!!!

When I got back on base, I checked the mail and had a package of clothes which I had ordered waiting for me. Yippie!!!!

Then I went to the commissary and walked up the hill. The steep hill and walk are getting easier than when we first got here, even if I am carrying bags of groceries. I must be getting in better shape physically!

As I was unpacking the groceries I got a phone call from the supply office. Our household goods shipment is in country and will be delivered on the 19th!!!!!! Wooo Hoooooo!!!!!!

It is only 3:06pm here in the afternoon on Friday the 13th in Korea, but tonight Dave and I are going on a dinner date to Changwon, to an Indian restaurant that gets excellent reviews.

Here's to an interesting and unbelievable day.