Hello all you disappointed readers and followers! I know you check this blog every 3 hours or so to see if anything new has come up, and you're countenance falls multiple times each day. CHEER UP! It's the holidays! Christmas is breathing down our necks and New Years is lying in wait just a few days later! Be merry, but go easy on the eggnog.
What's been going on here in Korea! (Hold on, let me check the last time I posted.) WOW! I haven't posted since Sept. 23rd! It's been a full quarter of a year. Yikes. Well, it wasn't too long after that post that I began working officially as an office staffer at Jen's school. I head in with her in the mornings and contribute as much as I can before leaving at Noon. At first (through October), I donated a lot of time in the afternoons because there was stuff to be done and no REAL reason to go home (other than Xbox and blogging). Halfway through October, I received a call about a job opportunity in the afternoons working in the career development center of a local Korean University. I meet with young potential graduates to discuss their resumes and give tips about job interviews in English. It's a great job that gives me steady hours, good pay, and a visa so I can stay in the country with my wife! The university just happens to be one of the universities I had chosen as a potential Master's program in International Relations. I've been accepted to their school and will start classes around the beginning of March. I'm pretty excited about it. There are lots of things you can do with a International Relations degree, but I'm most excited about opportunities to travel and learn about other cultures. I just might even get the chance to make a difference in the world. The longer I live, the more I feel like I have ideas and methods to contribute.
Well, that pretty much brings us up to today. Christmas is the day after tomorrow. Both of our sets of parents were kind enough to ship us boxes for Christmas and we've been busy shopping for our families and each other. The tree might lose it's bottom layer of branches to make room for the rest of the gifts. :) We are blessed to have such awesome parents and siblings. We certainly feel loved.
So what else has happened lately? The United States Congress is "flipping the bird" to the American people by ramrodding a catastrophic bill through the legislative process (quote is from RNC Chair Michael Steele). President Obama seems bent (not a reference to his inexplicable bowing habits) on having something on his resume for the SoU address next month. Unfortunately for him and the rest of America, it's a crippling load of paperwork that will burden an already weak economy. I don't understand how the folks in power can look at all the other examples of socialist healthcare and think it's a good idea! People wait over a year on average for referrals in the UK. Canadians flee the country (but not for long) to get the services they need. If everything works out according to plan, the only positive effect of this disaster will be the Mexican government halting it's promotion of free American health care facilities and Americans might begin heading south for health services!
Health care here in Korea is pretty cheap. Heck, people have surgery for everything! Extra fold lines in your eyelids, calf muscle extraction, tummy tucks, cheek bones, you name it. But there isn't nearly as much protection for the people in this system. Malpractice just doesn't seem to be an issue. I wonder if fixing the litigation system in America would help bring health care prices down?
In other news, America is losing friends and being mocked by its enemies. Brazil's de Silva being the most recent in my understanding. Pardon me if this is incorrect. Incidentally, our president considers de Silva a friend WHILE de Silva mocks our country. These are interesting times.
This is the last paragraph. (Sorry for vomiting so much politics onto your screen, but it's become an interest of mine.) I wonder if Obama is rethinking his decision to abandon the Eustern Europe Missile Defense plan now that Iran (who doesn't care how many deadlines the West throws at it) has built a missile that is powerful enough to reach parts of Europe. Perhaps Bush WAS on the right track there.
It's great to be back on the web. Thanks for reading. See you next time.
