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Helping friends in Seoul

Today we had dinner with some new friends and colleagues who just arrived from Beijing.  They will be in Seoul for a few years.  A family of three, they arrived last Sunday and are starting to settle into their new life here.  On Monday, I helped them check in, and we went out for lunch.  Tonight we had them over for dinner.  They’re a very nice family.  We’re glad they’re here.  Their arrival reminds me of when we arrived ourselves about five months ago.  Our own arrival seems so long ago now.  It’s hard to believe that our time here is almost one-quarter finished.  This family will be here for about four years, giving them plenty of time to settle in and enjoy Korea.  They appreciated our invitation and had a great time enjoying Chinese and Korean food that my wife prepared.  It was delicious.  We had a great time talking about Seoul and about their experience in China.  Their Mandarin Chinese is fabulous; in fact, my new colleague’s Chinese is almost flawless.  He speaks several languages, including Chinese, Japanese, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.  I can tell that he is very gifted at languages.  He will soon add Korean to his repetoire as he spends one year learning Korean before starting his new job.
 
I also had the privilege today of helping an old friend who’s working in Chennai, India.  He’s been there since late last year.  We met in Washington, D.C., before we left for our respective assignments.  He and his wife, who’s Korean American, came to Seoul in June so she could give birth to their first child in Korea (Chennai is not equipped to handle a western-style birth).  I’m very happy I ran into them today and was able to document their child as an American.  We may work together in the future in another location, and I am privileged to have the opportunity to play a small part in their child’s life.  We will also hopefully meet up soon for dinner before he departs for Chennai.  He has to head back to work, while his wife will remain in Korea with family until the baby is ready to travel to Chennai.

Thinking of London

London is on my mind today.  Just one day after being awarded the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, London was rocked by multiple blasts killing dozens and injuring many more.  My thoughts and prayers go out to those who were affected, especially to the families of those who perished.  I heard that my colleagues in London are safe.  Many of them are in Scotland at the G8 Summit.  Both President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were in Gleneagles, Scotland for the Summit at the time of the blasts.
 
I was in London in March 2003 when the Iraq War began, staying downtown an earshot from the Parliament Building.  I went there on an MBA study tour sponsored by the University of Washington.  Our tour was almost cancelled due to the impending war and the threat of terrorism.  I remember seeing scattered war protests in Westminster Square, Trafalgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus.  The British media at the time spoke of thousands of protests converging on London on the eve of the war, although I only saw a few hundred in the streets.  I was particularly attuned to what was happening because I understood the gravity of being in the heart of Great Britain, one of the major powers involved with the invasion of Iraq, when the war started.  Tensions were very high in the city and among the members of our tour, because we held a variety of opinions about the war.  I remember watching broadcasts of BBC television in my hotel room showing footage unfold as the invasion of Iraq began, from the bombing of Saddam Hussein’s suspected hideout to the ubiquitous shots of the night sky over Baghdad filled with sorties and artillery shots, illuminated by greenish infrared.  One television program that stands out in my mind now is a BBC documentary I watched at the time discussing the potential terrorist threat to London.  Today that threat was realized.  The documentary discussed potential terrorist targets and what British authorities were doing to counteract terrorism.  While the authorities had done much to prepare London for a terrorist attack, the program concluded that because London is such a large metropolis with a concentrated population, it could never be completely immune from terrorism.  London’s transportation system, particularly Heathrow Airport and the Tube (subway), is especially vulnerable to attack.  London has had a long history of bombings largely sponsored by the Irish Republican Army.  The IRA has been quiet in London for several years.  Today’s tragedy was one of the first large-scale attacks on British soil claimed by a group affiliated with Al Qaeda.  What happened today is not a repeat of 9/11, when 1,962 people perished in the destruction of New York’s World Trade Center.  Still, what happened today in London reminds us to be vigilent against terrorism.  It can happen anywhere, at any time.  For me personally, today’s bombing reminds me of that time not so long ago when the war began.  It seems that the war is far from over.

5,000 hits

Today my blog reached its 5,000th hit.  A little more than seven months ago I started this blog as a way to tell my family’s story of life overseas.  I’m excited to see so many readers stopping by to catch up on news here and post comments.  Keep them coming!  I enjoy reading new comments every night and getting to know others from around the world, like Cuban-Junky in Kerry, Ireland.  (I haven’t been to Kerry, but I’ve been to Dublin twice and down to the south part of Ireland.  What a change between my first trip in 1994 and my second in 2003!  Ireland really has become a Tiger economy)  As always, I will try to keep World Adventurers entertaining, leaving you wonder what interesting tidbit or ponderous thought will be posted each evening.  Occasionally I take a break to enjoy an evening event or to crash after a long day at work.  I always take time out to write when I can.  Someday I’ll sit down to write that epic novel hidden in the recesses of my mind.  In the meantime, World Adventurers will have to sustain my creativity.

I had a very eventful day at work today.  I didn’t get home tonight until 8 p.m. because I was so busy helping Americans around Seoul.   I spent the entire afternoon helping an American in trouble.  Around 5 p.m. I was by their side in an ambulance headed to a local hospital.  They’re fine now, fortunately.  I stayed with them until I was sure that they had recovered.  It was my first time riding inside an ambulance.  Fortunately, I myself have never needed an ambulance.  If you’ve ever ridden in an ambulance, you know it can be a hair-raising experience weaving perilously through traffic, rushing headlong to the hospital.  Seoul residents drive somewhat chaotically, which added to the intensity of the ride.  I held on to the ambulance cab and prayed that I’d make it safely to the hospital while the U.S.-style siren blared above my head.  If you’re in a traffic accident, there’s no better place to be than in an ambulance.  Still, being involved in an accident in the back of an ambulance is not something I want to experience.  I made it home safely, but I will be following this American’s case for quite some time.

In other news, London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympic Games today.  Paris was heavily favored to win the Games, so it was quite a surprise that London received the nod today during the IOC meeting in Singapore.  Paris has not hosted the Games since 1924, while London most recently hosted it in 1948.  France has also lost several bids for the Summer Olympics (as has Great Britain) and it appeared to be the sentimental favorite in the run-up to the IOC vote.  Of course I was rooting for New York to win, but I understand why New York was not a finalist.  The U.S. most recently hosted the Games in 1996 in Atlanta.  I also think it would be logistically more difficult to host the Games in New York than it would be in London or Paris.  New York still needs to recover from the aftermath of 9/11.  New York would be a great candidate for the 2016 or 2020 Olympics.  Although the 2012 Summer Olympics would be a fitting tribute to the official reopening of the World Trade Center complex and the opening of the Freedom Tower in 2010, 2016 would be more memorable because it would mark the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Having most recently visited Paris in 1998, London in 2002, and New York in 2003, I think London is a bit more prepared to host the Games than Paris or New York.  I remember a time eight years ago when Seattle considered bidding on the 2012 Summer Olympics.  At the time, nearby Vancouver, B.C. was gearing up to bid on the Winter Olympics, which it will host in 2010.  The Seattle City Council tabled the Games initiative in October 1998, citing the huge cost Atlanta paid to host the Games in 1996.  In hindsight, considering the choices this year (London, Paris, New York, Madrid, and Moscow), the Council’s decision seems wise.  Still, Seattle paid over $850 million for a baseball and football complex partly on the premise that it would be used to attract the Summer Olympics and a Major League Soccer team.  Neither came to fruition.  Talk about a bait and switch.  Maybe the venues could be used for a couple of Olympic events—Vancouver has graciously agreed to work with Seattle to promote the Games as a showcase of the Pacific Northwest.