July 13, 2009 - Seoul, South Korea

"A person without education is like a beast wearing clothes."
~Korean Proverb

Monsoon season runs from June through mid-July, so this trip is perfect timing for us to spend every moment outside completely soaked to the bone.

Korean education is known for rote memorization, lack of creativity, competitive high-stakes testing, and societal pressures to succeed. Today we visited the Goyang Foreign Language High School, a private Christian Ivy League prep-school, where we found students relaxed and hilarious. Semester finals were last week and most kids were on summer recess, so the 7am - 11pm school day was not in session.
+ South Korea has one of the highest teenage suicide rates in the world.
+ South Korea has one of the largest # of Ph.D.'s in the world. Most Ph.D.'s are earned in the U.S. and England, then citizens return home.

I'm not usually drawn to "tourist trips," but in order to get a visual of Seoul's military city planning, a view from N Seoul Tower was necessary. Immediately, the apartment buildings, build in domino fashion called "identical apartments," ready for implosion - were obvious. However, being in the 6th tallest tower in the world, anti-aircraft guns mounted on skyscrapers roofs weren't visible.

Today's media rumor's released that Kim Jong-il is in late stages of Pancreatic Cancer.