100th Post

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Updates.

1) Y essaay & interview : the essay was pretty much a joke. They copied some TOEFL essay questions (the lazy bums didn't even bother to make questions!). I don't know what to make of the interview.. They asked me to introduce myself, asked me "What is the most important contribution Korea can make to international development?" and then "What did you like most about college (specifically the one that I attended)?" The interview only took about 5 minutes. I have no idea what the criteria for admissions are.. English ability seems to be the one and only criterion, but then people applying to GSIS are already confident about their English, so what the point anyway?!

2) Crazy weekend trip to Sokcho. 영랑호 was beautiful as it always had been. The condos were getting pretty old, but still in okay condition. I enjoyed the four-hour bus ride.. gave me some quality 'alone time'. Enjoyed the first half musing, ended up spending the other half watching TV.

3) A friend wrote a post about Roh's death and how it is a tragedy and a loss for our country. It was interesting to see how some American friends warped the discussion into one about the legitimacy of suicide and whether it's a culturally Korean thing. My friend and I were on the defensive, saying it has nothing to do with culture (albeit the crazy focus on 'saving face' and 'shame').. Me saying that it has more to do with Roh's personality and my friend saying it's because we are living in confusing times and we are a confused contry and a confused generation. Our American friends were not only flat out NOT INTERESTED in issues such as 'what Roh meant for Korea's democracy' or 'how to cope with the remaining 4 years of the Lee administration', but were pretty firm on that Roh was up to something fishy and died to cover it up and run away from shame.
That's pretty hard to swallow, because at this point it seems irrelevant (to me at least) whether Roh was guilty of receiving a bribe. What matters to me (and I believe, to many other Koreans) is that we realized all to late that Roh was a darling of the Korean mass and that we didn't appreciate his significance more when he was alive. My disappointment comes from the feeling that Roh gave up to the powers trying to bully him, when I thought he had more than the strength needed to withstand the investigations, and also because I hoped he would prove himself 'clean', thus showing the Korean people the victory of idealism and naivete.
Anyhow that conversation was a bit disppointing to me becaus the issue of suicide seems so trivial compared to the devastated and defeated state of mind that Roh left us with.
And I'm quite sure that's not what my friend intended the conversation to be about, either.
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