Election Season

June 2nd is election day and the candidates have been reving up thier campaigning these past two weeks. Although, the only thing that I can figure that these guys are campaining for is to be the most annoying candidate possible. Evidently, in Korea, it's normal to campaign mainly by trying to pass out the most buisness cards that people will then throw on the street, or to shout the loudest from bongo trucks that cruise the streets with megaphones or loudspeakers. Now, I usually try to be sensitive to cultural differences, but this one is really getting to me. Why? Well, it's not that the trucks wake me up at 9 am with their blaring music, and it's not the fact that I can't walk for 5 minutes without seeing about 5 trucks pass me blaring music. It's the fact that these trucks pass by our school several times an hour blaring their music and my kids can't hear me over the din. Or, they are distracted by the music and start giggling or talking about it. Their campaigning is keeping me from doing my job as well as I could.


Now, personally, if I could understand and recognize these guys, and if I could vote, I would personally choose the least annoying of the candidates. I've asked several Koreans opinions on the matter, but they are just used to this sort of campaigning and don't think anything of it. They don't even find it that annoying. I wish I could have this attitude too. But when your hagwon is at an intersection of two main roads, it's hard to ignore their blaring sounds.

That's my two cents. I wish I could tell you more about election things, but this is all I've figured out about elections. The only other thing to add is that June 2nd is a national holiday and most companies and schools will have the day off. Not mine, but we do get an extra day at Chuseok as compensation, which for me is much better. But... I don't have to vote...