Election Day

What would you all think if I told you that election season was not over yet? I can hear the groans now. Thankfully, elections are over in the United States; however, today is election day in South Korea. And by today, I mean my today, Wednesday, December 19.

Elections are a big deal in South Korea. In fact, election day is a national holiday. Businesses are closed, banks and other institutions are shut down, and kids don't go to school. All of this so people can vote.

This year is the year of a presidential election, so it's something that everyone is paying attention to. In South Korea, the president is elected to a single five year term. There are several political parties in South Korea, but only two main parties, just like in the United States. Candidates are given a number to help identify them. The number you get depends on the popularity of your party. So, the candidate from the most popular party gets the number 1, the second most popular gets the number 2, and so on. There are banners all over the place with the candidates' pictures on them and their number. Since I don't watch Korean TV, I don't know if they do television commercials like in the United States, but I would assume they do.

However, South Korean political candidates use a couple other measures that are not seen in the United States. The first is advertising trucks. Trucks drive up and down the streets with an advertisement for a candidate playing. They are bright, colorful neon ads that can be heard from a ways away. Let's just say it's very annoying when they pull right up beside your vehicle when you're on your way to school at 6:30 in the morning while it is still dark.

Another unique advertising technique that is popular is the dance team. Each candidate will have a team that dances, sings, and chants in support of their candidate. These dance teams can frequently be found in downtown areas, on the corners of busy intersections, and in the open markets. They are accompanied by colorful signs telling which candidate they are supporting, and the dancers are all dressed in the colors of the campaign. For instance, the #2 candidate's colors are yellow and green. Therefore, the dance team for his campaign will be dressed in yellow and green. The dances they perform are very coordinated and synchronized (and kind of fun to watch).

The two main candidates in the election are Park Geun-hye from the current ruling party (candidate #1-conservative) and Moon Jae-in (candidate #2-liberal). (Note- In Korea, the last name is given first. Therefore, Park and Moon are the candidates' last names, not their first names.) Right now, Park Geun-hye has a slight advantage over her rival, but it is within the statistical margin of error. This could be a major election for South Korea, as Park Geun-hye could become the first female president of South Korea.

Now, you may be thinking, "This is all very interesting, Jessica. I'm glad you're aware of the political happenings in the country you are living in, but it really has nothing to do with me." While I understand this sentiment, the South Korean presidential election could have a lot to do with you. For one, the United States is allies with South Korea. Therefore, the U.S. needs to maintain a good relationship with the South Korean government, which is headed by the president. Two, the U.S. has a large military presence in South Korea because of its northern neighbor, a closed off communist country who is always threatening to make nuclear weapons and use them against the U.S. or its allies (like South Korea). Such a move could start a major war. Sixty years ago, the Korean War almost turned into World War III. You see, historically, Korea is known as a shrimp amongst whales. The whales were traditionally China and Japan, with both countries wanting to control the Korean peninsula as a launching point to conquering the other. During the Korean War, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. joined that fight. The war left the country divided. Ever since then, a big question is what will happen to the two countries. Will they ever be reunited? How will it happen? Much of the South Korean policy toward North Korea is determined by who is president. And what that policy is affects how the two countries interact. And that interaction will affect what the rest of the world, namely the United States, does. Some administrations have chosen to have nothing to do with North Korea. More recently, some administrations have embraced a "Sunshine Policy" towards North Korea. This policy means the South Korean government is trying to be friends with North Korea. The most notable accomplishment of this policy a few years ago was the opportunity for families separated by the Korean War to meet. However, this policy does not mean that the two countries are at peace. Technically, they are still at war from the '50s. For instance, a couple of years ago, a South Korean ship sank near the sea border with North Korea. The North also recently launched rockets at a border island, killing a few people, both civilian and military. As an ally with South Korea, the United States should care about its interactions with North Korea.

Now, I don't know what each of the candidates or parties think about relations with North Korea. But I do know that it matters who is elected president. I encourage you to pray for the election and for the country of South Korea.

On another note, it is almost Christmas! I will be spending Christmas in Iowa with my family. Yay! I am excited to see my family and hear first hand all about my sister Abby's experience studying abroad in Lithuania. It will be a good time. I will be there for two and a half weeks before returning to Korea to prepare for second semester. If you would like to do something, or even just catch up, I will have some time to do so. You can contact me via facebook, email, or my American cell phone number. I will have my American cell phone and the number is the same. I look forward to seeing many of you and catching up.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Harvest

It's finally time for the much awaited post about harvesting rice. No, the harvest did not just get finished. It's been finished for over a month. I'm just finally getting around to posting about it. It wasn't a time sensitive post describing what I've been doing, so it got pushed back until I finished updating you on the rest of my life. But it is finally time.

I'm going to let my pictures tell most of the story. The farmers harvested the rice using a combination of farm equipment and hand labor. The machines are a lot smaller than I'm used to seeing, but the fields also don't stretch for acres and acres. They are divided up into much smaller sections with little roads between them. Let me tell you, the narrow rice paddy roads can be lots of fun to drive on.

Here's how they actually harvest the rice:

The front end of the combine cuts the rice, then the rice is separated from the stalk, which is fed across the top of the combine before it is spit out the backside. The stalks are then left out to dry before being gathered into bales.

They then cover the bales with a white tarp, so the fields look like they are dotted by giant marshmallows. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the Korean version of the town of Chewandswallow.

The final step is burning some of the remaining detritus. Some fall days the air is very choked with smoke.

I hope you enjoyed your brief tour of the rice harvest. Tune in next spring to learn about planting rice and flooding the rice paddies. In the meantime, your tour guide will see if she likes rice paddies in the winter as much as she likes corn fields in the winter. My favorite time of year to look at the corn fields is during the winter. I just think they look so pretty covered in a light layer of frost, surrounded by the cold, clear air. Now I just have to figure out if the rice paddies look as nice during the winter. I'll let you know what I decide.