Innovative Campaign Slogan: Vote for me and I'll shut-up.

Ah yes, election day is next Wednesday and we are getting massive amounts of election goodness. Actually, I should not use the word goodness for the debacle that is fishing for votes over here. At first it was amusing, the candidates for mayor would set up their little roving campaign booths at busy intersections, blast their terrible Korean pop music and shout at the people and cars passing by. Other than the candidate huffing a lot of carbon monoxide, I'm not really sure what this accomplished. It was entertaining to watch though. Of course I have to wonder what promises the candidates are shouting out, "If you vote for me the whole city of Suji will have free cheeseburgers on Tuesday. I'll call it Free Cheeseburger Tuesday!" My entertainment was short lived, however, as one of the aspiring to be mayors has set up shop next to the apartment building I live in and starts his campaigning at eight o'clock in the morning with music and all. One thing is for sure, I'm not voting for that guy. I used to think it was pretty cool that guns are illegal in South Korea, but now I'm wondering if someone from the states can send me one. Has there ever been an assassination of a would-be mayor?

In other news, this last weekend we went to Iteawon. It's an area of Seoul with lots of bars, foreigners. We went there for the bars. Needless to say a night in Itaewon makes Sunday a bit rough, but bright and early at three o'clock in the afternoon I took the Eagle for a spin. I decided to do a bit of exploring and found two Buddhist temples in random spots. One was in the middle of the busiest park I've ever seen and the other was in the middle of nowhere with nobody around. This is just as the Buddhists would like it: two opposite extremes with the Buddhists in the middle.

Funny thing, in Korea the Buddhist channel and the Christian channel are right next to each other and they get along just fine. I heard this from a reputable source also (Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me: the radio show) that there will be an exhibition soccer match at the beginning of The World Cup between Catholic priests and Muslim clerics, and there will be Jewish referees. God bless those guys.

On a more technological note, I just got a Skype account and the Orris and I gave it a test run. It works perfectly, so anyone out there who wants to call me for free over the internet download Skype (www.skype.com) and get a headset/ microphone. My contact name is none other than karmaking1111.