Koreans wary of radioactive rain

Yesterday we experienced a king of a "big" environmental/human/ecological problem : Radioactive rainfalls all over Korea.

I was first ok with that, we just had to took an umbrella and stay under this umbrella everytime we went outside (the umbrella protected us against the radioactive raindrops). So basically that was ok, we were told not to go outside if we do not have something to do outside. But every worker worked, every shop was open, everything was still working.

The fact is now, this morning I'm thinking about something else : ok, individuals are safe, thanks to their umbrellas, but what about the the ground ? It was raining all day long ! the rain probably seeped into the soil. So now, what about the water pollution, what about the plantations ?

I mean, radish is one of the most common and popular side dish in Korea, and as you probably know, radish directly comes from the ground, so basically, from now, are we gonna have some radioactive radish as a side dish ?

This is kind of a big deal .... because as a french, I could not read well and guarantee the provenance of the products that I consume. Everything is written in Korean (when it's written, because sometimes, nothing indicates where do the product come from) so how to cope with it ? Good question ....

Yellow dust in Korea

Yellow dust (YD) or Asian dust originates from the desertification of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and North China. Intense sandstorms blow the dust over South Korea, conveniently picking up pollutants in the air from an industrializing China. The dust can cause respiratory problems and eye problems so it is advised to stay indoors during these storms. So if you have a respiratory problem, YD might not be the best thing for your lungs.

YD should come soon, like in the next days or weeks, so we have to be aware because apparently this winter was so dry that the storm is gonna be harder than expected.

On the following pictures, you can easily see the difference when the YD is coming whereas the pictures were taken exactly from the same point of view !

Ladyboys case in Thailand

Thai Ladyboys are basically transsexuals or transvestites. You do see a lot of more of ladyboys in Thailand then you would see in the west but I am not entirely sure why this is the case.

Even though Thai ladyboys are generally accepted in society more then is the case in Europe or America, many Thai ladyboys do have a problem finding a job which is why many currently work as sex workers in places such as Bangkok, Phuket, Samui and Pattaya.

Some ladyboys in Thailand have been completely changed by means of silicon implants and sex change surgery however most ladyboys in Thailand do not wish to remove their male genitalia. 

There are some ways how you can easily spot Thai ladyboys and this is by looking at the size of their feet and hands, by listening to their voice and by looking to see if they have an Adams apple.

The fact is seeing so many men turned into women is kind of awkward, I mean, in clubs (basically) boys should always be careful and check Adams apple, feet & hands to figure it out if it's a real real TRUE girl or just a former guy turned into a girl.

Bulk of the time, due to hormonal injections and treatments, you do not recognize ladyboys at the first glance, but if you look every single think of the body of the person you can figure it out. Anyway, if I would have been a boy in Bangkok, I would have been kind of disturbed by the idea of kissing (or something else, it's up to you guys!) a former guy

Pray for Japan




Picture from garancedore.fr

 

Yesterday, I saw on the korean TV news a report about little villages in Japan which were completly destroyed by the tsunami. I don't want to speak about these villages but about their inhabitants. I mean, the report was showing long list of names ... that was actually names of survivors, people who were registrered on lists and who are still alive now. Then, the TV report ends with pictures of families and people gathered again. These pictures where so meaningfull for me, because first people lived with such a big fear of having lost some of their relatives and now they know everything is ok for them, they're safe and I think showing such pictures instead of showing pictures of death and destroyed things are not much that a huge message of hope.

Seeing their happiness trough this report make me think about me ... I mean I really relativize about my own life, more over because I'm just 1 200 km from Fukushima.

Concerning the nuclear clouds and all that stuff I know lots of french medias were exagerating the phenomenon. The fact is that everything is completly normal, I mean everybody was at school, we continue to take parties, and despite of some french speeches asian world is still ok ...People still continue to travel, nobody is sheltering in his house, life must go on ... even in Japan, unversities are still openned, and students can continue to study !

For me the major problem is the economic problem : Since WW2, this is the biggest crisis for Japan and that crisis will have some impacts on the entire asian world. Japan exchange every year more than 40% of its total exchange with Korea, so basically I think Korea will be the first country to suffer from that crisis ... We cannot predict the future but I think the crisis impact will be huge in all the asian area.

Howver, asian countries get that crazy ability to reborn from nothing in few years, so I think asian countries will react quickly and find new ways to keep their grozth competitive on the international scene again