While my blog now turns to covering the internship I'll hold this summer as a science policy reporter for the American Institute of Physics, I wanted to take a moment to share a few more facts from my time in Korea I haven't heretofore shared.
Did you know?
- The Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus) is nicknamed the Vampire deer for the fang-like tusks protruding from their mouth. The ones living in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) sometimes die from stepping on the ground mines that litter the area.
- Farmers with land in the DMZ adhere to a strict 5 a.m. - 8 p.m. schedule, the only time they're allowed to be in the area.
- While South Korea does not require conscription of women into the army, in 2015 North Korea made a mandatory seven-year service period for women (they have a 10-year service period for men, compared to South Korea's two-year period).
- In theory, Confucian scholars were exempt from corporal punishment, but the king sometimes overruled this tradition.
- April is the month for the disabled, and the same month the Holt Ilsan Center holds their annual Wheelchair Basketball Tournament.
- Molly Holt (the daughter of Harry and Bertha Holt, founders of Holt International) was in for chemotherapy treatment the day we volunteered at Ilsan.
- Korean translations of the Bible arrived in Korea before the first missionaries.
- Für Elise is everywhere: the metro, public service announcements, ringtones.
- (My personal favorite) Koreans are taught that chipmunks are squirrels, that's why the sign said "Squirrel's Sweet Home" at the COEX Aquarium.
I also came across a new singer I hadn't previously heard: Kim Taeyeon (김태연). She debuted as a member of the girl group Girls' Generation in 2007, and has since risen to prominence to begin a solo career in 2015. Her music style has changed drastically over the years, from predominately ballads at the start to currently a pop rock sound. I've included a link HERE to a collection of some of her ballads, which I find to be a good playlist to relax and study to.