Sunday, April 27, 2008
Seoul--part II
As most of my few readers know, we've lived in Korea for almost 2 years. When we moved here, we lived in Daegu...way down south. Then after living there for 11 months, we were told that we were going to move to Camp Humphreys. Located in Pyeongtaek. About 1-1 1/2 hours south of Seoul. When Bill was on leave...aka vacation for his second week, we were shopping in e-mart(this is the korean wal-mart....but WAY nicer!) and his phone rings. This is a little unusual, since it hasn't rung the entire time he's been on leave. While I'm continuing my shopping, he's talking. It was a pretty brief conversation. Basically he was told he was going to interview for an aide de camp job. This is a pretty important position. You are the aide to a general. He went to the interview. It went well, but due to his timeline for his job, didn't get the job. I was happy!! Not moving again!! Then he was told that his interview would go for this other job. The secretary to the general...and a few other important people. He told me...no way will I get that job. I'm pretty much elated!! Staying in one place. Friday at dinner he told me the person who was supposed to get the job had other things they needed to do, so they didn't get the job. I asked what that meant. He told me he didn't know. Saturday morning he got a phone call. HE GOT THE JOB. You know, the one he knew he wouldn't get. So, with all of this said...we will be moving....AGAIN...to Seoul. It will be this summer. Not sure exactly when. We'll live there for a year. The good news is that we'll pretty much get to go where ever we want to next. I have to keep telling myself there is a silver lining to every cloud. We know that God has a plan for us and we need to go and do what his plan is.
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4 comments:
my name is Ronnie, and I'm a Singaporean who has been learning Korean for 5 years, and I've written and published a book entitled "Curse of Jeju Island" (화산섬의 저주). It's a vampire fiction loosely based on the aftermath of the Jeju Massacre in 1950 (제주도민 학살 사건). You'd be able to find out more from my personal homepage:
http://ronnieng.blogspot.com
the story synopsis is as follows:
Korea was under the colonial rule of the Japanese Empire between 1910 and 1945.
During the Japanese occupation, thousands of Koreans were used as test subjects (guinea pigs) in secret military medical experimentation units, such as Unit 731, Unit 516, and many more. Towards the end of the colonial period, the Japanese military scientists were working on a new project, which was a "vampirisation process" on humans through genetic alteration.
If the project proved successful, the "supposedly-dead" could remain alive through parasitic life sustenance - a biological mechanism that mimics the blood-sucking vampire bats and leeches. The Japanese Army paid some poor hapless Korean parents to allow the medical officers to perform the experiments on their children. However, the Korean parents involved in the transaction believed that the experiments were merely another series of medical trials, and were not aware that it was actually a vampirisation process.
Theoretically-speaking, the success of this project would allow the Japanese Imperial Army to utilise the "undead" as "immortal soldiers" to fight through the end of World War II. The project, however, didn't seem to yield any immediate nor apparent result, as the Korean children in question didn't seem to show any physical sign of becoming "vampirised". The medical officers could not find any sort of cell mutation nor behavioural change in these children.
The project was finally abandoned, when the Japanese Army were forced to surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945 after the American dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All documents and project facilities pertaining to the said experiments were destroyed, so as to eliminate evidences of the Japanese Imperial Army's atrocious deeds.
The children grew up normally - some of them joined the US-led South Korean Army (known as the Regiments), while some of them embraced communist ideals and became the insurgents (known as the Guerrilas). The two remained at war until the "Jeju Massacre" , which claimed the lives of more than 60,000 people. Their bodies were then sealed in the volcanic cave of Mount Halla. Amongst these 60,000 people were some of the test subjects who were earlier involved in the vampirisation process. The vampirisation process only became effective when these dead bodies were laid in the cave.
The geological conditions (temperature, mineral make-up, etc) of the volcano cave helped to promote the vampirisation process, and their genetic structure mutated to resemble the feeding patterns of bloodsucking creatures such as bats and leeches. Thus these group of the dead were resurrected to become vampires, as they acquired the ability to shapeshift into bats, and back into their human form. They are now doomed to roam the streets of Jeju seeking living human prey and continuing the battles that they once fought in life. Thus, the bitter feud between the two mortal factions – The Regiments (former soldiers) and The Guerrillas (former rebels) – has now become immortal.
Today, we meet Han Mirae, a young Korean girl who is caught in a love triangle between Jackie Chang, a swashbuckling vampire hunter from Singapore, and Shin Taewoo a powerful vampire of the Guerillas. And, we meet Kim Hyunsuk, the Regimental, who abducts Mirae in order to set a trap to kill the other two.
Can Taewoo or Jackie save the girl in time? And who is Mirae's real love?
Could Seiji Inada, being a Japanese vampire hunter, somehow be linked to the vampirisation project conducted by the Japanese Army several decades ago? Hhhmm... It very well could, especially if his father, Kazuhito Inada was one of the soldiers involved during World War II...
Hooooray!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe that. Three moves in three years. That sucks....BIG. Where do you want to go after Korea? We are going to Ft. Hood.
Wow! Look! A whole novel in your comments section!
I really feel for you having to move again. I HATE moving and would gladly plant our butts right here forever if it was up to me. Unfortunately (for me), SD has aspirations for O-6, so I see a couple more moves before we get to settle anywhere.
Where DO you want to go after you finally leave Korea? Say TEXAS! Then we can be pals! ;)
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