Election Day

Elections are coming up in Korea. For a while I was under the impression that June 2 was just the local elections in Jinju, but it seems to be nationwide. (Although, it's not a presidential election).

And these aren't just your standard political campaigns (that I'm used to back home) of signs, commercials and speeches. Nope, these are hardcore Korean-style campaigns. But, after five months of living here, I wouldn't expect anything less.

The first thing I noticed was about a month ago. Suddenly there were strange, random men in suits and blue sashes standing on street corners with a cheesy grin waving at passer-byes in a robotic manner. They would wave with their white gloved hands, turn, smile, and then bow. And then they'd start the sequence over again. And again, and again, and...

Then, just in the past week, the city has become ridden with supporters of respective politicians. But, these supporters don't just stand around holding signs or wearing t-shirts or buttons with their favorite politician's name on it. They instead stand on street corners, or line up along a street or on a bridge in matching t-shirts and white gloves and, in perfect unison, perform some type of choreographed wave-bow-dance. It's really cutesy, just like most things Korean are. What makes it even better is that these acts are performed to music, which usually comes in the form of a large portable screen that not only blasts tunes like "Puff the Magic Dragon" (I kid you not, and yes, it was in Korean), but also displays videos or picture slide-shows of sorts.

Thank you Korea, once again, for opening my eyes to new ways of doing things and providing me with continued amusement. AND, for giving me a day off from school on the all-important election day.

Life is gooooooood.