Recent Tensions in the ROK

So, I know everyone was worried. I was worried for a bit and skipped going to a fur protest in Seoul just to be extra safe today, as it was today that the drills were starting back up.

As far as I could tell by the news and the way adults around me were acting, nobody was really worried about conflict getting more heated. I'm not completely convinced everyone was serene about the whole thing--people had their TVs on news programs and were talking about what happened--and the really odd thing was the Koreans I had contact with during the day immediately following the attack were asking me if I was scared but wouldn't really offer up their opinions. It either means they weren't nervous or they were doing the Eastern thing and concealing anything perceived as negative. It's polite not to rock the boat.

My Canadian friend, Caroline, who has been here for a while was saying that she wasn't worried but did recommend I stay out of Seoul "just in case" and then offered up a spot at her place (in the southern part of the peninsula). So, it's all a bunch of mixed messages.

When I came home from work on Tuesday, I switched the radio to one of the English stations with occasional news coverage and listened for a bit. The djs/news anchors/announcers/whatever were talking about the attack, but after 5-10 minutes they moved on to discussing an upcoming change in command at Samsung. So, I figured the attack wasn't leading to much.

Today, I tried to get a station in English, but when I turned on the radio every station was playing music or was in Korean. So, I watched the headlines on the Korean Herald's website and had kpcc up for a while. I didn't get any emails from the embassy. No frantic text messages from friends asking if I was getting out. So, I'm assuming everything's ok.

Though, I'm struck with how guilty I'd feel with my ability to just get out of a war zone. I do find myself wrestling with dark "what-if" scenarios when I'm not busy reading, cooking, playing violin or otherwise distracting myself, and I promise you all that if war does resume here, I will not stay here.

So, that's the current situation. I'll try to get my adult students to talk about it tomorrow if they don't mind the heavy topic.

~Sarah