On Edge

The first wasp of the year floated by me after lunch pausing just long enough to get a close glance of my left ear but it quickly bored and gambolled off. I'm not a big fan of wasps so his attention to my ear was enough to get me on edge.

Mind you I'm not as on edge as some Koreans at the moment. (No, the North hasn't attacked nor have they crumbled forcing the South's economy to take a huge nose dive.) The latest news to unsettle Koreans was the discovery of a deep fried rodent head in a bag of Saewookkang (aka a very popular sort of shrimp chip-that I gave as a stocking stuffer for my brothers last year). The story exploded a few days ago when the customer who had found the prized head, got the cold shoulder from the company (Nongshim) who make the snack, decided to contact the media. I can almost guarantee not a single bag of the stuff has been sold since. My co-teacher Betty said the news of the rat head was so gross she couldn't eat anything the night she heard about it.

Nongshim has since recalled the lot of bags made during the same time of the bag in question. They also quickly went on to blame China and the working conditions/sanitary issues of the factories there because this is where the batter is made before it is shipped back to Busan to be fried and packed up. But fear not loyal customers, a crack team of previously disinterested food safety inspectors from all the major Korean snack makers have been sent to China to set things straight. I know it was a freak incident but have as much faith in the inspectors cleaning things up as I do in Bush winning the Nobel Prize.