So yeah, I need to get out more

This post isn't exactly one for the ages, but I was out and about in central Seoul today for the first time in a while and noticed some things.

First, is it me, or has Starbucks negotiated some kind of deal where they open a location every 50 feet or so? I blinked and like five more stores have opened since the last time I was in the area. (In this case, I am referring specifically to two locations in Seoraemaeul and one around Bogwang-dong near Yongsan. There are already two in Itaewon.) It's getting so you can't throw a rock without hitting a chain coffee shop. Maybe that's while there's so much tension on public transportation. Folks are consuming entirely too much caffeine. Time to chill out with some traditional 보리차, babes.

Also, what's going on with all that construction on the lower level of the Banpo Bridge? A few years ago, another friend of mine said she heard the city was planning to make it pedestrian-only. Any chance this is true?

And what is the giant thing under construction near Itaewon where the giant pay parking lot was? I was passing through in a cab and all I could make out was the big Hyundai Construction logo and some artist's rendering of a building. What gives?

Sorry. Yes, I have been under a rock for the last six or seven months. Why do you ask?

New U.S. ambassador named

Thought it interesting that the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea lived in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer and taught English in a middle school in the 1970s. According to the Chosun Ilbo, she speaks fluent Korean and was married to a Korean man, with whom she shares a son.

Besides being glad to see the first female U.S. ambassador to the country, I'm wondering whether her previous experience here, as well as what I am assuming is a better familiarity with its culture and customs, will affect U.S.-Korea relations.

(This isn't a dig at the previous ambassadors, as I really don't know much about them. I'm just curious. It's not every day that an ambassador appointed by the U.S. to serve in a particular country actually has much previous experience living there.)

Also, according to Wikipedia, this isn't her first time serving in a Foreign Service post to Korea, either. She was chief of the internal political unit at the U.S. embassy here from 1984-1987 and the principal officer at the consulate in Busan from 1987-1989.