Something About Hand Phones

I do not know one Korean over the age of 14 who does not own a hand phone (cell phone). All of my middle school and high school students have one. Two of my Kindergarten students have one. Roughly 10 of my elementary students have one. They are everywhere. The Kindergarten phones are really cute. They are blue and in the shape of a teddy bear. It has three buttons on the face but no numbers. The child simply pushes one of the buttons to dial a pre-programmed number. I think it's a good idea. I read today that Korea has now introduced "dog phone" technology. The dog owner would type in a phone number and enter the dog's breed and age, after which they hold the phone to the dogs mouth. After the dog barks the owner is sent a text message giving one of six feelings the dog could be expressing. If no feeling can be found it simply says "I love you." I can just picture a dog wearing a hand phone around it's neck (really, I can!). Koreans love "lap dogs" and usually end up dying everything from their ears to their tales. I was sitting beside a young Korean couple at the train station a few weeks ago. Both of them were flipping what at first I thought were small teddy bears up in the air. They turned out to be small dogs. Speaking of hand phones, I bought a new one a couple of weeks ago. The price was $500 but I was able to buy it for $120. The discount was available only if I changed phone companies. I later learned these incentives are illegal for the phone companies to offer but not illegal for the consumer to take advantage of. My new hand phone has a 1.3 digital camera, MP3 player and dictionary. It also comes with a very addictive golf game that let's me pass the time while on the train.