An American in Pusan

Finally, A Room With a View!

2011-03-27T21:54:00.000+09:00

Unfortunately, though it is not an ocean-view room. We just moved our school location and today I had to go in and get my classroom set up for classes tomorrow. We have six rooms and six teachers. Three rooms are designated for Korean teachers and three rooms are designated for foreign teachers. Foreigners have to have certain equipment in their rooms and so that is why there is the designation. In two of the Korean teachers rooms, you can see the ocean. One of the foreign-teacher rooms has no windows. Luckily, I did not get that room. This is the third classroom that I have had and this is the first one that had a window. My first room was the room that had been in use for a month before I arrived and so I got that room. My second room was the leftover room. I could have changed rooms a few months ago when we downsized from eight teachers to six teachers; however, in my opinion, it was too much of a hassle and the other rooms were not as nice otherwise because they had seen more use and some of the previous teachers were a bit too permissive with the students. I'll have more on my new room in a day or so, after I've been in it for a couple of days and I finish up some things that I need to do.

Funny English that is Funny and Not Actually Fun

2011-03-20T21:40:00.000+09:00

Every now and then, I see some English that is just not correct or is a bit strange. One night, I took several pictures inside E-Mart. Since those pictures were taken, they have changed the signs to better labels. In addition, they also added Japanese to them.

Kichen Electric was actually the the Kitchen Appliances section. Kitchen is a hard word for my students. More than once I've heard students say that somebody was in the chicken.

The spelling on this bad that you don't know what exactly they are selling from just this picture. This section included the drying racks for clothing.

This was the sign above the bathroom scales, heating pads, and humidifiers.

This was the sign above the organizers for closets. It is common for Koreans to use the wrong form of a word. The most common one, in my opinion, is funny. If you ask students why they like a particular activity, they will tell you that it is funny instead of fun.

I'm not sure if a kid or an adult decided what would go on this sign. There was certainly more than one book there.

I had never thought of this term for what they were selling. Normally we say TV dinners when we are talking about the dinners that are available in the frozen food section. This term also encompasses a package of food (think Hamburger Helper or Homestyle Bakes) that just needs to be mixed and warmed. The pizza boxes have this term on the baked ones that they sell at the store.

Even Costco is not free from errors. They are, however, the only store that has everything labeled in Korean and English.

No explanation is necessary for this mistake.

This was at the Home Plus in Centum City. Apparently disposable consumables is a very broad term that could mean pre-packaged food that can just be heated. . .

. . .or it could mean disposable diapers.

These are labelled as Classification Labers instead of Classification Labels. Koreans have difficulty with r and l. In Hangeul, they are represented by the same letter. It can cause a lot of confusion. One time, I had a student who said something about a lobot and I had no idea what he was talking about. I asked a few times what that was and he was annoyed with his idiot teacher who didn't know what a lobot was. Then, a few minutes later, the light bulb turned on and I realized he was talking about a robot.

Watermelon Art

2011-03-20T20:55:00.000+09:00

I was at Shinsegae last night and saw some beautiful watermelons. I had never seen anything like them and so I just had to take some pictures.

Delicious! Delicious! Delicious!

2011-03-16T00:07:00.000+09:00

In my classroom, there are various posters that have the names of themes and stories for each week. There is a trail that the stories go on. For one of the posters, the trail is along a dessert park. There is ice cream, cake, cookies, candy, pancakes, and other sweet foods. Today before class, there were three students in my lowest-level class--students who speak very little English. They were looking at the postera and saying 맛있겠다 (ma-shi-ge-tta). I told them to instead say "delicious." I then wrote on the board 디리샤으스 so that they could read how to say it. Then the three of them were dancing around and and singing "delicious, delicious, delicious." It was really cute to watch. They felt proud of themselves to learn a big new word like delicious. Their book teaches them words like pink, insect, nine, doll, ant, and dog--all words that are appropriate for a child who is not a native speaker of English and who has never studied the language before.

What's My Name?

2011-03-15T00:36:00.000+09:00

Every now and then, I get a new student who does not have an English name and so I have to give one to him or her. Many times I've given then names of family members. Usually when I give the students a family member's name, I pick one that is not common in Korea. Among the family members' names that I have given to students are Louis, Maggie, Dayna, Kit, Shiloh, Kelsey, and Mariah. I've given students other names as well. Recently I wrote a list of boy names on the board for a student and he picked Zach. In Korea, that is not a very common name. Often it is pronounced like Jack because Koreans have trouble with /z/. Within the past couple of weeks I named a student Aaron. I have never seen a Korean student with that name. I think that most Koreans are not familiar with that name and so when they give students an English name, that one is not picked.

Giving the students an English name is nothing new for me, but yesterday (3/14), I had the rare opportunity of giving an English name to a co-worker. The company just hired a part-time employee. I didn't know his name and so I asked; he didn't have an English name. So, another co-worker told me to pick a name for him. The first name that came to mind was Wayne. I was thinking of Kevin Arnold's older brother Wayne from The Wonder Years. The name Wayne was vetoed and so I had to think of another name. I was racking my brain trying to think of one and so I went to my computer and went to a list that I had typed, but never finished. Hank, Henry, Victor, and Todd were all vetoed. The name that was chosen, and was the first name written on a post-it note, was Eli.

Happy White Day (화이트 데이)!

2011-03-15T00:05:00.000+09:00

Today is White Day in Korea. Here, Valentine's Day is a bit different from in Western society. In Korea, instead of men buying chocolate for women, it is the women who buy chocolate for the men. Women receive chocolate on White Day. At my school, the manager decided to give the students candy from Canada for Valentine's Day. I was talking to a Korean teacher about the parties at school when I was younger. I told her that we would give cards to other students and that although it was optional to give Valentine's cards, we had to give one to everybody in the class so that nobody's feelings were hurt over not getting any. She asked me if we even gave cards to the girls. Today, this same teacher asked me if we have White Day in America and I told her that we didn't because if we did then maybe some people would think that it is white-people day.

In Korea, there is another holiday that is for people who do not have a special man or woman in their lives. It is Black Day and it is on April 14. On that day, people eat 짜장면 (jja-jang-myeon). It is a Chinese noodle with a black bean sauce. In the image above the person is crying while eating the noodles. I had never eaten these noodles before I came to Korea, but they are not too bad. They are not spicy at all.

I think that to Koreans, the idea of wanting to stay single is a foreign concept. I know many people who are not married and very much want to be; however, I don't know anybody who is single and happy to be that way. I think that Korean parents put more pressure on their children to get married. I've heard from some friends that their parents really wanted them to get married and their mom and dad were worried that had not yet found somebody to marry. I've also heard from friends that they know people whose parents pressure them to get married.

Name That Tune

2011-03-14T04:20:00.000+09:00

I teach younger students, so we do many songs with them. Our songs for our youngest students are only four lines but some of the other songs are two or three minutes long. The songs for the youngest students also have one or two target sounds such as /o/ or -ace. Some of our songs I've taught so many times that I have them memorized. One time, late at night I was walking outside and I was singing one of the songs. A middle-aged man was on a bicycle and heard me singing the song. He turned around a looked at me, probably because I was singing a ridiculous song. To most native speakers, the majority of the songs are quite stupid, but some of the students really like them. I had one group of students that always wanted to sing the Melinda song, which is about a model who is very beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside. They even wanted to sing it after they were in a level that didn't do any singing. There was another song about a boy looking for his stolen cookies. I had a student named Andy who really liked the song. It had a banjo and a harmonica in it. When he heard the song, he called it a "cowboy song." He pretended to wave around a lasso. It was really quite cute. I think one day I'll be an old lady in a nursing home who just sits and sings these songs.

Renewing a Visa

2011-03-14T00:30:00.000+09:00

There are four different kinds of visas that people have in order to teach English. They are the F-2 Visa, the F-4 visa, the E-1 visa, and E-2 visa. The F-2 visa is for people who are married to Korean citizens or people who qualify under a rigorous point system. The F-4 visa is for people who are Korean adoptees, former Korean citizens, or whose parents were Korean citizens and did not register their child's citizenship with the government. The E-1 visa is for people who work at a university. The E-2 visa is for people who work a a public school or who work at a hagwon, a private after-school academy.

The only visa that I am qualified for is the E-2 visa, like the average English teacher in Korea. When I first got the visa, they had just tightened the restrictions. Americans had to submit an original diploma with two sealed transcripts and a state-level criminal background check with an apostille. (A sample apostille is on the left. It is the certification of documents that will be used for foreign purposes. All countries that signed the Hague convention in 1961. For more information about apostilles, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille_convention.) In addition, they had to undergo an interview at the Korean consulate. When I applied for the original visa, fulfilling the education verification was no problem; I just had to wait a bit because I was offered the job before I had actually graduated from college. I also did what was necessary for the criminal background check in Washington state. I received everything that I had needed the day after I got home from college and sent everything off. Then, I was informed that my criminal background check did not have a apostille but rather, a state-level notarization. Then, we had to travel to Olympia to the state police to get another notarization and an apostille. At the police office, we had to wait until the person notarizing it came back from lunch. At the Secretary of State's Office, we found out that a new employee had made a mistake, necessitating the whole trip. I did eventually get my visa, but it took a bit longer because of other people's mistakes.

I have been in Korea now for nearly three years and have been through a few renewals. The visa is good only for as long as one has a contract; therefore, the contract visa expiry date is the same as the contract end date. I've been working for the same school the whole time so I have not had to make any visa runs to Japan that other foreigners have had to make as the E-2 visa must be obtained from outside of Korea. However, anytime that a foreigner changes schools within the same company, the school location changes, or the school is purchased by another company, it must be reported to immigration. The first couple of times that I renewed by visa, it was pretty cut and dry. All I had to do was submit the new contract, my passport, my alien registration card, 30,000 won (around $30), and a couple of documents from the school that certified that they could legally hire foreigners as English teachers. After that, it became a bit more complicated.

I was up for a visa renewal at the end of October. However, the visa rules had changed since the last time that I had renewed my visa. As of September 1, 2010, the certification of education had changed and so instead of submitting an original diploma and two sealed transcripts, I had to submit a photocopy of my original diploma with an apostille. I found out about this only eight weeks before my visa was to expire and I needed to apply for the visa extension four weeks before it expired. For candidates who were already in Korea, it was possible to have the Korean Council for University Education verify it, but it would take 4-5 weeks. The school had dragged their feet on it and so they said that it would be quicker to have somebody in America get an apostille in person.

The school did not really know what needed to be done to get an apostille issued. I got an email from somebody in headquarters saying that I could have a friend or relative take it to the nearest local place that issues apostilles, as if they could just go down to the corner and get an apostille. In addition, they were telling me that I didn't need a notarization, but I had done the research into what needed to be done and a notarization was in fact necessary. In Washington, it is necessary to get only a notarization. However, in Ohio, one must get a notarization and the a certification from the clerk of courts fo the notary's home county before it can get an apostille. Since I graduated from college in Ohio, it was best to get everything done in Ohio to make sure that it would go through as documents needing an apostille needed to be notarized in the same state in which one requests the apostille. I cannot have a document notarized in Florida and then get an apostille in New York; I would have to get the apostille in Florida. I tried to explain to them that I am from Washington state and I graduated in Ohio and it was a long trip to do everything in person, but they wanted me to have a friend or relative do it all in person because it could be done immediately. (I don't know what they would tell somebody who had no friends and was a ward of the court until age 18.) I ended up sending the documents to Ohio and Hiram College took care of it for me thankfully. It was a frustrating experience for me because they were putting pressure on me to have somebody do it all in person but they didn't understand that doing it all in person was at least a three-day trip. After being on pins and needles for quite some time, I finally got everything and then went down to the immigration office. Within two weeks, everything had been processed and I had my visa.

Now that we changed companies from a franchise school to a corporate school, it is necessary to report it to immigration. In addition, my visa needs to be extended by four months. Therefore, I need to follow the rules that started on January 1, 2011. I need to get a national-level criminal background check; the state-level one isn't valid anymore. For Americans, that means getting a background check with the FBI. In addition, it needs an apostille from the United States Department of State. I was informed of this just this past week, but I told them that it would take about three months to get the necessary documents. The people in corporate headquarters know more about visa issuance than at the franchise school so it is less frustrating. Right now they aren't on my case so much about having somebody do it in person, which would have to be done in Washington, D.C. Also, somebody sent me an email with a paper I had to sign so that until I got the FBI check, maybe they could get a third-party check.

The day after I found out I'd need an FBI check now instead of later in the year, I went to the Haeundae Police Station. Throughout the district there are neighborhood police stations, but they don't do fingerprinting. So, I had to go to the main police station in the district, which is accessible only by bus since the nearest subway stop from it is at least a half-hour walk away. I went before work and I thought that it would be just one big building with signs directing people where to go. I went into one building and went up the stairs, but cleary I didn't know where I was going so I left that building. I started walking towards another building and then the police officer who was the sentry at the gate asked me where I needed to go. I told him I needed fingerprints and then he directed me up some other stairs outside. He told me that I had to go through a side door. I felt like I was sneaking into the place because there was no sign and it was not a main entrance into the building. One of the police officers fingerprinted me using the form that I printed from the FBI's website. Afterwards, he made a copy of the paper and of my alien registration card so I guess now my fingerprints are going to be in the Korean system. So, I had better keep my nose clean now. The next day, I sent the necessary documents through express mail to the FBI. I sent the documents necessary for the apostille to my dad since the FBI doesn't send the criminal background check to another government agency. Now I am waiting for all of that to get processed.

With all of the government red tape that one has to go through, it is no wonder that people immigrate illegally. The new regulations for the diploma, in my mind, is less secure than before. The notary is only verifying that it is a true copy. S/he is not verifying that I actually graduated from a real institution of higher learning. I can get an apostille on just about any document that has a notarization or other state certification. I've read on other people's blogs that the FBI background check isn't any better because typically crimes that are on a rap sheet are ones that are comitted over state lines or federal crimes. It does not have a record of every crime I've ever committed in every state.

New Ownership

2011-03-13T01:55:00.004+09:00

After I had been working at Haeundae Campus for a little over a year, the school was purchased by our corportate headquarters. Therefore, I am no longer a franchise employee as of March 1. Being a corporate employee has had some good points and some bad points, but overall, it is better than being a franchise employee. For example, I get my own company email now. I had to sign a new contract effective at the beginning of March, the start of our spring term. I had two choices: a contract for a year, or a contract that would end at the end of the fall term, a month after when my previous contract would have ended. (The company didn't want a new teacher coming in the middle of the term.) I chose to have the longer contract so that I wouldn't have to worry about signing another contract for a longer period of time. There are other reasons, but that is for another post some other time.

The manner in which I would be paid changed. When I was a franchise employee, I had a salary and benefits that included an apartment, health insurance, pension, 10 paid vacation days, and 1-month severance pay as required by law. Now, I am paid like a contracter. All corporate employees are paid on an hourly basis and are guaranteed 24 hours per week except during weeks that have holidays. In addition, there are no benefits. For the first time in the nearly three years, I will have to start paying rent. This new pay system though will give me better pay though. This pay system is available for teachers at regular program franchises and it is my understanding that it is the option that most teachers take because the pay is better. On salary, nobody gets anything extra unless they teach more than 120 hours. But, with the hourly pay, you get more pay than normal if you teach more than 96 hours. When they calculated the hourly pay, they added the value of all of the pay and benefits that we would get for a whole year. Then, they divided that by 12. That number was divided by 96, since that was how many hours we were guaranteed in a month. That gave the suggested hourly rate. In my case, they raised my hourly rate from what was suggested since I'd been with the program for so long. In my program, most foreigners stay for only a year; however, I have been with the company for almost three years. They also said that my pay was high for my program. I didn't have a problem with the amount that I was offered.

New School

2011-03-13T01:32:00.003+09:00

Shortly after I quit writing, I changed school locations. I was working at a campus that was in the western end of the district, but it closed because our franchise headquarters decided that there weren't enough students for the amount of time that the school was open, so I was told. There was a big SNAFU about whether I would go to one location that was in another district, or go to one that was farther east in the same district. Eventually, I was about to continue working in the same district. That location was within walking district of my apartment but the other one was about a 20 minute subway ride. I felt uneasy for quite some time, but now I think I'm okay.

I'm Back At It!

2011-03-13T01:19:00.002+09:00

Well, this is my first post in a year and a half. It has been full of emotions that have kept me from writing, but I've decided to start back up at it. There is a lot to talk about to get this blog up to speed. Bear with me as I give everybody an update of what has been going on for the past 18 months.

They're Crawling Out of the Woodworks!

2009-10-08T00:38:00.003+09:00

Yesterday after work I decided to go to E-Mart, which is located at the same subway stop as where I live except I normally take exit 5, but E-Mart is exit 7 (across the street). As soon as I was at the top of the stairs, a woman asked me if I spoke English and if I would fill out a survey. I didn't want to be rude, so I filled out the survey, even though it was a bit deep for me. She stood over me watching me answer the questions and I felt like I had to give certain answers even though the survey was about my personal religious beliefs. Then the lady asked me to listen to her talk about the bible and I hadn't thought of a story to tell her so I listened to her talk. I listened to her talk about how God is not the father, but instead the mother. Her church, the Church of God, sounded awfully feminist from the way this woman was talking. She wanted me to walk with her to her church and watch a video but I told her that I was very busy and she said that she would call me later. Luckily, I did not give her my new phone number, but rather my old phone number. That was the fourth time in two weeks that I had been approached by religious zealots.

A week before, a lady inside the subway station near where I work was handing out a newsletter in Korean and packages of tissues from her church, which was located at that subway station. The package of tissues had directions as to how to get to the church and the times for their services. After work, I was solicited by a group of Jehovah's Witnesses standing outside of E-Mart. They were handing out booklets about problems within families.

The Thursday before I was solicited by these other groups, I was walking home from other store and a young man who was Jehovah's Witness started talking to me. I kept walking, but since I did not ignore him when he was talking to me, he was walking with me and gave me one of the pamphlets that they give when they are looking for new members.

These were not the only times that I have been solicited to join a church here, but the other times were spread out. Because I live in a big city here, I've had more experience with religious zealots here than I had in America. All these people who have given me information or had a conversation with me about their religion were Koreans. Most of them assume that I speak English, but a couple of them have asked. Sometimes I feel tempted to pretend that I don't speak English. I once told my South African friend that he should pretend that he does not understand English and then start speaking Afrikaans.

One time, I was waiting for the subway to come and when it did, there was a Mormon missionary sitting in the train and he saw me and waved. Since I didn't want to appear rude, I waved back. Then, when I got on the train, I went to the other end of the train car to sit because I didn't want to sit by him. That is the most communication that I have had with any foreign missionaries. The other times that I have seen Mormons, either they chose to not talk to me or I made sure that they did not see me.

Not So Happy Meal

2009-08-19T19:20:00.002+09:00

Today, one of the Korean teachers came to my class and said that they were ordering McDonald's for lunch and asked if I had wanted to order as well. McDonald's has a service called McDelivery and, like all other take-out food, it is delivered on a motorcycle. I did not want to eat a lot and so I decided to order a Happy Meal, the first one since I was a child. The other teacher was not sure if they had Happy Meals because there was not a big picture on the take-out menu. She asked one of the kids if they had Happy Meals. When the food came, the Happy Meal sandwich was mixed with the other sandwiches and the fries were mixed with the other fries, instead of coming in its own box with the arches handles and cartoons. In addition, there was no toy, which is included in the cost of the Happy Meal. (I did not order the Happy Meal just for the toy, but I paid for the toy.) The meal ending up costing 4300 won, more than the price of a large cheeseburger set, which costs 4200 won. The regular cheeseburger set is 3600 won. Here, the size of the fries and drink to the large set is the same size as the fries and drink to the regular set in America. The size of the fries and drink to the Happy Meal were about the the same size as American Happy Meals, but I don't remember getting a cheeseburger that was the same size as the regular cheeseburger. McDonald's here has some sandwiches that are not available in America, such as a Bulgogi (broiled beef) burger, Shanghai Spice Burger, and Shrimp Burger and the Quarter Pounder is not an option here. I've never tried any of the other sandwiches though. Next time that I order from McDonald's I'll skip the Happy Meal and get just a regular cheeseburger sandwich.

Death of a President

2009-08-19T00:10:00.004+09:00

Today, Kim Dae-jung (pronounced joong), 김대중, died at 85. He was president of the Republic of Korea from 1995 to 2000. He is the second South Korean president to die in the past three months. Roh Moo-hyun, 노무현, died in May after jumping from a mountain. Roh was president for the five years after Kim.

I first heard about the news of Kim's death from one of the Korean teachers who told me about his passing. Around 4:50, she told me during one of the breaks that Kim Dae-jung* had died and that he had had pneumonia. Later, when I went home, I took the subway and at the exit near my house, there was a stack of eight-page newspapers that was a special edition published after his death. On the front page, there was a large picture that took up over 3/4 of the page. The rest of it had some ads and quite a bit of information about his life. I picked up a similar paper after Roh Moo-hyun had died as well. It was interesting to me that people would be informed that way because although I never lived in a big city to know, I don't think that the death of a president would be announced by special newspaper anymore. Perhaps it is a holdover from the days when South Korea was not as technologically advanced as it is now, as most Koreans have access to the Internet (high-speed no less) and virtually everybody has a cell phone.

*Until today, I was did not know how to pronounce the second syllable to his name. I thought it was jung with a short u sound, but instead it is an oo sound. Jung is a possible spelling for the family name 정, which can be pronounced with a short u sound, a short o sound, or like 'jong' as in Kim Jong-Il (김정일). When Roh Moo-hyun died, I was not familiar with the family name 'Roh,' but when I saw his name in Hangeul (노무현), I knew the family name Noh. I find that although I read slower in Korean than in English, it easier to read Korean in Hangeul than it is with Roman letters due to different romanization methods and the lack of clear syllables.

Update on my Life

2009-08-17T22:51:00.005+09:00

Nothing has really happened in the past couple of months. The last week of July, I had a week vacation, but I did not go anywhere or do anything. If I had planned a trip, then I would have had to stay in Korea or else be in quarantine for nine days, which would have been unpaid leave. This month, the students do not go to regular Korean school and so we have more classes to teach. In addition, we also start earlier in the day. It takes some getting used to because before I did not have to be at work until about 1, but now I have to be there around 9.

In my spare time I have been studying some Korean a little bit, climbing the hill by my house, listening to Korean music. In addition, I have seen a couple of Koren movies. One movie I watched on YouTube (with English subtitles). It is called 200 Pounds Beauty or in Korean 미녀는 괴로워 (Mi-nyeo-neun Goe-ro-wo), which means Being Beautiful is Agonizing. It's about an ugly, obese woman who has plastic surgery from head to toe and then becomes a pop star. The URL for the first part of the movie is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lZ0gU3j20k. The other movie that I saw was Haeundae or in Korean 해운대. I was the only foreigner in the theater watching it there. I went to the box office and said that I wanted to see that movie and the man at the counter told me that it was a Korean movie. I told him that I knew. Many Koreans are surprised when I say a word in Korean or see me read something because most foreigners do not even learn how to read, much less any Korean vocabulary or grammar. I decided to see that movie because it takes place mostly in Haeundae-gu, which is the district of Pusan in which I live. It is about a tsunami coming onto the beach and destroying much of the area. It was a different feeling to watch a movie in a theater located down the street from where filming took place. Apparently, it is South Korea's first disaster movie. Some of it was completed digitally, since it is obvious that all the buildings along the beach were not destroyed and a ship did not lean up against Gwangan Bridge, the longest bridge in Korea, and break it. (See the image above.) It is still in place and I can see it everyday from the hill that I walk up and down.

Jjimjilbang and Public Bath

2009-06-21T11:31:00.002+09:00

Last night, I went to Spaland inside Shinsegae. It was the first time that I had ever been to a spa. I knew that there were public baths, but I did not know what else to expect. I had not planned to go there until I got to work. One of the Korean teachers asked me if I wanted to go to the spa with her and one of the Korean staff members. Since I did not have any other plans, I decided to go.

The first thing one does is check-in and get a locker number. Then, one goes upstairs to where the shoe lockers are and puts the shoes inside and takes the key. Then, one goes through the entrance and gets a uniform and towels. The women's uniforms are faded olive green shorts and a maroon t-shirt and the men's uniforms are very burnt orange shorts and a tan t-shirt. Then, one goes into the locker rooms and gets changed. After that, one goes out to where the rooms and outdoor foot baths are. The water was around 40 degrees Celsius. Some of the rooms are very hot, around 60 degrees Celsius. These hot rooms are called jjimjilbang (찜질방). There is a relaxation room and on the third floor, there is a room full of recliners and televisions. The speakers were in the head rests and it was impossible to hear the televisions of anybody else. The spa also has a restaurant, business center, nail salon, hair salon, and massage room. When one if ready to leave, it is time to take a bath. The public baths are entered from the locker rooms. One has to wash before getting into the public baths. The baths are not too different from a hot tub, except that everybody is naked. There is also an outdoor hotsprings. After one gets dressed, one checks out and gets one's shoes.

I was a bit nervous about going into the public baths for the first time because I'm not an exhibitionist, but then everything was okay. I was the only Westerner in the locker rooms. Unlike in many locker rooms in the Western world, nobody went out of her way to cover up in front of everybody, and there weren't really any private showers. The public baths is an experience that is not so bad after experiencing it; however, I would not want to go to a public bath in America.

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

2009-06-11T00:58:00.002+09:00

Tonight I signed another contract for one year so the next time that I will be back in America will be July of next year at the earliest. I'll be at the same campus and after August I will be the teacher who has been at the branch the longest and at that time, there will be only one employee who will have been at the campus longer. This time, the visa process is a lot less complicated since the only documentation for my visa renewal is the signed contract. The E-2 visa is complicated to get because one has to send an original college diploma, two sealed transcripts, and a criminal background check with Apostille, among other documents. Luckily, I did not have to go through that again.

Let Me Out!

2009-06-01T19:50:00.002+09:00

Last night, I decided to go to the ATM to get 30,000 won. It was late, but I did not think anything of it. I went into the ATM vestibule to use the machines like I always do. The thing that I didn't know was that the vestibule closes at 11:00. I was in the middle of the transaction when it happened. Everything went dark and I thought I lost 30,000 won. There was a man in the vestibule as well and he tried calling SECOM security from the phone located inside, but it was to no avail. Luckily, he figured out how to get the door to open manually, or else we might have been stuck. If I had been in there by myselft then I would have been stuck until the ATMs were available again at 7:00. This morning, I wanted to see if the machine ate my money or if it cancelled the transaction so I went back before it opened and waited outside until it was time. I withdrew 30,000 won then and it appeared that the previous night's transaction did not occur. I updated my passbook and it did not show that I was at the machine the night before. I deposited the money back and it was the first time that I had ever deposited money into the machine. Here, since nobody writes checks, one can deposit only cash and then the machine counts it right there.

What a Day!

2009-05-28T00:44:00.002+09:00

Today when I woke up, I had to take my temperature and send it off so that the company knows that I do not have a fever. When I flushed the toilet, I realized that there was no water in the apartment because it sounded different. Therefore, I was unable to take a shower in the morning. This had happened before and I had to use bottled water from the fridge to get clean. Needless to say, that was a very cold shower. I did not have enough water this time and I did not have to go to work so I decided to wait until the water came back on. Throughout the day I kept checking to see if the water had come back on but it hadn't. Finally, I decided to go to Family Mart, which is a convenience store that is on practically every block her in Korea. I had to go out dirty and with a mask on which probably made people think I'm sick but I don't know them so what do I care. I told the man downstairs that there was no water and he told me that it would be back on at 6:00. It came back on before then but the water was a bit brown when I first turned it on. The shower water and the kitchen sink water quickly went clear, but the bathroom sink water took quite a while to go clear. I even gave up and turned it off but then later when I turned it on it was clear. Throughout the day I have been typing letters to my students. The company decided that since we were getting paid for this week but not teaching, that we had to type letters to all the students and their parents. It has been taking quite a while. The letters to the students are meant to be personal letters. I end up saying about the same thing in every one. The letters to the parents are basically progress reports. I've been typing quite a bit today. I've been shut-in because I don't like to go outside right now. I don't like to wear the mask when I go outside. This is going to be a boring week.

LG Twins vs. Lotte Giants

2009-05-26T18:41:00.002+09:00

April 26, I went to a baseball game here in Pusan. It was my first time going to one here and only the second time that I had ever been to a baseball game. I went more for the experience than out of interest in baseball. The game was supposed to start at 5:00, but then it got changed to 2:00 so that it could be broadcast on TV. We did not know until late that morning and so I got there about a half an hour late. At the baseball game, there were no hotdogs that I can remember, but they sold dried squid. In addition, there was a man in a chicken head selling chicken. Towards the end of the game, some people were passing out orange plastic bags, like grocery bags, that said Lotte Giants on them. The bags were for garbage, but before using them for that purpose, people put them on their heads. It does not sound as bad as it seems. To do what they did, one fills the bag with air and then ties it once so that the air cannot escape and then pulls the handles down until they fit over the ears. It looks a bit silly, but not as much when everybody does it.

There were a few events that were attention-getting. One of the batters got hit hard in the arm. Another player broke the bat and the part that he was not holding flew to first base. The biggest excitement was that #10 Lee Dae Ho (이대호) hit a home run and one of the students from the academy where I teach caught that ball. I did not see it, but apparently he brought it into the school. It was not one of my students; I taught this student for only a month last summer.

We Interrupt This Class. . .

2009-05-26T18:11:00.002+09:00

Yesterday started out as a normal Monday; however, it quickly changed. In the middle of the first class, the branch manager came in and told me that we were going to have a week vacation because of swine flu in Seoul and the possibility of spreading it to the children. She then, in Korean, told the kids that we had the week off and their faces lit up. Later, another teacher asked me if I had heard the news. Within the last five minutes of class, my co-teacher came to my class to tell me and to tell the kids because she did not know that we already knew. The first group of kids were supposed to be there until 4:00 p.m. but they left at 3:15. After that, the phones were ringing off the hook and the Korean staff and Korean teachers had to inform parents about the cancellation of classes. There were some students who did not know and came to the hagwon but then were told there were no classes.

Because of the fear of swine flu, I have to take some precautions. I am prohibited from going into work. I have to take my temperature at 10:00 a.m. and 5 p.m. and then send the readings to the manager so she can send them to the headquarters in Pusan and then onto Seoul. I'm supposed to stay at home and if I do go out in public, then I have to wear a mask. There is a fear that foreigners will pass it around and in addition, it is believed that foreigners do not have as good an immune system as the Koreans because a lot of new teachers get sick when they first come to Korea. I cannot leave Pusan.

As a result of this, I have to write letters to all the students and parents. It will take a while because I have so many students. Luckily, this is a paid mandatory vacation. At first it looked like nobody was getting anything for this week off, but I will. I don't want to stay at home all this time, but the advantage to that is that I don't have to wear a mask.

What Did You Say?

2009-04-03T01:24:00.003+09:00

After being here for a while, I've come to the realization that when people learn a language with a different alphabet that they transcribe the words into their own language, regardless of their abilities in the other language. When the phonics of the two languages don't match, then confusion happens. The Korean language uses the same character for r and l as well as p and f. Sometimes, the kids forget their books and so I tell them to go ask for a copy. Then, they ask me if they are to go ask for coffee. Sometimes the kids say grandfa or farents instead of grandpa or parents. One time one of my students said lobot and I could not figure out what a lobot was until I realized that he was saying robot. One time, the teachers went to dinner and one of the Korean teachers said that a certain kind of meat was duck, but the way he said it it sounded like dog. The reason is that a short u and a short o are both 어. He was saying an unaspirated k, which sounds like a g, instead of an aspirated k. Both words could be written as 덕.

Where are the Asian dolls?

2009-03-15T20:02:00.002+09:00

Yesterday and Today, I went to Shinsegae Centum City. I walked around the store and I went to the toy section in the basement. I saw something that I could not believe--all the dolls had blond or medium brown hair. In America, it is not politically correct to have only blond-haired dolls. Mattel even came out with dolls of different colors of Barbie. There was one Barbie doll and a few Barbie look-alikes and most of them had varying shades of blond hair. The boxes said that they were made in Korea or China. The baby dolls also had blond hair. The boxes had pictures of Asian girls holding these dolls. It was a bit of a shock to me. In America, there would a public outcry over the lack of dolls of different colors. I was surprised that in Korea, a place where most kids have very dark hair and have two parents with black hair, the darkest color on the dolls' hair is medium brown.

신세계 (Shinsegae): The Mecca of Department Store Shopping

2009-03-12T01:25:00.014+09:00

Last week, Shinsegae Centum City (left) opened its doors and it is massive. It is now East Asia's largest multifunctional shopping center. I went on its second day open and I could not believe how big it is. According to Shinsegae's brochure, the store is on a 75,719 sq. meter plot of land (18.2 acres), and has a floor area of 509,810 sq. meters (5,487,594.84 sq. ft.). It cost 1.025 trillion won (USD 1.09 billion) to build. There are 14 floors above ground and four basement floors. The store has a golf course, movie theater with seating for 2,700 people, an IMAX theater, a spa, an ice skating rink, a food street, grocery store, bookstore, and everything a typical high-end department store would have. The floors are all marble and there are crystal chandeliers in the middle of the store as one goes up or down the escalators. The first time I went there, I walked around on the floor that sold the kitchen accessories and bedding and I could not believe the number of people working on just that floor. It was as if they had a worker for each rack or shelf. It was a bit intimidating. The bottom floor has the grocery items. Since Shinsegae owns E-Mart, the store-brand food was E-Mart brand, the same items that I could buy at the E-Mart two blocks away from home.

Shinsegae Centum City is not the only fancy thing in Centum City. It is next to a small Lotte Department store and BEXCO (Busan Exhibition and Convention Center). Centum City is an urban development project in Pusan. (Pusan is the old Romanization of 부산 and Busan is the new Romanization.) There are many fancy apartment buildings there. There is a Trump Towers and Centum Park is a very fancy apartment complex. Centum City is located in the Haeundae district of Pusan. Haeundae New Town is a beachfront community.

Shinsegae Centum City is very close to where I live and work. Above is a map of the Busan Subway. My subway stop is Jung-dong on the green line. Three subways stops away, Busan Museum of Modern Art, is where I work and one stop from that, Centum City, is where the store is located. All three stops are located in Haeundae. Before Shinsegae opened, I would have to ride the subway for a half an hour or longer if I wanted to go to a nice department store. The closest one that I know of is the main Lotte store in Pusan, which is located at Seomyeon station, which is on the green and orange lines. That store has only 10 floors above ground and two or three basement floors. Before Shinsegae, I thought Lotte was big as it had a grocery store, movie theater, travel agency, wedding coordinator, ophthalmologist's office and the typical department store items. Shinsegae puts Lotte to shame.

The department stores are popular places in South Korea because people have more money than what they did in years past and they want to spend it on nice things. Women typically wear nice dresses, skirts, or pants with high-heels. Many of them carry designer purses such as Louis Vuitton or Prada. Men who work in an office typically wear at the very least dress pants, shoes, and a dress shirt; however, most wear a suit. They also carry a bag, unlike American men, who will not because it is too similar to carrying a purse.

Korean Music

2009-02-17T02:05:00.002+09:00

After being here for a while, I've acquired a liking for Korean music. My favorite song is Haru Haru (Day by Day) by Big Bang. It is also a favorite song of the kids. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays a couple of the kids in my first class want to hear it before class. They say, "Teacher, Big Bang, Haru Haru." Today, there were about 14 kids huddled around the computer listening and singing along to the song. One time, in another one of my classes, one of the questions in the book was about a favorite band. Most of the kids in the class picked Big Bang. Most of the ones who didn't picked The Wonder Girls, a Korean girl group.

Big Bang is a popular boy band in Korea. Their song Haru Haru is about a boy and a girl. The girl has cancer but does not want to tell the boy and so she pretends to be in a relationship with his friend so that he'll hate her so that it won't be so hard on him when she dies. The boy's friends are all in on this lie. When the girl goes in for surgery, one of his friends calls from the hospital to tell him and then the boy finds out that she really did love him, but she is already dead when she is wheeled out of the operating room. The girl is Min Young. The pretend boyfriend is T.O.P. and the real boyfriend is G-Dragon. The music video for Haru Haru is below.

Answer to the Poll Question

2009-02-04T01:22:00.002+09:00

Before Korean had its own alphabet, it used Chinese characters, which are still used today. What is the name for these characters?

Sanskrit-0
Hangeul-3
Hanja-2
Hieroglyphics-1

The answer is Hanja (한자). Sanskrit is Indian and Hieroglyphics are Egyptian. Hangeul (한글) is the Korean script. Hanja is not used much anymore. Many people in the younger generation cannot read Hanja. Middle-aged people can read it because it was used so much during their younger days. Older people can read it well and can speak Japanese as well, due to the Japanese colonization of Korea. Hangeul was not used much until after World War II, and then only in North Korea. This was because the elitists did not want the general public to be able to read, which was the intention behind the invention of the alphabet. During the 1990s, Hangeul came into widespread use in South Korea. Here in Pusan, the subway signs are written in Hangeul, Hanja, and English (for most stops the Romanization of Hangeul). Many of the road signs have all three written forms. Perhaps, the next generation will not be able to read it because children typically do not learn hanja in school until middle school. The newspapers used to be written in Hanja, but now people do not have to know Hanja to be able to know what is going on in the world.

Korean computers have a toggle on them so that one can type in Hanja. One has to type each syllable in Hangeul, then press the Hanja button. Then, there are a few choices for that syllable. Each Hanja character is one syllable. One has to know Korean to first to know what to put for each syllable because there is a definition by each Hanja character. 大 (대) is the first syllable in Daegu, Daeyeon, and Daejeon. It is seen on the signs at the bus station and in the subway stations. My subway station is 中洞 in Hanja, 중동 in Hangeul, and Jung-dong (joong-doang) in English.

Rice For Sale

2009-02-03T01:10:00.003+09:00

I don't eat much rice at home. I have a bag in the freezer that has hardly been used, but in case I wanted more rice and were too lazy to go to a big grocery store, I know of a few places that sell rice, even though I have never been in them and neither has anybody that I know. This is all thanks to my ability to read in Korean. The places that sell bags of rice have signs that say <쌀> on them. 쌀 (ssal) is the Korean word for rice in a bag. There are convenience stores that have that on them. Until recently, I would see that word, but I did not know what it meant. Now I know. I have been studying Korean a little bit. There is more than one word for rice. While bagged rice is 쌀, rice that is ready to eat is 밥 (bap). It is on the end of some dishes that contain rice, such as 김밥 (gimbap) and 비빔밥 (bibimbap). It's amazing how much you can learn when you know how to read and write.

No School This Week!

2009-01-28T02:14:00.002+09:00

This week I get a break. The break was scheduled for this week because Monday was Lunar New Year's, which is the same day as the Chinese New Year. Korea has the same Zodiac animals as China as well. I decided that since I spent 2,000,000 won during the last vacation (for LASIK) that I would not take any major trips during this vacation. So, I'm spending this vacation at home resting, as well as doing activities around Pusan and one or two day trips in Korea.

Today, I went to the Busan Aquarium, home to 50,000 critters. It is about a 15-minute walk from where I live. It is located at Haeundae Beach, the most famous beach in South Korea. I did not take any pictures but I some neat things. There are penguins and an otter family. There were lots of different fish there as well. I chose not to, but there was the option to go in a boat in the tank where they keep the sharks. There were a lot of young families at the aquarium today.

It will be interesting to see how things will be at work after we get back from the vacation. One of the Korean teachers quit after a month because she is moving to Dubai to become a flight attendant for Emirates Airlines. In addition, we will have a new manager because our old manager no longer works for our academy. This next one will be the third manager that I will have worked under since starting June 30. It will be exciting to meet the new manager.

My New Favorite Food cont'd.

2009-01-28T01:01:00.002+09:00

I discovered on Friday that there is a difference between Japanese donkkas and Korean donkkas. I like the Japanese-style donkkas much better than I like the Korean donkkas. One of the other teachers and I ordered from a different restaurant and this one had Korean style donkkas. The Japanese ones are already cut when one gets them. The Korean ones are not. The Japanese ones are much crispier than the Korean ones. The meat was not as good a quality as the Japanese ones that I had had before. The Korean one that I had was more like a breaded sausage patty soaked in sauce. The Japanese ones are more like a fried pork chop with no bones and the fat trimmed from it.

It's Like Christmas Shopping

2009-01-18T22:03:00.003+09:00

This afternoon, I went to Home Plus, which was a mistake since today is Sunday. There were so many people there shopping. These were mostly families. In Korea, many people have to work on Saturday, so Sunday is the day that they can spend time together as a family. Most weddings in Korea are on Sunday for that reason. I imagine that part of the reason that there were so many shoppers is that Solar (Lunar New Year's) is next weekend. This holiday and Chuseok are the big gift-giving holidays. Christmas gifts are given just to children and they do not receive nearly the number of presents that American children get. In Home Plus and E-Mart, some of the workers wear traditional Korean dress at work because they are the consultants for the Solar gifts. The traditional gifts given for these two holidays are practical gifts, not like some of the worthless, dust-collecting junk that people in America give. Fruit boxes are common as well as packages of SPAM or assorted sized of anchovies. Other gifts that people give include boxes that have toothpaste, shampoo, soap, lotion in one package. In one part of E-Mart, there are lots of socks in boxes. When you see the ones that you want to buy for somebody, just pick up the box that is already wrapped and ready to go. Rolls of wrapping paper are not very common here because any wrapped gift that somebody would give is already wrapped prior to purchase. The gifts that people give here are not ones that will just end up in a storage unit somewhere. People can wear or eat their gifts and if they are not wearable or edible, then they can use it to stay clean.

Answer to the latest poll question

2009-01-18T01:34:00.002+09:00

What is Hello in Korean?

annyeong haseyo (안녕 하세요)-3
annyeong-hi gaseyo (안녕히 가세요)-0
gamsa hamnida (감사 합니다)-0
annyeong-hi gyeseyo (안녕히 계세요)-0

The correct answer is annyeong haseyo (아녕 하세요). Annyeong-hi gaseyo (안녕히 가세요) is a goodbye spoken to the person who is leaving. Gamsa hamnida (감사 합니다) means thank you. Annyeong-hi gyeseyo (안녕히 계세요) is a goodbye spoken to the person who is staying.

Are You Taller Than a 5th Grader?

2009-01-04T12:12:00.002+09:00

Many people think that all Asians are short, but here in Korea, that is not the case. There are some short people, but there are also some tall people. As a whole, the Koreans are taller than the Ecuadorians. Here, it is not uncommon to see a man who is over six feet tall. The women are not short either. Some of the fifth graders are not much shorter than me. Some of them are only four or five inches shorter. While in Ecuador, we went to a school a few times and the students that we were working with were fifth graders. Those fifth graders were smaller than the fifth graders that I have in my classes now. It is the difference in the nutrition that they are getting. Many of the older people here a quite short. Middle-aged people are about an average height. People who are over six feet are mostly in their 20s or early 30s. In Ecuador, almost nobody was more than six feet tall. The people who were my height or shorter were quite numerous. South Korea is a developed country and Ecuador is not.

Hair

2009-01-04T00:48:00.002+09:00

One thing I've noticed since I arrived, is the lack of body hair that Koreans have. In the summer, I would see men wearing shorts and they did not have much hair on their legs. I have not seen much hair on people's arms either. Very few men have a beard or mustache. Only once have I seen a Korean man with more than a couple day's worth of stubble. Most of them don't even have that much. Recently, I decided to remove the hair on my arms because one of the kids said that I had a lot of hair on my arms and asked if I was a man. That's one thing I do not want anybody to think about me. The stores do not sell much in the way of hair removal products. There are no women's shaving cream or gel. There is not much to choose from for men's shaving cream either. Koreans do not have much in the way of eyelashes either.

My New Favorite Food

2009-01-01T18:49:00.003+09:00

Since I came to Korea, I have eaten donkkas (돈까스), which is fried pork cutlets. The picture on the right shows what they are. They are boneless pieces of pork that are covered in breading and then deep-fat fried. They are served with pork cutlet sauce, rice, and soup. I eat them at least once at week at a Japanese noodle restaurant around the corner from my apartment. I was never a big fan of meat, but this dish is delicious. Tuesday, at work, we ordered this take-out dish. When ordering food in Korea, the food does not come on disposable dishes. Instead, the delivery man comes back later to pick up the dishes. Only when ordering pizza or fried chicken does the food come on disposable plates. Monday, we ordered Korean food, and I learned that sometimes Korean restaurants recycle the side dishes. This is so the restauarants can make a profit. It is not very common for people to sue other people. This is evidenced in the Korean barbecue restaurants. There are grills in the middle of each table and the waiters bring out the meat and you cook it yourself. The last time we went there for a company dinner I thought that a place like that would not survive in America because people would sue because they got burned and/or they got sick because they did not cook the meat well enough. In Korea, (and China), people use the same chopsticks for eating and getting food off the plates that everybody gets food from.

What A Waste!

2009-01-01T01:57:00.004+09:00

That is exactly what I am not thinking about my communication degree. There have been some changes in the procedures at the school. In thinking about these changes, I have been able to go back to my communication degree to explain to myself why the communication culture of the branch has changed. The theories that I learned in Human Communication Theory are proving to be invaluable in this time of transition. I can think of a few theories that apply to this situation. For example, I can think of Dramatism of Kenneth Burke to explain scapegoating to myself. (Kenneth Burke was the maternal grandfather of singer Harry Chapin, whose most famous song is "Cat's in the Cradle." Here's a video that I took off of YouTube that has the song on it.)

The most important theory for this series of events is Critical Theory of Commnication in Organizations. The change of one person and that person's style has completely changed the working environment. My communication classes have also helped me to know about Asian society, since Asian and Western cultures have different communication styles.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T01:47:00.002+09:00

It is now 2009 here in Korea. It has been for nearly two hours. I do not have to work today, but instead, I have to work on Saturday. I do not have any big plans for the day other than relaxing and trying to go to bed at a good time. I've been working a lot this week, but my Tuesday/Thursday schedule is much easier than my Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule because I don't have as many classes and the classes are smaller.

My Schedule for the Next Month

2008-12-28T23:23:00.002+09:00

Starting tomorrow, I am going to be so busy for the next month. I'll have ten classes a day because the kids have a month off from Korean school and so we offer extra classes for them. Our Tuesday/Thursday classes will move to mornings on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and then we will have only Winter Instensive courses on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have to be at work at 9:00 am at the latest and then classes start at 9:30 and last until 12:35. Then, our afternoon classes start at 2:30 and run until 7:10. It's going to be busy, busy, busy. I've never taught more than eight classes in a day and so by the time I get everything done, I'll be dead tired.

Answer to the Previous Poll Question

2008-12-28T22:45:00.003+09:00

What Public Holiday falls on October 3?

National Foundation Day-0 (0%)
Constitution Day-0 (0%)
Liberation Day-2 (100%)
Independence Movement Day-0 (0%)
Memorial Day-0 (0%)

The answer is National Foundation Day. Constitution Day is July 17, which is the day that the ROK was founded in 1948. Liberation Day is August 15, which was the day that the Japanese surrendered to the Allies during World War II. Independence Movement Day is on March 1. This was the day in 1919 that the Koreans started protesting Japanese occupation. Memorial Day, June 6, is for the people who died serving their country.

Pogs: How Stupid!

2008-12-28T22:05:00.003+09:00

When I was in elementary school, pogs were the popular toy. If you don't know what pogs are, look at the image on the right. They are little pieces of cardboard with pictures on either side. Kids would bring them to school and play with them during recess. I never played much because I did not have very many. They would put them out on the floor and play with a heavier one, usually metal, which was called the slammer. I remember that you could get them in Snyder's bread sacks. I had a cousin with a five-foot licorice tube full of them. Eventually the stupid things went out of style and some other toy became popular. Pogs have become the toy of Korean children right now. The kids bring them to English academy and play them before class and during the breaks. A couple of times, the kids came to me and wanted me to solve their disputes over the pogs. I told them that if they were going to fight over them then I was going to take them away. They then stopped fighting over them. I had a student who would bring a metal lunchbox to class. I thought it had his lunch in it but I saw what was in it and it was full of pogs. Another boys brings a bag full of pogs to class everyday. I have had to take them away from students because they were playing with them during class. Other teachers take them and then throw them away after class. In one class, I took away a couple and cut them up so they would not be a problem again. In that same class, a student gave me a couple becasue he wanted me to see them cut up. The stupid things are so annoying.

Boys Don't Cry

2008-12-27T00:01:00.002+09:00

That might be true in America, but it is definitely not try here in Korea. In my classes, I have had several more boys cry than girls. In several classes there are more boys than girls, but if boys did not cry, then it wouldn't matter how many boys and how few girls there were, there would still be more girls who cry than boys. I once asked somebody if Koreans thought it was okay for men to cry. He said that if a man were crying, then people would ask him what is wrong; they would not think he is a sissy or anything like that. As far as there being more boys than girls, it is because there are more males than females in Korea. Most people prefer sons over daughters because sons carry on the family name and the oldest son takes care of the parents when they are aged. Koreans do not have big families because educating children is very expensive here. People who have a son the first time around might stop having kids but people who have a daughter first do not stop at one. Every only child that I know of is male.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T00:06:00.002+09:00

I heard that from people in places that I went today. After work, I went to the subway station and people from the nearby church were passing out flyers and pieces of candy to people in the station. One of them told me Merry Christmas and I thought that she said it in English because I was a foreigner. Later, I went to Outback Steakhouse (no other foreigners were eating there) and while I was waiting, I heard Koreans saying it to other Koreans so I figured out that they were speaking Konglish, which is Korean that is borrowed from English and pronounced with Korean pronunciation and written in Hangeul. That is what I typed two posts ago. There were so many people on the subways that several people had to stand out of necessity, not by preference. Home Plus was pretty crowded as well with holiday shoppers.

What a Political Class!

2008-12-25T23:57:00.002+09:00

Sometimes, the kids come up with strange things they want to go by. In one of my classes, a student decided he wants to go by Human, instead of his previous English name, Kevin. Today, one of the boys told me he wanted to go by Obama. Another boy wanted to go by Hillary. Another student in the class is Michelle, but she was not there today. As far as the US elections, I really only heard about them from the kids. They knew that Obama was going to be the new president. Shortly after the elections, one of the boys told me that Obama's father was from Kenya. Then, he told me that people in Kenya do not go to school and then he did some gesture that told me that he thought that Kenyans were primitive. This boy is a third grader and I don't think he had seen many Africans in person. Since I came here six months ago, I have seen probably fewer than a dozen people of African descent.

메리 크리스마스

2008-12-25T23:37:00.002+09:00

I had to work today on Christmas, but instead of working in the afternoon, I worked in the morning. Many of the kids were not there because they were either sick or were traveling. Yesterday and today we had a party for each group of kids in their last class of the day. The party was only 10-15 minutes and the kids had to bring their own snacks. The school provided Coca-Cola and one small Crown brand choco pie for each child. Last week when the kids found out about the party, they complained that the party was going to be so short. One student told me that 10 minutes wasn't enough time to eat one snack. The parties were just in each classroom and so it was up to the teacher to decide what to do with the kids. At first, I was just going to play Christmas songs and as I was looking for some on YouTube, I decided to show Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, narrated by Burl Ives. As it was playing during the first class, I realized that the language was very advanced and they speak quickly. However, the kids seemed to be entertained by it and paid more attention to the movie than they do during class. Today, I decided to play the cartoon version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. During one of the classes, I was standing in front of the class so I could pour the drinks and one of the boys told me to move so he could see the screen. I wonder how much of the movies the kids could understand, but they got some entertainment value out of them.

I can type in 한글

2008-12-14T23:28:00.002+09:00

I bought a new computer today. I just got the Internet hooked up in my apartment. My other computer had to be formatted for it to work so before I took it to the place, I took all of the work that I did in college and put it all on a flash drive (or a little cigar, as Dad calls them). Nothing that I had on it before was on it anymore. In addition, the mouse was not working the way that it was before. I could live with that, but then, for some reason, I decided to put a password on the computer. I don't know why I did it because I'm the only person who uses it. Well, when I got the computer back, the default setting for the language bar was Portugues. I got annoyed with it switching from English, so I deleted Portugues from the language bar, but before I did that, I put the password on the computer. I'm sure that it was on Portugues when I did it, because later, when I tried to turn on my computer, I typed the password, and it would not work. I decided to cut my losses on that computer, which was 40,000 won to have it formatted, and just buy a new one. The computer is four years old, which is old for a computer. Luckily, I live in South Korea, which is home to LG and 삼성 (Samsung), so finding one would not be a problem. The ones in the stores seemed a bit expensive though. The cheapest ones that they had were very small, but there was no way to put CDs or DVDs in them. I bought a computer at the third place I went. I did not want to buy one at the first place I went because I wanted to look somewhere else. At the second place I went I felt very uncomfortable because the salesman was following me around everywhere I went. It was pretty obvious that he was working on commission. The third place I went, Hi-Mart, was where I bought my new computer. I was free to look at the computers without somebody breathing down my neck. I found one that I wanted. It cost 970,000 won. I told the salesman that I wanted that one and he asked me why and that it was a bad model. In addition, I would have to pay with cash. He talked me into buying a different one that cost about the same. The only thing that was better about that first computer was that it had Windows Vista Premium and this one has Windows Vista Basic. Everything else on the one that I bought was either the same or better. The salesman told me that the computer had the Korean version of Windows. I told him that was fine. I figured that it would; the computer that I use at work is the Korean version and everythink is in Korean. The computer was set up for use at the store and I was able to have the language on this computer put in English instead of Korean. I got a Samsung bag and Samsung mouse as free gifts for buying the computer. The language bar is normally set for United States English, so the keyboard is just like any keyboard from the United States. If I want to type in 한글 (Hangeul), I can just change the language bar to Korean and start typing the way that Koreans type (actually, I have to do the hunt-and-peck method of typing when I type in Korean). When the language bar is set to Korean, there is a button that I can push to go back and forth between Korean letters and Roman letters. There were probably things that I could delete on that other computer, but did not because I might have wanted it later. Now that everything was deleted for me, I really do not miss it much. Sometimes, that's the only way that you can get rid of something.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas!

2008-12-14T22:54:00.003+09:00

Christmas is not as big a holiday here as it is in the United States, but one cannot come here to escape it completely. About 25% of Koreans are Christian and so there are Christmas lights here. There are also a few Christmas trees. I see Christmas trees in several of the subway stations. Tonight I went to Home Plus and all the women (few men work at the check-out stands and at E-Mart, the men do not take people's money) at the check-out stands were wearing Santa hats. E-Mart sells a few Christmas trees and other decorations and there are toys in the Christmas section. I will have to work on Christmas, unlike most workers in the United States. Normally, our Thursday classes are from 3 to 7:45, but on that day, we are going to work early so that we can finish earlier in the day. We did that one other time, and it was nice to be done early. Other than that, Christmas will probably feel like just another day.

Everybody Wears Panties!

2008-11-13T02:32:00.002+09:00

A few weeks ago, in one of my classes, I had to ask the students what free things people get when they are beautiful. The theme for that week was about inner and outer beauty and the story was about a beautifu girl who gets free things because she was beautiful. A fourth-grade boy told me they get fanties. I did not understand what he said and so I told him to tell me again. One more time he said they get fanties. I did not know what fanties were and so I asked and a first grader stood up and touched his hip and said everybody wears fanties. Then, I realized they were talking about panties. Korean does not have an 'f' sound and so they get confused as to when to say 'f' and 'p.' Even the adults who have spent time studying English abroad get them mixed up. I explained to the kids that boys don't wear panties. They told me that everybody wears panties. I explained to them that boys wear undershorts and girls wear panties. They did not believe me and said that everybody wears panties. Later, I was talking about it with my co-teacher and she had not heard that panties are for women only. I explained to her that if some man were talking about his panties then people would think that he wears women's underwear.

Today, in another class, a student mentioned something about panties. I had to explain to them that boys wear undershorts and girls wear panties. They believed me more than the other class did. I also told them that the general term is underwear. I guess in Korea they are not taught that their are differences in names for men's and women's undergarments. Either that, or they do not make underwear designed for men.

Brrrrrr!!!!!

2008-11-13T02:26:00.003+09:00

Today, when I wanted to take a shower, there was no water. I wondered what I was going to do because I feel so disgusting if I do not take a shower everyday. I had to use the bottled water from the fridge. I buy two-liter bottles of water for drinking and cooking because the water here is not safe to consume. I had about three liters and it was so cold. I was worried that I would not have enough and I did not use as much water as I normally do. The water was back on when I came home from work. It was pretty brown for a bit. I was glad because I did not want to have to use bottled water for a shower again.

Veteran's Day

2008-11-13T02:16:00.002+09:00

Nobody got a three-day weekend for Veteran's Day, for obvious reasons. Korea does not have a Veteran's Day; it has a Memorial Day to honor those who fought for their country. It had been on my mind recently as to how Koreans feel about people in the military and people who have served. Last night, I asked someone at school who had served in the Korean Navy for three years. I got the answer that I kind of expected. He told me that they don't think it is a big deal because everybody has to. All Korean men have to serve in the military for at least two years. Around Korea, I have seen military men dressed in uniform. People just treat them like they are regular people. One time in the United States, I was walking to baggage claim at an airport and somebody thanked some active military members for their service. Once in Dear Abby, a man wrote in about somebody paying for his son's meal at a restaurant because the other man had wanted to buy a soldier a meal. I have not seen anything like that. I just suspect that they do not have assemblies in schools to honor those who have served the country and invite those that they know to come in and talk about their military experience.

Musical Classrooms

2008-11-08T02:55:00.003+09:00

Tuesday I was not in my regular classroom. The air conditioner was broken and I am in the one classroom without any windows. It went on the fritz on Monday and for a couple of classes I told the kids that we could have the door open if they were quiet. This has happened one other time and so fans were brought in, but they just circulated the hot air and did not cool the room down. The students complained to me that they were hot and I was hot too. The problem was fixed and we were able to use my classroom on Wednesday and Thursday. Then yesterday, a man came in to fix the air conditioning. He did more than what was done before. He took it apart and drained the water from it. He had to rewire it. So for my first two classes we were in a different room because he wasn't finished 10 minutes before class started. I did not know how much longer he would be and so in order for us to be out of his way and for him to be out of our way, we went to another classroom. My Korean co-teacher has not been in her regular classroom all week because the LCD projector in her room is not working. Tuesday's kids and our first two classes on Friday went from one different classroom to another different classroom.

Scavenger Hunt

2008-11-08T02:40:00.003+09:00

Last weekend I decided that I wanted to make an apple pie. Before I could do anything, I had to make sure that I could get everything that I would need. I went to Home Plus because I knew that I would not be able to buy a pie plate at E-Mart. I had a hard time finding one at Home Plus. It is owned by TESCO, a British company, so it has more in the way of Western cook and bake ware. I found a pie plate when I was about to give up looking. It was bigger than the ones that I have used before. This one had an 11-inch diameter. I also had to look for vanilla. I could not find anything like what I normally use. I had not seen any at Home Plus before nor at E-Mart. So I went to Lotte, a high-end department store with a grocery floor. There was nothing there. I saw an apple that was 5,000 won. I had not priced apples at other stores so I was not sure how much they cost here. It made me not want to make any pie if I was going to have to pay 5,000 won per apple. I went to Home Plus to look again and I found vanilla powder. I also found active dry yeast there as well so I can make bread. I made the pie Sunday night with Grandma's recipe. I took it to work Monday and people liked it. If one wants to make the kinds of things that one would make in the United States, it requires a little bit of planning ahead and improvisation. Until a few weeks ago, I could make things only on the stove top because I did not have an oven. Then, I bought a mini oven. It is a convection oven. It came with a cook booklet, but I cannot make anything in it because it is all in Korean. I won't be able to use it when I return to the United States because it runs on a different voltage. When I bake, I have to convert the oven temperatures because the temperatures in my cookbook are in Fahrenheit and the oven runs on Centigrade.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T02:12:00.003+09:00

Halloween is a big holiday for English academies in Korea. The kids dress up for their class at the hagwons to which they go. We had a party during one of the class periods that the kids come in for. The Tuesday/Thursday kids are with us for three classes a day and the Monday/Wednesday/Friday kids are with us for two classes. There was a costume contest and a short movie for them. Then they went around to different classes for activities. Each teacher gave the kids candy, but it was not the kind of candy that kids would usually get at Halloween. In the US, you can buy Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, Crunch, KitKat, etc. at prices cheaper than what they usually sell for and there is lots of candy in the stores. That is not true here. Of the candy that I just mentioned, I have seen only Snickers and Twix. Any kind of chocolate candy is expensive here because it has to be imported. A 3.5 ounce Hershey's bar costs 2,000 won. Recently, one could buy an eight ounce bar for a little less than 2,000 won. The candy that the kids got was all hard candy. There was quite a bit of mint candy. I don't remember ever getting mint candy for Halloween. When some of the kids came around and said Trick or Treat, I gave them an eraser and told them that it was a trick. Then they told me that they wanted a treat instead. The stores sold a little bit of Halloween items, but not like stores in the US. All of the costumes were kids' costumes.

For this Halloween, I even got in on some pumpkin carving. There was a pumpkin sitting on the counter and our (now) former branch manager asked me if I knew how to carve pumpkins. I told him I did and he said he didn't so I had to help carve the pumpkin. The pumpkins was not like the ones that people normally carve in America. This one was very flat. It was a light orange and it did not have much of a stem to it. This pumpkin was one of the pumpkins that one can buy at the store throughout the year. It was a very thick pumpkin; there was no danger of scraping it so much that a hole would be scraped through. It was so flat, that after we carved a nose and two eyes in it, there was not enough room for a mouth. We had a candle that was about 3 inches tall, but it was too tall for this pumpkin. After we put it in the pumpkin, it was sticking out through the hole in the top. So then our office manager had to cut the candle in half so that it would be short enough to glow inside the pumpkin. Some of the kids thought that the carved pumpkin was pretty neat.

Mystery Solved!

2008-11-02T02:01:00.004+09:00

A while ago, I wrote a blog about how I saw four people in pajamas outside of E-Mart. I now know why people here sometimes walk around in their pajamas; they are sick. Last week I was walking to the subway station with a couple of my Korean coworkers. We passed by a couple of people wearing pajamas and I said that it was weird to see people in their pajamas. They told me that those people are sick and are in the hospital. They were probably going to the store to get a snack. Tonight, I was in a restaurant and a man and a woman came in and the man was wearing pajamas. I saw that he had a cast on his arm. Later, there was a man and a woman at the bus stop. The man was wearing pajamas. He was also hooked up to an IV and had the IV bag and rack there with him! I couldn't believe that somebody on a IV would be allowed to roam the streets like that. They wear pajamas here so they are covered, not like the hospital gowns that one has to wear two of to be covered.

It's ALIVE! Or Not

2008-10-21T22:24:00.002+09:00

Today we had a meeting with another campus to talk about a certain program that we are doing. We all had to go around the room and introduce ourselves along with our campuses. It felt like an AA meeting, from what I have seen on TV, since I have never been to one. I'm Josephine and I'm from Centum. I'm . . . and I'm from Centum. I'm . . . and I'm from Centum.

After the meeting was over, we had lunch together. It was seafood. All of the other times when I have eaten with a big group like that we had beef or pork so this was quite a treat. It was communal eating, which is the manner in Korea. There were three stations that had a boiling pot of bean sprouts, mussels, shrimp, oysters, and a large crab. Then, as we were sitting down, somebody came and put a live animal in the pot. In one of the pots, the critter crawled out before it was dead! Eventually it died and we were able to cut it up with scissors, which is how all meat is cut when it is cooked at the table like that. After I had a piece of a leg I asked if it was octopus or squid. I was told that it was neither but it was a creature similar to an octopus or squid. I can't remember the Korean name for this beast.

It said WHAT?!

2008-10-17T20:37:00.002+09:00

The other night I went to E-Mart. I was looking around on the second floor. I went over to where they keep the cleaning supplies. The toilet seats are there too. I saw the labeling on something that was rather shocking. It said, "Sense fabric a piss pot Sheet cover." I could not believe this bad translation was on something available in a store like that. I think what was supposed to say was scented fabric toilet seat cover. I guess whoever put that on there was not taught proper English.

What's in a Name

2008-10-07T00:03:00.002+09:00

Today there was a new student in one of my classes. She did not have an English name and did not have one in mind, so I gave her a list of possible names that I wrote as the students were listening to today's story. She chose Susan. I did not give her the possibility of some weird name that nobody has ever heard of and doesn't know if it's a boy's name or a girl's name. Most of the students have pretty normal names. As far as the ones who go by their Korean name, I don't know if they have a boy's name or a girl's name or some name that isn't a name. Kevin and Jack are pretty common for boys and Sally and Jenny are common for girls. Right now, I have three students named Chris, 2 Sams, 2 James, 2 Lauras, and 2 Amys. One student has had three different English names so far. He started out as Sonic, then Megatron, and now he is Pedro. I once had a student who went by Belly until she chose to go by Cindy. One student went by his Korean name and now he is Brocky. On the first day of class, I tried to get the students in my lowest level class to get an English name. I asked one of the students if he wanted to go by John and he adamantly informed me that his name was Joonho. I think the students in that class did not know what I was asking. I gave up trying to get them to use English names. I don't mind calling the students by their Korean names, but on that day, the names were not Romanized and so I had to write the Hangul for each student who did not have an English name. Then, I had to point to each name and ask the students what their names were. I can read some Hangul, but I read it really slowly and I make mistakes, usually with the vowels. Sometimes the students decide all of a sudden that they want to change their names. It gets confusing then. There is one student whom I have taught for three months and recently he decided he wanted to change his name from Jack to Harry because another student in the class is named Herald. More than once I've called him Jack since his name change. It's an instinct. "Jack! Get in your seat right now!" It's about like Grandma yelling "Rachel" when she was calling Sparkle.

No Overheated Pets Here

2008-10-05T21:27:00.002+09:00

Yesterday, I went to E-Mart and paid on the second floor so I had to go up to the third floor to leave. As I walked over the the elevators, I saw something that I hadn't noticed before and have never seen in the United States. They have pet cages so that you don't have to leave your pet locked in your car as you shop. Many department stores here have parking above or below the shopping floors because the parking would take up too much space that could be used for apartments and office space. The third floor is the lowest level of parking at E-Mart and this is where I saw the cages. I don't know if they have them on the other parking levels or not. All the people have to do is leave the pet in the cage and take the key while they shop downstairs. If they had this kind of thing, people would not have to write to Dear Abby complaining that people leave pets in the car without opening the windows.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

2008-10-05T18:02:00.002+09:00

I listened to a lot of Korean speaking on Wednesday and Thursday. Both of those days I had to come in early for conferences. Tuesday was also a day for conferences, but my co-teacher and I do not have any students at that language level and so we did not have to come. On each conference day, one pair of teachers would give a presentation to the parents about the procedure for the class. Since most of the parents do not speak English, the branch manager had to translate what the foreign teachers said during the presentation. The Korean teachers had to translate during the meetings. I had to give a presentation on Thursday. I talked to only two parents directly. Friday, we all had to come in early for classes because it was a national holiday. All the other hagwons were closed that day, but not the one where I work. Instead of holding our regular hours, we changed the times for four of our classes so that we could leave early. I left at 5:00. It was a bit different to be able to leave work when it was still light outside. The classes went a bit smoother too because several students were absent due to the holiday.

Answer to the Question of the Week

2008-10-05T17:47:00.002+09:00

What is the main international airport in Korea?

Narita International Airport-0 (0%)
Gimhae International Airport-1 (33%)
Incheon International Airport-2 (66%)
Gimpo International Airport-0 (0%)

The correct answer is Incheon International Airport. It is 52 km west of Seoul and is located on a little island. It was officially opened in March 2001. Gimpo International Airport, in Seoul, used to be the main international airport, but it could not keep up with the increasing number of international passengers after the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Gimhae International Airport is in Busan. Narita International Airport is in Tokyo.

Slap Bracelets

2008-10-03T23:20:00.003+09:00

They were popular when I was in elementary school and now they are popular here. I have seen several students wearing them. Today, I had to confiscate seven of them (one girl had five), because it is basically just a toy. The students just keep taking them off and slapping themselves with them to put them back on. The picture is an example of what slap bracelets look like and how they are worn.

Josey in Disguise Without Glasses

2008-10-01T23:10:00.002+09:00

If anybody wants to see a picture of me with my ophthalmologist, go to this link http://www.hellolasik.com/eng_site/op_result/04_foreigner.asp?page_id=05. When you get there, hover over my name and you'll be able to see the picture. I couldn't get it off the site to be able to put it on here.

Teacher, Where Are Glasses?

2008-09-26T02:31:00.003+09:00

Several students asked me that the first couple of days of the week. All the students had only ever seen me with glasses and so it was a change for them. I had to explain to them I no longer need them. I said to a few of them that I had surgery, but they really do not know what surgery means and so I told that my eyes are fixed. A student in my lowest level class saw me and was pointing at me and and tapping on another student. I'm guessing that he noticed my lack of glasses and was telling the other student. It's a strange feeling to not need the glasses anymore. I don't have to worry about finding where I put them the night before just so that I can see. I tried them on tonight and my vision was pretty blurry while I was wearing them. Before the surgery, I was -3.25 diopters in the right eye and -2.75 in the left eye. With the surgery and the glasses, it was way overcorrected. My vision has made a full circle in 15 years.

Hey, Four Eyes!

2008-09-21T15:44:00.002+09:00

It has been several years since anybody has called me that, but nobody will be able to now. Friday afternoon I had LASIK. I wasn't planning on having the surgery until my last vacation time, which would be in February. I was going to go to Japan for this break, but on Friday the 12th, I decided that I was not going to go this time. I did not do much planning for it, and I really did not decide where I was going to go. I decided that instead, I would stay in Korea and take care of business, like getting the ball rolling on LASIK, looking into Korean lessons, and possibly traveling around other places in Korea. I did only one of those because on the 12th, I made an appointment with an eye clinic in Seoul.

I had been looking into different places in Korea for LASIK. Only one place in Korea had its website in English. I could have gone to a place in Pusan, but I would have had to take along a Korean speaker to translate for me, which I did not want to ask anybody to do. I even saw on thw website that one of the doctors had studied LASIK at Stanford and UCLA, so I knew for sure that he spoke English. I decided to spend my vacation time in Seoul so that if I did have the surgery, then it would not put a crimp in my plans. If I did not have the surgery, then I could sight see in Seoul.

I had an appointment for a consultation on Wednesday at 2:00. I had a little trouble getting there from the subway station but I called them and they told me how to get there. There were 24 tests that I had to go through. Some were to see if I was a good candidate and some were to see how much correction was necessary. After about an hour and a half to two hours, it was determined that I was a good candidate. I was given a choice between the Wavefront laser or the conventional laser. I chose the Wavefront laser because it is more precise. It would cost an additional 300,000 won. All in all, the surgery was going to cost 2, 300,000 won. They gave me a discount of 200,000 won and then would give me an additional discount of 100,000 won if I paid in cash. The day that that was quoted, the exchange rate was 1116 won to the dollar.

Since I was not going to have the surgery until Friday, I spent part of Thursday, looking for a Nonghyup Bank so that I could withdraw 2,000,000 won. I asked somebody at the front desk where there was one and he told me. I either did not follow his directions correctly or he told me wrong (or both). I did not find it. I remembered though that he told me Insadong street, so I went there and walked down the street. Eventually, I found one. I took a number and when it was my turn, I gave my passbook to the teller and wrote 2,000,000 on the back of my number. There was a slip that I had to fill out. I wrote down my account number and then he had some other customer who was leaving write something in Korean and then 2,000,000 won. After a few minutes of processing and him having another teller help him, he gave me the money in cash. Carrying that much money in cash is like carrying $2,000 in ten-dollar bills. I had to figure out how to get two bundles of money into my purse. I immediately went back to the hostel and put the money in a bag and put it in the freezer, since there was no safe for my jewels.

The next day, I had the surgery. I was a bit nervous. They had to redo some of the tests, but it was just the ones that determined the amount of correction. I had to put a gown on over my clothes and put on a hair net. They put several drops of anesthetic drops in my eyes. The surgery before mine had not started yet so I was able to watch one eye for that person done. Then I was taken into another room where somebody washed my face and put in more drops. Finally, it was my turn. I lay down on the operating table and then they covered my face. They did the right eye first and so they covered my left eye with gel so that it would not dry out. They taped my eyelashes down and then held my eye open. Then came the microkeratome, which is used to cut a flap in the cornea. Then the doctor lifted the flap and ablated the cornea with and laser. He then cleaned the cornea and put the flap down. He did the same with the left eye. Then "Congratulations" by Cliff Richard started playing. It was over. I rested a while in the recovery room. The doctor examined my eye with a slit lamp microscope again. I went back to the guesthouse where I stayed just for that night. My eyes were pretty sore so I just lay there with my eyes closed because they hurt less closed. Later, I went outside and was amazed by how well I could see. There were halos around lights, but that is normal while my eye is healing. I have three different kinds of drops that I have to use. My vision will improve for 1-4 days after the surgery and then will stabilize in 1-4 months. It's weird to be able to see.

The website for the clinic where I went is http://www.hellolasik.com/eng_site/index.asp.

Thank Goodness!

2008-09-20T23:53:00.002+09:00

Thank goodness I live in Pusan and use the Pusan Subway System. I went to Seoul for a few days this week and used the subway there. It was a mob scene. Pusan has only three lines, but Seoul has 10. In Pusan, there are usually seats, and if not, then there are not too many people standing. In Seoul, there were times when there were more people standing than there were sitting. The people standing were packed in like sardines. If you want a seat, you have to be aggressive when one becomes available, or else somebody else will take it. People push and shove in the subway and nobody thinks anything of it because they do not know each other and so they do not have to be polite. If only that were the norm in American culture; many times in public I've wanted to shove people out of the way but did not. One time, in Dear Abby, somebody wrote in complaining that in New York, men do not give up their seats for women and some even run ahead to get a seat before the women do. Here, people give up their seats for old people usually. Men will stand so that their wife or girlfriend can sit if there is only one available seat. It doesn't seem like women expect men to give up their seats, going back to the fact that they are strangers and there is no obligation to be polite. In Pusan, people get on as other people are getting off. In Seoul, it really is impossible because there are so many people getting off, and it is necessary to empty some space before other people can get on. There are so many people on the subways. Friday night, I was waiting for the subway and there were two old men fighting. They were a little far away, but I could hear them yelling at each other, pushing, and one even kicked the other! They got on the subway, and they came to the car where I was and sat across from me. During the ride, they were talking and holding hands and even hugged each other goodbye! (More often than not, two same-sex people holding hands are friends and nothing more.)

Answer to the Question of the Week

2008-09-20T23:43:00.002+09:00

What are non-disposable chopsticks made of in Korea?

stainless steel-0 (0%)
plastic-1 (25%)
wood-1 (25%)
clay-2 (50%)

The answer is stainless steel. This tradition was started during the Joseon dynasty. The upper class people believed that using silver would warn of evil because silver would tarnish in the presence of evils. The lower classes practiced this belief as well, but they could not afford the silver and so they would use cheaper metals. Spoons are also stainless steel as well. Many restaurants use metal cups and bowls.

Get Out of My Way; I'm Coming Through!

2008-09-13T00:11:00.002+09:00

That is what it felt like tonight at E-Mart (Korean Wal-Mart). Sunday is Chuseok Day, but people the celebration starts on Saturday. Monday is the final day. There were so many people shopping. E-Mart has three floors for shopping. The basement is the grocery floor. The first floor is the clothing and cosmetic floor, and the second floor has books, electronics, appliances, toys, and household goods. I went to the basement so that I'd have something to eat because I'm not sure if the stores will be open during Chuseok. It was so hard to get around because there were so many people. There was a long line of people waiting a get a cart. I've never seen that before. According to Lonely Planet, Koreans believe that there is no obligation to be polite to somebody whom one has never met. Therefore, people are unlikely to say "excuse me" and likely to shove others out of the way. On the basement floor, there was a bottleneck at the escalator. I had to weave in around the people with carts to go back up. I decided to go up to the second floor to pay because it is usually not as busy; it was not tonight either. It usually does not take very long to get through the lines at the checkout. They have most of the lines open and people get through faster. All the clerks do it ring up the stuff and take the money. They do not do any bagging or load any carts. Once it has passed through their hands, it's your responsibility. The same goes for Home Plus. At E-Mart, many people do not bag their items because they charge 50 won (about five cents) per bag. After I paid on the second floor, I had to go to the third floor because that is the only place to go when you pay on the second floor. It took a little longer than normal to get an elevator down to the first floor. There was one that came, but it was packed and it was going up. When I finally got down to the first floor, there was a big crowd of people waiting to get in the elevator. In the United States people crawl out of the woodworks the day after Thanksgiving; here, they do it the day before.

Answer to the Question of the Week

2008-09-11T00:11:00.000+09:00

Seoul is the largest city in South Korea. Pusan is the second largest. What is the third largest?

Jeju-si-0 (0%)
Masan-0 (0%)
Incheon-1 (33%)
Daegu-2 (66%)

The correct answer is Daegu.

Bottle of Wine, Any Old Time

2008-09-10T00:37:00.000+09:00

Today I received two bottles of Chilean wine in a gift box and it helped me to understand something that has been going on recently at stores like E-Mart and Home Plus. A couple of weeks ago, the grocery floor was rearranged. In addition, there was a line of gift boxes on the way to the down escalator. Some of the women working at E-Mart have been wearing traditional Korean outfits. Chuseok is September 14. It is Korean Thanksgiving. The wine was a Chuseok gift. The department stores have various gift box sets that are like what one can buy at a retail department store around Christmas. These ones are bigger though (and more expensive). I wondered why all of a sudden I started seeing E-Mart employees wearing Korean attire. Now I know.

The Sandwich Maker

2008-09-06T18:10:00.000+09:00

I got to make sandwiches today. At our school, the kids get point cards for good behavior or good performance. Today, was market day so that the kids could cash in their points. We had a book store, food court, toy store, a movie, and a cooking class. I was in charge of the cooking class, which basically consisted of making sandwiches and letting the kids watch. I also had to cut ham and tomatoes, as well as peel and cut cucumbers. I think that I made more sandwiches for adults than I did for the kids. I made sandwiches for the Korean staff and for some of the parents. We went through two loaves of bread and ran out before the day was over. I guess I could work at a sandwich shop someday. A couple of the students were not able to finish their sandwiches. They were twins. I gave his uneaten half to a Korean staff member who will never have to worry about getting fat. One student ate half and gave the other half to his mother. I took pictures of some of the students with their sandwiches. One student had a hard time eating it; the sandwich fell apart. They're such cute kids.

My Students Taught Me Korean

2008-09-05T10:21:00.000+09:00

I learned a couple of Korean words yesterday. Changmin means rose and pea means blood. For the lesson I asked the students what their favorite flowers were. A student told me changmin. Another student said that that means rose. In another class, we mentioned vegetables. A student told me that he did not like vegetables. I have a poster in the back that has pictures of fruits and vegetables. The names are in Korean and English and the English name is in the Roman alphabet and in Hangul. This student said something about how pea is blood. I did not know just what he was talking about until after class when he asked a couple of the Korean teachers. The Hangul for pea is the same as the Korean word for blood.

New Schedule, Yippee!

2008-09-03T10:39:00.000+09:00

This week we started a new term, so I got new classes. Before, my co-teacher and I had mostly lower level classes. At our school, we have ten levels and each has its own name, but for the purposes here, I'll give a number for each level. Last term, we had one Level 1, one Level 2, two Level 3, three Level four, and one Level six class. This term we have one Level 1, one Level 4, four Level 5, one Level 6, two Level 7, and one Level 9 class. Most of the students that I have I have not had in class before. Most of the students are well-behaved because they are older than the ones that I had before and they understand more English. Last term, I had some students with some behavior problems. My last class was one that had several troublemakers. It was difficult at first. Most of the students that I have again are ones that I liked.

Answer to the Question of the Week and more on Hangul

2008-09-03T01:16:00.000+09:00

How many characters are there in the Korean alphabet?

52-2 (25%)
30-2 (25%)
thousands-3 (37%)
24-1 (12%)

The correct answer is 24. Of course, when some of them are combined, they create new sounds, like when a and u or p and h are put together. There are 24 basic characters, 14 consonents and 10 vowels. The Korean alphabet is called hangul and it was invented by King Sejong. Prior to its invention and for many years after, people used Chinese characters for writing. King Sejong felt that since Korean was another language, it should have its own writing system. In addition, people could not get the proper meaning across when writing with Chinese characters. He invented the alphabet in such a way that illiterate people could read. The characters give you directions on how to pronouce the word. For example, some of them are shown the way that the tongue is suppose to move. When you see Korean, there are several characters that make up one syllable. All syllables have to have a consonent and a vowel. When the vowel is lying down, the consonent is over it and when the vowel is standing, the consonent is standing beside it. When there is a consonent at the end of the syllable, it goes under the other letters.

The letters must be written a particular way. There is a right way and there is a wrong way. You can't just go about writing the lines in any way that you want. There is a particular order that you have to follow. You have to draw from left to right and from up to down. I see this translated into the way that the kids write. Whearas most of us dot our 'i's and cross our 't's last, they do the dotting and the crossing first. On Friday, I was informed that I write my capital Hs wrong. I had the middle section sticking out on either side. A student showed me the proper way to write an H.

How to Get a Cell Phone in Korea

2008-09-01T22:49:00.000+09:00

Today I finally got my own cell phone. Before, I had just a rental cell phone and it was a bit expensive just to have, not to mention talk on. All foreigners have to show their Alien Registration Cards to get a cell phone. It took a while to get mine, and then after I got it, the address had to be changed. I got it back for good last week. Since we were still on the summer intensive schedule, I did not have time to go and get a cell phone. I went to an SK Telecom store Friday night after work, but they were closing. I went three doors down to another SK Telecom store and the man there did not speak English. I felt like an idiot. The place was closing at that time too. Later, I looked at some places near the next subway stop in the other direction from my apartment. On one block, there were four SK Telecom stores! Saturday morning, I went to the first one on the block and told them what I wanted. A man in there told me to go to the one with T World on it. There was one employee working in there and he did not speak much English, probably only what was taught in Korean schools, which isn't much. He went next door to get somebody who spoke English and I told him what I wanted. After the first man figured out what I wanted, he said to come back on Monday. What I wanted was not available on weekends. I went back today and he remembered me. There was another man working there and he did speak English. It took a little while because it was Monday he said. I got a used handset for a prepaid phone. Here, you have to go to a dealer even if you want just a prepaid phone. You cannot buy a phone at a retail store and then set it up over a landline phone. SK Telecom stores are everywhere, and KT and LG also provide cell phone service. Virtually everybody here has a cell phone. I have confiscated cell phones from kids in class because they were playing with them. One day, about six kids who were not more than 8 (Western age) were taking pictures of me on their cell phones.

How to Pay a Bill in Korea

2008-08-29T21:59:00.000+09:00

Today, I paid my gas bill. I did not do it in person at an office of the gas company, nor did I pay it online or over the phone. Instead, I went to the bank to pay it. There is no checking system in Korea, so unless you pay with cash or credit card, you have to pay by bank transfer. The bill from the gas company came with a stub that had some numbers and bar code on it. The bank has a special machine for paying bills. You put your ATM card in the machine. Then, you put the stub in the machine. It will ask you to verify by putting in your code. The bill is paid. I knew that there was a machine for it. One of the tellers came over and helped me do it.

Later, I wanted to have the transactions printed in my passbook. They still use passbooks for accounts here instead of people writing the transactions in a check register. You put the book in a machine, but not the same one used to pay bills. The machine then prints all the transactions that have not been printed yet. I could not figure out how to use the machine because it was in only Korean. I was able to use this machine to get money out with my ATM card because it could be used in English. I went up to one of the tellers and pointed to the page in the passbook. It took her a second to figure out what I wanted. I felt retarded not saying anything and just pointing. In the end, I did get the transactions printed.

What is This?

2008-08-28T23:43:00.000+09:00

I've seen some gadgets here that I have never seen before. Some of them, I cannot figure out what they are. There was one appliance at E-Mart that I could not figure out. When I opened it, I realized that it was a countertop dishwasher. Tonight, I saw some contraption that I figured out from the picture that it is used to grind fish, chicken, etc. bones. I've seen one appliance that had I not been to a restaurant here, I would not have known what it is. I saw it at the store and it looked like an electric box. One day, I went to the food court at Home Plus Department Store with the other teachers. We had to get our spoons and chopsticks from a box that looked just like that other box. It turns out that it is an ultraviolet light sterilizer. You put the silverware in there and the ultraviolet lights sterilize them. Sunday, I decided to go to Hyundai Department Store and I saw a mechanism. Before I came here, I read an article about the best electronics that were not yet available in the United States. One of them, which was exclusive to South Korea, was a small laptop. I wondered if that device that I saw at Hyundai was a small laptop or if it was a translator. If it was a computer, it was very cheap, about $250. If it is just a translator, then it was a bit expensive, I think. Perhaps it was neither. I did not get a very good look at it because I did not want to seem too interested. All these apparatuses make me feel like the Clampetts living in Beverly Hills.

The Home Stretch

2008-08-27T22:25:00.000+09:00

This is the last week that I will have to teach summer intensive courses. The first month that I taught, I had six classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, two classes on Tuesdays, and four classes on Thursdays. When the summer intensive courses started at the beginning of the month, two classes were added to my Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. I also had to teach five more classes on Tuesdays and four more classes on Thursdays. This month, it was summer break for Korean school and so we offered additional classes for some students so that they could go to English school everyday.

Next week, I'll have a different schedule from what I have now. I'll be teaching six classes everyday and will have ten groups of students. Right now, I have eight groups of students. This term I taught the lower levels, which can be harder to teach because the students are younger and they don't understand as much English as the other kids. It's also easy to sound like a broken record. Next term, I'll have more upper-level classes.

The one lower-level class that I will teach next term, if all goes according to plan, is one that I'm teaching right now. It's our lowest level course, but there is more freedom with the methodology because the class is unique to Pusan. Sometimes, it can be hard to keep the kids' attention. Today, we played hangman at the end of class and the kids seemed to like it. The kids did not know how to play so at first it was a bit hard getting them to guess letters. After they got the hang (no pun intended) of it, they were all yelling out letters and wanted to play hangman with another word.

Answer to the Question of the Week

2008-08-26T21:11:00.000+09:00

How old would people with birthdates of March 10, 2001, and October 31, 1978, be in Korea on August 31st?

8, 32-0 (0%)
7,30-1 (33%)
8, 31-0 (0%)
7, 31-0 (0%)
7, 29-2 (66%)

The correct answer is 8, 31. In Korea, everybody gets a year older at the start of a new year, not on the birthday. The only way that a person's Korean age matches his/her Western age is when he/she was born on January 1. Here in Korea, I am 23, even though I am 22 in the United States. When I ask the students their ages, they tell me their Korean ages. So, if a student tells me he is 10, then I have to remember that he is nine if his birthday has passed and eight if his birthday has not passed.

What Beautiful Eyelids You Have!

2008-08-19T23:23:00.000+09:00

Yesterday during lunch with fellow teachers, I mentioned that I plan to get eye surgery while I am in Korea. I was talking about LASIK eye surgery, but one of the teachers thought I was talking about eyelid surgery. He wondered why I, a Westerner, would want to have eyelid surgery. He told me that some Korean women have plastic surgery on their eyelids to make them look more Western. Since learning that, I have looked at people's eyes here and have noticed that the eyelids are different. I've also heard that some women also have rhinoplasty to make the bridges more pronounced. Somebody once told me that the Japanese travel to Korea to have plastic surgery because it is cheaper to come here and have it done than it is to just have it done in Japan. There is a plastic surgery clinic at the mall!

Answer to the Question and Korean Names

2008-08-19T19:17:00.000+09:00

What are the three most common family names in Korea?

The results are as follows:

Kim, Park, Chow 0 (0%)
Park, Honda, Lee 0 (0%)
Kim, Lee, Park 3 (60%)
Lee, Park, Chen 0 (0%)
Kim, Park, Cho 2 (40%)
Shin, Lee, Kim 0 (0%)

The correct answer is Kim, Lee, Park. Chow and Chen are Chinese and Honda is Japanese. This information comes from Tongku Lee in his book Yes, You Can Learn Korean Language Structure in 40 Minutes! Kim is the most common family name in Korea. In fact, in one of my classes, there are 12 students and six of them are Kim. In Korean, the family name comes first. A person's name can be two, three, or four syllables, but most are three. The first syllable is the family name and the last two are the given name. It is impolite to call a person by just his/her given name unless that person is younger than you or is a child. You call a person by his/her full name or by his/her title and family name. Women do not change their names when they get married. The children have their father's family name.

Reminder to All Patients: OTC means OTC!

2008-08-10T03:01:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, I went to E-Mart to the pharmacy to get some Epsom salt and peroxide. In this country, you have to ask for any kind of pharmaceutical product, not just the stuff of which they want to control the sale, or reduce the theft, such as Sudafed or Plan B. Once, I needed some aspirin. I had to go to the counter and ask for it. I did not know if the pharmacist would know what I was talking about when I said aspirin, but he understood just fine. I later learned that Koreans do say aspirin. Yesterday, when I went to the pharmacy, I took the cell phone that I rented because it has a dictionary on it. I showed the pharmacist the word for Epsom salt and he was looking at it for quite a while. I don't know if they had it there or not. He was saying something to me in Korean. I don't know if he was asking if I was going to ingest it or if he thought I wanted regular salt, but I did not get any Epsom salt. I was able to get the peroxide though. I showed him the word for peroxide on the phone and he got it for me. Having to ask for everything at the pharmacy has made me hope that I do not need medications much here. It's not because I get things that I'm embarrassed to be buying; it's the language barrier and the fear that they are going to tell me that I need a prescription for something that I could buy over-the-counter in the United States.

New Question

2008-08-09T13:12:00.001+09:00

There is a new question of the week. This one is about family names and which ones are the most common in Korea. I'll provide more information on Korean names when the poll is closed.

Question of the Week and More on the DMZ

2008-08-09T12:19:00.000+09:00

The question of the week was "What city, whose location is now the site of the Joint Security Area, was destroyed during the Korean War?"

The results are as follows:

Daeseong 1 (33%)
Panmunjom 2 (66%)
Gijeong 0 (0%)
Chuncheon 0 (0%)

The correct answer is Panmunjom. Daeseong and Gijeong are both villages within the DMZ. Chuncheon is just a city in South Korea. Thank you to everybody who voted.

Daeseong is located in South Korea. It is known as Freedom Village. The people who live there are from families who lived there before the Korean Conflict. Its residents do not have to pay taxes and men living there are except from the two-year military obligation. Farmers in Daeseong have about 17 acres of farmland, whereas farmers in the south have about 4 acres. Women can marry into the village but men cannot because it would exempt them from the military service. Farmers in Daeseong make about $82,000 tax-free. The residents have an 11:00 curfew.

Gijeong is in North Korea and is known as Propaganda Village. There are no residents there, only maintenance staff. It is Propaganda Village because for six to twelve hours a day, propaganda about Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il is played to anybody around, with the hopes that they will defect to North Korea.

There is a lot of competition between the two Koreas. South Korea built a flagpole near the Military Demarcation Line. That flagpole is 100 meters tall. North Korea decided to build a bigger one. That flagpole is 160 meters tall and is the biggest and tallest flagpole in the world. The South Korean flagpole looks puny by that North Korean flagpole. When Seoul hosted the 1988 Olympics, the Olympics Committee gave South Korea an Olympic flag. The Republic of Korea gave it to Daeseong to show off to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since they decided not to participate in the Olympics that year.

I Stepped into North Korea on Wednesday!

2008-08-04T22:44:00.000+09:00

I decided that for my first vacation in Korea that I would stay within the country. I decided that I would go to the DMZ. My copy of Lonely Planet said that the USO had tours to the DMZ that included the Joint Security Area and the Third Tunnel. I made a reservation but I was afraid that I might not be able to go because I had to submit my passport to immigration so that I could get an Alien Registration Card, which is a permit to live in South Korea. Without it, I would not be able to open a bank account and then I could not get paid because there is no checking system in Korea--all payments are made through bank transfer. I thought that I could not go, but then my branch manager told me that I could with a copy of my passport and my driver's license. I was so happy then.

Wednesday, I had to get up early and go to Camp Kim in Seoul because the bus was leaving at 7:30 a.m. I had to follow a dress code and anybody who did not follow the dress code was not allowed on the tour. On the way to Camp Bonifas, our tour guide told us about the fence that was along the river. This river started in North Korea and it had a fence along it in South Korea because North Koreans would use their marine skills to get into the South. There were also white stones in the fence. The stones would fall if anybody tampered with the fence. There were also watchtowers along the river with soldiers in them.

As we got closer, there was a bridge that we had to get military clearance to pass. There were blocks set up every few meters on alternating sides of the road. We had to weave around these blocks. We we got to Camp Bonifas, a US Army soldier had to check everybody's ID. We later had to switch buses and get onto an ROK Army secured bus. We went to Ballinger Hall where we were given a briefing about the Korean War, the history of the DMZ since the war, what we must not do, and the requirements to be a soldier stationed at the DMZ. Right now, there are about 600 soldiers there. About 40 are American soldiers and the rest are ROK. All South Korean men have to serve in the military for at least two years. Most South Korean men there are fulfilling their military obligation.

ROK and US soldiers at the DMZ have to have spotless civilian and military records. US soldiers have to have above average height, size, and aptitude. ROK soldiers have to be taller and bigger than the average ROK soldier. They must also have basic fluency in written and spoken English and they must have a black belt in Taekwondo or Judo.

We went to Reunion Hall, which is right on Conference Row. The building was built so that families separted by the DMZ could reunite; however, because the DPRK will not allow its people to go there, the hall has not been used for that purpose. There are six buildings on Conference Row, each side has three and the buildings are divided in half by the Military Demarcation Line. We went into one of these buildings and I stepped onto the side that is in North Korea. There is a door there and the door is guarded by an ROK soldier and anybody who tries to go past him will be stopped.

I'll tell more about the JSA and the two villages within the DMZ after I reveal the answer to this week's question. To do so beforehand would give away the answer.

Our last stop of the day was to the Third Infiltration Tunnel. This tunnel was discovered in 1973 after a North Korean defector who had worked on it had tipped off the ROK. The entrance into the tunnel is very steep. Before going in, the tour guide told us not to go if we had asthma, heart problems, claustrophobia, arthritis, etc. The tunnel was very short. We all had to wear hard hats. There were a few places where there was some metal-pipe canopies. I hit my head a couple of times. They said that the tunnel was two meters deep, but I do not think that it was that much. The tunnel is big enough that 30,000 North Korean soldiers could march into South Korea within an hour.

The tour guide on my bus said that the PAK soldiers were the short, skinny, brown-skinned soldiers. The other tour guide said that the tunnel is so small because it was made for North Koreans. His two kids are taller than he, just like all of us. The South Koreans have better nutrition than the North Koreans and this is why. I have seen several South Korean men who are over six feet tall. Their nutrition while they were growing helped them to get that tall. I have seen adults in other countries who did not grow to their full potential because of poor diet.

Question of the Week

2008-08-03T22:41:00.000+09:00

There is a new question for the poll. Please take a moment to answer it. It is about the city that was located where the Joint Security Area is now. This question is in honor of my recent trip to the DMZ.

Pajama Party Time

2008-07-28T21:28:00.000+09:00

Earlier tonight I went to E-Mart (Korean Wal-Mart). When I was walking in, I saw the strangest thing. There were two couples dressed in identical pajamas. This was not the first time that I saw somebody where pajamas like this in public. I saw a woman wearing a pair just like them once when I was walking home from work. The first time that I saw these pajamas was at the hospital when I went for the exam that foreigners have to have. So maybe these four escaped from the hospital?

My Weekend

2008-07-28T01:23:00.000+09:00

Usually for the weekends, I stay in Haeundae or go to Centum City. Saturday, I went with my co-teacher, Sophie, to a Buddhist temple. It was in a completely different part of the city. We had to ride a bus for about twenty minutes. It was the first time that I had ridden a city bus in Korea. Every other time that I have needed to get somewhere I have gone by subway, walked, or took a taxi. We had to walk a little bit to get to it. It is along the sea so it has a nice view of the water. There were a lot of people there and the entire time that we were there, I saw about five other Westerners and it was not until we were leaving. Obviously, it is not a big tourist attraction. Later, we went to dinner. Sophie had been a a restaurant around there about three years ago, but she had a hard time finding it. We were going to eat at another restaurant but she did not think that it was very good because there were not many people there. We found the restaurant where she ate. It was a traditional Korean restaurant. We sat on mats on the floor. Each person got individual portions of pumpkin soup, rice, and seaweed soup. The waitress then brought over 20 dishes to share. The best way to eat it is for everybody to taste a little bit of everything. We could not eat everything.

Sunday, I decided to take a walk. I hiked up Dalmaji Hill. I live at the bottom of it. I heard that there was a good view from it. When I got to the top, I could not see much of the city because there were trees in the way. About halfway up (and down) I got a really good view of the bay. I could see all of Haeundae Beach, and the bridge by another beach. It was bit dark so maybe I'll take another walk up it when it is light.

What a Hunk of Junk!

2008-07-24T23:16:00.000+09:00

I have not been able to say that about any of the cars that I have seen around here in Pusan. In the past couple of days, I have noticed that most of the cars here are white, some shade of grey, or black. There are a few red cars, a few green, and a few blue, but they stand out. Most of the cars that people drive here are Hyundai, Daewoo, or Kia, since all three of those makes are South Korean. Most of the cars that I have seen here have been passenger cars--very few vans or SUVs. The cars that I see are all fairly new cars as well. Most of them have been made not more than ten years ago. I'd say that many cars out there were made in the last five years. I have not seen any cars with a lot of dents, dings, or mismatched doors, bumpers, etc. There are not many bikes here like there were in China. (Thank goodness! If you don't know why, just ask.) Most of the motorcycles that I have seen have been delivery men for restaurants. Unfortunately, they are allowed to drive on the sidewalk.

Can I get the Piggy Bag?

2008-07-24T00:32:00.001+09:00

Once on an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld said the following, "Whenever you ask for a doggie bag at a restaurant, there’s a certain sense of failure there, isn’t there? People always whisper it to the waiter, “Uh, excuse me. Can I get the doggie bag? I, uh, I-I couldn’t make it” It’s embarrassing, because the doggie bag means either you’re out at a restaurant when you’re not hungry, or you’ve chosen the stupidest possible way there is to get dog food."

I mention this because the staff at our school went out to a restaurant tonight. It was a buffet. It was like any other buffet that you could have gone to, except in this one, we were able to barbecue meat at the table. Each table had a barbecue station and we were able to cook pork and beef at the table. Nine of the ten employees at the school were there and we had our one little room. Since it was a buffet, we obviously did not get doggie bags, but people here do not usually get doggie bags anyway--they just leave the food at the restaurant. One may think that is very wasteful, but not really if you know what they then do with the food.

In my first week here I was told this and I confirmed it tonight. The leftover restaurant food goes to the pigs. That is why pork is so cheap here. In the McDonald's here, there are two trash receptacles, one for the wrappers and one for the food. Perhaps if there were something like that, not necessarily pigs, in the United States, then maybe they would not have been complaints about people wasting food because people bought the Happy Meal just for the Teenie Beenie Baby and then threw away the food. Restaurants here do not have take-out containers. If you order out some food, then it comes in the restaurant's dishes and then when you are done eating, you just put the dishes outside the door, uneaten food included.

Instead of choosing the stupidest possible way to get dog food, the South Koreans have found a way to feed the pigs and use the food that would have gone in the garbage anyway. I wonder if they feed pork to the pigs as well.

United States vs. South Korea

2008-07-22T23:36:00.000+09:00

According to Geert Hofstede, the cultural dimensions of the United States and South Korea are very different. There are five different dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-Term Orientation.

South Korea
Power Distance-60
Individualism-18
Masculinity-39
Uncertainty Avoidance-85
Long-Term Orientation-75

United States
Power Distance-40
Individualism-91
Masculinity-62
Uncertainty Avoidance-46
Long-Term Orientation-29

What do all these numbers mean?

Power Distance is the extent to which members in a group who are not in a powerful position to expect the power to be distributed inequally. In South Korea, less powerful people are less likely to expect equal power.
Individualism is the opposite of collectivism. People in individualistic cultures are more likely to believe in every man for himself; whereas people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to think about the groups' welfare. The United States is very individualistic, but South Korea is very collectivistic.
Masculinity of a culture does not refer to whether everybody is very masculine or feminine. The masculine pole means assertive, but the feminine pole means modesty. What this means is that the women in South Korea are not nearly as assertive and competitive as the the women in the United States.
The Uncertainty Avoidance Index measures a culture's tolerance for ambiguity. The South Koreans have a much lower tolerance for uncertainty than Americans have.
Long-term orientation is the opposite of short term orientation. Values associated with Long-term orientation are thrift and perserverance, but values that go with Short-term orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting 'face.' Both poles of this dimension are from Confucius.

If reading this post has not bored you to death, you can go to http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ for more information about the five cultural dimensions. I first heard about these dimensions in a Spanish class in college.

Poll

2008-07-22T22:25:00.000+09:00

I've decided that for the poll, after this one is over, that I will instead have trivia questions about South Korea. When the poll is over, I'll put the results in a post as well as the answer and a little bit about it. For example, if the question were "Where is South Korea?," I'd give a few choices, only one of which would be the correct answer. The post about the poll would look like this:

Results

Europe-3
Asia-15
Africa-1
South America-0

Answer

South Korea is located in Asia, on the Korea Penisula. It is south of North Korea, east of China, and west of Japan.

My Apartment

2008-07-22T00:59:00.000+09:00

My apartment is very small. It is not much bigger than my room at home, but it is enough for me. It has a bed, two large wardrobes, a desk, a couple of shelves, a full-size fridge, a water closet, and a washing machine. The washing machine also has a dryer on it--I can just throw the clothes in and they come out clean and dry. It's as simple as that! There is no oven, but there is a two-burner gas stove. Before now, I had never cooked with gas, but it is nice to not have to wait for the element to heat. I met my Faculty Manager during the training week and he told me that I should expect a dirty apartment because the Koreans do not believe in leaving a clean apartment for the next person. They are not like Golde on The Fiddler on the Roof, who swept the floor before they left because she did not want to leave a dirty house. It was not as dirty as I had expected. The worst was the smell of the place. It smelled strongly of nicotine. The room got aired out well though because the first week or so that I was here, the air conditioner did not work and so I had to have the window open to let a breeze in.

I live in the 10th floor. Luckily there is an elevator. My building is two blocks from the nearest subway station. It's the second stop on the line and so when I get on the subway there are always seats. If I open the window and stick my head against the screen and look a certain way, I can see part of Haeundae Beach, the most famous beach in South Korea. It is about a 15-minute walk from my apartment. I live down the street from the beach. The best time to go there right now is at night. I went there on a Saturday afternoon and there were so many people there. It is a swimming beach. Even at high tide, there are not many waves so surfing is not feasible. They have life guards going back and forth on jet skis and motorized life rafts. During the day, there are so many umbrellas set up that one can rent for 5,000 won (about $5).

You have to step up to get into the apartment after you come in past the door. The living space is hardwood floor, but there is linoleum by the door. In South Korea, when you go into somebody's home, you take off your shoes. That area is there so that you can leave your shoes at the door. Whereas most doors to homes and apartments open in in American homes and apartments, the doors apartments here open out. The bathroom is also a step down. My bathroom is bigger than what I expected. There is actually a separate space for the shower, but it drains into a hole by the sink. You have to get the floor wet to take a shower here. During training, some of the people who had already been in South Korea, and saw their apartment said that there was not a separate space for the shower. If you were lazy, you could sit on the toilet while you take a shower.

A Month Already!

2008-07-20T22:47:00.001+09:00

I have been here in South Korea for a month now; I have been teaching for three weeks. It was a bit difficult the first day since I did not know any of the kids and it was my first time teaching ever. I now know all of the kids' names (most of them go by an English name for class) so that has helped to make things easier. There are two other foreign teachers and three Korean teachers at the school. In the program, the kids have a class with me for 40 minutes and a class with a Korean teacher for 40 minutes. In the seedbed level, there is no difference in what the Korean teacher and the foreign teachers teach, but in the seed, sprout, and sapling levels, the foreign teachers teach speaking and the Korean teachers teach reading and writing. In teaching the lessons, I have learned too. I had never heard of Heston Blumenthal or Admiral Yi-Sun Shin before I taught the lessons that mentioned those people.

Traffic in Korea

2008-06-25T16:03:00.001+09:00

The traffic here is just horrid. The people here drive about like the people in China and Bangkok. You just have to be assertive if you want to change lanes. The people drive on the same side of the road as the people in the United States. Since I am doing an easier program, I do not have training for as long during the day as most of the other instructors. Our bus driver picked us up just after one and we did not get back to our hotel. Usually, the ride is about a half hour at the most. People run red lights frequently. Today, on our afternoon ride, there was a bus that was very close to us--we could have shaken hands with the people in the other bus. I saw a corvette that had its entire front end smashed in and the police were directing traffic around it. The front bumper looked like it flew a ways, or that was somebody else's back bumper; I could not really tell. I'm just so glad that I do not have to drive in this mess.

Arrival in Korea

2008-06-24T15:31:00.001+09:00

I arrived in Korea safely on Sunday night. The flight from Taipei to Incheon was about two hours. The man sitting next to me told me that on all Korean flights, the meal was included in the price of the ticket. He once flew from Chicago to San Juan, Puerto Rico and all that he got was a glass of water and a piece of bread for the four-hour flight. I learned a few things about Korea from talking to him. He was very friendly and I think that part of the reason that he talked to me so much was that he wanted to practice his English. I was a bit afraid that I would get lost somewhere at the airport, but I just followed the instructions from the school and arrived at the hotel in good shape. The hotel is very nice. It has a kitchenette with dishes and a washing machine. Basically, it is a small studio apartment. This week I am doing training at the training center. Since I am doing the elementary program instead of the regular program, I do not have to do as much training as some of the other teachers. I just hope that I pass the training so that I can start working next week.