On common sense

Original:

안녕 하세요!! 보건실 입니다..

이번 주 들어 감기 등의 증상 학생 들이 많아 지고 있습니다.

작년의 있었던 신종플루는 계절 독감 으로 같이 취급하고 있으며 신종플루라는 용어는 사용하지 않고 그냥 " 인플루엔자" 로 용어를 통일하고 있습니다. 복지부 에서는 신종플루를 포함한 독감이 예년 수준으로 유행 할 것으로 보고 작년처럼 대유행하지는 않을 것으로 전망하고 있습니다..

아울러  선생님 들께서는 교실에 들어 가서 자주 환기를 해 주시고 학생들에게.. 손씻기, 기침 예절-손으로 가리기,마스크 착용 등을 각별히 지도 해 주시기 바랍니다. 마스크가 없는 학생은 보건실로 보내 주시면 마스크를 드리겠습니다.

각 반별로 특히 감기 학생이 많은 반은 각별히 신경써 주시기 바랍니다.

방학이 얼마 남지 않앗는데... 무사히 넘어 가기를 바랍니다.
바쁘신데,,, 건강 조심하시고... 즐거운 하루 되세요!!!

Aaaaaaaaaand, Google Translate:

Hi! Infirmary is a ..

For this week, many students are getting cold symptoms such as.

Last year's flu season was treated as flu and flu just do not use the term "flu" is to unifythe terminology. Ministry of flu, including the usual levels of influenza reported to beprevalent throughout the pandemic will not like last year can be expected ..

Teachers enter the classroom as well as go to it often gave vent to students .. Hand washing, cough etiquette - hand-screening, especially the map and have to wear a mask, please. Students who do not mask the mask, please send it to the health clinicwill.

Each class, especially in extreme cold, half the student cares a lot, please.

Anatneunde vacation just around the corner ... I hope over the top in one piece.
Bother,,, health care and ... Have a nice day!

If I see a student actually attempt to cover their mouths while coughing I am surprised. VERY surprised. (Do not even get me started on spitting, not just outdoors, but INDOORS.) Seems basic manners about what is not just dirty but also bloody disgusting is not part of the home education.

90 vs 10

The final class of the day starts at 14:15. With just a little bit of effort you can finish the Penalty Work in under 15 minutes and go watch the movie. If I see you trying I'll most likely be nice and reduce the amount of work, bringing it down to about 10 minutes.

Numnut did nothing for the whole 45 minutes, even when I warned him that he would not be going home until he finishes. He immediately started grumbling.

When the final bell went he stood up to go at which point I reminded him he was not finished. This started a 30 minute argument/reasoning/pleading to get out of doing the work. When he finally realised I was not going to give in he did the work and it took, surprise surprise, only 10 minutes.

Was it really necessary to waste both our time like this?

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Did I do something wrong?

I was playing a game and was not paying attention, but she got on the bus, took the seat next to me, the only open one on the bus, almost immediately got up to go stand at the door, then sat down when someone there got up at the next stop. She remained there until we both got off at the end of the route.

I know I didn’t smell bad and I know I wasn’t talking to myself…

If only Harry had a lightsaber

It’s not often I make the effort to see something on the big screen, but this weekend I went to see the new Harry Potter.

Did you know Saturday was a school day? NO STUDENTS IN THE THEATRE!

The film, overall, was OK. Nothing earth shattering, but if you’ve already watched all the previous films, then you need to watch this, I suppose. The film starts of weirdly with little explanation of what is happening. If you never read the books, or, like me you sometimes forget what you read or what happened in the previous film all those months ago, then this can be just a tad bit confusing. A few minutes in and we transition into an air battle. Yah! Excitement! It fight started off with a bang, but unfortunately fizzled out in to a snore. This is no George Lucas film, for sure.

From there on the film just drags along. For large parts of the film nothing really happens. They sit around and argue. They walk around thinking. They run around doing, whatever. The more I think back on it, the more boring the film seems.

Despite the not so great overall entertainment I can say I am really happy I saw this on the big screen. The cinematography is enough to make most photographers drool and marvel at the precision of each shot, especially the near static filler scenes and the nature panoramas. They picked the most amazing landscapes to fill the background and the setups of rooms where they spend time looked like setups for a photo shoots. I will watch the film again just to see all that again.

So, the verdict…
Go see it. What else do you have to do?

This is how we(meaning me) like.

I am busy making a list of things I would like to see or do next year. To better appreciate the places I visit, I intend to create short write-ups about them. Each write-up will be divided in to four sections

1. “Hundred words…GO!”

This will be a short description of this location in no more than 100 words. If I can’t fit it in, then I either need to improve my writing (likely) or this place is too much for one visit. Let the photos do the talking where words aren’t needed, right?

2. “…or download a movie instead?”

Is this place worth your time, or maybe yours? Should you even bother leaving the house for it?

3. “Do they throw the Inglishee good?”

Is there any English available and what is the quality of said English? Also, is the information provided worth anything? There is no point telling us how many stones were used and what the total weight of the shrine is of I don’t even know why it was put here in the first place, is there? Yes, I understand that cultures are not the same. I’m not saying the information is bad. I am just saying that the information is likely not what us “westerners” would like to receive.

4. Checka-Checka!

I love taking photographs and often I will visit a place for no other reason than to get a single photograph. This section is my opinion on your opportunity to get great photographs of the location. The location, not you. Confused? This is what I mean.

 

Note: This is a work in progress. I might change it a bit, but who knows?

Hanja

Sometime, when putting the office messages through Google Translate, something will catch my eye. Today there was some sort of schedule change for the 3^rd graders. One of the subjects that were mentioned was 한자쓰기 (Chinese Letters Writing). That in itself is not interesting. The fact that Google translates it as 한자 as “Kanji” which is the Japanese name for “Chinese Letters”. Korean is “Hanja”, pretty close, but not the same thing.

I find Hanja quite interesting, not to study, but just to think about. I read once that the literacy rate in Korea is something like 98% and it would be even higher, if that was possible, if people didn’t have to learn Chinese Letters. Why they still learn I is unknown to me. I suspect it is a bit like learning Latin because it gives Koreans an insight in to a part of their language.

As for using it outside of school... many of the older Koreans can read quite a bit of Chinese and it seems they studied it much more intensely when they were in school. It also seems that not so long ago quite a few signs and even news papers used quite a bit of Chinese, and if you couldn’t read it your would be a bit like a newbie English teacher.

If I ever get around to mastering more Korean, I might actually start learning some Hanja. Apparently it is quite interesting.

Really? You? Again?

Answering the replies:

What is with people? Are people feeling guilty about something? Read what I wrote here. READ IT! I am not saying you are not allowed to take photos of yourself. In context photos of your are perfectly fine. I’m merely pointing out that you should NOT claim that photos of YOU are actually photos of something else. I’m not really making any other point in that regard.

If you bother to finish the post, you will see the note that says that this is in preparation for something else. In context this is not nearly the rant everyone seems to think it is. This is merely an explanation of what I personally consider a "photo opportunity" and the fact that I don't consider that “photo hogging” a photo opportunity when travelling.

Lastly, people are trying to throw “not everyone is a great photographer” in my face. I’m not a great photographer, yet I get nice photos. Amazing how that happens, isn’t it? Most of my friends are not great photographers, yet they get nice photos and I enjoy looking through them. I wonder how? Also, if you are in your own photo, then you are NOT the photographer, so your skill as no bearing on anything.

You see it all the time. Photos of people standing in front of a landmark or some other point of interest, facing the camera with a huge smile on their face. Sometimes they’re pointing at said point of interest and maybe even doing something silly. What is more, in a set of say 50 photos, as many as 40 will basically be the same photo with just a change of background.

I can just imagine how the conversation will go if they ever had to show hard copies in an album to someone: “Look, here I am posing next to the old tree, and here I am, posing in front of the pond next to the old tree, and here I am posing at the sign telling us that this is the old tree. Here I am, in front of the plaque with the name of the gallery next to the old tree with the pond and here I am inside the gallery posing next to an amazing work of art, and completely distracting you from looking at it.”

“So?” people might say, “these are photos showing where I was”.

Well, yes, but mostly NO! These are photos of you. Not photos of things you saw and places you went to. These things and places are the backgrounds to photos of you. You are the subject with everything else doing nothing more than adding interest to a photo of, all together now, yoooou.

Was that place really so boring that you couldn’t find anything that deserved its own photos? If indeed it was so boring, why then are you showing us these photos? Can’t we just look at your face while we speak to you or at your profile picture after we looked at your photos?

“No, the photos are not about me.” (pointing) “They are about that there.” Let’s have another look, shall we…

Are you looking straight at the camera and smiling? Yes? Then the photo is about you! See that big thing you are standing in front of? I’m not looking at that because you are twice its size, in the foreground, and…yes, that’s right, smiling at the camera. Humans are programmed to look at people and their faces. It takes a strong man, or women, to look at the background before looking at…yooooou.

“Yes, but when I’m in the photo it shows people that I was there.”

Firstly, don’t you think a single photo at the start of the series is enough to prove that you were at the location of all the photos to follow? Secondly, just who are these people doubting you? Are they your friends? If they are and don’t believe that you actually took those photos yourself, don’t you think it is about time to drop them?

If you absolutely HAVE to be in the photo, please look like you belong in the scene. Don’t BE the scene. Stand further away from the camera so that you don’t obscure or dominate the scene. Pretend you are doing something. “Glance” at something off to the side of the photographer. Read a book and look like you are relaxing in the shade of the tree next to the Eifel tower. Yes, the Eifel Tower will still be impressive, even without your mug filling the entire foreground, and you will also look more like you were actually enjoying the place instead of just trying to hog the camera.

Lastly, and for heaven’s sake just do this, spend 5 minutes reading up on the rule of thirds and then spend 30 seconds explaining it to whomever you are giving your camera to. These photos are memories and I obviously memories you want to share. Don’t you think others deserve something worth their time?

Note: This post was written in preparation of a series of posts I will do next year in which “Photo Opportunity” will be discussed.

About time.

Wondering at what point I will be told about this…

오늘 민방위의 날 관련하여 오후 2시부터 공습경보에 따른 비상대피훈련이 있겠습니다.
첨부해드리는 자료를 보시고

5교시 교과선생님들께서는 실제상황이라고 생각하시어 담당학급을 인솔하시어
운동장 앞 스탠드로 순서대로 집결할 수 있도록 협조 부탁드립니다.
전 교직원 / 빛반 학생 모두 해당됩니다.

공습경보는 2시부터 약 15분간입니다. / 이후 경계경보로 바뀌면 다시 내려온 순서대로 교실에 입실하시면 됩니다. 힘드시겠지만, 여러가지로 중요한 훈련이니 많은 협조부탁드립니다.

Google Translate:

Civil Defence in relation to today's 2 pm the day due to air-raid alarm will be followed by an emergency evacuation drills.

Year saw the offering materials attached 5th period considered subject hasieo Teachers in charge of the actual situation, ledthe class hasieo Stand in front yard in order to assist the ashes please. Former faculty / student applies to both bitban.

Red Alert is about 15 minutes from the two. / turns into a security alert since the ordercame down again, will you be admitted into class. That's rough, but in many ways Is an important training cooperation and thank you.

Update:

금일 민방위 훈련과 관련하여 점심식사를 드시고 1시 10분에  3층교무실에서 간단한 연수가 있을 예정입니다.

바쁘시겠지만 이번 민방위훈련은 실제 대피훈련이기 때문에 선생님들께서는 꼭 참석해주시기 바랍니다.

감사합니다.^^

Google Translate:

In connection with civil defense training today to eat lunch at 1:00 10 3cheunggyomusileseo is expected to be a simple training.

The boy scouts are busy, but because the actual evacuation drills attended theTeachers you please.
Thank you. ^ ^

Update:

I was quite literally told 10 minutes before the “Big Event”

Slip-sliding away.

Just like Gauteng has weather conditions that are unfamiliar to these parts of Korea (frightening thunderstorms…how I miss thee), so Gyeonggi-do has weather that I am still getting used to.

Today, despite the literally freezing conditions, the clouds decided to spit out a light drizzle, just enough to make everything wet. This is worrying because with no sun to dry the moisture from the roads and walking surfaces, I see black ice forming everywhere we don’t need it.

The black ice has not formed yet, so in the mean time the clouds have started spitting out tiny balls of ice. These balls, lying in the thin water layers, does not sure footing make.

Here’s hoping I see a few of my students face plant (without getting seriously hurt) .

Squirt me Squishy

Sometimes we get these thingies in our soup. After asking around I found that these are called Stalked Sea Squirt (미더덕) and there basically nothing good to say concerning them. They have a horrible texture, pops violently when you bite them and thee isn't much to say about the taste because it is mostly boiled out in the soup. Their only redeeming feature is that they are fun to poke.

Give us our Goguryeo back.

On a recent blog post of another blogger someone made the claim that China stole part Korean. To substantiate their argument they posted this map.

The blind righteousness is amazing. On that very same Wiki page is a image showing the original size of Goguryeo, but this is conveniently ignored. (This is not just a Korean thing. There is a lot of it in South Africa and other countries, but I don’t live there, I live in Korea, so this is what I am exposed to most of the time.)

Koreans usually prefer to remember their history in a way where Korea held more territory than the Two Koreas do today. Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms, held territories well in to the area of today’s China. No point disputing that. What I do find funny is that some Koreas believe that this land should still be Korean territory and that China stole it from Korea.

At the War Memorial in Seoul there is a map showing how the Three Kingdoms grew to hold the territories that would later become Korea. Because it show how the kingdoms grew, it necessarily shows Goguryeo as an earlier, smaller kingdom.

And here is where the blindness creeps in. Koreans prefer to just ignore that Goguryeo had to battle and conquer the lands that they held. Conquer, invade and take. They forget that, among others, Goguryeo had to take the territory from kingdoms that would eventually form China. Somehow they view the territory that the Chinese kingdoms took back as rightfully Korean. In truth, “Korea” stole if from “China” and then lost it again.

I write “Korea” and “China” in quotations because these two countries did not exist there 1500 years ago. I might even say that Korea is not allowed to claim any of Goguryeo history, as it is Silla who eventually conquered the other kingdoms, thus forming what we know today as Korea. This means that “Korea" is actually the country who invaded Goguryeo while “China” merely fought back losing some territory in one place and gaining some in another. Therefore it is Korea owes Goguryeo the territory that it stole from them.

There is, of course, the argument that “Korea” rightfully won that territory in battle, but then Korea will also have to accept that it rightfully lost it again in battle and therefore it is forfeited to China. If not, then maybe it is time to give back all that territory that was “stolen” from Baekjae, Ye, Dongye Lelang and Byeonhan.

Interesting Day, Sorta

Interesting hours passed by today. woke up sick and had to to go the doctor. Its a new practice which is good because the other local one closed. It is even better because this one is very close to me AND the doctor speaks decent English. (Watch me smile) The practice is also partnered with a pharmacy, like most doctors are, where the owner speaks excellent English.

Back at school we were playing Past Tense Bingo. My first class was the Lust For Life 3-1 class. My Boise was mostly gone and they treated me nice.

During the game the caller called the word "lie". One of the boys promptly responded with "BINGO!" Leave it to this class to make me happy.

The rest of the day was spent wasting time when not teaching do that I can get home and sleep.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Play that game and make me proud, my boy.

This post was written after reading a post in a forum I like to visit. In the post I actually made a reply regarding the use of nicknames, but I thought it would be nice to bring up another point on my personal blog. This was the forum post…

OttoSilver wrote:

I doubt you will get far in Diamond with constant rushing, especially not to 1700. I doubt he will get far in the tournament though. I suspect he is mostly doing this for experience. It is cheap enough to enter, so why not. He might just get the change to play one of his heros.

Interestingly, he asked me who I liked and I mentioned TLO, to which he replied "Dario?" Strange how the Koreans prefer to use real names rather than game names.

stafo wrote:

This is one of the main reason why I believe that e-sports, as a serious sport, has not gone mainstream in the US. Korean players are mainly known by their real names and not a cheesy username (yes..even mine is cheesy ). While there still is a stigma on e-sports in general in Korea, it's far more accepted there than it is over here.

When I talk to my Korean friends who've watched past progamers and mention them by their username, at first they don't know who I'm talking about. When I say the player's real names, then they know.

For the non-Korean, casual fans, Korean names are harder to remember than the usernames due to the language barrier. I had to change my name to a Western name early on in order for my teachers and fellow students to not butcher my Korean name.

US (and maybe European?) casters, commentators, and players almost always refer to a progamer by their user ID rather than their real name. Maybe it's just part of the geek culture, but I think once people are more remembered by their real names and not by their usernames, e-sports will likely take off quickly.

One of my students will be competing in the StarCraft 2 Open Preliminaries today. I doubt he will get very far, but he is exited and will be gaining valuable experience playing in a high stakes pressure situations.

Commonly referred to as The GSL, this is a tournament with a first prize of 100 million won (approximately $85,000). Yes, I said 100,000,000 won, for playing a computer game. The runner up still gets something like 40,000 won. What’s more is that that this tournament is currently held once a month. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it, but here is the question: “Why is it ridiculous?”

Top football player in England easily get 150,000 pounds a week, not a month, a week, on top of which they still get various bonuses and sponsor payments. Let’s be conservative and say a top player gets 200,000 pounds a week with four weeks in a month. That is approaching a million British pounds a month. That is more than a million dollars a month. In the US sport stars get way more than that, I believe.

“Sure”, you say, “but they are playing a legitimate sport.” That is a matter of opinion. To me the key word that is missing it “Spectator”. They are playing a legitimate spectator sport. In essence the various sports are in no way better than computer games. The various “sports” are pre-computer games, games that people play with friends to have fun and pass time, yet they are rarely considered a waste of time that keeps students away from their studies.

This is slowly changing, however. The GLS offering so much money for a single tournament has suddenly make people everywhere sit up and take notice. This weekend the Gom TV feed actually crashed because so many people wanted to watch the GSL Finals online and those are people how paid to watch that feed. Personally, I had to stand in line for 2 hours before “doors open” to get in to the arena.

At the event itself the players’ proud families sat in the VIP seats and now they can say "My boy/brother/boyfriend has a sweet job. He has fun while making $85,000". Isn’t it about time we start considering e-sport as a bit more than just a waste of time?

I hate Erasers!

One of the 3rd grade questions for this week’s speaking test was “What is least important to you?” I got a few packaged answers where the students would just pick one thing and use it for all their answers, e.g. “Family is least important to me.” Really? Family?

One boy took the proper route. After receiving his question he took about two seconds to think about it, saw an eraser on the table and decided “Erasers are least important to me.”

How can I not give him full marks for innovation?

It’s cheap? I’m there!

Anyone heard about the cabbage shortage in Korea? Yes? Oh, YOU didn’t? Let me tell you.

Koreans LOVE kimchi. Oh, you knew that already? Anyway, some people just like the taste, some people just eat it because that is what Koreans do and some people actually believe it is super healthy, so healthy, in fact, that is basically the cure for AIDS and SARS and anything else you can think of. There are very few of the latter, mind. Whatever the reason, most Koreans have kimchi pretty much with every meal.

With the recent rains that just did, not, want, to, stop, there’s been issues with rising fruit and vegetable prices in Korea. One of the vegetables that is pricy now is the Chinese cabbage. “Why, what, so?” you might say, to which I will replay “The most popular type of Kimchi, Baechu Kimchi, is made from this particular vegetable”.

Over the last few weeks we have seen quite a few articles in the English news regarding the rising price of cabbage and this will affect the service of kimchi in the restaurants and what not. If there were that many in the English language news, then I can only imagine what the Korean language news was doing. There’s even been a government task grout assigned to this. National disaster, I tell you.

Yesterday one of the students from the adult class was late and someone decided to call her. Turn out she was queuing outside a local super market with a special on, wait for it…CHINESE CABBAGE!

YES! She was queuing, and being late for class because of a special on a single vegetable! It gets better.

There were only 100 boxes of cabbage, each box containing 3 heads. Each person was only allowed to buy one box, so my students did the only things she could…and asked two friends to go with her so that she can get three boxes, i.e. 9 heads of cabbage.

Now, I completely understand the situation and how important it is to get her hands on that particular box of cabbage, but I am a foreigner and from my point of few this is just too funny not to write about. Lucky my students understand that I am not making fun of them when I laugh, but merely relating how it looks from my point of view. We had a good old giggle when she came back.

p.s. I asked her to take photos, but I forgot to ask her if she did. Hope she did so that I can add the Koreans queuing for cabbage.

How do you spot the BS advertising?

When all the prices in the adverts for things happening in Seoul are in dollars, or when every single person in the adverts are white?

Confusing…confusing…confusing.

I’m trying to find a charity here so that I can help out once or twice a week. I have no idea what I can do, but the only way to find out is to go to a charity organisation and see what they can use. One of my adult students mentioned that she knew the woman who is the main person for charity in this city, and she would take me to meet her. Sweet!

We arrange a time and a place to meet so that she can take me to the Main Lady of Charity. A few minutes before meeting time I get a call. I’m still on my way to the meeting spot and after telling me she is already at the meeting point the conversation ends. Just as I arrive at the spot I get another call:

“Hello?”
“Hello.”
“I am at **** School”
“Yes. I know. I just got here, but I don’t see you.”
“I’m at **** School”
“Yes. So am I, but I don’t see you.”
“I’m at **** School. Do you know **** School?”
“I’M HERE NOW.” “Yes. I know it. I am here now.”
“I’m waiting at the gate…Do you know **** School?”
“Yes…um…what does your car look like?”
…

I do try to speak slowly, so please don’t think I am rattling of what I am saying.

A few seconds later I stop my scooter in front of her parked car, get off and walk to her car, driver side. Even after speaking it takes her about 30 seconds to realise who I am.

After a short conversation explaining that this is my scooter, which I mentioned, she sits back in her seat and just looks in front of her, saying nothing. I wait a few seconds and ask “A we waiting for the other lady?” to which she replies with just “10 minutes.”

About 60 seconds later she points to my scooter and the conversation goes like this…

“How?”
I look at my bike, thinking she is asking how I got it. It seems like a silly question, so I give it a second.
“How…uh…how?”
“Urm…how what?”
“Autobike…how?”
“How did I buy it?”
“How?”
“How what?”
“How……how……how…my car……my car……you in my car…how?”
“Me in your car? Why?”
“Go to other women…other women…women...other women.”
“We are not waiting for her?”
We waited for 60 seconds after she said 10 minutes, and now she wants to leave?
“I will follow you”
Blank expression.
“Me, on the scooter, behind you.”
Blank expression.
“You, car, go…me, scooter, behind, follows” (hand gestures included)

After a nerve racking drive to a place just a few blocks away, which she seems to be searching for the whole time we were on the move, we stop. We park our transport and start walking in some direction, when she suddenly stops.

“How?”
“Erm?”
“How?”
“How what?”
“How…how……..how?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“How are you helping?”
“Oh. I don’t know. I don’t even know what they do.”
“…”
“That is why we are meeting her, so that I can see how I can help.”
“Money…money…how much?”
“Huh?”
“How much money…money…money…how much…will you give them…give…give them…how much?”
“Nothing. No money. I want to do something.”
“No money?”

And that is basically the end of the whole night. About a minute later we parted because she was under the impression the whole time that I wanted to donate money.

I don’t donate money to an organisation that I know nothing about. I am offering my services because I am sure they need someone to do something.

Later that night she called saying that I can teach English one night a week, free of charge. Honestly, I don’t see the point of that. What benefit will that have to anyone, except that people who are in no mood to pay for lessons with the expectation that I will somehow MAKE them speak English without them even trying, will turn up.

Part of the conversation to tell me about this idea went like this:

“Maybe you can teach English”
“Yes, maybe.”
“After school.”
“Yes”
“Week”
“U-hu.”
“After school…week…one time…a week…week.”
“Yup, once a week”
“A week….week…a week”
“Yup”
“Week…you can teach English…week”
“OK”
“After school, at night, you can teach English”
And…so…on.

This might be the most confusing person I have ever spoken to.

I have a happy in my tummy

I learned a new word today. A co-teacher in the lunch room use the word 시원하다, and had me repeat it. I remembered it and asked an English co-teacher if I remembered correctly. She confirmed that I was correct and also supplied me with a definition

“예. When you have a soup like 콩나물, you will feel warm and comfortable in your stomach. Especially when you have a hangover after drinking alcohol.^^”

She asked me if there was something similar in English and all I could think of was “Hearty Meal”, but Satisfying or Invigorating might also work. What do you guys think?

Hearty: Pronunciation: \’här-tē\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): heart·i·er; heart·i·est
Date: 14th century

1 a: giving unqualified support (a hearty endorsement)
b: enthusiastically or exuberantly cordial : jovial
c: expressed unrestrainedly

2 a: exhibiting vigorous good health (1): having a good appetite (2): abundant, rich, or flavourful enough to satisfy the appetite

Korea is just ugly, maybe.

Korea is not the most beautiful country in the world. It can be, but at the moment it just isn’t. Compared to the vast spaces you get in countries like Australia, the US or South Africa, the landscape here is basically one continuous urban sprawl interrupted by small mountains and odd patches of rice farms. Korean cities all look the same and create what I like to call The Homogonous Mess. This mess is the main reason it can take newcomers to this country months to learn where the most basic of things are in their little cities and towns.

But even with this mess it is still an amazing country in many, many ways. Once you learn how to navigate the Homogonous Mess to find all the amazing back alley restaurants, shops and areas to go to when you need something specific, and once you learn where to go to relax away from the madness outside, then life here is great. Better yet, it is getting better.

When I talk to Koreans it is obvious that they are aware of the “ugliness”, but rightfully so Koreans are not completely ashamed of it. The ugliness is, after all, the result of the Miracle on the Han, one of the most incredible storied of a country picking itself up that you will ever learn about. Many Koreans do, however, feel that it is time for a change. Judging by the number of proposals that pop up every year for beautifying Seoul, and the number of projects already under way, it is obvious that the government thinks this as well.

For someone like me who does not live in Seoul, the changes are more apparent than for people in Seoul itself. The new apartment complex next to the Express Bus Terminal is a prime example of how Korea is working to beautify the country. The developers decided to develop this piece of land with building that are at odd angles to each other and fill the spaces with as many trees and as much grass as they can find. The architecture is a bit same-same, but at least it does not look like we are in Russia any more. All this makes for something that is quite pleasing to the eye when you go past it.

All along the Han River I can see parks are being revamped and cleaned up, and at more than one location new and interesting structures are being built to cater for the people visiting these parks. For a while now they have been trying to clean up the Han itself. Seoul has even started revamping whole neighbourhoods, and in the subways we are seeing posters everywhere for plans to create integrated park/buildings to make Seoul greener.

My personal favourite trend here is historic buildings are being renovated and destroyed buildings being rebuilt. Slowly Korea is becoming more “East Asian” but also more beautiful, and it is exciting to watch.

Super Bad

Once, when I was still in school, I read an article about how various countries change the names of Hollywood films. Germany, apparently, is not just fond of doing this, but they also like changing the meaning.

One of your cinema groups in South Africa has screens dedicated to artsy and foreign language films. I remember wondering what we in English speaking countries do with names that we might not like and if we actually translate the titles accurately.

In Korea the names are often changed as well. You would think that they would translate it, but no, they just give it a new English name and write that name, wait for it, in Hangeul. Sometimes the changes are small, like the recent How to Train Your Dragon, which became plain Dragon. Sometimes those small alterations changes the meaning completely. One older example that still annoys the hell out of me is The Day After Tomorrow which just became Tomorrow. Not exactly the same thing, is it now?

At the time of writing this post the animation Despicable Me is showing in Korean theatres. I can’t say that I like the English title all that much. I completely dislike the international title Meet the Minions. I do, however, like the Korean title, Super Bad. Super Bad does have its problems though.

Firstly, Super Bad is already a not too shabby film from two years back and it was not intended for the animation audience, at all. Secondly, the Korean spelling is, well, so Korean. Even though Korean is perfectly capable of writing super(수퍼) in an intelligible way, most people, for whatever reason, prefer shooper(슈퍼). I dare you to tell your average Korean on the street that super is actually written and pronounced as sUper and see the bemused “Really?” expressions on their faces. Priceless.

(I’m thinking I need to start a little side project of the konglish kind just for films)

As a side note, I heard that some members of Girls Generation did voice work for this film. Apparently they were really good. The script was also changed a bit to make the humour more Korean and I hear they did a really good job with that.

The one mother who studies with me said her son didn’t like it because “when you make the moon smaller it will not become lighter, so how did they carry it.” (I never even thought of that.) My reply was “But, IT’S SO FLUFFY!”

What will you do next?

Every day, for a few days now, two female students have been spending a lot of time in the teachers’ room. They are here during every break, if not for most of the working day. While they are here they are either busy with some sort of punishment or being scorned by a teacher. I have seen the parents of both students here already and all of this is still going on.

Things like this usually blow over after a few days, so I ignore the madness as much as I can. This, however, seems quite intense, has not let down, and even seems to be getting worse. It made me decide to finally ask what was going on.

I only got a small list as I have no interest in fishing out every detail and it includes things like running away (I think meaning from school), getting jobs (middle scholars are not allowed to have jobs) and wearing short skirts (one girl’s skirt is more like the loin cloths I see on some young ladies over the weekends). The one girl was also in trouble not so long ago for fighting. She was in the teachers’ room for a week straight.

What disturbs me most about this is that they got jobs. If they feel such a need to earn money that they got jobs in the second grade already, then I am wondering how susceptible they are to that evil of young girls in Korea responding to adverts from older men.

It is not all that uncommon in Korea for older men to have sex with school girls in exchange for money. This pops up in the news and blogs every now and then and, as I understand it, not a few prostitutes started in just that fashion.

This is not where you want your career to be heading in a country like Korea. Your social status will be down the drain. Over here, be it good or bad, your social status will affect your life in more ways than we can imagine in the West.

Chungju World Martial Arts Festival

If you don’t know this already, then I am telling you now. Most countries in the world have some sort of martial art. The East, however, is where the most famous martial arts originated. Korea has Taekwondo, arguably the most popular in the world. It also has Hapkido, a martial art that forms the base of many self defence programs all over the world.

This weekend at the Chungju World Martial Arts Festival you will be able see not only the awesomeness that is Korean Crazy Kicking (my term that I plan to register), but also some of the lesser know arts from other countries.

If you need things a bit more girly, then go for the dance section of the festival.

You call this research?

The JoongAng Daily posted a story about the new Facebook virus. This is the part that interested me most…

“Facebook boasts of having more than 5 billion users worldwide and there are over 15 million Korean users as of this month, according to facebakers.com”

This immediately intrigued me because it seemed to high because I have not many Koreans who have an account with them. According the site they explicitly mention AND link to, Korea only has 1,463,600 users, not even 1,5 million. Did they really think no one was going to follow that link and poke around?

Samgyeopsal

Samgeoupsal (삼겹살) consists of thick, fatty slices of pork belly meat, similar to uncured bacon. The meat is not marinated or seasoned, and cooked on a grill at the diners' table by the diner themselves. When the meat is finished it is typically seasoned with Gochujang, a savoury and pungent fermented Korean condiment. Another popular way to enjoy a piece of meat is to then wrap it in a lettuce or Sesame leave with extras like garlic slices.

This was at PigMong in Icheon, one half flavoured with oregano and one half with wine. Also on the hot plate is mushrooms, unions, cream maze and kimchi.

For those who like things Raunchy.

Hangeul is an amazing script and it is fantastic at indicating exactly how a Korean word should be pronounced. It is not, however true for writing non Korean words. Korean does not have all the sounds of, say, English e.g. the A sound in “batter”. Also, some English sounds are considered distinct while Korean considers them the same thing e.g K/G or R/L. Another big problem is that the Korean language also has certain rules that allows sounds to be use only in predefined patterns e.g the CH sounds can not be at the end of a syllable, but must be at the beginning, followed by a vowel.

What we see in this photo is a Pizza Hut advert for “Spaghetti Dinner, Smart Lunch.” There are some things that should never be written in Korean and here is one of them. Spaghetti, no problem. Dinner, no problem, if you are using a British type accent. Smart, again, OK if you use speak British like. Then we get to Lunch...

The R/L is very blurry in Korean, but generally a ㄹ at the start of a syllable indicates a R sound. Guess where it is in the word Lunch? Oh, remember I mentioned earlier that CH cant be at the end of the word? The solution is to add a sound, in this case “Ee”.

So, if you are in the mood for a Smart Raunchy, then you are in the right place. Maybe not. ;)

Red Moon Rising

Yesterday evening the moon came up just as the sun went down. We went up the mountain to get photos of red moon rising.

It is amazing how quickly the moon rises. I didn't have my camera ready and when I noticed the moon I scrambled to get the camera and tripod out. By the time I was ready with a stable camera, one minute, the moon had completely risen above the clouds and I missed the peeking moon photo.

Bad Rice Times

Every year, just about ‘round this time, the rice gets heavy and the stalks keel over. Sometimes it happens in small spots here and there. Sometimes it happens in big patches. I’m not rice farmer, but I think this is sort of a sign that it is harvest time for whatever field it happens in.

Last year the rains stayed to late is it was worrisome. This year it is not just raining, it is still down right pissing down. That have left the rice not just fallen over and still damp, but fallen over, lying in pools of water. No telling how much of the harvest will be ruined this year.

We’ll get those Iranians.

My Google Alerts brought me two news stories that, together, are quite amusing.

The first story is about Iran beating South Korea by a single goal in a match played IN SEOUL.
The very next story says that South Korea will be closing a local branch of an Iranian bank.

Eye

The girl was finished with her work and was looking at me helping another student. It looked interesting, so I persuaded her to keep that pose for a photo. When a students is willing to let me take a photo of them in an interesting position, then I feel obliged to print out a copy for them. I am taking this one in tomorrow.

I took this one with my little compact camera, which I have taken to carrying with me all the time. You never know what you will get and like I say, it is not the quality of the camera that makes the photo.

So THAT is what the weather does.

안녕하세요..급식실입니다.
점심은 맛있게 드셨어요~~~??
요즘 태풍의 영향으로 야채상태가 좋지 않아서 메뉴의
변경이 있습니다. 오늘도 케이준샐러드인데 양상추가
생산되지 않아서 참치김치볶음으로 변경되었습니다.
이점 양해 부탁드립니다. 담임선생님은 혹시 학생들이
메뉴에 대해 물어보면 이렇게 얘기를 해주시기 바랍니다.~~~^^
즐건 하루 되세요~~^^

Using Google Translate:

Hello, this is the meals department.

Did you enjoy lunch?

The impact of the typhoons means the state of our vegetables are not good, so the menu may change. Today's lettuce salad with Cajun (chicken??) was changed to fried kimchi with tuna. Homeroom teachers, please let the students know what is happening and ask about possible menu changes.

Enjoy your day.

It looks a bit windy outside.

Apparently it was a Type 2 Typhoon. I can’t find any reference to what a Type 2 is, but this women says it is one, so I choose to believe her. I have no idea if that is good or bad, but when I SMSed my co-teacher telling her I didn’t know how to get to school without getting soaked and having my umbrella destroyed, she phoned back and said that all Elementary Schools and Middle Schools were closed until 10am. Government broadcast.

I was contemplating using the scooter to get to school and miss as much rain as possible, but I was afraid of being blown over.

This is the first time in my life that school is postponed because of weather.

Shiny and new

Remember that day when you arrived in Korea, that day when everything was strange and you had nothing in your apartment? Remember how you went to E-Mart to get some things to make life worth living like new pillows, new blankets, toilet paper and a bit of food? Remember how you stood off to the side at the till while your co-teachers payed for everything? Remember how you left, following your new co-teachers, still confused, like a child in a new country?

Remember how you went grocery shopping and saw a blond foreigner getting all things shiny and new?

Today’s strange messenger translation.

서늘한 기운이 기분좋은 아침입니다.
행복하고 좋은 소식 전해야 하는데...
오늘도 몇가지 협조 부탁합니다.

1) 수업목표 꼭 적으시고(평가문항과 연계), 시청각자료 활용하세요.시종 잘 지켜주시고요.

2) 청소를 집중적으로 훈련시켜 주세요.
창틀 복도 등 많이 깨끗해졌으나 아직도 미진한 부분 많네요. 당분간 매일 사제동행해서 지도해주세요(청소시간 교무실 계시면 안됨)
== 복도 및 주변에 있는 정수기, 걸레빠는곳, 분필지우개 터는 곳, 유리창(안에 있는 것은 위쪽것까지), 앞뒷문 턱. 벽 낙서, 계단 옆 창틀, 홈베이스 유리 및 창틀, 틈새 등
== 꼭 한명씩 배치하시고 그 아이들이 청소시간 뿐만아니라 하루종일 관리하도록 지도(학교만족도 설문에서 정수기 화장실 더럽다고 나왔슴)
=== 손걸레, 문턱쓰는 붓 등 청소용구 비치에도 신경써 주세요
=== 게시판 등 환경정리 보완
=== 특별실 정리정돈
=== 환경심사는 없으나 담주에 교장선생님과 둘러볼 계획임

 

Cool spirit is a pleasant morning.
Happy and to preach the good news ...
I will also ask some assistance.

1) Class I to write down goals (in conjunction with the evaluation questions), please take advantage of audio-visual materials. Squires keep it home safely.

2) Please clean up by intensive training.
Kkaekkeuthaejyeot frames, but still disappointing part of the corridor and a lot a lot.Accompanied by priests and to urge for a while every day (Not If you're cleaning the office)
== In the hallway and around the water purifier, a rag Bar neungot, where chalk eraser eraser, windows (not a thing to be up), apdwitmun jaw. Wall graffiti, window sill beside the stairs, home base of glass and window frames, niches, etc.
== I placed one after another, as well as cleaning hasigo the children to day management map (in schools, the survey said nawatseum dirty toilet water purifier)
=== Songeolre, the threshold used in Beach Cleaning Brushes, etc. Please Mind
Forum === complement other environmental cleanup
=== Special room neat and tidy
=== Environmental assessment in the next week, but we plan to explore the Principal

Yesterday I surfed on over to the KEB Internet Banking site and was pleasantly surprised by the new feature. OK, it might have been there before, but I never had to worry about it. KEB provides an application specifically designed for Mac. No worries about which browser to use. I just hope the security is built in and, well, secure.

Seems Windows users still have to go the browser route, and not just any Browser Internet Explorer. Shame. Linux users, and I’m one of them as well, are out of luck.

Man holes EVERYWHERE

Here is one of those “Korean” things that I just don’t get. The roads in the cities are usually in good condition and this particular piece of road is less than a year old, so you would not expect to dodge your way to the end.

Here’s the thing...this stretch is pocked with manholes for, well, who knows?! I was unable to mark every hole, but there are 14 holes just in view. Two of the holes are quite literally 3 cm from each other.

Multi Dryer.

This is my dish dryer. You pop your dishes in as you finish watching them. When you are done washing, you closed the window, press the big round button and the dryer will go for one hour, the first with the infra red (?) light on

This is also very useful for drying wet pillows. It is summer now and very humid. That means I sweat a lot while sleeping and have to wash my pillows at least once during the summer. Problem is that they don’t dry because of previously mentioned humidity. I got the idea last week to stuff one pillow at a time in to this dryer. The pillow barely fits and it takes a few cycles, but it is better than the mouldy smell from a few days of drying outside.

I wonder if it will work with towels as well?

The Coffee Bun in Korea

A friend of mine made a comment saying a friend of her (confusing writing) brought her a Coffee Bun from Roti Mun in Singapore. Apparently this is the original Coffee Bun, and I looked that up because I saw Roti Mum in the Phils.

Some of you might have noticed that we have these buns in Korea as well. We even have a Papa Roti right here in Two Thousand City. Papa Roti! Now, I KNOW Koreans don’t consider Roti a normal word for bread, so it always puzzled me where they got this name from. I think found the answer.

Roti Mun is from Singapore, where Roti is a normal name for bread among the Bahasa and “Indian” speakers. I saw a Mama Roti in Seoul, so that might just be the original pathetic attempt at “not using the original name” here in Korea. Papa Roti, then, might just as bad an attempt at “not using THAT original name.” At least Yogerpresso does not have any claims on their coffee buns.

Vacation...done!

Three weeks in total, one in Pretoria, one in Bandung and finally one in Manila.

Food in South Africa is always good, no matter what you eat. Italian, Indian, German, fast food, whatever, it is all good. Importantly, I was able to eat things that I am unable to eat in Korea.

Bandung and area again served up some seriously good eats. Food in Manila was a tad disappointing. The food there was cheap, but it also tasted cheap, and there were few meals that was just to salty for me. Because it was my first time in the Phills, I am going to write this of as bad luck.

In Indonesia I finally got to see ram fighting. It was awesome. No blood, almost no injuries, and no betting that I could see. Just good clean fun for the whole family. In the Philippines, in contrast, I saw the lethal version of cock fighting. Rooster with blades on their legs fight to the death while onlookers spend large amounts of money trying to predict the winner.

I still like Indonesia, but will not be going to Bandung again next year. I have to go somewhere else for a change. Sorry, Dian, but maybe you can join me somewhere else? Manila was good, and I would like so spend more time there. Maybe next year, maybe not.

All that is left now is to sort, edit, describe and post the photos. From an initial 3000 odd photos, I’m down to about 850. Many photos were burst shots or blind shots in the car, bus or train. Same with the ram fighting and cock fighting. I hope to delete at least 100 more while I go through for editing and end up with no more than 500 edited photos. 300 photos would be ideal.

See Yah.

A cup of rather s***ty coffee

At 90,000 Rupia, Poop Coffee is just not worth it. Sure, it is only about 10,000 Won, or 10 US Dollar but in Indonesia that is an extra ordinary sum of money and the price of almost two full buffet lunches at a spiffy hotel.

Breakfast

Another Asian country, another confusion of breakfast foods. I admit that my experience of Eastern Asian breakfasts is not all that great, but it seems to me like many countries don’t really distinguish between breakfast foods and the foods for other meals. I know that Indonesia does indeed have certain dishes that are supposedly reserved for breakfast, but the difference is not all that apparent to me. (I see chocolate cake at the end of this long table.)

Kites

The first time I saw them was not in the sky, but in the trees. These trees were close to a village next to the road and were dotted, or rather squared, with what looked like A4 sizes pieces of white. Either the children were very active in the kite flying department, or they were very bad and very but determined to improve.

The next encounter was about 30 minutes later, where I was the little white squares floating in the sky. It is so nice to see people, or imagine them, for that matter, pulling on a string attached to a paper frame in the sky. It is so far removed from me sitting alone in front of my computer, guiding a character or two, downloading yet another film or punishing some pixels.

The Road to Pretoria.

11:00, Korean Time, 2000 City

One of the nicer things about living in civilization is that there are usually taxis available. I went to the entrance of the complex, asked a taxi to take me to my apartment, asked him to wait for me to fetch my stuff and then headed to the terminal.

The ticket office at the terminal said that the bus was only at mid day, so that meant I could relax and have something to eat.


11:55, Korean Time, 2000 City Bus Terminal

Supply of Kimbab and Pocari in hand, I’m waiting at 2000 City bus terminal for the airport bus. This year I’m arriving early. Last year I arrived at check-in 5 minutes after they were supposed to have closed and at the boarding gates as they open them.


13:00, Korean Time, East Seoul Bus Terminal

We actually arrived at the terminal at 13:00, but we didn’t pull in to our parking bay until 13:25, and then only long enough to pick drop off the old and pick up a few more airport bound passenger. Our driver seems a bit pushed for time. Hope it does not compromise his driving ability in this rain.


14:15, Korean Time, Gimpo Airport

Passengers off... passengers on... bus moving.


14:55, Korean Time, Icheon Airport

This sure went much faster than I expected, but rather early with a bit of rain than late because I didn’t plan for torrents like I had last year. Get a coffee, crack open a book and study while you wait for check in time.


17:30, Korean Time, Incheon Airport

Check-in done and no problems with the weight. That is what you get from planning.

They took my little thingy of moisturiser and my toothpaste, because both were in containers of 125ml, 25ml over the limit. Let me restate is. The CONTAINERS were 125ml, not the content. No point arguing because the people at the check don’t make the rules, but how stupid.

And don’t even get me started on the small sharp objects while I am allowed to take a bag full of pens in. You know how it goes. Terrorist throws down the long sharp pen, pull out the nose scissors with the 1cm long blade and threatens the flight attendant with it.


19:30, Korean Time, Incheon Airport

There are anxious people. They want to get on the plane where they can then do some more sitting. Funny how people feel relaxed once they are on the plane. It’s as if the trip is not happening until their bags are stowed and they have the remote in hand. All they have to worry about then is how long it will take for the food to arrive and when that “waitress” is coming around so that another drink can be ordered.


23:15, Hong Kong Time, Hong Kong Airport.

Transfer time again. I’ve been through here enough times to know where to find the food and what shop are worth wasting time in. To bad I’m not allowed in to those exclusive lounges. To bad I have to make a run for it with only once hour transfer time.


07:45, South Africa Time, just before decent in to “Johannesburg” (Kempton Park)

From landing to exiting the arrival gates in 45 minutes! ONLY 45 MINUTES!


08:30, South Africa Time, Pretoria, the actual capital

My other home aaaaaaand DONE.

Trend Time

Is been a while since pizza has entered my mouth and even longer since I has a New York Special at Mr Pizza. I just placed my order and I’m sitting back to look at the people down on the street.

It would seem there is a new fashion trend this year, and I must say it is one that I really like. There are a lot of women walking past wearing slightly loose fitting, mostly straight summer dresses. Being summer dresses it comes down to about mid thigh and is made from a material that appears almost wrinkled. More often than not the prints are of small flowers.

If only more women will start wearing it then we will have something that actually suites one of the other trends now, the solid cork sole/heel type shoe. What are those called?

(Hope to get a photo soon)

Step Up 2

One of the films the students chose to watch in the closing weeks of this semester was Step Up 2. All in all it is an OK film that does what it is supposed to do. The dancing is not the best, but it is entertaining. The love interests are stupid, but not overbearing and just enough to add a bit of spice. The characters are clear and the people are attractive. I’d recommend this to people who are in to this resort of thing.

A problem I have with this film, like I would have with all film of this type, is that it is trying to make a moral point, based on nothing. A girl dancing Street Style goes to a dancing school. She is portrayed as refusing to conform, but in reality she is refusing to learn. She and her friends are being contrasted with the unbending teacher who does not see Street Style as dancing, yet they are doing almost exactly what he is. “We MUST do our thing, and nothing else.”

The dance teacher. What professional dance teacher at a prestigious school will disregard any form of dancing this character is portrayed as doing. People who truly love dance will appreciate everything. People who truly love music will listen to anything. People who truly love photography will look at anything.

I want to watch a movie!

After the lessons were done, just before the end of semester exams, I showed my students a film. This is a way for me to work around all the schedule changes the play havoc with my lessons. Students who were working with me in the lessons were allowed to watch. The few who didn’t work with me had to write an essay, in another room, and tell me why I should allow them to go watch in the other room.

Most students were more interested in telling me why they wanted to go and there was an endless supply of “I like movie”, “I love movie”. “Movie is my hobby”, “I love teacher”, “My friend there” and “This class room hot”. Needless to say, I made them redo it until they got to the point of the exercise, understanding why they were not watching the movie. A few students quickly grasped what it was all about, but preferred complete their task with humour. I let them go, only after putting on a huge show of considering their essays. Here are two of the weirder writings:

"Hum...... first reason is a my sell command go to the English room already my sell contral my body, so a few minutes later my sell angry and explode mybody please help me. second reason is a alien let me go to the English room and watch he movie If I break alien’s promise alien attack the earth. so I go to the English room."

"Well... because This country is freesm country, so I must do what I want. and My brain want to go to English room. and This is a top screat. This room have a impartive vairous. To be continue. People will become Zombies in this room. Everybody is dangerous situation. I must have a vacine. There is a vacine in the English room. Uh.... The vairous already spread out in the room I had a important mission. I go there.... please.... I go there"

Pinhole Results

I mentioned earlier that I bought a pinhole camera kit, the PinholeArt 135-Tiny. THey photos do have an interesting look to them, but they look more out of focus than anything else. It was still interesting taking photos with a camera with no lens, made from board and without any sort of a view finder. The shutter was me sliding a piece of board from the hole, for heaven's sake :P

Korean High School Girls

Someone on Yahoo Answers asked “How does a typical average 17 year old korean girl look like?” I looked at the answers and thought it would be an interesting question to answer.

A Korean girl of 17 is in her first year in hight school. Their American counterparts go to high school at 15 or 16, as far as I understand, but this does not mean Koreans go to high school at a later age. It just has to do with the way Koreans calculate their ages.

Most girl in school wear straight bangs, something many of them will drop once they leave school. Their hair rarely goes shorter than bob and is often tied in to a pony tail in the middle of the head. Since they are Korean they will have the Eastern Asian eye shape and skin colour, small noses, small mouths and heads that appear larger than that of Westerners, dark hair and dark eyes.

All these things are very superficial though, and unless you live here you will not be to tell Koreans from other Easter Asians. Even Koreans can't always tell, but like every country in the world, each person mostly just looks like themselves.

Clothes are much easier describe. School students in Korea often wear their uniforms all day every day. Depending on the high school a girl’s skirt can be anywhere from just above her knees her knees up to a mini a mini. Current fashion is to get it as short and as tight as the school will allow, and some schools will allow pretty much anything. Right now it is summer so she likely will be wearing a white t-shirts to cover everything that is exposed by the silly, to small uniform shirts that they have to wear here. The shirt will likely be completely unbuttoned and flapping open because of the heat. Shoes will be either the standard school saddles of the three stripe flip-flip like, or the current retro style seekers. Many still wear Converse

A great many students here wear spectacles with thickish dark frames in a rectangle shape. I suppose it is just fashion, but I think it suites them well.

Although there are very many absolutely beautiful Korean women, from elementary school through to middle age, do not think for a moment that the typical Korean girl looks like the models, actors and singers you see in photos everywhere. With the help of surgery, a great many of them look nothing like they did in school.

I happened to have taken photos of my middle schoolers leaving school two days ago and noticed this photo. The girls in this photo will go to hight school next year. They will be on he prudish side of the scale, but they will illustrate the look nicely. The boy in the second photo is wearing the typical specs I mentioned earlier.

Poisoned Fun

It is that time of the year again. Lorries ride around town pumping poison in to the air that will, apparently, kill mozzies, but not us. I have to wonder if the concentration is even strong enough to do anything, and if it is, is it not also strong enough affect us as well?

Photo by strangerbegins

Hidden Sardines

While waiting for the bus there was suddenly a drop in activity at the bus terminal. I looked up from my book and scanned the scene and noticed a sweet shot of the busses perfectly lined up, all facing the same way. It was just a like sardines in a can.

I took out my camera just in time for a new flurry of activity that interrupted my view. A group of busses came past, with some deciding that parking exactly where I don’t need them would be the best idea in the world. I now hate busses.

Remains

A random shot of a wall at Chungmuro, Seoul. I particularly like the hints of the Taegugi.

Danboro

I tried to find a Danboro online, but there are not available any more. Imagine my surprise when I saw this little guys. The shop owner was very quick to tell me that it he was not for sale.

Suffering for fashion

When is fashion more important that functionality? When fashion hurts you so much that you have to look stupid to do it. Any benefit that this girl got from her swanky shoes were negated by the plasters she exposed to the world to prevent said shoes from hurting her.

Apart from that she looked quite and sensible.

2000 City World Cup

Deu-di-eo! Some photos of Korean at he World Cup.

I initially wanted to go to Seoul City Hall to watch Korea play Uruguay in the last 16, but I accidentally heard that they would be using the big screen here at Icheon City Hall to show the match. After seeing the crowds from the previous matches and how you had to fight for a spot, on top of which I would have had to contend with rain and a night in Seoul, I decided to just see what my little city had to offer. I estimate we had somewhere between 1000 and 2000 people. Sure it doesn’t seem like much compared to Seoul, but hey, it was raining and we don’t millions of residents. Fun was had and I slept in my own bed.

Pinhole on the cheap

I was running a few errant in Seoul yesterday. One of those took me by Myeongdong and since that is right next to Chungmuro, my new favourite photography related area, I thought I would go there and look for this little beauty. Behold, the PinholeArt 135-Tiny. It is made in Korea, so no English instructions, but easy enough to put together. Everything you need, apart from film provided with the kit.

On the fhere is a piece of board that slides left and right. This is, in effect, your shutter. You open it, count, close it. High tech stuff. What I haven’t figured out yet is how I know where the next exposure starts. I’ve been unable to find information online, so at the moment I am assuming that the film is just one long exposure and the photos are placed and positioned by the camera. I’m guessing I there will be quite a few overlapping photos on this first one.

On the back you have a quick reference that tells you how long you need to keep the shutter open. 90 seconds when you are inside with the light one. Scary. Because I bought 400 film, I am using the pinhole on my DSLR with the ISO at 400 as a gauge. As of yet I have no idea if it will work. We’ll know when the film is developed.

The stupidity continues.

Sometimes I am willing to say "Culture." But sometimes I need to stay "F***ing STUPID!"

쉬즈 아웃 오브 마이 리그, transliterated "Swejeu a-oot obeu ma-i reegeu". That, my deers friends, is supposed to be English. "She's" apparently, is the same as "Swejeu"

Again I have to ask, if someone understands any of that, why then do you need to write it in Korean. If you can't read the English, then surely this will have no meaning to you, so why have it as a name? Sheer stupidity, that is why.

On a similar note, "How to Train Your Dragon" is now just "Dragon" in Korean. Really? Are you telling me there are no other dragon films out there? Are you telling me you were completely unable to give it a Korean name? It is not as if this animation was even released in English, or was it? Sheer stupidity!

(To be fair, Dragon has "taming" written underneath, but quite a bit smaller, and I can guarantee you that almost no one will use it.)

Shut up and nod, boy. Shut up and nod.

I’m sure few people would disagree with the idea that culture influences language, but not many people ever think about how language influences culture. Think about it for a second. If your language doesn’t even have a word for something, then how do you think about it? You likely won’t, unless you invest effort in to creating a mental picture. As an example, Koreans are not exactly knows for being very sarcastic, or even understanding sarcasm. How could they be if there isn’t even a word for it in their language? How can you be something that, in a way, does not exist? In the same what there are things that is really difficult to explain in English and hence we rarely think about it.

An interesting example that I recently learned about is the Propositive Sentence in Korean [-(으)ㅂ시다]. This is a grammatical structure that, in its formal form, should only be used by a senior towards a junior, or between equals.

My immediate reaction was to wonder how you would go about making suggestions to your seniors, or even asking questions. The answer, I have since learned, is that you don’t. You are expected to just nod your head, say yes and go do your best. You are younger, therefore you cannot be expected to think for yourself with an older more senior person to guide you.

How can I be sure? Well, I read it in a book, but more importantly, I went to a Korean and asked. She had to think about it, and yes, there are ways around it, but it is not easy and basically just not done. She said that because I am a foreigner I am not actually expected to follow custom that strictly, but the point is still that if you are the junior, then you are expected to just “Shut up and nod, boy. Shut up and nod.”

This would explain a lot about Korean culture, where people often follow what they have been told slavishly. Not only are you, the junior, not allowed to contradict, suggest or question, but the senior assumes that his word is law and therefore it is expected of you to just do what he says. What the juniors think things is not important because they are not even able to voice it. Chaebol CEO/Monarch, anyone?

I know I might be exaggerating here, but I hope that the point is made. We are very quick to ask how people can be they way they are, and why they don’t just open their eyes and change, but in this example, unless you have a decent grasp of English, or some other Western language in which you can naturally state the ideas that contradict Korea’s very un-Western ways, how then are you going to even know that you “should“ change?

The reverse is true for us English speakers. We, for example, are usually not even aware of most of the intricate relationships underlying Korean society, and even when we are, describing them is a complex matter because often we don’t have the language to do it.

GEPIK Orientation 2010

The GEPIK orientation/training is behind us now and I’m sorry to say that it was mostly a waste of time. The whole thing was to short and the lectures were mostly irrelevant to our needs. Apparently this was the first time that the people from the co-ordinater program was asked to arrange this, so fingers crossed it will get better. Only time will tell. The question is, what I would like to see at this that will make me go: “Yaaaaah!”

The very first things that I would like to see is more information on what is expected of us. It’s all well and good to tell us how to teach, but how to teach is worth nothing if we don’t know what we are supposed to teach. There were two presenters from universities who mentioned a) what she things Koreans in general need help with and b) what he needs to see from his students when they walk in to his class, but it seemed noting more than incidental information. Someone needs to say: “Right. This is what we expect from a first grader in Middle School, and from the second grader, and…” They don’t need to tell us how to do it, but again, we can’t do the how if we don’t even have a what. It would seem though the not even the education offices know or understand what we are to do here. We don’t fit in to the Entrance Exam criteria, therefore what we do doesn’t merit the attention the English as a whole does.

The second thing I would like to learn more about is co-teaching. There are people here and there who are working not this, but over all I haven’t seen any of this affect my teaching experience. I have personally tried to get my co-teacher more involved, but it is an individual effort. If I go to my co-teachers and ask them what they think they will generally just say: “Whatever you want”, and I will not be any better off. Both sides need training on how to make this work because at the moment it is only the NTs who seem to have the time and will to do something about it. In the end someone’s time is being wasted and that is time that can been used to do something to help students the way they are supposed to be helped, by teaching them something useful.

Something that was nice was learning who or what the co-ordinators were. It is nice having a bunch of people who are, more often than not, Korean Americans. This provides us with go-betweens who not only speak our language, but is able to speak it our way. They are also capable of understanding our problems because just like we will forever struggle to fully understand those stupid things Korean do, so too will they forever struggle with the stupid things we do. The co-ordinators will go a long way in helping with this.

I am, however, saying “capable”, and nothing more, because we still have to see if that will be the fact. They have skills we have, and their intentions seem good, but will that be enough? The GEPIK co-ordinator leader herself taught for, wait for it, one whole year in Korea. Sure, she is making an effort to further her studies in the field, but that does not substitute for actually experience. What is the situation with the other co-ordinators? I know one teaches part time, but I can honestly say that I am lacking enough knowledge to express anything more meaningful than a question. Also, as an online friend and well know blogger mentions, the Korean American/Australian/wherever, seem to always get caught up in the politics and end up tiptoeing around problems like everyone else. Sure, they might understand and sympathise with our problems, but how effective will they be in a culture where the superior tells the pleb what to think and never the other way around?

(Did you know that there is a special grammatical form/structure in the Korean language for making suggestions or for agreeing with people, and that you are not supposed to use this with your superiors? This translates to the juniors being expected to just sit and nod and never replying unless specifically and directly being asked a question. I am still snooping around to get the full story behind this, so don’t quote me just yet. TOPIK test studies coming in handy already?)

Here’s to another here of the same old same old and here is to hoping that I it will not be so.

TOPIK here I come.

I’ve decided that in order for me to advance in my Korean studies, which stagnated just beyond the point of ordering kimbab, I have to get something to work towards. That something will be the TOPIK, or Test of Proficiency in Korean. As a kind of a public note book I created a new blog which updates on to Facebook for everyone to admire or laugh at my progress.

How un K-Pop. Me likes.

Was it always this corny?

As always, the high bandwidth internet here in Korea allows me to rediscover all kinds of old TV programs, like this one...

What a joke.

Copied from the Korea Times:

By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff reporter

In the start of a new epic for its football history, South Korea made it to the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup, for the first time in an overseas tournament.

Clumsy, and “In the start?”

Lee Jung-soo scored in the first half and Park Chu-young netted a second after halftime, as Huh Jung-moo’s squad managed a 2-2 tie with Nigeria in its last group stage match in Durban, Tuesday.

He managed to score AFTER half time. That is amazing, and illegal.

The result could have been not enough for a seat in the top 16, but the East Asians outplayed Nigeria and Greece in their Group B competition as Argentina beat Greece 2-0 in Polokwane. South Korea placed second in the group with four points, ahead of Greece with three points and Nigeria with one.

Where do I start? They have a seat? They played Greece and Nigeria at the same time, three teams in on once pitch? They outplayed Nigeria by drawing?

South Korea, which returns to the knockout stage in eight years, takes on Group A leader Uruguay Saturday at Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth, where the team got off to a flying start for its World Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory over Greece on June 12.

Did you even try to make that sentence longer? What am I going to read for the next 8 years, while I wait for Korea to return to the Last 16.

South Korea outplayed Nigeria in attacks with 16 shots, eight of them on target, compared to Nigeria’s 11 shots including three on goal. Some critical mistakes in defense, however, gave up two goals to the Africans, which kept the Taeguk Warriors from claiming a victory they could have deserved.

They could have deserved. That is funny. They could have not deserved it. They also could have many other things.

It was Nigeria who took an initial lead. In the 12th minute, Kalu Uche converted a Chidj Odiah cross from the right to a sharp drive in the center of the box that hit the deep right of the net. Cha Du-ri was standing right behind the Nigerian midfielder, but failed to mark him on time.

However, South Korea leveled it in the 38th in a virtual repetition of the first goal against Greece, which led to Lee’s second goal of the tournament.

And this lonely “however”  sentence? I’m already tired of this commenting. You can read the rest of this clumsy article here. I’m not being paid to write decent English, so I al allowed to write the rubbish that I do, but is a news paper that English speaking people read and worse, Koreans use it to improve their English.

Coffee in a jiffy

On Saturday I was in the mood for a cup of coffee. Nothing special, just a normal drip coffee. No Cappuccino. No Latte. Not even an Americano.

“But,” you might say, “an Americano IS a normal cup of coffee.” Not so, my halfwit friend. Many people think the Americano means American, but Americano and American is not the same thing. A “normal” cup of coffee, as we in English speaking countries tend to think of it, comes from a pot and is brewed by dripping water through the coffee grind. Americano, on the other hand, is an Espresso toped up with hot water.

“So,” you say, “why should I worry about that?” Normal coffee is made from light or medium-roasted beans. Espresso, and by extension Americano, is made from dark-roasted beans. Darker roasts produce that very strong, quite bitter taste, while the lighter the roasts give the less bitter, more mild tastes. Lighter roasts also have the more distinctive the taste of the particular bean.

Back to Saturday. You see, it is not easy to find a brewed pot of coffee in Korea. Not one Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, or anywhere in between, had a pot on hand. The solution is to turn in to any one of your general 24-hour shops.

Just enter your local By The Way and head on over to the microwave and boiler. Next to them you should see a selection of coffees and hot chocolates nicely displayed and wrapped in take-out cups. Many, if not all of these coffees will come with an individual tea bag of grind, a packet of sugar and stir stick and that right there, my friends, is not that far of from a normal brewed cup of coffee. Best of all, one of these gems rarely costs you more than a single little Cheon Won.

Go ahead. Run to the GS24 and get us a couple. I’ll wait for you.

They swore Chitty Chitty Bang Bang made sense.

I was giggling at this song, but my adult students swore that Miss Sexy references the original meaning. I don’t see it. Maybe you can.

I even read the plot on Wikipedia and I would love to watch the film now. Did you know there is a Academy Award winning song by the same name.

Here is a translation of the lyrics:

Yeah~ All my ladies and gents Here comes the new Hyori! Are you ready to rumble?! Your words are laughable Your words are laughable Your words are laughable It’s just a, just a big joke Please don’t butt into my affairs Don’t say the same exact thing These are mine; it’s my world. From now on don’t look for me You’re doing your best I don’t need to be worried I’m a loner either way You’re only wasting your breath Just ignore it and walk away (Blah blah) I’m running nonstop (Blah blah) Don’t be afraid, just follow me (Blah blah) Fly a little higher I can make you want me so (I can make you want me so) (Blah blah) Everyone trusts me more than anyone else (Blah blah) Just pretend that I can’t be beaten and join me Gonna be the one that I want Chitty chitty bang bang Chitty chitty bang bang Your words are laughable Your words are laughable Your words are laughable It’s just a, just a big joke I’ve gotten this far alone Where were you when I wanted to help? These are mine; it’s my world Just watch me Face it, you know who I’m You’re afraid of my stage Acting like you’re care and worry about me Rather than doing that, just keep on walking. (Blah blah) I’m running nonstop (Blah blah) Don’t be afraid, just follow me (Blah blah) Fly a little higher I can make you want me so (I can make you want me so) (Blah blah) Everyone trusts me more than anyone else (you trust me) (Blah blah) Just pretend that I can’t be beaten and join me Gonna be the one that I want Chitty chitty bang bang Chitty chitty bang bang Chitty chitty bang bang You’re no competition Rather then butting in, why don’t you just walk away? My explosive performance will make you crazy Just listen to me before something big happens Your words are a joke Keep it up and you’ll get it When I make an entrance all my lady is going down It’s just that you’re the only one that doesn’t know Did you expect to control me? Did I ever ask you to return what I wanted? Please get a grip, Everybody attention, That’s all, I can make it right (Blah blah) I’m running nonstop (Blah blah) Don’t be afraid, just follow me (Blah blah) Fly a little higher I can make you want me so (I can make you want me so) (Blah blah) Everyone trusts me more than anyone else (you trust me) (Blah blah) Just pretend that I can’t be beaten and join me (hurry up and join) Gonna be the one that I want Chitty chitty bang bang Chitty chitty bang bang Your words are laughable Your words are laughable Your words are laughable It’s just a, just a big joke

A title, erm, escapes me?

I am not able to give the photo a title, or to do it justice with a nice description. All I can say is that they were walking just in front of me in Hannam. I wish I had a chance to be in front of them with a zoom lens.

Roofers' Pool

This is a shot of the pool table at Roofers in Itaewon. I was wondering what it would look like with the bright light from the window and the darker objects inside, so I took a few shots from where I was sitting. It’s not a great shot, and nothing to write home about, but I like it.

SeoulPodasting

The SeoulPodcast recorded it’s 100th episode, live, at Roofers in Itaewon. It was interesting, strange, and a bit groupie-geeky.