Friday, November 28, 2008

A couple of photos from around Jeollanam-do.

Here are a couple of pictures I've come across lately. Here's a look at a pavillion in Baekyangsa temple in Jangseong county:



Here's the first snow in Yeongam county:



That's a big hornet still kicking in Yeosu:



Here's a bundled-up Buddha at Boseong county's Daewonsa temple:



And here are a couple of photos from the Hampyeong Chrysanthemum Festival. You'll recognize the first one.




I thought the second one was photoshopped because according to other photos I'd seen it appeared that the gate was in the middle of a field and not against a mountain. But after looking at a few other pictures I think it might be authentic. Here's one more:

More on the history in quotation marks front.

From The Hankyoreh:
In a presentation entitled “What is unification to us?” delivered at Sungduk Girls’ Commercial High School in Gangdong-gu yesterday, Lee Dong-bok, the head of the North Korea Democratization Forum, made a series of statements defending the dictatorship and promoting an anti-North Korean ideology. Lee said, “The Republic of Korea was able to realize this much economic growth in a short period of time because it had the capabilities of a leader like former President Park Chung-hee within a stark reality of national security.” Lee also said, “While it is true that there was suppression of democratization forces, it is inefficient to insist on democratization excessively.” He added, “If the 38th parallel had not been drawn, you might have become just like our fellow Koreans languishing in North Korea.”

History textbooks are a contentious issue, and no doubt they have their flaws. But whatever those flaws may be, what in the blue hell are schools doing bringing a presentation like that in? The KTEWU's take on it is here, in Korean, but you've got to remember that a group like that has no business calling anyone else out for being biased. If you look around their website all you'll see are pictures of teachers protesting something or other, and coming out against everything the Lee Myung-bak administration does. Don't they ever have to go to school?

More from the Joongang Ilbo:
The lectures were designed by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to teach “healthy values and a correct sense of history and country,” in response to a government survey conducted this year that half of middle and high school students do not know the date and cause of the Korean War (1950-1953). All high schools must hold two lectures between November and February.

The teachers’ union criticized the talks, saying, “Lecturers include those who led the creation of an ‘alternative textbook’ that stated Japan’s colonization led to Korea’s modernization, including Lee Dong-bok and Seoul National University Professor Park Hyo-chong.”

Daum issues?

Anybody else get an error when trying to sign that petition to have the Cheongju judge removed?



I got my Daum ID while working at my old hagwon, as we had a Daum cafe where we posted homework assignments and stuff. Therefore I have no idea what signing up for a Daum account entails, but I suspect it's time-consuming and frustrating for foreigners who live in Korea, to say nothing of the billions of non-Koreans outside the country who may be prohibited from registering.

To try and sign the petition I had to login and then provide my name and my foreigner ID number. The error has been happening after I try to submit that information. It's not simply an error with the screen, as when I typed in the wrong information it prompted me to correct it, but it must be a problem with the next step. Frustrating, to say the least, but par for the course I guess.

No reason to visit KFC anymore, I guess.

Once in a while I'd get a Zinger Burger Set at the KFC in the Gwangju bus terminal, but apparently they've discontinued it and another of its popular chicken burgers because of a shortage of chicken breasts.
KFC's Zinger and Tower burgers, both of which contain a thick piece of chicken breast, are no longer available in most of its 140 outlets nationwide. The two sandwiches reportedly account for 15 percent of KFC's overall sales.

KFC said the discontinuation was mainly due to a supply shortage of large chickens after the bird-killing virus, avian influenza, broke out earlier this year. It said the fillet used for the popular burgers come from these larger chickens.

However, the supply of chicken breasts shrunk by 40 percent after the bird flu led to the killing of hundreds of thousands of chickens in farms across the country, according to industry experts.

Given the popularity of the sandwiches and the chain of restaurants, I'm surprised we didn't see any candlelight vigils protesting unsafe product being potentially sold.

Lots of bad news in the KT today. Four Koreans were killed when their car drove off a mountain on Fiji. Sadly the group of seven consisted of three newlywed couples on their honeymoon, but I'll thank you for not making any remarks about couples taking honeymoons together.
Local police assume careless driving to be the cause of the tragedy.

*sigh* And a notable internet user and commenter "Jeon" beat her mother to death after her mother told her to go outside and get a life. The most-viewed story remains the one about foreigners busted for smuggling and using drugs.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

English teachers, actors, other foreigners busted for drug smuggling.

It's cruel of me to spend time thinking about which "Surprise" actor I want sent to prison, but I'm not going to apologize. From the Korea Times:
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Thursday it had rounded up three people, including one unidentified American actor who performed on the MBC entertainment program ``Surprise'' and one Korean-American identified as Choi for smuggling in illegal drugs they bought on a Web site.

Among other detainees are seven drug users including a Canadian actor and a native English-speaking teacher at an elementary school, police said.

Much more in Korean in this article, from whence this photo of one of the actors [edit: since removed] comes:

A busy day on the drug front as earlier we learned that a USFK soldier was sentenced to five years in a Korean prison for helping bring 30 pounds of marijuana in.

So that's five years for marijuana, 18 months for adultery, and zero time served for raping your granddaughter for seven years. Got it. You can call attention to the logical fallacy of comparing the cases if you'd like, but the Cheongju verdict will be something against which pretty much everything else in Korea is compared for a long time. Hard to cry foul about anything or have any sort of faith in the justice system when rapists are not only set free but are given back the disabled girl they were raping to begin with.

Cute kids and cute Santas.

Awwww. In Seoul on Wednesday for the 100th anniversary of the Salvation Army in Korea.





(1, 2, 3) There's a slideshow of photographs of the charity in Korea these hundred years on the official webpage, though Google says it may harm your computer.

In other Christmas news, Everland employees are brushing up on their Christmas cheer through a "Santa school."
Christmas is one of the major holidays celebrated in South Korea, home to one of Asia's largest Christian populations.

"I believe that the students will successfully act as Santa Clauses of Everland after the mental and physical training at the Santa School," said Choi Mi-yeon, a Santa lecturer.

Instead of riding a sleigh, the male and female Santa students ride the roller coaster, are taught special dance moves and the best way to sing carols.

I wouldn't call Christmas one of the major holidays, and I wouldn't cite Korea's Christian population as a reason for whatever popularity it's claimed to have, but I'll save my thoughts on the holiday for next month. Here's a bunch of pictures I stole off the internet:













It sure is amazing to see all those foreigners in our traditional Christmas uniforms. In some countries the major holidays center around dead ancestors and boring stick games, so in order to have a little fun foreigners like this have to borrow celebrations from other cultures and desecrate and denigrate them until they become days for trading chocolate, watching movies, and wearing cute outfits. But that's not true in our country.

There was a reason I posted all those pictures but now I don't remember what it was. I think I was going to make a comment about "of course they have to fuck up our biggest holiday by having girls run around in goddamn ridiculous skirts," but then I remembered this. *sigh*

Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, to me and mine.


At last year's Macy's Day Parade in New York, held every 미국 추수감사절.

I wanted to bring up something Korea-related for today, but Pikachu's the closest I could get.

Not to change the subject, but did you know in Japan it's customary to eat KFC on Christmas?

South Korean actress may go to jail for committing adultery without being paid.

I mean, given the thriving sex trade that's what I assume the primary objection is. From Reuters, via Ms. Parker in Korea:
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a popular actress who tried to overturn the country's law that criminalizes adultery be thrown in jail for a year and a half for having an affair, local media reported.

South Korean enacted its adultery law more than 50 years ago to protect women who had few rights in the male-dominated society but critics say now it is a draconian measure no longer fit for a country with an advanced civil and family court system.

Actress Ok So-ri's case has created a sensation in South Korea after she admitted to an affair with a singer and called on the country's Constitutional Court to overturn the statute that can send a person to jail for up to two years for adultery.

"The accuser (her husband) wanted a severe sentence," prosecutors said in court as to why they are seeking 18 months in jail for Ok, Yonhap news agency reported. Prosecutors were not available for comment.
The Marmot's Hole has a whole bunch of links related to this mess. The story I just quoted is the most-viewed story on Reuters, making this a good week for bad news from Korea. Certainly damaging to Korea's image overseas, one would think, but I'm more concerned about putting more kimchi in more American restaurants and more Korean dramas in more living rooms, thank you very much.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Lovers' suicide in Suncheon this afternoon, more student suicides elsewhere.

A couple hanged themselves from a tree in Yongsu-dong, to the west of Old Downtown, in the woods near a local cemetary. The man and woman, aged 50 and 42 respectively, were discovered around 2:30 this afternoon by a cemetary employee. If I'm deciphering the paragraph correctly it looks like on the 22nd Ms. "B" got into an argument with Mr. "A"'s wife at his apartment, left the house, and broke off the affair.
경찰조사결과 A 씨는 지난 22일 순천에 있는 자신의 아파트에서 B 씨와의 내연 문제로 아내와 다투고 집을 나간 뒤 연락이 끊겼다.

Not to change the subject, but while looking around for more information I learned about a suicide in a motel in Jorye-dong on the afternoon of October 4th. I know they're not going to name names, but being the fraidy-cat that I am, I wish I knew which motel to avoid from now on. The first part of that article talks about a suicide in an unnamed Dongeui-dong apartment at about the same time.

And, actually this is what I was looking for when I happened across that first article. A 15-year-old in Busan jumped to his death because he didn't get the scores he needed for acceptance into a prestigious international high school (특목고). About a week ago was the opening of suicide season, when a boy in Yeonggwang jumped off an apartment building because of test scores.

The Korea Times tells us about a middle school student who killed himself after breaking up with his girlfriend.

Gwangju International Film Festival, December 4th to 8th.

Stumbled across this by accident, but the 8th Gwangju International Film Festival (광주국제영화제) will take place from December 4th through the 8th at the Megabox downtown. Seems like much smaller potatoes than those held in Busan and Jeonju. I'll refer you to the website for more information, in Korean *slaps forehead*, but there are no details currently available on show times and I see they put up showtimes recently.

A fun date.

I guess this is what passes for a fun date nowadays:





Other interesting shots from that video game convention, such as this and this:



That photoset was on the front page of Inside Korea recently, under "Korea in Photos."

In case you can't think of any reasons why the Saemangeum land reclamation project is a bad idea.

The International Herald Tribune came up with, like, a million in their article on it yesterday. Get ready to roll your eyes:
[Developers] will replace natural wetlands with artificial ones and turn riverbeds into lakes. They will build a park along the road on the sea dyke and try to attract tourists with a theme park, convention center and even perhaps a casino.

Say, wasn't there just a big, international conference or something in Korea about the importance of protecting the world's wetlands? Unfortunately the theme of that convention seemed to be preservation for the purpose of eco-tourism, rather than for preservation's sake. The Minister of the Environment before the RAMSAR Convention this fall
adapted his pragmatism to the ``wise use of wetlands,'' the No.1 priority of the Ramsar Convention. ``What must be protected must be protected, but it would be even better if wetlands are utilized as eco-tourism sites because that could result in not only their protection but also the revitalization of the local economy,'' he said.

Somebody more knowledgable about local affairs can tell me what benefit more hotels, casinos, resorts, and golf courses will have in a country barely bigger than Pennsylvania, and already filled to the brim with local development projects like the Haenam Tourism and Leisure City and the 2012 Yeosu Expo that are bringing the exact same attractions?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Christopher Paul Neil convicted in second child abuse case.



Christopher Paul Neil was convicted in a second abuse case and was given a six-year sentence, in addition to the three years he got last month. His sentences will run concurrently, though, so he'll serve only six years in Thai prison. Neil taught in Gwangju before going on the run from Interpol, and is responsible for tightened visa regulations and background checks that, ironically, wouldn't apply to someone of his visa status and wouldn't have prevented him from coming to Korea.

Korean man drugs, rapes English tutor in Manila.

Yesterday a 51-year-old Korean man was charged with detaining, drugging, and raping his 23-year-old English tutor in Manila.

Shitty Pittsburgh Pirates sign two Indians---from India---who have never played baseball before.

Well on their way to their sixteenth consecutive losing season, I see.
Singh and Patel came to the United States six months ago after being the top finishers in an Indian reality TV show called the "Million Dollar Arm" that drew about 30,000 contestants. The show sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 85 miles per hour or faster.

While neither pitcher threw hard enough to earn the $1 million prize, Singh made $100,000 from the contest and Patel made $2,500, plus his trip to the United States.

. . .
"The Pirates are committed to creatively adding talent to our organization," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said Monday. "By adding these two young men, the Pirates are pleased to not only add two prospects to our system but also hope to open a pathway to an untapped market. We are intrigued by Patel's arm strength and Singh's frame and potential."

Christ, how about tapping into the market of "good players" for a change. East Windup Chronicle has scouting reports on the two; Pittsburgh-based Mondesi's House takes the "whatever, it's not like things could get any worse" approach.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Extended family members look after handicapped girl, repeatedly rape her, get suspended sentence in order to take care of her in lieu of parents.

점점점.
A court handed down suspended jail terms to four family members who repeatedly raped a teenage relative who suffered from an intellectual disability.

The Cheongju District Court Thursday sentenced an 87-year-old grandfather and two uncles of a 16-year-old girl to four-year suspended prison terms for sexually assaulting and raping the girl for the last seven years. Another uncle received a three-year suspended jail term.

The court acknowledged that their crime was ``sinful'' as they used the young girl, who is their family member, to satisfy their sexual desires. But it gave the suspended terms, saying, ``The accused have fostered the girl in her parents' place. Considering her disability, she will also need their care and help in living in the future.''

The court added it took the accused people's old age and illness into consideration.

Citizens strongly denounced the ruling, saying the punishments were too lenient for the grave crime. Internet users said it is absurd to release them to ``take care of her,'' as she needs help from others, not from rapists. They also said those committing such a crime do not deserve consideration regarding old age or illnesses.

Some bloggers are collecting signatures to oust the judge who made the ruling. The prosecution also decided to appeal. ``One of them even has a previous conviction for rape but was given a suspended term. The ruling is unacceptable,'' a prosecutor said.

The petition is here and has over 12,700 signatures as of this posting.

Tiny Wyoming town teaches English to Koreans via Skype.

This is a pretty innovative way to give employment to an isolated community and capitalize on the demand for telephone English in South Korea:
Eleutian Technology hires people in towns across northern Wyoming to teach English to Koreans of all ages using Skype, the free online calling and person-to-person video service. Two years old, Eleutian already is one of Wyoming's fastest-growing businesses.

The company has close to 300 teachers hooked up to more than 15,000 students in Korea, and CEO Kent Holiday said he's just getting started.

. . .
Eleutian's teachers include Kathleen Hampton, whose home is remote even by Wyoming standards.

Hampton moved to Wyoming from New Jersey when she met her rancher husband during a trip out West 13 years ago. She teaches English online several nights a week after her 30-mile commute home from teaching kindergarten in Ten Sleep.

She teaches most Korean students one-on-one. Many are in college. A few are middle-aged business executives. Hampton also teaches groups that are in private schools called "hakwons," which students attend after the regular school day.

"They're always fun because they're always yelling out in the background," Hampton said. "You get 14-year-old boys yelling out `I love you!' because they learn these English expressions and try to use them."

Eleutian pays its teachers $15 an hour to start. They're required to have state certification but don't have to be currently employed in schools.

"When you put on those first headphones and you're talking to somebody, it's nerve-racking to start with," Hampton said. "But it doesn't take long. If you're a teacher and used to explaining things, it makes no difference."

Growling at her students is one of her techniques. The idea is to get them to make an English-sounding "r."

"I'll be growling at them and there's some of these 20-year-old boys who will laugh, and they'll growl right back at you. And their roommates are in the background laughing at you and they get right into it," Hampton said. "And then you will have these quiet, little, studious people that will look at you and just won't do it."

Tuition for Eleutian's courses varies with factors like the size of the class and the business that's contracting Eleutian's services. But like any outsourcing company, Eleutian competes aggressively on price. For instance, one weekly one-on-one Internet course from Eleutian costs $150 for a whole semester, while English tutors in Korea charge from $40 to $60 an hour, Holiday said.

Another article says Eleutian is partnered with CDI, one of the big-name hagwon here. Here's the company's official website.

EPIK in the news some more.

Since I get some hits from people looking to teach in Korea for the first time, it's worth mentioning that there are recruiters misrepresenting the exchange rate and pay scale. Using one US dollar equals one thousand won was good enough as a rough estimate up until a few months ago, but don't be fooled today that 2.5 million won is equal to $2,500 per month. According to XE.com today, one dollar is 1,484 won, meaning 2.5 million won is actually US$1,667 per month. It goes without saying that you should investigate the exchange rates of your new country yourself, and I'd suggest skipping over recruiters who are either too sleazy or too lazy to accurately represent their jobs.

Moving right along, there's a piece in the Korea Times today about English Program in Korea. It's basically an advertisement---EPIK advertises on the main page of the KT, too---same as that POLY School article from a couple of days ago, but I guess this one is somewhat newsworthy since it's the government's system for putting foreigners in schools. I was surprised "unqualified" never popped up in the piece, but with a title like "EPIK Seeks Passionate Foreign Teachers" I guess they were after something else. Actually, one thing did catch my eye:
Currently, EPIK recruits only native-English speakers from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.

But it plans to allow those who can speak English fluently from countries adopting English as official language from next year at the earliest.

It will deploy 608 English-teaching positions at elementary and secondary public schools and training centers in six metropolitan cities and seven provinces across the country for the next spring semester.

The program teachers will receive 1.5-2.5 million won per month according to their degrees and teaching certificates and can receive entry and settlement allowance and free single furnished housing. Successful candidates will conduct English conversation classes with Korean co-teachers.
They're opening it up to residents outside the Big 7, then, to include people from Singapore, Hong Kong, India, and many others.

What really jumped out at me, though, was the salary: 1.5 million to 2.5 million won per month. You can view the pay scale on the EPIK website, which shows that they include members of the TALK program in that breakdown. Recruits via the TALK program have completed two years of college, and their salaries range from 1.5 to 1.7, depending on location. New teachers at the lowest level of the pay scale can earn 1.8 million won per month, while the highest possible salary is 2.7 million won per month. Those at the highest pay scale work in the provinces, have over two years' experience, have been with the same school for more than one year, and have one of the following: Master's degree, a CELTA, a TEFL certificate, or a Bachelor's in Education or English.

I'm not with EPIK but am in a public school, and as I'm at the second-highest level I earn 2.4 million won per month. It's the same rate I earned last year, and only 300,000 won more per month than I got when I arrived in Korea in July, 2005. Given the exchange rates, I actually earn $500 per month less than I did three years ago. The EPIK pay scale has remained unchanged since 2004, when I first began looking at jobs in Korea: the lowest level is still 1.8.

One of the complaints I always make is that there are no opportunities for professional development for native speaker teachers in Korea. We just wrapped up our yearly workshop this past weekend. That's right, a yearly workshop, and while it was very informative, that it was but three hours out of my year reflects how important our classes are considered in the grand scheme of English education. Korean English teachers, on the other hand, attend demonstration clases every semester, have frequent meetings with their colleagues, and have opportunities to attend immersion camps. Some even do a semester-long stint at an education university in Korea, followed by a month studying at an overseas university. English teachers may also pursue a Master's degree overseas, with half the cost covered by the education office.

Another complaint that goes hand-in-hand with that is that for all the talk about "unqualified" this and "we need more qualified teachers" that, there is no incentive for teachers to possess or require said qualifications. It was by coincidence that another story about "unqualified teachers" came out today, this one reporting that about half the foreign teachers in Seoul are "unqualified." In an abstract sense teachers with certification or advanced degrees are still filling the same roles as 22-year-olds with a freshly-printed Biology degree. Whether you're fresh off the boat or have been in the game for two decades, you're still seeing your students once in a blue moon, still serving largely decorative roles, still given a minimum amount of support and guidance, still having classes cancelled for grammar review, and still lowest on the totem pole. Hell, you're not even considered an English teacher, but are designated "native speaker assistant teacher." Some will say that with those with teaching credentials back home will have a greater sense of professionalism and job satisfaction, but anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. Moreover I have to question how those qualifications, tailored for different countries and settings, prepare the teacher for the challenges of the Korean public school.

And in terms of renumeration, experienced teachers---who are likely over 30 given the number of years it takes to amass the paperwork---are earning in the neighborhood of $30,000 per year, and only slightly more than teachers with no experience or training. Money is hardly everything, that's true, but the older we get the more responsibilities we have to other people, and the more we think about saving for the future. I'm insecure about my salary now, at 27; I'm sure that insecurity is amplified as the years add up. Pursuing a master's degree in TESOL or in a related field was once appealing to me, but I can't justify going back home for two years and coming back in my 30s to do the same job, and for the same money, I'm doing now.

You can easily find side-by-side comparisons of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China, traditionally the four most-popular destinations in East Asia for English teachers. Korea doesn't have the name recognition of Japan or China, and teachers in Korea have typically done more complaining than their peers in other countries. However, it was always the case that Korea was the best deal. Japan is cool but it's expensive. Taiwan is cool but you have to find your own place and have to fly yourself over. China is all right but you only make a few hundred dollars a month. But you don't need me to tell you that Korea is quickly losing whatever edge it had. One of the biggest attractions of Korea was the low start-up costs, as airfare was fronted before arrival and the apartment was already provided. Now, it's become common practice to reimburse airfare a month or two after arrival, and teachers usually have to pay what is basically "runner's insurance," a fee of 300,000 won per month to the school that will be returned to the teacher at the completion of the contract. Adding greatly to the start-up costs are the in-person embassy interviews and, for Canadians, the Vulnerable Service Sector checks required of new applicants. If stagnant salaries and shrinking vacations weren't enough, the increasing start-up costs are enough to frighten new teachers away.

I was interested in Korea in college and didn't really give the other countries a second thought. I still like Korea and personally don't have the energy or motivation to start over in some other country, or spend my formative years chasing a favorable exchange rate all over the globe. But first-time teachers will be less quick to dismiss Japan or Taiwan out-of-hand, or sneer at the lower salaries offered in China.

And that's to say nothing of the frustrations teachers feel here, not simply when they're getting ripped off by shady employers. I've seen the higher salaries in Korea referred to as "hazard pay" because of all the staring, taunts, and abrasiveness to be found. I'm not going to get into the extent to which those things exist, but nevertheless that was a prevailing opinion. And again I'm quoting the wisdom of the masses when I say that people were willing to sacrifice pay in order to experience the culture of places like Japan, China, or Thailand, and that Korea was rather boring in comparison. Korea has plenty to offer, of course, but first-time teachers or those adventurous enough to move will have some serious thinking to do.

EPIK has been debated to death on Dave's and other forums, with people saying that all its negatives are simply endemic to teaching in Korea. It's had just about nothing but negative attention from critics, though, and I always wondered why anyone would sign up for the program. I almost did, back in 2004, because I was hung-up on having a job already lined up before I graduated. I wasn't aware of how many schools there are in Korea, and how easy it is to find a job. Google will help you find more accounts of EPIK; a lengthy critique from Michael Hurt is available here, titled "EPIK as Case Study: Why Korean-Style Management Sucks." It's the conclusion of a three-part series on, among other things, the business of English education and native speakers' role in it, and was preceded by "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones."

Also take some time to read some articles from 2004 on the state of EPIK: "Teachers give bad grades to state-run ESL program" and "How schools fail to teach English." Pretty damning stuff.

I'm really not sure what can be do about these ridiculously-low salaries from EPIK and other schools, salaries and benefits packages that have remained unchanged from years ago. Fewer teachers are coming here or staying, meaning schools are turning to college students, to more Korean "lecturers," and to teachers from other countries to fill the void. You would think Korea would be doing everything it could to court teachers, but rather they're offering low salaries and welcoming applicants with all kinds of expensive and time-consuming visa regulations. However, as long as people accept these positions, the schools will feel no pressure to change.

It's easy, very very easy, to bitch and moan about what's wrong without offering any solutions. Granted, nobody has ever asked my opinion on English education, and many resent me for giving it unsolicited, but I plan to do a lengthy post in the near future about improvements that can be made to better incorporate native speakers and communicative skills into the scheme of things. While there are many rewarding aspects of living in Korea, I don't think it's too pessimistic to suggest that it's becoming harder to justify a lengthy teaching career here. Ironic that the longer we stay in Korea and the longer we learn, the less valuable we become. What is it they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? I don't think it's "hope."

Holy shit! Greatest moment in Joongang Ilbo history!

HT to Andrew for this, arguably the best headline in Korean newspaper history. Totally makes up for that paper not knowing how to press the "enter" key.

Fuck you, conflation.

You all know my fascination with the inability for many journalists and commentators to use "unqualified teacher" consistently. Sometimes "unqualified" refers to teachers without the proper paperwork, such as those who lack visas or diplomas. Other times it means foreigners without teaching credentials or certification. And sometimes it means those who use drugs, who slack off, and who are just generally unpleasant. The Marmot's Hole brings us news that half the foreign teachers in Seoul are unqualified.
According data submitted by the Seoul Office of Education to Seoul councilman Nam Jae-gyeong (Grand National Party), only 166 of the 810 foreign English teachers (20.5%) in city schools were certified teachers.

Only 303, or 37.4%, had TESOL certifications, while 44 (5.4%) had both teaching and TESOL certifications.

Only 136 (16.8%) had majors related to English education, and only 102 (12.6%) were education majors.

Meanwhile, 385 teachers — 48% — had neither teacher certifications or TESOL certifications.

Given the salary and benefits offered us native speakers, they're lucky they can still import teachers at all.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Pictures from the Hampyeong Chrysanthemum Festival, Gwangju International Food Fair.


Picture from here.

I feel pretty worthless for taking the weekend off and not doing much of anything. I was too tired and too cold to make it over to Hampyeong for the last days of the Chrysanthemum Festival, but you should still take some time to look through some of the pictures other people have taken because it looks really nice. Other people complained to me, though, that the 6,000 won entrance fee was a bit much, like how they charged 15,000 won for the Butterfly Expo.



The Namdaemun replica was perhaps the centerpiece of the festival. Then there's this:




Yes, 신기한 indeed. More photos available via a Naver search, which will turn up some news stories and tons of blogs like this one and this one. A Cyworld search will lead to more good ones.

You'll remember that Hampyeong put up a cardboard Obama as a "photo point," or something, next to that Namdaemun gate. Here's another picture of that, made twice as good by the incorporation of couple tees.



Another one of the festival's attractions? Moon bears (2), probably from the local ecological park.




On Sunday I managed to get off my fat ass and go to the Gwangju International Food Fair. It was an okay way to spend a couple hours, but they have a very loose definition of "international" as there were only a couple of booths of non-Korean products. The American table had nachos, there were a couple tables of Australian diet supplements, a table or two of miscellaneous snacks, plus of course those Turkish kebab guys. I had a chuckle at this unintentionally ironic booth from a Russian Federation country.



And I know all my Polish fans will object to this exhibit:



Everything else was local specialties such as Boseong green tea, Naju pears, and Yeonggwang gulbi, and the like, as well as kitchen equipment. There were free samples of these local products to be had, but when I heard of the festival last month I thought it'd be more filling, rather than just bite-sized pieces of fruit, spices, and ginseng. The Turkish guys must've made a killing as they were one of only about two booths where a filling snack was available. There were long lines for some of the more popular samples, such as coffee and soju, respectively. I love the old people squatting in line.




That allows me an opportunity to photoshop this white guy in with one of the mascots.



One of the more interesting exhibits was of crackers and breads built and molded into interesting scenes, such as a cathedral, Namdaemun, and a lizard, among others.




I had to rely on my cellphone camera for the day, so I'll spare you the agony of the rest and will instead just refer you to a Naver search for more.

Michael, formerly of Speakeasy and currently of The Underground Grocers in Gwangju, gave me a bit of a warning on my original post:
I go every year, for obvious reasons, but it usually blows. It is full of old people and children. There are constant fights as they all try to get free samples of yet another Korean taste treat.

It is supposed to be an opportunity for vendors to find new outlets for their products but it is really a tourism event. I have only made one contact and even that guy gave up on trying to sell his products in Korea when he realized that there were really no potential buyers other than two or three whities.

I guess the city of Gwangju has to justify the construction of the Kim Daejung Convention Center somehow.

Heh, that's pretty much it. Something to do, and a good filler if there's no way you're dragging your lazy ass out to Hampyeong, but disappointing if you're expecting "international" or "food." Interestingly, also sporting the "international tag" is the "International Senior Fair" coming up next weekend at the Convention Center which will proudly feature senior citizens from all over South Korea. Because Gyeongsang people are really weird.

I thought they were just joking about the "Korean dinosaur."

Yes, thank you, I know there were dinosaurs in Korea and that Jeollanam-do has several locally-famous fossil sites and museums devoted to that point, but that doesn't mean I didn't think of the Korean History Channel when I saw the article "Join Native Dinosaurs With 'Koreanosaurus'."
Few may know that the Korean Peninsula was a haven for dinosaurs 80 million years ago. To show what it looked like back then, the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) will bring the gigantic creatures that roamed Korea to life in a three part documentary called ``Koreanosaurus.''

``Koreanosaurus'' was filmed in New Zealand because of the location's atmosphere, which still holds that Cretaceos period touch.

Hahahaha FAIL. Interesting to learn there's a "Haenamichnus" (해남이크누스 우항리엔시스), named after the county-slash-region in Jeollanam-do. They're trying to get that site registered a UNESCO World Heritage site. Said one of the researchers attached to the Chunnam University project of the effort:
"It's not impossible and we are hoping for the best. If they do decide to register the area, it will bring a whole new dimension to the study of Korean dinosaurs."

Doesn't he mean "the Korean study of dinosaurs" rather than "the study of Korean dinosaurs"? LOL, probably not. He said this in a Korea Times story last month:
``We have seen dinosaurs in Western movies such as Jurassic Park and picture books. But here, we also had flying reptiles, and all kinds of dinosaurs walking, drinking, laying eggs and living just like any other creature,'' he said.

I see. Regarding the dinosaur from Haenam, the Haenamichnus uhangriensis, misspelled in the article, scientists have created a new name for what they found in Jeollanam-do.
As these [various] features clearly distinguish the Uhangri tracks from Pteraichnus and Purbeckopus, we assign them to a new genus, Haenamichnus which accommodates the new ichnospecies, Haenamichnus uhangriensis. The prints are five to six times larger than those of Pteraichnus, and are currently the largest pterosaur ichnites known.
As you can see, Korea has 100 million years of history.

Taiwanese passengers accuse Asiana Airlines of discrimination

From China Smack, via a bunch of Chinese-langugage sites and a hat tip from A Waygook Next Door:
Airplane delays departure to let “Korean passengers go first”

28 October, an airplane for Korea’s Asiana Airlines was delayed due to a mechanical problem while in Taiwan. After Taiwanese passengers suffered many hours of waiting, the plane finished repairs and was preparing to depart. But Asiana Airlines then notified Taiwanese passengers to let the Korean passengers go first, enraging the Taiwanese tour group who pointed out that this was discrimination against Chinese people.

That website has screen captions from a news report with very roughly-translated English summaries. While I can imagine something like that happening, I'm not really sure what to make of this case since that website is so uninformative.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Pictures of Korea from the 40s and 50s from Life magazine.



Life magazine has posted its photo archives on Google. There are roughly 200 for "Korea," mostly taken in the 1940s and 50s, most during the Korean War. There are a few showing the aftermath of uprisings in 1948, which I figured may have taken place in Suncheon and Yeosu. The Yosu-Sunchon Uprising happened in October, 1948, and the photographer Carl Mydans was also a journalist who filed stories on the incident. I won't link to those pictures directly, as they're of bloodied corpses, but you can browse the gallery yourself. My hunch was confirmed when I saw the sixteen pictures of "Yosu," some of which are unpleasant, taken by Mydans. "Seoul" turns up more pictures.



You also get some interesting results for "Cholla," a common old spelling of "Jeolla." Again, some are quite unpleasant. Here's one showing Hwasun county, outside of Gwangju.



And here's one of present-day Yeongam:



There are a couple photographs of Nim Churl Jin, an "ex-Communist guerilla" who spent two years "in the hills," reuniting with his family who had thought he was dead. Perhaps the hills refer to the area around Jirisan. Here's one from "Cholla-Namando" with the caption
Ex-Communist guerrilla Nim Churl Jin, homesick, ill & disillusioned with Communism, after two years in the hills with guerrilla forces, walking down road to his family's home.



The photos of Nim were important enough to warrant mention on an older version of the photographer's Wikipedia page, which says Margaret Bourke-White considered them among the most important of her career. The recent edition of the page says Bourke-White worked around the Jiri mountains, which were a refuge of Communist forces.

I guess I should move to Hannam-dong, then.



The Korea Times is profiling those "Global Villages" in Seoul, and did something on Hannam-dong recently. It ran that photo with this caption:
Hannam-dong offers great views and creature comforts for uppity foreigners living in Seoul. The picture shows housing areas with a view of the Han River.

If nothing else it will give me another excuse to wear this shirt: