Apparently something that should be added to orientations for newbies is a warning about what to expect for anything and everything to do with Dokdo and foreign teachers . . .
1. Expect to be somebody's photo-bitch. 2. Expect to be exposed to enormous amounts of propaganda--mainly in Korean. 3. Don't expect anything to be what you are told it will be. For example, schedules, times, dates, events, etc . . .
The trip sounds like everything bad about Korea, rolled into a single poop sandwich.
I was thinking of inviting you to travel to Dokdo with me (wouldn't that be the most epic blogger meetup ever: getting as many K-bloggers together on Dokdo?)
but now I'm having second thoughts. Maybe the DMZ, or the Korean War Museum, or the 5.18 museum in Gwangju instead.
Jason, it's just that newbies may be too busy being hung-over to do any actual research on where they may be traveling to and what it might entail. However, if I were to also listen to the Korean promotional material alone (Konglish T-shirts), I'd think those rocks were a paradise along the lines of Tahiti, New Caledonia, Fiji, or Borocay. Come on, we all now know that Jeju is exactly the same as the Hawaiian Islands by now.
Rob, I think you'd have more luck getting those K-bloggers into a phone booth or a VW bug. They are about the same size as those rocks.
I am a bit disappointed that the group didn't make it ashore though. Now, a cold night’s camping adventures would have made it an even more entertaining read.
When my co-teacher told me about the 3 day trip to Dok-do island I conjured up all kinds of images in my head: seaside villages with tasty and cheap eats, people scooting by on mopeds instead of cars, an island small enough to walk in a few hours, and of course what would an island be without beaches!
If she still thought that after two and a half months in Korea I can only assume that she doesn't spend much time reading the "big name" Korean bloggers.
Hmmm…we’re supposed to get on an “experimental” boat to go to an island that, yes we all know is Korean territory per the ancient maps and the agreement with Japan 50+ years ago in San Francisco
Yeah, that agreement with Japan 50+ years ago. Why do they keep violating that?
The lesson to be learned from all this is: Don't go to Tokto unless it's something you're interested in.
I won't redo samedi's quote, but this person clearly had no idea where she was going or what she was doing, which was probably the proximal cause of why this was a failure.
Had she looked stuff up ahead of time, then either (a) she would have had a greater appreciation for what she was seeing plus some idea what a harrowing journey it would be to get there, making it much less of a surprise after it happened, or (b) she would have taken a look at a photo or information on the islets and said something along the lines of, "Oh, this is not at all what I had in mind," and she would have opted to stay home.
While I find her tale interesting, there are too sides to this stupidity coin.
EPIK or whoever she works for needs to do a better job of informing people where they're going and what they're seeing, but I know from experience that while some will say you're giving too much useless information, someone else will be saying they were too uninformed. Be that about the logistics or the background.
6 comments:
Apparently something that should be added to orientations for newbies is a warning about what to expect for anything and everything to do with Dokdo and foreign teachers . . .
1. Expect to be somebody's photo-bitch.
2. Expect to be exposed to enormous amounts of propaganda--mainly in Korean.
3. Don't expect anything to be what you are told it will be. For example, schedules, times, dates, events, etc . . .
Nice find Brian.
J
The trip sounds like everything bad about Korea, rolled into a single poop sandwich.
I was thinking of inviting you to travel to Dokdo with me (wouldn't that be the most epic blogger meetup ever: getting as many K-bloggers together on Dokdo?)
but now I'm having second thoughts. Maybe the DMZ, or the Korean War Museum, or the 5.18 museum in Gwangju instead.
Jason, it's just that newbies may be too busy being hung-over to do any actual research on where they may be traveling to and what it might entail. However, if I were to also listen to the Korean promotional material alone (Konglish T-shirts), I'd think those rocks were a paradise along the lines of Tahiti, New Caledonia, Fiji, or Borocay. Come on, we all now know that Jeju is exactly the same as the Hawaiian Islands by now.
Rob, I think you'd have more luck getting those K-bloggers into a phone booth or a VW bug. They are about the same size as those rocks.
I am a bit disappointed that the group didn't make it ashore though. Now, a cold night’s camping adventures would have made it an even more entertaining read.
John from Daejeon
When my co-teacher told me about the 3 day trip to Dok-do island I conjured up all kinds of images in my head: seaside villages with tasty and cheap eats, people scooting by on mopeds instead of cars, an island small enough to walk in a few hours, and of course what would an island be without beaches!
If she still thought that after two and a half months in Korea I can only assume that she doesn't spend much time reading the "big name" Korean bloggers.
Hmmm…we’re supposed to get on an “experimental” boat to go to an island that, yes we all know is Korean territory per the ancient maps and the agreement with Japan 50+ years ago in San Francisco
Yeah, that agreement with Japan 50+ years ago. Why do they keep violating that?
The lesson to be learned from all this is: Don't go to Tokto unless it's something you're interested in.
I won't redo samedi's quote, but this person clearly had no idea where she was going or what she was doing, which was probably the proximal cause of why this was a failure.
Had she looked stuff up ahead of time, then either (a) she would have had a greater appreciation for what she was seeing plus some idea what a harrowing journey it would be to get there, making it much less of a surprise after it happened, or (b) she would have taken a look at a photo or information on the islets and said something along the lines of, "Oh, this is not at all what I had in mind," and she would have opted to stay home.
While I find her tale interesting, there are too sides to this stupidity coin.
EPIK or whoever she works for needs to do a better job of informing people where they're going and what they're seeing, but I know from experience that while some will say you're giving too much useless information, someone else will be saying they were too uninformed. Be that about the logistics or the background.
Yeah!! Let's go to an island filled with nothing but guano!!!
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