Radio for multicultural families to begin in Korea.

Interesting news as radio broadcasts in nine different languages will begin in Korea on September 1st.

A radio station airing programs in nine different languages for foreign immigrants in Korea will start services Tuesday.

The Woongjin Foundation, a non-profit organization sponsoring multicultural and multilingual communities here, said the "The Multicultural Family Music Broadcasting" station will kick off its first regular airing for the 1.2 million foreign residents here.

The programs will be provided through www.wjk.kr and www.radiokiss.co.kr; satellite SkyLife channel 855 and cable TV C&M channel 811 for Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino (Tagalog and English) and Thai; and SkyLife channel 856 and C&M channel 812 for Arabic, Russian, Mogolian and Japanese.

Disc jockeys will introduce traditional, modern and popular music from their respective countries. Brief segments offering Korean lessons, news, counseling services as well as information about living in Korea will be provided, too.

I don't know how many people listen to the radio these days---I don't even own one in Korea---but am I to understand that these radio broadcasts will only be available online or through the television?

The station also noted that all of its DJs have majored in Korea-related fields in their respective countries or have studied in Korea and that they will become the bridge between different cultures and lives.

SkyLife will give discounts to multicultural families installing the satellite dishes and will also install them at immigrant centers and other locations.

Unlike GFN, Gwangju's so-called Foreigner's Network---I have a post on that coming later---this is an initiative actually aimed at multicultural residents in their own languages. It's a good effort, and I'll be interested to see what the response is.

Daniel Henney in Pittsburgh.

So somebody stole my grandparents' car from the hospital parking lot. What kind of low-life piece of shit does something like that? In other hometown news, I did a double-take when I saw Daniel Henney on my TV the other day, and I did another little take when I saw he'd be on a TV show with a Pittsburgh connection.



Here's a description of the show "Three Rivers" from CBS.com:

THREE RIVERS is a medical drama that goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the preeminent transplant hospital in the country where every moment counts. However, dealing with donor families in their darkest hour and managing the fears and concerns of apprehensive recipients takes much more than just a sharp scalpel. Leading the elite team is Dr. Andy Yablonski (Alex O'Loughlin), the highly-skilled workaholic lead organ transplant surgeon, whose good-natured personality and sarcastic wit makes him popular with his patients and colleagues. His colleagues include Dr. Miranda Foster (Katherine Moennig), a surgical fellow with a rebellious streak and fiery temper who strives to live up to her deceased father's excellent surgical reputation; Dr. David Lee (Daniel Henney), a womanizing surgical resident who's broken as many hearts as he's replaced; Ryan Abbott (Christopher J. Hanke), the inexperienced new transplant coordinator who arranges the intricately choreographed process of quickly and carefully transporting organs from donor to patient; Dr. Sophia Jordan, the head of surgery and a dedicated medical professional; and Pam Acosta (Justina Machado), Andy's no-nonsense operating assistant and best friend. In this high stakes arena, in which every case is a race against the clock, these tenacious surgeons and medical professionals are the last hope for their patients.

When Koreans inevitably ask me "what is Pittsburgh pfamous for?" I tell them football and hospitals, because it hasn't been accurate to say "steel" for quite some time.

Henney, son of an English father and Korean-American adoptee mother, has been a hearthrob in Korea for quite some time, and made his debut over here in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Though he speaks English fluently, of course, he has also delivered some of the more ridiculous Korean advertising slogans in recent memory, such as "Let's Bravo" for an ice cream cone and "Are you gentle?" for the Daewoo Gentra automobile. And, as far as I know he's the only Asian-American who endorses a skin-whitening product.

So we made "Fail Blog."

A picture I took of a Spa Valley advertisement in Busan made it onto "Fail Blog" earlier in the month.



While the ad is, of course, bizarre as hell, I just want to say that, while I appreciate that you appreciate the picture, please don't steal things from my site, or post them elsewhere without attribution. Don't upload my photographs to sites and then click "dunno" for the source when it's clearly come from here. I'm a nice enough guy, but . . . I mean, come on.

A few gray hairs, but two new suitcases.

Bit of a rough start to my twenty-nine-and-a-half hour trip back to Pittsburgh last week. As soon as I walked out the door at 5:20 AM my suitcase broke. When I got to the counter at Incheon International Airport, with the wounded suitcase on a cart, the woman there said I would have to pay a fine of over 400,000 won because the bag was overweight. Maybe they should start doing that with heavy passengers. It was my fault, I know, because I can never keep track of the fluctuating weight restrictions, but I have no idea why the fine would be so high. She suggested that I take the suitcase to the packing center, take about half of my stuff out and pack it into a cardboard box, so that way instead of one heavy bag I'd have two underweight pieces. It just so happened that while I was over there, a family had just thrown away two of their suitcases because they repacked everything into a smaller number of bags, so the very nice man at the packing center told me to swap out the box and my broken suitcase for those two new ones. They aren't exactly new, but I'm pleased with the trade, and thankful to have such a fond memory of Korea to take home.

Teacher fired for catching swine flu, hurting hagwon attendance.

The Midnight Runner podcast has an interview with "Mark," a teacher here in Korea essentially fired for catching swine flu.

Not only did he catch the swine flu… he GOT FIRED as a result of it! Click to hear all about it, from how the teacher found out he had swine flu, to his treatment, and his academy’s reaction!

"Mark" was fired nine months in after taking a vacation to Thailand and returning to Korea ill. He went to the doctor and got tested for swine flu, but not surprisingly his director wanted him to come to work anyway. When the director learned of his positive test the next day, the director said he had to close the school, and word is some students quit as a result. The teacher wanted to be paid for his mandatory time off from school, was thus fired, and is now looking to get his severence pay, return airfare, and the wages over the next 30 days, but presumably will not be paid those or the three months of wages remaining on his contract.

Give it a listen, and decide for yourself who's right, who's wrong. A cautionary tale for those teachers who may want to travel abroad before, between, or during their contracts, and a foreshadowing of what could happen at schools and academies around the country this fall. There's a discussion on this Dave's ESL Cafe thread as well.

Here's one of those millionaire Korean English teachers.

The Chosun Ilbo looks at Yoo Soo-youn (유수연), a Korean cram-school teacher who earns a billion won annually. An excerpt:

Yoo graduated from Kangnam University in 1995 with a BA in business and received a master's degree in business at Aston University in England. Afterwards, she returned to Korea and began teaching preparation for the TOEIC English proficiency test, which is still widely taken in Korea. "I leave home around six-thirty in the morning and give TOEIC lectures from 7 a.m to 2 p.m. I teach about 1,000 people, 200 in each of the five classes," she says. "After the lectures, I head over to the Yoo soo-youn English Center, which I established, around 2.30 p.m. When I'm done there, I head back to my classes and lecture from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. I usually handle three classes of 200 people. My day officially ends when I get home around 11 p.m. I usually go to sleep at 1.30 a.m. in the morning after I check online posts and comments related to my lectures. I haven't slept for more than five hours a day since I became an adult."

And most importantly:

Constantly juggling a busy schedule, Yoo has no time to put on makeup.

She certainly puts in the work. You'll remember the Korea Herald profiled Yoo a few months ago, but put her annual salary at two billion won.

Yoo analyzed the past seven years of TOEIC questions and found that 800 key words appear most frequently. This means students should learn these key words thoroughly instead of simply checking their definitions in a dictionary, she said.

Another tip for test takers is that knowledge about usage matters in TOEIC. "Most students think they know the words like 'reveal' and 'emerge' but when it comes to specific usage, many do not know how to use such simple yet useful words properly," Yoo said.

Taking simulated TOEIC as a practice is recommended but an analytical approach is needed, Yoo said. "Once students complete one set of TOEIC questions, they should sleep on the questions they have missed. Why did I fail to get the right answer? What is the purpose of this question? Asking these questions can be really helpful in reducing errors and set a direction for self study," she said.

You can find a bunch of her videos on the internet via a Naver search. Yes, I know that Korea has a different interpretation of "English" than native speakers do, and that Koreans are interested in English as a test subject rather than English as a language, but when I read about these millionaire Korean English teachers, I can't help thinking someone's pulling a fast one on the public. I definitely cringe when colleagues show me their study materials and the errors just jump off the page. Certainly if people complain about "unqualified" native speaker English teachers who have an incomplete knowledge of grammar, for example, it's also a legitimate concern when Korean English teachers earn large salaries but struggle with speaking and pronunciation. But, well, as we know, it's a matter of priorities, and for Koreans standardized exams that test English grammar and vocabulary are extremely important, while communicative competence really isn't at all.

Anyway, you may also remember that in July Yahoo rather lazily reported on the phenomenon of rich English teachers in Korea. Though Korean teachers are among the highest-paid in the world, earning millions of dollars a year certainly isn't the norm, nor does

"If you want to strike it rich, go teach in South Korea"

as the report begins hold true for foreigners teaching here.

McCarthy's, Suncheon's newest bar.

A new bar in Suncheon, McCarthy's, opened Thursday night. I'll let the Facebook page take it from here.

McCarthy's is new bar for foreigners, opened by Newfoundlander Harold Lear. It is quickly becoming the talk of the town, and will feature his house band, Dr. Bob and the Disco Beaver!

I'll vouch for the quality of the band. In the bar's most recent news:

Guinness on tap - We'll be selling 'em in real pint glasses!

The page explains how to get there:

Take a cab to HomePlus in Chorye Dong.
With HomePlus's entrance on your right, continue in that direction till you hit Paris Baguette. Cross the street in the same direction and you'll see Zen Bar.
Left into that little alley and you'll see a church on your right. The next building is McCarthy's, on the 2nd floor!

No word yet on pictures or a menu, but I'll post 'em if I get 'em. If you're visiting Suncheon, this is further incentive to stay at one of the nicer motels around Jorye-dong's Home Plus, rather than somewhere downtown, because the bar is a short walk away.

Cornell professor attracts attention in Korea for bow at Kim Dae-jung memorial.

Looks like Cornell University's Mark Selden (마크셀던) has attracted some attention in Korea for his traditional Korean bow. An excerpt from the Korea Times:

When Mark Selden, an East Asian studies scholar from the United States, got on his knees to perform the traditional Korean bow "jeol" at a memorial altar for the late former President Kim Dae-jung, Sunday, he didn't really think of it as a big deal.

"It seemed a sensible thing to do," said the professor from Cornell University. He actually bowed in the traditional manner twice, the first at Severance Hospital in a visit to the former president.

In a recent telephone interview with The Korea Times, Selden said he'd had good tutors during his first experience: namely, the eight Korean people in front of him who had stood in a line to do the same.

But it was Selden's bow at the funeral in front of City Hall that caught the attention of Korean media, when the American stood next to Wada Haruki, the Japanese scholar and activist who was an advocate in the campaign to rescue Kim from the death penalty during the previous authoritarian regime.

"Wada bowed his head, but I kneeled," Selden said. "Each of us did what seemed right."

The photograph in that Korea Times article was contributed by a Korean blogger. The article says that a video of the bow also exists.

A lot more to do at love motels.

I've been a strong supporter of Korean love motels for a long time, and a recent Yonhap piece reiterates some of the reason why.

Most Westerners think of motels as simple lodging facilities with free roadside parking but South Koreans have long identified them as shabby sex shacks.

Such notions are changing, though slowly, as more and more motels are transforming their guest rooms into private entertainment places equipped with wide-screen TVs and other high-tech gadgets as a means of attracting clients.

Motels in South Korea have served as covert places for couples seeking to elude public scrutiny in a society where sex and romantic liaisons are anything but an open subject.

Interesting that when a foreigner stated that fact in a Gwangju News article she got chewed out by a Korean writer in the Jeonnam Ilbo, in a story that got picked up elsewhere. The Yonhap piece continues a little later:

But in the face of a steep increase in competition, motel owners are transforming their guest rooms into private entertainment complexes, renovating once spartan furnishings into lavish accommodations.

Couples can now find rooms in some of the country's leading motels equipped with a swimming pool, a sauna or jacuzzi, and flat-screen displays. Popular game consoles like Play Station or Wii, as well as karaoke machines, multiple PCs and a tastefully decorated bed are all part of the package.

"Lodging facilities used to be just for sleep or sex," said Lee Kyung-su, head manager at Seoul Mate Hotel. "But these days, such limitations don't make money."

And elsewhere:

"Motels used to be a place I go at night, have sex, and wake up in the morning," said an 28-year-old office worker who identified himself only by his last name Lee. "But now I go there also during the daytime with my girlfriend watching movies, playing games, or just lying in bed together listening to music."

I've been meaning to do more profiles on particular motels in Jeollanam-do and elsewhere, but until then I'd invite you to look through what I've already written and browse a couple of the directories of upper-echelon love motels in Korea: Hotel 365, Motel Guide, and Yanolja, a dating site.

South Korea reports third swine flu death.

An excerpt from the Korea Times:

The victim, whose identity was withheld, is a man in his 60s living in Seoul, health authorities said. He checked into a university hospital in Seoul on Monday for symptoms of pneumonia. He was being treated for the illness but then died of blood poisoning shock.

The deceased tested positive for H1N1 shortly after arriving at the hospital. He was prescribed with antiviral drugs and was treated in isolation.

"The patient had already been suffering from pneumonia and was making visits to the hospital. He came to the emergency room when his cold symptoms worsened," a staffer from the hospital was quoted as telling Yonhap News. "He was already suffering from blood poisoning and respiratory problems, and was receiving emergency procedures at the intensive care unit but failed to recover."

The man is known to have neither travelled to a foreign country recently nor been in contact with other H1N1 carriers. It is presumed that he caught the disease from local community activities, the second victim to have picked up the virus locally.

I'm no medical professional, but didn't this man die of complications perhaps related to the flu, and not from the flu itself?

As of Tuesday, the total number of infections from influenza A in South Korea had reached 3,332, of which some 1,000 are being treated in isolation. The other patients reportedly have recovered.

In other swine flu news, according to a National Assembly member, in turn apparntly quoting the Ministry of Health, 20,000 Koreans could die from the disease in a worst-case scenario.

A government document yesterday raised people's concerns over the H1N1 flu virus, saying up to 20,000 people could die from the infectious disease. "Strengthened measures with more antiviral drugs and vaccines will reduce the number of hospitalized patients to 100,000-150,000 and deaths to 10,000-20,000" said the document, which was disclosed by Rep. Choi Young-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party.

According to Choi, the document was distributed by the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs at an emergency meeting of government officials.

The document indicated that approximately 20,000 to 40,000 people could die from the disease if appropriate countermeasures are not followed.

Korea has been manufacturing and stockpiling flu vaccines, and plans to put the 5.3 million vaccines it has into use in November. The article on the worst-case scenario continues to say that at some schools around the country, students are undergoing daily temperature checks. The Joongang Ilbo has more on that.

The Education and Health ministries said in a joint press briefing that all elementary, middle and high schools nationwide will be required to check the body temperatures of all students in front of the school gates every morning.

Schools will be required to report students with flu symptoms to a local public health center, where they will be isolated. Absences due to flu won’t be recorded.

“Parents’ concern over the new influenza is growing, and students in circumstances that facilitate infection are the most likely ones to contract the disease,” said Lee Ju-ho, vice minister of education.

The ministries also advised schools to sterilize their classrooms once a day, provide sanitary products such as soap and hand sterilizer and teach students the right way to wash and clean their hands.

Well, that's a start. The article continues to say that schools are being discouraged to hold events where a large number of students participate (like classes?) such as festivals and school trips. I made this point last year during the Mad Cow scare---and got in some trouble for it---but in Suncheon it had become an annual tradition for students to be killed on their school field trips. Remarkable that the actual deaths of students doesn't seem to raise awareness about safety, though the hypothetical deaths might.

Here's what kimchi-icecream has to say about the flu and what it could mean for Korea.

I think things will peak in October. Students from MULTIPLE SCHOOLS attend hogwans. If only ONE is sick he/she can infect all the other students who then return to their multiple schools and so on and so forth . . .

I can't see how the government or any other agency can regulate and enforce hygiene and health policies in all the different places that need supervision, advice, information, and motivation to do what needs to be done to lower the numbers of people who will get sick.

Perhaps even more difficult to regulate are the parents who still go to work when they're sick, and still send their kids to school when they're sick too. The culture of work no matter what condition you're in may be about to go extinct--one can only hope that the transition will be mildly painful, and that the cost is not too high.

I think Korea is going to see a revolution in hygiene awareness, and Koreans staying home when they're sick instead of going to work and school, and a more educated awareness of how viruses are spread in the next few months.

And, if my Facebook friends' updates are anything to go on, it looks like lots of foreign English teachers have been given the week off, in home quarantine as a precaution against the flu.

Dude, that's cold.

So a guy wanted to build a golf course in Gangwon-do that would restrict access to a family grave already there. The builder and the relative came to an agreement that there'd be a path from the road to the graveyard. But then the relative dies, so what does the builder do?

[T]he builder broke the promise and changed the course design because they wanted the course's 11th hole to be a 654-meter-long par 6 hole, aiming to be the longest hole in the nation. The path was originally planned between the 10th and 11th holes.

Jeollanam-do has lowest unemployment rate in the country.

Jeollanam-do's unemployment rate is 1.4%, the lowest in the South Korea according to the National Statistics Office. Seoul has the highest in the country at 4.8%, while other cities like Incheon, Daegu, and Daejeon aren't far behind.

US is 15 years behind South Korea's internet speed.

Ugh, according to a new report the US is 15 years behind South Korea's internet speed.

In the last year, the average upload speed in the United States “barely changed,” the report said, and download speed only grew a little, from 4.2 megabits per second in 2008 to 5.1 megabits per second in 2009.

In South Korea, average download speed is much faster — 20.4 megabits per second. The United States also lags Japan (15.8 mbps), Sweden (12.8 mbps), the Netherlands (11 mbps) and 24 other countries.

At average U.S. speed it takes about 35 minutes to download 100 family vacation photos, and four hours to upload them.

Via Todd's Posterous Blog. Not really related, but worth sharing that during my 29-hour trip back to Pittsburgh a couple days ago I noticed there are kiosks with free internet in the airside terminals at Incheon International Airport and Tokyo's Narita International Airport. In Chicago's O'Hare? Five dollars for the first fifteen minutes, $0.33 for each additional minute. Way to keep sucking, guys.

Swine flu forces cancellation of festivals, but Gwangju's big ones survive.

From the Joongang Ilbo, via a reader tip:

A traditional Korean arts and performance festival scheduled to run through Sept. 22 to 27 in Anseong, Gyeonggi has been scrapped and similar events in Seongnam and Hwaseong in the same province have also been either canceled or suspended on fears of the virus.

Another 199 cases of the new flu were confirmed yesterday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bringing the total to 3,312. Two people have died from the disease.

Other municipal governments are considering similar cancellation plans despite the financial losses regional economies will incur.

Gwangju Mayor Park Kwang-tae told officials in a meeting yesterday that he doesn’t want to risk the lives of his city’s citizens even though axing major international events would cost the city a lot of money.

Just two days ago, Gwangju city officials said it cannot cancel or suspend upcoming international festivals because of financial commitments and effort spent organizing the programs. The city’s major festivals include World Photonics Expo 2009 Gwangju (Oct. 9 to Nov. 5), and Gwangju Design Biennale (Sept. 18 to Nov. 4), Gwangju Kimchi Cultural Festival 2009 (Oct. 23 to Nov.1). The city estimates 2 million Korean and overseas visitors from 50 countries would visit the photonics expo.

I suspect GFN, Gwangju's semi-English radio station would go out of business if it could no longer boast of the photonics expo and how it is the greatest hope for humanity and, more importantly, for Gwangju. The article goes on to say that some colleges have delayed the opening of the semester. Furthermore, some grade schools have also delayed the start of the new semester. From the Herald:

Due to growing concerns over the rapidly spreading H1N1 flu virus, some schools have decided to delay the start of the new semester, scheduled for yesterday, to prevent possible mass infections among students. They included three middle, 12 high schools and one international school that have reported a total of 38 confirmed infections as of Sunday.

Education officials delivered guidelines to schools that recommend students who recently returned from abroad stay at home for the incubation period of the disease. Schools have also been advised to postpone field trips and sports events.

The total number of people infected with the flu virus here reached 3,113 yesterday with additional 188 cases in the day alone.

Stephannie White loses court case over son's death in Gyeongsan sauna.

More bad news for Stephannie White, reports Paul Kerry in the Korea Herald:

The mother of Michael White, 14, who drowned in a Sauna in May 2008, has lost her court battle to win compensation for her son's death.

Stephannie White sought damages from the sauna, one of the hospitals where her son was taken, and the national and provincial governments, claiming that they had contributed to her son's death.

"I have instructed (my lawyer) Mr. Hwang to completely investigate all possibilities for appeal," Ms. White said.

"I will stay in Korea as long as necessary. While I am in Korea I will work within the system to seek justice and restitution. Once I am no longer in Korea, I will no longer have to respect Korea's sensibilities on the delicacy of this issue."

Those unfamiliar with the story might want to visit MightieMike.com, the official site set up by Stephannie, and read through some of the posts collected here:

* (May 15, 2008) "The suspicious death of 14-year-old Michael White."
* (May 23, 2008) "But at this point, the difference in law and culture at bathing places is what's likely to be at fault."
* (June 9, 2008) "Vigils for Michael White hitting snares."
* (June 10, 2008) "Michael White's autopsy report released to press before family."
* (July 7, 2008) "A few excerpts from the second Seoul Podcast with Stephannie White."
* (January 4, 2009) "Michael White's mother sues."
* (April 8, 2009) "Stephannie White tours Gyeongsan sauna where son was found dead."
* (May 4, 2009) "Stephannie White still trying to get Mike's death international coverage."
* (June 1, 2009) "Update from Stephannie White."

Teachers pissed about last-minute SMOE cancellations; SMOE putting the blame on foreign teachers?

The Korea Times' Kang Shin-woo has an article "Job Cancellation Angers Foreign Teachers" about the last-minute job cuts the Seoul Metropolitician Office of Education made that left a hundred teachers without a job just days before they were to leave for Korea. You can read more about that on my original post, on the source material "SMOE - Job Cuts" post, follow-ups like ESL Cafe threads "SMOE Mess," "DROPPED BY SMOE WITH 24 HOURS TO GO - sign up here," and Chris in South Korea's blog post "SMOE teachers fired before even arriving in Korea." Kang's headline is right that teachers are angered, and with very, very good reason. And it's not only those who've been dropped that should be annoyed. I think to something I read on Living Life Frame by Frame a few days ago:

It’s one thing for a sketchy hagwon (cram school) to behave like this, but it’s a whole different bag of cats when the Korean government behaves like this. Firing 100 out of 600 teachers, after they have already been assured a job overseas and gone through all the hassle that entails, just because you were disorganized is really, really not acceptable.

and earlier in the post:

Things like this are why I cannot in good faith recommend Korea as a place to teach, unless you’re willing to risk a huge amount of BS.

This crap by SMOE really ought to remind applicants that you're not necessarily safer going the public school route. I mentioned in a comment that this really cannot stand, but, well, what sort of power do teachers have to get retribution? It's worth noting that being "job slain" is nothing new in Korea, and it happened with enough regularity years ago that I remember the phrase from Dave's ESL Cafe. I myself was job slain twice in 2005, before I even came to Korea, though definitely not the day before I was to fly out. The first two contracts I signed were for new English Villages---the first in Seoul's Gwangjin-gu, the second in Incheon---that went belly-up before they even opened. Both schools were to be funded through the local governments, so I, too, and those other teachers were jilted by the government back in 2005.

It's worth repeating, though, that for some in this situation it's not just a matter of disappointment and annoyance. People have surely packed their things, quit their jobs, sold their cars, given away their pets, cancelled their phone contracts, vacated their apartments, said their good-byes, and, yeah, gotten themselves mentally ready for a year or more abroad. I'd like to hear from some of these jilted applicants---feel free to post a comment here*---and find out how many have decided not to give Korea a second chance.

Kang is on the English education and teacher beat, and has a reputation for being a pretty bad journalist, to the extent that even though I take interest in education-related issues, I often skip anything with his name on it. Thus, not only is this article very incomplete and inconclusive, but we also can't be guaranteed that anything quoted in the article was actually said by anyone; that said I found this quotation by someone at the office of education alarming:

An official from the education office said, "Many foreign teachers give up working with us at the last minute, perplexing schools that are supposed to have native English speakers, so we secure extra teaching hopefuls every year. For this semester, we selected enough applicants for a possible shortage as we recruit a large number of teachers."

She added some of the foreign teachers whose contracts were withdrawn had failed to submit necessary documents and skip mandatory orientation programs.

Is that true? Do "many foreign teachers" quit "at the last minute," or is this just some more liberal quoting from Kang Shin-woo? It's not uncommon to see public school openings advertised weeks after the start of semesters, demonstrating that school districts---though perhaps not SMOE or EPIK---can and do fill any vacancies that arise. Recruiting more teachers, and offering them jobs and telling them to come to Korea, is extremely irresponsible and should be a warning to anyone considering dealing with public schools in the future. The article continues:

SMOE also made it clear that almost all of the failed applicants agreed to the plan.

"We obtained consent from all of the teaching hopefuls on the job cancellation and we put some of them on the waiting list," said another official from the office, indicating that they didn't violate any contract agreements.

I'm curious to learn what choice they had when they got a phone call or an email days before they were scheduled to fly to Korea without a job in hand. The article said SMOE was at least able to help a few teachers:

The office, however, helped some 10 failed applicants who have already arrived in Seoul land jobs on the English Program in Korea (EPIK) organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Indeed, that's the least it can do. The article doesn't say if there will be any further public statements or apologies, or if the office will refund all the airfare purchased in advance by those teachers. It should, that's for damn sure.

For what it's worth a recruiter, Ben Glickman, shared his experiences on Dave's ESL Cafe; an excerpt of his comments:

We were first informed that the SMOE was cutting candidates last minute on the evening of Wednesday the 19th. I would assume this is when the word went out to all the recruiters involved as well as teachers recruited directly by the SMOE. We were not given a reason initially - we were told that that the SMOE needed to cut 100 out of the 600 teachers recruited total [emphasis mine]. Later we were given the reason that schools came in Seoul came in with less job orders at the last minute due to budget cuts. That is all we know at this point.Each agency was given the directive to cut teachers, and at the same time the SMOE administration contacted teachers directly from all agencies to inform them they no longer had jobs. The selection was random from the SMOE - it was not related to nationality, race, salary level or anything else. Teachers from all countries, E-2 and F-4 candidates, and of all levels of experience and salary level were cut.

That contradicts the information presented in Kang's article, one that didn't provide any answers and didn't do much else than scroll through Dave's ESL Cafe.

* Feel free to share your thoughts as a comment here. The Korea Herald is also looking for people who want to their share experiences with this mess. Those with information or who would like to be interviewed can contact the "Expat Living" editor Matt Lamers at mattlamers [at] heraldm.com

After seven delays, South Korea sends rocket up; satellite not put in target orbit.

Picture of the launch, from Yonhap.

After seven delays, South Korea successfully launched the first rocket from Korean soil Tuesday from the Naro Space Center in Jeollanam-do's Goheung county. "Korea's first rocket lifts off from space center," says a Korea Herald headline, and "Korea launches 1st rocket into space successfully" says another; an excerpt:

South Korea's first space rocket has successfully entered the Earth's orbit and deployed its 100kg scientific satellite, the government said on Tuesday, according to Yonhap News. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said the locally made scientific satellite separated from the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) 540 seconds after launch and over 2,000km from the Naro Space Center, located 485km south of Seoul.
The successful launch comes after Seoul postponed the date seven times since 2005 due to diplomatic and technical issues and complications in the construction of launch facilities. The latest delay occurred Wednesday, when mission controllers halted the countdown with less than eight minutes remaining before blastoff.
The government said it will take about 11-13 hours before communications between the scientific satellite and ground controllers can take place. Communications with the satellite will determine if the liftoff was a total success, although engineers claimed inability to make contact on the first attempt does not signify a failure.
South Korea spent 502.5 billion won ($402.4 million) on the 140-ton KSLV-1, which stands 33m tall and has a diameter of 2.9m.

However, the Korea Times headline says "S. Korea Fails to Put Satellite Into Target Orbit."

South Korea's first space rocket successfully lifted off from the country's launch pad on the southern coast Tuesday but failed to put a scientific satellite into the target orbit, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.

The rocket, called the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), soared into the sky at 5 p.m. from the Naro Space Center and had to separate from a scientific satellite at an altitude of 306 km. Instead, the rocket separated at an altitude of 340 km.

It means that the rocket launch has been a partial failure, researchers said.

That article reiterates first contact with the satellite will come 11 to 13 hours later, some time Wednesday morning, Seoul time.

KBS has kept it short and sweet so far, simply writing

South Korea has successfully launched its first space rocket, the "Naro."

The few other English-language news sources haven't yet updated their pages with the latest news, some five hours after the launch. They will no doubt be filled with columns of lofty prose marking the occassion and South Korea's entry into the select company of rocket-launching Koreans countries, but you know what, it is a big occassion, and I wish the time difference didn't make it impractical to watch on TV. The huge portal Naver has marked the occassion with this drawing atop its page; clicking on it takes you to an index of Korean-language stories.



You'll find a collection of photographs on Chosun.com---those who can navigate Korean sites will find them anywhere---and you can watch a video of the launch from, among other places, YTN. The original point of this post was to give a little overview of what the local English-language papers were writing, but then I noticed today that when you search through the hundreds of articles Google News you can organize results by "local sources," thus defeating the purpose of me going through and doing it.

The launch has been delayed a bunch of times, most recently on the 19th, Korea time, when the launch was stopped 7 minutes 56 seconds prior to liftoff due to what was called a technical glitch. The rocket's name, Naro, refers to the space center where it was launched, and was a name chosen after a public naming competition. Personally I thought some of my suggestions were more typical of Korean efforts in English, but I forgot to submit something. Though it was launched from the Naro Space Center, the rocket was built with the help of the Russians. South Korea plans to build one of its own by 2017.

Video of the successful Naro rocket launch.

South Korea launched the first space rocket from its peninsula a couple of hours ago. You can watch the video of the lift-off at Naro Space Center from YTN and Naver.

South Korea wants 2022 World Cup.

From the Chosun Ilbo:

Korea has joined the bid for the 2022 World Cup with former foreign minister Han Seung-joo named as the chairman of the bid committee.

Korea has joined in the final rush of countries hoping to host the event. Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands-Belgium, Russia, Spain-Portugal and the U.S. have filed to host both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups while Qatar and Korea bid for 2022 only.

Right now the United States is viewed as a top candidate for 2022, but Han and members of the committee plan to change all that. Korea hosted the 2002 World Cup jointly with Japan and this time will bid for the sole hosting rights.

A little more from the LA Times:

The U.S., Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Russia have formally declared their desire to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. The Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have each submitted shared bids for both those tournaments. And South Korea and Qatar have also applied as candidates to host only the 2022 World Cup.

I'll let soccer fans chime in here with more details, but if I'm not mistaken, the Korean fans' enthusiasm for their national team aside, attendance and interest was poor both here and Japan. Korea came away with tons of new stadiums, yet they sit mostly unused today. I guess they'll need another World Cup to justify building so many World Cup Stadiums.

Anybody see the KKK at the Seoul Fringe Festival?

A reader passed along a picture of these fliers which, he says, have been all over Hongdae the past few days advertising for a performance at the 2009 Seoul Fringe Festival.



You can find a little more information on the play and the troupe performing "KKK" on their page at the Fringe Festival site, or perhaps can glean something from their Cyworld club. For the benefit of international readers, "KKK" refers to Ku Klux Klan, a hate group in the United States that has traditionally worn a hood such as that on the flier.

And now, a nice letter.

See, I'm not such a bad guy. I found this a little while ago and will put it up now since I no longer work at the school. A student wanted to write a letter to me but didn't know how to write it in English, so she turned to Naver for help.

제가 영어로 원어민선생님한테 편지를 쓰려고 하는데요~

영어를 잘 못해서 ㅠㅠ근데 선생님이랑 친해지고싶어요 ...ㅋㅋ

지식인 님들이 좀 도와주시면 안될까요!!??

제가 여기에 쓴 문장을 영어로 바꿔주시면 되요 ㅎㅎ

영어번역기는 일단 ㅈㅅ하구요 ....

영어 잘하시는 분이나 전문가 쪽에서 정확하게 해주셨으면 좋겠네요 ^*^



브라이언(Brian) 선생님께

브라이언선생님 안녕하세요

저는 순천 왕의(yangui)중학교에 다니는 ㅇㅇㅇ입니다

아.. 제가 영어로 편지를 써보는게 처음이라서 많이 어려워요 ㅠ.ㅠ

선생님 수업하시는거 너무너무 재미있게 듣고있구요

선생님 무지무지 좋아해요~

그럼 나중에 학교에서뵈요~

좋은 주말 보내세요 ^^

Aww. I never figured out who it was, and I never got a letter. Looking at the, um, "English" translation she got, I think trying her own words would have been just fine.

I haven't committed any sexcrime to the teenagers, now that you mention it.

Cleaning out my computer at work I came across this gem from April, 2008, from a coteacher before the long-delayed start of an after-school course:

About After School Class,

13 students want to join your English Conversation Class. So you can start your class soon. But I have to finish a paper about temporarily contracted teacher like you before starting the class. I have to ask Suncheon Police Station to check whether you committed any sexcrime to the teenagers. Do you agree to this? If you don't, you can't start your class. I don't think you did committed any crime. But this is an essential step which began this year. I think you feel bad about this. All elementary and middle schools in Korea should do the same thing. Write me back soon.

I don't remember what that check entailed. I remember I objected at first because I had already submitted a background check from back home, and I didn't think Suncheon had the jurisdiction to conduct one or demand one now. Public school teachers are well aware that schools often demand the same information over and over, such as education background, degree information, job experience, that sort of thing, and I had gotten to the point where I simply said "no" to such redundant checks. If I recall correctly this check was simply a local one, which seems a little odd to me now because if I had committed any crime in Korea I presumably wouldn't be in the classroom. That is, not until my records were expunged.

A temporary teacher at a middle school in North Chungcheong Province was arrested for raping and molesting female teenagers, police said Wednesday. He had previously been convicted on seven counts of sexual assault and other crimes.

. . .

Currently, criminal records of those sentenced to less than three years in prison are removed after five years. As such, schools can't always ascertain the criminal record of would-be teachers.

SMOE cuts tons of native speaker English teacher jobs days before start of semester.

Troubling news off of Dave's ESL Cafe, where we learn that the Seoul Metropolitian Office of Education has cut native speaker English teacher jobs a few days before the start of the fall semester. Sounds like an absolute nightmare.

Just got a phone call minutes ago from SMOE saying that I no longer had a job with them for this coming year. I expect a few people on this forum will get this as well.
Reason was they have budget constraints and are cutting all the lower level applicants and not placing in as many school. And they are doing this a week before it starts?!

Bearing in mind, I've already recieved my notice of appointment. Is there a clause in the contract to allow this? Lol

At the moment, this leaves me stuck without a job and around £500 down from all the costs. This sucks.

They said they will keep me on file to apply in either March / August 2010.

From a second poster:

It's not just low level placement people who are being dropped.

I have a MA in Teaching (English), certification in English Language Arts and TESOL in my home state, and 6 years of experience - 4 of it in Korea.

And my recruiter just emailed me saying I was dropped because I wouldn't be there the first day of orientation -- which isn't even likely true.

He had told me on Monday that SMOE had FedExed my visa number. I had told him that I knew the turn around time in the consulate in Atlanta is one day. You drop the stuff off and pick it up the next afternoon.

MY two DHLed packages to Seoul by fastest method got there within 3-4 days. I could have likely made the first day of orientation - 2nd at the latest.

Now I'm back at square one with a mother-in-law who needs help and was expecting me to arrive next week.

----- and so goes the ESL industry in Korea...

The same poster continues:

A couple of weeks ago when people started posting that EPIK had shifted 100 contracts over to SMOE and that SMOE was dropping people who already had a signed contract due to overbooking --- was the time my recruiter got back to me that SMOE now wanted a specific form letter from the hakwons I worked at 10+ years ago.

I immediately said it was highly likely one or more of them wouldn't send such a letter, because the schools had changed hands or closed and one boss (where I did finish a contract) was an ass --- I didn't use that specific language --- I just said I'd likely not be able to get all the letters).

So, I said why not give me a lower level contract to sign? That should make SMOE even happier...

They didn't do that until after a couple weeks delay and at the end of last week.

I could still make orientation on time if they had really FedExed the visa number material on Monday as I was told.

I think this is just a case of poor planning on SMOE and EPIK's part.

Par for the course in the ESL industry in Korea.

I feel sorry for the people who had gone ahead and bought tickets over. Especially those who did so after getting the visa who might now be dropped.

From a third poster:

I was dropped after I sent my contract out (never received NOA). I thought that was the only time they made their cuts. I'm sorry to those that have recently been cut. Good luck to all of you in finding jobs. I felt as though everything fell apart when I got cut, but within 2-3 weeks, I received 3 job offers (2 asap positions and 1 starting in January). It's just a matter of deciding which one to go with now.

Don't take Korea for granted.

Here's an interesting thread on Dave's called "Don't take teaching in Korea for granted," though I think it's also applicable for some who aren't teachers. The opening post:

I just got back from a month long vacation back home (in the US). I had been here for two years before going home for the first time. I had a great time, but towards the end of it I was getting very irritable and standoffish towards everyone.

It had a lot more to do with me than the culture and customs of Korean people. The smallest things began to irritate me a lot more than they should, like being asked the same questions repeatedly, having to deal with people who weren't very receptive to me or my culture, and all the small little idiosyncrasies common to Koreans.

I had begun to really want to go home. I thought that maybe some time spent there would clear my head and set me straight.

Another thing I had been noticing shortly before I went home was my fixation on how much better my culture was at certain things. My mantra when I became irritable was "at least when I get home I won't have to put up with this sh*t, back home everything is perfect!"

Its all very strange considering I felt this way about being home just before I came to Korea. I'm from a really small town and have always been a black sheep just for having different interests than everyone else (basically I don't like four wheeling, sports and going to church, which makes me some kind of monster).

So I went home for a month.

-Everything is more expensive.

-I can understand everything everybody says. This is a bad thing. I had forgotten how stupid people are.

-People are disgustingly fat and it's practically against the law to tell them that. 80% of my hometown is fat. I made a remark about it when I was visiting relatives and noticed they would avoid the issue when talking and would refuse to use the word "fat." I guess we're all supposed to say "a little on the big side" or "overweight" now.

-Everyone my age who didn't go to university or move to the city gained 100 pounds, had two kids and complains about never having enough money.

-Everyone my age who went to university or moved to the city works at a shitty minimum wage job, has practically lost their will to live and aren't nearly as fun to talk to as they had been before I left. It feels like going to the local bar in a coal mining town after the mine was closed.

-Having to listen to relatives (all die hard Republicans) go on about the politics de jour like they actually know what they're talking about and having to try to keep quiet.

-Successful still means keeping less money per month than I keep here.

-Overabundance of responsibility. Some of it needless.

-Nothing ever changes. Everyone is doing the exact same thing they were doing. All the roads have pot holes in them that I remember complaining about five years ago. The only new business that came in since I left was Wal-Mart, and since everyone started shopping there all the town's family owned businesses have been on the decline.

-In Korea, people ignore you pretty much aside from some staring. Back home, people size everyone else up like it's their job and it's not uncommon for strangers to hurl insults at other strangers.

-Terrible internet. Terrible public transportation. Terrible service in restaurants (compared to Korea). Having to tip for said service.

-A lack of good Indian food. Korea spoils us there.

I could say a million more things but I'll leave it at that. I feel refreshed now and I feel like such a huge retard for letting all those little things bother me when I lived here. I am better off here than I was there and I think for a lot of us, this holds true.

Now I plan on going home once a year just to remind myself.

And I hate not being able to relate to anyone, or them to I, to touch on something brought up by another poster:

What also bugs me is how they also show little curiosity in your international experience or ignore it completely. Either they regard it as too mind-boggling and scary to comprehend, or they view it as wasted time (you could've been paying a mortgage and closing in on a management position in that time!).

Though a follow-up poster does provide a reality check:

I think most NETS here live in a bubble. Try supporting a family, paying off a mortgage, a car and see if you still have oodles of cash. You might find you're in the same boat as your friends back home.

I'm constantly weighing the advantages of East and West, wondering if each year I spend here means a year I'm not starting a career back home, or becoming a homeowner, wondering if I'm delaying the inevitable. But, lately I'm finding less worth going back to, when I consider all the ways Asia outstrips the US in convenience and, yes, development. Now that the cat's out of the bag on my relationship and engagement, I can admit that I've long worried about how quote-unquote foreigner friendly the US is compared to Korea or Japan for somebody who isn't fluent in the local language. I suppose it doesn't pay to be so on-the-fence about staying or going, but then again I'm not sure anything is guaranteed. Who knows if a career I land tomorrow will exist in ten years? Or if the house I buy now will worth anything when I retire? Or if I will even live to see 65 or whatever will be considered retirement age later? Or, at the rate US imperialism and arrogance is going, if the rest of the world will even allow it to survive for another generation? Or if it's worth saving?

Well, suffice it to say, there is a lot to like about Korea, and the periodic trips back home never fail to highlight some of what's good. I'm glad this thread came along to remind me.

Not a clue about what goes on in the classroom, not a clue.

The Korea Times has an article today about English Program in Korea [EPIK], one of the organizations that provides native speaker English assistant teachers to Korean public schools.

On top of wanting to gain valuable experiences here, some of the teachers said difficulty finding jobs in the United States following the recent financial meltdown affected their decision to join the EPIK program.

Sengathi Lavanh, a 32-year-old architect from Dallas, Texas, is hoping to integrate his knowledge of design and urban planning into his conversational English classes. One possibility he's looking into is teaching Adobe Photoshop and other design programs to bring in more exciting elements to the classroom.

Unlike in private English-teaching institutions, teachers at EPIK are not required to stick to a rigid curriculum, but must work in a more proactive setting and provide ideas.

"I was thinking (of teaching) high school, because that'll probably be more effective," Lavanh said. "It'll give them an idea of what they want to do after high school."

Some teachers are permitted to be flexible, it's true, though there is the pressure to stick to the textbook even in secondary school. Because English education revolves entirely around exams, Korean English teachers often feel native speaker classes a waste of valuable preparation time, and will ask that these classes, too, incorporate the textbook. And not to be too cynical, but the native speaker's English class is probably the least important thing these high school students will encounter all year, and will have no bearing whatsoever on their career choices. Students spend their high school careers preparing for the college entrance examination in November of their final year, and event that will potentially chart the rest of their lives.

The headline says these teachers bring "diversity," and that's a point teachers should remember. It's very easy to overestimate our importance---hey, we're often the only ones in the whole school who actually know English---because English education here is far less about learning English and more about studying it. We're there to help the teachers find different ways of effectively incorporating communicative skills into their lessons, and maybe teach the students a thing or two as well. There are a lot of obstacles to effectively teaching "speaking" to groups of 36---practical obstacles as well as cultural---and native speaker English teachers often resign themselves to just trying to be educational and entertaining.

Jeollanam-do on Facebook.

I used to follow Dave's ESL Cafe quite a bit and would give informative replies to the Jeollanam-do and Gwangju threads that would come up. But after seeing the millionth thread that goes "So, what's Gwangju like?" or "Is there anything to do in Suncheon?" I've long since given up trying to be helpful over there. You're not likely to get much local information on Dave's or other forums, so it's not really worth it to even try. If you're looking to stay on top of what's happening in Jeollanam-do, or get information about living and travelling down here, your best bet is to join Facebook and the appropriate groups on there. There isn't one single forum for Jeollanam-do-related stuff since nobody wanted to help me turn Waygook.org into one, but bouncing around the Facebook groups will help. I'm pleased to see so many different clubs and organizations sprout up recently, and wish there were so much to do during my year in solitary Gangjin county.

Here are the main groups for Gwangju and Jeollanam-do that I'm aware of and that merit posting. Some I've left off on purpose, occassionally because the administrator was a dick to me, but usually because they're small social clubs among friends, not really created for the purpose of recruiting members Likewise some aren't here because they don't get updated, and some have probably just evaded my notice. Feel free to add your own as a comment.

* Acoustic Music in Jeollanamdo
* Gwangju
* Gwangju Club de Español
* Gwangju EPIK Teachers
* Gwangju Fair Trade Movement
* Gwangju Gaelic Football
* Gwangju Gastronomy Group
* Gwangju Hapkido
* Gwangju Joongang English Worship Service
* Gwangju MMA
* The Gwangju News - small English-language magazine published by the Gwangju International Center.
* Gwangju Paintball
* Gwangyang Waygook Tennis Club
* Jeolla Football League
* Jeollanam-do One Stop Second Hand Shop - a buy, sell, trade forum for Jeollanam-do.
* Jeollanam-do Theater Society
* Mokpo Book Club
* Mokpo Official Angler's Association
* Mokpo Pub Quiz
* Mokpo, South Korea
* Mokpo Sports
* Pet Sitters in Jeollanam-do
* Speakeasy - foreigner-owned bar in Gwangju popular with foreign English teachers.
* Suncheon's Center for Waygooks Who Can Read Good
* The Underground Grocers in Gwangju - small imported food shop in downtown Gwangju, owned by GFN's Michael Simning.
* Yeosu Book Club
* Yeosu Book Exchange
* Yeosu Deep Sea Anglers Club
* Yeosu Orphanage
* Yeosu Running Club
* Yeosu Wayguks - a confederation of foreign countries in Yeosu.

There are a couple groups for Suncheon but they never get used or updated. If you're in Suncheon or coming here, join the Yahoo mailing list instead. Actually, I'm disappointed that Suncheon is so poorly represented on Facebook. Maybe it's finally time to put my Suncheon Trading Card Club online.



Just a sample of 출장마사지전단지.

Naro launch delayed at the last minute.

About seven minutes before the last minute, actually. The Korea Times has the story of the seventh delay so far:

South Korea postponed its rocket launch Wednesday as an order was issued to stop the rocket's liftoff 7 minutes and 56 seconds before the firing.

It was not immediately known why the launch was halted. The South Korean government said that it will announce the reason of the launch delay.

The rocket was scheduled to lift off at 5 p.m. (Seoul Time) following a final review of preparations and weather conditions.

The rocket will be launched from the Naro Space Center (나로우주센터) in Goheung county, Jeollanam-do. The Herald jumped the gun a little bit with their article this evening, "Naro lifts Korea into elite space group":

Korea's first space rocket was set to be launched yesterday with citizens brimming with hope and anticipation that the successful liftoff would bolster efforts to become one of the world's top-tier countries in space technology.

Naro, or the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, was given the go-ahead to lift off at 5 p.m. at the Naro Space Center, the country's first spaceport in the southern coastal county, located some 485 kilometers south of Seoul.

The successful launch would make South Korea the world's 10th country to send into orbit a satellite of its own making from its own soil.

"With the launch of Naro, we have secured experience and technology in developing a space launch vehicle, the transfer of which is rigidly restricted in the international community," the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.

"The liftoff will pave the way for developing a fully-indigenous space launch vehicle."

Yonhaps reports the delay is due to a "technical glitch," though a KT commenter---not always the best sources, I know---wonders if North Korea was acting up again.

Brian's first trip to Japan.

Here are a few items from my trip to Japan from August 1st through the 9th. First, some pictures:



I spent a few days in Kagawa, the smallest prefecture in Japan and my fiance's hometown. It's about eight hours and five transfers from Fukuoka by train. The meeting with the family went well, and I was happy to see this side of Japan. When Kagawa does get tourists, its usually busloads of Japanese eager to try Sanuki Udon, a dish famous in that area.



Kagawa is comprised of a large city and several towns and villages like this. This area was particularly rural.




It was served by a couple of train stations. The first is Sue Station:



The second is Takinomiya.







I thought the town was really charming, and it had at least one thing in common with a town you might find in Pennsylvania: though it was rural and in the middle of nowhere, they put a huge shopping mall right in the middle.





Aeon is apparently ubiquitous throughout Japan. The mall was pretty nice, though, and had a huge grocery store, three floors of shops, a movie theater, a McDonald's, Mr. Donut, loads of other good restaurants. And a coffee shop:



They're putting in an electronic's store across the street. One interesting feature of Aeon and of a lot of restaurants and stripmalls in Japan was that they're islands in huge parking lots. This is a layout you'll find a lot in the US, though in Korea shops are usually stacked on top of each other, with a parking garage underneath.

In Kagawa's capital, Takamatsu, is the large Ritsurin Koen (栗林公園).






Takamatsu is a city of 670,000, I guess considered small, but I liked it. It was the first city in Japan we really visited, and a feature it would share with the others is that its downtown pedestrian shopping area is covered by a translucent roof. You can see that the streets weren't too busy this Monday.




Takamatsu is on the Inland Sea.




Across from Takamatsu Station, a short walk from the pier from whence those two pictures were taken, is "Symbol Tower" and a new shopping mall.



When taking the train from Okayama to Takamatsu you pass over the Great Seto Bridge. At 13.1 kilometers long, it's the world's largest two-tiered bridge. I tried and failed to get nice pictures of the sunset over the islands.




We also spent time in Kyoto, visiting among other places the Temple of the Golden Pavillion.



And an old movie set.




Then a day in Osaka.








And okonomiyaki, a regional specialty.



I was impressed by these cute messages below the puppies on display at an Osaka pet store.

I have teeth that could hurt you. but that I choose not to bite you. Remember before you hit me.

And

Talk to me sometimes. Even if I don't understand your words. I do understand your voice when it speaking to me.

And

My life is likely to last 10 to 15 years. Any separation from you will be painful for me.

And

You have your work. Your entertainment. and your friends. I have only you.

And we went to Himeji, to see Himeji Castle.




You'll find a few more pictures on my Flickr page. I got the "Look! Funny English!" and the "Ooooh, it's so exotic!" crap out of my system when I first came to Korea, so you won't find many photos like that in this gallery. A few other points:

** I didn't exactly look hard, but I checked about ten ATMs in a number of different cities, and didn't find one that would let me use my international debit card from Korea. Has anyone else had any experience with that? I've been able to use mine in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and the United States. Good to know that when I go back to Japan I'll need to bring a full wallet.

** To my surprise, Japan wasn't that expensive. It's possible to spend money, I'm sure, but you can also eat a good meal on a budget. In Osaka, especially, there were tons of options for lunch for 500 yen (about 5,000 won). We had hotels in downtown Kyoto and Osaka for roughly 80,000 won. More expensive than a Korean love motel, sure, but even cheaper than what you'd pay for a tourist hotel in Jeollanam-do. Where the money does add up quickly, though is with transportation, but as somebody from the United States, I'm used to paying for food, transportation, and accommodation. I recently looked into booking a room near my alma mater for next month, and was surprised to see that rooms in this rural Pennsylvania town are between $100 and $130 a night.

** Both in the hotels and in her parents house I was surprised to see we had about seven channels on the television. I didn't go to Japan to watch TV, I'm just sayin'. In the morning I caught some of the morning talk shows, and the hot topic all week was Noriko Sakai, an actress who disappeared with her son after her husband was arrested for drugs.

Most media coverage painted her as an embarrassed victim of a bad husband, but things have changed since her husband told police that Noriko was also a drug user. Police have issued a warrant for her arrest, and the media has begun to air any bit of information they think might support the case against her.

Some of this information includes a tattoo on her ankle and a streak of color in her hair in a 2007 interview.

** For those interested about the swine flu front, when I was at the ferry terminal in Fukuoka, I was given a quesitonaire about any symptoms I might have. I filled it out, but when I arrived in Korea there was nobody to collect it. My fiance wasn't given one, so I don't know if this was handed only to foreign-looking foreigners---she looks Korean, swear to God---or what, but it was printed in both English and Korean. When I entered the terminal in Busan a man gave me a quick scan with a handheld device, presumably to check my temperature, and then I was waved through.

** Whoa, Japan has Wendy's. I'm saving that for my trip back home, though. Japan also has Freshness Burger. Actually, I was surprised to learn it was a Japanese company. I've eaten it a few times in Korea and like it, though it's a little expensive.

** Here's something that caught my eye in the Saturday paper.




Good price, though. R.O.K. Sojourn recently wrote that foreigners who make fun of Koreans' bad English are A-holes. While I agree that constantly harping on ridiculous English is unbecoming of a teacher, people who insist on using a language they don't understand, and who seek to profit off of an English that often veers into the nonsensical and vulgar deserve the mockery they get.

** In a related item, please learn to spell the name of your country on your immigration paperwork.



Maybe it's just shy around foreigners.

All in all it was an excellent trip, and I look forward to visiting again. In conclusion, Japan is a land of contrasts. Thank you for reading my essay.

Paju English Village closed from August 18th through the 28th because of swine flu.

Commenter samedi notes on this thread about cancelled English camps in Jeollanam-do that the Paju English Village (파주영어마을) will be closed for the next ten days because of swine flu. He writes, in part:

[O]ur academy was supposed to visit the Paju English Village in northern Gyeonggi-do this weekend, but had to cancel our trip due to swine flu. According to our academy director, several students from a number of different groups that had recently gone to the English village were tested positive for swine flu. As a result, the place is closed for at least the next couple of weeks.

I'm going to guess this means the associated English teachers are (or soon will be) under quarantine

On the Paju English Village's "News" section is the following message, posted today:

안녕하십니까? (재)경기영어마을 입니다.

경기영어마을 파주캠프에서는 8월 18일 영어마을 교육과정을 이수한 교육생중에 신종인플루엔자 확진환자가 발생됨에 따라 추가 확산을 예방하고, 안전한 교육환경을 유지하기 위하여 2009. 8. 18(화)부터 ~ 28(금)까지 임시 휴장을 실시합니다.

금번 환자발생에 따라 고객분들에게 불편함과 우려를 안겨드리게 된 점을 사과드리며, 쾌적하고 안전한 교육환경 조성을 위해 더욱 더 노력하겠습니다.

The Village has gotten a couple bad reviews in the local media---translated into English by Korea Beat here and here---and gets bad write-ups on Dave's ESL Cafe all the time. Here's a post from July 31st:

I took my summer camp students to Paju English Village today. I thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to go to a place where everyone speaks English and I thought they would be able to see some cool shows in English too. I thought it would be worth the 2.5 hour bus ride.

The place was virtually deserted. We had to book ahead and even pay extra for some programs that were substandard at best.

I had visions of the kids being able to go from place to place speaking English as they went. We had to book ahead for the bank, clinic, etc. Even though there was hardly anyone there they told us those places were booked out.

The musical was so sad. I felt really sorry for the "edutainers" who had to dress up in these homemade-looking costumes and perform a play that was poorly written and far from being professional. It was embarrassing to watch. It was clear they put together this show with next to no money or resources.

No one around me was speaking English around the village and the shop people would speak a little English to me, but not to the Koreans.

What a huge waste of money this place is. There are a lot of nice, empty buildings but what good are they if the programs they have in place suck?

My students went away from the place with long faces and some of them told my co-teacher that going there made them not want to study English anymore because it was so boring and too difficult to understand the Native English teachers. So what is the point of this place then?

And a response a couple days later:

I visited the place in 2006.
At that time, it was like the OP's description in some ways and unlike his description in some ways.
The place was hopping with visitors and hopping with employees.
That was when the place was new.
Since then, the employees have made their dissatisfaction known to the rest of the world.
Judging from Wylies' post, it looks like employees are treated just as badly now.
That could well be the reason that the place has downsized.

As a second language experience, we were as disappointed as the OP.
Koreans spoke Korean to Koreans, just as they do in English class.
There was a program in the amphitheatre which contained dance numbers and circus acts which were very nice, but not very instructive for ESL students.

Like the OP and his group, we had to spend a lot of time waiting.
While we were waiting to get into one of the pavilions, I took out a set of musical pipes from my handbag and had my English student play some songs.
Other visitors, who were also bored from waiting, gathered round and watched.
It speaks very poorly for an entertainment center if a visitor can compete that easily for the other visitors' attention.

As I understand, Paju English Village has shifted its focus to intensive classes for older students.
An employee in that program once started a thread on this forum, indicating that he was quite happy with his job.
The intensive classes use only a small portion of the building space, however, leaving the many unoccupied buildings which the OP saw.
So the program goes a short way toward recouping their losses.

The best collection of these kinds of posts is in the thread "Dancing like an English monkey at Gyeonggi English Village."

Yesterday a friend of mine and a Korean teacher from his school were up at the DMZ near Paju, and while in the area we decided to check out the new 'English Village' that has just opened there. Were we ever blown away. English theme park, English circus, white elephant, farce, and anomaly would all be suitable descriptions. I cannot fathom how much money has been poured into this place. Their athletic facilities are simply amazing - one would only find such equipment at the poshist gyms in the country. They have both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. I also couldn't believe how much staff was there working on a government holiday.

However, I also cannot for the life of me imagine what the pathetically low ratio of won spent to English learned will be. The place is nothing but entertainment attempted largely in English. Employees are dressed up in all manner of silly costume, and many of the service staff are not native speakers, but white people with an adequate level of English to take orders, give directions, etc. I never saw anthing resembling a classroom, and after wandering all over the place the only English instruction I saw was some very young, muscular guy with dyed hair in a studio room of some sort, who had a class of about 20 middle school girls crowded around him as he tried to keep order. Amid 70-decible schoolgirl babble all I heard was 'no, I don't have a phone number; no, I don't have an email address; no, I can't give you my phone number - I don't have one; no, I don't have an email, really ... ALL RIGHT!!! EVERYONE BE QUIET!!!!!'.

The English Village apparently gets more work as a filming location than it does an educational center.