Read the ramblings of a middle-aged American teacher, writer and soccer coach teaching English in Seoul, South Korea since August, 2008. Expect entries on education, lesson planning, politics, soccer, food, culture ... and travel
Despite their own upcoming Presidential elections on Dec. 19, Koreans remain acutely aware of U.S. politics. Especially as regards the peninsula.
Today's Joongang Daily carried a Yonghap write-up of comments made by Mitt Romney about how the Obama regime has weakened US influence around the world.
“You see North Korea continuing to export their nuclear technology,” Romney said, in what he termed evidence of a weaker America under Obama’s leadership. ...
“I don’t see our influence growing around the world. I see our influence receding,” he said during the debate held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.
Romney is running as the Republican candidate for US President, with essentially the same neocon foreign policy ideas (and some of the same advisers) as GW Bush, under whose watch North Korea became a nuclear country to begin with. I can't say that Obama has handled DPRK that much better than W did, but we are talking about the most intractable dictatorship on the planet--and the succession of Jong-eun has made it that much more so. Still, Iraq and Afghanistan, "you're with us or you're agin' us" swagger, torture, universal wiretapping and Gitmo are all bad moves that a Romney administration would double down on.
He argued that Iran has come four years closer to having nuclear weapons and the Middle East is ridden with rising tides of violence and chaos, especially in Syria where around 30,000 civilians have been killed in prolonged bloodshed. Romney also pointed out the U.S.’ growing trade deficit with China.
Romney also seems to think that Iran is a landlocked country, whose only outlet to the waterways is through Syria. He has made this statement more than once. 1. Syria does not share a border with Iran. 2. Iran has substantial control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trade deficit with China--got him there! During Obama's career in venture capital, he regularly bought struggling US concerns, converted their goods and chattels into salable capital, split the proceeds with his investors, and sent the jobs overseas. As a community organizer, one is focused on helping rich people improve their bottom line--petitioning city governments for more beat cops and firefighters, developing resources for early learning programs, trying to underwrite preventive medical care, looking after the 53%, you know.
Late last week, my school had an all-day flea market, that actually only lasted until noon. But there were no classes. The view above is from my classroom, where you can see the little vendors lining the edge of the soccer field.
In essence, it was a crap-swap in which all the children brought in bags full of crap from home to flog at prices ranging from 100 W to maybe 4,000 or 5,000 W tops--like for a virtually new pair of roller blades. They then go round and buy other kids' crap and return home with their bags full of different crap. The proceeds go to support the school program in some way. I assume.
Directly above are two of the third graders who "clean" my classroom every morning. Actually, they spend about three minutes with tiny hand brooms and dustpans, like you might keep in your car, three more minutes randomly soaking parts of the hardwood flooring with wet mops, and the remaining nine minutes chasing, or being chased by, the boys who share the cleaning duty. It is kind of cute but ultimately futile as a way of cleaning a floor.
Some kids were rather slap-dash in displaying their goods, but others were quite organized. This little fellow had drawn out his floor plan in considerable detail.
Finally, here is happy consumer with his plush toy:
My haul included a paperback book, a clip on portable fan, a really nifty LCD reading lamp that plugs into a USB port, a muffler, a little easel for displaying framed art, and a bag to carry it all in. Under 5000 W.
Not sure yet what they may think of me as a teacher, but I will definitely be getting a reputation as a smart shopper.
About a week ago, the moderator on the SMOE FB page for NSETs politely asked that people keep comments about the Kwak No Hyun situation to themselves. Gwak is the disgraced former Superintendent of the Seoul school system, who has gone back to jail for paying off a rival to drop out of the Superintendent's race in 2010.
Korea Times is reporting that MEST (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) will be conducting a two-week audit of SMOE:
... a team of 20 ministry officials will inspect major policies, personnel appointments as well as budget expenditure approved by Kwak.
Of course, there are the usual claims that the audit is politically motivated, what with the timing being so close to the election to replace Kwak, to coincide with the presidential election on Dec. 19, and the fact that the conservatives in power at MEST tend only to audit liberal-run education departments.
The Stumbler alerted me to the second story, from Joongang Daily, reporting that the government plans to add 2,300 English conversation teachers in elementary, middle and high schools next year.
This was surprising, because I just moved to an elementary school because they'd de-funded the high school English conversation program. Ah, but then I read this:
“These teachers will not be woneomin [native speaker] instructors, but native Korean instructors who are fluent in English,” said Lee Jeong-ah, an English education official at the ministry.
Just where they will find 2,300 Korean teachers fluent in English is left as an exercise for the reader.
Every morning, I arrive at school well-early, in order to both chill and psyche myself for the day to come. For at least ten years, part of my morning regimen has been playing the word games at the Merriam-Webster website (http://www.merriam-webster.com/game/index.htm). I am not unhappy that they have "monetized" the website with ads and even ad screens (keeping it free or me), but kind of irked with this banner ad they've been running recently:
See the problem here? The so-called "grammar-checker" has not corrected a single grammar error in the text. The fact that there are no grammar errors to be corrected in the sample is hardly an excuse--how can I trust a "grammar checker" program that can't tell the difference between spelling and grammar? I doesn't.
On Monday and Wednesday, I teach two "extra" classes, called Speaking Class, in the first of which, for first, second and third grade students, I noticed the shirt below, being worn cluelessly by a third grade girl, quietly and efficiently going about her work:
It's no "Too Drunk to Fuck", I'll grant you, but come on.
Chuck Sheperd's "News of the Weird" has a story this week about South Korea, referenced from Bloomberg, with the title "Men Want To Be Pretty, Too":
For some reason, South Korea (with about one-sixth the men that America has) is the world's largest consumer of male cosmetics, with its leading company approaching $1 billion a year in sales. According to a September Bloomberg Business Week dispatch, South Korean males became fascinated with the country's 2002 World Cup soccer team's "flower men," who had smooth, flawless skin, and the craze took off from there. Said a male college student, "Having a clean, neat face makes you look sophisticated and creates an image that you can handle yourself well." Makeup routines include drawing "thicker, bolder" eyebrows and, of course, expert application of lipstick. Said one admiring woman, "I feel like I have more to talk about with guys who use makeup." [Bloomberg Business Week, 9-17-2012]
For my Chuseok holiday, I went to the Jiangxi Province of southeastern China, not, as the post title might suggest, for Tanner and Nancy's Chinese wedding, but for the post-wedding festivities, as they were previously wed. Basically, I came along for the food.
I arrived at Nanchang late on Saturday, and we (including Tanner's mom Ginny) made our way to the city's Western bar, called the Phoenix, which was one of T&N's haunts when he taught here a few years ago. A comfy place with a nice porch--the weather was spectacular the whole time. Lunch the next day was at a place selected by Nancy's friend Chris, and it was awesome. The pics below are of a really tasty fish dish (and I say that not being a fan of stewed fish) paired with bok choy, underneath which is pig's intestine as a stir fry. The other dishes were nearly as awesome but didn't photograph well.
We went for a walk in the local park, and i caught a nice snap of the young couple:
We drove two hours to Fenyi, a new hotel, and a smallish banquet with members of Nancy's family--aunts, uncles, Gran, etc). I have no pictures, sadly, because the food was incredible, and well-presented. After dinner, we went for a walk around the lake to look at the full moon (it's the Moon Festival in China, Chuseok in Korea) and eat moon cakes. The next day was a large luncheon banquet attended by about 200 people. Pictures below: Nancy's parents, the banquet hall, second floor.
Here's some food, all delicious: lamb, pork balls, pork and rice with corn, turtle soup, spicy pork, rice flour buns, more pork.
World-renown hundred-year eggs:
Our final banquet was in the next town over, whose name I don't remember, but Tanner described it as Minneapolis to Fenyi's St. Paul. Instead of one big room, the dinner took place in a number of smaller rooms, with one table in each. The couple spent time, as traditional, going from room to room toasting with water-weakened baijo. More great food, of course, but the star was the lamb. The last picture was taken by Tanner, and shows all the guests at the head table, with the remains of the meal--look at all that food!
The Prometheus Project: Trapped by Douglas E. Richards - This is part one of a juvenile three-parter in which two quite bright chldren of quite bright parents find themselves trapped in a multi-dimensional spaceship buried deep underground in rural Pennsylvania. Part 1 is on Kindle, parts 2 and 3 much less so ...
The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich - From the guy who wrote the book about the MIT blackjack teams comes the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the basis for the recent movie, told entirely without his participation--or that of the Winklevoss twins. Interesting, well-told, but ultimately unsatisfying, as we really need to hear Zuckerberg's side.
Memoirs of an English Governess by Anna Harriet Leonowens - This book speaks to the raptures of imagination that can bring us a well-told story. Not this one, alas, but the magical The King and I musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein that is "derived from" it. How they got their charming tale from this dreary tome is beyond me; though there is a bit of story (i.e., a sequence of events linked by narrative) in the beginning and again at the end, mostly this is an endless description of Thai funerary rituals, coronation procedures and belittling descriptions of ordinary life in the Siam of the 1860s. Unless you really like Thailand (or Broadway musicals), skip it.
WiredandAmped by Douglas E. Richards - Thoroughly imaginative sci-fi thriller combining some of the best of both genres I have read in a long time. Brilliant genetic engineer Kate Miller has developed a treatment that temporarily rewires the brain to achieve almost god-like intellectual abilities; David Desh, ex-special forces operative, is hired to "bring her in" before she can sell off her secret to Islamic terrorists--or so he is led to believe. This series (for I hope there will be more) has a red herring in every chapter and enough double-crosses to keep your head spinning--and the pages turning. Highly recommended.
Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane - Vignettes of enormous descriptive power bring the reader into the mid-twentieth century world of Northern Ireland and "The Troubles" as seen through the eyes of an Irish Catholic boy. There is a secret in his family, one that slowly emerges through the short scenes, until revelation of the truth--violent and devastating--leads to his adulthood and independence. Deservedly shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - The second Lisa See book I've read, frankly, Shanghai Girls was better. Still, there is much of interest here for one who loves Asia--mention of numerous traditions, not least the laotong relationship, which pairs up girls for a lifetime, and is stronger than their husband-wife bond; foot binding, a brutal custom that hobbled and even killed Chinese girls into the twentieth century; nu shu, the long-secret "women's writing" which Mao tried to ban during the Cultural Revolution (the suffering of women in Confucian China is a major theme of the novel); and a host of festivals, particularly in the countryside, such as the "Expel the Birds" Festival, held just before planting time, in which poison seed was laid down so that the good seed could be planted without having it stolen. In the midst of all this is the story of Lily and her laotong Snow Flower, told over the course of their lifetimes in nineteenth century Hunan province. I have to say the cultural insights are more engrossing than the plot. Despite that, it's a good book, and I'll read more Lisa See.
I haven't been thoughtful enough to take pictures of my new school or my new classroom, but I did take a few shots of some fifth graders this week. They were studying the past tense of a set of irregular verbs, and the review activity I did was to give them cards with which to create a story.
There were three categories of cards, and sentences were to be constructed in the format [noun]+[verb]+[object], where the verb was in infinitive and had to be converted into past tense.
They have small size white boards and markers (which I asked for at Youngil but never ended up getting), and worked in their usual groups of three or four. Like so:
Cuties! And the fifth grade seems (after two weeks) to be a particularly good group. Since I bought my new Nikon D5100 for Christmas, the old single body Canon has been kept at school so I can capture the odd moment without having to plan ahead. My young, enthusiastic co-teacher had the idea to display the resulting stories around the room and borrowed enough fresh boards for all four classes' work to be lined up. Here are two examples from the first session (Ted, Amy and Suji are characters in the text):
Without at all meaning to disparage my high school boys, some of these fifth graders did work as good as a mediocre group of them might do. Also, despite the horror stories, teaching has not been a constant battle for attention and appropriate classroom behavior--if left unsupervised, of course they get rowdy, but so far they are obedient, polite and manageable. Except for two of the sixth grade classes ... where the stopwatch may be introduced.
It hasn't all gone swimmingly, as I think the Vice-principal finds it unforgivable that I won't do their "English Festival" one Saturday a month. I am already committed to my public speaking class on many Saturdays, where I make a ton of money and get to interact with the best and brightest from all over the southern district of Seoul. We had the candidate interviews last Saturday, and about 40 of the 70 who finished the vetting process would do quite nicely. But we only keep 20.
From the director of the program, I heard that someone at my new school had called the main office (I suspect the VP) to ask if I could be taken off the public speaking class. When the main office called him, he told them to go jump in a lake. This really burns me. I'm sure you know that I am not all about money--I regularly turn down work because time matters more to me, but I made the exception for this class. And this VP lady tried to take away a package of approx. 3.2 million won, in exchange for 4 Saturday mornings at 25,000 W per hour. Definitely uncool.
Long time no viddie, droogs! Since my last post, about 17 millennia ago, a lot has happened:
1) said my final farewells to Young-il H.S. (in Korean, no less)
2) spent 10 days in and around the Newnan/Atlanta, GA area
3) said farewell to more than one friend (August sucks in Korea for this and other reasons!)
4) moved to a new officetel in Yangcheon-gu
5) began teaching at a new school,Yangmyung Elementary
6) got wireless internet installed today in my new place
You can expect one or more posts on most of these topics in coming days and weeks. Still, a few quick notes are in order.
My new neighborhood, right at Sinjeong sta. on line 5, is quite developed--it's a ten minute walk from Mok-dong sta., and is situated in the low-rent area of one of Seoul's richest dong. That said, my old place was superior in some ways: first, this building does have a convenience store on premises, but you have to go outside to access it; second, the apartment is quite similar but smaller, and has no large storage space, such as for suitcases, the boxes of mementos I've collected, etc--on the plus side, the loft is actually usable, since you can stand up in it; thirdly, there is no Emart directly across the street, though a reasonably-sized grocery is located a block away; fourth, the nearest dry cleaner is a five minute walk, instead of just downstairs; fifth, most of the restaurants in the area are unfamiliar to me--one familiar name is Donenu, but I had to leave there tonight because they tried to tell me what I have to order; finally, the subway entrance is four times further than at my old place--40 paces instead of ten!
It was great seeing friends and family back home, and ten days was almost the right amount of time--maybe two days longer would have been better. I bought some new clothes, since it's hard to find stuff to fit me here, and I ate all the food you can't get in Korea. Some pictures later.
The new school seems nice, though the jury is of course still out on that: the VP is pressuring me to teach a monthly Saturday class in which I am less than not even slightly interested--I already teach a Saturday class, that pays much much more and gives me the opportunity to teach superior high school students.
The English classroom is really cool (pics later), and the co-teachers seem okay, and very nice. I co-taught three classes on Monday, and the comment I got from the two cos was, "Your teaching is amazing!" Yep, tell me something I don't know. But seriously, the bad news is that I go from two preps per week to five!
No classes today, since the promise of Typhoon Bolaven cancelled classes throughout Seoul. Teachers had to show up, though. Tomorrow is scheduled to be a teacher in-service from SMOE for all of us high school NSETs that are now at elementary schools.
The theme of Expo 2012 is "The Living Ocean and Coast", and the theme sees one of its best expressions in the Theme Pavilion:
The highlight of the pavilion is phase three of the show: I don't know its official title but to me it is "A Boy and His Dugong". It was interesting because it combined a large screen video (which is the most common feature of the pavilions) with live action. A small Korean child comes out onto the stage, and climbs aboard a dugong.
They then disappear off into the screen, or rather the deep ocean, for a fun ride exploring the great beauty of the deep--the corals, amazing fish and whales, and so on, until pollution comes along and messes everything up! The manatee falls ill.
But humanity realizes its wicked ways just in time, and a triumphant manatee, restored to health, swoops in over the audience's heads to greet the boy.
That last shot isn't very good because I was told at some point to stop taking pictures. So don't tell anyone you saw these!
Another key pavilion is the Marine Civilization and City Pavilion, which focused on mankind's past and future living relationship to the oceans. The highlight was a walk-through reconstruction of the Arab dhow that was discovered off Sumatra in 1998, believed sunk in the ninth century. It has a few of the actual artifacts on display, notably the three plates:
The other feature of the pavilion is a display of some exploratory craft, and a model of a future underground city. Bigger and more impressive than that one Tony Randall and family lived in in that movie, Hello Down There.
Hyundai has a very popular pavilion, in part for the song-and-dance robots, but also for the unusual video display. I recorded a couple of minutes of it, seen below:
The UAE had a very good video, which in my head is titled, "A Boy and His Turtle", rather like the dugong story except is has the added feature of being basically true. A young Emirati boy sneaks aboard his father's research vessel and tries to help save a massive sea turtle who has swallowed too many plastic bags--this is a genuine concern, as plastic bags ruin their digestive system and account for hundreds of thousands of marine animal deaths each year. The boy is inspired to advocate for the abolition of platic shopping bags, and as a result, UAE will ban all non-biodegradable bags by 2013.
Many other countries' pavilions express concerns about ocean pollution, but none was quite so tangible. Although Monaco did grace me with a "Certificate of Engagement" for taking an interactive quiz and promising not to throw a bunch of crap into the ocean:
The USA Pavilion begins with a welcome message, seen above, from Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, and President Obama, projected onto a screen of water. Nifty. However, the main show, brought to you by CitiCorp, has a theme of "This is my ocean," in which dozens of Americans in coastal or ocean scenes, look at the camera and say, "This is my ocean," with the message that we are all responsible for taking care of the ocean. But I can't help thinking that other nationalities are saying, "Wow, those Americans! So damned arrogant now they're claiming the whole ocean!"
Australia, though surrounded by ocean, mostly lauded its aboriginal and animal life (including those delicious roasted 'roo tails), and had this photo op:
Belgium had two things, a rotating display of famous Belgian things, such as chocolate, the Mannekin-pis, and the Atomium, legacy structure of Brussels World Fair 1958:
...and chocolate.
Many poor countries used their pavilion less to promote tourism than to actually make money here and now by running a curio shop. Below, Cambodia:
India was largely a bazaar, but they put in other elements as a seeming afterthought, including a photo op in front of a large image of the Taj Mahal; an English-language video touting India's graces--with the PC running it set up right beside it on a card table; a collection of Shiva and Ganesha statues piled haphazardly in one corner; and an Indian food concession that seemed always to be closed. They did also have a small 3D exhibit of tiny marine creatures:
In the middle of the fairgrounds--actually in the water--is a big circular thing, called The Big-O. Every night at about 8:45 they put on "The Big-O Show, immediately following the musical drama, Girl of the Sea. The seats in the main viewing stand were filled up by about six o'clock, so I watched from the hindside, by the Theme Pavilion. Here is a technician, preparing the Big-O:
The Girl of the Seas was probably quite brilliant to watch, though it was all in Korean. Here's what it looked like across the water:
After it ended, it was time for Expo 2012's piece de resistance, a water and light show, with the neat feature that the O is filled with water jets onto which the "movie" images are projected:
I recorded a couple minutes of it, though the good stuff doesn't happen until about half-way through:
The thing people tend to remember about a World's Fair is the amazing pavilions they saw, but an Expo should also be a happening, a place with a vibrant atmosphere. The center hall of the International Pavilion has an interesting interactive feature, a digital display ceiling called the EDG (Expo Digital Gallery) on which an ever-changing visual river flowed:
There were roving bands of minstrels and masquerade artistes:
Jet-ski daredevils at the oceanfront:
And even the occasional levitation act:
And numerous times each day, running much of the length of the main road, is a parade called:
The banana was introduced to Americans at the Philadelphia "Columbian Exposition" in 1876; the waffle, curled into a cone-shape, served as an ice-cream receptacle for the first time at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904; "Lovely eyes come shine and glitter, buy your girl a popcorn fritter," vendors cried at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo: fairs and food go together like pancakes and maple syrup--no, that was't invented at the Expo, but "Aunt Jemima" (actress Anna Robinson) was a very popular character at Chicago 1933.
No novelties like those here at Yeosu 2012, but plenty of good eats. Unlike my experience of Shanghai 2010, snack vendors are ubiquitous, selling drinks, hot dogs, chicken tenders, 꼬치, and beer. Turkish ice cream is popular. At the Australia Pavilion, I ordered the "Kangaroo Special", which was a sizable helping of stewed kangaroo tail meat, served with rice and a side of ... kimchi (W16,000). Awesome!
The Russian Pavilion has a well-publicized and bustling cafe, where I got a "meat pancake" and a honey-drenched blintz (W13,000). Delicious!
For desert, what else but waffles from the Belgium concession, with real Belgian chocolate for dipping (W9,000).
After twenty-plus years teaching science and math in semi-rural Georgia, I have been in Seoul, South Korea teaching Conversational English to Seoul public school students since 2008. So far, so good.
