Korean Brands: Making it in New York

The summer before I moved to Korea (back in 2008), my mom discovered Eryn Brinie, a Korean designer who got a paragraph mention in Lucky Magazine when her new store opened in New York. We got excited, as silly as it seemed, that a Korean brand was in New York. Aside from the Korea Town barbecue places and their section in the local Asian markets, we didn't know of anything else 'Korean' that was available in New York.

Ever since I started heading to the ubiquitous chicken hofs for wings and beer, I've said they need to have hofs in the US. There is nothing quite like a restaurant that serves nothing but different varieties of fried chicken, beer and soju. So imagine how I felt reading this in the Korea Times today:

The popular Korean wing franchise [Kyochon], which opened its modern $2-million, two-story space, already has several restaurants in New York and California. But the latest addition is located right smack in the center of Manhattan, a positioning aimed at targeting more American customers.

 Apparently, Korean CEOs are shifting their marketing strategy from targeting Korea Town areas to more diverse setting. Truthfully, starting that plan in places like New York and Los Angeles is a smart move. Foreign is chic and/or trendy when going out to dinner there. Granted, a chicken hof is never going to be chic but it certainly has novelty appeal.

I hope Skin Food** branches from their face masks in the US (and selling only at Walmart, where I refuse to shop). I've become addicted to their ridiculous (and cheap) nail polish colors. Currently my nails are a lovely bright purple. Hey, I'm an elementary school teacher. Bright colors are not only allowed, my students love them.  Or are seriously amused and either way it gets them to speak to me about something in English so I don't really care what their reason for doing it is. One of my favorite things about Korea is how many cheap makeup brands are available. In the states, cheap makeup tends to only be available in drug stores where there aren't tester bottles open so you can check colors, texture, etc. Cheap isn't cheap if you hate the color when you take it home and never use it.

The Korea Times also quoted a consultant about trying to make sure Korea doesn't brand itself as cheap and appealing to more upmarket clients/products. I think that capitalizing on how zany and funky Korea can be would be fabulous for its commercial image.

I will admit, I'm highly amused that this is the opening line from the KT article:  "Every time Tina Shin digs into a plate full of spicy, double-fried chicken wings from Kyochon, she craves some chilled Cass, a Korean beer. But she can't readily order it off the menu." I love Korean food and alcohol but cheap Korean beer is even worse than cheap American beer. The oh so creative expat nickname for Cass is 'Ass.' To each their own I suppose. 



**Skin food actually has a decent English language website for women in Korea who want more details on their products than the limited English on the packaging gives.
***Shouldn't I be busy like I said I would be instead of updating my blog? Theoretically, yes. Only, I'm working on my taxes and I have a question only my Dad can answer so now I have to wait until it's a reasonable hour in New York to continue being productive. ~pokes the blogosphere for wonderful time killing entertainment~

In which I'm not a total spaz!

At dinner last night, I mentioned to the Partial Asian that I planned on joining the teacher volleyball game today. Her response was 'oh god.' It was universally expected by my friends that I'd end the evening by hurting myself. I will admit that I got smacked in the face once with the ball but no lasting harm done! Whatever happened to Darwinian survival? I'm really glad that my particular gene pool wasn't around when things that involved hand eye coordination, like hunting, were necessary for survival. Despite my total inability to play volleyball, I had a blast. The teacher's love doing it and are supportive of everyone. Afterward, there was a special welcome dinner/party for my new co-teacher (who I love but in the interest of professionalism will not discuss on the blog).

Somehow I managed to escape unscathed from playing volleyball but managed to bruise my finger trying to put a shirt away in the dresser. Go figure. At least I didn't break the finger or the drawer.

Why isn't there a longer blog entry? Because today was ridiculously busy with lesson planning and now I have to stop procrastinating, get on TurboTax and deal with my taxes. ~Massive Groan of Doom~. I am currently fortifying myself with Oreos and lactose free milk. What an exciting life I lead!

Opinion: How to Deal with Violence in Korean Schools

Today the Korea Herald published some disturbing statistics about violence in primary schools.  Gusts of Popular Feeling did a pretty thorough analysis and overview of the most recent disturbing acts that were brought to media attention.  However, both the newspaper article and the blog article made me want to talk about what we as teachers can do to help cut down on bullying.

Be aware of your surroundings. When you walk through the hallways, don't just condone bad behavior. Stop it, and if you have a minute explain why it's not okay in English or Korean. If you lack the language skills to do so, get their names and bring it to the attention of their co-teacher and ask them about maybe talking to the students.

Be respectful. On the first day of classes I emphasize rule number 3: be respectful. That means no hitting, no laughing at your peers when they make a mistake, being nice to each other.

Be available. Take time to talk to students in off hours. Even if it's just saying hi, smiling and asking how they are. 

I'm sure there are a million other things that more experienced teachers could tell me about how to cut down on bullying (please add your bit in a comment!). Sometimes we are limited by the language barriers but every small thing we do helps. Maybe this post is just stating the obvious but it's hard to read about violence and bullying in schools without wanting to do something to help.

Fat Korea?

I was actually a tiny bit meanly pleased when I saw this article in the Korea Herald this morning: "One-third of adults overweight." This is terribly mean of me, after all, Koreans are still far less obese than Americans. After all the CDC published that:

• Percent of noninstitutionalized adults age 20 years and over who are overweight or obese: 67% (2005-2006)
• Percent of noninstitutionalized adults age 20 years and over who are obese: 34% (2005-2006) (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm).

However, during my phone interview with the district superintendent I was treated to a 10 minute lecture on how disgustingly obese all Americans are and how wonderfully thin ALL Koreans are. I am not, nor have I ever been obese or even mildly overweight. I was slightly disturbed to be asked my weight following that rant, even though theoretically I KNOW that it isn't considered a rude question in Korean etiquette. I politely pointed out that my resume photo included my full body--he could see for himself that I wasn't obese.

Back to the article, the Korea Herald cites stress, drinking, reduction in proper exercise, eating and sleeping habits as being the main causes of the increase in obesity. Now, I will allow that all of those are extremely key to maintaining a healthy weight. However, I'd also like to point out the increased influence of Western food being a lovely culprit. My kids favorite food when asked on surveys, is never ever kimbap, bibimbap or even kimchi. It's almost always 'pizza! McDonalds! ice cream!' Eating that stuff will get you fat in a hurry. Combine the move away from traditional foods with a move toward crappier habits and that will most definitely lead to obesity.

Happy Monday everyone!
Spaz update: trying to understand tax forms makes me feel like a spaz, regardless of spastic actions actually taken. I think I shall take the advice of my friend and use TurboTax online. Being a responsible, independent adult kind of sucks on occasion.

In Which Pollution Kicks My Butt

This weekend I let pollution kick my butt. Saturday I alternated between sleeping, eating, reading and blowing my nose. I did make it out for an evening of Scrabble and cocktails at the Hemingway (I won!) but was home by midnight. Such an exciting life I lead.

Today I went into town to get groceries and to fortify myself for the Sunday Emart rush, I got a latte and picked up my coffee first, rather than as a treat for making it out alive. My favorite coffee shop is trying to kill me though. They won't sell me a pound of coffee. They won't sell me more than 100 grams of ground coffee because they are convinced that by the time I get through it all it won't be perfectly fresh. Which is true, it WILL take me an entire week or two to get through it. But even if it was a month old, I would still drink it. Stale coffee is much better than me attempting to teach without having had any coffee. Sometimes I convince them to sell me more, and promise to drink it up before it goes stale but today I didn't have the energy and settled for the paltry 100 grams. Maybe on Wednesday, when I'm all out of coffee I shall whip out my super amazing Konglish skills for the argument.

I wanted to sit in the park after all of that...but then I got a phone call at 4:02 reminding me that I was supposed to be online for a Skype discussion on Korean teaching culture at 4pm. This is what happens when I don't write things down. It was interesting but by the time I finished I was just wanted to make dinner and veg out again.  I actually had a balanced meal: scrambled eggs, bacon, red pepper slices and OJ. Not healthy per se but I got in multiple food groups!

Spaz updates from the weekend:
1. This morning, I put my brace on the wrong ankle. I stood up, realized something was funny and looked down only to go 'doh!'
2. Tripped over my own feet while attempting to walk across the apartment (no new sprains resulted though so it's a spaz win!)
3. Accidentally whacked the Cragon in the balls while trying to smack his arm to look at the crazy socks being sold on the street.  The Partial Asian and the ajumma watching couldn't stop laughing. The Cragon was less than perfectly amused. I imagine being smacked in the crotch is not a very pleasant thing. 

Tourist Troubles in Korea?

The Korea Herald published an article called "Tourists Irked by Shopping, Taxis." Basically, it followed the complaints of Japanese and Chinese tourists, that they feel they are getting ripped off by taxis and have had a few issues with customer service and shopping.  It was interesting to note that "Complaints from Westerners aren't as numerous."  I wonder if it's because of the style of guide books. American guide books tend to offer cultural tips on the differences that people should be prepared to encounter as well as comprehensive instructions on how to use the public transportation.

My personal experience with taxis is that even when they do drive you in a circle or two, they never manage to add more than a thousand won or two to the fare (a bit under 1-2 USD). I have had taxi drivers patiently try to understand my atrocious accent for 5 minutes before starting the meter, look up things on their GPS, struggle to read my handwritten Korean address and be really sweet about it. When I first got to Korea, I attempted the public transit as much as possible, only giving in and getting in a taxi when I got hopelessly lost or had to be somewhere really quickly.  I've only had 1 bad experience my entire time in Korea...the rest of the time they are much more likely to ask me where I'm from, how I like Korea, or if there English is really good (or they overestimate my Korean abilities) tell me about their available son who I should meet.

Yes, drivers hit the roads like maniacs and don't always have working seat belts but for the most part, I love taking cabs here.

Shopping. Shopping in every country is a vastly different and often overwhelming experience. I have been known to get anxiety bouts while over eager shop keepers barrage me with products. It's all part of the experience. Traveling is suppose to push your comfort zones...when in Rome, do as the Romans do. And in Korea, that means just going with the flow. Don't expect poor shop clerks to speak 5 languages---if they did they might have a better job. Try to learn a few phrases in the local language, even if it's just hello, thank you and 'sorry I don't speak ____.'

Ode to My Pencils, the Korea Times, and Life

I don't have much going on right now.  To give you an idea: I actually wrote an entire paragraph about the love I have for my new pencils in an e-mail to my parents. That's right, an ode to my pencils. 

However, there is always the Korea Times to make fun of! This bit constantly makes me giggles a little:

The articles listed under "Nation" are fairly normal: Korea-Congo Summit Due Monday, Song's Surgery Method gets Europe's Approval, Sejong Bill to be Submitted to Assembly, and so forth.  Now look at the articles listed under "World": Actress at 70, No Surgery Anymore, Math Genius, Topless Gardner, Real Breasts....

Do you see a theme here? Apparently the world outside of Korea is only concerned about nudity and celebrities! Why isn't this under the "Arts and Living" section or even "Special"?  Korean Rum Diary has many articles ranting about the Korea Times far more eloquently than I but I particularly recommend this post about the KT and plagiarism.

Spaz update: I am completely retarded when I go to class without eating dinner first. I kept trying to use Korean with my French tutor. On the plus side, I haven't tripped over anything recently that has resulted in injury.

The Name Game

Brian in Jeollanam-Do wrote an interesting post today about how more Koreans are changing their names. On a sort of related note:

I fail at memorizing my kids names. I really do. I have seating charts, I try to only address people using their names. I study the seating charts, I make notes about different students...and yet the Korean names seem to go in one ear and out the other. I have a few down in every class...and I know every single kid's name who has an English name (care of their English hagwon or from Winter Camp). To be fair, I do have many students (302 this semester) that I only see twice a week but lots of teachers have more students that they see even less.

Here's my view on making your students use English names: teacher's shouldn't just arbitrarily give out English names or even let students just pick random English words for names (that's when you end up with Candy, Silver, Bunny, Sponge Bob and all sorts of strange things). However, I remember my first Latin class in high school and on the first day, the teacher distributed a list of common Roman names, helped us with pronunciation and then had us all choose a Roman name.  That Roman name was the only way she addressed us in class (and how we addressed each other) and what we wrote on our assignments. It helped us get down the basic phonetic differences between English and Latin a bit faster and above all, it was fun. In case you were wondering, Cytherea was my Latin name...something I remember despite only taking one year of Latin 10 years ago.

The conflict: learning English names is as hard for your co-teacher as Korean ones are for the native teacher. At least, that's what co-teachers have told me. It makes sense, unless you are fluent or have a lot of experience with English names they would be difficult to remember, like a giant set of vocabulary words. My current co-teacher had zero desire to spend any class time on figuring out English names. I suppose I'll save it for the kids who decide (or whose parents decide for them) to come to my camps during vacation. 

A Birthday in Korea is...

A birthday in Korea is different, to say the least. For the actual day I went to the monthly cultural event at Hongbeop-Sa Temple, about 5 minutes from the Nopodong subway station. Hongbeop-Sa is the first modern Buddhist temple that I'd ever visited but it was surprisingly beautiful, if very different from its ancient counterparts. The program consisted of a free lunch (bibimbap), a talk on Dharma and Buddhism and a traditional Korean calligraphy class.

The pile of shoes outside of the lunch room door. Not sure where they put them when it rains...

Golden hand in front of the main entrance. I was told while visiting another temple that gold is very good for luck. ~shrug~

Light your incense here! Very pretty grounds except for the areas that were all dug up (like the background of this picture) for planting or something. 

These trees amused me to no end. I wonder if trimming them is some sort of meditative practice or if they have some deeper significance. Maybe it's just aesthetic. 

Happy Buddhas!

Fish! I think they get fed often because the second they noticed me checking them out near the water's edge they swam straight over to say hello. 

Purdy lanterns. 

Inside of the temple. During the Q and A I asked about the iconography of the 3 big Buddhas. The translator for the abbot said that it meant essentially that "you are the hero of yourself, you decide what to see, hear and say." However, another expat said that he had been told at a temple in Nepal that told him it meant 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak  no evil.' The latter sounds familiar though it could be argued that both have similar messages. In any case, it's an interesting set of images. 

I love ceiling pictures in temples. But we knew that already...

The beautiful juxtaposition of traditional life and modernity.

How many people does it take to give Starfish ink?

While we labored away with our Korean characters, the monk next to us made a happy English drawing. It was hilarious and he laughed when he showed it to us too. I like monks with a sense of humor. 

The elusive adventurer, caught on camera! (Well, elusive according to my mother, who never seems to have quite enough photos of me.)

Look at the happy birthday girl! I wrote happiness (heng bok) twice, signed my name (al-leck-su), and stamped it with little Buddha stamps. Very pretty. I'm  not artistic in the slightest but it was fun and it was about on par with the quality of my peer's work.

Definitely a fantastic, if slightly unusual way to spend my birthday.

Alex Fest, Day 2

After the instruments of doom I went to get my hair cut, and actually succeeded in communicating what I wanted. This is a bigger feat than it sounds. When I told a co-worker about how I needed to get a hair cut but was nervous because my Korean is so bad and they never seem to do what I want, she burst into laughter.
Me: What's so funny?
Co-worker: I am Korean. I speak Korean...and they still don't do what I want.
~~Giggling ensues.~~
Co-worker: If you bring a picture, it works much better.
Me: Aha! Amazing! I'm glad to know it wasn't JUST because I was mangling the words...

At first when I walked in, the ajossi behind the counter was just like 'anneeyo!' (no!) despite my polite greeting and mini bow. I think he was just stressed out about communicating in Korean or English with someone who wasn't Korean. However, I persevered, because a friend had recommended this place to me as an alternative to trekking into Busan to one of the 'international' salons. After about 30 seconds of hearing me stutter away in broken Korean, showing my picture and miming and the receptionist looking very unfriendly, a hair washing girl walked right up to me and said (in a very warm, friendly manner) 'what do you want?' I explained in Korean and English that I wanted a trim and then dried and styled like the photo. She smiled, translated to the receptionist who grunted and pointed to a hair stylist. After that, I was treated like any other patron, which is to say, very well. I wasn't upset, I understand that it's stressful to try to understand someone who is butchering your language and making your job difficult. Besides, I ended up with a fabulous hair cut and feeling much better than I had directly after my torture session. My hair dresser didn't speak much English but the more I managed to relax and put together sentences in Korean, the more she relaxed and asked me questions in a mix of Korean and English when I didn't understand the Korean words. It was like, the more I made mistakes in her language, the more it was okay for her to make mistakes in English in front of me.

When I got home, I grabbed a purse friendly book (Factotum by Charles Bukowski) and went over to the park down the street.  I laid down on a bench and read in the sun and my afternoon was punctuated only by greetings from my students who were there to play.

That evening, the Female Kiwi, the Partial Asian, Hooligan 1/Cragon and I got together for some amazing Korean barbecue. Then we went to the Hemingway to meet up with some more people and eat chocolate cake. What's that you say? A baked good that wouldn't ruin my evening?!! That's right, I have the best friends ever. The Female Kiwi got a vegan cake recipe, I contributed a bar of my precious Swiss chocolate and a bottle of lemon juice, Happy Starfish Girl contributed the use of her oven and somehow, somehow my cake got made.

Yummy, yummy cake. So I failed at taking a picture of this (though I tried) but yesterday was a ridiculously bad yellow dust day. Time to bring the face masks out! Go look at the picture a fellow k-blogger, Roboyseyo took when he was in town this weekend.

Next we made the long trek into Busan for dancing and craziness.  There were many people involved...none of which I got permission from to have posted on my blog. Just imagine 10 crazy foreigners dancing up a storm and getting the Koreans around them dancing and partying too. I like birthdays. Everyone is very lovely, buys you drinks and goes where YOU want to go next. Quite fabulous. If I want to stop for a snack, everyone stops for a snack! None of this, Alex, you JUST ate a pound of flesh at the restaurant and 4 pieces of chocolate cake. Well, okay, they did say that but it was in a loving way while they patiently waited for me to finish eating my gyro. A girl gets hungry!

Coming up: Alex goes to a Buddhist monastery on her birthday for bibimbap, a talk on dharma and traditional calligraphy class. Lots of pictures, I promise.

Instruments of DOOM

I decided awhile ago that I was going to go to the jimjilbang (think of a Korean take on ancient Roman bathhouses) or a spa and pamper myself after work on Friday to commence my birthday weekend. Everyday as I walk to school I pass a giant 24 hour jimjilbang sign and having seen people in the area walk around with shower baskets, I thought why not? I couldn't find the entrance to it. Seriously. And even though my Korean is totally up to scratch for asking where things are and getting directions (assah Korean class!) I was overcome with a feeling of timidity about asking where someplace to go get naked was. So I quickly backed up to plan B, go to the western style massage place in downtown Yangsan that a friend recommended to me.  Being Friday after work, they were full but I managed to make an appointment for the next morning.

This is when I ran into the instruments of doom. It was the single most painful massage I've ever had, inept boyfriends included. I told her 'it hurts' but she took that to mean, that part of my body hurts and she should work it more! Why does my Korean fail me when I get flustered? It's like everything goes out the window when I'm the least bit anxious. All I can do is stutter out the occasional mispronounced word instead of the lovely sentences I've been learning how to make in class. Parts of it were okay but she went nuts trying to get the knots out of my shoulders. I wish I could have said: don't bother they are all sorts of fucked from playing the violin for over a decade but I couldn't even come close to that and she didn't speak a word of English.  When I came home, I looked at my back in the mirror and not only was it bruised, it looked like she burst capillaries. I don't mark easily. I tend to get bruises on my legs because I smack into things with remarkable force and general spastic movements but I have to hit something pretty darned hard to mark.


Oh well. There is still chocolate cake to be had and dancing to be done. I will not let my birthday plans be foiled!

Robots Teaching English in Korea!!!

Okay, so everyone and their mother has been blogging about this but what the hell, I'm going to put my own 2 cents in. Here is the article, "Robots Efficient in Teaching English."  The Korea Times has promoted robots replacing Native Speaking English Teachers ever since the idea came out. I will admit, if a robot replaced me currently, it could do just as good a job: it would speak when pointed to (or clicked or however it works) by the co-teacher and students to pronounce 'cold' instead of 'cord.' In terms of pronunciation it would do a much better job since many schools, native teacher present or not, get pronunciation bungled by people whose accents are less than perfect. However, when I do get to teach (winter camp, co-teacher absence, etc), really teach, with lesson plans that go outside of just reading and repeating whats in the textbook, the robot has nothing on me. Can a robot dance around the room with the students to get them into a song? Can a robot change course when it realizes that it needs to focus on something unexpected or the skill level that was supposed to be there isn't? Can a robot be creative? Can a robot engage figure out a student's learning issues and figure out what methods would be best to help them? Maybe the answer for all of these questions is not yet. I read Vonnegut's book, Player Piano last year where the world had essentially pushed out most jobs and replaced them mechanically.


Instead of spending billions developing robots...why not just properly train the current English teachers? Get a better English curriculum? Require that no Korean be used in the classroom? There are so many little things that can be done besides putting a robot in the classroom. And even if the students learn everything from the book with the robot, they still won't speak English well. Why? Because learning about where Jinho is from and what time is it for the 4 years they are in elementary school doesn't prepare them for actually holding a conversation in English.

Why Can't Korea Successfully Promote Itself?

The Korea Herald had a surprisingly interesting and insightful article today called "Korea failing to promote its art." The article interviewed Robert Turley who founded the Korean Art and Antiques gallery in New York.  While Koreans probably lapped up his praise of the originality and stunning nature of Korean art, he had a very targeted criticism of how Korea has failed to successfully promote itself on the art scene (and every other scene it seems lately, aside from ice skating).

The recent Korean Art Show in New York in the first week of March was an example, he said. It was organized by the Galleries Association of Korea and Korea International Art Fair and supported by Korea's Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports.
"It was a great opportunity to see much Korean art under one roof, but nobody knew about it. (...) "The whole thing was like a big secret with hardly any promotion. I only found out about it a few days before the show. They had a one-page website, not much press exposure and a video on YouTube that had only 48 views," he said.

It's a perfect example of how Korea doesn't seem to grasp Western marketing and advertising practices.  Recall how many millions have been spent by the government coming up with national branding slogans like Korea Sparkling, HiSeoul, and Dynamic Korea, Here was someone who owns a prominent gallery in New York not to mention his position as president of the Korean Art Society who didn't get so much as a mailing about this gigantic show.

This is my favorite quote from the interview:

"Korean Cultural Service, whose mission is to promote Korean culture to non-Koreans, answers the phone in Korean. It sounds like a small funny thing, but it is a big sign of their attitude," he said.

Welcome to Korea buddy. It is a big sign of their attitude, one of cultural supremacy and an seeming inability to educate themselves on how to even properly promote themselves or on how to adapt to other cultural norms to make their own more accessible.


Spaz update: I forgot to restock my purse stash of tea and must go through my day practically caffeine free (I did have a giant mug at breakfast). I foresee much misery. 

Learning Korean and Life in Korea

Last night I came home from work stressed. I had another day full of classes where I fear very little learning is going on due to my co-teacher's refusal to deviate from the textbook or even stick to using English.  I had a French class at 8 that I couldn't find the article I was supposed to have prepared and a Korean class at 9 that I hadn't been able to figure out the make up lesson for (was far too sick last week to venture out of my apartment Tuesday night). Not to mention I made the ridiculously awful decision to wear my super cute platform wedges (2 inch heel, nothing major but black patent leather fabulousness) to school and finished the day with very sore ankles despite my ankle brace wearing. My own fault but it still was not pretty to see my hobbling around my apartment. 

Solutions:
1. Text French tutor and ask to re-email the article. (5pm isn't last minute at ALL.)
2. Take ibuprofen, put on comfy flats.
3. Decide to go to Korean class early rather than take a 10 minute break to interrogate my teacher on the proper placement of the object in question formation.
4. Take deep breaths and eat some Oreos.

Really Oreos and Ritz crackers make me feel much better. I had bacon and Ritz again for dinner and it was FABULOUS. I might actually gain back the 3 kilos I've been desperately trying for the past few months.  Don't worry, I ate extra veggies at lunch to balance the lack at dinner.

Everything ended up going well and there wasn't a pop quiz in Korean class which means I didn't horribly embarrass myself (not that anyone but me would have cared). We started learning about the past tense so that we can write diary entries and I got stupidly excited and giddy about it. Nothing is sexier than learning the past tense...except for maybe learning the future tense.  Not to mention, I maintain that being allowed to have a beer during class is fantastic.

In the end, my day finished on a good note.  Let's see how my dinner with the co-workers goes tonight. I just LOVE sitting in silence for 2 hours broken occasionally by comments about how well I use chopsticks, the weather and if I'm really lucky, my lack of marriage and babies!

Bribes for What Exactly?

Today's JoongAng Daily reported that corruption was detected in all 16 education offices. The bright side of this is that:

In the past, the results of this survey have not been announced publicly. However, Grand National Party lawmaker Kwon Young-jin, also a member of the Education, Science and Technology Committee of the National Assembly, received the results in a report on Thursday.

I guess the fact that it was reported publicly makes it all better. The sarcasm probably isn't entirely warranted; the most important anti-corruption measure a country can make is transparency. However, admitting that something is corrupt doesn't actually do anything to change it though presumably there will be increased public pressure to resolve the issue.  I had trouble imagining exactly what sort of bribes there were though apparently:

“We see that most of the people who gave money or gifts to civil servants have related businesses [to the education sector] including school meal manufacturers, school facilities companies among others,” said a high-level official at ACRC.

I wonder if the reason the new 4th grade English textbook didn't have an accompanying teacher's manual in English had something to do with this. Probably just regular bureaucratic incompetence

Ode to My Nephew

I'm sure that by many cultural standards, my baby nephew is in fact, not the cutest baby in the whole world. In fact, I'm sure that every single other new parent in the world disagrees with me.

I say to hell with them! My nephew is SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every time I check my e-mail I am slightly let down when there is nothing new from my brother. When I see an e-mail from him or my sister in law with an attachment I generally squee, shriek, bounce in my chair or all three. I try to restrain myself to just a bounce at work but I am not always successful. Thankfully, most of my coworkers have children and understand the baby mania. See, I have no desire to actually have a munchkin myself but they are SO CUTE to look at and play with! 

Missing my family is hard. Jakob can't exactly talk on the phone with me yet. In fact, he's yet to even meet me, except half asleep on Skype. Usually I don't miss the US too badly but having my very first nephew and not getting to meet him is hard!  I've decided to share (with permission of my brother) some of my favorite nephew worshiping pics.

To be fair, you can't actually see much of Jakob in this one but this one of my favorite pictures of all time. I forgot where I read it but a blogger was recently bemoaning the lack of cool towels like this for adults. I COMPLETELY AGREE. I would so buy a towel like that if it came in my size.

 Need I say more??? How cute is he?!

This is the background on my work computer desktop. It has led to much cooing from my students and co-workers and I must say, I enjoy a good mutual coo fest.

See, obviously Jakob is the cutest baby in the whole wide world. Those of you who think otherwise may leave. :-D

Costco in Korea!

Picture Costco (or your favorite superstore) on a Sunday. Now add several hundred people throwing elbows and driving bumper carts. Voila! You have an idea of what Costco is like on a Sunday. I normally try to get any sort of grocery shopping done after work during the week but Costco is just too far away for me to want to deal with that on a weekday. I added myself to my Mom's account back in September but I hadn't taken advantage of that yet. My burning desire for Oreos** and Eggo waffles finally caved me.They didn't have Eggo waffles like the Costco in Seoul! It was tragic. However, my stomach was appeased with 2 giant boxes of Oreos, Ritz crackers (taste buttery but only have oil in them!), Cheerios, and 4 pounds of bacon. In case you were wondering, I had Bacon, Ritz crackers, and Oreos for dinner last night.  Probably my least balanced meal in the past year but so very tasty.

I wish I had taken pictures but when I am shopping in bulk I tend to only put the essentials in my bag...and my camera frequently loses out to my book when it comes to the essential strip down. I finished Plato's Phaedrus and must go back to Howard Zinn. It's getting constantly shafted on the reading schedule for being utterly too large to be conveniently transported. Really good book...terrible size for my purse.

The news is alternately frustrating and aggravating me. This is nothing out of the ordinary but it might be a few days until you get a new news post from me. Or a few hours. Whenever I manage to relax a bit.


**Korean made Oreos have milk in them. American made Oreos only have sugar, high fructose corn syrup and other chemicals that simulate a milky flavor. For new comers to my blog/life, I am severely lactose intolerant.

The Illusion of Democracy in South Korea

When compared to its northern brethren, South Korea seems to be the epitome of democracy. However, simply being better than a dictatorship does not mean South Korea is without its freedom flaws. Under the Lee Myung Bak adminstration many groups have protested that democratic rights, particularly freedom of speech have been curtailed. When the economy first nose dived, the Korean blogger Minerva was arrested for criticizing government fiscal policy. Most recently, writers are protesting because under new legislature, artists who are critical of the government receive reduced subsidies from the government.  The Korea Times reports in "Writers to Protest for Freedom of Speech" the actions organized writers are taking to protest this move.

I'm a little torn on this. On one hand, the government doesn't have to subsidize the arts at all...in less of course they want them to seriously flourish without the more dire starving artist syndromes. On the other hand, discriminatory funding in this manner does seem to be rather anti-democratic particularly because the rationale for it is that these groups have engaged in "illegal protests." Illegal in Korea doesn't mean violent, looting, or disruptive, it simply means they were unable to get a government permit for peaceful protests. And of course, the government rarely provides such permits for groups wanting to protest government policy vocally. 

It's frustrating. I wish I could discuss politics with my Korean co-workers because I would love to see opinions on the issues that aren't from my fellow expats but none of them have the English skills to have an intensive discourse about anything other than the weather or what I did this weekend.

Affair with a button, Dongguk University...life in Korea

So far today I have been asked if I have been to the doctor/hospital yet 4 times. It is only 9:15am and I arrived at work promptly at 8:40. People, I have a head cold. I swear I do not have H1N1. Seriously though I am feeling much better after going to bed until 9 and sleeping until 7am ....7:30. My snooze button and I are having an affair.

Not much on the news front though Dongguk University is trying to sue Yale for $50 million for falsely verifying a degree and the ensuing damages they suffered.  The whole thing is a bit funny.

Today I teach the 6th and 5th graders and by teach I mean repeat things when my co-teacher mispronounces my name. On the plus side, I enjoy hearing the students correct him. Oh, the small pleasures in life.

Snow Days in Korea

At 7:24 I got a phone call this morning from the co-worker who handles my administration paperwork and such.

Her: Hi Alex!  This is Mrs. ---.
Me: ~cough cough~ Errrr hi?
Her: Today is a snow day! No classes. You come to work at 9.
Me: ~looks out the window~ Huh. There is snow. Ummm ok. Good-bye.

At which point I went back to my snooze button since a 20 minute delayed opening doesn't really need changing. 5 minutes later I get a call from my co-teacher.

Him: Hi Alex. How is your condition?
Me: Hi. My what? Oh. I don't know. I'm sick. Fine I guess. ~coughs away.
Him: Today is a snow day. Late opening you can come in at 10.
Me: Are you sure?
Him: Yes, 10 or 11.
Me: Huh. Okay. Err I'll see you at 10 then. ~coughs away. Good-bye.

I got up and changed my alarms, pleased to have a change in plans.

At 9:00 I got a text saying that opening was delayed until 9:30 from the administrator which I ignored.

At 9:05 I got a call from my co-teacher saying that classes were canceled and I should stay home because I am sick.

At 9:10 I got a call from the administrator saying that my co-teacher was wrong and even though classes were canceled for students the principal still wanted all of the teachers to come to school. At this point I was very bleary and coughing and finally just said: 'I'm taking a sick day then. I am too sick to come to school. I will see you tomorrow.'

Then I went back to sleep until 12:30 and ate breakfast. Here is my question though: if the weather is supposedly too bad for the local students to safely walk to school (most live within a 5 minute walk) then how are the teachers, all but 3 of which live in Busan between a 20 and 60 minute drive away, supposed to safely drive to school? This baffled me. I mean if I wasn't sick I would have gone in and done lesson plans and read the news and such but feeling like shit, I was like...screw it, I'm staying home. And I'm glad I did if only to avoid the 92 million conversations about why I haven't gone to the doctor yet. People, it's a head cold, what the hell is the doctor going to do for me that I don't already know??? Take some decongestants, drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest. Tea and vitamins help too.

I'm going back to sleep.

By the way...it only snowed 3 inches. Three.

Dear Germs,
DIE.
Love,
Alex

OMG! Gays in Korea!

If you've been in Korea for any length of time, you've probably heard this from someone you know or work with: there are no gays in Korea.

This is obviously false. There are homosexual or LGBT people everywhere in the world. They might happen to be more widely or deeply closeted here than say San Francisco but that doesn't mean they don't exist. In fact, both Busan and Seoul have their very own gay clubs though they don't advertise and tend to be very word of mouth.  Homophobia is rampant in Korea, any hand holding you see in the streets between same sex couples is assuredly purely platonic (and will certainly disrupt your gaydar). 

My favorite (or least favorite) conversation about an LGBT issue happened last year but it still stands out in my memory. 
Female English Speaking Korean (FESK): I was dating this guy but I found out he was bi so I broke up with him?
Me (trying to tread very lightly here): Why?
FESK: Well, what if he cheated on me with another guy?
Me: Wouldn't the issue be more the fact that he was cheating on you? I mean if you thought the guy was going to cheat on you or was cheating on you, sure break up with him. But why would who he cheated on you with make a difference?
FESK: It's just weird!
Me: ~shrugs and changes the subject~

Why am I posting about this now? The Korea Herald published an article today, "Cruise ship with 710 gay men aboard to call at Busan port." There was absolutely no opinion in the article about whether or not this was a good thing. It felt even very conspicuously politically correct. I mean, this is a good thing I suppose only why did they bother writing about it in the first place? I shall be watching the internet for the opinion pieces that are sure to follow...

National Test=Desk Warming in South Korea...

Apparently there is some sort of national testing going on today in school. I have no idea what it actually is, all I know is that it means I'm desk warming for the day.  At least I actually have some paperwork to do.  I feel guilty but I'm assigning my kids homework this year. No assignment should take longer than 5-10 minutes and it needs to be important, not busy work. Basically, I'm trying to make fun worksheets that review the lesson material.  For the end of lesson for grade 6, I have all of the key sentences they were supposed to learn coded. Each letter is a picture (think of the wingdings font) and they use the decoder key to decode the sentences. I tried it out during winter camp and the kids had fun with it. My co-teacher claimed it will be too hard but if I did it with 4th, 5th and 6th graders so I doubt the 6th grade class will have any trouble with it. Make a boring writing exercise into a puzzle and voila--it's not work anymore.

On the personal front: I have yet another cold.  I am taking multivitamins and even managed to go to sleep early last night to give my body a better chance to fight it off. I think this is my 3rd or 4th cold in the 3 months since I came back to Korea.

Dear Students,
Please keep your germs to yourself.
Love,
Miss Karpen

Every time a teacher comes over and touches stuff on my desk I cringe because I know that in general, Koreans aren't as fastidious about washing their hands and while their immune systems might be able to handle the Korean cold germs, mine can't. I need to buy Lysol wipes or something for my desk. Something tells me that a bilingual sign saying 'keep your germs to yourself' might garner laughs from the students but would create a general feeling of annoyance from my co-workers.

Other news:
1. I discovered that I can't study Korean and listen to French music at the same time.
2. I have been eating my birthday chocolate Every Single Day instead of saving it for special occasions. This does not bode well for it lasting very long. Whatever, I deserve it. I'll slow down with the eating once the novelty wears off again.
3. My school is actually scheduling my summer vacation NOW...not 3 weeks before it happens. Score one for my school!
4. I'm turning 24 soon (March 21st)...which means I'm already 25 Korean age. When my brother turned 25 I left messages on all 3 of his numbers (back in the days when people still regularly had land lines and cells) about how he was SO OLD being a quarter of a century and all of that. I'm a great sister, aren't I?  I don't feel old; I like my 20s. I just feel strange...time keeps speeding up. By the time I hit 30 I might have whiplash from life.

What Makes a Good Teacher?

I spend a lot of time gripping about the absolute absurdities that get published in Korean papers about education.  When I was on the phone with my parents last night, they mentioned that they had read an absolutely fascinating article in the magazine section of the New York Times about teaching called "Building a Better Teacher." For all of you teachers out there reading this blog, go read it!

Basically, a consultant for American schools found that across the spectrum of factors that led to higher test scores, good teachers had the largest impact on scores. The most challenging thing: education degrees aren't teaching teachers how to effectively teach.  Many of the methods they mentioned were things I had already learned, either through internet research, using my own experience as a student in my favorite classes or blundered into sometime during my first semester teaching.  One of the biggest issues is the effective lack of vocabulary for teachers to discuss what works and what doesn't. Classes in education degrees aren't discussing it either leaving a dirth of discussion that needs to be happening. I will admit that having a certain charisma can be useful in the classroom but it is absolutely not necessary. You just have to figure out how to do it...something that isn't clear cut. Even my Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate focused overly on grammar and teaching theories. Theories are great for intellectual pursuits but they do jack shit for preparing a teacher on how to effectively get their students to really learn.

It was really great to read a well though-out, extensively researched article that examined the data around how to improve schools.

...I'm totally lusting after this guy's book.

Korean Education Policy Continues to Baffle Me...

Yesterday, there was an article in the Seoul Times called "South Korean Teachers Reach for the SKY" and it was about why South Korean teachers are just so much better than anywhere else.

Beyond tradition, South Korea actively raises the status of teaching as a profession by doing two things. First, it makes entry to teacher training very selective. Teachers are recruited from the top 5 percent of each high school graduate class. Second, teachers are paid generous starting salaries of 141 percent of GDP per capita, which is significantly above the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 95 percent.

I'm not sure where they get this statistic or if it's grossly inflated by the few superstar hagwon teachers who freakishly manage to make 5 million won a month (roughly $5,000). Public school teachers make less than the foreign teachers whose base salary is 2 million won a month with small increased increments given for experience, advanced degrees and the like. A lot of tension between the Korean teachers and foreign teachers in public schools is that we apparently make a lot more money than them, especially when the fact that they pay our rent is factored in.

Let's look at this bit:

South Korea is able to pay teachers high starting salaries because it employs relatively fewer teachers than other nations. As a result, the student-teacher ratio in South Korea is 30:1, compared to the OECD average of 17:1.

Yes, but there is only so much a teacher can do in a class with 30+ students other than lecture. Every single child education theory (at least that I've read) stresses that smaller classes and time for one on one attention  is the key to superior education. Lecture classes in universities with adults who are capable of sitting still is one thing...have you ever tried to get 8 year old children to sit still for an hour, let alone all day?

The article only cites star hagwon professor's salaries and doesn't mention just how low the public school salaries can be.  I mean I'm glad that teachers are given great respect in Korea, I think that we play a vital role in society, shaping the minds of the next generation and all that. I just think that there is a lot of room for improvement and articles that seem to blindly praise a system without examining it through a critical lens aren't doing anyone a favor.

Also: if teachers are so selectively chosen than how come most of my fellow native English teachers have co-teachers who can barely speak English?

Head to the Desk

I know that it's starting to get repetitive but I can't resist: Kang Shin Who is the worst reporter in the history of journalism. Today's article had absolutely no point. "US Admissions System Saps Korean Students"...it was supposed to perhaps make that point but the article only interviewed one student. One. Uno. Hana. Un. ONE. It wasn't scripted as a 'let's follow the application process autobiography' sort of thing--based on the title, it was supposed to be following an overarching trend.

Why do I ever stray from the BBC and New York Times? Why do I do this to myself?! Mainly because the international papers rarely publish Korean news unless the North Koreans blow something up or Kim Yuna sneezes.

Today is Friday. I will try to write everyday this weekend but let's be honest, my track record isn't stellar. I am endeavoring to save more money so I am not going dancing this weekend (which happily coincides with my ankles doing terribly) and will probably hangout with local folk. There are some new teachers in the area to meet, we'll see how that goes...

Korean Dropouts

Kang Shin Who has been running a series of articles in the Korea Times about the students who gain admission to universities in the US by any method, legal or not.  Today's article focuses on the enormous drop-out rate of Koreans from American universities.  What I found particularly interesting were these bits:

One of the hopefuls said "I had a hard time to adapt to school life (in the U.S.) after I finished my army service and it was very stressful." ...

 "I witnessed a lot of Korean students having difficulties in studying there as it is much easier to gain academic credits in Korea," she added.

Cho, who transferred from Pennsylvania State University to Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, also said he saw many Korean friends who were forced to return to Korea due to their poor academic achievements.  

I think that one of the biggest hurdles for Korean students, whether they were admitted with legitimate application materials or not, is the incredible difference between the style of academia between the United States and Korea. Now I went to an exceedingly liberal minded school (Sarah Lawrence, which models the majority of its classes on small seminars and individual tutorials in which you carry out thesis like research...for every class) but there are some general education trends that we can examine. 

In Korea, much of education is focused on swallowing facts and regurgitating the material for an exam. By contrast, much of education in the United States, particularly at the university level, focuses on the student's ability to analyze information and come to their own conclusions---and defend them analytically.  The goal is to learn how to think and process information for yourself since presumably you will have to continue to do so for the rest of your life, particularly if you want to maintain a position at the top of your field. In addition to overcoming the differences in learning styles there is the sheer cultural differences. Language hagwons (cram schools) teach lots about the English language itself but often very little if nothing at all about the culture. I read several books on culture shock and cultural differences to be aware of before arriving in Korea and I still found it an incredible thing to adjust to. So much of a student's preparation focuses on the academic life in the US that they forget they will have an enormous cultural burden to deal with.  I remember when I got to France it was incredibly hard to adjust to doing all of my coursework in another language when I still had trouble navigating the more trivial aspects of my life, like the grocery store and the different library system.

I find it frustrating that these articles have such a narrow focus. They are so short! If 56% drop out, as Kang claims, then why could he only find 5 people to interview?  I'm interesting in hearing more in depth narratives of why students found it so hard to make the grade in the US, not just one line sound bites.

Clarification

I had a crap day at work. I don't really want to rant on my blog about it because it's not really appropriate. I still love teaching, Korea and life in general I'm just feeling a bit mopey about it.

That's okay though because I have 5 pounds of fancy, Swiss, dark chocolate that is 100% milk free. I will admit, at the moment I'm laying in bed, listening to The New Pornographers (slightly whiny indie band), dipping my chocolate into peanut butter and indulging myself. Don't worry, I did leave my apartment for a bit. After all, Wednesday is crappy movie night. I got Vietnamese food with the Partial Asian, the Female Kiwi, and Juice Box Jumper. We headed off to a DVD bang but none of us had the energy to sit and rework a crappy movie into entertainment so we broke down and got a good movie instead. The Brother's Bloom was quite worthwhile. It was sad and funny all at once...a beautiful balance though it didn't really help alleviate my mood.

Reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is also not helping. Reading about oppression and exploitation isn't cheery though it does help me put my problems into perspective! At least I wasn't a woman or Native American in the 1800s.

Kudos to my brother for linking me to a ridiculous youtube video.  If you need entertainment/distraction, go to it! 

Funny and Frustrating

The second day of the new year/new semester at school was so mind blowingly frustrating that I refuse to write about it until I calm down a bit more and get some distance. I maintained my cool all day, of which I am proud but...there are limits with my ability to self-edit.

Let's focus on the amazing: Korean class. Last night I wrote my very first paragraph. It was on the oh so scintillating topic of my daily schedule. Not exactly prize winning stuff but I was exceedingly proud of it.

Here are my other favorite moments from this week's Korean class:
M: What was the first word that you just said?
Teacher: ...That was your name.

M: My boyfriend just texted me...everyone is out drinking together and apparently his co-worker keeps trying to grab his hand ....Sorry guys, back to class work!
The Cragon: It's okay...hand rape was an interesting story!

Me, on figuring out the future tense sentence/grammar order: 'This weekend drink I will.
...KOREAN IS LIKE YODA!!!!!!!!!!!'

How can you not love a class that is full of gems like those?

Seoul Schools "Fight" to Fill Classrooms

So in America, we say that 30 in a class is far far too big. Private schools biggest selling point is that they have tiny classes, usually hovering around 12 students per class.  The biggest complaint that I hear from public school teachers in Korea is how impossible it is to teach effectively to the 30+ students we usually have in a class. TEFL and EPIK training alike focuses on activities geared at far smaller numbers.

The JoongAng Daily seems to feel that the new 29 average in Seoul is too small--they actually made a favorable reference to the classes of 1982 that averaged 62 students per class. Seriously?!

~shakes head~

Ghostwriters: Old News

Apparently this is breaking news for Kang Shin Who over at the Korea Times: "[Exclusive] Ghostwriters Thrive for US University Applicants." Even at my boarding school there were rumors of the Korean students who paid exorbitant sums to have people sit their SATs, write essays and even forge recommendation letters for them. What is most interesting to me is this little bit:

Many of those accepted to American universities with documents "manufactured" by private institutes are noted for quitting their studies prematurely. One such student was unable to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) after her enrollment in 2004 with the help of a ghostwriter. In reply to an inquiry, the school said that it was unaware of such cases.

Kang Shin Who seems to have tried to imply an entire statistical category based on one example. Now, I will admit that it seems logical to presume that students who couldn't meet the admissions requirements through their own merits probably had trouble hacking the actual curriculum. However, as usual the Korea Times resorted to suppositions as opposed to reporting facts.

In all honesty, what can American universities do to help stem the problem? Kang Shin Who lauded the systems in Korea that require on-site testing but is that really feasible for a country halfway around the globe? Only the very rich would be able to afford that, fewer even than can afford to pay for forged documents. If so many of the students who get in on false merits are actually flunking out, than aren't they getting their dues already?

There is lots on education today in the Korea Times alone, expect blog spamage!

The First Day

I love my job, I really do. Sometimes, however, it seems like administrations in Korea make it purposely hard for you to do a good job. I'm not just talking about public schools either.

Today is the first day of the new year. Things you think a teacher might need to know:
-Who the co-teacher is
-Student/class lists
-Where they key to your classroom is
-When you actually start teaching

I didn't/don't have any of those. Why am I blogging when I should be teaching you ask? Because apparently I don't have any classes today. When do I start? I have no idea. I did manage to secure the key to my classroom though. Score one for me.

I am taking deep breaths. I am drinking my tea. I will be zen about this. I will not stress out.

...I will seriously attempt to not stress out.