LATENIGHT - KOREA

Thursday, October 31, 2002

The scariest image I could find...

HAPPY HOLLYWEEN !!!

We had a ball yesterday and I am hoping for the same today. It was the first of two days of Hallowe'en parties, today being that creepy, spooky, and glorious day. Since our students are usually separated into Monday-Wednesday classes and Tuesday-Thursday classes, we decided to spread the festivities over two days so that we could cover all the elementary classes. Of course my middle school students got in on the fun too... without my permission *fume* (I turned my back for a second and someone had lifted two of the slimy eyeballs out of our haunted room and started playing catch down the hallways *grin*). We had one early class and then repeated the schedule for the other three as a single group. Today we have a couple more classes than yesterday but the whole plan should be mirrored.

We started out carving jack-o-lanterns which went very well. I taught them the standard format of making the face and then did the cutting for them, after they had scooped out the pumpkin entrails and splattered them all over their friends. One group of girls broke with the design and made a pumpkin with big animation-style eyes... which if you ask me was the scariest of all and ended up resembling Spawn.

After that, the kids made masks while I snuck out to grab some dduk bokki and check for a few new ghost stories on the internet. When I got back, they all had their masks done and were screaming, "Trick or Treat," like a pack of malevolent automatons. They approached me, almost smothering me, with little bags that all read, "Happy Hollyween." We passed out a bit of candy and then took a quick break.

When we got back, I decided to try an experiment. I told them all I would do my best to show them a real ghost. For a while now, I've wanted to try out something I had read about on the internet-- EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomena. The idea is basically that ghosts can use ambient sound and EM energy to manifest. One means of doing this is by using a tape recorder and recording questions over something with erratic noise. When you play it back, sometimes you get answers to the questions... The best example of this was a recording I heard where someone had taped next to a radio broadcasting in French. On the playback, the English words, "Help me! I am here!" became clear overtop. Another format, and the one I opted to try out, was to do this with a video camera set to record a static station on TV, and then set on infinite playback on the same TV so that the static becomes crisper and more defined with the feedback. I haven't seen so many examples of this (I did see someone who managed to get a good shot of a bearded ghost in sideways profile, though). Success or not, I figured what the heck! Humans (especially young ones) have a psychological predisposition to seeing facial patterns in anything random so whether it worked or not, I was sure I could scare 'em a bit anyway.

The conclusion to the experiment? I don't think the feedback loop was actually on. I was assured it was, but I am pretty sure that all we saw on the main viewer was the static station itself, not the play back. The TV was one of those ones that try to turn blue when there is no signal so we had problems from the start. Before the end of the class, the camera also ran out of tape so it stopped recording. Nobody saw anything, I thought, until a couple of the kids came to me later and said that part of the screen was turning red. That was unexpected... and maybe a little bit spooky.

For one last Hallowe'en treat, I taught them to the age-old tradition of "Scramble" which normally takes place the day after Hallowe'en with all the candies that people don't want. Tossing them into the air to fateful recipients, I managed to fill the hallways with students laughing, giggling, and crashing violently into each other. What fun!

Sunday, October 27, 2002

Dance and D.J. Performance at Club Tool in Hongdae (Photos courtesy Lee Ji Yeon)

Last night we went out to Club Tool in Hongdae for House Rulez, Vol. 2 and it was a lot of fun. One of the dancers was the brother of a friend of ours so we got a chance to see him perform. Afterwards, we hitched a lift home in the same friend's sister's boyfriend's Tico (that link is to a Czech webpage but after my recent binge-listening of Falco, I love the background music). It was a bit of a tight fit but did the job quite well. Ji Yeon brought her new digital camera (the same model to which I am being encouraged to invest in) so I was able to get these shots from her today and post them. You'll also notice a new pic of me over at www.ianross.com/ca.

I noticed some signs up around Hongdae that gave notice the local clubs are no longer serving "GIs" but I don't think it was being enforced at any of the main bars. I don't remember seeing the signs last time I was there but that doesn't necessarily mean they are new. Lotsa troops were out on the streets. Club Tool was a bit smaller though and there were only a couple other foreigners in the bar most of the night. Outside, it seems like the Hongdae crowd has died down a bit since the last time I went there. Maybe the cold weather is keeping people in. Last night, the weather forecast reported snow for somewhere in Korea (we didn't catch where). For the first time this season, I broke out my leather jacket though I've still be wearing a T-shirt to class to enjoy the nice, crisp, chill. After surviving the summer, I will fully embrace temperatures down to -10 degrees Celsius as being nothing short of Heaven.

Tonight I went grocery shopping. I only mention this because it was absolutely stupid. Remembering that I am Korea, you'd think it'd take less than half an hour to find rice!. Turns out that the store next door doesn't even sell it directly (only the prepackaged microwave-able stuff). I asked three helpers where I might find it ("밥 어디 있어요?" -- Bap uhdeessuhyo? -- Where is the rice?). I kept getting pointed to the restaurants. Finally after I had given up, I decided to go up the escalator (most Korean department stores keep their grocery stores in the basement) and lo and behold, the rice was being sold by an independant dealer in a stall beside the escalator. I suppose it all makes sense since a big bag of rice might be something that people only want to pick up and carry on their way out... but man... you'd think Korea would have rice on every store shelf or something. When I get home, I found out part of the problem. The word 밥 (Bap) refers only to cooked rice. If you want uncooked rice, you have to ask for 쌀 (Ssal). While I was wandering around lost however, a nice old lady at the 떡 (Dduk) counter sold me some sweet, seed cakes (인절미 -- Injuhlmee) and then threw in a bag of fresh, hot, delicious 떡 for free.

Thursday, October 24, 2002

Seoul Immigration Office in Mokdong

So you want to teach in Korea...

Two important things to consider before coming here to teach are legality, and of course the students. There were a couple of stories in the recent media that can help people overseas get a view of what to expect on both of these counts and I wanted to pass them along.

The building in the photo above is the Immigration Office in Mokdong. If you don't know where that is, I can tell you it is in the exact opposite corner of Seoul from where I live. It has always been the source of many complaints largely due to the fact that it is the only such office in Seoul to handle all of the city's ex-pat population and people in the office enjoy artistic license when interpreting Korea's laws. Many people suggest that you should understand the laws of your destination country clearly when traveling abroad. That won't always help you here.

More important than anything are the students however. Who will you be teaching? JoongAng Ilbo published a story today which gave the results to a recent polling of school children in Korea. I encourage you to check it out.

Maybe the most ironic, nay strange, story I read today was this one. As more and more teachers leave the West to come teach English in Asia, American schools are being left with no one to staff their ESL programs. English teaching is becoming a two-way street and teachers from the Philippines, which boast a high level of English literacy, are enroute to work there in exactly the same sort of jobs that we Westerners are employed doing here.

On a more local note, things are changing. Work has changed with the addition of new teachers. The neighbourhood has changed too. There are two new sanga buildings being constructed on our block and lots of new stores are popping up along the street, which itself is being made wider. (Though I never really though the traffic was much of a problem, on my 20 minute cab ride to work). Possibly, this is in relation to the new plans of the Seoul City planning office. Over the next couple of years they are planning new townships and major expansions to areas in Seoul that are north of the Han River. This is to compensate for the heavy development that has gone into the southern Kangnam area in recent years. I guess Nowon must be one of those affected areas. Kangnam has a tonne of entertainment, shopping, dining, and other assorted fun things (It even has a Hello Kitty cafe). Nowon on the other hand, doesn't seem to have as much along those lines, which is odd since residentially, it is one of the more densely populated areas in Seoul, being largely an area of those domino-like apartment buildings like the one I live in, and like those that you see in many of my pictures.

For now, it's off to do dishes and head out the door for an early class at 4pm but I have an hour break on Thursdays, so I might have time to pop out for sushi.

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Stage area for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert Jamsil, last August

*yawn* I'm back to late nights but I've also been pulling early mornings for the last little while. Today I'm waiting to get my new CD-RW/DVD drive. Even after changing hard drives and the CD drive I have now is fickle. It's a lot like me actually. It only likes to work when it's dark out. It stopped working again yesterday (not recognizing that a CD is in the drive) but it was fine when I got home last night. Today it's gone again and no amount of rebooting will get it to kick in.

So I decided to get my new drive yesterday. I went to a couple stores in the neighbourhood. The first guy was out of stock so I moved on up to the next place. I still have the feeling I was being swindled. It's the dirty feeling you get when you realize you spent a lot of money with a guy who was just trying to be a pain in the @$$. The second guy only had two CD-ROM drives on the shelf and he absolutely refused to give me a price on the cheaper one. For a few won more than I estimated the other one was, however, the expensive one was also a DVD player, which he quoted me as being 10,000 below the sticker price. It wasn't much of a discount but after a while, you sort of expect them to do something to encourage the sale. (Bargaining is as common here as it was 15 years ago in Canada, which is usually fun). So I agreed to buy it and I charged it to my card. (BTW foreign visa cards do work in Korea-- it's just a matter of finding Koreans who will believe you long enough to swipe it through their machine). With the sale run through, I double checked the specs and found out that the reason he was charging me less was because he was selling me a drive that had no DVD and was only 10X writing. The box of the drive I wanted clearly said 15X writing and no DVD. If I actually wanted the exact drive that he and I were both pointing to during the sale (you think that'd be a given), I'd have to cough up the extra 10 grand. BAH! I gave him the extra 10 grand in cash and now I will have to watch over his shoulder if he arrives to install it, to make sure he brings the right one, if he comes. I suspected he'd not show up but he did call to say he'd be late so I guess that means he is indeed on his way and should be here in 15 minutes.

When all is said and done, don't look for me... I'll be locked in a heated battle jockeying a Shadowcat online in Mechwarrior 4. The start of the third paragraph in the first link is basically what's been happening to me every night since the weekend.

Saturday, October 19, 2002

Apartment buildings near my old house in Changwon

In case anybody hasn't heard already, North Korea has a nuclear weapons program. The surprise (*ahem*) revelation early this week is causing a bit of trouble for the Sunshine policy which is now in danger of setting amidst a possible nuclear winter, but officials in the South Korean government are still optimistic. In reality, I am actually a bit more optimistic too. You see, for years people have threatened that North Korea could be selling nuclear missiles all around the world to everyone and their dog. Now it's confirmed that they have a program but speculators are saying that North Korea has, at most, enough plutonium for two bombs. That's hardly a thriving export industry is it? Of those two, I'd assume they'd want to keep at least one-- just for the sake of being able to call themselves a nuclear power. Apply the standard White House Exaggerated Threat Spin Factor (reduce the number of any quoted danger by at least half) and you end up with one nuclear missile-- which Pyongyang will likely only bring out during parades (A nuke in the hand is worth two in the media). Overall, that's not so scary, is it?

If you're still worried, here's a link to plot your very own nuclear fallout/blast damage map, courtesy of PBS. Unfortunately, i couldn't find precise information on Seoul. From the general text, I can assume that I would completely escape the blast damage, nestled safely in my apartment in Nowon-- then die from radiation poisoning in under 16 hours. Go ahead. Try it out for yourself. I can almost guarantee that you'll find your hometown. I know. I've plugged in the hometowns of all my friends already *MUHAHA*.

Thursday, October 17, 2002

Jongsoon carvings around an inactive(?) bar in Mokdong

I'm back in the saddle again. It's the middle of the night and I've started to download replacements to the almost 1800 MP3s I had stored on my now defunct hard drive. Que sera sera, je crois. It's been a busy day of installing and replacing. School went well tonight. Wednesdays are always a great day. We've split up a lot of the elementary classes with the arrival of a new Korean-American teacher who will be working part time for us. That's knocked a lot of classes down to only 7 or 8 students which is usually quite manageable.

In total, I think about 5 new teachers have been hired in the last week alone. It's caused for a bit of crowding around the teachers' room. Everyone seems nice though, so I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. Right now, we are in a bit of a lull for recruitment (comparatively since we have picked up quite a few new students too). At the end of November is when the doors start being burst down and enrollments really swell. I assume our school, like others, is just getting ready for then.

The apartment got shifted around too (it wasn't my idea) and now I'm feeling a bit blah. I hate change. I reversed my desks in the apartment last night and took the opportunity to do some cleaning. Then I got up early this morning-- which is starting to catch up with me-- my lungs are still full of dust from cleaning and incense which I burned in the hopes that it was a good idea; my stomach is full of coffee from staying awake; my head is full of the screams of children shouting, "물!", "화정실!" (Mool -- "water", Hwajungshil -- "bathroom"). Where was I? Oh yeah... changes. The computer is the obvious change as I've had to say good bye to a lot of files that were too big to have backed up on floppies or to have parked on my internet sites.

A nice change was the final arrival of a water filter. I'm renting it for about 6 bucks CAD a month. For that price I even managed to get the deluxe version that has both hot and cold water taps. Pouring a cup of tea has never been easier. I love it. It's awesome. Instead of dealing with mountains of recyclable water bottles, a guy will visit the house each week and change the water for me.

You might notice one more good change too. When I reinstalled my software, I made sure to load in Microsoft Word first. Then, I was able to visit the ME update site and download a working Korean IME. (There's a sort of half-version in the version of Word I have that cancelled out my previous IME without actually working in and of itself. It also left remnants in the registry so my computer would not let me install a new version overtop). Finally, I am able to type in Korean from home again.

Well... that was my day.

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Needed: Short email from each of you to help me restore my address book.

I'm on my way to class in a few minutes so this post will be very short. I hope to do up a regular one tonight. Suffice to say that my hard drive was the problem. For a modest sum, I now have a new hard drive and everything else that comes along with starting over. For all those laughing at me, I promise I will get a CD Burner soon.

In the meantime, I have a REQUEST. Could each of you whom I am normally in correspondence with, send me a short, quick email. My address book has been wiped along with everything else. Thanks.

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

The green fields of Korea...

The last post regarding war is starting to get heavy on the comment box, so I am going to go against my better judgement and throw out a few tidbits here. Now let me restate this preamble: The is no guarantee that North Korea is actually planning an attack in the future... but if they were, I am not the only one to suggest that they might forego the niceties of waiting for the U.S. to finish up in Iraq (if ever they do). Furthermore, attention must be paid to what is happening in diplomatic circles. Sure the South is convinced that they will be reunifying peacefully at any time now. But does nobody notice what happened with James Kelly's trip to Pyongyang? Did the headline, "N. Korea Says Sees US Policy as 'War Declaration" get overlooked? Apparently it was estimated by the Pentagon in 1994 that war on the Korean peninsula would amount to the loss of 1 million lives and 100,000 American lives. Slim chance or not, that's a big gamble.

Meanwhile, the U.S. soldier who was attacked, abducted, and hauled up in front of a crowd of Korean Anti-US demonstrators, on stage in a stadium, has been charged with assault. Go figure. I admit... after the last couple of months, I take back what I posted about the S.O.F.A. agreement. Two months ago, I would have stood by what I said but after stories like this, and the incidents a little over a week ago in which the U.S. embassy came under attack, I feel it's safer to suggest that the Korean legal system should mature a little bit before S.O.F.A. is dismantled.

In an effort to reduce this ballooning tension, the U.S. army is taking sensitivity training, while the Korean police are "investigating" the incidents. As far as tension reduction goes for me, I am happy to announce that Philip-Morris has opened its first plant in Korea. I expect that in qualifying for domestic production, this will allow for the price of a pack of cigarettes to fall below the current, top-end price of about $2.30 CAD a pack.

P.S. This PC방 is the worst I've ever been to. The keyboard is undersized. The coffee machine that dispenses dixie cups of coffee is out of "black" yet still manages "milk" and "prima" for some reason. The washroom is filled with vomit again. Someone left some toilet paper in there which would only leave you dirtier (it's usually B.Y.O.T.P. in Korea though not as often in Seoul). And sitting around me, I count 3 hospital patients in pyjamas who obviously walked a couple blocks in the rain to be here... 86 hours is unbelievable.

Monday, October 14, 2002

Gate at Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon

My computer is 고장.

For a long time, Scandisk wouldn't work (something kept writing to the drive causing it to start over again and again) and the computer had a nasty habit of slowing down to a crawl and crashing. Then on Friday, it wouldn't recognize any CDs in the drive. I deleted some programs to cut down on background tasks (ad programs and things that had been imbedded and soaking up system resources), then I downgraded to IE5 with the plan to re-upgrade and hopefully replace any damaged system files-- that always used to work. No luck this time. There were errors on the drive and files were overlapping, including system files. The computer is toast. Luckily I've already uploaded unpublished photos, like the one above, to my website but I have a feeling I am bound to lose everything else.

So here I sit in a PC방 again. I have class in an hour. If you need to email me for the time being, use this one. I won't be into the rest of my accounts until I get a dedicated mail client again.

It's funny, but in the middle of the day when there are fewer people at the PC방, it begins to smell like an airport lounge. I guess I'll use this time to do more research on PC Gamer Death Syndrome.

Friday, October 11, 2002

Korean crab conqueror Sin Gu in an upcoming film, The Ten Crabs?

Happy Birthday wishes to Korean actor Sin Gu (Shin Goo) whose birthday was yesterday. Why am I singling him out for special attention? Because he is awesome, fantastic, and absolutely jigindah. Formerly a star on a recent television drama, I never really took notice of him until he appeared in a widely popularized commercial for Korean fast food restaurant, Lotteria. Now he's my hero. The advertisement has run for about the last two months to announce the new Lotteria Crab Burger (which unfortunately is pronounced as "crap" in Korea but I'm sure you'd enjoy it if you tried it). The spot features Shin as a Hemingway or Melville-esque sea captain returning from days at sea where he has fought a pitched and heated battle with a monster crab. Tipping the hat to Captain Ahab, you'll notice that he has even lost one of his fingers during the melee. On his way back home, he meets an approaching boat filled with other, younger, cheering fishermen. All he can say is, "Do you know what crab tastes like?!" Sorry I can't type Korean on this computer right now but you can see it written in the top line of the poster above. Pronunciation sounds along the lines of, "Nee-de-ri Geh-maseul ahr-uh?" but you can hear that if you check out the clip below.

Click to watch the advertisement!

After you've seen that, you might even consider dropping by his fan club on Daum-- although like almost all other Korean web services/clubs/games/chat rooms/everything, you need a Korean citizen number to join, sorry. That excludes me too as Alien Registration numbers aren't good enough. Oh well. Happy Birthday, oh Captain, my captain.

A street near Nowon Station

So I was reading the New York Post the other day and I have to admit, the article I was reading was pretty harsh on Koreans... although when I thought about it, he was worth considering. Mostly he's bent out of shape about how Koreans are running headlong into unification with their northern countrymen and how they are hoping to give the U.S. a few black eyes on their way out the door. To be honest, he's partly right... just that he was pretty damn nasty about it. You see, he feels the south is underestimating the risk of future invasion. It got me to thinking. The main spur for reunification has come from South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's Nobel Prize-winning Sunshine policy. The current government has spent the last year using reunification as their main platform and it has inspired South Koreans toward the dream of someday reuniting with the North. Honestly, the North has done very little to encourage this. It's all been a rather unilateral dream for South Koreans.

The railway was supposed to be a metaphoric as well as physical connection between the two countries. It was announced just before I came to Korea two years ago and so far, the North has done-- nothing. Last month they staged a fireworks demonstration to cheer it on, after everyone seemed to have forgotten about it. That was mostly an election gimmick to garner T.V. time. Still, nothing has been done north of the 38th. Even hostilities have not ceased as one could see in June with the gunboat incident. Strangely, the North apologized (of sorts) but new evidence has surfaced that showed it was a premeditated act. There is now a massive inquiry underway into the South Korean intelligence network after the firing of Maj. General Han Chol Yong, commander of the 5679 Unit maintaining surveillance over North Korean communications. You see, General Han had filed a couple of hard reports that said that the North Koreans were planning to stage an incident. Since this reality went in the face of government policy, he got sacked for daring to file such a rebellious report and potentially causing the president to lose face in his reconciliation strategy.

So with all this going on, I was sitting around pondering whether the North might just attack someday. I mean, they're already on the U.S. hit list-- and there's no escaping that no matter how cooperative you become. Take Iraq for example. They've gone ahead and agreed to UN weapons inspectors even though the U.S. president has openly stated he wants Hussein assassinated and Iraq knows full well that UN teams are stacked with CIA agents (who now have the go ahead to cap him on sight). At the very least, the inspection teams will file reports on ALL of his arsenal and the location of his defences... which will work their way over to the Pentagon in time for the US to steam roller through and attack anyway. He has no way out. North Korea knows that they're next on George Bush's list come rain or shine and Kim Jong Il is equally a marked man and people do funny things when they have a gun to their head with no chance for escape.

I already said that the North has done NOTHING to show that they are supporting peaceful reunification. They've let a few old folks past the checkpoints to visit relatives lost after the Korean War, but even those meetings have been fraught with unexplained cancellations and phantom red tape to cover over past promises. Now I read that over 30% of the land mines have already been removed from the DMZ in preparation for the supposed railway. I have an idea. Let's see the North build the railway first... and THEN clear the mines. I have this horrible thought that it won't be steam engines crossing those rice paddies once they're cleared.

***NEWSFLASH***
In other Korean news... a 24-year-old man in Kwangju was playing computer games at a PC Bang for an unbelievable 86 hours straight... and then he DIED. Teachers warn your students.

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

(경) 한글날 (축) !!!

Happy Hangul Day everyone! October 9th in Korea is a day to celebrate the invention of the Korean alphabet by Great King Sejung [1419-1450], known as the Regenerating Ancestor. His goal was to create a Korean set of characters that would be scientific and easy to learn. To this end, he presented his creation, the Hangul alphabet, after years of study, in 1443. It was officially put into practice by royal decree in 1446.

The Hangul/Hangeul alphabet served tremendous importance in Korea, especially in governmental matters, from the start. In fact, it did as much for Korea as the English and German Bibles did for the West. Until Sejung's time, government officials and scholars used Chinese characters which were burdensome and time consuming to study (therefore also expensive) to learn. With the creation of simple syllabic alphabet of domestic origin, the benefits of literacy became much more easily extended to the Korean people as a whole. Even in this day and age, for a foreigner such as myself who is struggling to learn Korean, the writing style is admittedly easy to pick up. Though I couldn't and usually still don't understand the meaning of the words, a foreigner can learn to read the language easily within a couple of months. Because it is a phonetic system, as opposed to iconographic like (Chinese), learning the alphabet also becomes a gateway to learning the Korean language with greater fluency and proficiency in pronunciation. Part of me believes that had I chosen (get it... Chosun.... that was a pun) to go to Japan or China, I may have already given up learning the language there. Here in Korea, the ease at which the alphabet can be learned encourages one to continue studying. Also, the incorporation of Western words into the language, even when displayed in hangul, allow for a much easier sense of navigation when travelling in Korea. Often seeing the characters for K (ㅋ), T (ㅌ) or P(ㅍ) are quick indicators that the word you are looking at is something Western in origin. Words like Coffee and Computer (커피 = Kaw-pee, and 컴퓨터 = Kum-Pyoo-Tuh) always stand out in a crowd, even when written in Korean. Hard phonetic sounds such as these exist in Korean but usually the language uses the softer sounds of G (ㄱ), D (ㄷ), and B (ㅂ), respectively. There is some confusion in the romanization of Korean words because of this. The city of Pusan now goes by "B"usan for instance, to better reflect that it's name actually begins with B (ㅂ) in Hangul. From time to time you will notice that I alternate spellings of words, even within a single post. (This, by the way, is not only to show my readers the variety of spellings, but is also a blatant attempt for me to maximize search engine results *smirk*).

Further to its original purpose, Hangul is at the centre of a debate on language purism in Korea by which many advocates seek to remove traces of Chinese letters from Korea altogether. In North Korea, this ideology has gone further in an attempt to remove even words of foreign origin-- including the Western words like those I mentioned already, which have been embraced by the south, and also words of Japanese origin which date largely to the occupational period (1910-1945).

For his contribution to Korea, Great King Sejung is now featured on the 10,000 Won bill. There is also a museum in Seoul that bears his name. He is no doubt the most famous Korean king and maybe ties for recognition only with the famous admiral Yi Soon Shin, of Im Jin War fame (who I'll write about next month on the anniversary of his greatest victory). 경축, 한글날 !

Tuesday, October 08, 2002

Haggye in Seoul

I spent a long time on that last post but I wanted to add in a short, separate commentary afterwards. Here's just a quick note on two regards.

Seoul will officially unveil its new tourism slogans during an immense festival at City Hall, planned for October 27th. The chosen title to the campaign to publicize Korea's capital is going to be, "Hi Seoul".

Kim Byeong-Hwan (in the Korea Herald) has said that the slogan will help convey a friendly image of Seoul to the world as well as fostering harmony between Seoul citizens. Furthermore, it's a "homophone" (homonym[?]... sure... whatever) for "high" which exemplifies Seoul's "potential of rising up the ranks to become a global city". Runners-up/subslogans to the main one which will also be used are: "We are Seoulites" (clarifying any misconceptions, I guess), "I Love Seoul" (Mr. Kim may have been speaking personally on this matter but I assume it is meant to represent all citizens and travellers to Seoul by extension. It's not original but it worked for New York... at least until a few terrorists woke up one day and said, "Wait a minute. We don't love New York at all"), and lastly-- "Dreams@Seoul" (which is actually not bad. It sounds a bit funny when you pronounce the "at" but I think it's sweet).

...And speaking of publicity, the Kyungnam to Kyunggi Journal received mention in the TESL-EJ Journal. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've been written about in a journal.... and it sure beats being mentioned in the DSM-IV. Go check out Jim Duber's story, online.

Dokdo / Takeshima / Liancourt Rocks - disputed islands in the Sea of Anonymity

Another editorial was printed in the Korea Herald today regarding the conflict over names so I thought I'd put up another posting myself. I'm sick of this. You're probably sick of this. Apparently there are people who are not sick of this... so for their benefit I am going to add a bit more information on the subject. I promise you that I am not repeating links, just adding to background material. Basically there are three big controversies in Korea regarding names. The first one is the battle between Koreans and Coreans. That one has taken a bit of a backseat though lately since it's not so dependant on other countries and timetables. It's basically a domestic issue as far as I am concerned. What has come up again is the dispute over the naming of the body of water east of Korea and west of Japan, and the fate of a pair of pebbles that float in the middle-- called the Dokdo Islands in Korean, the Takeshima Islands in Japanese, and apparently the Liancourt Rocks in English (though the were named by a Frenchman).

My take on the whole thing? In regards to the body of water, I am henceforth going to avoid calling it the East Sea. I am also going to dissuade myself from naming it the Sea of Japan. In an effort to antagonize everyone involved-- I am going to put forward the title: Sea of Anonymity. That is, until I come up with something better. From time to time I'll still likely use the other names, depending on whether I love or hate Korea on whatever day in question. As for the Dokdo Islands, it is of note that there are two of them. I say, let the wisdom of Solomon prevail and give one each to Korea and Japan. Then install huge loudspeakers on the top of both peaks so that each country can scream obscenities at the other. As for what to call them, maybe I'll slowly switch to "Liancourt Rocks" in an effort to maintain a sense of ~~imperialism~~ neutrality.

The Liancourt Rocks
Japan has a few territorial disputes that are ongoing. Not only is the fate of these islands in question, but so is that of the Southern Kuriles (claimed by Russia) and the Senkaku Islands (claimed by China/Taiwan). One of these conflicts got a recent boost. The former president of Taiwan decided to ruffle some feathers and announce that China had no legitimate claim over the Senkaku Islands. That scores one point for Japan. A couple nights ago, something similar showed up on the internet regarding the Dokdo Islands (sorry I didn't get to save the link but it was in Korean). A rumour was passed along that someone in the Korean government had secretly signed over the Islands to Japan. I personally think that these two stories were mixed up but time will tell.

Korea currently occupies the Islands with Coast Guard troops, and has done so since the 1950's. Plans for the future (2004) are to establish the islands as a national park. This may also be a wise temporary resolution to the issue. The islands themselves are worthless. They are two barren outcroppings of rock that barely classify as anything more than a navigation hazard-- BUT the waters surrounding them are said to be rich in gas reserves as well as being historic fishing grounds. The creation of a national park may do nothing to solve the ownership debate, however it would ensure that the islands are not exploited by either country until there is a permanent resolution to the issue.

There is one more thing to consider though. Beyond the demarcation of lines, treaties, and land claims... this century has seen Korean blood spilled on the islands. In 1948, Korean fisherman were mistakenly bombed by B-29s of the U.S. 5th Air Force, who were using the Dokdo islands as targets on training runs. In the demesne of diplomacy, the pen may be mightier than the sword, but blood is thicker than ink. Koreans have paid a sacrifice to use and inhabit the islands and most political borders in the world today were drawn up due to the same.

The East Sea of Japan.
Koreans perceived that Japan had scored another point on September 19th when the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) announced it was suspending its vote over the matter of naming the UFO (Unidentified F***ing Oceanwater) between the two countries, in its upcoming edition of "Names and Limits of Oceans and Seas". Presently, the IHO has stated that it will be producing a revised proposal for next spring, before the books come out. The Korean Foreign Affairs Department immediately pledged to continue the fight while the National Assembly helpfully said, "Hey wait a minute! How about calling it 'The East Sea'?"

So again, I went back to the historical maps of the region that I could find (somewhat reduced to searching Ebay and other auction sites on the internet). I did manage to find a good article about maps in the British Library who have 90 maps in their possession which cover the relevant areas and of those, 73 either refer to the body of water as the "East Sea" or the "Sea of K/Corea". Early maps do seem to side with Korea on this issue (although there is not clear uniformity). The switch to naming it the "Sea of Japan" appears to have taken root in the 19th century though-- earlier than the accepted "colonial" period which is usually blamed for the switch. Indeed, it would seem that naming it after Japan was more of a counter response to Korea's Hermit Kingdom status. I suppose it just made more sense to Europeans to name it after your trading partner-- as opposed to the country that wanted nothing to do with you and would kill or imprison you if you dared step foot on its soil. (Korea's come a long way from that to hosting the World Cup, eh?).

At any rate, I grabbed some images and thumbnailed them for you so you can see part of the spread of nominal diversity. Just click on the thumbnail and a slightly larger (though not necessarily better quality) map will open in a new window. You may still have to squint pretty hard to make out whether the 5-letter word is "Japan", "Corea" or "Korea"... and in one case you have to tilt your head.

	1750 - Bellin map showing the "Sea of Corea"
	1805 - Arrowsmith - Lewis map showing "Sea of Japan"
	1815 - J. Thomson map with "Sea of Japan"
	1850 - Spanish map with the "Sea of Corea"
	1851 - John Tallis map stating "Sea of Japan"
	1853 - New York Illustrated News showing "Sea of Japan"
	1861 - J. & C. Walker naming it "Sea of Japan"

Sunday, October 06, 2002

A house in Suwon

October is becoming firmly entrenched. It is indeed my favourite month, even surpassing my birthmonth of July. All around fall is settling in. The heat of summer is dissipating and people are beginning to industriously prepare for the onslaught of winter. For the ancient Celts it was the new year time. The herd was thinned to prepare for the feed shortages of winter and thusly, it was a time to be guaranteed fresh meat-- amidst the other feasting that culminated in the great New Year's festival now known as Hallowe'en. All around, things were dying, hibernating, changing... the year itself was passing away. At the moment between the two years, the veil between realities thinned and for a brief moment, the worlds of the dead and living mixed, intermingled, partied, and were blogged about. I can't believe I wrote about 'death' in Korea in my last post yet missed mentioning that this year's stats have shown the death rate for foreign workers in Korea is now nearly *double* that of Korean workers. Thankfully, teaching is not a high risk labour classification yet.

My life may also be prolonged by 'staying off the roads'. The Korean government is now refusing to give licenses to expatriates from countries that do not reciprocate by validating Korean licenses. Applicants from countries such as the U.S., Great Britain, (and I hope to God, Canada) must now write a written test before having theirs issued. I think this is a fantastic idea. Every foreigner who is kept from driving on the streets of Korea is one more foreign life saved. I remember reading around the time I came to Korea, that Korea was #1 in the world for traffic fatalities but apparently they lost their lead to Malaysia last year and are now tied with Thailand for second place. Check out some of the accident statistics for Asia. See also the Canadian Embassy advisory.

There were no brushes with death for me today-- although for a minute I was a bit concerned. Today was a day to take care of some of those fall chores I mentionned. I woke up early this morning and headed to Nowon to pick up my cell phone which was finally ready at the repair shop (after more than a month). I was heading in a cab toward the Midopa Department Store which is now apparently a Lotte Department Store. There must have been some aggravation over that because at the exact spot where the taxi driver let me out-- I ran smack dab into a DEMONSTRATION. As I exited the cab, I kept repeating to myself, "Meegook animneeda... I am not an American... Meegook animneeda... I am not..." but it turned out they weren't Anti-US demonstrators but rather just disgruntled workers.

The whole thing looked kind of odd in retrospect. There was a stage area set up in front of the door with gigantic Che Guevara-styled images and a posse of guys in black Tae Kwan Do suits, with red headbands, that were doing some sort of synchronized dancing to the shouts of whatever it was the protestors were shouting. Some staff of the store were all lined up facing the stage, wearing their sales uniforms but with the addition of similar red headbands. There was a bit of a dichotomy here in that, you must understand, an upscale department store, like Lotte or Midopa, only hires sales girls who are under about 100 pounds (before makeup)-- yet to see them stand there in uniform, with blood-red headbands tied tight across their brows, completely rigid, their eyes fixed on the placards and their fists raised and clenched into the air... it was a uniquely terrifying thing. Then I got the mental image of an episode of "Are You Being Served?" and it spoiled the whole experience for me.

Oh. And in case you're wondering. The cell phone that had been sitting on their shelf for over a month was NOT fixed. When I went in to ask for it, the girl had to usher me away for sam ship boon (30 minutes) while they actually did fix it. Yep, the whole thing took less than half an hour... yet I'd been waiting weeks for it (*off-colour joke witheld*). I have it now anyway and the service should be connected back up to it on Monday.

Friday, October 04, 2002

Iksungwan-po (King's official robe in blue)

Well, I spent most of the holiday sleeping and playing Civilization 3 (a lot prettier to look at, but the animations slow it down so much that when you a 6000 year campaign it feels like a realtime strategy). I went in to teach my class last night. Half the lights in the hagwon were off and it was just the students and one or two of the teachers around. I got there and they were all gathered around the TV set to watch the Warcraft III competition that was on. I opted to skip the textbook and switch gears a bit-- we did impromptu speeches instead. Everyone was sort of in holiday mood and not heavy into studying.

There is a new choice of greetings around these parts. Foreigners always note how everywhere you go in Korea, schoolchildren will come up to you, say, "Hello", giggle and run off. About 90% of the time it's cute and I always greet them back. I have noticed that this is less common in Seoul where people are more used to foreigners yet I was definitely surprised the other day when a pack of middle-school aged Korean schoolgirls in uniform greeted me with, "Hey MAN!". So I mentioned this to last night's class and one of the more vocal students admitted that he has been teaching all of his classmates to say "Man" in every English sentence. It's like I'm teaching hippies *grin*

To live and die in South Korea...

Murder is generally rare in South Korea (suicide is high-- but murder isn't common). Having no legal access to firearms is probably a big reason. In case any of you are wondering, I am a splitter. I think gun control should be based on residence. I am 100% pro-gun control in urban environments and 100% anti-gun control in rural areas. Heck, I'd even support the excessive "central lock-up" idea for urban-owned guns. I never used, needed, or wanted a gun when I lived in the city-- but if you come to take my guns out of my house in the country, you'd better be wearing a thick vest (My guns are for hunting only... I use a baseball bat for home defence). Of course I don't have any guns now but when I get back to Canada I am *determined* to finally get that Mossberg I've been dreaming about then heading off to the marsh to get some fresh ori-gogi. Then I'm gonna get a canoe, a new fly rod, and (if I save up enough money) a Cessna with floats (after I hop down to Yarmouth to get my float rating)... *sigh*

...where was I? Oh yeah, murder. A girl in Virginia, named Kenzi Snider, was on an exchange trip to South Korea last year when she allegedly kicked and beat her roommate to death in a Seoul hotel room. Do I have to say "allegedly"? She confessed. According to Snider's lawyers, however, the confession should not be admitted. It was not recorded and her lawyers say that there is no physical evidence to connect her to the crime. Basically what seems to have happened is that she was interrogated by the F.B.I. and the US Army. One of the people at the interrogation "cited the case of an American soldier who confessed to strangling a South Korean prostitute and was sentenced only to five years in prison." No doubt, Snider happily confessed and was waiting extradition to South Korea where she figured she'd get a slap on the wrist. Sorry. Only U.S. diplomats and soldiers are covered by S.O.F.A. which is why the soldier got off so lightly. If you actually get a real sentence in Korea, there is a big difference. Korean prisons are said to be Hell on Earth and more so if you are a foreigner stuck in one. Maybe luckily for her, she faces the death penalty.

In other U.S. military-related news, the guys in the Navy hit another fishing boat. Thank God they didn't kill anyone this time or we'd all be in for another rough weekend.

The big murder(?) mystery in South Korea right now, however, is the case of the Frog Boys. About a decade ago, five young boys from the Daegu area, went out to Mount Waryong to collect frogs. They were never seen again. There was an exhaustive search by police but no trace could be found. The story of the frog boys became a curious mystery throughout South Korea and even inspired several songs and and a movie-- which hinted at murder, or the possibility that the children were sold into foreign slavery. All of a sudden, police received a tip. A 43-year old man admitted that while on military service years ago, he and his fellow soldiers had shot two of the boys during an exercise. The remaining three, they strangled-- then they buried the five boys in a shallow grave on the mountain to coverup the crime. With the excessive rains of the season, the grave became partially unearthed by the flood waters and police last week, found the remains.

The Korean army staunchly denies the man's story. They say that they never coverup murders and certainly wouldn't cover one up for "10 years" (note that the disappearance occured 11 years ago-- maybe that makes a difference) and that there were no firing exercises the day the boys disappeared. They also characterised the informant as being a homeless beggar which in Korea equates to zero credibility. Perhaps, it was suggested, the evil Americans might have done it but, oh, not the Korean Army!

Initially after finding the bodies, police suggested that the boys must have gotten lost and died together of hypothermia (all of you know how much I've been complaining about summer weather being so cold in Korea) but a few pieces of evidence suggest otherwise. One of the boys had punctures to his skull. The police also found that some of their clothing had been tied in knots (suggesting strangulation). In addition, up to 140 rounds of ammunition and shell casings were found with the boys. The explanation for the shell casings is that there is an army range nearby. Of course, nobody seems to be mentioning that *casings* are found at the place where the gun is fired, after being ejected from the chamber. You only find bullets and casings together if a gun is fired at point blank range. (BTW if anyone knows anything about South Korean firearms and whether they use anything other than the M16, post a comment. This is a fishy part of the story for me as they showed a tape of the shell casings on TV and they looked a lot bigger than 5.56mm. I could be mistaken though.)

Right now, I'd love to just be able to go out and get a nice, refreshing breath of clean, country air. Hey! WAIT A MINUTE !!! I *can* get a breath of fresh air!

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Walk along the walls of a Chi at Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon

So I realized last night that I am settling in... and it is having a detrimental effect on the blog. I'll give you an example. Sunday night, we went out for a walk in the evening and had supper at a galbi restaurant. Afterwards, I stopped off to get some repairs done to my glasses at the eyeglass shop across the street. Strangely enough, I had only left the house for 2 hours and ended up spending about $120 CAD. Basically, in addition to the meal and repairs (which were free), I bought a new pair of glasses which I will pick up on Wednesday. Why am I blogging this? As an example for things that I don't normally blog. When I realized I had done absolutely nothing exciting, yet still managed to spend a hundred thousand Won, this was how I learned that my life in Korea has changed.

When I started keeping this blog, a meal of Sohgalbi would have been the focus of a major expose-- and it would have been treated like the exotic dish of the Orient that some people still may view it as. Now that I have almost been here for two years... it's just grilled beef with garlic and gochujang paste to dip it in. It's delicious... but I eat it as often as I eat meatloaf back home (maybe once or twice a month give or take). I've been here more than 23 months now so I don't even stop to think of it as something I could write about anymore. There's a tonne of these things that never cross my mind yet people back home may never have seen or tried.

All in all, I've reached a real comfort level. You'll notice that the majority of my posts are about local news.. while most of my personal anecdotes revolve around the weather. I could be writing this stuff from Canada... which again implies that I am settled. The last three months especially, I have gotten into a groove here. I don't go out to bars much at all. I am saving money (so much that I can't even imagine where I spent my money before). In a short time, I will be signing another contract at my school (if all continues to go well) and am considering buying a satellite dish and an air conditioner for the apartment next year. My biggest dilemma is whether I need a new cabinet for clothing.

Sure my cab driver actually hit a woman when he pulled away from the taxi stand today... but all in all I am getting used to things and don't notice it so much.

My school has turned out to be great. I gambled and it paid off. Most of my complaints revolve around short notice over schedule changes, which my coworkers realize frustrates me to no end... and have been quite good lately at giving me advance notice in response. Yeah... my school works holidays. That's annoying. This Thursday coming is supposed to be a national holiday to celebrate the birth of Korea by Tangun in 2333 BC; of course, I have a class scheduled. But when one of the teachers told me today (a full three days in advance which to date has been unheard of), they also were willing to let me out of it if I wanted, since I am a foreigner and foreign teachers don't work holidays. I chose not to fight it this time. I've been the only foreigner for so long, hearing that I might bet an exemption because of it started to sound a bit silly. The Korean teachers will work Thursday with or without me (they don't have a choice), and I was compelled to go with the floe (someone check the spelling on that... I think I just Canadianized a metaphor). The class that I am to teach is actually one of my favourites anyway. It's just one class. The students there will be missing class next week due to tests (letting me finish by 9 o'clock) and the school just wants to give them an opportunity to make up for the lost time. They're awesome students with killer senses of humour... I'll enjoy it.

That leaves me at a crossroads on the blog. I'm not going to go on about the merits of kimchee for the millionth time... and I am giving myself an ulcer following the news. What I'd like to do is cover a few more abstract parts of Korean culture and do so more in depth. Also, I am thinking back to one of the online polls I conducted months ago. Regarding thematic direction you voted first and foremost to see more nude pictures of me... but secondly, you wanted to see some recipes (which I still can't understand since I'm all thumbs in the kitchen, at least until I manage to cut one of them off-- but it does seem that anytime I mention cooking or I link to a recipe site, my comment box gets full). I asked Yeji tonight to translate a recipe she used last week when cooking dinner. It's strikingly simple yet made for a fantastic meal. I bet you could make the whole thing back home for under 2 bucks plus the cost of kimchee. Heck, I bet *I* could make it.

Cheese Ramien
1 package of ramien
1 cheese slice
a few carrots
6cm long leaks
1/4 onion
1/4 green pepper
2 cups of water

- Chop the vegetables and cheese slice into strips while boiling the noodles.
- Add vegetables, cheese, leaks, and flavour packet to the boiling noodles.
- If desired, beat one egg and then add to the noodles (in this case, add extra water with black pepper). Cook for 10 to 20 seconds longer.
- Add minced or sliced sesame leaf for flavour.
- Serve with kimchee.

In final blog news, the Kyungnam to Kyunggi Journal passed over the 15,000 visitor mark last night. Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in this. By all means, if you continue to have ideas or would like to see something, either email me or leave a comment here or on the discussion board. I'm off to study. I've picked up a new hobby... studying survival techniques from the point of view of someone living in the Bronze Age (I need themes or else I get caught endlessly surfing or reading for hours). I mean... I could replicate the wheel if I was ever stranded. And I know how to make fire from sticks and skin animals. But honestly, how many of us could actually produce metal implements on our own. I really don't know the finer points of making and using a loom. I also don't know how to sail-- and I read that apparently, the invention of the sail boat predates the wheel by 500 years. Who would have thought? It was in the middle of this course of study that I stumbled upon yet another online piece of heaven.