Just a quick post. No pictures. I just wanted to mention why I stopped replying to all those comments. This is the first time in two days I could sit at my computer. I've been off sick from work both yesterday and today.
I don't know if it was my lack of eating lately due to my cold/flu that contributed to it or if it's some kind of ear infection, but I woke up yesterday morning and fell over in bed. My dizziness has lasted even until now, such that I can't even focus on watching a TV... or reading text on the computer. I can make it about as far as the bathroom but not much farther. I'm feeling a bit better, enough that I could skim over the comments, but this post is as much as I am going to muster before heading back to lie down in bed again. I hope it clears up over the weekend. If not, I'll try to make it out to the hospital.
I would be in much worse shape, certainly if I didn't have Yeji here to help me in the evenings. She's another person in Korea that I avoid blogging about out of personal reasons. But she made me some nice, warm seaweed soup last night and takes care of me very well when I'm down. Managed to get myself some fruit and cereal today so I hope to build my strength back up soon. I just hope the room stops spinning.
More later...
Friday, November 29, 2002
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Here come the critics...
"You... seem to be deeply conflicted" -- Amused Korean
That statement is the absolute, fantastic truth!
The others beg a difference of opinion. One thing that needs to be corrected is that I don't *hate* Korea-- if I did then I would leave. Secondly, I am not one of the teachers who have come here because nothing better awaited them back home. That's not true either. I didn't come here fresh out of university. I was in the workforce for a number of years in Canada and I was doing fine. I just wanted a change of pace for a few years and an opportunity to see somewhere else before I got old and settled back home.
"Deeply conflicted" is good way to describe how I feel these days, however. I have had wonderful times and terrible times in Korea and I have blogged about them both. I have been criticized by Korea's detractors when I write something pro-Korean just as I am being criticized now by the pro-Korean camp for posting things over the last little while that are unflattering of the country. If you think I am skewing the news, there is an email button on the page and I am always happy to receive links or news that people feel I should mention.
The funny thing is, I am not going to entirely disagree with A.K. Most of my long term readers will have noticed that my postings have tapered off lately. The night before A.K. made his/her first posting, I had been exhausted getting home from work (still sick) and went to bed early, around 11:30. I tossed and turned until 3:30am wondering exactly the same thing: "Why am I here?" One of the related issues I obsessed over was, "What can I do about the negativity on my blog?" The problem is that I am not creating the news around me, I am living in it, and commenting with an outside perspective from the aisles. I wasn't surprised or truly angry to wake up and see a comment like the one posted. I had already been debating the same things in my head all night.
The fact is that Korea ebbs and flows with a lot of passions. As a foreigner, I am on the outside of the Korean experience. I could live here 20 years and Koreans will continue to tell me that, "I don't understand." As a Canadian, I am also in the middle of two competing forces to which I am not in any control over. Those forces are the two sides in the American-Korean debate. Right now, more than ever, those two groups are in conflict here in South Korea. Foreigners from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, all form an ideological midpoint between the two, without ever being a part of either. There are no Canadian-Korean issues right now and I only remember a couple that registered so much as a blip on the local conscience.
The trial of the American soldiers over the June incident has raised tensions on the street. It's probably the single most important news event to affect foreigners in Korea right now and as such, I feel obligated to at least mention it. Taking an opinion on the other hand becomes a minefield. If you side with the U.S. Army and agree it was an accident-- and you feel sympathy for the two G.I.s who now have bounties on their heads-- Koreans will easily lump you into the category of "American" yourself and then chastise you for supporting Imperialism. The differentiation between "Waegook" (foreigner) and "Meegook" (American) is not one that has a long history of being made here. It's similar to the old-fashioned folks back home in Canada that refer to all Asians as "Chinamen". It's not different except that here, there is an implication that you share ideology. Back home, if someone called a Korean-Canadian a "Chinaman" there's no direct link in their mind that all at once makes you a Maoist Communist Party Member bent on world domination. They might infer that you like to eat a lot of rice-- but that wouldn't be entirely off the mark-- no more than suggesting that as an "American-esque" foreigner, I like to eat hamburgers. I do actually.
On the other hand, if you side with the Korean demonstrators who are demanding accountability, you become some kind of white-faced Uncle Tom to the Americans. It's Bush's mentality of "you're with us or against us (no matter what we do in our foreign theatres). And lately, any trip to an ESL discussion board will illustrate to you the factionalizations that are going on amongst the foreigner community these days. The barbs include things like, "You don't have a real country because you have a queen...", "You can't get a real job back home...", "You're secretly a Korean posting under a false name...". For Christ's sake there was an argument that ran over a month on one discussion board, about whether or not foreigners should say "Hello" to other foreigners that they pass on the street.
Take those two elements and add the other element of the times-- Election. The battle between Pro-U.S. Lee and Not-So-Anti-North-Korea Roh will decided the policies of the next government as to whether they cosy back up to the U.S. and make good, OR if Korea will continue on the path to reunification with their nuclear-empowered, former countrymen to the North-- and brush off the concerns of the West as meddlesome and unwanted. It's not the only issue in the election... but it's the one that affects ME-- ergo I blog about it.
Teaching...
...And then there's the teaching situation here, to which I am a part, and for which reason many people initially stumble on this blog. It's ruled by the axiom, "One bad apple spoils the bunch" and without some sort of government watch dog which would punish foreigners or hagwon directors with equal fairness for infractions, there WILL be an exponential decline. A lot of teachers on other sites are commenting already that China is the next big frontier and some have already started to scout it out.
So who are the bad apples?
A.K. commented that I must be in some way unemployable in my home country, or that I come here and expect to be treated like a king. (I expect schools to follow a contract 90% of the time but does that make me royalty here?) Yes I deny that I am the loser that A.K. suggests I am-- but I understand why he/she brought it up. In fact, it comes up all the time and in a lot of cases it's true. In my case, I came here after already working in Canada for a number of years. I was in my late-twenties though and decided that now was the time to travel. I wanted to do it before I got old and settled. I didn't come here for the money. I didn't come here for the bars. I came here to see something different that would break the monotony of my life back home for a while and I wanted something that would give me new things to think about. I got them in spades.
A lot of the teachers here however, are exactly how A.K. has described. There is a misconception, that teaching English in Korea is easy-- that if you can't get a job back home, you can come here and live a perfect, happy, life as royalty. All you have to know is English. They're totally wrong, but together with the encouragement of Korea's army of aggressive, fly-by-night recruiters... they come here in droves... And then they leave here in droves, in the middle of the night, with unpaid bills, and a hundred Korean kids who keep repeating, "Where is Billy-teacher/Sally-teacher?" over and over for a month. These teachers (often they're ones who have never actually held a job to begin with, in their own country or any other)... they give up. They give up because the culture is intimidating, they don't like spicy food, they hate being stared at, they hate the pollution,... or they realize that a lot of Korean students have better grammar than they do... or they get sucked into a life of 7 day-a-week alcohol binges in Itaewon and going to class starts to interfere with their hangover rituals... OR they meet a bad director.
Hagwons sprout up overnight in Korea. You go to bed one night, hear the sounds of jackhammers and handsaws, then wake up the next morning to find a crowd of students at your front door, clutching notebooks and shouting, "Hello!" They are a big business in Korea. But in many cases, their role as a school is secondary to their prime raison d'etre which is to rake in money hand over fist. Directors are businessmen-- even the caring, compassionate ones. The best director in the world will go out of business in a matter of weeks if he ever takes his eye off the bottom line. Of course that weighs the balance in favour of directors who value shrewdness in business above all else-- so that kind of director is ubiquitous.
To the bad director, a foreign teacher is as necessary to a school as are desks and chairs-- and afforded the same level of respect. Contracts are a laughable curiosity of the West, Sure they'll sign one-- but once you're in Korea you can hardly expect them to take it seriously *MUHAHAHAHA*. Furthermore, the idea that a foreign worker could ever fall under Korean law is INSULTING to Korean national pride! A bad director might drag their feet on finding you an apartment, often they like to perform a surprise switch and place you in their own home, under their watchful eye so that you don't either run away or socialize with any innocent Koreans during your stay. They will withhold your pay if they can, they will regard your visa and file at immigration as their own personal albatross, or they will just sit in their office for hours and devise ways to press your buttons to see how you react. Most commonly, they will treat you with superficial charm which a bright director knows will encourage good performance throughout your contract. If you only plan on staying one year however, your future value to the school is gone and they go into stage two. They will attempt to fire you in the 11th month of your contract-- with no warning. They will (wrongly) say that they no longer are required to pay your airfare home. They will withhold your last month's salary to pay for bills and unexpected surcharges that they have yet to create. They will cancel your bonus under the pretense that you only worked 364 days out of your year contract and no longer qualify under Korean law. As soon as you turn your back, they will toss your belongings out of the apartment and move in your replacement, who you will later find out has been waiting in a recruiting office a full week before your termination was announced. Take legal action?! Your visa has already been cancelled and they're waiting for you at the Immigration desk at Incheon! Have a nice flight, sucker!
Bad teachers. Bad directors. They *aren't* everywhere but herein lies the real problem. Often teachers may leave a school, but they don't give up on Korea just yet. Directors, likewise, have little choice but to hire foreign teachers again and again since they are a critical component to the formula of a successful hagwon. But once burned, twice shy. A good teacher who gets matched with a bad director-- or a bad teacher who is hired by a good director-- will turn the other sour. As far as I can see, my school has treated me fantastic. You have NO idea (especially from reading some of my blog posts) how much I LOVE MY JOB. I love my kids. I have good, honest Korean friends at the school, better than I would have ever hoped meeting. My director is a kind, thoughtful guy. He loves kids (has three of his own, one of whom is my student). My hours are good. My pay is good and it's on time. I sacrifice a few things in my contract but that flexibility is rewarded in other ways. I have been here 11 months in a terrific situation... And I still feel paranoid and I still wake up in the middle of the night wondering if tomorrow is the day they change their mind and decide to not renew my contract.
So, yes: I AM PROFOUNDLY CONFLICTED.
Korean-Foreigner relations are on an unchecked decline-- the fault of both parties. The hagwon situation, among others in the commercial education field is starting to show some wear and tear-- with no promise that it won't someday unravel completely. I'm sitting here in a nice little island of calm, watching these things going on in the lives of others in my chosen industry, and still wondering how long before the problems come back to me again, as they had come at times in the past. Do I read the news and scour the message boards every day for a hint at which way the wind is blowing? You had better believe it.
Yet I can predict the near future with much greater certainty. At around 5pm tonight, I'm gonna get showered up, head out for a cheeseburger in the department store next to my apartment building. I'll sit down at 6pm for my first class. I have three students then (our grade six kids recently leveled up and left a void in some of our elementary classes). I will talk to them (two energetic boys and a quiet but always sincerely smiling girl) about some weird grammar rules in English that they haven't studied yet, we'll mention how it snowed yesterday, and how all of us are sick to death with colds. They'll tease me because I'm only 29 in Korean age but I am already getting grey hairs in my beard. I'll blame them and we'll laugh. Then one of them will remember a movie he saw a few days ago and was dying to talk to me about-- and the conversation will explode. I'll tell the girl a joke to get her talking, and then she'll roll her eyes over my poor sense of humour and hit me, laughing. We'll read from the book. We'll make fun of the characters in it because they're funny looking and do silly things. We'll practice some questions and then the class bell will ring (actually a loudspeaker will crackle out some polka music). I'll do the same thing 4 times today-- sometimes with more emphasis on grammar while othertimes with more emphasis on conversation-- depending on what the kids can do, and what they need to be doing. At 10 o'clock, I'll come home, eat a bowl of instant udong, read Doonesbury in my email box, then flip to the news where another politician will have been ousted for corruption, and another demonstration will have blown up somewhere, and North Korea will be issuing some other soon-to-be-argued statement.
That's my life in Korea-- the good and the bad-- the nature of the conflict for me.
P.S. If you still want to critique my web page, try sending an email to the Campaign to Promote Correct Information on Korea. They are seeking websites that convey any information on Korea that is factually (or near-factually) incorrect. If you are chosen, you could ***WIN*** a Laptop computer, a PDA, or an MP3 player! ^^ I received a promotional email from these people about a month ago (it was a bulk send out I think, not a personal condemnation yet). If you don't have the time to browse back through my blog to find mistakes you can report me on, I do know for a fact that they are seeking out websites specifically that refer to Choseon Korea as a "vassal state of China" which, guess what; I did! And I have no interest in retracting it unless someone proves to me otherwise. I have half a mind to write in and report their site as incorrectly stating, "Korea wasn't a vassal state of China"-- even though the Choseon dynasty required the assent of China to appoint its kings, and regularly paid tribute to China. You can even check the old Hamel logs. Korea even lacked the authority to keep the foreigners that shipwrecked on Cheju. The Korean king had to order them to be hidden away when the Chinese officials came visiting elsewise the Dutchmen would have been taken back to China. Bah... somehow I doubt I would win the PDA.
Sunday, November 24, 2002
Gochu (Korean peppers)
*cough*
I have a cold. I spent the entire weekend in bed. Half my students are sick so it's no wonder that I contracted something, but luckily I made it through Friday (only 3 classes) and then went home to rest. It was hardly a weekend to fancy going out anyway. The verdicts came in from the second court case while I was watching the Tonight Show (also not guilty) and soonafter, demonstration warnings were flashing across AFKN. I think the timing was good, however. The verdict was released while the Friday night drunks were already out drinking. Had they waited until Saturday morning, things could have been a lot worse. While many working Koreans drink seven nights a week, Saturday is the one day of the week not followed by a workday so it has a tendency of becoming a bit rowdier. As it turns out, estimations on how many anti-American demonstrators were out lobbing firebombs at US bases seem restricted to about 700 activists, which is nothing compared to how big demonstrations in Seoul can get. Compared to what's been happening in Nigeria, it's been a quiet weekend.
Thursday, November 21, 2002
Buses lined up in Taecheon this past summer
The mines are on their way back out of the soil on the DMZ. It turns out the whole thing was just a p*ssing contest between the United Nations Command and North Korea (who equates the U.N.C. with the U.S. and therefore, refused to hand over a list of officers whose authorization to cross the DMZ was required before the de-mining work could be completed-- a list that they had submitted to the South Korean government who will now diffuse the whole thing by faxing a copy over to U.N.C. and saving N.K. the embarrassment of offering it themselves). To celebrate the backing down of the U.N.C. today, Pyongyang, in the midst of renewing its vows of cooperation, sent a warship into South Korean waters in an incident similar to that last June. A South Korean warship, accompanied by speed boats, fired two warning shots and chased the offender home. Oh... and that whole thing about the nukes turns out to have been an error in translation. Strangely enough, the media has blamed the mistake on the South Korean translators at Yonhap and said that other translators in England, Australia, etc. actually had it right.
The South Korean presidential election is down to the final month and the BBC reports that it's still a wide open race. The Sunshine Policy is pretty much guaranteed to be a thing of the past but one of the issues that's being tossed out now is how far Korea is going to backtrack against reunification. Currently, Lee Hoi Chang is the front runner but he doesn't have majority support. Roh Moo Hyun and Chung Mong Joon have basically split the left and while they were cosying up to each other and suggesting a partnership may be necessary to defeat Lee earlier in the week, the Nov. 28th deadline to declare candidates is rushing up and neither of them wants to be the one to step out of the race. (For a little election fun, try going to www.rohmoohyun.com and finding the English version of the page).
Meanwhile however, Lee's pro-US right wing may come under greater scrutiny this week. Yesterday, the first of the two U.S. soldiers involved in the road accident that claimed the two middle-school girls in June, was acquitted. The second soldier (the driver) goes to trial tomorrow and demonstrations have already been planned. The accident has been blamed on a communications systems failure in the vehicle but it's no doubt that the local protestors will be out for blood. I mentioned this in the comments box to my last posting but I'll say it again: *Any* foreigner should think twice about hitting the streets in Seoul this weekend. Be careful.
For teachers, some education stories also hit the papers. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development surveyed students again this year and in their 2002 report, Korea ranks dead last in satisfaction with teachers. That sounds like a bit of a negative story, but there is a plus side. If you are planning on coming to teach in Korea, I can attest that going the extra mile and showing honest concern for your students, is met with an unrivaled sense of appreciation. I guess that after posting about all the bad news above (and my cranky slant on it), this has to be one of the reasons that I still truly love my job here. Sentimental moments aside however, let me also mention that 225 high school girls in Daejon today, pledged to be cremated when they die and that's just creepy.
Last but not least, the Korean government will be voting on instituting a complete smoking ban in outdoor public places while Singapore is decriminalizing chewing gum for medicinal purposes. All I can say about the smoking ban in Korea is that by specifying "outdoor" places, I can only assume that there already exists some mythical law that bans smoking indoors. If so, I can quite honestly guarantee that it's not working and I strongly doubt that an outdoor ban will either.
Monday, November 18, 2002
Another pic from Suwon -- walking the walls of Hwaseong Fortress
I'll start with the good news. Traffic accidents in Korea, for the year 2001, were down by over 10% and fatalities have declined over 20%, since 2000. Though they still account for a loss of over 8 Trillion Won, I still think this is a good sign. Frighteningly, the Korea Herald equates this amount to the money it would cost to construct 40 stadiums the size of the World Cup Stadium in Seoul.
And speaking of shortages, the World Food Programme has announced that it's had to cut its food supply programme to North Korea by about half, citing a shortage of international donors. As everybody knows, things are a little shaky with the North right now. With winter coming, this funding is going to result in starvation for about 3 million North Koreans this season, unless something is done...
What is being done? Don't count on much. Lee Hoi Chang is now predicted to win the upcoming presidential elections-- and he is apparently no friend of the North's. He also happens to be the most pro-US candidate on the ballot too, which should translate into a complete dismantling of the Sunshine policy and greater convergence between South Korean and US policies on the peninsula. Currently those US policies do not advocate war but when you have 6 million starving people out of about 20 million, half of which will receive no outside food aid... at that point would Kim Jong Il even *have* to give the order to invade the south?! For that matter could he even stop an invasion if these 6 million of his famished comrades decided to hop across the 38th for a cup of ramien? Maybe somebody in the U.N. was reading my blog the last time I mentioned this (resulting in a record for comments received and pan-continental flame war). I say that because in related news today, the United Nations Command has requested the halting of mine-clearing along the DMZ.
So to lighten the mood, I present you with this video that I found while surfing today. It's not actually Korean (the text is in Japanese) but it's hilarious and certainly not the first Japanese thing I've stuck in. Heheheh... I've been laughing at this all day.
Catfight, Japanese-style
Saturday, November 16, 2002
Looking out over Suwon
I am rushing to put up a posting as I have noticed myself dropping down to about one a week now. I am balancing between the old expressions: "No news is good news," and "If you can't say anything nice...". Basically, if I start reading the news, it's just the usual tales of quality control issues, demands for education reform, political mudslinging... yet my life as it is, remains quiet and peaceful. School continues to go well and most of my time at home is spent relaxing and working on a few side projects.
The only thing looming is the renewing of my contract. So far everything spoken implies that both I and my school wish to continue into a second year... but I still have nagging concerns that I could get ousted a day before the school becomes legally obligated to pay me severance for completing this one. I'm happy. My director says he's happy. The coming months will prove to be busy ones and the school needs me more than ever to teach grammar and conversation as we are getting an influx of students both at the end of this month and next... but I've been in Korea long enough to know that until you have something in writing, it doesn't exist-- and when you *do* have something in writing, it's next to worthless. Money talks and in about a month's time, if I am still on the payroll, the school will become obligated to give me both a plane ticket and a month's severance for having completed the year. The fact that I do well at my job and am given praise regularly is secondary. The fact is that of the five foreign teachers preceding me at my school, none of them finished their contracts. I hope to break the trend... but in Korea, you have to keep your eyes and ears open at all times, as well as your back to the wall and one foot on the plane.
Some house guests are coming over tonight and supper's almost on the stove. Time to peel some °í±¸¸¶ for the ¶±ººÀÌ.
Monday, November 11, 2002
Canadian Troops Enroute to Korea (boarding a North Star of 426 Squadron)
(More photos from the Korean Veteran's Association of Canada)
I had originally included these links as part of the last post but decided that I would separate them into posts of their own. The last post is somewhat whimsical in nature and these links should not be directly joined. In addition to paying respect to the losses of the first and second Great Wars, and to numerous efforts to bring peace to the world thereafter, we also remember the Korean War which is the longest-running war in the world, currently existing only under a touchy ceasefire. Events in June, the recent disclosure of nuclear weapons programs in North Korea, and the proceeding posturing by governments involved, all lend a great degree of gravity to this year's remembrance. The date of November the 11th was set after World War I and bears little relation to the Korean Conflict itself. Veteran's memorials here are held on June 6th. Still, as a Canadian who now is able to enjoy Korea with safety, the results of the sacrifice of all members of the United Nations forces that took part in the War and followup peacekeeping missions, are clearly evident around me each day. I can only imagine how a veteran viewing Korea now, in comparison to 50 years ago, would see the country.
Here are some links that you may like to review:
The Honour Roll
The Korean Veteran's Association of Canada
Veteran's Affairs, Canada - The Korean War
Canadian Air Ace (WWII and Korea), Omer Levesque
Uniforms of the Korean War (Canadian Soldiers.com)
Happy Pepero Day !!!
While it's Remembrance Day back home, it's Pepero Day in Korea today. If the questionable food of street vendors has you down, why not treat your loved ones, and prospective loved ones, to this little snack which is being passed around throughout the county as I speak. The whole idea was cooked up by Lotte Confectionary when they realized that their chocolate covered wafer sticks resembled the date of 11/11. Now it's a sort of Valentine's Day in November. The cute girl on the main page, by the way, is Korean TV actress and singer Jang Nara whose second CD I picked up a couple weeks ago and planned on mentioning here once I had a good listen to it.
In other news, the strike last week seems to have been a coffin nail. The plan to implement a 5-day work week in Korea is toast. As it turns out, not only are public employees not allowed to form unions, the guys that marched in the demonstration last week, I am told, already get Saturdays off. Sheesh!
Monday, November 04, 2002
If you can read this, you've been in Korea too long...
(Korean translation at top: "Please come in, beer")
I forgot to mention last week that I passed the two-year mark of my stay in Korea. The anniversary was Monday. When I stop to think about it, I miss Hallowe'en more than any of the holidays including Christmas. It was always my favourite, especially for those of you who are in the know about what transpires back home. It's an exciting time.
Tomorrow promises to be a big day in the news. There is scheduled to be a general strike of public employees organised by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions which boasts 640,000 members nationwide. The strike has been declared illegal, as public service workers aren't actually allowed to join unions, but they will be joined also by workers from several of the domestic auto companies. They will be demonstrating against the planned induction of a 5-day workweek in Korea
Some people outside Korea might need an explanation as to why they don't want their work week reduced from 44 to 40 hours. Is it the Korean work ethic?
Of course, a 5-day workweek would put an end, in large part, to one of the greatest insanities that I witness regularly in Korea. You see, since most people work weekends, and seldom get flexible vacation days, EVERYBODY heads to the country on the same days each year. And since conformity is practiced in abundance, they all head to the SAME places. Koreans spend a few hours at the beach in Kangwon-Do and then they spend sometimes twelve hours EACH WAY in traffic, getting to and from.
On another note...
Japan reports that North Korean mushrooms (not mushroom clouds, yet) are under increased surveillance by quarantine inspectors. The much desired Matsutake Mushrooms are filled with shards of metal. North Koreans are said to do this either to increase the weight of mushrooms before sale or to help maintain rigidity during shipping. All imports of the mushrooms will now be scanned by metal detectors and officials are also getting ready for sandfish season (November to January) since lead chips from 10 to 20 grams were found in those products last year. Whether this only applies to Japan (whom Koreans have a grudge against anyway) or whether shipments to other parts of the world are affected is unknown.
