Joshua Moved

What began as a way to keep my friends and family in touch when I moved to Korea, has turned into one of the top sites about the island that became my home, Geoje.

Although the blog won't be updated as often, hopefully most of the information will still be useful, and the stories still funny.

I still have a few more posts about my last days in Geoje, and I'll be blogging about my trip through Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

All the best.

A Week of Goodbyes: Sunday

Sunday I said goodbye to much church in Geoje.  When I first arrived in Geoje, I was in a bit of a spiritual funk.  I think it was heightened by the fact that I spent the first few months cut off from any foreigners on the island.  I was me with all Koreans all the time.

I did some searching on the internet and the only thing I could come up with was a church in Busan.  It met in the morning, which would have meant I would have had to go the night before.  But I reached a point that I was willing to do it.

Then, a co-teacher of mine talked to one of her co-workers who knew a Korean lady who helped organized a foreign church.  So the lady came and picked me up and took me to her church and I had my first contact with foreigners and my first contact with other Christians and it was great.

I wrote an e-mail to family back home that said, “It was as if I had been in the desert for a long time and I just had a cold drink of water.”

That same Sunday, one of their long-time members, who shared the preaching duties, was leaving.  This Korean woman who had picked me up, and hardly knew me, asked if I could give the sermon one day.  I was taken aback.  I had never given a sermon before, didn’t have any real formal Christian education, and felt sorely unqualified.

But a month later, the other guy who had been preaching went home for the winter and it fell to me and an amazing Nigerian guy to step up.  He was working in the shipyards and similarly had no experience preach;pl,’,hying.  We tag-teamed it during the winter for six weeks.  It was an amazingly humbling experience, and I stuck with it.

About two years and thirty sermons since I joined the church, I said my goodbye and gave my last message.  These people had become my family.  That Korean woman had become like a mother to me, and the lady who did the song service like an older sister.

In just two years I saw dozens of people come and go (that’s the way it is in the ship industry), but the church has remained strong and I’m confident that it will continue to.

A Week of Goodbyes: Friday

My last Friday at school went so fast. I said goodbye to one student for good. Apparently, he’s taking a break from our hagwon and going to another instead. He’s a very bright and articulate kid, but also a lazy brat. This kid is one of these Korean kids whose mom’s treat kind of like those toy dogs they carry around. by that I mean they take the kids to the salon and get their hair all did.

This kid has the most put together kid of any 10 year old, much less any 10 year old boy, that I’ve ever seen. He has little highlights in his hair, and all class he’s playing with his hair more than most of my girls do. So, imagine my surprise when he came up to me today and said, “Teacher your hair is very awful.”

I had just buzzed my hair, preparing for the heat of Southeast Asia. I looked at him square in the eyes and said, “Really Antonio? You are no one to talk about bad hair.” At the end of class, when were saying goodbye, I wished well, and told him, “Have fun with your hair!”
Maybe I gave the kid too much of a hard time.

After school, my bosses took the teachers out for a goodbye dinner. In addition to me, there is a Korean teacher leaving next week. I have to say that I enjoyed the dinner more than all the other company dinners. When walking home, the two other American teachers and I decided to go out for a drink.

I insisted on the Hollywood Westren Bar (where the above picture was taken). The couple invited a few friends of their friends and I invited one of mine. I got to put a few faces with names and got to meet some readers of the blog. It was surreal to meet so many people who had read my blog and who knew who I was without my knowing them. One guy actually said, “I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity.” Wow, if I meet many more readers, my head my get so big I’ll have to buy an extra seat on the plane.

But really, its satisfying to hear that what began as a way to keep my friends and family back home updated, turned out to be useful for other expats coming to Korea.

The sinking won, some insight

There was a great posting over at the Marmot's Hole about the falling won.  It is noted:

It’s no secret that the won’s value is falling like it’s going out of style. It seemed as if the bottom fell out last Thursday, where during the trading day the won dipped as low as 1,484.90 per dollar, the lowest level since the Asian financial crisis of 1998, before finally rebounding to close at 1,383.30. The one month tally? A drop of over 25% from 1,101.3 to 1,385.0

He notes that the cause of the won's drop is more than just the recent financial crisis:

The simple fact of the matter is that Koreans are too fond of exchanging their won for other currencies (as evidenced by the current account deficit).

A Week of Goodbyes: Thursday

Today I began my week of goodbyes with my last Thursday at school.  (My final "last" day is October 15th).

Tuesdays and Thursdays at my school are more laid back.  On these days, we have elective courses with smaller classes and, for the most part, more motivated students.  I teach three grammar classes and a kindergarten class.  One of my grammar classes is made up of 11-13 year olds.  They are good enough at English that they I can joke with them and them with me.

For example, they asked me if a new teacher would come when I left.  I told them that the school was looking at a Canadian teacher.  One girl said, "Canadians are kind."

Then I said, "Yeah, but watch out if you accidently call them Ameicans."

Then we joked about how I had my head bitten off on a few separate occasions here by accidentally referring to a Canadian as an American.  So, if there is a new Canadian teacher, and you read this, sorry if they do it just to get under your skin.  Its mostly my fault.

Then, I went to a movie at the newly re-opened CGV and then to Homeplus for the last time.  I can honestly say I will not miss Homeplus one bit.  First, I never got used to the "greeter" who greets you loudly using a microphone/speaker setup!  I don't want it to be announced that I'm coming in.  A simple welcome would be nicer.  Then, a couple things I was looking for were out of stock.  This lady started pushing me in the line.  Finally, right when I got checked out, another customer stole my shopping cart (I put in a 100 won deposit).

While I won't miss the shopping experience at Korean megastores, I will definitly miss my students.

You’re Welcome: The cost of living (Part 2/2)

This is the second part of my answer to CW’s question about the cost of living in Geoje.

Food/Drink

Generally, it is a little cheaper living here in South Korea than in the US.  A meal out at a modest Korean restaurant around Geoje can coast as low as 5-8,000 (more if order alcohol).

Drinking is cheap if you are drinking soju.  Soju, Koreans native and ubiquitous alcoholic beverage (its not strong enough to be called liquor).  Costs about 1,500 for a small bottle.  Beyond two bottle of soju and you are on your way to intoxication.  Hence, the streets being littered with drunk men too incapacitated to talk home without falling.

Beer or western liquors are quite expensive.  A .75 bottle of Jim Beam whiskey goes for about 25,000 to 30,000--when you can find it.  A 1.75 liter plastic bottle of Korean beer goes for about 5,000.

Western food is more expensive.  I have an ad Domino’s taped to all the doors in my hall and the large pizza’s range from 19,000 for pepperoni to 32,000 for a “Double Crust Steak” pizza.  Pizza prices are reduced 20% if you pick up at the store rather than have delivery.  However, that discount goes away if you eat the pizza in the restaurant.

Western staples like bread, butter, peanut butter, and cheese are also more expensive since they aren't part of a Korean's normal diet.  A half-loaf of so-so white bread goes for about 1,500.  Cheese is at least 2-3 times the cost in America with a smaller selection.

Utilities

Electricity is much cheaper.  I was amazed--about a third of what I paid for my studio apartment in the states.  For July, when I ran the air conditioner almost constantly, my bill was a little over 80,000.  However, with no air conditioner, its usually half that.   The gas, which is used to heat water and the room is more expensive--those bills can run between 25,000 in the summer when I just use it for cooking and heating water, to 80,000 or so when its also heating the floor in the winter months.

Internet/Cable runs about 45,000 a month.  And the internet is blazing fast.  That’s nice.  The prices are similar to broadband prices in the US, but the speed is much faster for what you pay.  My phone bill is about 15,000 a month (and that's without a rate plan!).

Transportation

A city bus costs 1,000 won.  A ferry to Busan costs 22,000.  A bus to Seoul costs 31,000.  The taxi rate in Geoje starts at 1,800 during normal hours (morning-11pm).  I can get from Gohyeon to Okpo for just about 9,000.  That being said, I usually take the bus.

Overall, without any careful budgeting, I've been able to send about half of my paycheck home most months.  The past few months, I've been budgeting much tighter and have been able to send about 1,300,000 home.  That's still not living too tightly.  Spending about 15,000 a day to buy groceries or eat out and using the rest for utilities.

If you are budgeting to send money home for savings or paying off debt, you have to keep the exchange rate in mind.  Its not good right now in the slightest.  the first year I was here, it was pretty steady at about 1,000 won to $1.15-1.20.  As of today its at 1,000 to $0.71!  So, keep that in mind when doing mental calculations.  The previous rule of thumb of 1,000 to $1 doesn't work any more when you are thinking about sending money home.

You’re welcome.

Fan Life, the opposite of Fan Death

Some Koreans have a crazy superstition that sleeping with a fan on in a closed room will cause you to die.  This is why all Korean fans sold come with a built-in timer, so that the fan will shut off after a certain amount of time, and save your life.

New research suggests that contrary to Korean wisdom, fans may save the lives of infants by preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  The Wall Street Journal had this to say:

The study, which is being published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that using a fan cut the risk of SIDS by 72%. The use of a fan in a room with a temperature higher than 69 degrees Fahrenheit was associated with a 94% decreased risk of SIDS compared with no fan use.

Take that conventional wisdom.

[via Marmot’s Hole]

You’re Welcome: The cost of living (Part 1/2)

Today, I received this e-mail from a future Geojite (or is that Geojean?):

American in Korea,
I am set to come to Korea in January to teach English in Geoje.  I found your blog by performing a Google search and I wanted to ask you a question.
Can you give me an idea of the cost of living in Geoje?
I'm sure that you are busy, but if you find time, it would be great if you could help me out.
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

CW

Well, CW that’s a good question.  And of course you’re welcome before you even thank me.  I want to answer your question in two parts.  Today, I want to look a a general snapshot of Korean money compared to US money.
I don’t know your situation but if you are paying off any loans or debt or have the goal of saving up dollars—or any other currency for that manner—Korea is going to be mighty expensive.
I previous wrote about the sinking Korean won a few weeks ago.  Then, I took the hit and exchanged my money and sent it to America.  I’m glad I did then, because its gotten much worse.  The won is now at a 7 1/2 year low against the US dollar!  The only time its been worse in recent history is when it was forced into an IMF loan in 1998.
Here’s today’s chart from Google Finance:

Its down about 33% the past year, and down about 10% the past three weeks.  I re-did my end of term budget to plan in my final payments from Korea (last paycheck, severance pay, and pension disbursement) and was shocked at the results.  I lost $600 compared to what I would have received if September had been my last month!  That’s what a 10% drop in a currency means for ex-pats sending money back overseas.
Teachers with prior experience or a teacher’s degree usually get a 2.2 million won a month contract.  When I first came, this was worth about $2,400 a month.  Add in the benefits—health, the severance pay at the end, and the paid housing and the deal was good.  Now the same 2.2 million won month contract is worth about $1,600 a month!  That’s $800 less than the beginning of term!  Because of the sinking won, many teachers have taken a de facto pay cut of $800 a month!

	Korean Won	US Dollars
October 2007	2.2 million	$2,400
October 2008	2.2 million	$1,600

Those wanted to save money or send money home are at a serious disadvantage.  However, if you are looking to travel around Asia during breaks, around Korea on the weekend, and be immersed in a foreign culture, Korea would still be a great choice.  It just might be a good idea to keep the money you earn here until the won goes up a bit before sending any of it home.
Also, while the weak won hurts the exchange rate, it hasn’t caused a huge inflation.  I’m speaking as a consumer here not an economist.  So your won aren’t as worthy overseas, but here in Korea, they are just right.  Tomorrow, I’ll talk more about.
You’re welcome.

"Darth Adjumma" via Geek in Korea

This great picture of a woman in the subway is from A Geek in Korea.  I've seen more of these huge visors around lately that protect from the sun but also provide some vision.  Very funny.

You’re Welcome: Going to the Movies [Updated 10/3/08]

Updated

Dear American in Geoje:
I’m living in Geoje, without a car, and there’s nothing to do.  I do like to watch movies.  I’m sure there're Korean sites that say the show times, but I can’t read Koran !  I don’t know how to find what are playing until I show up.  Is there a way I can use the interwebs to get my answer?

Thanks in advanced,

Illiterate North American

Well, Illiterate American, don’t be ashamed of your illiteracy.  Plenty of English teachers living in Korea can’t read their host country’s language.  So, I have some suggestions to help you get the answers you need.
First, learn how to read!  The Korean alphabet is designed to be so easy, even women can learn how to read it!  And before you get on to me for being sexist, it was Korean’s themselves who nicknamed their alphabet “women’s script.”  Here’s an introductory video:

But, if you’re thinking of bailing on your contract, and don’t want to take the time to learn a new alphabet, then here’s the easy way.


1.  Visit either CGV's or Lotte's websites for the latest showtimes

A.  Go to the original version of the Lotte Cinema website
This link is specific for Geoje.  Once you are at the site, select and copy the name of the movie.  Then, go to naver.com.  There, paste the name of the movie into the search engine and press enter. 

It should show a movie poster and trailer for the movie.  That way you an see what movies are showing.  See the example below for Hancock. 

B. Visit CGV's website (your welcome for the video I made)

The CGV website is entirely in flash, which means cutting and pasting the names of the movies in Naver isn't possible.  However, CGV does have links to the film trailers if you click on the titles.


3.  Go to the theater
Here’s a map.  This is in Gohyeon of course.  Note the Homeplus building in the left of the map.  Then, the bus terminal in the right of the map.  Parking is on the street (where you can find it), or in the garages at the theaters.  Make sure to get your parking ticket stamped at the box office or you'll have to pay for parking.  Click the map for a larger view.

4.  Buy your ticket
Make sure to grab a number from the machine.  CGV's lobby is on the sixth floor all the way in the back now, ignore the old, empty box office in front.  At Lotte, their lobby is on the third floor.  When your number’s called, say the name of the movie in English.  If they don’t understand (some movie titles in Korean are different), then point to the movie poster.

Then, they’ll want to know how many people (fingers work nice for this if they don’t speak Korean.)  Then, they will want to know where you want to sit.  Chose a seat area from the monitor.  At Lotte, my preferred theater, my favorite seat is D8.

5.  You’re Welcome



Special Note:  Movies are NOT dubbed over for the most part.  If they are, then next to the title it will say “더빙”.  The exception to this rule are cartoons.  Cartoons are usually dubbed, but sometimes come in both dubbed and subtitled flavors (playing on separate screens).  Its usually the bigger budget American ones like Kung Fu Panda, Ratatouille, and Wall-E that will come in both versions.
This means dubbed:더빙 (dubbing)
This means subtitled:  자막 (jah-mahk)
If you are unsure, then ask with those above words.  It would be silly to spend your money and not understand a word of the movie.

Oh and you’re welcome.

One approach to the mobile phone problem

I admire this teacher’s thoughtful solution to the problem of mobile phones ringing in the middle of class.

Ouch: The Falling Won

The bankruptcies in the US have hit the Korean market hard.  Apparently the won took its biggest dive in 10 years.  Here’s a chart from Google Finance showing the plummeting won in the 11months since I’ve been back in Korea:  (click the chart to get the live numbers in a new window)

That line in the middle—.00100—is the line where the won is trading even when the dollar.  The won has lost 20 percent of its value in the last 11 months compared to the US dollar—most of that since March.  For someone sending most of their money home, its like getting a cosmic 20% paycut.

Costs here have stayed relatively the same.  The price of rice has gone up, so some of my favorite restaurants have raised their prices on rice-based dishes.  Tuna kimbap has gone from W 1,500 to 2,000.  Bibimbap at my favorite lunch place went from W4,500 to W6,000.  However, I mostly take the hit when I’m sending my money home.

For my first year, the won was trading at roughly W1,000 to 1.09.  So, I was getting an extra nine cents in the rough exchange rate where a chun (W1,000) is roughly equal to a buck ($1).  Now, I’m losing almost 11 cents every dollar.  I got paid today and was going to transfer some money home, but I’m hoping that the upswing that the US markets are seeing right now will translate over here and I won’t take as big of a hit when I go to exchange my money.

Comeon Korean economy give it your best for the next 28 days…

I see Koreans

Just today, I was walking home from school during my break and saw a kid approaching me.  He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and a baseball cap.  I glanced at him and thought, that it was strange for a foreigner to be walking the streets of Gohyeon alone.  I looked again, and realized that he was Korean.  He had the slanted eyes, and the rounded face.  His light skin and clothes had "fooled" me.

I work with Korean kids five days a week. I suppose they are becoming the "norm" to me so much that I don't even consider their Korean-ness.  I actually have pondered whether my students would even stand out so much in an all-white environment.  Some of them are "black face" (a term the Korean student use to mean a felloo Korean is dark-complected).  However, some of the kids have skin that is lighter than mine.

Now the adults are easy to tell apart from caucasians.  The sun-baked, soju-pikled skin of the men give them away.  And the trying too hard to be white skin of the ladies give them away.  Its still difficult for me to think of my kids as differnet from the ones I taught in America.

Ask a Korean! has a great post about telling Koreans apart from other Asians.  His categories are more comlete than I would have been able to imagine.  So, for those who don't have regular contact with Asians, or want to hone your racial recognition skills, its a good read.

Please note:  even Koreans don't seem to always be able to tell other Asians apart.  They will insist that they know a Japanese person when they see him or her, but the truth is they are wrong all the time.  I have known Filipinos, Chinese Malasians, and an Indonesian women here in Korea.  All of them have stories where Koreans have approached them in the bus or in the market and were confused when my friends didn't understand and couln't speak Korean.

So try as you might even being as an Asian doesn't give you some magic power to distinguish between races.

10 Favorite Pictures

   A fellow American ex-pat teacher is compiling some pictures and video to make a video sideshow to show to his friend and family back home to give them a better idea of life in Korea.

Here are my contributions:

1.  “Windy Rock” at Hageumgang, Geoje

This moment is when I fell in love with Geoje.  This grass covered rock juts out into the seat.  Its really breathtaking.

 

2.  This was taken along the south edge of Geoje’s coast.  There are evergreen trees, and the water is great for swimming.  

3.  After visiting Bali, I came to realize that in the spring and summer, Geoje can be just as green as Bali.  This is what I call the “wave mountain.”

4.  This was the site that greeted me my first day back in Korea after a visit home.  My new neighbors were drying some fish on the clothesline right next to their underwear.  Amazing.

5.  This shows something I’ve always thought interesting about Korea.  This is a small kimbap restaurant.  We have countless restaurants in America called “Granny’s” or the such.  They often have stylized logos of grandmas for their logos.  This restaurant uses a morbidly serious picture of a woman as there’s.

6.  Game across this lady with her mom and her son and their dog.  They were pushing a stroller and who was in it?  The four year old son?  Nope, their spoiled toy dog.

7.  This was taken right outside of Gyeongbukgong, the main palace in Seoul in February 2008.  Several interesting things.  First, there’s a mound of sweet potatos sicks in the center.  Then, a woman with a “baby bump” under her coat.  Her baby is strapped to her back and she’s wearing the coat over them both.  Behind me (out of the picuture) there was a cigarette-smoking man selling cotton candy from his motorcycle.  I love Korea.

 

8.  Below is a scene from the Hollywood Westren (sic) Bar in Gohyeon, Geoje.  This place is pretty cheesy and I love it.  Of course, what says “western” better than a mini Uncle Sam sticking out of a ice cooler filled with flavored malt beverages.

9.  This is one of the cutest girls in kindergarten.  She’s 4 in this picture, and having an exhausting day practicing her ABCs.

10.  This is the Samgyapsal God.  He watches over those who want to grill meat from his brothers over an open flame and drink soju.  His eyes glow and night.  I’m pretty sure there’s a factory that makes these somewhere because I’ve seen them outside a few places.

2 years and 300 posts

Today is my two-year anniversary in Korea. Last year, on my anniversary, it was just a few days before I left for few week trip in America. I wrote that post as a play on a break-up letter.

At the time, I had come to a point when I was really ready to return to my homeland. I knew that my time in America would be temporary and that I’d returning to Korea. As I look ahead to my final weeks here, I don’t think I’ll be coming back—although I will miss Korean fashion mascots (that's the Teenie Weenie behind me).

This past year in Korea has been good. I’ve learned a lot about living in a foreign culture, and learned a lot about myself. I wouldn’t give that up for anything. But, its time to go home.

A friend who is now married to Korea told me that now he's in a sort of limbo. Whens he's back home in Canada, he misses Korea, and when he's in Korea, he misses Canada. I'm afraid that will happen to me--or already has.

Also, this is my 300th post. I wrote about my 200th post, and “101th” post previously. Amazing, last year in roughly the same time, I wrote 200 posts, compared to about 100 for this year.

The most popular posts (according to Google Analytics) from the past year are:

• Inevitable – where I describe having been lightly hit by a car
• Dakbal & Beondegi – where I describe having enjoyed two Korean delicacies: Chicken feet and silkworm pupa
• How to Survive Jangma ‘08! –where I gave practical tips for people to survive Korea’s deadly monsoon season. The tips were helpful, that they decided to cancel Jangma ‘09! You’re welcome.

My blog is the 4th result under a Google search for Geoje, which is kinda cool. I suppose this biggest change in the past year, has been the creep toward sarcasm—which has unintentionally offended (see my “You’re Welcome” series.)

All in all, I’m proud of the blog, and happy about the past two years in Korea.

Watching the Olympics in Korea [Updated 8/23/08]

Today, a friend pointed out a glaring omission in my ongoing discussion about Korea:  its coverage of the Olympics.  In the run-up, the ex-pats that I’ve talked to warned me that the events that would be broadcast would be obscure Korean-dominated sports.  It has been as I was warned.

Here’s a list of sports Koreans medalled in (as of 8/22/2008):

• Judo
• Taw-kwon-do
• Archery
• Badminton
• Table Tennis
• Shooting
• Weightlifting
• Fencing
• Swimming
• Gymnastics

In addition to the above sports, I also saw a lot of baseball and handball.  It was actually my first time ever seeing a game of handball, and I’d be okay if it was the last game I ever saw.

So, with a few exceptions, most of the Korean broadcast has been heavily tilted toward those above, mostly obscure sports.  I don’t want to diminish the achievement or anything.  I mean, man if you are good at handball, then I’m sure you want everyone to watch you too.  However, most of the sports that Korea is good in aren’t big spectator sports.

Take for example, table tennis.  Below is Dang Ye-seo, Korea’s star women’s star table tennis, another sport I’ve never seen on TV except in Korea.  In table tennis—the ritualistic prep of the serve usually takes longer than it takes to score.  Its kinda boring to watch.

 

I did get to see Michael Phelps win about half of his medals.  It just so happened that most of his events were live about 11 in the morning here, right when I’m getting ready to go to work.  However, I seriously wonder if they’d show many aquatic events at all if Korea didn’t have its own star, Park Tae-Hwan in the sport.

Unlike the broadcast system in the US, where the major networks bid against each other for exclusive rights, here, broadcast rights were shared among three networks, each with multiple channels.  When I heard about that I thought it was great.  They’d take turns showing the big gold medal matches, and then get to show some diversity on the other channels.  I was wrong.  When flipping through the channels, often three of the channels were showing the exact same events, with the exact same camera shots and everything!

A op-ed piece in the Korean times written by a native-speaking English teacher had this to say:

There were in fact seven Korean TV stations on air late Friday night (Aug. 15) at the time in which the finals in men's shot put and women's 10,000m were scheduled. Three of the stations aired the Korean-Chinese badminton doubles gold medal final, and the other four showed replays, countless times, of Korean participants.

How many times do Koreans have to see their champions in action before they're convinced they've won? Are the producers of Korean TV sports programming really that narrow minded, if not in fact ethnocentric? Isn't there even a little interest in any event that doesn't involve Koreans?

Now, about the ethno-centric comment, I don’t know if that’s a problem.  Each country covers the games in a manner to suit their country, and that’s the way it should be.  Another op-ed piece in the JoonAng Daily had an opposite stance.  It was written by a Korean high school student, who has been no-doubt whipped up into a nationalistic fervor over the recent tension over Dokdo/ Takeshima/ Liancourt Rocks*:

Also, I found out that archery has only 4 gold medals while swimming has 24 gold medals. Why such a difference? Then I heard that there used to be many more medals for archery but that was changed since South Korea gets all the medals in archery.

Why indeed does swimming have so many medals at stake? Many Americans tend to win them. The United States, which is the most powerful country in the world, must want to win as many medals as possible. So I guess they made some effort to achieve that.

I hope that most Koreans don’t really believe this—that somehow an American conspiracy has taken away the chance for Korea to rack up medals in archery.  Five minutes of research at Wikipedia showed this wasn’t the case.  The fact is that there were a lot of medals for archery, but only in the 1920 games.  In 1920 there were 10 medals for archery, but Korea didn’t even compete (they were occupied by Japan at the time).

In 1972, archery was added as a regular sport.  When Korea hosted the Olympics in 1988 they even added two events—the men’s and women’s team competitions.

So, I think you can see, the Korean view of the Olympics puts archery at the top, any sport that a Korean is competing in a close second, and then everything else, a distant afterthought relegated to a late-night highlight reel.

That’s pretty much it.

Oh, I think you should see the matching hot-pink blazers that one set of Korean anchors were wearing the other night.  They shared their set with giant stuff animals in the shape of the 2008 Olympic mascots (the stuffed animals are just below the shot, in front of the desk on the floor).

Pic from doctor99106

Korea wins the gold medal in synchronized cheese!

---

*When I was teaching English in the public schools last year, my regularly scheduled English lesson was pre-empted for a packaged propaganda lesson from Seoul to educate kids that these rocks are indeed Korean territory.

 

Update August 23, 2008

Korea just won the gold medal for baseball.  I didn’t watch it on TV, but I heard it.  I was sitting quietly at my computer working on my sermon when I heard cheers.  It wasn’t anyone in my hall—there’s only a few people living here now and they are not home.  But it seems to have come from everywhere.  I looked out the window and every apartment across the way that had its lights on seemed to be watching the celebration on TV. 

In an earlier event, 42% of Korean households were watching the Olympics.  That’s an amazing number.  I wonder how many were watching tonight when I heart the shouts.

Accidentally Profound

I believe that the children are our future.  That if we teach them well, and let them lead the way, and show them all the beauty they possess inside, then their laughter can remind us how we used to be.

So, it should come as no surprise that occasionally, one of these well-taught youngsters will come up with something truly profound.  This past week, I’ve come across two such cases.  One student is a current pupil of mine, and the other is a recently former.  I’d like to take all the credit for what they’ve said, but I know that might come across arrogant (even if it is the truth.)

The first, is from my student Pretty (and no I did not give her that name).  I gave the glass, which is reading on a first grade level, the task of copying vocabulary words off the board, and then writing sentences for two of the words.

We’ve been studying a book called “Things that Go.”  Here’s what Pretty came up with for the word “people”:

People is transportation.

My jaw dropped when I first read it.  At first glance, it would appear that the subject and verb don’t agree.  People is third-person plural, while is is the third-person singular form of “to be".

However, I think this presents us with something to ponder.  In this 21st century world with jets that get us across oceans in hours instead of months, and the Internet where we can connect with people instantly, are we really a plurality of people, or are we just one.  One people, together, singular.

Then, this metaphor.  People is transportation.  How true.  Transportation is the very thing that makes us a singular people.  Without transportation, we are all just plural individuals hunting and gathering in solitude.  With transportation “things that make us go” we are singular people.

Well done Pretty!

The next profound statement comes from one of my favorite former students Daniel, another first grade level reader.  I used to think him a pain in the butt when I encountered him in the halls, but after having him in class for a couple months, I found him insightful and funny.

On a recent test for another teacher, Daniel wrote the following:

Flowers are not funny.

The question he is responding to is irrelevant.  What matters is the sentence.  In four words, Daniel captures one of the deep truths existence.

Upon reading this, I have had second thoughts about pursuit of a career in writing.  At one point, my finger came precipitously close to using the delete button on my novel.

Daniel, you are a prophet and a scholar.

Broken glass and crossroads

This weekend, I had a great visit with a friend who lives in Busan. He’s kinda a hero to me in the way he’s navigated his way through Korean culture.  He kept with his study of Korean and is really good at it.  His been here longer than I have and will be here long than I will be and married a great Korean woman.  After spending time with him and his wife, I came back to Geoje.

I missed the last ferry, so I took the bus.  The clouds were blocking some wavelengths of sunlight, making the greens of the trees and rice fields pop which reminded me of how beautiful Korea is.

I arrived in Gohyeon and started walking toward my home.  I came upon a domestic dispute at the corner convenience store right next to the bus terminal.  A husband was shouting at his wife and another man was holding back the husband.  The woman stood silent with her hands on her hips.

Then the husband pushed the man away and grabbed an empty soju bottle from the ground.  He raised it above his head like he was going to bring it down on his wife.  But instead of conking his wife on the head, he threw the bottle on the sidewalk and sent a spray of green glass everywhere.

I was standing probably six feet away, but still the glass came up and hit me on the chest and the arm.  I actually had a pretty big chunk hit my arm.  In that moment, anger welled up inside me.

The man had again restrained the husband and the wife stood there unmoved, her hands still on her hips.  Her face had an expression not of fear or anger but of disappointment.  I wanted so badly to get in the mans face and yell at him and maybe give him a good punch or push.

But I walked away, knowing that I would be putting my visa, and possibly my freedom in danger.  The double standard is clear:  drunk married men get a free pass, while foreigners do not.

I walked home stewing.  I was ready to leave Korea.  I had irrational thoughts that opened up the possibility of calling up my boss and telling him that Korea sucks and I’m going home.

I pushed aside the anger.  I had to take back the car that a friend had lent me for the summer.  So I drove it back to her house and hailed a cab to get home.  I told the taxi driver, “Gohyeon.”

He asked, “Where Gohyeon?”

I replied, “사거리 (Sageoli)” which literally means “four (sa, 사)  roads (geoli, 거리)” and figuratively means four-way intersection.

The cab driver chuckled and said, “In Gohyeon, many 사거리.”

I laughed with him and said, “Yeah.  Many many.”

It was nice to laugh with a Korean about the same thing.  Usually either I’m laughing at them or they are laughing at me.  He’s right, there are many four-way intersections in Gohyeon.  However, everyone knows when you say, “Gohyeon sageoli” you mean the intersection in Gohyeon with Mr. Pizza and Dunkin Donuts.

Just as quickly as I had been angered by the soju man and his broken bottle and fed up with life in Korea, that anger subsided and I shared a chuckle with a Korean cab driver.

You’re Welcome: What kind of water do you drink?

I know that when people come to another country, often the first question they ask is, “Can I drink the water?”  I remember asking the question when I first got here.  One reader posed it to me in a comment on my post about Icis water.

helloefrebody wrote:

Lotte Icis water is actually fine...what do you usually drink, you pompous American twat?!

Wow.  I don’t know that I’ve ever been called a twat before.  I don’t really know what that is, but thank you I guess.

You have a good question.  Actually, the only brand of water that I’ve tried in Korea that I didn’t like is Lotte Icis.  The first ten or so times I had it it had a bit of a dirty taste to it—its hard to describe.

My favorite Korean brand is “Sam Da Soo.”  Its in one of those squared bottle and comes from Jeju.  As I noted in my first post, either my tastes have adjusted, or Icis’s taste has changed.  I actually bought a second bottle of Icis this week.  I wouldn’t say that I prefer it, but its really not so bad anymore.

And as for the question of tap water safety, the water is safe to drink, at least in Geoje.  The water here is treated, fluorinated, and okay for human consumption.  However, most Koreans still opt to buy bottled water, or they boil the water into tea.

helloefrebody also wrote:

A few mutual friends were at dinner with you recently and mentioned that they had never been to dinner with a foreigner that was as arrogant and rude to the Koreans who owned the place as you!

Jesus!

I think you’re mistaken.  First, you’ve obviously confused the people you’ve talked to as friends of mine.  I’m generally not rude, and friends of mine would have called me out if I was being rude.  Also, they wouldn’t have talked about me behind my back.  I try to be nice to wait staff to keep them from spitting my my food.

I generally think that I have a good relationship with the people who run the restaurants.  Why, just yesterday, a friend and I were greeted by name and open arms at my favorite 닭갈비 dakgalbi (chicken ribs) restaurant.

Second, I think you might have me confused with someone else.  I don’t think I’ve ever been called arrogant before.  I’d consider myself to be the humblest person I know.

So, now that we’ve got the cleared up, keep the questions coming!

You’re welcome.

Bali: Coca-Cola, Absolut, petrol, and morning offerings

While I was in Bali, I had planned to write five or so topical blogs covering different aspects of Bali.  My computer crashed, and I lost some of my motivation.

So, while I’m gathering my thoughts are the larger posts, I thought I’d share this picture.  I took this photo in Legian, Bali.  I think it shows some pretty interesting parts of life in Bali.

At bottom center, you can see the morning offerings placed in front of every home and business.  These offerings contain flowers, some fruit, and sometimes candy coins.  If you don’t pay attention, you can easily tread on the food for the gods.

Just above the offering, is a gas-station, sorta.  The signs says PETROL.  Yes, those repurposed Absolut vodka bottles are filled with explosive, liquid, gasoline!  These wickless Malotov cocktails are used to refill scooters and motorbikes and even cars.  Plus, they come in handy if you want to throw a riot against a Christian college (note the riot happened in Jakarta and these particular gas-filled Absolut bottles were probably not used in the attack).

Then to the upper right you can see that comforting symbol of American capitalism: the squiggly cursive of a Coca-Cola label.

 

There's something in the water

I've been in Korea too long.  I was forced to buy a bottle of Lotte Icis water and it didn't taste like dirt.  What's next?  Will I start brushing my teeth with LG toothpaste?

The Heat is Getting to Me...

The weather in Geoje had been humid since mid-June. But when I walked out of my house on Tuesday, it was something more. Something that we can’t adequately express in English. The air was thick with what looked like light fog, but it wasn’t cool like it usually is when fog is around. And it didn’t have that brownish twinge and chemical odor that smog has either. This was something different.

The air was so moist and hot that it was condensing on my skin the instant I set outside. I knew this was condensation and not sweat because I had been in the air conditioning all night and I wasn’t hot enough to begin sweating. No, this was condensation. Like that puddle the forms around a cold glass of water, or when you grab a can of beer from the fridge and its already dripping water onto the floor by the time you get it back to your chair. Except, instead of a cold aluminum can, it is my skin doing the condensation.

The air was so humid that I imagined, if a person were light enough, they might be able to swim through it. The image of my kindergarten students jumping up and swimming through the sky came to me. In their little summer tank tops and sandals, they’d kick their pudgy legs and gain altitude. The air was so moist that.

I imagined that a slight change of physics—like an increase of the constant of gravity, or a slight change in the rotation of the earth--would cause all the moisture to condense at once and flood the town and soak all the people, except the delicate little ladies that had been using umbrellas to block the sun—they’d be dry. But the rest of us would be up to our ankles in water until the water was drained away and we’d be left with a crisp cool air and blue skies with no haze. My kindergartners would be standing up after having been gently put to the ground and I could turn my air conditioner off. And I wouldn’t sweat.

An amazing talk about “developing countries”

Great Video

I’ve become a fan of the Fleet Foxes.  Great music.  This video is awesome.  Enjoy.

 

White Winter Hymnal from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

You're Welcome: How's the Weather?

Dear American in Geoje,

I have no idea what the weather is going to be like day to day.  I ask the Korean women I work with, "Should I bring an umbrella tomorrow?"  They always say,"Yes."  They say this even if its a nice day!  I'm so confused.  The English sites I've found only have information for the big cities.  Where do I go for weather information for Korea?

Thanks in advance,

Always Dry

I've been there.  About the umbrella thing: Korean women often use umbrellas to keep the sun off their faces.  This keeps them looking as white as possible.

As for the weather information, go to Naver.  If you go to http://weather.local.naver.com you'll be greeted with a map.  This will give you an overview for each province.  Click on the province to go to the city level.  On the next page there will be a list entirely in Korean of cities within that province, select yours.

If you can't read Korean, then learn to read Korean!  If that's not an option, then get a Korean to help you, or match up the name of your city from your Certificate of Alien Registration card with the name from the list.

  
For those living in Geoje, here's your ready-made link.

Then, when you find your city, look at the dates for each city.  One forecast day might say: 7월10일.  The "7월" means "7th month" (AKA July).  Then "10일" means "10th day."  So, the forecast is for July 10th.

For those Americans out there, who can't read Celsius, here's a little trick:  go to the Google search bar in your browser (in the upper right corner), or to the Google homepage.  Type in **C in F.  For example, to convert 24 Celsius into Fahrenheit, type in "24C in F".  Then Google spits out the answer:  75.2 degrees Fahrenheit

You're welcome

You’re Welcome: “A Silly Question”

I have decided to start an occasional series of advice columns for western ex-pats living or potentially moving to South Korea.

The title of this series comes from me saying, “Your Welcome” in advance of you saying “thank you” in advance of me giving advice in advance of you asking for it.  Let me put it this way:  I’m so confident that you’ll thank me for the advice, that I’m going to say you’re welcome right now.

The first question comes from “Wet and Bothered.”

Dear An American in Geoje,

I was frantically searching for information about my Tromm washer when I came across your blog. I've been in South Korea for about 3 weeks and haven't had one load of laundry that wasn't completely wet at the end of my wash cycle! We have the same exact washer! (Thanks for putting a picture of it up!) Would you help me out and give me an idea of which buttons do what? The Korean teachers at my school haven't been any help and I'm anxious to experience the excitement of baking my clothes dry!

Thanks in advance,

Wet and Bothered

Well, Wet and Bothered, wet clothes certainly are a problem.  I’m glad that you enjoyed my post on the Tromm DD Inverter.  The red button inserts the heating option into the washing cycle.  Push it until it adds the appropriate amount of time to dry your clothes.

The number options on the left are for the size of the load if I remember correctly.

Then, I usually left everything else the same.  Although, I’d occasionally use the temperature button (the one with the 95, 60, 40 degree options).  I’d sometimes wash my whites on hot if they were getting a little dingy (think pit sweat in the summer).  The last words on the temperature setting mean “cold,” which is where I usually left it.

Remember, when drying, I’d stay away from anything that wrinkles, and anything with synthetic fibers—I affectionately called the machine a clothes oven.  I hope that helps.

As for the rest, I can’t really remember---its been almost a year since I’ve used it.

 

Your Welcome,

An American in Geoje

These people know Alaska

I' actually pulled this old Capri-Sun container aside a long time ago with a blog post in mind and I’m just getting to it.

This is for a ice tea product called Alaska Ice Tea.  That caught my attention since I had never heard of this flavor when I was America—granted I haven’t had a Capri-Sun in about 10 years, but still.

Then, I looked at the art on the cover.  Pretty interesting.  I can spot two very big issued.  This is a game.  Find the two mistakes.

 

The first mistake I noticed was the penguins.  There are no penguins in Alaska!  The live on the other side of the world at Antarctica.

The second was the peaches.  What are peaches doing in an Alaska Ice Tea?  Most of the peaches in the world are grown in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina—the three states furthest from Alaska!

If you read the label at the bottom, the issue becomes clear.  This is being produced by a Korean company under licence from a Swiss company.

Take off your shoes

Since coming to Korea, I’ve learned to take off my shoes often.  I’ve written about this before actually, within a month of being in Korea.

Something I’ve begun to notice is that many office workers will remove their outside shoes and wear some sore of sandals indoors.  This applies to the cubicle workers at the education office, the clerks at my bank, and even the ladies at the cell phone store downstairs.

I’ve noticed several bus driver that don’t want to be left out of “take your shoes off at work” club.  Here’s one:

How to Survive Jangma ‘08!

The Korean press and the ex-patriot bloggers in Korea have focused all of their attention on the pending Mad Cow genocide about to be unleashed against the Korean people. While, it looks like the genocidal beef has been repelled for the time being, another danger has crept up and overtaken Korea: Jangma! (장마)

Jangma! is the deadly monsoon that comes every year. Jagma! takes the shape of a weather front that covers the entire region and brings oppressive humidity, drenching downpours, and gray skies for nearly a month. Those caught unprepared may be washed away. Below are some helpful tips from someone who weathered Jangma! for one (1) season—um last June. Perhaps if you are lucky and you follow my advice, you too, like me, will survive Jangma ‘08!

1. Stock up on umbrellas

You will probably need about 10-12 umbrellas to get you through this rainy time. Why so many? There are three reasons.

First, you will probably want to use at least two umbrellas simultaneously to maximize the shelter and protect yourself from the rain (see 3 and 4 below).

Second, you will probably leave at least one or two behind in a cab or at Dunkin Donuts. Jangma! is sneaky. The rain may stop and maybe even a little sun will shine through so you forget that you had an umbrella. Then just when you’ve left that umbrella behind, the clouds join and you get drenched to the bone.

Third, the wind blows hard. Those of us who have seen the cautionary movie Mary Poppins know what happens to greedy people who cling too tightly to umbrellas. To prevent being carried away by the wind, let go of your umbrella at the first sign of a strong gust. Its better to lost an umbrella and be wet than to lost your life!

2. Make sure to pass out only in well-drained areas.

Jangma! often causes flash floods of streets. The storm drain system, at least in Gohyeon, is very below par. Just last night, as I walked home in the Jangma!, I had to walk over a drunk ajoshi passed out on the sidewalk. At first look, it didn’t seem to make sense. It was pouring rain, and there was this guy, peacefully sleeping off the soju with a little nap in the middle of the sidewalk. Then I realized this guy was a genius.

Water was draining off the sidewalk and into the street and gutter, and thereby minimizing his chances of drowning in a puddle. If you choose to drink yourself to passing out, I suggest you are at least as prudent as that ajoshi. Its better to endure the occasional kick while passed out on the sidewalk than drown in the gutter!

3. Set up a four day pants drying cycle.

You are going to get wet. If wear your pants a few times before washing then take my advice. You will need to implement a four day rotation policy. For example, you wear your Monday pants and despite using two umbrellas, you get wet anyway. The humidity is so high that those pants will take at least four days to dry. So you will need to hang them, and get a different pair on Tuesday.

On Friday, Monday’s pants will be dry enough for you to wear again. Simply repeat the cycle until Jangma 08! has passed us by. Its better to have wet clothes all over your house than get the fungal infections that come with skin that is constantly wet (that could kill you).

4. Protect yourself from acid rain!

The same pollutants from China that cause the Yellow Sands in spring also cause damaging acid rain in during Jangma!—or at least that’s what the Koreans tell me. So, if you do get wet, be careful. Go home immediately and dose yourself with baking soda—this will counteract the acid. Then, wash very well. The acid rain has been linked to male baldness in Korea. Above is a man’s picture before Jangma ‘06! and then after. Disturbing. Its better to be covered in baking soda than to lose your hair and die from the acid rain of Jangma!

5. Never cross the street.

We all know that Koreans are dangerous drivers. However, something happens when it rains: well actually nothing happens, and that’s a problem. See running red lights is one thing, but running red lights in a downpour is another. Lower visibility, oils seeping up from the road, and standing water create dangerous conditions for anyone trying to cross the street. So I recommend that no pedestrians cross the street until Jangma ‘08! has passed. That may sound alarmist, but this is coming from a survivor.

6. Never sleep with the fan on.

I cannot stress this enough. Jangma! makes the air very humid and it is almost impossible to get cool. Many people turn to the use of electric fans to cool the air, or air conditioners to cool the air and suck out the humidity—to their doom! Do not make the mistake that my friends’ wife’s cousin’s friend’s sister made when she fell asleep during the Jangma! in a closed room with the fan on. She never realized her mistake, because she never woke up! Its better to be drenched in sweat, than be cool, dry, and dead!

Final Thought

On that same walk home the other night among the drunk Samsung workers, I realized the great benefit of Jangma!—it washes the sidewalk clean of piss and puke.

Good luck on surviving this treacherous season of Jangma ‘08!

---

Photo Credits:

Umbrellas by ericinrok

Bald guys based on Hair Club for Korean Men by SuzÿQuzÿ

Killer Fan from Extracurriculars

Speaking of Awkward Poses…

This is a picture up for display at the photo studio at the M-Park building in Gohyeon.  Something went terribly wrong when the photographer was posing this guy.  I think she forgot to have him not cover his face.  Oops.

That doesn’t mean what you think it means

This picture is of a glass divider in the Geoje location of the Kortalian (Korean + Italian) food chain Pastario.  I say Kortalian because they have things like Kimchi Risotto.  The reflections in the pic are from the businesses across street.  Pay special attention to the last line.

Despite the slogan, this is indeed a family restaurant.

A million people can’t be wrong…or can they?

South Korea hosted the largest demonstration in twenty years on June 10th.  Protestors estimate that over a million people gathered across the country with half of those in Seoul.  Of course, police drop the number to less than half of that.  The main topic for the protest was beef.

Of course there are always other issues that are bound up here, and I'll readily discuss how irrelevant they are with anyone who asks.

Leading up to the protests, police barricaded the paths to the presidential palace with shipping containers.  They welded shipping containers together, two-high, filled them with sand and greased them up so protestors couldn’t climb them.

Below is a picture a barricade from the Korean blog Modern Day via The Marmot’s Hole (the comments here are also interesting).

Here is a picture of the protest in progress from Chosun.com via Korea Beat.

Here’s a roundup of links for those wanting to read more about the protests and the controversy:

• My own look at the controversy last week. [An American in Geoje]
• The reneging of the beef deal will cause trouble with the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. [World Politics Review]
• How the Lee Myung-Bak’s government and US trade officials are scrambling to save the agreement [BBC]
• News that Korean auto workers were considering a strike so they could join anti-US beef protests. [Trading Markets]

And in regard to the auto-workers potention strike, I have an idea: you can continue to implement a protectionist trade policy and keep US beef out under the guise of a public health issue.  Then, we could ban Korean-made cars since they could potentially be deadly.

Or, we could prevent the sale of Samsung or LG cell phones since they may cause brain cancer.  This is also pretty damning since Korea is a de facto closed market when it comes to cell phones.  Hey, if the signal from a cell phone can pop a popcorn kernel, they what is it doing to our brains?  We must stop this threat.

Confession

I've lived in Korea for over a year and a half now--20 months now.  However, there are still moments when I absentmindedly look around and think to myself, 'Wow, there are a lot of Koreans around today.'

The above picture is from the 2008 Daegeum Mountain Azalia Festival here in Geoje.

There are few Finns in Korea (despite what you may have heard)

A Geek in Korea wrote about a constant mangling of the English language:

If I have a pet peeve these days, it’s students that can’t pronounce the word “Finished.” Because of Koreans pronunciation of most words mangling the ending consonant, the word usually sounds like “Finnishee”, or at other times “Finnish”.

Down here in Geoje, the the variant phrase I usually hear is, "I am Finnish!"

When they say this, I must ask, "You are Finnish? Wait, I thought you were Korean!"

I was so confused by the number of students insisting they were Finnish, that I did some investigating.  First piece of evidence is the fact that the Embassy of Finland occupies only a few offices in an office building in Seoul--nothing to suggest a large Finnish presence in South Korea.

Then, I contacted the Finnish Embassy in Seoul.  According to Susanna Jacqueline:

our estimate is that there are about 90 Finns living in South-Korea

 

Only about 90 Finns living in Korea?  Huh.  As much as I am inclined not to trust someone with two first names (Susanna Jacqueline), her numbers make sense.  There's only about 5 million people in Finland, compared to about 60 million in Korea.  Those Finns can't spread themselves too thin or there won't be any left back home to hold down the fort.

So, when my students say that yes they are Finnish, I pretty much sure they are lying. 

 

...then, I'm a little sad because I've become THAT teacher. You know that teacher whom, when you ask if you can use the bathroom, they ask, 'I don't know can you?'

Leaving North Korea

Here's a pretty amazing BBC piece about North Koreans escaping from the horrible conditions in their country.  The footage was originally captured by a South Korean newspaper undercover in China at its border with North Korea. 

Mad cows and electric fans

Below is a picture from the BBC of a clash between riot police and protestors near Korea's Blue House (the counterpart to the US White House).

 

What was the cause of the violence?  Was it an unjust war?   No.

 

Were the protestors fighting for civil rights?  Nope.

 

Was the mob protesting an election fraud or coup?  Uh uh.

 

They are protesting beef.  Seriously. 

I am disappointed in South Korea's common sense.  The issue of US beef imports, which are cheaper and of better quality than domestic beef, has been brewing for some time.  This hysteria has been fueled over an irrational fear of mad cow disease.

Teens have been the most visible force behind this movement to continue the ban on US beef.  There have been several high-profile and well-attended candle light vigils protesting the resumption of beef imports next week.  The campaigning by teens was driven by SMS and instant messages.  I can understand teens being caught up with an issue that has been tied to nationalism and deemed important.

These teens have been flooding message boards with such politically emo comments as, “Are we fated to die so young?” and “I just want to live and fulfill my career dreams, not die mad like an American cow."

These statements have found their way onto Youtube.  One of the most ridiculous is the following video.  My favorite quotes are:

IS THIS ANOTHER US FORIEGN POLICY OF INVADING THE WORLD?  IRAQ FOR NUCLEAR WEAPON AND SOUTH KOREA FOR MAD COW DISEASE?  WHY KOREAN GOVERNMENT IGNORE OUR VOICES, DO NOTHING TO STOP THIS? [sic]

and

WHAT IS U.N. DOING?  WHY DONT THEY INTERVENE TO THIS POSSIBLE MASSIVE GENOCIDE FROM HAPPENING? [sic]

Genocide?  Seriously?  One commenter on the above video noted, "mad cow is the new fan death."  I had to look it up.  Korean urban legend says that fans left on overnight will cause death.  I always wondered why Korean fans had a shut-off timer built in.  Korean news programs even keep a running tally as they report each "fan death" the occurs.  The problem is there isn't science to back it up.

The same is true with this mad cow hysteria.  I thought adults would not be so gullible, but as that first picture shows, the mob has proved me wrong.  The fact is, that this whole movement is really just economic protectionism under the guise of a public health issue.  Korean beef farmers wouldn't be able to compete with US beef.  So, they are trying to bring up these irrational health concerns.

Here are some reasons why this fear is ridiculous:

1.  If you don't want to eat American beef, then don't buy it!  In Korea, beef is clearly labeled as being domestically or foreign produced.  Currently, most foreign beef comes from Australia.  Koreans can vote with their won.

2.  The US has about 100,000,000 cows.  There have been 3 cases of mad cow.  So, for every cow that was found to have mad cow 33,333,333 don't have it.

3.  The US has a human population of over 300,000,000.  There have been 3 cases of vCJD, the human counterpart of mad cow.  That's a 1 to 100,000,000 ratio.  Even the UK, with more than 100,000 cases of mad cow had only 163 human cases, which works out to be .0000027% of their population.

4.  Koreans are far more likely to be hit by a car than come come to harm from mad-cow tainted beef.  As I've noted before, the child traffic accident fatality rate for Koreans is the highest in the industrialized world.  Why isn't the mom starting a campaign for parents to buckle their kids in the car instead of focusing so much attention on such a silly concern?

I'm confident that beef imports will resume as scheduled, and that in time, Koreans will begin to appreciate the quality and price of US beef.  I plan on eating pounds and pounds of US beef a week just as soon as I can get my hands on it.  And I'll continue to defy fan death by sleeping with the fan blowing in my face, and with the air conditioner on at the height of summer.  I know I'll be fine, but I'm just a little worried  to see what the mob will focus its irrationality on next. 

After Jeff's Wedding

Today, my buddy Jeff got married.  Jeff was actually the first native English speaker on Geoje that I met who was my age.  We met at a church services for English speakers, where we later shared preaching responsibilities  and had a fun time exploring the island together.

So, a bunch of people from our church here in Geoje loaded up on the ferry from Jangseunpo and headed to Busan.  The service was great--I hope to have video and pictures from that up soon.  We also had a great time afterwards at the banquet and around Busan.

Here are some highlights:

Above is a deep-fried banana with honey mustard sauce from the banquet.  It could have lost the honey mustard sauce.

Above, Alden really enjoyed the chocolate fountain that we discovered as we were leaving the banquet.  It looks like she ate the Easter bunny.

This was the picture of the week!  This lady was pushing this stroller with their dog in it, while the boy walked along side.  For the picture, the boy posed behind the dog.

Above, this store, Chris & Christy is advancing this silly trend of couples wearing matching clothes.  As you can see, all of their clothes are made in matching men's sizes and women's sizes.  Below is an example.