Done

I am typing this while waiting for a coworker to pick me up and drive to Gangneung so the post could end suddenly.

This was my seventh time working the GLPS camp at Minjok Sagwan High School but still I learned a great deal while also teaching a great deal.

Not related to academics, I am proud to announce that I managed to run 89 km in the past month on the track here. I still have a little time to try for 100 km in a single month.

This is the first time I was involved with the debate program. I am not sure if I want to be more involved but it was interesting for a short time. I judged teh group with the lowest level of English. The manager did a great job of introducing debate in a foreign language but the student's low level meant that there wasn't a lot of variety. I listened to three debates yesterday and three today, all on the same two subjects and employing the same six arguments each. I'm a lttle tired.

This has been the rainiest camp ever.

More later.

Don't be LEFT out tomorrow!

Yes, tomorrow is Left Hander's Day. Here is how I am preparing.

Have I gone a little overboard here? Closeup of sign below.


I just looked at my 2007 post for this day and found almost the exact same thing. No Left handed moth, so far.

Olympics (1)

I am interested in the Olympics and some of my heros are Olympians but I've been travelling and had internet connection problems at the camp so I've only been able to see fragments here and there.

I watched the phenomenal opening ceremonies for two hours on Friday night. I felt a wonderful thrill when Canada's huge team entered the stadium- and chuckled at the one woman on the Canadian team with one hand at the side of her face and the other plugging an ear - clearly on a cell phone.

I was less touched to see "Chinese Taipei" and confused to see a "Hong Kong" team - isn't that a part of China in an even less controversial way than Chinese Taipei?

On Sunday afternoon, riding the bus to camp, I saw sports highlights on the TV. I was in the back seat of the bus so I couldn't read the screen or hear anything but I did see Pak Tae-hwan. I hope he did well in the 400 free but have been concerned about his coach hopping.
Added Monday: He won the 400. Congrats to him. I see he trained in Australia, possibly the world's swimming powerhouse.

On the bus, I also saw a bit of diving. Again, I was far from the screen - were they showing the women in the shower? What's up with that?

"PA" office

Now to ruin the joke by explaining it: This is the door to the Program Assistant's Office or PA Office. The Korean word for onion is 'yangpa', which is what the final picture says. There is also a hunk of yangpa on the bottom-right hand side of the sign.

Humiliation

It is so hot and I sweat so much that I actually sweat through the knees of my pants.

"Thrive"

Among other things, for me, camp means running laps.

Competitive swimming gave me a predilection for several things I guess, but two of them were repetition and a clear breakdown of split times in a long bout of exercise. Sure, at camp the roads are quiet and I could be travelling through a variety of backdrops and vistas but then I wouldn't know how long any individual leg of the run should take.

Here is the track I run on, encircling one of the few grass soccer fields in Korea. Sorry for the amateur stitching of photos.
I am on pace for twenty-five km a week and hugely proud of myself.

Near the end of my runs ...wait, at the beginning of my runs, there is nothing to be proud of. As an old man, the first two km are ludicrously stumbling and flailing until my legs stretch out enough to run like a human being. Anyway, at the end of my runs, I have frequently misjudged how much energy I have to spare. This makes the final laps a struggle.

I used to tell myself to hang on. I decided that wouldn't do for this camp. I don't want to struggle to the finish, I want to be tall and strong through the final kilometre. to this end, I now tell myself to thrive. It may seem corny - as I write this, it really seems corny, but if it gets me through a few runs, it is worth it -saying it, that is, maybe it will never be worth it for posting it online.

Anyway, it's 8:40 and I have to get to bed soon to hit the track at 6:00 tomorrow. Time to finish letters to parents.

A surprising source of humor

My friends know how powerful and frequent my sneezes are. I do NOT sneeze on people, but when there is no one in front of me, I don't hold back. I have been known to open a door into another, hopefully empty, room and rattling windows.

I did this at the camp: I stepped away from the white board, opened the door and shook the hallway walls. At the other end of the hall was the camp manager, who was meeting with another teacher.

Our manager does have his very own sense of humour but he very German. He is German, but he also manifests most of the positive stereotypes of the people. When there is work to be done, jokes are an obvious waste of time.

At camp, there is always work to be done.

Well, ten minutes after my sneeze, he was back outside my door, putting up a sign.
He was so proud of it, that he sent other teachers up to check my door.

To borrow an Aussie-ism, good on 'im; he is human after all.

Stung

A coworker was stung last weekend (July 25-ish) by a jellyfish, but I still envy her.

Due to some miscommunication or lack of communication between another coworker and I, I was stuck at camp on the weekend. Me being stuck here, by the way, was entirely my fault. Anyway, while I was here doing not much, my coworkers were swimming at Kyeongpo Beach in Gangneung. The water was murky because of recent rain they did not notice the jellyfish until one was stung.

I do not know if they used vinegar or urine or what to relieve the sting.

Elgin, at the Marmot's Hole, has found that global warming and overfishing are causing larger blooms of jellyfish around the world.

From his post:

...filefish — a natural predator of jellyfish — have been over-fished around Korea to the point where jellyfish have flourished...

and from the New York Times article he links to:

The warmer seas and drier climate caused by global warming work to the jellyfish’s advantage, since nearly all jellyfish breed better and faster in warmer waters, according to Dr. Jennifer Purcell, a jellyfish expert at the Shannon Point Marine Center of Western Washington University.

Okay, now global warming is getting serious. If it interferes with my swimming, its got to be fixed.

My coworker is fine, now.

Fire safety

I am back at camp, starting week three of four.

During the week, we have regular classes (I am teaching ecology) but every Saturday is different. Two days ago, we had survival English. Two of the classes were first aid (Which I taught) and fire safety. I am amused to see fire safety offered as there could be a bit of hypocrisy in it. Those who teach the subject are sincere, but the school management are more interested in climate control and preventing theft and possible misdeeds by students who cannot be tracked.

My classroom is in a corner so there is a door leading to an emergency exit.

Try to open that door. Do you carry an emergency door knob for such occasions?
If you could get through the door, or if you walked to the centre of the building and back through another hallway, you end up at this door, leading out. You can see the effort on my face as I desperately try to turn the knob. Locked.
I went outside and around the building and up the stairs to the other side of the door. No knob and a large sign saying "don't use. Use other door." the smaller sign, above, says, "be aware of heating, keep door closed".

There is another door on my floor that does open. Its on the other side of the building. I guess I am not really upset that the door is locked, more I wonder why did they think they needed it? Is it a legal requirement and after the building passed the local version of the building code, they felt they could lock it?
On the first floor of the building are the main entrance and two smaller entrances. One is padlocked closed and the other, above, is closed with caulking. I suppose a strong or motivated person could push hard enough to rip out the caulking, but still, it is strange. I also suspect that they could manage better climate control by teaching the students to close the main entrance doors after walking through them. Koreans, away from their homes, don't feel a need to close a door after opening it.

A few years ago, I posted a similar story about the school and how the students are locked up at night. Since that time, this big-ass mallet now sits near the main doors - the smaller fire exits are still chained and locked. I guess students could now smash the glass doors out if they need to leave in a hurry.

At camp

Week one with the students is now finished. They are a good enough bunch of kids, although I have some challenges ahead.

Each student must give a five minute speech to the class (fifteen students) and the best two will enter a camp wide competition (twenty four classes but each division is only six classes). The students can write in English more or less well enough and their pronunciation is excellent so that is no problem. The challenge is getting them to speechify.

The main goal of a recent class was to make an exciting or captivating introduction. Students were told to write a maximum of four sentences to also to plan their body language and delivery.

Most students went for the 'more is better' approach and just started putting their long, boring speeches into writing. "My name is *** and I am in class 7. I am going to talk about ****..."

I have worked hard to demonstrate an interesting introduction and a boring one but the students just aren't getting it. I am not sure how to explain it better. I can only hope that one or two students understand and, in giving their speeches, show their classmates how it is done for future reference.

Next week, I must also give a speech to the assembled camp on something in the field of biology (I teach ecology at the camp). In appearance, I am an overweight, middled aged guy but in personality I am a reckless teen with a short attention span so I think I can relate to my audience. I will discuss coral reefs and occasions where I have come into contact with sharks. I plan to avoid a "I'm a cool, macho guy because I have swam with sharks" sort of speech but do hope that angle will help keep the speech interesting. I will post the speech here after I give it.

We've seen a lot of rain here and it has kept me inside but at least it's been cool. I haven't used the fan in my apartment yet but have used the blanket. The next few days look like rain but also 34 Celsius so I expect short thunderstorms and hot days.

The Korean version of this mag would be good for me

Someone named Esplanade posted this entry at Something Awful's contest for reverse magazines.

climate conditioning

The Donga has an article describing how Korea and Japan have policies for temperature regulation in government offices including a set-point for air conditioners, a not-that-cool 28 degrees. This is another article relating energy saving measures to the high price of fuel.

The point is a good one, but Korea could make maintain cool rooms (and warm ones in the winter) while making great energy savings with a ridiculously simple procedure: close the freakin' doors and windows! My head spins when I see an active air conditioner next to an open window or cold classrooms in the winter with every exterior door wide open.

I do think using air conditioners to moderately cool and dry the air is a good idea, too.

Previously at Gangwon Notes.

In which Rick Ruffin and I are in complete agreement

We are both environmentalists, although Mr Ruffin is more enthusiastic and more political than I am. We've had a few differences, more in quantity or degree than in the basic details.

He has an article in the Korea Times (I told you he was more enthusiastic - I confine my opinion to this poorly read blog) about the cost of fuel, the availability of oil and the use of bio-fuels.

It interesting the way coincidences stack up. I am reading The Return of the Omnivore by Pollan and he starts by describing how much energy goes into making corn (oil is the base for the fertilizer, is one example) and the irony of using corn to make a replacement for fuel.

The problem is that, as is the case of cigarettes, the price of fuel is wildly elastic. People are willing to pay enormous amounts to continue driving. From the article:

However, some people, in spite of high prices, still refuse to consume less. South Koreans are a perfect example. While in the United States people are consuming 5 percent less oil than a year ago due to rising fuel costs, in South Korea people are driving just as much as before.

A recent article in The Korea Times showed that bus companies are threatening to curtail their services because of high fuel costs. That's pretty strange.

These high petrol prices should be a boom to public transportation everywhere. Buses should be SRO (standing room only) because of the current high fuel prices.

The article also includes a photo of Pyeongchang government officials cycling to work because they spent all their money on wasted Olympic bids to encourage reducing fuel use -I don't know if Ruffin supplied the photo or the editors did, but it seems apropos.

Ruffin does quote Diamond's Collapse, which sits half-read on my bookshelf, describing a warning sign of cultures on the edge of collapse being food shortages. Diverting food corn to become fuel stock doesn't save fuel (at least the same amount is used in growing it) but does reduce available food for the world.

He also defers to WorldWatch founder Lester Brown on the need to reduce beef consumption as the food and area used to feed cattle could be used to feed 1.4 billion people. Again, based on Pallan's The Omnivores Strike Back, I have changed my eating habits slightly to cut beef almost completely out and get my protein from poultry and vegetable sources. On the same subject, Bizarro's Perraro advocates for vegetarianism with the catchphrase "If you think you're an environmentalist and you're eating meat, think again".

Ruffin finishes by telling President Lee to scrap the canal project. I thought it had been quietly shelved already but perhaps it does need to be formally removed from as an option.

Not so funny

Some people aren't drinking their G & Ts. The Joongang Ilbo has an article about Malaria making a comeback. I've forgotten a great deal of what I was taught about malaria but I recall there are a few different forms and they are described by the length of their cycle. The least deadly, but still exhausting form has a cycle of three or four days. The long cycle gives the victim some time to recover between bouts. The most deadly form, Plasmodium falciparum, has no established cycle and the fever and chills come almost constantly, allowing no time to recover.

In Korea, another deadly form, P vivax, or tertian malaria, can be found.

Tertian malaria is not the deadliest form of the disease, but it is recurring and is the most widespread. This year, 338 people have been afflicted.

After an epidemic in 1970 was stopped, there were fewer than 100 malaria patients by the early 1990s. In 2000, however, there were 4,142. The number briefly decreased to 864 in 2004; in the past two years it has climbed back to 2,000.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have classified 22 cities and districts in Gangwon, Gyeonggi and Incheon as “malaria danger zones,” with 10 out of 1 million people affected annually.

The stats seem funny to me. Is 10 out of a million averaged over ten years? Korea has fifty million people so 500 is 10 out of a million. Frequently the number of cases is greater than that, but more, if the disease is only in the northernmost cities, we are talking about a much smaller total population. They say reporters don't understand stats, but it could be a bad translation.

Wikipedia on malaria.

Light blogging ahead

I'm amazed that I have been posting frequently enough that this post is justified. Well, maybe just barely enough - if somehow you could count this post as content, rather than meta. I'll try to add some content below.

Part of the benefits my university offers is a full medical physical. Its a little strange that I have to travel four hours across the country to get that physical but they did throw in a physical for Kwandongwife as well. I am not sure how we will take care of little guy while we're there, nor what actually is involved -we were informed the process will take three hours.

After the physical, I am off to camp. I have three days of orientation, a weekend at home, then four weeks teaching ecology to middle school students at camp.

I will bring my computer to the camp on Sunday but cannot be sure of access before the weekend.

The Olympics are coming!

The Herald has an article about Korean athletes getting ready for the Olympics. I'm excited and hope they do well. I always chuckle, though, at the sports Koreans do well in. Typically, if you could hurt someone, Koreans are good at that sport.

From the Herald:

Medals are expected to be won in wrestling, archery, taekwondo, judo, swimming, badminton, weightlifting, shooting and gymnastics. Korean athletes have led in these sports since the early 1980s.

[my bolding]

Alright, swimming, weightlifting, badminton and gymnastics may not have the same relevance to violence (although the latter sport is preparation for Gymkata!)

I think Pak Tae-hwan could do very well at the Olympics, but saying that Koreans have led in this sport since the '80s is crazy. He races on August 10.

Malaria Threat in Sokcho

I can find plenty of gin in the supermarkets but no tonic. With this shortage of quinine, I predict an epidemic of malaria by summer's end. If anyone can send tonic water here, you would be supporting a worthy cause.

UPDATED July 13: Crisis averted. E-mart has Tonic Water in stock again. All is right with the world.

By the way, the wikipedia article suggests that quinine may be effective against prions - Mad Cow Disease is caused by a prion so Korean should take careful note.

Letters: I'd complain if I were hung with a gold rope!

Amazon,

Firstly, thank you very much for sending me my order quickly. I am very excited about reading these books.

However, I would like to quote from two portions of an email I received from your company:

Sent: July 2, 2008 11:24:05 PM
...
Shipped via Standard Int'l Shipping (estimated arrival date:
07-August-2008).

Although I am happy to have received my books nearly a month earlier than I expected, the difference in dates is so great that I am a little annoyed. Now, I have to do something with Masuro's stupid charity books; I had to pretend to be grateful for his loan of his books (and I was, with the expectation of having to wait more than a month for my order) and now what do I tell him? What if he asks me about the content of his books?

sincerely,
Kwandongbrian


Masuro,
Honestly, I am enjoying The Omnivore's Revenge. I am likely to use some of the content in my ecology class this summer so it is both interesting and useful. I haven't started the f&SF magazine yet, but you know I am a fan.

Amphibians

This morning, I took the little guy out to catch a few critters. A while ago, I bought a little plastic terrarium at E-Mart (typically for the big-ass bugs they sell) and we took it and my wife's pasta strainer (I had better clean it up well before she comes home!).

I thought it cool that we were able to find tadpoles with almost no legs, frogs with long tails and a tiny but tailless frog - three stages at the same time. I wonder if the eggs hatched at different times or if frogs develop at varying rates.
We then went to a different pool and found salamanders. They were much better swimmers and it took me several tries to catch them. A month ago, they appeared as very streamlined tadpoles with a narrower head and slight protrusions where the legs would be - I couldn't catch them so I don't know if they did have legs at that time.
The little guy studying our catch, dinosaurs in hand.
We released the salamanders where we caught them. Here, KwandongAlex releases the frogs back into their pond.
This pic is my "Loch Ness Monster" pic. Its blurry enough to be anything you want it to be.

Before our little excursion, I coated my son with sunblock. So, no sunburn, but he did have a little trouble while scrambling over rocks. He scraped his knee and shed a little blood. Still, I think it makes him look healthier - all little guys should have bruised knees. If they don't, they are spending too much time indoors.

Pack-the-El-Camino to the rescue!

I haven't been the only Gangwon blogger having an interesting time at the beach. A co-worker has been playing, spending time with family and saving a non-swimmer.

Ye Ole Swimmin' hole

Can an ocean beach be a 'swimming hole'? I've always thought of semi-secret bends of a river as swimming holes. Anyway...

Just north of the lighthouse in Sokcho are a group of submerged and half-submerged boulders that make an excellent diving platform and provide a substrate for a dynamic ecosystem.

As with any good swimming hole, getting there is a challenge - you have to scramble down the breakwater tetrahedrons to reach the narrow beach.

Last year, the beach wasn't nearly so narrow. Here, I have (crappily) photoshopped in the beach as it appeared in 2007.
I am balancing on the two rocks in an area that was half this depth last year. More than a metre of sand has been swept away.
Mussels of the intertidal zone.
A group of conscript soldiers enjoying some time off.


A soldier took the above picture of me as well as this video of me swimming through an under water tunnel that, last year, was also underground.




While swimming, I found many schools of fish, a crab intermittently seen through the jungle of seaweed and a pair of nudibranches ( I think - they were as big as my head, black and dark brown and had a few snail- or slug-like tentacles). I also found a squirtgun and a pair of goggles.

Oh, last year, I found a pair of goggles with the adhesive covers still on the lenses - I guess someone bought them, tried them and could hardly see, didn't realize that the tape should be removed, and threw them away. This story has nothing to do with the swimming hole, I just think it's funny.

Lobster Man!

I've watched quite a few superhero movies lately; Iron Man, The Hulk, Wanted (well, it is based on a comic book - that's superhero-y, isn't it?) and Hancock. Now, I'm ready to assume the role of Lobsterman. I don't need much of a costume, except to hide my bulging belly - okay, a big costume, my skin is bright red and my superpower is, um, ....uh, supersensitive skin? As with the Hulk, my new persona is not one I'd take by choice and it was caused by an overdose of radiation. In contrast to the Hulk, my skin is red regardless of my mood.

Anyway, the little guy and I had a great time at the beach yesterday and today. First, don't worry, I took excellent care of him and kept him with a good layer of sun block (although I forgot Sunday morning - thanks Jeannie for giving us some).

Last year, I tried to rush KwandongAlex into the water and he became very afraid. Even though we have spent time playing in the pool at Seorak Pines this Spring, he is not eager to be carried into deep water and I am letting him take his time. He is having a great time kicking through the surf.


Yesterday, I sat next to a Korean/German family and in-laws. I think they were there Friday evening, too.

Today, Kwandongwife was working so I took KwandongAlex to the beach early for the morning and was lucky enough to find a spot next to an American family. Jeannie, Aaron (?- sorry man, I've forgotten your name) and their daughter are visiting from Seoul. Jeannie made my day by making her first question to me, "Do you have a blog?" Anyway, we chatted and cooled off in the ocean for the morning. I hope they enjoy the rest of their vacation here.

We went home and the little guy went straight to sleep. We got up, I forced some mild curry rice into him (he claimed to not be hungry) and returned to the beach. To my delight, I saw the German family had also returned and sat with them. The father was lobster-red (a companion or rival to me, I now suppose) and I was a little amused, thinking how sore he would be later. They will be at the beach for the next three days -my kind of people; focusing their entire vacation around the beach - and perhaps we will catch up on Tuesday.

If you need super-assistance, set out your lobster light or else summon me with Aloe vera.

Summer is here!

And I may have killed my wife and child. They were tired and went to bed early. I turned the fan on in the room, then, to keep the noise and light out, shut the main door and veranda door - they are in a sealed room with a fan on! And, the fan has no timer!!
If you don't know what I'm talking about, have a look at my post on fan-death.

More seriously, suddenly we have great heat and humidity. At the end of each sentence here, I am wiping my face with a handkerchief. It may be time to look at air conditioners.

Its been a week or more since I last tried the ocean. It was cool in June. Now, its perfect.

Books

I'm out of fresh reading material and of the books I have that I do reread, I have already done so. I have a new order coming in from Amazon - What the book was out-of-stock or something for a few of my choices - but they won't arrive for a few weeks.

What to do?

I do have some podcasts to catch up on but, while I enjoy them while exercising or commuting, I much prefer books when the option is available. When I have books, I get a backlog of pods to be listened to but when I don't have books, I am searching for new pods halfway through the week. That's where I am now.

Here's what I've read recently (purchase links are to What the Book):

Quantico, by Greg Bear. I chose this book on Tripp's lukewarm endorsement. I normally enjoy Bear's stuff so I thought I'd chance it. I liked it. The story is of a time slightly in our future and about two generations of FBI agents tracking down a domestic terrorist. A major part of the book is the infighting between various federal agencies, while some cool and horrible weapons are used. Purchase.

Finding your inner fish by Neil Shubin. My friend Patrick, who is concerned that there aren't enough transitional fossils, this is the book for you. A non-fiction book on evolution, it describes why we humans are the way we are. It even explains why men get inguinal hernias - of special note to my family. Purchase.

Various books by Neal Stevenson. I actually didn't care for his Baroque Cycle but clearly found something of value there seeing as I have since read Snow Crash (fantastic!), Cryptonomicon (very good), and Zodiac (very good). In the Baroque Cycle, a character would step through a doorway into a seventeenth century street and Stevenson would paint, with marvellously fine detail, what the character was experiencing. There was a remarkable texture to the descriptions. Unfortunately, and this is purely from my recollection, when Errol Flynn-style swashbuckling occurred, and it did quite often, the excitement seemed mired in the details. The future queen of England is being chased down a street and her lover leaps from one horse onto her pursuer's horse - thrilling but only afterwards because I was still processing the details of the street. Purchase (books by Stevenson)

Snow Crash had everything. It is funny and satirical, it smoothly meshed fantasy and science fiction, it had conspiracies, chase scenes and wild sword fights. I borrowed it from a friend and will probably buy it for myself to read again sometime.

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin. A biography and not my regular sort of reading material at all. I bought it because the guy was interviewed on CNN and thought my wife might be interested in it. She started it but became busy with other stuff. I read it because there was nothing else in the house. It makes me wonder; I think that Jenkins guy was a traitor to defect to North Korea but feel Li made the right decision. I guess that's an example of my prejudices and the propaganda I was exposed to. Purchase.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. An attempt to read a classic. Well, I succeeded, so I guess it wasn't an attempt. I don't read a lot of crime fiction and this didn't move me to read more. I hope I will not be shunned for dismissing Chandler like this. Purchase.

The Drawing of the Dark, by Tim Powers. Its a sort of Arthurian retelling set in Vienna in the 16th century. I first read it in high school and have reread it many times. This is one of the few Powers books where the hero ends the tale still retaining all his extremities - I think the hero of Forsake the Sky ends up being a multiple amputee and to lose a few fingers is to get off lightly. He, the hero that is, does take quite a beating, none the less. Purchase.

To help me out, send your used books to KwandongBrian at Kwandong University.

Sellar in Podcastle

I read and enjoy Gord Sellar's blog and am impressed and happy to see an acquaintance get recognition. He is mentioned in this week's Podcastle. Congrats!

Happy Canada Day, I guess

It is indeed Canada Day.

What I'm guessing is how happy you lot are. I am sick with something; every twenty minutes or so, I ache all over, feel hot and sorta feel like throwing up. A few minutes later, I feel okay but tired until the next bout.

I hope everyone else has a happy Canada Day.

Child soldier

Perhaps the title Child Soldier is a little too serious and its meaning too disturbing for this post; I am admittedly using it ironically.

However, my problem is still disturbing enough, in its smaller-scale way.

My son runs around with his hand in the shape of a gun yelling, "Bang, bang".

A friend bought the little guy a toy machine gun a year or so ago. I was unhappy with the gift but it was already in my son's hands so I didn't take it away. We also have a pistol-shaped bubble maker but it doesn't make noises or seem threatening. For the most part, when my son played with the machine gun, he was more interested in the flashing lights and noises it made.

I watch CSI, Law and Order and the like and often my son is in the room but not necessarily paying attention. In fact, if I see him paying attention, I will change the channel or turn the TV off.

I had all sorts of toy guns, of greater and lesser realism, and am nowadays a pacifist so I guess I shouldn't worry too much.

Still, where do kids learn these things?

The worst all-inclusive resort I have stayed at!

Asan Hospital in Gangneung even looks like a hotel. Its a beautiful setting and if it were closer to the ocean, I am sure some people would ask for a room for the night.

Still, the room was cramped, the staff seemed too busy all the time, no pool; I would rather vacation anywhere else.

The little guy had his surgery to correct an inguinal hernia today. Just about everything went well but I will nitpick a little.

First, we were going to have the procedure done at a clinic in Sokcho. Back-alley butcher would be a strong phrase but Asan is the real deal.

We arrived the day before the operation so the little guy would be ready for the 8:30 operation.
First nitpick: we arrived at 3:00pm and I asked what we needed to do. The nurse said dinner would be served between six and seven so we went outside to look around. The doctor seemed a little upset after she arrived at our room, couldn't find us and had to call my wife to relay a message. Would it be so hard for the nurse to tell us the full schedule?
Anyway, we played outside.

The next morning, early, they gave the little guy children's pyjamas three sizes too large.

A nurse came to take KwandongAlex to surgery and we walked together. Nitpick 2: After we entered a pre-op room and the little guy was out of reach, I was told I couldn't go any further.

I am sure the nurse ferries several patients a day and has for years. Hernia surgery is the most common surgery for children. It isn't a big deal for him.

Its a huge deal for me and I was furious to be unable to give the little guy a hug goodbye.

My wife was sent away before the anaesthetist got to work. The little guy cried and fought so hard he pulled out his IV. Nitpick 2.5: They should have kept one of us until he was under.

He is now fine and sleeping at home. He was discharged without medication and he seems comfortable.

I recommend the hospital for medical work but not for a relaxing stay.

Evaluations of KwandongBrian by his students

In March, I commented about how a few Korean universities are going to post their Professor evaluations online for the public to view. In that post, I promised to post my evaluations. Dang it all! I'm actually not that proud of them - I have some work to do.

I’m trying to look at these results in stages. I’ve seen the numbers, and sadly, my average is a little below the university’s average for professors. I’m concerned about that. However, the criteria for the numbers is written in Korean. I have the translations but I haven’t analyzed the results yet.

I have also looked at the comments but, again, have not translated them. I can read a few easily, and those are the positive ones: “good class”, “interesting class” and the like.

Now, I'm looking at the translations.

Okay, the criteria:

First, these are beyond my control:

1) The number of students in the class was appropriate.

12) The 15-week lesson plan was kept exactly and it met the initial expectation.

7) The textbook and supportive materials were well selected and used effectively.

The semester averaged about 13 classes, with Tuesdays having the most classes and Mondays and Fridays the least. We foreign teachers don’t learn of the cancelled classes until the week of, quite frequently.

I do choose supporting materials but not the main text. I cannot comment here on the textbooks as a coworker wrote one of them.

These two criteria I need to heed the results:

9) The instructor draws students' participation voluntarily by using various methods.

10) Types of homework and evaluation helped us study.

Not many students volunteer and I usually randomly pick them from the attendance list.

I think I need to improve the homework I give. Due to the uncertain schedule, I know that some classes did not receive much homework (I had 5 assignments ready for 1st year, but had to cancel some so as not to conflict with the exams).

I like these three criteria and hope I scored well:

13) The students' participation in the class was quite high.

14) I am satisfied with the class overall.

15) I'd like to recommend the instructor to other students.

It seems that I cannot format a table without a lot of work -easier to do it in Word, print it and take a picture of it.

First, I suppose I could make excuses for my score with the engineering class. Math Education, and all education classes, are usually very enthusiastic. Police Admin students also work hard. Engineering, less so. Still, that doesn’t mean its my privilege to phone it in. Also, Sports students are usually not that excited about English but I did a good enough job there. No, clearly I need to concentrate on weaker classes and maintain my own level of enthusiasm even when the students normally do not.

The first three factors I felt I had little control over but the scores are similar and acceptable.

I feared #9 and 10 were weak areas and I certainly see a lot of variation there.

Prepare meaningful homework, Kwandongbrian!

The final three categories seem to relate to my comments about enthusiasm. Maybe they rub my nose in the importance of enthusiasm.

Huh, a big difference regarding following the 15 week plan – and yet these three classes had an almost identical number of classes.

# 10

Prepare meaningful homework, Kwandongbrian!

# 14: overall satisfaction. I sometimes wonder if this is a sort of checksum, you know, to see if they really understood the questions. The sports class gave me a higher overall score but than tourism but were less satisfied overall. Huh.

The takeaway for me is to work on better homework: creation, grading and commentary. I have tried to mark the homework in class to avoid carrying it home: this isn’t quite as self-serving as it sounds – if students miss later classes, I end up with a lot of unclaimed homework at the end of the semester. I need to take my time marking and commenting on the homework to make it more useful overall.

Added later: I wrote this last night but waited until today to photograph the tables. I've had time to think. I still plan to, want to and maybe, need to improve the way I treat homework but I know that most students do it in class, in the ten minute break between classes. I frequently receive homework written on an end-paper from the textbook (because the same students that are late with homework don't bring notebooks to class). Copying is rampant although I punish all I am certain of.

The university has an E-paper site where I can publish homework for students to download (saving the school the cost of paper and making the student pay directly). I think I will post homework for a period of three days two days after the class. For a Monday class, students could download the homework Thursday, Friday or Saturday. They might not look at the printout until the day its due but they must think about it beforehand.

I may post my comments about the student comments but I will leave that for now.

Motorola's got some 'splainin' to do!

UPDATE: An Hyeok-il Sunsaengnim, Thank you very much! Motorola does indeed have a service centre - or it shares support with SKY. Mr An quickly and professionally popped my phone open, tightened the relevant screws and put my phone back together. I'm still annoyed that it happened, but am completely satisfied with the service.

I'm not sure how long I've had my phone - around six months I guess. Today, it separated into two halves, joined by a ribbon of wires.



I will be able to visit an AS shop on Monday and I hope it only needs some screws on the slide mechanism replaced or tightened.
I'll update this post then.

Inguinal Hernia

KwandongAlex will go under the knife tomorrow to treat an inguinal hernia.

The doctor assured me that the problem wasn't serious but must be treated. The hospital will keep the little guy overnight and possibly for two nights to let him recover from the anaesthesia and watch for infection.

Happy Birthday, little guy (June 22)!

UPDATE: The little guy has some congestion in his lungs so they cannot operate. Don't worry: the hernia has been there for a month and the little guy has no adverse symptoms - the operation is to prevent future problems so waiting another weekend isn't a problem.

We will soon rent a car and visit some beaches and the Hwajinpo Aquarium!

Take back the …sidewalks?

Below is an article that I wrote for my university's English magazine but was unable to submit. I think I can submit it next semester but I can also publish it here. This is a photo-heavy post; please click to enlarge photos.

Streets are more than utility spaces, good only for transportation and storage. They are community spaces where people should be comfortable interacting.

The subject area is too big to be covered here in detail so I will leave out how street design can affect crime rates and various international attempts to improve the sense of community in city streets and try to focus on engineering and how sidewalks specifically should be more than an afterthought when the ‘real work’ – streets and spaces for automobiles – is completed.

I am mostly going to be describing obstructions to foot traffic, so let me start with a counter-example: something that slows pedestrians but that I approve of. The point of the following picture is to show that my criteria are admittedly subjective and contradictory.

Street markets are a sign of life, of the sidewalk being actively used in positive ways. On occasion, I have had to struggle to push my stroller down the street but I do not begrudge the vegetable sellers their space.

In the city of Sokcho, the sidewalks are generously sized, but all too often, obstructions like this are to be seen:

Here, we have a transformer and a light standard squeezing the street’s width. Can a stroller fit? Maybe.

Would drivers accept this on the road, not stopping their passage but slowing them down and forcing careful maneuvering? Almost definitely not.

So, why are pedestrians expected to? Not everyone is a driver, but everyone is a pedestrian. Everyone has to walk at least a little.

Here are some more light standards and communication poles:

These are two shots of the same site. Wow, three poles, all exactly in the middle of the sidewalk. People can get used to anything, but this just has to be considered annoying.

Or, perhaps it should be considered bad planning. What city planner okayed these obstructions? Next are a few photos of bad planning in Gangneung.

Which one is the crosswalk? The lines on the left appear to be for a speed-bump, while those on the right look correct for a crosswalk. But the left side has an inclined curb. Who planned this? By the way, the other side of the street has no inclined curb, for either set of lines. You could roll your wheelchair off the sidewalk, cross the street, but then have to ask for help to mount the curb on the other side.

Inset crosswalks are another sign of pedestrian’s needs being second class. Below are two photos taken in Sokcho: we are looking across an intersection but where is the crosswalk? See the illegally parked white van on the left side of the picture? That’s where the crosswalk is.

Although the crosswalk is dangerously hidden from view by cars parked on both sides of the road on both sides of the crosswalk, I am more concerned about the value, or lack, given to speed and direct travel for pedestrians. To cross this street, pedestrians are expected to go far out of their way.

Let’s have a look at the five way intersection below Gangeung’s city hall.

First, note that there is no way to cross the major road, but pedestrians can only walk alongside it. There was a crosswalk on the right side but it has been removed – the inclined curb remains, although it is unnoticeable in this photo.

The crosswalk at the bottom left is a good example of how planning for foot traffic is an afterthought. The street at the bottom left is the exit from the highway and so is one-way. There is only a brief period when those cars can enter the intersection but a longer period for vehicles to leave City Hall, then vehicles to cross in one, then both directions in front of City Hall. Only for a small portion of that time can pedestrians legally cross the highway exit lanes, even though it is safe to do so for the entire time.

In Canada, people typically live in single family houses and are spread out. For good financial reasons, public transit is uncommon and infrequent. I could not imagine living without a car in most places. I lived in a town of 15,000 people: there were two pharmacies and almost everybody had to drive to visit them. We actually drove to the closest convenience store (about 4-5 km).

Koreans typically live in apartments and so are more densely packed. Personally, I would like more open space but I do like being able to walk to most of the stores and services I need.

Let me finish with a request or a charge to Kwandong’s civil engineering students. Please, care about the pedestrian. Again, everyone is a pedestrian at some point so they should be considered first, not second, in designing streets. Make us comfortable and happy walkers.