Volunteering might officially be legal

I couldn't find any reports from the 2006 bust of a group of performers in Busan who were charged with illegally staging a volunteer performance.  Actually, they seemed to be charged with illegally volunteering as the performance was for a charity...I think.  it was well-covered in the k-blogosphere but not be me and now I cannot find any of those posts.  Here is what i quoted from the Korea Times:

Foreigners may face deportation or fines if they volunteer at orphanages or organize performances without reporting them to the authorities.

The interpretation came from Joo Jae-bong, an official at the Ministry of Justice. He said there should be no problem with joining a poetry club but that volunteer activites should be registered with the ministry.

``If it 's just a gathering of friends, there should be no problem,’’ he

said. ``But if they are organizing performances, they need to register to do

those things because they are changing the purpose of their stay here.’’

He said the same rule applies to those who wish to volunteer in an orphanage.

Foreigners need to register those activities with the ministry

some strange formatting there, at least in the editor.  If you can't read it here, follow the link, although there isn't much there.

Anyway, in Friday's Korea Herald, we are told that volunteering is legal, but if you are doing a long-term thing, the immigration office should be told.

According to the Immigration Control Law & Relevant Rules, Chapter 4, Article 20, "When a foreigner staying in Korea intends to engage in activities corresponding to a different status of stay in addition to those activities corresponding to his/her original status of stay, s/he shall obtain permission for activities beyond the current status of stay from the Minister of Justice in advance."

Though no part of the law specifically mentions volunteer work by expats, this clause - as well as rumors circulating in the expat community - has discouraged them from such activities in the past.

...

Baek said that he received advice from a government-run office that volunteering was discouraged, but eventually learned through Korea Immigration Service that it is legal. In fact, he was told Baek that teachers on work visas can not only volunteer, but even receive compensation for transportation and food expenses while volunteering.

"We found it astonishing," Baek said of the experience. "I was even more convinced that I needed to do something about it."

All this took place a year ago, and Baek said he believes that the government agencies that have advised teachers against volunteering no longer do so.

HOPE began its own activities in May 2008. Currently 27 foreign teachers and 20 Koreans are volunteering with the organization, and about 50 have worked with it since it began. Those who volunteer with HOPE sign a three-month contract to teach English to underprivileged children at places like welfare centers and childcare centers who don't have access to English education elsewhere.

HOPE sounds like a good organization to work for, if anyone is interested.

Global Warming news -mostly about Gangwon

Blogger note: In the 'create a new post' window, the two quotes below are the same colour, although the fonts are different. I have this problem frequently now that I am on a Mac.

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The joongang and the Chosun have articles about unusual crops in Gangwondo.

The Joongang has this to say:

Melons now grow in greenhouses in Yanggu County, Gangwon, and apples grow outdoors. Tangerines are being grown in Gangneung, Gangwon.

All of this shows that semitropical temperatures are moving north, leaving some to wonder what the temperature will be like in 100 years. The meteorological administration says that if the temperature continues its meteoric rise, the average temperature in Korea will be about 4 degrees higher. Ski resorts in Jeolla and Gangwon may have to shut down. Pine trees, which are symbolic of the Korean soul for many Koreans, could also disappear.

Apples growing outdoors is a sign of increased temperatures? I confess that I chiefly remember only wild apple trees rather than orchards in my part of Canada, but I have trouble thinking of apple trees as sub-tropical.

"Ski resorts may have to shut down"? Well, perhaps we can be done with Olympics bids, then.

From the Chosun, we learn that Gangneung has planted a field of sunflowers along the Namdae River:

The 8,000 sq. m field is made up of one million sunflowers and it is drawing people out of their cars to get a closer look. These sunflowers are different in that they only come up to a person’s waist, whereas ordinary sunflowers usually grow to the average person’s head.

Alright, maybe sunflowers aren't tropical either (and the article made no such connection) but they have the word 'sun' right in the name. Read critically, people!

I will work, next week, on finding and photographing one or both of these crops.

Roboseyo* has (re)posted a video about global warming that compares the costs and benefits of acting on global warming with whether or not such warming is taking place. The speaker in the video makes a fair point but I feel the worst-case-scenarios (while possible) aren't the way to convince fence-sitters.

On the other hand, I would have added that if we take action against global warming and it never does occur (and that Gore and the others, the many, many others, were wrong), we still come out ahead. I say this because most of the action needed to reduce or slow global warming have other great benefits - reducing fuel emissions is good for more than keeping us cool, it also prolongs how long we actually have fuel, reduces other forms of pollution, and walking and cycling rather than driving may make us healthier.

This is a point that GI Korea (link is to a search on his site for global warming) might not get. Either that, or he wants to argue the problem on it's own merits (is global warming happening or not) and not go off on tangents. Anyway, his blog is the best place for clear-headed anti-global warming information (not that I agree with it, mind you).

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Added later:

the Korea Times also has an article, an editorial this time, about Korea becoming subtropical. The writer is concerned that Lee Myoung-bak isn't doing enough. I can't really say, but I do know that Canadians have/had trouble accepting their government's One Ton Challenge, and Canadians produce far more carbon as individuals than Koreans do. I'm not exactly blaming Canadians: citizens are fewer and spread further out than Koreans are, making automobiles far more necessary.

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Roboseyo is also involved in KIVA, which is very cool. Follow the above link to his site. KIVA is sort of micro-loan bank. Instead of giving large groups piles of money, the micro-loans go to small-business people - to buy a sewing machine or a bike or, well, I don't know, but the loans are in the order of $20 to $50 or so. I don't think the loaner, Roboseyo in this case, makes money, but he has a wonderfully high likelihood of having the loan repaid and so is able to use it again. I have wanted to get involved but have always been too lazy.

'Mentee'? A good idea, but crazy name.

The Joongang has an article about 'volunteer' service that students are required to do (it being required is why I put volunteer in scare-quotes). One student who previously hated doing volunteer work is now enjoying mentoring other students. The program is in Songpa, where I once lived and worked -and volunteered myself, as it happens.

Anyway, there are two individuals involved, the mentor and the ...mentee?

“We supervise and counsel the mentors and mentees and the mentees’ guardians, and we also distribute budgets for the outdoor activities,” said Lee Yu-mi, a welfare worker in the Pungnap welfare center. “We also share information and discuss matters about the activities and the mentors.”

...

The tutoring is generally done once a week and outdoor activities typically occur monthly. Usually the mentors teach youngsters school subjects they’re having difficulty with.

For outdoor activities, the two participate in activities that interest the mentees, such as visiting ecological parks or observing the lives of insects and plants.

...

Skeptics say most high-school students participating in community service programs activities are simply trying to meet admission requirements at universities, as many universities now like to see community service activities as part of a student’s application.

I thought the word was 'mentored'. It seems Mr Domestic Bliss is mentoring a few students as well (well, showing them bugs).

Ontario students are required to perform fifteen hours of volunteer service a year in order to graduate (I think - this is long after I graduated and I haven't lived in Canada in a long time). I am not sure what the goal is; making someone volunteer wouldn't seem to encourage volunteerism in later years in my opinion. As a coach, making your players shake hands with opposing teams is a good idea but is not guaranteed to encourage good-sportsmanship. Making someone do anything is not really the best way to encourage that behavior.

Anyway, I hope this particular program works both the mentor and mentee (hee-hee) are helped by it.

By the way, to any Sokcho or coastal Gangwon people: I used to do a fair bit of volunteering but family scheduling conflicts have caused me to ease off - to nothing. If people are looking to irregular volunteering (irregular hours, I mean - a full day here or there or a few nights one week only), I am looking to help voluntees.

The papers are full of good news!

Another inspiring story, this time from the Joongang.  Climber Um Hong-gil, completed a promise he had made 23 years ago to build a school in Nepal where a fallen Sherpa had lived.

Mr Um was previously mentioned here in March.

Good for him

Korea Herald article and photo.

Olympic Gold Medalist Bak Tae-hwan met with swimmer-with-a-disability*, Kim Sae-jin recently to offer support and coaching advice.

From the article:

Beijing Olympic gold medalist Park Tae-hwan, 20, has inspired a junior disabled swimmer.

Only recently did was it known that Park met Kim Sae-jin, 13, a junior swimmer with congenital dysplasia, on April 14 in a swimming pool in Gangnam, southern Seoul.

According to SK Telecom Sports, Park's swim team, the two swimmers met right after Kim's dream, which was a meeting with Park, also known as "Marine Boy," was conveyed to Park. Their meeting was filmed by MBC-TV. It will air on the "MBC Human Docu Sarang" program on May 15.

Kim went through hardships in life despites his age. He was born with a limb deformity and he was adopted when he was only five months old. Luckily, his supportive mother, Yang Jung-sook, 41, and his own willpower gave him the strength to lead a productive life.

The junior swimmer's hard work finally paid off; Kim won seven medals, including three gold medals, in Britain's National Junior Swimming League that took place in Sheffield in March.

Meeting with Park was dream come true for Kim. This promising swimmer always wished for three things; meeting Park Tae-hwan, participating in London Paralympics (Olympics for the disabled) and becoming a member of the national swimming team.

I have nothing but good things to say about this.

The more I read about Mr Bak though, the more I realize I'm old fashioned about sports.  I know amateur sports teams are taking on more blatant sponsorship deals every year, but I still don't like it.  What kind of name for a swim team is SK Telecom Sports? By the way, I would love to get back into coaching, so if SK Telecom wanted a Canada-trained coach/ ESL teacher, I might be available.

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Around 15 years ago, Canadian sports groups changed the names for describing athletes with disabilities.  It was felt that " disabled swimmer", for example, with 'disabled' at the beginning, unduly emphasized the disability.  "Swimmer with a disability", puts the person first.  It's a good idea but around 14 years ago, I usually saw "SWAD" in competition programs and to call someone a SWAD seems little improvement.

Wobbling weakly through my work day

I gave blood today. That and yelling to be heard over the roar of fighter jets training overhead have exhausted me. Time for a nap on my sofa before I take the shuttle bus (and nap on it) home.

Oh, the answers to the questions are two "Yes" and the rest "No". The last question is whether you have been out of the country in the past three years. Stating yes on this one is typically not going to disqualify you from donating.

Snow Day

Today started normally, except for all the spinning tires and horns I heard through the night.

I got up, got KwandongAlex ready for daycare and we went out the door. My plan was to take him to daycare, then go to the health club for an hour or so and get ready for work. Passing all those cars stuck in deep snow made me feel the health club part was a little ridiculous - similar to the ride an elevator-drive a car- ride an elevator to exercise routine that many follow.

So, I dropped off the little guy, went back to my apartment, hung up my jacket and backpack of exercise gear and picked up a shovel.

Here is how deep the snow was.


That's more snow than we normally get in a year.

Anyway, the big problem with parking lots and snow is there is no place to put the snow. I helped a guy clear a route for his car by blocking in another car. Once his car was out of the way, I began digging out the doubly-snowed in car. Happily, he told me he wasn't driving today.

I moved a lot of snow; from the sidewalk, from emergency exits and from the parking lot. Finally, the only thing that could replace me arrived and I went home to relax.
This was better than the health club for a full-body workout. Still, the machines and weights at the club offer measurable amounts of exercise. What do I do now, slowly graduate from shovel to bigger shovel to bigger shovel?

Its weird, but I still feel I should go to the club - I may this afternoon and run, if nothing else. Once I returned home, I found that my university has declared a snow-day and so I have no classes this afternoon.

I'm not exactly fishing for compliments here; a coworker was flabbergasted that I would shovel stranger's cars out with, and for, them*. They aren't complete strangers as we share an apartment building and some of them were clearly older than I; surely anyone with the time would help. Wouldn't they?
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*I don't think the co-worker reads my blog and so doesn't know my feelings about traffic and automobiles and the like. I guess from that point, it is a little strange me helping drivers. The contradiction is similar to my doing volunteer work, teaching ESL, at a local church. I'm a complicated man.

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.

Camp Kyle looks a mess.

I gotta disagree with GI Korea; Camp Kyle looks like a "no use area" to me.


Just kidding. Of course, this is Taean, where many are working to clean up the mess from an oil spill. If this pic were taken on Friday, my wife might be amongst those shown. On another day, it could be American soldiers (GI Korea, again), doing their unsung part to help.

As Rick (formerly of Ayankabroad blog) noted in a comment elsewhere on my blog, there is a lot of garbage in the bottom right of the photo. In that picture, I suggested that what looked like long construction blankets were part of the cleanup. In this picture, well, it sure looks like garbage.

Hurray for the volunteers!

I'm not really sure why I am still in Sokcho and not spending the night in a Minbak or something near Mallipo.
Ironically, one reason I am not helping clean up the oil spill on the west coast is that my wife is in the Coast Guard, an organization that is busy with the clean-up. She is not over there but to show support (or something, I can't quite figure it out), they are staying late in their offices, often until 10 pm. I have to be available to watch the little guy and so neither of us are doing anything particularly constructive about the oil spill.

The Korea Times has an article about volunteers who are helping. I wish them all the best.

a limited method for weight loss

In Canada, I donated blood fairly regularly, encouraged by the examples set by my parents and grandparents.
Here, I've been more cautious. The Red Cross of Canada had some problems somewhat before I started to donate and I was concerned about hygiene and sterile condition here.
I watched how the process worked and was satisfied; single use needles, bags and tubing, and even the swabs used to disinfect were unsealed in front of me and immediately discarded.

I looked at the Bloodmobile as being a little too temporary or somehow lacking in solidity (and the bus did rock as candidates boarded or left -400grams lighter). Still, the blood donor clinic in my hometown arrived in trucks and was set up only for the day in a recreation centre, and the staff here were skilled and experienced.

In the picture below, we see a candidate on the left, filling out the required form. Soon, he will go into the private chamber behind him, take a blood-density test and confirm a few of the questions verbally. The nurse inside the privacy booth spoke no English but was comforted by my Canadian blood donor card and insistence that I was an appropriate candidate. She checked the boxes in the questionnaire in the correct order of 'yes's and 'no's (for the record, I think it was no, yes, then no all the way down).
To the right, in the picture are two people who have completed their donation and recovering with drinks and snacks.


The nurse here found my vein (or artery, I don't know) with no trouble. I've never had trouble in that regard, though so I really can't say she was much better or worse than Canadian nurses. I'm quite proud of my blood donor abilities, in fact. Plug me in and don't go far because it won't take long - funny, my wife was saying the same thing, the other day.

In Canada, one can donate blood every two months or so. I don't know how long one must wait here. I will donate again but I can wait; I was unusually dizzy for the afternoon and evening. The inside of my elbow remains bruised four days later.

Keeping it fresh: Volunteering may be illegal in Korea

This isn't all that recent and many bloggers have commented on this subject already but no one has mentioned any closure or follow-up on volunteering in Korea.

To refresh people's memories, here is an excerpt from the Korea Times:

Foreigners may face deportation or fines if they volunteer at orphanages or organize performances without reporting them to the authorities.

The interpretation came from Joo Jae-bong, an official at the Ministry of Justice. He said there should be no problem with joining a poetry club but that volunteer activites should be registered with the ministry.

``If it 's just a gathering of friends, there should be no problem,’’ he
said. ``But if they are organizing performances, they need to register to do
those things because they are changing the purpose of their stay here.’’

He said the same rule applies to those who wish to volunteer in an orphanage.
Foreigners need to register those activities with the ministry.

Is volunteering at an orphanage the only prohibited or regulated activity?

I recognize that, in not doing any research myself, I am in no position to point any fingers. Well, I guess I have something to do tomorrow after work.

Is volunteering illegal in Korea?

This is my third post this evening, but it is the one I find to be actually important for foreigners here.

Some foriegners in Busan put on a play or comedy performance and were busted for not having the right visa or permission for it. I'm neutral on the subject but while being questioned by the police, they were told volunteering without first asking for permision from a customs office was also not allowed.

Volunteering is a fairly important part of my life. I guess I shouldn't say whether I am currently volunteering in the current atmosphere (although I did a few posts -back in those happier times).

The Korean blogosphere is active on the subject with the best post on the subject coming from Nathan, the Seoul Hero.

Nathan also comments in a separate post about students asking for better grades. I guess it is common to be able to do so in Korea as my university has the same policy. Now, I do make mistakes so I don't mind the ocassional student asking me to double check my math but there are also students who want to suddenly make up for a semester of slacking. Twice now, once this year and once a few years ago, I had students offer to do a new assignment over the winter holiday if only I would increase their grade. This semester, four students have asked me to change their grades. For two of them, I am sympathetic and will see if there is anything I can do; they were hard workers in class and I am happy to return to their exams and see if I find a mistake on my part for them.
For the other, I will make the effort but with less sympathy. In one such case, the student's father called me and asked if I could make changes. That student is in for a rough winter break if I can't but that isn't my problem.

Foreign Workers repair flood damage

I just posted about native speaker English teachers possibly being whiners. Here is a story of some foreigners who really work hard in Korea. This group, at least, doesn't seem to be whining.

The foreign workers that day were all connected with the Ansan Foreign Workers Center in Ansan, Gyeonggi province. They volunteered to help with restoration of flood damage on a program managed by the JoongAng Ilbo and the Korean Association of Volunteer Centers.
On July 17, the Bangladeshi workers first discussed volunteering when they saw many flood victims suffering from loss and damage. In a meeting, about 30 workers decided to volunteer.

Also, Jodi at Asia Pages recently commented on meeting some a group of foreign workers near Busan.