Students showing their love for their school

Three buildings at a Gangneung university form a 'U' so I was able to look from one building into the windows of the next. In fact, this was almost rubbed in my face as it was the view coming down the stairs, where everyone passing by is facing.
What I feel makes this worse, is this is a club room, a room that a varsity club gets to use and set up as they see fit. They will be staring at their own handiwork.
-Yes, I undestand that if a group is truly allowed to decorate as they see fit, they then have the freedom to do this. Perhaps I should be impressed they chose to use an english word. If I return to that campus, I may report on the club's name.

If foul language upsets you, the post below should cheer you up.

Cruising across the linoleum in his box-boat

In case the above post upset you, here are some pics of KwandongAlex to set you right!

Kotesol Annual International Conference

Its been several days since I attended the conference but I've been a little busy. I've wanted to write about the conference but I guess I'm not as energetic as Nathan who posted his impressions each night (Saturday, Sunday).

In general, I can't say that I learned a lot of new information. However, many half-baked ideas that I had considered but not thought through had been thought through by others. As loyal readers have not doubt noticed, I am interested in using video and other web-based sources and materials in my classes. Colin Skeates, working in Japan, gave a great seminar on the subject as did Russel Huber, also working in Japan, and I'll go into more detail below.

Many of the seminars were more edutainment than educational. My own teaching techniques lean heavily toward entertaining my students but that is because my class is not an elective and many students are not internally motivated; I have to make the material interesting. Attendees to this conference had personally paid to be there and, in my case, had travelled for several hours. I feel we were eager for information and what we got was sometimes diluted.
Perhaps I am being crotchety. I certainly enjoyed the seminars and laughed heartily many times. Even the legendary Dr. Jack Richards gave a lecture full of humor.

First, I attended a seminar by Lee Jolie, who discussed Communicative Language Teaching. I am still not completely sure what CLT means but I'm interested in researching more myself.

Next, a terrible lecture by Lee Hyun-joo on the subject of Cultural Imperialism in ESL Textbooks. She made a good point that local cultural images and information, in English, should be used to some extent in class. As a counter image, she described a book from a well-known publishing company in which every chapter started with American-based example. The book had information on international subjects but any time there was a datum from outside of the US, it came after an American datum. She thought there was something wrong with this but I feel most ESL students specifically want cultural information from English-speaking countries.

Then, I attended the Seoul Hero's lecture on common errors made by Korean learners of English. It was interesting to see the catalog but I've been here a while, there wasn't anything new for me. The catalog would be of value to new teachers here and can be found here.

Jack Richards talked about listening to English in class requires two skill sets: listening for information and listening to learn English - these are two overlapping but different sets of goals.

I've spent several years here but still don't have TEFL qualifications. My teaching qualifications are real but for a different subject. This year, its time to decide how to improve myself as a teacher so I went to the University of Birmingham Distance MA programmes seminar. Since that time, I have also learned of a program called DELTA which also appears to be of value. We'll see.

Tim Thompson have a useful and amusing talk entitled, "Examining Korean University Students Expectations of Native Speaker English Teachers". The three most important things his subjects want in their NS teachers are: "Speaks to students in a friendly manner", "Plans every minute of class" and "Explains things clearly". The three things they cared least about were: "Wears a suit/dress", "Is handsome/pretty", and "doesn't hesitate or say 'ummm'". The last bothered Mr Thompson so he wanted to compare his own experiences with his student's. Students also wanted "an expert in his/her field" but ranked "Has a masters degree" and "Has a Ph.D" very low in the list. Thompson and his standing-room-only audience discusses this and suggested that perhaps 'Native Speaker' equals "expert" to the students.
Smile and look organised, don't worry about the suit or the Masters - I need to talk to my employer about the last two points.

I had dinner with the Gangwon Kotesol group at 'Oktoberfest', near Jonggak. I've always been a fan of dark beer and the microbrewed Duenkel was fantastic.

On Sunday, Skeates talked about video journaling. He has spent three years requiring the journals as homework and has worked out how to organise the projects to get valuable learning without going crazy. In his first year, he had seventy students each make 15 one-minute videos and exhausted himself commenting on them. By the third year, he required only eight videos per student but expected them to be of increasing length.

I attended a few other seminars and enjoyed the whole thing but I am tired so I'll finish by saying I missed my family and knew Kwandongwife would be exhausted after working all week and taking care of Kwandongson so I went home early.

[untitled]

I use Hallowe\'en as an excuse to (try to) scare students smoking in a \'no smoking\' area.

First snowfall 2006

The first snowfall atop Seoraksan was Oct 24.

Last year, we had snow in Oct but it melted quickly. I expect this to do the same. The first lasting snowfall last year was Nov 29.
Previous years: Nov 27, 2004, Nov 14, 2003 (photos)

The historic rise and fall of Chinese technology

*Blogger is having difficulties tonight. I cannot edit my writing well - no hyperlinks or bolding, etc.*

I have a long commute three days a week and I find listening to podcasts a good way to fill the time.

On such podcast is BBC4's "In our time". www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/

Despite the title, the speakers mostly discuss historic events (I think the title refers to how the subjects are researched and understood 'in our time'). The most recent episode questioned how or why China was far and away the world leader in science and technology from the twelth century to only a few hundred years ago. European technology only pulled ahead in the nineteenth century.

One item of discussion was gunpowder. The Chinese understood how to use it as a propellent in fireworks but the main reason it was made was as part of Chinese alchemy and medicine. Once the secret of gunpowder reached Europe, its usefulness, um, exploded.

Also mentioned in some detail were printing presses and ceramics. Although Korea itself is not mentioned, the parrellels are clear.

"In Our Time", as a download, is available for a week. After that, you can still listen as a stream but not a download.

Storm Damage

The parking lot at Daepo Harbour was apparently washed out from below. In many places the paving stones are buckled up in an arch that seems to indicate pressure from below. This parking lot is right next to the ocean.

These merfolk are normally sitting vertically on a rock just out of frame on the left. The whole meaning of the statue is changed with it in a horizontal position. Only those nineteen and over can view the ocean from this vantage point, now.

On a much grimmer note, here are the remains of a fishing boat and navigation bouy.

According to that wimp, Melvin, swimming may be over for the year. I don't want to swim amongst the stuff I saw today, but I'm still eager to try one one time.

two streets in one light cycle

Giving you the details the major guides won't. Forget about Moon guide or Lonely Planet - get it here!

Using online resources is ... interesting. I had to record the audio separately - at ODEO - and upload it to Jumpcut. Jumpcut didn't recognise two audio files in one movie so I had to make one audio recording, counting silently to avoid stepping on the video's audio in the middle.
Another fifty of these and more than my mother will want to watch.

The pettiness of Kwandongbrian

I've written before about how annoyed I get when people park in the 'no-parking' zone. It's a small thing but it bothers me. The four signs are normally in a row along the curb but I dragged them around the Korando.
The good news is, I restrained myself from tying them to the front and back bumpers. That may be my next trick.

Driving from Pusan to Paris? Coming soon.

On my way home yesterday, I saw a sign just north of Yangyang describing the road as 'Asian Highway (AH6) and listing five countries it leads to: Korea, Russia, Kazakstan, and others.

I will take a picture soon when I pass it in good light (it's pretty dark after six these days).

I have on this blog suggested that Korean businesses and government don't always plan ahead. Clearly, the civil engineers here are looking forward quite optimistically, considering that the sign went up a week after the Norks tested their nuke.

Another Thursday, another afternoon at the beach

Alternate title, "three amigos"

The water was fine but the air cooled quickly after three pm. I figure we'll get two more weeks in but conditions will be chancy after that.

Click on the photos to enlarge
Melvin in the surf.


I call this one, "hand or foot?" You can see that the waves were breaking right at the shore - his hand (foot?) is inches above beachsand.
Bill swam better than he looks in this photo - sadly it is the only one of him.
Me.

More terrible frisbee action featuring Kwandongbrian.
Hi there!

Bikes and buses

I started this post a few days ago and am finishing it today. The story is about my trip to work that day.

I'm not the idealistic young man I thought I was. Actually, I knew I wasn't that young anymore, the loss of idealism surprised me.

To get to work, I take two buses, a city bus from Sokcho to Yangyang and the university bus to the Gangneung campus. The city bus (route number 9, if you care), while pulling into a recessed stop on the side of the road, squeezed a cyclist and knocked him over.

Readers of this blog know that I am concerned with cyclist's rights and have commented on bike-unfriendly driving here. They may also know I am somewhat trained in first aid and that I am concerned about the lack of first aid knowledge of most Koreans and the strange actions of Korean ambulance staff here.

The young Kwandongbrian would have jumped out of the bus to check on the cyclist and possibly to harrangue thebusdriver.

The Kwandongbrian of today didn't want to give up his seat.

Eventually, like a frightened rabbit timidly leaving its hole, I stepped across to the window. A woman was pushing back to return to her seat so I blocked her path and scuttled back to MY seat. Later, I made it to the window and saw the cyclist with his shoe off, rubbing his foot. The bike looked fine, although a tire could easily have been warped enough to prevent use but not enough to be seen.

I returned to my seat and began to think, "Why doesn't the driver get back into the bus and get me to work?"

The driver did come in and tell us to exit the bus and hop in the one parked behind so I ended up standing anyway.

In Yangyang, I met the university shuttlebus for the ride to the Gangneung campus.

The bus reached a red light. It did not stop but moved as far to the right as possible, eventually making a shallow semicircle in the empty perpendicular lanes and continuing with only a slight dip in the speed.

As a cyclist, I used to do that very occassionally. I usually pay close attention to the traffic laws as a cyclist. I also hate it when drivers run red lights.

However, when my busdriver (or the occassional taxidriver) does it, I feel grateful. Oh, and a steadily decreasing sense of guilt.

Get a good sleep in class, still join the gallery

This guy fell asleep in class and I woke him. Then he fell asleep again. We continued about fifteen minutes of class and I finished class early, telling the students they could leave quietly. I went out and had a quick lunch and returned to the classroom and he was still there.

Jellyfish

Found in Cheongcho Lake next to ferryboat racecourse.

Why park here of all places?

Parking here blocks the sightlines for two lanes of traffic and hides pedestrians as they start to cross the street. Why park here?

Well, there are two reasons. The first is a group of reasons that seem to be easily clumped together. They include "everyone does it", "pedestrians and drivers both expect it and know to keep their eyes open" and "no-one is ever punished for it".
The second reason is actually the unexpected consequence of measures to prevent parking elsewhere on the street. In the back-right of the picture you can see pylons dividing the two lanes. These pylons prevent people from turning except at designated points anyone who parks where the pylons are, blocks the whole lane. Both streets, on either side of the intersection, have pylons running down the centerline.

Because people can't park between the intersections they are forced to park at the intersections. Goshdarned annoying, really.

So, in a grumpy mood, I wheeled my son past the car and went to Expo Park. I took him out of his stroller and we walked at a grassy part of the shoreline. I became much grumpier when I saw the refuse some partiers left behind and planned to blog about that, too. My mood improved when I saw Sokcho City employees cleaning the walkway and heading to the mess the partiers had left. Kudos to the cleanup crew. Still, garbage cans would be nice.

Ferryboat racing next week at Cheongcho Lake

A tourist attraction in Sokcho is the hand-powered ferry that connects Abai Village to northern Sokcho. The ferry crosses the narrow channel that permits boats entry to Cheongcho Lake. The ferry was featured in a movie or TV series; I think it was called, "Autumn story". Anyway, riding the ferry is mild fun and is part of a pleasant shoreline walk.

Next week, two replica ferries will be raced on a short course at Expo Park at Cheongcho Lake. The banner seems to say (my Korean language skills are not what they should be) that 32 teams can enter. A team consists of five members. Oct 14 and 15 are both on the banner so I don't know if the racing will take two days with heats on Saturday and finals on Sunday or what. The course is about 50 metres long and probably contestants have to travel to the bouy and back.

The race looks like a lot of fun. I have commitments next week so I cannot compete but I suggest the Gangwon KOTESOL enter a team (BTW, the next Gangwon KOTESOL meeting is that Saturday- perfect timing).

Oh, I said a team is 5 members, but I only saw four, uh, pull-tools. Maybe the fifth person cheers. I reccommend the fifth person bring a squirt gun to shoot the other team - that would be fun.

A cable is attached to the dock and to the bouy ( and anchored at both ends). The cable goes over the ferry. Simple metal tools with a handle and bent into a rectangle at one end are used to pinch the cable so one can tug and walk the cable to the stern, pulling the boat forward. A suggestion to contestants would be to ride the original ferry before the contest to be sure of how to hold the tool. I thought I was the sort to understand mechanical things but embarrrassingly close to half the time, I hold the tool backwards.

Here is the course:




And here is the banner if you want more information. The website (only in Korean) is here.

Employment discrimination

In my listening class, we are watching a PBS ESL video series called Connect with English. It chronicles the life of Rebecca Casey. Information about the series, and Video-On-Demand, can be found here (I'm not selling the product; I certainly don't love the product, but the info may be of interest to co-workers who read this blog).


When looking for a job, she was asked some inappropriate questions. Homework for that episode was listening to various job interview questions and determining which were illegal (I made the homework, it had nothing to do with PBS- just wanted that clear). That same week, I found this poster advertising job openings at the local E-mart. The ad specifically requires men between 20 and 35 years of age.

Shopping at Di Feel Good Morning Mart

There is a supermarket near my apartment that I frequent. It is well-stocked and has about half the floor space of E-mart's grocery floor. Until two weeks ago, it was called 'D-mart'. Then the name changed to 'Feel Mart'. The staff, layout and stock did not change. On Tuesday, I noticed the name has changed again, to 'Good Morning Mart'.

Is this simply another example of how quickly things change here? In Canada, I was under the impression that frequent name changes were part of a bankruptcy process, or somehow a way to dodge creditors. Could that be what's happening? Any guesses?

Which radical religious group uses this image?

There are moderates as well as radicals in every group.
I don't mean to attack the more moderate members of this religious group but, WOW!
Religion of peace?
Thou shall not kill?
I don't want to link to them. The site's name is "answers in..." and often uses the initials, "AIG" -they don't sell any kind of insurance I would want to buy!


(Click on the image to expand)

A Wild Animal Rescue Center has opened in Gangwon Province.

For a moment I imagined a sort of SWAT team or firefighting crew ready to rescue animals from kidnappers or stuck, like a kitten in a tree.

Probably, the initial contact with the animals they rescue will induce similar levels of adrenalin and the like. Injured herons have been known to kill, using their beak, driven through an eye-socket, to create a terminal lobotomy, and other animals may carry diseases from rabies to lyme disease (As an aside, the entrance to a local hiking trail warns of ticks and the diseases they carry). Also, the injured animals are unlikely to be sitting by the road, waiting for a pickup. They may receive the injuries by the road, but they won't wait there.

Anyway, Kangwon National University, Gangwon Province and the Environment Ministry have together built what sounds like an amazing rehabilitation center for injured wild animals. Currently, there are fifty animals receiving treatment, including a moose with a broken leg. I have to wonder how wild the moose is. Feral seems more likely.

Anyway, the Center sounds like a great place but visitors are apparently not encouraged. The Joongang tells us the center is in Gangwon Province but gives no further location information.
This is unsurprising. From the Aspen Valley Wildlife Center (located in my home district, Muskoka):

As our primary concern is rehabilitation, visiting is limited to: Wednesday and Sunday afternoons between 1 - 4; between the May long weekend and Thanksgiving weekend....Animals which we feel might be harmed by human attention are kept isolated - they must come first!

Volunteer organizations, like the Aspen Valley Center, have to keep some visitor hours simply to encourage donations. Perhaps the government-funded Gangwon center intends to keep animal-to-human interactions to a bare minimum.

Since I have already mentioned Muskoka, let me try to fit in a self-serving reference to another Muskoka rehab center, this one for birds. A Wing and A Prayer, run by Janice Enright is another volunteer organization and one that I briefly volunteered at. They never called me out to pick up an injured animal so my main contribution was in performing some basic carpentry. I hope it was a contribution; I had to cut chipboard for the interior walls and I have never been known for making straight cuts. I think the room I completed was draft-proof, I hope it was. Anyway, tying this thread into the main one; at A Wing and a Prayer, they kept human face-time with the birds down to an absolute minimum and were nationally recognized for raising loons from eggs to maturity without the birds imprinting on humans.

Swimming at Bracebridge Falls

My first attempt with Jump Cut. Prepare yourself for a thrillride (well, it was somewhat thrilling for me) and try to ignore my friend\'s cheesy narration.

ESL cartoon

Blogging has gotten boring lately. I haven't read anything in the papers that interests me and I seem to be stuck in a rut of posting photos of smokers next to 'No Smoking' signs and cars next to 'No parking' signs. I can do that forever but what's the point?

I will post a few cartoons, most as bad or worse than this one, simply to try something new here.

At work, we are using 'Talk it up' for our freshman classes. I don't really like it and my cartoon illustrates why. The book includes the line, "I always drink coffee." The sentence is fine but is strange on its own. If it came prefaced with a question like, "What do you do in the morning?", it would make sense. Without any context, this is what "I always drink coffee" means to me.

Kevin doesn't have much to worry about.

What is "Yong-gwa"?

I saw the box of fruit for sale at a local supermarket. The fruit looks otherworldly to me. Apparently, it is grown in Chejudo. On the right, is a fruit from a tree at Gwandong University. Clearly, the fruit are different but similar. Are these the cultivated and wild varieties of the same fruit?

Anyway, what is a 'Yong-gwa'? Do you peel and eat them? Are they worth buying? Or, does anyone dare me to eat one and can I make money out of it somehow?

Sleep in class, join the gallery

Not ready to learn English (2)

I don't know if anyone really checked the intersection to see which areas should be kept clear for safe cornering or what. And, I hate the people who park on the inclined curbs at crosswalks more. But, it just bugs me that people park in front of the "No Parking sign". Here's another Korean who needs to learn to read Korean.

Just in time to put your fans away.

The person who wrote the article on fan death at Wikipedia links to this blog for some reason. I didn't write the article, honest!

Anyway, having many visitors from wikipedia made me curious about the article. I was very surprised to read that a professor from my university is quoted in the article. About a week ago I met him and interviewed him on the subject. Here is how he is quoted at wikipedia:

Dr. Yeon Dong-su, dean of Kwandong University's medical school in South Korea. "Many people say that these victims die from lack of oxygen, but that is not true. Hypothermia does not only occur in the winter when it is cold. The symptoms can also take place if a person has been drinking and turns on a fan in a closed room. Most people wake up when they feel cold, but if you are drunk you will not wake up, even if your body temperature drops below 35 degrees Celsius, at which point you can die from hypothermia. It doesn't matter so much about the temperature of the room. If it is completely sealed, then in the current of an electric fan, the temperature can drop low enough to cause a person to die of hypothermia." Note: It is likely that the symptoms discussed by this doctor are actually due to excessive alcohol consumption, which can decrease body temperature.

As you will hear, he didn't really say all the things he said. I don't know if the article is the result of a bad translation or a reporter claiming Dr Yeon said things he didn't.

Oh, in our discussion, I talk about, and show a printout of, a post from the Marmot, dated somewhere around Aug 17 of this year. I couldn't find it to link here - sorry about that.

I tried to use a few sound effects - specifically me on the Danso to denote breaks in the interview. The recording sounded fine on it's own but really slowed down when pasted into this interview. Is that an 'Audacity' flaw or something I can fix?

Download the MP3 (Blogger is giving me trouble again): http://media.odeo.com/files/2/3/2/868232.mp3


powered by ODEO

Not ready to learn English

I'm not saying the man in the bottom right wants to learn english, but he should probably learn to read Korean first, even if he doesn't care about English. The sign in front of the door of the truck reads 'No Parking' and the base for another sign is under the side of the truck bed.

Another Thursday, another afternoon at the beach

On our third trip to the beach, there were five of us in the water and waves big enough to bodysurf on.

Or possibly ski with. The waves broke so close to shore, we slid on the sand with our hands. After an hour of swimming and surfing, we started tossing a frisbee around, and then working on catching the frisbee while leaping into the surf.

Billy has trick knees and he thinks he has a good arm so he made the throws. On my first run to the surfline and leap, the frisbee was right there, a beautiful throw and (if I may say so) a beautiful catch.

Once the cameras came out, his arm tired quickly.

Nate was still catching anything that came near.



Here's one we both missed. Here are my legs after the surf tackled me.


Billy had made some great passes and I was consistently sure the next one would be just right so I tried again and again. It never occurred to me to change my approach, which was to take a long run to the water's edge. I thought I was giving Billy time to judge where to throw. Here I am struggling to my feet after the umpteenth wild leap.

Finally a completed pass. Here I am, just relieved that it was over.


The water was plenty warm and I am sure we will have at least two more Thursdays of swimming.

can you see me now?

All I'm getting is a plain, blank screen.

sleep in class, get posted on the web!

More on Hormone Mimics

I blogged recently about hormone mimics in pollution causing various reproductive problems. That post was about fish and bio-magnification and I refered to the book 'Our Stolen Future' by Colborn. She also wrote about the use of plastics and the hormone mimics they contain.

The book is about ten years old but the news has just reached Korea, and hard.

Plastic phobia is sweeping the nation after SBS broadcast a two-part special on environmental hormones on Sept. 10 and 17. The show says environmental hormones in plastic products can cause menstrual cramps, genital abnormalities and precocious puberty. Heating nursing bottles made of polycarbonate generates an environmental hormone called Bisphenol A.
Polycarbonate is used for a wide range of products including bottles, sunglasses, blow dryers and electronic fans because it is both transparent and thermostable. Bisphenol A is also used to coat the inner part of cans and water pipes and to produce bottle caps. Environmental hormones are also detected in detergents, perfumes and cosmetic products.

Look what the Yankabroad has started.

Recently, the Yankabroad was nominated for an award for his vigilance regarding pollution on his local beaches. Now this.

From the Korea Times (paper issue -I was unable to find it online so no link):

Coast Guard, Fisheries Institute Sign MOU

The Korea Coast Guard and the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute signed a memorandum of cooperation in preserving the marine environment.
...The MOU calls for active cooperation if either party needs equipment for vessles, aircraft and test facilities for the preservation of the marine environment.

I hope the institute is truly committed to protecting the environment and not a front for fishing groups. I've posted before that fishermen are as moral as any of us but are under sufficient pressure to have trouble looking at the long term. "Catch fish now!" might be a good slogan for professional fishermen around the world, but severe limits are important now to preserve fish stocks for future generations.

See Mom, I shouldn't wear a helmet

This article reminds me of reports that better protective clothing for sports (shoulder pads and the like for football and hockey) leads to harder hits, making the value of the protection questionable.

In England, drivers of cars gave cyclists with helmets less room to maneuver than bareheaded cyclists.

I agree with the report's conclusion that a cyclist with a helmet looks better prepared and probably has more experience, skill and awareness than a bareheaded cyclist. These assumptions may not be true; I personally am not (and was not) the hotshot on a bike I once thought I was. Still, I do my best to position myself on the road with a driver's-eye view of where I will be most visible and I try to be predictable.

Two weeks ago I was squeezed a little, possibly because I wear a helmet. I was approaching a parked Bongo or other flatbed truck on a multi-lane citystreet when I noticed another truck passing very close to me. The mirror didn't touch me but it was close. Strangely, the truck wasn't flying past me but seemed to be slowing down and getting closer. As my elbow rubbed on the back of the moving truck, I shrieked (in an embarrassingly shrieky falsetto) and banged my arm on the side of the truck. It stopped. The driver had been parking it in front of the first truck so it was at a sharp angle in front of me. At very low speed I struggled between the front bumper of one truck and the bed of the second and went on. The driver had a really annoying foolish grin on as I went by.

A few minutes later, a car behind me honked at me to get out of the way. As there was a slow-moving bus in front of me and nowhere for either of us to go, I just gave him a glare. We stopped at a red light a few meters later and, full of anger from the previous close call, I actually got off my bike and turned to face the now-very-apologetic-looking driver. I calmed down, satisfied that the big foreigner had possibly scared the unprepared driver. Then I went home.

Anyway, here are some quotes from the article.

Cyclists who wear protective helmets are more likely to be knocked down by
passing vehicles, new research from Bath University suggests.
The study found drivers tend to pass closer when overtaking cyclists wearing helmets than those who are bare-headed.

"By leaving the cyclist less room, drivers reduce the safety margin that
cyclists need to deal with obstacles in the road, such as drain covers and
potholes, as well as the margin for error in their own judgements.

"We know helmets are useful in low-speed falls, and so definitely good for
children, but whether they offer any real protection to somebody struck by a car
is very controversial.

Dr Walker thinks the reason drivers give less room to cyclists wearing
helmets is because they see them as "Lycra-clad street warriors" and believe
they are more predictable than those without.

The researcher had also worn a long wig and found drivers gave a female-looking rider an average of 14cm more space. The researcher was wise enough to say he could not yet say why but that possibly drivers felt a female would be less predictable.

Thanks again, Melvin

This evening, I had an incredible craving for Kyochon chicken. I looked through the house for a flyer and couldn't find one. with Kwandongson sleeping and Kwandongwife away, I couldn't leave the house. So, naturally, I looked online. All I could find on the first page of google results was a link for Kyochon stocks. Useless. I couldn't think of where to go next.

After a few pages, I saw a link that looked a little familiar. My good friend had blogged about wonderful Kyochon chicken and included a photo of the box- with a website in plain view. Woo-hoo!

I had been trying kyochon.co.kr but the suffix actually was .com .

Soon, I will be enjoying Korea's best chicken.

Pak-the-Elcamino on swimming at Anmok

Melvin must be a great photographer; somehow I don't look fat in his photos.

He wanted to try swimming through October but the current cold spell is really getting to him.

Read it here.

Swimming at Anmok Beach

After work on Thursday, I went to a Gangneung Beach at Anmok with coworkers. It's much more interesting to swim and chat than swim alone, that's for sure.

I used a disposable underwater camera; finished the roll, in fact. I was able to get it developed that night. Below are photos taken with an underwater disposable camera I bought in Canada (on the left) and one I bought in Korea (right). Click on the image to expand.



Both rolls were developed in Korea, but the camera bought in Canada seems to have taken much better quality photos. The water was reasonably clear in all the photos and the bottom-right was taken in a pool. I'm disappointed in the Korean shots. I just wanted to bring this up because Pak-the-elCamino was interested in a disposable, underwater camera.

We had a good swim, and for two of us, Bill and I, it was the beginning of the weekend so we could just relax. That's Bill in the top-right picture, by the way.

Before going home I had the chance to feel ten years old again. I didn't want to ride a bus for over an hour in wet, salty shorts so I went to the public bathroom to change, only to be stopped by a woman who didn't want sand on the floors. After threatening to get changed in the doorway, I gave in and looked for another place to change. I found a little changing shack behind the washrooms. The woman actually walked out back to be sure I wouldn't be sneaking in the back way. Here's the youthful part: out of spite, and especially because she had chosen to keep an eye on me just as if I were ten, after I got changed and she wasn't looking, I threw a handful of sand in one of the bathroom windows! Ya-hoo! That'll teach 'er!

Then I hopped in a car and got a lift to the bus terminal...but I'll be back.

Maybe they're not ready to learn English...

...They seem to not understand Hangeul.

These were the defiant ones, or those just not ready to head off. The cutie in the last picture actually posed for me.

Low Birthrates revisited

This spring I posted about Korea's low birthrate and it's decline in the size of it's workforce. I want to revisit this point today with a few other factors that may need to be considered.

In fact, I will be covering a lot of ground in this post and I hope I link my ideas together coherently (I feel under a lot of pressure to post SOMETHING soon; even my mother has commented on the lack of posts recently).

I read a remarkable and frightening book ten years ago called Our Stolen Future by Theo Colborn. It was about the effects of hormone mimics and other manmade chemicals.

What are the effects of these chemicals? One is an disproportional response to stress. Under normal stress levels, people affected by these chemicals behave normally. If they experience a little more stress, they can have wide temper swings. Who does this sound like?

Racial slurs aside, there are other effects and I'll touch on them before mentioning the sources of these mimics. Reduced sperm count and an increase in problems with pregnancies are the main effects. You may draw the same connection I did to reduced birthrates.

Another effect I suspect can be linked to hormone mimics is the measured decrease in penis size in polar bears.

Alright, here is the source. People who show the greatest effects had parents who ate a great deal of fish. Again, who does this sound like? Colborn's studies were based on Great Lakes fish but the results should transfer well.

Why are fish such a threat? Biomagnification. From Wikipedia: "

Fat soluble (lipophilic) substances cannot be excreted in urine, a water-based medium, and so accumulate in fatty tissues of an organism if the organism lacks enzymes to degrade them. When eaten by another organism, fats are absorbed in the gut, carrying the substance, which then accumulates in the fats of the predator. Since at each level of the food chain there is a lot of energy loss, a predator must consume many prey, including all of their lipophilic substances."

Fish are a threat because they are carnivores. Cows only have a cowsized load of pollutants. When we look at rabbits for example; a fox can have, I don't know, a load of 10 rabbits of pollutants. If a larger animal eats several foxes (strange, I know but this is only an example), it would pick up all the pollutants all the fox's prey had. And fish are carnivores all the way up: we don't normally eat bears or tigers, but we do eat fish.

As Colborn wrote, the only way for a woman to decrease her load of these pollutants is by giving birth (and transferring it to the baby). There is another way and it's horrible: What do we give babies that has a high fat content? Breast milk.

As I stated at the beginning, this post is about the declining birthrate in Korea. I hope it is driven by more couples choosing to be DINKs (Double Income, No Kids) and not be the result of environmental poisons. If I've scared you, read Colborn's book.

On another, still-serious, but much lighter note, here are a few links that suggest a decreased birthrate is a good thing.

Dr Rose, on CBC's Quirks and Quarks (bottom of the page for his interview), discusses how the lifespan of insects can be prolonged by an order of magnitude and how these results could apply to humans, over a long period. A very funny line comes up when describing how to reduce wear and tear on our bodies. It went something like, "The insects had to follow Graduate School social rules: All the sex they wanted but no procreation."

Dr. Rose's work will not affect us much now but only after several generations. Ray Kursweil (I think it should have a 'z' - maybe I mis-transcribed the name) suggests that our current generation may live forever. This Popsci podcast is amusing but I think I heard from him on NPR's Science Friday as well.

If Dr Rose and Mr Kursweil are right, we need to seriously reduce our birthrate, probably even beyond Korea's current rate. With a tiny deathrate, even replacement procreation needs to be carefully debated.

_________

On a completely different topic. I've been thinking about Steve Irwin's death for the past few hours; since I first heard of it. I was never a Crocodile Hunter fan and I am ambivalent about his work, but his death has caught my attention for some reason.

"Recess" at the pool

The Joongang Daily has a weekly question and answer column that aims to explain cultural, and other, differences between Korea and the rest of the world.

This week's question is about rest periods or recesses at Korean pools. "

Swimmers in the water were asked, or so it seemed, to get out of the pool every hour or so, and the pool remained completely empty for a while. This seemed to repeat all afternoon."

This person must have spent a lot of time just sitting around watching the pool.

I've noticed the same thing. I guess it's fine if you arrive just as the rest period ends but it's darn annoying if you arrive fifteen minutes before it starts. Swim for fifteen minutes, get into a rhythm, then bam! Get out and sit around. Why?
The answer the Joongang gives is the same I've heard at many pools here.

...the recess is for health and safety reasons. A brief rest also can help prevent hypothermia among young children, who tend to stay for a prolonged period of time at play, and also prevent accidental drowning.

"Accidental drowning" Well, I might be curious about the 'accidental' part but I know that some (most of the ones I've visited, but that really isn't a significant number for the country)pools don't have lifeguards on deck much of the time. They sit in the lifeguard office most of the time, so far as I can tell. They are unlikely to be around during a 'deliberate' drowning and need to have the patrons rest because they aren't watching the patrons most of the time.

As for preventing hypothermia, I don't know. It was never an issue in Canadian pools but Koreans are delicate when it comes to hypothermia; witness the occurrence of fandeath here.

Again, if you arrive at exactly the right time, it's no problem. If you start swimming just before rest period, you can't convince the guards that you don't need a rest just yet. Actually, if I want to get a few more laps in, I just flip turn at the wall so they can't talk to me. I pretend I don't know what they're doing for a while.

While I was on vacation in Canada this summer, three or four people died from water-related accidents relatively near my home (nearby towns and districts, not neighbors). I hope to get some actually stats about watersafety here and from home to compare more than anecdotes from the two countries. Drownings don't make the news here so, for all I know, Koreans could have safe, boring swims interrupted every hour for a rest with hardly an accident to be found. Well, I'll be looking and hope to post on the subject in September.

Coast Guard or Navy?

I've seen many articles that I felt like blogging about and I even have time, although this is my the end of my free time for a while. It's just that reading the crap recently about foreign english teachers has made me sick. For my mom and possibly other readers from outside-of-korea, you can read that whole, sorry tale Here, with some background here, and here.

Wow. That bit is just about as big as the main point of today's post.

To get my mind off that mess, let me write about something that is merely weird.
According to the Joongang Ilbo, the Korean Coast Guard is expanding it's fleet. I don't actually know how well they manage their current duties so I can't say if I think the expansion is neccessary. Last year, there were reports of Chinese fishermen in Korean waters that attacked Coast Guard officers so beefing up the Incheon fleet might be wise to prevent further attacks.

No. The increase in ships (eight new 1000tonne ships) is "primarily designed to counter the size of Japan's Coast Guard."

I can't really guess why. Conflict between nations is normally settled by naval fleets, not Coast Guards fleets. I understand that Dokdo is a contested island but I cannot imagine the Coast Guard ships duking it out over the place.

Japan has more coastline than Korea so it's natural that they have a larger force patrolling it.

I am not completely against expansion of the Coast Guard; Canada should look into it.

There is at least one good swimmer in Korea

I recently wrote a post titled "why Koreans aren't good swimmers'. I was mostly commenting on how strange it was that Naksan Beach would have a festival titled, "Sea of Fear". To me, that's as reasonable as Air Canada showing "Snakes on a Plane" or "United 93", etc, on a flight.

Anyway, I got called on it. A commenter wondered why I would say such a thing.

I replied that in informal polling, around 10% or fewer of my students could swim and mentioned some personal observations I had made based on time at various pools and beaches in the country. I even made the bold claim that I had not yet met a Korean who was my equal as a swimmer.

I can still stand by those words as I have not met this man nor any of this teammates but Park Tae-hwan is pretty damn fast! Congratulations go out to him and Korea on their first gold in swimming at an international event. 3:45.72 for 400metres of freestyle is fantastic.

New book by Limon

I made a resolution for 2006 to read a book a month about or somehow tied to Korea. I read about 80 pages of one thousand chestnut trees and the same of The Imjin War.
Chestnut trees was a library book and I had to return it before I left that district but it is one I really should have finished because parts of it were set in Yangyang Gun (the Kwandong in my name means the eight beautiful sights of Yangyang). I still have The Imjin War and will finish it...sometime.
Despite this failing, I want to recommend a book I haven't even read, yet.
Martin Limon has a series of books (Limon books at Amazon / What the Book) out about two CID detectives in '70s Itaewon. The first, Jade Lady Burning, was great. So great that I overlooked the weaknesses in the following two books, Buddha's Money and Slicky Boys. Anyway, his latest book, The Door into Bitterness, is out in hardcover now and Amazon will have it in softcover Sept 1. Without knowing anything about military life nor Korea of the seventies, these books feel right and I will be getting my copy soon.

Whatthebook has Limon's books but not the other two I mentioned. I figured their strongpoint would be books about Korea.

Oh, I am still working on figuring out how to post video - the video in the post below will be operational sometime (man, are you going to be disappointed after all the anticipation the wait is creating).

Braving the Bracebridge falls (2)

Playing in the current at Bracebridge Bay Falls

Maybe this is why Koreans aren't good swimmers

Welcome to the 'Sea of Fear Festival'. (Naksan Beach, if you do want to go.)

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.

Gangwon English Teachers in the news.

Two Gangwon English Teachers are in the newspapers this week.

In an article that could be titled: English Teachers - whiners or victims? Sara Avrams, a teacher in Youngwol, I believe, and an occasional speaker at the Gangwon KOTESOL meetings, is interviewed. She states that most of the time, the teacher involved didn't research the position well enough.

Teachers often hear horror stories about how the Korean legal system appears unwilling to get involved. Avrams points out that once they do get involved, the teacher is likely to be out of a job so nobody wins.

Avrams says the official channels will sometimes soft-pedal the gravity of the issue. Rather than rushing to court, they will often encourage the teacher to try to reach an agreement with the school.

"They are not trying to protect the employer, I think. They are aware that if they have to enforce a rule on behalf of the employee, the employee will likely be fired."

By offering advice to teachers rather than getting formally involved, the authorities are indeed helping. It's a reasonable point and I feel my POV broadening yet again.

Avrams worked as a legal educational advocate before coming to Korea so I expect her opinions to be based on fact. I can only describe my personal experiences. Here they are, should you care. (Below are my comments on an article by a second Gangwon English teacher.)

I certainly didn't do enough research before first coming to Korea but was apparently lucky. At my first hagwon, I learned of the loophole in the contract that all hagwons seem to love. Having a contracted set number of hours per month means they can work you into the ground in February. With Lunar New Year in a short month, 130 hours means almost ten hours a day.

I didn't get a year end bonus at that place because the roof leaked in a typhoon during my eleventh month there, closing the school. They did treat me well and I have no complaints with management.

I went home for a year before returning to Korea and working in Seoul. I knew better what questions to ask but had a strange interview. I asked many questions, eventually including a repeated, "Do you have any questions for me?" The interviewer explained that by asking smart questions, I had already displayed good knowledge of teaching and hagwon life. I was happy working at BCM. Some found the split shift exhausting - me, too, but I can sleep during the day.
In my second year, I was the foreign teacher liaison or coordinator. When I gave info to propective employees, I was positive about my experience but listed every problem we had had. Teachers I hired had their eyes wide open. There were fewer problems later that way.

Next, I worked at Baegam, Kyounggi-do. A nightmare job. I worked for ETC- this is where my blogging email address came from (brianetcetera (at) hotmail...) As always, great students but here is where I first saw creative accounting and other trickery. Oh, ETC changed it's name and a new company may now use the name elsewhere - any current ETC is not the one I am badmouthing.

I am now at Kwandong University. Almost any university position is superior to to any hagwon position and in my opinion, Kwandong takes good care of it's teachers. In general, you get better working conditions but students of a wider range of motivation at universities. It's easier for a teacher to be enthused at universities because there is more available prep time. The biggest negative for university work is, again, the range in motivation in the classes. Each class is fairly homogeneous in motivation but one class (best examples are medicine and education) is likely to be much more motivated than another (least motivated classes are typically piano, Phys Ed and Engineering). A few individuals will buck the trend, naturally.
Fro researchers on this university, there were posts on a blacklist website a few years ago. While there are problems at any jobsite, I don't think Kwandong belongs on any current blacklist.


The Herald closes it's archives to non-subscribers after a week -SO HURRY if you want to read it. They will be part two next week.


Rick Ruffin writes an interesting article about over- or conspicuous- consumption here on the peninsula. The article sort of reads like an interview with Jack who has no last name. On the whole, I agree with Jack's opinion about reducing consumption but he picks a strange opening example. He says,

"...the Korean government wants to build more dams. I understand that the recent floods were a terrible setback for hundreds of families living in the river valleys, but this response is only too typical for a world that can’t think outside the boundaries of ‘more.’ "

His other examples are all reasonable but he really doesn't give any alternatives to dam building. I can agree with drinking smaller amounts of coffee or using an air conditioner judiciously but these are not life and property-threatening choices.

I actually have a tiny bit of knowledge about dams in Korea thanks to a wonderful speaker who gave a lecture at Minjok Sagwan when I was working there. This speaker must remain even more anonymous than 'Jack' as I can't remember her name. Let me paraphrase what she told us:
Korea ranks very highly in total number of dams built and I believe is first in dams per capita. Dams are only stopgap repairs: They eventually silt up so they lose value in preventing floods or storing water for agriculture. Korea has been building dams for fifty years and still has flooding problems so they are clearly not a perfect solution.

Perhaps dams are not a longterm solution but they do mitigate the damage caused by flooding. A more appropriate opening example or alternative solution would have been nice.

A good day/ lost and found

Today wasn't exactly a special day but it was the first one I was comfortable and caring for Kwandongalex wasn't a chore.
That sounds terrible. On previous days, the little guy was pretty uncomfortable in the heat and we felt trapped in the apartment, avoiding the sun. The apartment doesn't take long to close in.

I took him to Hae-su Pia, a health club and sauna with "yu-a" pools on the roof. I don't know what Yu-a means, but one pool was perfect. It was chest deep for my son and just deep enough that I could lay out and maneuver easily to stay near the little guy.

Here, I got a staff member to take a picture. I don't know why he chose to tilt the camera.


There were many awnings and we relaxed under them. Kwandongalex enjoyed running around on the no-slip decking but the exposed areas were HOT and he didn't know what to do. He would stand in place and cry until I ran over to rescue him and cool his feet in the pool.

Skindleshanks, if you and a little one want to hang out on the roof, call or email me - I've misplaced your contact info. My much-belated congratulations on the birth of you second child. I am ' brianetcetera (at) hotmail (dot) com '.


From the roof, I could dimly see Ulsan-bowi. Earlier in the week, it stood out clearly. This is the view I am used to during summers in Korea.
After swimming and relaxing by the pool, we went to E-mart. E-mart is air-conditioned and has a children's play area. There's not much for a toddler to do but I did mention and air-conditioning, right? Other parents had the same idea; there must have been twenty kids in the play area. Most were watching TV but the toddlers wandered amongst them, patting heads and staring curiously at books and older children.

Upon returning home, Kwandongalex played and slowly got tired. He went to sleep around 5:00pm. I predict that we will be visiting Expo Park around midnight.

Lost and Found

I forget things.
A lot.
Recently, I couldn't find my housekey. It turned out that my wife had picked it up and put it in her purse (we have matching keyrings). I was just grateful that it wasn't my failing memory this time.
Before we went to Canada, I left my hat in an in-law's car. It is a good Tilley hat (it's a Canadian thing- I love my Tilleys). It arrived by taek-bae today. It's good to have it back.

Even better, Air Canada found a checked bag they had misplaced and I will be getting it back, ah, sometime.
I had, in fact, prepared to rant about Air Canada losing the bag, even though part of the trouble was I did not properly check the ticket to see if there were two checked-bag tags. At the check-in counter, the attendant forgot to tag my second bag and I had a little trouble convincing AC that I did have, really, two bags. Anyway, they found it.

AC did me right on the flight home, as well. Kwandongwife returned to Korea before I did for work and I flew with the little guy. I had dreaded the flight but the flight attendants took good care of the two of us and were very helpful.

Hot and Tired

If you tried to read my previous post and were confused by the bit about my computer troubles and comments; me, too. I guess to the blogging adage, "never blog angry", should be added, "never blog jetlagged". Anyway, I'm still having computer trouble and am wondering if or when it will be time to get a new computer.

I don't know if I am still jetlagged but I am definitely tired. I understand that I am now in a place where day and night are almost perfectly switched but KwandongAlex doesn't and has had either too much sleep or not enough. In some of his waking periods, he is cranky and almost asleep. Although we had started giving him half his calories in solid foods (are yogurt or stew solids?) it is easier to give him a bottle during this transition so he is stepping backward somewhat.

I'm not sure if I will take him to the beach tomorrow. He learned to like the water in Canada and here enjoys the waves breaking over his feet and sucking him seaward but finding a place to change him into dry clothes is such a chore that I finish as hot and sweaty as when I arrived at the beach.

Changing topics now, what is the deal with the awnings at the beach? I arrived while they were setting up this morning and took a prime spot before the workers arrived to set an owning up. They told me (politely) to move and I simply told them no. They tried to explain to me that the awning was to go over the place I had selected and I should move or pay them the rental fee. I continued to say, "no" and once tried to explain that I felt in a public beach, the rule was some variety of first-come, first-served. Eventually they stopped bothering me and left.

I respect that they rent awnings to beachgoers that want them and I would never crowd or bother others using the awnings. Still, if they are licenced or officially permitted to work on the beach, do they really get to take the prime spots and make frugal folk take places further from the ocean? Am I the only one who finds that weird? Do Koreans really accept being treated like second-class citizens on public land?

Possibly this is a similar situation. I originally felt that Koreans were not sticking up for their right to safe riding conditions on buses. The Scribbler (Metropolitician, podcast #3), in a podcast, explained that, in general, Koreans accepted the rough driving as the price for faster service and I realized I had been narrow-minded. Is there an anagolous explanation for beach conditions?

I'm Back

...and really tired. I mean I'm sleepy, it's not that my arms are sore or anything, although it was a long flight.

I don't know what everyone has been complaining about; the weather seems warm enough. Man, those crybabies in July sure whined, apparently about nothing.
Kwand..(I'm shortening our names to K... for now- you can pronounce the 'k' or not as you like): Kwife was very happy and excited to see KAlex but he didn't really seem to recognize her. He was willing to be picked up by her but didn't spend much time looking at her.

We took advantage of the weather this morning. After walking KwandongWife to the bus stop for work, KwandongAlex and I went to the beach. The water was clear and refreshingly cool. The little guy took a few moments to get used to the water but was happy to stay and play.
Getting him ready to swim and later ready to go home was much less pleasant. It's a real challenge for a single adult to change a baby into and out of diapers and swimsuits and all the rest. One thing I liked in Canada was the availability of diaper changing stations; there's room for improvement here.

In other unpleasant news, my computer decided today to give up on Explorer. Last night, I was able to visit every site but Yahoo. I would sign in to Yahoo, have two seconds to see how many messages I had, then the window closed. This morning, Explorer closed itself immediately after being opened.
Which leads me to a question. I was a computer expert and taught my high school teachers what to do in the old days but not many people used Commodore 64's now and my current knowledge is self-taught with many lacunae. Added to this, my computer has a Korean OS and I never did follow through with learning Korean with the vigor I'd imagined when choosing the OS. The computer has little or no anti-virus protection either. Still, I wonder if one reason for the computer's moodiness is the number of downloads (mostly from reputable sites) and possible conflicts. When you get a new computer, what are the minimum downloads you expect to install? I figure the following, unless these are now part of the package installs:
Flash
Quicktime
Real
Firefox (which I'm currently using but not usually)

Now, my computer has a lot of redundant programs. I-tunes loading with something else but Korea didn't have I-tunes at the time so I picked up I-podder-lemon.
Serif-photo plus is another good download.
I have some codecs and such for converting files.
If you don't understand which ones I felt were necessary - then we are in agreement. Anyway, comments and assistance are welcome.

The Dalai Lama is now a Canadian Citizen

From the article:

Parliament unanimously adopted a motion on June 22 conferring the honorary status on the Dalai Lama. The honour has been awarded only twice before - to South African leader Nelson Mandela and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved countless Jews from extermination during the Second World War.

China is not pleased:

China is threatening to use its considerable economic strength to penalize Canada following the Harper government's decision to bestow honorary Canadian citizenship on the Dalai Lama.

The Canadian government only went partway out the limb:

Foreign Affairs says Canada recognizes the Peoples Republic of China as the
legitimate government of China and Tibet.
"Canada does not recognize the Tibet government in exile, but Canada considers the Dalai Lama to be an important and widely supported spiritual leader," said spokeswoman Kim Girtel.