Back from Bangladesh
There’s been a lot happening lately. To summarize quickly:
- Regular classes ended the middle of July. After that, I taught two weeks of half-day “camps”. The first week was for students. The second was for general (non-English) teachers and people from the community. Both weeks were much easier than I’d expected.
- The first week of August, Erin and I taught classes at a teacher-certification course in Gangneung. Our topic was “Listening and Speaking Activities”. We didn’t really know what that mean, and neither did our students. It went alright, but was surprisingly stressful. We were well-paid, however. The extra money from this week completely paid for our trip to Bangladesh
- We went to Bangladesh! This was a hell of a trip. We were only there for nine days, to attend a friend’s wedding. It was quite an experience. I won’t go into details now, but look for a longer update (with pictures) tomorrow.
Our time here is winding down quickly, and we’ve got lots to do. Packages must get shipped home, paperwork must be filled out, the apartment needs to be cleaned, and eventually we’ll have packing to do. We’ve also got one more week of teaching, and some additional grad school work to accomplish before we leave.
We’re both pretty excited for the next step.
A Wednesday Walk
Our year here is winding down, and I’m wishing I’d taken more photos. Lately, I’ve been trying to do just that, but as much as I like taking pictures, I hate lugging a camera around.
here are some shots from a walk along the river on a Wednesday evening:
Mureung Valley
This weekend we took an amazing hike up Mureung Valley, near Donghae (about 45 minutes south of Gangneung).
Hiking is pretty popular in Korea, especially in Gangwondo. Every weekend, the parks fill up with people, and quite often a “hike” is actually filing up a big stone staircase in a line with hundreds of other people. Not exactly my idea of a good time.
If you get off the official path a bit, things are completely different. After walking up the path for about 20 minutes, we dropped down onto the river bed and rock-hopped upstream. There were a few people sunning themselves or having picnics, but we walked a few minutes upstream and had the whole river to ourselves.
We spent the day swimming in the river and lounging on the rocks. In the evening, a few more people showed up, and we set up camp. We pitched tents, cooked some food, and drank some beer. We hiked back down on Sunday, after more swimming and lunch.
I wish I’d known about the valley sooner, but I’ll definitely return before we leave.
Here are some photos. Also, I’m looking for feedback on the new photo system. I’ve wanted a Lightbox script of some sort to overlay my photos and display captions. Some of them run really slowly on my server, but I think I’ve found one that works. I’m still tweaking things, but let me know what you think.
Tension on the peninsula (but I’m not losing sleep yet)
The latest news cycle regarding Korea has been a bit worrisome. In case you missed it, this week North Korea tested a nuclear bomb, test-fired a few short-range missiles, and threatened to attack the U.S. or South Korea. In response, the U.S. and South Korea have raised their alert level. These are only the most recent in a long string of events that have strained inter-Korean relations. In 2009, North Korea has test fired a long-range missile, threatened passenger jets, and discarded recent peace agreements with the South.
It all sounds pretty bad, but with North Korea it’s hard to know when to worry. I suppose you could say their behaviour is predictably erratic. They increase tension, then back down. They concede, then renege on agreements. In 2006, they detonated their first nuclear device. Then in 2007, they agreed to shut nuclear facilities used to refine weapons-grade fuel (in exchange for shipments of oil). Pyongyang then proceeded to miss a string of deadlines under the agreement, eventually barring inspectors. So maybe the most recent events are simply business as usual: plutonium-based brinkmanship, with minor concessions to come.
But maybe there is cause for worry. As I mentioned, the news in recent months has been consistently bad. The North has been ratcheting up regional tension, and the Lee administration in Seoul has taken a hard stance toward the North. They have reversed the policies of the previous administration, opting for a more confrontational tone.
I’m not that concerned, however. Nobody here seems panicked, although from the general chatter of ex-pats and Koreans alike, nobody is comfortable either. Thankfully, the Korean Missile Crisis is still a few years off. When newspapers discuss a nuclear detonation and a missile test on the same page, people get pretty jumpy. I hope everyone reads this slowly, so there’s no confusion: North Korea does not have nuclear-tipped ICBMs ready to fire.
This isn’t a huge relief. The real barrier to developing nuclear arms is acquiring enough fissile material. It requires an active nuclear reactor or thousands of centrifuges to refine weapons-grade fuel. Neither of those routes is exactly subtle. Unfortunately, North Korea has the fuel. At this point, building a crude bomb isn’t all that challenging.
Building a compact bomb and the necessary missile system to deliver it is a lot trickier, however. Both tests of their multi-stage missile, the Taepodong-2, have failed. Their first nuclear test was extremely low-yield. While atmospheric tests revealed radiation, the small size of the blast suggests a misfire of some sort. The most recent detonation was much larger, but they are still at least a few years from having a significant nuclear deterrent.
I’ve got no solutions to this problem, but I’m willing to relax and let the experts handle it. It does give me one more reason to question our invasion of Iraq, however. I’m no advocate of pre-emptive war, but if the U.S. needed to force a regime change for security and humanitarian reasons, maybe Iraq was the wrong target. If we continue on the present course, our options will be a lot more limited in a few years.
Pictures – Weekend in Hyeonri
Our friend Jose lives in Hyeonri, a rural village near Inje. This was a long weekend for us, so we spent Friday and Saturday night with him. We went whitewater rafting on Saturday and took a nice hike Sunday morning.
It’s a gorgeous place. Here are some pictures:
Pictures – Gangneung Cherry Blossom Festival
These pictures are from April 10. Erin and I rode our bikes to Gyeongpo Lake to check out the cherry blossom festival. Enjoy!
Why it’s OK to sleep through my classes
I’m feeling a bit upset about the education system in Korea right now. Midterms are coming up, and it seems to bring out the worst in everything.
In case you’ve forgotten, I teach English to first and second-grade students at a boys middle school. This is equivalent to seventh and eighth grade in the U.S. My students are 13 and 14 years old in western ages.
Next week they will have three days of testing, during which they will take examinations consisting primarily of multiple-choice questions. This is a big deal, even for my first-graders. In Korea, high school is competitive. Everyone knows the ranking of the various high schools, and poor scores in middle school can mean attending a vocational high school. This makes it very difficult to attend a decent university, and mostly relegates one to a blue-collar job.
Obviously, this creates a lot of pressure for middle-school students. As I mentioned before, my kids are in school from 8:30am to 4:30pm. After school, most of the students attend private academies called hagwons. It’s pretty common for my students to study at academies until 10:00 or 11:00pm. With the upcoming exams, however, parents are pushing the kids even harder. Yesterday I was told that many of my students are tired, because they have been at hagwons until 12:00 or 1:00am.
12:00 or 1:00am! These kids are 13 years old! I just don’t get it. What kind of parent allows their 13 year-old kid to stay out that late on a school night, let alone forces them to do so? As you can imagine, the kids are exhausted. They fall asleep in class, and I really don’t care to wake them. When they are awake, they’re bouncing off the walls, which is equally excusable. If I had 16 hours of structured work every day, I’d be going crazy too.
I’m painting the system with a pretty broad brush, which probably isn’t right. Not every parent does this, and not everyone agrees with it. In fact, I’d say that most of the adults think it’s pretty sad, but you’ve got to keep up with the Joneses (or perhaps the Kims). Nobody wants to limit their children’s opportunities, which I completely understand.
But they are limiting their kids’ opportunities. One complaint I’ve heard from some teachers is that the emphasis is entirely on preparing kids for good jobs, which means good grades, good test scores, and a good school. But skill at regurgitating facts onto scantron forms does not equal a good worker. In my (limited) experience, the best co-workers have creativity and problem-solving skills. They know how to manage time and communicate effectively in the workplace. They know how to focus and perform when deadlines approach, but they also know how to relax when it’s necessary. In summary, true success in the workplace depends on a set of interpersonal and organizational skills that aren’t always taught in school.
Unstructured play time teaches kids how to interact without following a strict hierarchy. Real-world experience teaches common sense and problem-solving. Spending time alone helps you process things independently. The sheer volume of the academic workload here is really unfortunate. I want to tell my kids to go ride a bike; when the chain breaks, you’ll learn something real. Go climb fences, take apart your computer, start a crappy garage band. Hell, just sit in your room and read a book. No, it might not get you into a better high school. But it probably will make you a better (and happier) person, and when you enter the workforce, you’ll have a lot more to offer.
Thus ends my rant for the day.
Pictures from Korea
Here are a handful of pictures from my vacation in Korea. The weather is way too nice to be on the computer today, so I’ll keep this brief. These are pictures from Seoul and Gyeongju, in that order. I’ve watermarked these pictures with my website name; if you want a clean image or a full-resolution file, just let me know.
(We did not go to the Seoul Museum of Chicken Art, but there’s always next time.)
Dinner meetings
We’re back from Thailand. It was a great trip, and I have tons of pictures and lots to talk about. Look for updates soon. Also, we had a great time in Korea with my parents. Again, pictures and updates to come.
I hate to rant on my first post back, but there’s something I have to get off my chest. I hate dinner meetings.
Here’s the background: We got back to Gangneung on Friday and had to go to school on Monday. No classes, so we’re sitting at our desks and planning. We’re told sometime in the morning that we have a dinner meeting for the teachers that are moving to new schools. As far as I can gather, this happens about every semester. Teachers have to go to a new school at least every five years, to avoid stagnation and corruption, I guess.
Dinner meetings are pretty common; we have them for all sorts of reasons. This is maybe the 6th or 7th such meeting that we’ve had thus far. Here’s the scenario: Erin and I catch a cab to the beach. We sit down in a big room with all of the teachers from school, maybe 50 total. There’s no formal order to seating, but all the women sit on one side, and the men on the other. (Side note #1: the male teachers at school speak very little English and tend to ignore me.) I have the option of sitting awkwardly with the men, or sitting awkwardly with the women. I opt for the women, because I can sit with Erin, and because they speak English. I side as close too the men’s table as possible though. Regardless, this seems to be some sort of testosterone-related faux pas. Nobody wants to talk to me.
Side dishes come, then raw fish. (Side note #2: I can’t stand raw fish.) At some point, soju is brought out. The drinking begins. The men start drinking heavily, or at least pretending to. Same with the women. They pour water into shot glasses if they don’t want to drink soju. After a few drinks, both the women and the men are getting red-faced and giggly. I’m sitting awkwardly at a table.
A few more drinks, and the third course is served. Some kind of fish soup. Soju is still flowing. At this point, I get flagged over to a different table, where Erin is pounding beers with some of the younger female teachers. I join in, because company is nice. We have a couple drinks, but my head really isn’t in it.
Then the real fun starts. My co-teacher is one of the older male teachers, and seems to be the de-facto MC. He stands up and starts asking teachers to sing. Last time this happened, Erin and I got called up and performed a horrendous rendition of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” for the teachers that were leaving. Thankfully, we were not called on. It should be noted that I have a terrible voice. I’d prefer not to demonstrate that fact publicly. I’m also not much of a drinker. Even if I were, no amount of rot-gut soju could make public singing a comfortable experience. NOT being called up was the best part of the evening.
After 20 or 30 minutes of singing, the group decides to move on…to a norebang. This translates to “singing room.” You guessed it…more singing! (A norebang is a building full of little rooms with screens and kareokee machines. Drinks and food are often served. It’s part of Korean culture that I do not understand at all.) At this point, Erin and I made our excuses and left with another teacher. Thankfully, this didn’t seem to be TOO much of a big deal.
As I’ve made clear, I really hate these meetings. It was better last semester, because one of the temp English teachers was a male who spoke excellent English. He made the whole situation a lot easier. It’s frustrating for me, because I’m pretty sure that if I drank a half-gallon of soju and generally acted foolish, I’d fit in much better. I’m certainly not saying that every teacher does this, but plenty do, and it drinking is a pretty big part of male bonding in Korea. It’s just really not my style.
Enough of my whining. We were able to escape the meeting after 2 and a half hours, which isn’t too bad. At least we avoided the norebang.
Vacation!
I’ve been even lazier than usual with this blog, but here’s a quick update:
- School camps ended Friday, January 23. They were reasonably successful
- My parents arrived in Korea the same day. We spent about 10 days traveling. Everything went really smoothly. We saw Seoul, Gyeongju, and Gangneung. Pictures will be up later.
- Erin and I are currently waiting in Incheon International Airport. We’re about to fly to Thailand for 17 days of vacation. If you currently live someplace cold, enjoy this weather forecast.
That’s all for now. (Erin is kicking me off MY computer.)
