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Pirates in the Republic of Korea
15 May 2008 @ 03:13 pm
am I enlightened yet?  

Last Monday was Buddha’s birthday here in Korea (and other places that use the lunar calendar; Buddha’s birthday is traditionally on the 8th day of the 4th month in the lunar calendar). I like this photo from Korea Beat:

2

Looks like some temple residents haven’t quite mastered the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. :)

The picture, by the way, was taken at Jogye-sa, which is the temple in Seoul where we went to the Lotus Lantern festival a couple weeks back.

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
10 May 2008 @ 03:42 pm
we're coming home in August, here's our travel plans  

We will be back home (Wisconsin + Twin Cities + Chicago) in August. Here’s our basic travel plans:

I (Dan) will get in on July 30th or so. From the 31st to August 2nd, I’ll be in Madison attending MathFest and I will be pretty busy. After that, I’ll be available to do stuff until August 7th, when I’m flying to Vancouver for Sage Days 9 (another conference) and I’ll be gone until the 14th or 15th or so.

Meanwhile, Tae will be coming to the US on August 9 or 10. She will probably stay in Madison through the following week. We think we’ll come visit my ancestral homeland the week after that (so, sometime in the 17th–23rd). We’ll try to get up to the Twin Cities then, too.

We will both be returning to Korea on the 23rd.

We haven’t actually bought any plane tickets yet, but that’s the general outline of our plans. If you have any specific preferences/demands/etc about when or where we visit you (or you visiting us), let us know, either in the comments here or by email.

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
05 May 2008 @ 11:03 am
Children's Day  

It’s Children’s Day here in Korea and we have the day off.

kid blah

I took this yesterday at the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. Carrying children that way is very common in Korea. The woman in the picture has a special sling for carrying the kid, but you often see people improvise something with a blanket or towel or something, or the parent just clasps their hands together and the kid sits on top of them.

A while back, I saw a kid in that sort of sling. He was also sleeping, but he was leaning backwards. I was amazed that he didn’t slip out and fall. Perhaps I should add “ability to avoid slipping out and falling while strapped to your mom’s back” to my list of superpowers that Koreans seem to have.

You see kids a lot in Korea. Each day, I bike through a large apartment complex (the Hanbit apartments, if you know the Gung-dong/Eoeun-dong area) going home from work and there are always kids running around in the side streets, even when you’d think they should all be in bed. Going around Daejeon or Seoul, there are always parents with toddlers or elementary school kids around. Middle school and high school kids are everywhere. Last autumn, when I started noticing the ubiquity of kids around here, I realized that in Minneapolis, I didn’t see children very often. You just didn’t see them.

Many Americans seem to think that children are in constant risk of instant gruesome death whenever they are not safely ensconced in a suburban house. My impression is that Korean parents are equally neurotic, but at least they think that playing outside with your friends is a good thing.

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
28 April 2008 @ 01:23 pm
name mix-ups  

Having just written about Korean names, this story is appropriate. One of the biggest pop stars in Korea is Rain. That’s his name, Rain. He’s in the new Speed Racer movie, and recently at some Hollywood thingy event was introduced as “Taejo Togokhan”—the name of his character in the movie.

One thing that very few Koreans seem to know (and that I am afraid to tell them) is that most Americans are at best dimly aware of Korea as a distinct Asian nation. Watch Stephen Colbert quickly exhaust his list of things that are Korean (the funniest bit starts at about 3:45, if you’re impatient). And how many people think MAS*H took place in Vietnam? (I did, for quite a while.) So it’s not surprising that some publicist would look at Rain, see some Asian guy, and figure that “Taejo Togokhan” seemed like it’s probably his name.

Naturally, Koreans are a bit shocked, especially since they got the name one of the Japanese actors correct. They got it right for some Japanese guy…but they got Rain’s name wrong! And used a Japanese name for him! Shocking!

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
23 April 2008 @ 02:45 pm
Korean, American names  
You wouldn't think that there are any given names common to Korean and American/Western culture, but it turns out, there is one: Gina is a woman's name in both cultures. The Korean name, though, would get Romanized as Ji-na (or Ji-nah, or Ji Na) and when pronounced doesn't get as strong an accent on the first syllable. In Hangeul, it's written 지나. Tae has a student with this name, and she wisely chose "Gina" as her "American" name.

Korean names are interesting, because they are ALL exactly three syllables. (I think there are exceptions, but I've yet to encounter one.) The first syllable is the family name, and the person's given name is the next two syllables. For example, my department head's name is Dongsu Kim (in the Western order) -- Kim is his (one syllable) family name, and Dongsu his two-syllable given name. Korea's first astronaut (a KAIST graduate, btw) is Lee So-yeon (in the Korean order). Those two names are written 김동수 and 이소연, respectively, in Hangeul.

One interesting implication of this three-syllable pattern is that any place where a name is to be written is always just wide enough for a Korean name, since each character in Hangeul is a syllable. In Western cultures, where names have varying length and can be quite long, we're used to having forms with a nice wide space for names...but here in Korea, the name column is always narrow, just wide enough for three characters. The foreign students here at KAIST really mess up the class rosters. :)
 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
20 April 2008 @ 11:27 pm
Orphanage in Daejeon  
yesterday we visited an orphanage for some window shopping, er volunteering our time to teach English. I've never taught kids, so this was difficult for me. They were all about 8-11 years old, at least that's what I thought. I can't tell how old kids are in the 3-7 grade level. The orphanage has kids 6-18 years old. In Korea, orphanages are like the welfare system. Parents who cannot financially support having children drop them off in an orphanage and the state takes care of them until they reach 18 and can support themselves. When Tony and I went into the orphanage, that's what we thought were happening to us. We were going to stay in the orphanage until our father got better, or we turned 18. We had no idea we were going to be adopted until it happened. Seeing the older kids, the 14-17 year olds made me really sad. I didn't know how long they'd been there. I didn't know if they were orphans or not, but there isn't much of a future for kids who live there. They can never afford going to college and will probably end up doing lower paying blue collar jobs. These are the kids that didn't get adopted. These are the kids whose parents couldn't take care of. These are the kids that no one wanted. It's very hard to be there and not want to take them all home with me. I worked with about 5 boys who decided they wanted to learn English from me while some of the kids ran around playing a game and screeching. i want to adopt, but not right now. Also, I think we'll be looking at someone more in the 3-6 year old range.

We'll go back next month. I can't commit to every week, but I will make time at least once a month to go teach English. These kids don't have resources to pay for private lessons, so volunteers are the best they can get.
 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
18 April 2008 @ 10:18 am
more Korean music stuff  

A while back I posted a video of the best Korean drummer ever. My Korean officemate showed me a couple videos that demonstrate that not all Korean musicians are ridiculous.

Both of these are versions of Pachebel’s Canon, which is possibly the most popular piece of Western classical music here in Korea.

Pachebel’s Canon on traditional Korean instruments: http://jwmx.tistory.com/531

Hip-hop and b-boy dancing is incredibly popular here. These two videos combines the hip-hop elements with the Canon and you somehow get something very Korean. Go figure.

http://yesarang.tistory.com/12

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
13 April 2008 @ 11:29 am
spring flowers in Daejeon  

Several weeks ago, the magnolia trees started blooming here. I’d never seen blooming magnolia trees and thought it was super cool. Just as the magnolia trees started to fade, the cherry trees started to bloom. Last autumn, I was wondering why they had these small, scraggly trees all around the city, and now I know why. Blooming cherry trees lining a road are really lovely.

In addition to magnolias and cherries, I’m told that the lilac will bloom soon, and there are many bushes flowering right now. It’s the best time of year in Korea.

I’ve made a photoset that you might enjoy.

Here are some of my favorites:

Tae in a shower of falling cherry blosoms

As the cherry blossoms fall, they cover the ground like snow:

cherry blossoms covering the ground

Flickr now lets you upload short videos. Here’s a video I took while biking just outside the dorms where we live:

 
 
Current Mood: flowery
 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
11 April 2008 @ 11:16 pm
candy from strangers  

Today I was riding the bus and when we got near my stop, I got up and went near the back door. I was standing near an older woman. She saw me and smiled at me. I smiled back. I looked out the window to see how close to the stop we were, and when I turned back, she was holding out a piece of candy for me.

I hesitated, then took it, since I don’t know how to politely decline in Korean, but I do know how to say “thank you”.

It was only after putting the candy in my pocket that I realized I just took candy from a stranger. I don’t plan on telling my mom.

I ate the candy later. It was good.

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
07 April 2008 @ 09:13 pm
my comments on Tae's update  

Yes, we did a metric century on Saturday. We basically rode around Gyerongsan National Park, which is a clump of mountains that form the western border of Daejeon. We met at 8:00 for hae-jang-guk, which literally translates as hangover soup. Some people don’t even wait for the hangover—while we were there, two women who were apparently still drunk from the night before came in. Hae-jang-guk is good stuff, and perfect for starting off a bike ride with.

This was Tae’s first time using her new bike jersey. I got her a bike jersey for her birthday. It’s absolutely perfect for her:

Tae and her new jersey

I especially love the back:

Tae and cute little dog printed on the back of her bike jersey

All day as we biked, I would see little dogs, and I would think if they’d fit in the pockets in the back of the jersey.

We got back into our part of town in the evening, and we had gone about 92 kilometers. I was a bit surprised that Tae wanted to finish out the century…I am the sort of person who (especially when biking) appreciates symbolic achievements. I’ll charge up a hill in a high gear just to prove to myself that I can, and because it feels good to go up the hill fast, rather than meekly crawl up in first gear.

Tae has never really seemed to feel the same way, and I was expecting her to just want to go home, and I wouldn’t have disagreed—I was tired, too! But instead we circled around the area a bit and extended the ride to an even 100K. Tae is becoming a skilled and confident cyclist. Perhaps when we visit Jeju Island in June, we’ll circle the whole island in a day.


Second comment:

When she first told me that we’re volunteering at the orphanage, I recalled our plans to eventually adopt one or more kidlets, and asked her if her real motivation for going to the orphange was for “window shopping”. She assured me it’s not, but I am not so sure… :)

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
07 April 2008 @ 06:00 pm
an update  
We haven't been so great about updating, but here's what's been going on.

On Saturday we went for a 100km bike ride. Yes, me the super-lazy-take-the-elevator-up-to-the-third-floor girl, went on a 100km bike ride. That's about 62 miles. I got bike shorts and all. Boy do those help. It was a beautiful day for a ride and I'd do it again.... not anytime soon, but maybe at the end of the summer.

All the cherry blossoms are blossoming and we'll have to post pictures soon, but everyone is coming to campus and walking around on the weekend to look at the trees and flowers. My campus is amazingly beautiful right now. Apparently there is also a cherry blossom festival next weekend.

Sunday we went up to Songtan so I could get a manicure and pedicure. It's also where we get Thai food. I bought a new pair of walking shoes with velco. I feel like I'm back in kindergarten again and I can't tie my shoes. However, in Korea we have to take our shoes off everywhere and I got tired of tying and untying my shoes.

Tonight I start my new round of government classes - where I teach government workers how to write. Oddly enough I have the same people from the last session who are taking the classes all over again for some reason. I personally would find it really boring to take the same course for 20 weeks. Thankfully, I am changing everything in both of my writing classes.

I am starting to volunteer with an orphanage in town in two weeks. There are two orphanages in town I found out. There is one closer to where I live and work, but the one I am volunteering at is far away. I don't know anyone who can introduce me to the one in my area. Since I haven't started yet, I don't quite know what we're doing, but I think it just involves teaching English.
 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
01 April 2008 @ 10:30 am
another Korean video: fan death  

Here’s another Korean video on an important aspect of life here:

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
01 April 2008 @ 10:27 am
once more, with feelin'  

Someone in this band has no trouble playing “with feelin’”:

That guy must be awesome at the noraebang.

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
30 March 2008 @ 10:30 am
baseball, birthday, no gas and chinese food  
Yesterday, we went to see the Hanwha Eagles game. We left during the 7th inning because it started to sprinkle and I didn't want to get wet. Also, we were down 6-0, so it really wasn't worth sticking around for. There were 7 or 8 of us that went out and it was fun.

Dan got me a bike jersey for my birthday. It's amazingly cute, especially the back






We were going to bike down to the baseball stadium, but the threat of rain made me say no, since I didn't want to bike an hour in the rain back home.

The water in our building was shut off yesterday due to emergency maintenance. When we got back home, the water was turned back on, but apparently the gas was turned off. It is still off today, which irks me to no end. I can't cook anything. I can't even eat up water, unless I put it into the microwave.

Today we're going out for Chinese food for my birthday dinner.
 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
27 March 2008 @ 08:57 am
hey, I know that crane  

They are building three very large dormitory buildings right in front of our dorm, and naturally this requires tall cranes, the semi-permanent kind that you construct the building around. Recently they jacked one of the cranes up farther. Here’s what the taller of of the cranes from our apartment window:

Imagine my surprise when I realized I can see that very crane from the math building at KAIST:

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
23 March 2008 @ 12:41 pm
March Madness in Korea  

On Friday, I walked in to the faculty lounge where two of the professors were talking in Korean. I assumed they were talking about something like, well, math or department politics until I start hearing words like “defense” and “Michigan State” and “Wisconsin”.

I interrupted them to ask what they were talking about. Well, duh, the NCAA tournament…one of the professors got his PhD at Michigan State and is a big college basketball fan. He told me that all the games are being shown online for free.

Indeed they are! Living in Korea we’ve learned about a few websites (most of them European) that rebroadcast US television, particularly sports events, but they generally don’t work very well. I’m really glad that CBS is doing the games.

We got up this morning and watched the second half of the Marquette-Stanford game, which was heartbreaking but still a good game. I tried to get up for the Badgers but it started at 6:30 a.m. and we had been up until midnight. I do plan on watching them play later this week in the Sweet 16, though.

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
22 March 2008 @ 11:21 am
A funny video from Korea  
These are three English teachers in Geumchon who made this awesome hip-hop rap video. This is a pretty hilarious, yet accurate portrayal of our lives in Korea.



In other news, we've been busy with school, er work. Dan is still taking Korean this term, but I am not. I'm teaching 31 hours a week currently and feeling quite exhausted from it. We're continuing to meet new people and even spent dinner with one of my students and her parents two weeks back.

Dan & I
Photobucket

My student, her father and Dan
Photobucket
 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
12 March 2008 @ 08:05 pm
quote of the day from Teresa  

Teresa was talking about her classes today and said, "sometimes when I'm teaching I can't tell what's real and what's not".

 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
08 March 2008 @ 11:28 pm
it's a new semester!  
On Friday one of my students simulated the birth of another student in class.

In another class a student told the entire class that another student is going to have surgery to transition from a man to a woman.

Maybe I shouldn't let kids talk to each other because the exercise I had them do was to form two circles, one inner and one outer and talk to each other for a few minutes, switch partners and repeat the process.

When I asked my kids what they learned about each other, one student (whose English is terrible, but he is quite enthusiastic to try and speak) said something about "Mack born mother..." and then started to squirm in his seat and slide out of the desk like he was being expelled from a uterus.

The second instance is confusing because 1. Korea is one of those countries where transitioning from male to female is not generally acceptable 2. why would a 19 year old male tell someone he's just met that he wants to have sex reassignment surgery? I decided not to pursue this discussion in front of the entire class and the student in question did not deny it at all, which I'd have expected most people to do if it was untrue.

Anyways, I have full classes.  There is supposed to be a limit of 25 students, but my classes have 27-28 and more are asking to sign up for my class.  I guess that's a good thing, but really I'd like to tell some of my kids to drop out so I can something more manageable.  Because it is first semester, I have some classes of 26 freshman and 1 senior.  I also have a class of 27 Mechanical Design majors out of 28 kids, 26 of them being freshmen and male.  This is the class where the "birth" happened.  It's a very interesting dynamic and I'm going to have to buy a whistle because it takes too long to get their attention.

Tonight we went to the apartment of one of my institute students and met her parents and had dinner.  More about that later, it's 11:30pm here and I want to go to bed.
 
 
Pirates in the Republic of Korea
03 March 2008 @ 08:42 am
Asian Dust season is here  

I’m starting to realize that winter is one of the best times for biking in Korea. During the summer, it is either the rainy season, or it is beastly hot and humid. And, as I learned yesterday, during the spring, we have Asian dust. No, it’s not some sort of new drug popular in Tokyo nightclubs, it is dust from the Gobi desert that gets carried here.

Yesterday I was out biking with our friend Kim. We left in the morning, biked around town for some errands, and when I was going home in the afternoon, I thought, “man, this is some weird haze or fog over the city”. It looked just like this.

I looked on the USFK site for yellow dust conditions and sure enough, yesterday there was a huge spike in the dust concentrations. Some places reached a concentration of over 1400—and anything over 800 is considered “do NOT go outside” levels. (On that military site— which naturally lists Army and Air Force bases, not cities—we are roughly in the middle of a triangle formed by Osan AB (in Pyeongtaek), Camp Walker/Camp Carroll (near Daegu), and Kunsan AB (in, um, Kunsan, although the official romanization is Geunsan, I think).