Things To Remember When Teaching

Beyond the obvious differences in our present culture, it's important to remember there are a lot of bigger differences simply in our life experiences. When we explain things like a record player to the kids, they might not get it.

The Beloit College Mindset List shows 75 things that can cause serious generation gap between adults and children. This years list focuses on the college class of 2014, which means the kids were born in 1992.

So why include it in a Korea blog?

It turns out these kids born in 1992 may just have a totally different view of Asian countries than those of us born earlier. Included on the list is a good one about Korea:

'16. Korean cars have always been a staple on American highways.'

There are some others on the list that talk about other Asian countries, including Japan and Vietnam.


I was born in 1983, and lived through (I think) everything on this list. I definitely remember when Korean cars were basically garbage cans on wheels. I can tell you now that I would gladly drive one of the new Kia coupes or the Hyundai Genesis Coupe. Those cars are pretty sick.

Lee's Major Flip-flop

It turns out President Lee Myung-bak isn't so tough on those North Koreans after all. Though the tough love approach is essentially what got him elected and what he's stuck to throughout his presidency, he's now changed his mind and offered a re-unification plan.

The plan incudes a unification tax to help shoulder the enormous financial burden that would pop up.

Lee said that one of the main goals of this peaceful community is to de-nuclearize the North. But I have one cynical question: By unifying, isn't the North staying a nuclear country, just under a different name???

Lee must be all about making friends now, because he is even pushing for improved ties with Japan. What's next? Dokdo-shima?

Lee has his work cut out for him if he thinks this is even remotely possible. It's about as likely as merging the United States and Mexico. And at least those two countries have better food to work with.

Gulf of Tonkin All Over Again?

On Aug. 4, 1964, the US Military claimed it was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin by some Vietnamese torpedo boats. The supposed military action promted President Lyndon B. Johnson to pass a resolution that basically started the Vietnam War. Yes, I realize it had subtley been going on for years before that, but this made it official.

Is the sinking of the Cheonan in the Yellow Sea destined to be next. We know for a fact that a ship sunk, but we have no actual evidence it was done by the North Koreans. All we have is their nasty reputation and past battles in that area.

Regardless, the US and South Korea are having some practice time in the Yellow Sea to show off just how big their balls are.


This week, the two buddy-countries are putting on some more war games. We all know what happened last time someone played war games. Let's hope this doesn't turn out as badly.

Of course, if thermonuclear wat breaks out this time, we might need more than Matthew Broderick and a Commodore 64 to save us.

FIFA Investigates North Korean Team's Public Reprimand

There are stories on CNN and ESPN about FIFA opening an investigation into the accounts that the North Korea soccer team was reprimanded by basically everyone in the country when they returned home from the World Cup.

FIFA has clear rules stating that governments are allowed no intereference in the running of their nation's soccer teams. Obviously, the government can be influential in some ways with how they funnel money, but they can't step in and take over from the country's federation in any way.

If their is truth to the story that Kim Jong-il and the government publicly reprimanded the team, FIFA could theoretically punish the country in some way. Unfortunately, that might simply hurt the players. Most punishments include bans from future competitions.

Also, if they were only reprimanded, they can probably consider themselves quite fortunate. I'm sure my friends and I weren't the only people thinking that the team would go back to some form of hard labor. Of course, we don't know that that isn't the case, as well.

Let's hope FIFA can get in their, reprimand the leaders, and get these players the recognition they deserve for playing well enough to make it to the World Cup finals. That's a pretty big achievement, and all of North Korea -- even the craziest of them -- should be proud.

Record Keeps Spinning

Korean civic groups are unhappy with yet another apology from the Japanese government about the occuptation period between 1910 and 1945.

This really isn't so important to blog about, but I think it's a telling part of Korean culture. There's a certain stubbornness here about issues that no one in their right mind would care about.

Former comfort women showing their discomfort. Get it?

The occupation by Japan was clearly a brutal time, but it was generations ago. Yes, some of the "comfort women" are still alive today, and deserve some compensation, but the current administration can only realistically do so much. Do we really hold people today accountable for something with which they had nothing to do? I don't think we should.

But I have common sense.

To make matters worse, Korean groups have used this apology as yet another chance to bring up "Dokdo." Or as I like to call it: Takeshima.

'They say his apology for Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula lacked in sincerity and was made to avoid responsibility for its brutal treatment of Koreans ahead of the centenary of the annexation, which falls on Aug. 29. They also urged Japan to stop claiming rights over the Dokdo islets.

On Tuesday, Kan expressed deep regrets over the suffering inflicted upon the Korean people during the period and pledged to make efforts to deepen ties with South Korea. He came short of admitting that Japan’s annexation treaty with Korea, which was signed on Aug. 22 in 1910 and took effect a week later, was illegal.'

I shouldn't have a problem with the Dokdo issue, but I do, and I'll tell you why. Even the most level-headed of all Koreans actually care about this. I say that referring to the majority. I have met a few Koreans around my age and younger who don't care if that island even exists anymore. So they either get it, or are even further out of the loop.

Here's a fact: There is nothing worthwhile on that island. My Korean friends tell me it's a fishing resource and they'll brag about the Koreans livign there. There are Koreans living there. It's one older couple. They're the equivalent of planting a human Korean flag on the soil.

So until someone can tell me why Dokdo actually holds any importance, I'll continue to make fun of it. I have a joke with my close Korean friends and my girlfriend where I call the island Takeshima. My girlfriend laughs and playfully hits me, but I know that deep down inside it would bother her to know that I think the whole situation is simply silly.

I've posted a few things on Dokdo before and gotten a couple of responses. If someone could enlighten me of the true value of the island, I'm all ears. But as I said it, it's just a pawn in a little game of "who has the biggest balls in Asia."

The Korean Work Schedule Sucks, or Example Of Me Hating My Girlfriend's Schedule

There are a couple of stories in The Korea Times today concerning Koreans lack of sleep and overworking.

Check out the story about needing sleep here. There's not too much to say on that. I think it's pretty obvious that people in most countries don't get enough sleep, and it can be a danger to others as well as unhealthy to the individual.

It's certainly a well-known facet of Korean culture that workers will go out with their bosses for meat and Soju on a regular basis. The streets are packed at midnight on any given day of the week, and it's commonplace to see children in bars running around, wow mom and dad get plastered.

This is definitely a very social culture among people who have already met. I think that's a good thing. I don't see the going out as the main culprit behind Koreans' lack of sleep. The main culprit is the fact that they work too damn much.

With my only school-given vacation days ending, I think this is an appropriate topic. Now, I have 14 days per year to use. That number is inflated because it includes national holidays as well as any school holidays. But when all is said and done, I still have about 5 days to pick and choose for my own personal vacation.

With those days, I -- and other native speakers in my position -- definitely take full advantage and either plan a trip or simply take the time off to recharge our battery a bit.

But Koreans -- even though they have the option -- don't REALLY have the option. Check out the story here.

It uses a typical salaried worker as an example, but that model could be used with nearly all Koreans. My girlfriend works in the department store. During a regular work week, she will work anywhere from 40-50 hours, not including the extra 6-7 hours she's at work and on a break.

Contrast that with my schedule. I am at the office 40 hours per week, but teach only 24 hours worth of class. I also have to use my other hours as prep time. But in a given week, I don't usually work more than about 32 hours. The rest is time that I'm browsing the Internet, writing in my journal, studying, etc.

That's not because my job is easy, necessarily. But when I finish my work, be it teaching, preparing future lessons or doing administrative work, I simply have nothing else to do for the time being. I can't go home until that clock strikes 4:30 p.m., but I'm not just working for the sake of working, really. And don't forget, I'm only there Monday - Friday.

My girlfriend on the other hand, works at least 6 days a week in her normal week, and that ALMOST ALWAYS includes Saturday AND Sunday. She gets one day off per week, normally, and it's during the week. That sucks big time for hanging with her. Either way, one of us is going in quite tired on our work day, while the other gets to sleep in.

She usually has to be at work by 9:30 a.m. and works until about 8 or 8:30 p.m. Of course, sometimes on Saturday or Sunday, she'll get off by 7 p.m. Wow. Awesome. She also has about 45 minutes of lunch time that she doesn't get paid for, but has to take.

Her schedule can change here and there, but that's a pretty normal look at it, and that's terrible.

To make matters worse, her schedule is typical of most Koreans, and that isn't likely to change.

From the story:

'Lee is Korea’s typical salaried worker of today, working the longest hours and taking the fewest holidays among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Koreans worked an average of 2,256 hours in 2008, down from 2,316 hours a year earlier. But it was still the highest among the 30 OECD members and far more than the OECD average of 1,764 hours.'

The story also list a few reasons people don't want to take the time off, including negative views from co-workers and superiors. That sucks. Because it means that even when they do take vacation, they probably feel guilty the whole time.

This is one huge cultural aspect I'd gladly change if I was World Czar. I wish I could get that chance for everyone here.

Vacation Is Over

It's the end of my vacation and I'm pretty much ready to get back to work. Without dance, I have plenty of free time at the end of the day, so going to work isn't as stressful. Of course, going to dance also helped relieve some stress. But it did so at the expense of free time. Balance is tough. Haha.

Anyway, I'm back at work for the next two weeks of summer camp. It'll be pretty much the same stuff as last week, and I'll have to prepare a couple lessons as well for the final week of August.

After these two weeks, it's off to America with Jeong Mi for a whirlwind 7-day tour and my sister's wedding. It's going to be a busy month.

This was actually my first real vacation in Korea. I didn't get one last year because I got sick and spent my vacation days in the hospital. Not so much fun, really.

But this week was great. I got to spend time with my girlfriend and her family. I also spent a lot of time with my friends, even though they didn't have vacation. I don't get to see them until the weekends, usually, because they are on the academy schedule, while I'm on the public school schedule. The different hours make it difficult to hang during the week.

But it was great to just sleep in every day, play some sports, go hiking and hang with my buddies and girlfriend and not have to worry about teaching or talking to kids all day. I did miss my co-teacher and our secretary. They're super-fun, but we'll be back together tomorrow.

So it's back to the school. I'm re-energized and refreshed and I feel good.