Vacation

Yay!! My first vacation days are quickly approaching. Long ago, back in April, I requested June 19th and 20th off in hopes of spending an early summer 4-day weekend at the beach. Now it seems it may rain on Saturday and Sunday. Well, here's hoping it's at least nice on Friday. *Fingers crossed*
I'm taking the train early Friday morning to Busan in order to make a lunch date with my old manager. She still works for our company but moved from Chilgok (where I lived last year) to our new branch in Busan, near Haewoondae Beach. After I have lunch with her, I'm hoping to lay around, read, drink beer, and eat popsicles (Corona + Lemon Ice Bar) on the beach. Then I'm going to sleep in the jjimjilbang again to save money.

There are lots of exciting events scheduled for this summer, too. I can't wait to write about them, but here's an impromptu list:

Amazing Race Daegu II* (I did last year's also!)
Prom Night* - A chance to re-live it, but better this time! CANCELED due to "scheduling conflicts" with the venue... or some excuse. :(
Art Daegu 2008 - Exhibition at the EXCO Daegu Convention Center
TreX-Games Busan 2008
13th Busan International Art Festival
Boryeong Mud Festival (Also my second go-around)

* Organized by the small community of foreigners in Daegu for ourselves.
All the other items are legitimate, sponsored, backed-by-councils-and-ministries-type events.

School

I've recently come across some disturbing information. Since becoming a teacher, I've also become curious about the differences in education in other countries. My friend, who graduated from a Korean high school here in Daegu in 2000, has shared his experience. I will in turn share it with you (plus bits I know about elementary/middle schools now) to compare with your own.

Presently, memorization is stressed as the major learning tool in every level of schooling. In private academies, elementary schools, and middle schools students are taught to memorize data, sentences, articles, and even full presentations. They are tested in a way that reinforces this style. My classes in particular are based around repetition of vocabulary, sentences, or full conversations and recalling sentences from articles by rote memory. In this way, the students are supposed to be learning grammar, sentence structure, and conversation skills, along with building a wide vocabulary. Unfortunately, my experience has been that as quickly as the material is committed to memory, it is forgotten or replaced. Unless a word or sentence structure is continually used over a longer period of time, I have little hope of the students utilizing it properly, or remembering it at all. In my friend's experience, his learning style was shaped by similar teaching techniques. Even into college, there is a lot of emphasis placed on memorization.

This got me thinking... What about subjects which typically don't rely on data, information, or reading articles? What about where you must learn processes or plans, like in woodworking or photography? You'd think this would be a great way to continue implementing the memorization rule while keeping school fun and interesting.
Again, I start thinking. When was the last time my question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" was answered by anything less standard than "Doctor," "Lawyer," "Teacher," or "Dentist"?
So I asked my friend, what kind of fun classes did you get to take in high school? He told me that high school was about 10% fun - the time he got to have a short break or lunch with his friends.
===== A little background:
Korean elementary = American elementary + 2 Saturdays/month + after-school academies (English, math, Korean, dance, TaeKwonDo...)
Korean middle school = American middle school + 2 Sat/month + academies or private lessons (English, Korean, math, history...)
Korean high school is much different.
M-F: Start time ~ 7:30 AM, short lunch in the school, dinner break, finish time ~10:30 PM. No academies.
Sat: Start time ~ 7:30 AM, short lunch, finish time ~2 PM. After this, maybe academy, probably private lessons in English, Korean, other various academic fields.
=====

It seems by the 3rd year of middle school, all fun has been prohibited. I asked about art classes: Only a cursory, still-life drawing/sketching class. Photography? Pottery? No. Drafting? Wood shop? Auto shop? Definitely not. Welding? No! Isn't that dangerous, he asks. Drama class? A school play*? Nope. Band? Orchestra? Choir? Yes, he did get to sing with a chorus group which would practice outside of school time for 2 concerts a year. At least gym is kind of like fun - if you're sporty. As far as I know, high schools here have no developed sports teams or system for promoting tournaments or intramural activities. There are some clubs in elementary or middle school for sports or interests like soccer, movies, book reporting, or drawing. The only competitions my students ever mention are math competitions or field day races.
(I know these few details about students nowadays due to the discussion questions we often have in conjunction with the reading class articles.)

My main concern is that high school students spend over 14 hours per day in a building learning purely academic subjects and have almost no artistic, technical, or remotely unique way to express themselves. Also, how do they learn what interests them if they're not exposed to skills like mechanical, automotive, artistic, dramatic, or specialized sports? Kids certainly don't decide to go to tech school before they ever use a wrench, or art school having never painted a canvas. How could a student possibly make an informed decision about his or her future without having experienced these different fields of study? I hope they're not relying on the Career and Vocational Assessment that I took in high school. That thing told me to be a waitress...

Please comment on this entry - I'd love to know what you think about education. Also, what questions you have that I can answer to make this more complete.

* I now know at least my elementary kids have an annual school play.

I love...

That's all.

Seoul; Presently Tense

It's Tuesday. Monday May 5^th is my birthday. Monday. What can I do on a Monday…? Recover from a good – no, great – weekend, that’s what. So Deuk Kyun and I start planning a trip to Seoul for the 2^nd Annual Seoul World DJ Festival.

We agree not to spend much money as we’re saving up for a big winter getaway. Therefore, I buy tickets to the show in advance, saving us ~$10. We also decide that a “love motel” won’t be cheap enough… no, no. We need to stay in a jjimjilbang. For around $10, a person can pay to get the hot tubs, sauna, rooms (click on the links and read if you don’t know what I’m talking about) any time of day. Most jjimjilbang are 24-hour operations, with dedicated sleeping rooms and mats, pads, and pillows available.

On Friday we pack small backpacks for the overnight trip. Deuk Kyun is arranging seats on the cheaper (read: slower) train to Seoul Station for ~$20 each one-way. Saturday morning we leave Daegu with no problems. The weather is beautiful in Daegu as well as Seoul. When we arrive, we head straight for Yongsan. One highlight of Seoul (for me at least) is the electronics mart in the Yongsan area, near the city center. I want to call it an indoor market but that doesn’t really do it justice. When we get off the subway we cross through an outdoor passageway from Yongsan Station into the shopping area. Upstairs there is a large department store and restaurant section, and on the side is the electronics market.

As I walk in, I immediately feel the warmth and excitement soaking into me from the bright, white display lighting and neon signs on the vendors’ showcases. All the salespeople eagerly greet me, asking what I’m looking for. I have recently purchased a lightly used Nikon D40 SLR camera body, so I explain to the first salesman I want to look at lenses. Specifically, the Nikon 18-55mm VR lens. The first vendor gives me a price and I quickly say, "I'll come back, thanks!" I continue to collect prices, higher and lower until I'm sure I've asked everyone... Or I get lost. I head back to the dealer who quoted the lowest price - he unfortunately informs me he can't sell me the lens. Due to the holiday (5/5 = Children's Day), their supply store is closed, or something. This is the case with 2 more vendors. I finally find someone who sill sell me the lens, I work out a deal, and get the warranty information. Finally, I walk out with my beautiful lens!

After leaving Yongsan, we hop the subway to Itaewon. This area is foreigner-central for Korea, and definitely worth the visit. We are walking up and down the streets looking for anything cool. I visit the English bookstore, browse the street vendors, and finally we begin to look for dinner. After stopping into an alleged "Spanish Tapas" bar, only to find they don't actually have food on the menu, we find a small Mexican restaurant. 2 burritos, 2 tacos and a Corona later, we finally leave for Nanji Park on the Han River.

After exiting the subway station at the Olympic Stadium, we ask some people on the street to get headed in the right direction. We walk... and walk... and then we see signs for Nanji Park. After entering the park, we haven't spotted the Han yet. Upon asking someone else, we are told that there is actually another Nanji Park. Damn. So we leave the way we came, and continue to ask people randomly if they can give us some direction. Eventually we meet 3 Korean girls loaded up with snacks and beer who say they are headed to the festival. Success! We follow them the additional 2-3 km until we reach the riverside. The last little shop we see is filled with festival goers, so we join the pack to fill our backpacks with beer, juice and soju. Picking up our tickets proves to be easy and we make our way in.

Now the music is just getting started, but as the night wears on, people get crazier, the DJ's prove more and more creative, and effects grow spookier. The air fills with dust and artificial smoke. We can feel our hair, skin, clothing, and even teeth becoming sticky with sweat, humidity, and dirt.


It's 3 AM. We're climbing up to the highway to catch a taxi back to the Hongik University area to find a jjimjilbang. We get in a cab with another young couple headed in the same direction and drop them off first. Soon after we arrive at a big sauna just up the street from the University. I am so tired I think I may not recall where we are in the morning. After getting into the bright indoor lights, I realize just how dirty my pack and shoes are though I'm not going to deal with it tonight. I find my locker, have a nice, long shower, and drag myself upstairs to the sleeping area.

After a fitful sleep due to people alternating between snoring and talking, I lay around in the hot rooms, get some misu-karu (a sweet, tasty, blended, grain shake), and lastly get a shower. It is only now that I realize how dirty my backpack and sneakers got last night! Wow, really. I decide to get extra towels just to clean them off. When we leave the jjimjilbang, we begin a search for lunch - which ends with a small "Oriental Food" restaurant in Hongdae called Tiki-ti. FANtastic. We leave the restaurant feeling not only tired but, now, stuffed, so we both agree it's time to go home.

I Love "Love" Motels

A love motel usually runs between $35-60 per night, depending on the city, area of that city, and quality/cleanliness. They are called “love motels” because they have a floor or two of hourly-rented rooms, covered parking, and the amenities in the bathroom include a condom. Whether or not people actually use these services for the purpose intended, these motels differ from the more expensive hotels. As far as I know, there are some other (non-"love" variety) guesthouses or motels - yeogwan - in this price range.

As my Aunt Jan & Uncle Lou are aware, love motels can offer surprisingly nice accommodations such as in-room wireless internet with computer, Jacuzzi tub, or big, flat-screen TV. When they visited Korea last fall I reserved a room on the upper (non-hourly!) floor of the Motel Greece in my suburb, Chilgok. We checked out the room before they arrived to ensure it would be adequate. It was much more than adequate, especially for the modest price. They had heated tile floors (complete with slippers), a computer, the afore mentioned big, flat-screen TV, western shower (somewhat unusual for a love motel) and bathtub, small water cooler and fridge, and a tall, comfy looking bed.

In my time here I have stayed in a few love motels, most of them not as luxurious. The few I’ve been to in Seoul, Gyeong-ju, and Busan have been passable. Typically, I’m just given a basic, mostly clean room – hard western bed, Korean shower, and a vanity with TV. They’ve all surely been better than the hostel I stayed at in New York, for which I paid nearly $70 per night!