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Friday the 13th

In South Korea the "bad number" is 4. Sometimes when you ride an elevator up into a building there is no 4th floor, or you simply have an alternate symbol.

Today, Friday the 13th, I tried to explain to my students, is a very unlucky day in some western countries. Some of them understrood; they knew about black cats, etc.

But it is Friday, and to me a good day, and students don't have to go to public schools tomorrow (they go 2 Saturdays a month), so they are happy too.

Plus Valentine's Day is tomorrow, so I got and gave chocolate today. (Though, technically, in asia, women give chocolate to men on Feb. 14th, and then, on "White Day", March 14th (?), men give chocolate to women.)

Second Thoughts about the Presentation

When I was young my mother used to make a fruit salad for us kids and put a maraschino cherry on top.

When I got this plate of pasta at a Gangneung restaurant I was a bit taken aback, but I went with it.

I think it was as difficult, mentally, to eat the baby octopus as it was to eat dog meat. The pasta was good, but the image of what I ate remained with me through the meal.

However, I would eat both of those again before I would eat some of the things I see in the fish markets. I'll have to take some pics to show why I am turned off . . .

Class Cell Phones

My 6th grade and middle school students, especially the girls, are giving me headaches with their cell phone blunders. I say "blunders" because to me that is what they are: the girls pull a cell phone out of a pocket when they think I am not looking, check their messages (or whatever), and then--ever so (they think) casually--slide the phone back into the pocket.

To me it's a blunder on their part because I see the whole thing happening.

What? Am I stupid? Blind?

This is what really stirs me up, the fact that they think they are being sneaky and getting away with it.

I stand in front of the class (8 or 9 hagwon students) and have a bird's-eye-view . . . I know who is, or isn't, goofing off and who is paying attention, let alone who is, or isn't, using a cell phone.

Perhaps I need to pull a stunt that a foreign teacher at a Japanese university did shortly before I started teaching there.

It went something like this:

*Warn the students not to use cell phones in class.

*Tell the students that cell phones will be confiscated if they are used in class.

*Bring an empty plastic cassette case to class and hide it in your podium.

*Confiscate a cell phone that is being used in class (look for the hand below the desk and the head pointed towards the knee).

*Pretend to drop the cell phone on the floor, but secretly substitute it for the cassette case.

*Crush the cassette case with your foot, maliciously.

*Watch the student cry.

*Then whip out the cell phone and call your friend/mother/police in a foreign country. $Cha-ching!

*Watch the student cry again.

No, for now just a stern warning. But, somehow, I don't think that warning will be enough. Sigh. I hate acting the bad guy, but I think that little drama is coming soon.

NK Defector Interview

Here is an interesting interview with a North Korean defector, courtesy of The Economist. It's an on-the-spot translation, so not great, but refreshing as far as news sources go.

http://audiovideo.economist.com/?fr_story=c67dbaedd8c4b98db545e7bc1256c5770c23c835&rf=bm

If you want to find out more about the balloons that some South Koreans are sending across the border into North Korea (and thereby increasing political tensions) just do a search. I couldn't find an easy link.

Obama's Afganistan Problem

While I am a fan of President Obama, I also agree with much of what the editors of The Nation say in this op-ed piece; instead of rehashing the whole thing here is a link:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090223/editors?rel=hp_picks

Korean War Memorial

Soon after I moved to Tongyeong last spring I learned that this area is home to legendary Admiral Yi Sun-shin (mid/late 1500's), a naval commander and strategist who capitalized upon previously conceived ideas of armored ships--now called "turtle ships"--to soundly defeat attacking Japanese navies in numerous sea battles.

However, today I learned for the first time that the city I live in was a battleground during the Korean war, and that South Korean armed forces prevaled during some rather intensive fighting.

Rewind.

On the way to school every day I pass what I know is a memorial to the soldiers who fought during the Korean war, but, sadly, I have never taken the time to stop off and visit the site.

It is on a hilltop between where I live and where my hagwon is, rather inconvenient as a place to de-bus, but today, Sunday, dawned sunny and not-so-cold, and I wanted to visit and to see if I could get some pics of the surrounding islands from that vantage point.

Alas, the skies were hazy, but I did learn something about my temporary home: there's some recent history of note to add to the older one.

Also, as much as I abhor the waste of war, I respect those men and women who fight to defend their homeland.

Not the day I expected it to be but better than I had anticipated.