Happy New Year

I hope that 2007 brings happiness to all.

We need a plan

The Seoul city government has done a lot to develop Cheonggyecheon and Namsan by making them more accessible and pleasant for walkers. They've added a number of other parks, and I think that this devopment plan for a parklike plaza in front of Gwanghwamun is nice.

Widening the boulevard will reduce the number of lanes of traffic, however. Personally, I don't care. If fewer people drove, the reduction in air pollution might actually make the city nicer to live in. But,..this is not a plan.

"To prevent traffic jams, the city government plans to encourage drivers to avoid Sejongno."

Most people just ignore things they don't want to hear. Realistically, how are they going to "encourage" the drivers?

(Photo from the Seoul Metropolitan Government website - Traffic artery to make way for public plaza)

Meat

I read this article in the International Herald Tribune, Meat and the planet. It's one of the many things that we should be concerned about but usually don't think it's really very important.

Greenhouse Gases: 14% automobile, 18% livestock

Global livestock grazing and feed production use "30 percent of the land surface of the planet." Livestock — which consume more food than they yield — also compete directly with humans for water. And the drive to expand grazing land destroys more biologically sensitive terrain, rain forests especially, than anything else.

Reference to the original study was also made in the Red Orbit, Cow 'Emissions' More Damaging to Planet Than CO2 From Cars.

Cows also soak up vast amounts of water: it takes a staggering 990 litres of water to produce one litre of milk.

The full 400 page study is available at Livestock's long shadow. This is just one more reason for me to cut back or cut out meat entirely. I've done it before. Perhaps my leanings towards Buddhism will help. It's always easy to say that it doesn't really matter or that the science is flawed, but, in the midst of the mildest winter I can recall in Korea, I think we need to start thinking about it.

Random thoughts at the end of the semester

Every time I give oral exams to my students (midterm and final), I'm impressed by how nice and interesting many of them are. I give them half a dozen general questions and half a dozen related to units we have studied, and they have to choose questions from each group and talk for ten minutes. I find out all sorts of things about them: part time jobs they have/had and whether they like them, places they have traveled (North America, Europe, Asia), things about their families and hometowns, hopes for the future. I have had students who have trekked Nepal and wandered through India. Some do charity work. They are often thoughtful and sensitive.

(What happens to them after they go into the military, graduate, and/or get jobs in big companies is beyond my comprehension and will probably be the subject of another rant at some future time.)

At any rate, I've always liked teaching students here.

I submitted my grades yesterday, so I'm officially on vacation now. In the past, I've always had one or two students email me asking for higher grades; however, that hasn't happened so far this time. Perhaps knowledge of my consistent refusal (and inability because the school computer forces us to give no more than 30% A and 40% B) to bump up grades has gotten around. I did have one student ask me to lower his grade. We have an odd policy at the university that allows students who get a C or lower to retake a course. So, one of my C+ students emailed me and asked me to reduce his grade to a C (I did it). I will have to ask my students next semester what the majority of Korean professors do. I'm assuming that they never give C+ grades but I'll have to double check. I think we have a policy that everyone works around thus defeating the policy.

Last semester, I had a student email me and tell me that he needed and A+ (not an A or and A-). He said that, if I didn't give him an A+, his company would fire him and he would never for the rest of his life be able to get a good job. This is the same company which had hired him one month before school ended and expected him to get an A+ average while missing a quarter of his classes and his final exams (a common occurance which drives me crazy). I had given him a chance to do the work outside of class and submit it by email, but he never did it. At any rate, I never replied and I didn't change his grade. I never heard from him again, so I don't know whether I really did destroy his life or if he was just yanking my chain. These students are irritating but, fortunately, few and far between.

Look up, way up

I had heard that the soldiers assigned to the DMZ were chosen because they were tall. I'd be willing to bet that the American and South Korean soldiers' heights were taken into account when this North Korean who was rescued at sea was repatriated across the DMZ. (Photo from JoongAng Daily)

Wikipedia has North Korean males average height at 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) with the average South Korean male at 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in).

How bad does it have to be before...

Ministry Rewards Men for Staying Away From Sex Trade

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is offering Korean men money not to pay for sex.

What do you say to your wife when she asks you why you didn't get the money?

And, you can win movie tickets and restauraunt vouchers if you answer the trick question, "What does it mean "to go for another round?" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
(a) go to a bar and have another drink
(b) go to the nearest hostest bar and pay someone for sex

Gee, let me think...is the answer (a)?

And, what does it say about you if you get the answer to this one wrong?

Christmas Dinner

I come from a large family and Christmas dinner has almost always resulted in a large gathering. As a result, I don't really want to eat dinner alone. Fortunately, a few friends were available, so I ordered a turkey with all the fixings from the Hyatt Hotel. I do this mostly for myself, but I think my friends enjoyed it as well.















As usual, I forgot to take a picture of the turkey uncut. By the time I remembered, I had already wittled it down a bit.















The clean up - with a little help.




















After the dinner.

Counting the days till Christmas

At an intersection near my home, I came across Santa today. Probably scoping out the neighbourhood - checking his list twice to see who's been naughty and nice. It's Itaewon. I doubt that he'll be lingering long is this area. I suspect my house was crossed off long ago. I may just have to buy presents for myself.

Here's Santa at night.















At my university (a Jesuit university), they have a manger scene. It's similar to last year's, but it has drifted away from the traditional theme a bit. If you look closely on the lower left, there's a snowman and Christmas tree. The traditional Korean house is nice with its paper door, a kimchi pot, a rice scoop, a string of garlic, and a string of peppers. There's nothing wrong with a bit of local color. But just to the left of the angel is an old wooden sled with a picture of Santa Claus. What????

And, unfortunately, the cradle is empty. Did someone steal the baby Jesus? Or are they waiting until Christmas Eve to put him out?

It's kind of nice that they go to all the trouble to put this creche together, but I'd like it to be a little more traditional.















Below is a picture from Winter 2005 (note that Jesus is in his bed and the whole scene is somewhat more basic)

Too much of a good thing

It's winter vacation and all the parents are trying to find things to help their kids learn more and keep out of trouble. All of the camps, including English camps, are worth looking at, and, if I had kids, I would be checking them out and trying to find some good ones.

I might give Mr. Kim's camp a miss though just for his idiotic suggestion. "Mr. Kim suggests parents establish an 'English Zone [in their homes].' For example, in the morning, English could be mandatory when in the bathroom."

Now I have thought long and hard - as befits such a serious issue - but I can't imagine that there's much need for English (or any language) in the bathroom. Most people are in the bathroom alone. Are they going to talk to themselves in English?

Min Soo: Good morning, Peter (or whatever little Korean kids call their thing).
Peter: Hi, Min Soo.
Min Soo: What you doing now?
Peter: I just hang around. Later I going with you. OK?
Min Soo: (looking in the mirror) Hey, good looking. You hot today.

I just don't see a lot of English being used in the English Bathroom Zone. Perhaps all songs sung in the shower could be in English. And, is there really an important difference between, "Nnngghh!" (English) and "Yaahh!" (Korean)?

Who'd of thought it?

When I saw this "study" in the news, I thought, "There must be an incredibly disproportionate number of Libras (born September 23-October 22) and Aquarians (January 20-February 18) living in Seoul." A study by InsuranceHotline.com found that Libras and Aquarians have the most traffic accidents whereas Leos and Geminis (that's me) have the least. Perhaps being a Libra or an Aquarian is a requirement for taxi drivers and motorcyclists.

However, if you go to the original site, you see that almost everyone (except Leos and Geminis) is bad. Most of the descriptions explain the behaviour of 90% of Korean drivers. I guess the other 10% are Leos and Geminis.

Aquarians are "...impulsive, and ruled by the Planet of speed and rebellion." Now I know I saw at least one of them today on the way home.

Aries have a "me first" child-like nature... Oh, yeah. I saw a couple of them, too.

Taurus are stubborn, and have an urge to charge at red lights. There must be a lot of bulls in Seoul?

Sagittarius is a talkative group, and they should consider putting their cell phone down and just driving.

Capricorns...feel that the rules of the road are for other drivers to follow so that Capricorns can get to their destination faster. This actually sounds like everyone's philosophy of driving in Seoul.

Innocent until proven guilty

The fact that a Chinese diplomat locked himself in his car for 8 hours to avoid taking a breathalyzer test shouldn't be proof that he was driving drunk. I'm sure there might be a good reason for locking yourself in your car for 8 hours. Waahaa! Right!

The Chinese did their own internal investigation.

"Our internal investigation has found that the diplomat did not drive under the influence of alcohol," an official told the AFP news agency.

They don't offer any reason why their diplomat would lock himself in his car for 8 hours when the police were telling him to get out of the car. Of course, they might be right. Eight hours is a long time to go without a bathroom break especially if you've been out drinking all night.

I'm actually quite impressed that the police, who regularly do very little work, seemed to be doing it right even when they must have been a little worried about how it might affect diplomatic relations between Korea and China.

Sports

Lately, I've been watching quite a bit of sports on TV. The 2006 Volleyball World Championship in Japan was excellent - although it seemed poorly attended. The audiences at most of the games seemed to fill about 10% of the hall. I really enjoy watching and playing volleyball, so I don't really understand the lack of interest. Of course, the Canadian men's team lost most of their games, but they did win the one that counted most to me: Canada 3 - Korea 1. The game is much more interesting now with the new scoring rules, and the men's game, which I used to find boring because no one ever seemed able to return a spike, has really developed. There are a lot more blocks and spike pick-ups. This is a game that most people can play easily. It has lots of action. Where's the interest?

The Asian Games in Doha have also been on TV a lot. Which brings me to the original purpose of this post - boring sports. Now I used to think that darts (a pseudo sport if there ever was one - played by fat, out-of-shape middle-aged guys) was the most boring sport in the world. I have changed my mind. Taekwondo is truly the most boring "sport" that I've ever seen. In the Asian Games, I can't count the number of rounds I saw that passed without anyone throwing a punch or a kick. They just bounced on their toes for a couple of minutes and then sat down and got toweled off and drank a little more energy drink (It must have been hot in the arena because they never did enough to sweat). How many sports are there where the referee has to constantly tell the participants to fight? In the matches that I watched there were more penalty points taken off than points awarded. I can't say that I watched most of the fights until they ended. I suspect that most of the fighters won by getting scores like -2 compared to their opponents -5. When there was an occasional exchange of blows, no points are awarded for what looked like a good shot to me. People lashing out while falling on their ass seemed to be able to score. Maybe they should dispense with the padding, gloves, and head gear and just go at it until only one person is standing (Oh, wait. That sounds like K-1).

I practiced Taekwondo years ago, and I don't remember it being so boring. In fact, I think I got punched and kicked quite a bit.

How did this "sport" get into the Olympics? I'd rather watch synchronized swimming. I've certainly seen more action at a salsa contest.

Strawberry season

It's strawberry season in Korea. In Canada, strawberries are a summer fruit, but, in Korea, they are winter fruit, and all of the berries are grown in greenhouses. My understanding of the strawberries here was that they are all genetically modified organisms (GMO). I'm not sure where I got that information. I vaguely remember reading it in a newspaper. The fact that the strawberries are almost all huge and uniform in size, shape, and colour seems to support this; however, I've spent a lot of time googling 'strawberries,' 'GMO,' and 'Korea' to no avail. My feeling from reading everything that I could find is that Korea is strongly resisting the introduction of GMO food.

The strawberries may be the result of good agricultural natural selection. I think I'll just go with that and enjoy my strawberries on my breakfast cereal. The strawberries in the picture were very sweet and very tasty.

♫♫It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...♫♫

It seems a lot smaller than I remember it from last year. Do artificial Christmas trees shrink if they're left out on the balcony in a box?

I think I'm going to have to get some more decorations.

Now, if it would just snow...

Lunch

After a really pleasant walk along Cheonggyecheon today with a couple of worthy companions, we stopped for lunch. The weather was great today - a little cold, but not bad especially when we were in the sun and out of the wind. This has been a really mild autumn and winter so far this year. I'd like to see a little more snow (perhaps half a meter), but, if I can't have that, I'll take what we have now.

They were putting up Christmas lights along the Cheonggyecheon downtown. I bet that it will look great at night. Maybe next week, I'll go down in the evening and try to get some night shots.

New Goals

This semester's classes end on Dec.13th and exams finish a week later. I'm not going to teach this winter. When my grades have been submitted, I'm going to start studying Korean seriously again. I made a similar resolution about a year ago, but I didn't follow up on that. As a language teacher, I feel that there's something wrong with me because I haven't done a better job of learning. Oddly, the best conversations I've ever had in Korean have been with Japanese and American students of Korean. My Korean friends always say that they want to teach me or that they want me to speak Korean, but that only lasts about ten minutes, and, when they realize the limits of my vocab, they quickly switch to English. I'm going to be leaving Korea at the end of next semester, so it seems a little odd to make such an effort. I'm doing this solely for me - for my ego. Damn it. I should be able to do better. I'm not an idiot (but I sometimes feel like one).

I also want to take this last chance to travel around in Korea a little. I haven't been to Gyungju in years. I've never taken the KTX, and I've heard that it's really cool.

As well, I want to get a web domain and do some things with online material. For years, I've been fiddling around with some really basic HTML because I've been making exercises with Hot Potatoes, but I don't really understand it well, so I picked up a book called Head First: HTML with CSS & XHTML. It's only 658 pages. Luckily, it has a lot of pictures and graphics.

I have a geocities homepage that I've used to organize internet resources for my students, but I'd like to design and create my own homepage from scratch.

I also want to know how to work with Moodle as an administrator (this may be a monumental task). I've been using Moodle with my classes for a couple of years, but we have a very savvy computer guy in our department who has done all the serious stuff, so I'd like to put Moodle up there and play with it a bit while he is around to help me if I really screw up. Then I can use it with my classes no matter where I go.

People that I've worked with for years always seem to think that I'm this great computer guy, but I really just know how to do a very limited number of things with the computer. I'm sure that my spotty knowledge regularly shocks my computer geek officemate.

This is going to keep me pretty busy over the winter vacation (2 months).

I also plan to stop drinking so much, eat healthier, exercise more, and try to lose about 7 kilograms. I'm the heaviest that I've ever been (97 kgs/213 lbs) and I'm not as light afoot as I used to be. I have started meditating again and want to develop a daily routine. I also have dozens of books on my shelves that are just crying out to be read.

I little lightening up of my basic life attitude might also be thrown into all of this just to make life better.

Anti-smoking rant

As I get older and I get more concerned about my health, I get crankier and less tolerant. I am sick to death with hearing about smokers' rights. I can't walk out of my apartment on any day at any time and go more than a 100 meters without breathing second-hand smoke. I can't walk out of any building on campus during the break between classes without walking through a cloud of smoke because all the smokers go outside and mass around the doors (Thanks, guys. That really helps.). I feel like turning a firehose on them. The 2nd and 3rd floors of the professors' wing in our building stinks of cigarette smoke leaking out of the professors' offices - even though there is a ban on smoking in the building. I've even seen smokers standing inside a building by an open window as though that would really make a difference.

Although I recently read a news article that cited a study claiming that less than 50% of Korean men smoke, I doubt that this is true. I've talked to numerous students about smoking and many say that they don't smoke ("Well, except when I drink or hang around with a bunch of male friends who smoke.") and others who say they don't smoke at all ("4 or 5 cigarettes a day doesn't count, does it?"). I don't think that smokers tell the truth on surveys.

In Korea, this is all fairly recent research.

Age-standardized prevalences of smoking were 74.8% and 2.9% for men and women respectively, with no urban-rural difference. (from a 1992-93 study by Chung MH, Chung KK, Chung CS, Raymond JS School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Korea ).

South Korea has the largest smoking population of all OECD member countries estimated at 12 million out of 47 million in 2004. The smoking penetration in South Korea is fairly high as close to 55% of men are smokers. Women smokers are also not uncommon in these days. (from a Euromonitor study in 2004)

The cost of malignant tumors caused by smoking was $1.86 billion and cardiovascular disease accounted for $1.55 billion. Respiratory disease accounted for the lowest costs at $.51 billion.

Among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, Korea has the highest percentage of males, ages 15 and over, that are daily smokers (Korea: 69.9 percent, Australia: 21.4 percent, Canada: 20.2 percent, France: 32.0 percent, Japan: 52.0 percent, UK: 28.0 percent, US: 20.2 percent). (from an ISPOR study presented in 2004)

So, it didn't help that I read this in the International Herald Tribune today - Puffing on Polonium.

When the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was found to have been poisoned by radioactive polonium 210 last week, there was one group that must have been particularly horrified: the tobacco industry. The industry has been aware at least since the 1960s that cigarettes contain significant levels of polonium.
...
Pack-and-a-half smokers are dosed to the tune of about 300 chest X-rays.

Is it therefore really correct to say, as Britain's Health Protection Agency did this week, that the risk of having been exposed to this substance remains low? That statement might be true for whatever particular supplies were used to poison Litvinenko, but consider also this: London's smokers (and those Londoners exposed to second-hand smoke), taken as a group, probably inhale more polonium 210 on any given day than the former spy ingested with his sushi.
...
The World Health Organization estimates that 10 million people will be dying annually from cigarettes by the year 2020 - a third of these in China. Cigarettes, which claimed about 100 million lives in the 20th century, could claim close to a billion in the present century.

So, to all you smokers out there demanding your smokers's rights, "F*** off."

Li-Young Lee, "Persimmons"

Although Delhi Dusk sent me this as a comment, I thought it might be worthwhile putting on the front page. It does go well with the persimmon pictures in the sidebar.

Li-Young Lee, "Persimmons"

In sixth grade Mrs. Walker
slapped the back of my head
and made me stand in the corner
for not knowing the difference
between persimmon and precision.
How to choose
persimmons. This is precision.
Ripe ones are soft and brown-spotted.
Sniff the bottoms. The sweet one
will be fragrant. How to eat:
put the knife away, lay down newspaper.
Peel the skin tenderly, not to tear the meat.
Chew the skin, suck it,
and swallow. Now, eat
the meat of the fruit,
so sweet,
all of it, to the heart.

Donna undresses, her stomach is white.
In the yard, dewy and shivering
with crickets, we lie naked,
face-up, face-down.
I teach her Chinese.
Crickets: chiu chiu. Dew: I've forgotten.
Naked: I've forgotten.
Ni, wo: you and me.
I part her legs,
remember to tell her
she is beautiful as the moon.

Other words
that got me into trouble were
fight and fright, wren and yarn.
Fight was what I did when I was frightened,
fright was what I felt when I was fighting.
Wrens are small, plain birds,
yarn is what one knits with.
Wrens are soft as yarn.
My mother made birds out of yarn.
I loved to watch her tie the stuff;
a bird, a rabbit, a wee man.

Mrs. Walker brought a persimmon to class
and cut it up
so everyone could taste
a Chinese apple. Knowing
it wasn't ripe or sweet, I didn't eat
but watched the other faces.

My mother said every persimmon has a sun
inside, something golden, glowing,
warm as my face.

Once, in the cellar, I found two wrapped in newspaper,
forgotten and not yet ripe.
I took them and set both on my bedroom windowsill,
where each morning a cardinal
sang, The sun, the sun.

Finally understanding
he was going blind,
my father sat up all one night
waiting for a song, a ghost.
I gave him the persimmons,
swelled, heavy as sadness,
and sweet as love.

This year, in the muddy lighting
of my parents' cellar, I rummage, looking
for something I lost.
My father sits on the tired, wooden stairs,
black cane between his knees,
hand over hand, gripping the handle.

He's so happy that I've come home.
I ask how his eyes are, a stupid question.
All gone, he answers.

Under some blankets, I find a box.
Inside the box I find three scrolls.
I sit beside him and untie
three paintings by my father:
Hibiscus leaf and a white flower.
Two cats preening.
Two persimmons, so full they want to drop from the cloth.

He raises both hands to touch the cloth,
asks, Which is this?

This is persimmons, Father.

Oh, the feel of the wolftail on the silk,
the strength, the tense
precision in the wrist.
I painted them hundreds of times
eyes closed. These I painted blind.
Some things never leave a person:
scent of the hair of one you love,
the texture of persimmons,
in your palm, the ripe weight.

Waste of space

A picture is worth - well, in this case, absolutely nothing. Those of you who are old enough to remember when most news was just text and there were only a few pictures - usually only with the headline story - might be impressed by how vivid the news is now with all of its pictures.

However, if you were to look at this blurred picture, could you tell what it was about? I couldn't. Even after I knew what the picture was about, I still couldn't make anything out. This picture accompanies an article about porn online in areas that children can easily access. The story may be important, but the picture adds absolutely nothing to the story. So, my question is, "Why have a picture accompanying the story if the picture is unrecognizable?" Is anyone thinking?

In a further note (a grammar note), one internet user said,

“Because it was the weekend, I was watching video clips for fun with my family -- I was absolutely shocked to see the porn clips,” one lamented. “I never thought such a thing would happen. A lot of children may have watched it; it must never happen again.”

"...must never happen again"??? I think that "should" would be a better term. I do teach the use of modal auxiliaries. I guess this wasn't one of my students. The idea that anyone could really stop this from happening again even if they wanted to is ludicrous.

And, "I never thought such a thing would happen." What turnip truck did this person fall off?

Warmth on a Cold Day

Man's and woman's best friends.

The Gingko Tree

One of my favorite trees is the ginkgo. They are quite majestic. The leaves have an interesting unique shape (like a small fan). The fruit/seeds is quite tasty when fried in hot oil and served with beer (although they stink pretty badly when they fall to the ground and become rancid). They are great shade trees in the summer, and, in the autumn, the leaves turn a beautiful yellow.

This picture is of the back of the Bank of Korea building in downtown Seoul. That onion-shaped dome is part of the bank.
















In front of the bank there is one of those really old, Cold War era fountains. I always associate these with a strong sense of nationalistic pride. I'm a little uncertain why the woman has to be bare-breated although I can certainly see that Korea has a lot to be proud of.

Cheju Mandarin Orange Festival in Seoul

Just by accident, I came across this at the head of the CheonggeycheonStream. It seems to be a popular venue for similar events. The orange house is kind of cool. I love these oranges and can't wait for them to go on sale every winter.















They have a number of stalls set up, and one of them was giving out free orange drinks, but it tastes pretty bad, so I didn't buy any.



































The orange "harubang" (stone grandfather) is based on this stone model which is common on Cheju Island.




















I'm not sure what the person (girl?) in the costume was supposed to represent. I kind of expect her to be dressed like an orange.

The Ungracious American

...President George W. Bush said Friday that the American experience in Vietnam contained lessons for the war in Iraq. Chief among them, he said, was that "we'll succeed unless we quit."

"We tend to want there to be instant success in the world," Bush said after a lunch with Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, "and the task in Iraq is going to take a while."

For Bush, at APEC meeting, Vietnam offers lessons on Iraq

This is what he said when visiting Vietnam - the country that won. He's a guest in this country. So, he tells them that the one lesson that he learned was that the U.S. could have kicked Vietnamese ass if the U.S. hadn't been forced by popular sentiment in the U.S. to cut and run. He didn't learn that a popular insergency was hard to defeat nor that the U.S. shouldn't have gone to war in Vietnam in the first place nor that the U.S. just shouldn't be starting wars in other countries. He's saying that not defeating the North Vietnamese was bad for the host country and the rest of the world - if the U.S. had just stuck it out a little longer, they would have "succeeded". Whether he's right or not is not the point. The Vietnamese communist government has undoubtedly held the country back. But, he's a guest in this country, talking to the communist leaders of Vietnam. They are his hosts. Does he take pleasure in being rude to everyone? Does he know how to say/spell "diplomacy"?

Miltary hazing

Nude Riot Police Pictures Prompt Uneasy Questions
Civic Group Releases Dozens of Nude Soldier Photos
More Revealing Soldier Photos Embarrass Authorities

I posted something on this a couple of days ago and then took it down because I don't really understand Koreans enough to comment on their general character (and I had); however...I find this whole thing disturbing. In countries where military service is voluntary, I can say, "Well, they knew going in what it would be like and they chose to do it anyway." This doesn't make it right - just less troubling. In Korea, 2 years of military service is compulsory for any healthy man (except for the rich and politically connected). If I were a parent, and the kind of abuse that seems common was going to happen to my son during his service, I would be out on the street demonstrating with other concerned parents and I wouldn't stop until the abuse stopped. I'd get parents and lawyers together and file a class action suit. I'd personally sue anyone who was involved. That people in positions of power who should be protecting these young men say things like:

...Gangwon police said the taking of nude photos was a time-honored practice in the barracks of the unit when members were promoted. (There's nothing honorable about this, and I guarantee that my students who are soon to enter the military don't think it is okay.)

Oh Chang-ik, director general of Citizens' Solidarity for Human Rights, said the fault lies with a culture “that doesn't view these acts as a problem..."

I know that Korea isn't the only country with problems like this in its military. Britain recently had a similar scandal, and I wouldn't put it past Canadian soldiers to do this. However, I suspect that it is much rarer in Britain and Canada. My students who have completed their military service say that all forms of abuse are really common. Part of the reason they say is that the NCO's are often poorly educated and from a lower class than most of the recruits, and the NCO's relish the opportunity to inflict pain on people that they know would look down on them if they were outside the military.

In addition to the abuse, one student told me that, when he was in basic training, they were forced to abseil down a cliff with no training. He claimed that several recruits broke bones and one died. Those who refused were kicked, punched, and eventually forced over the edge.

Suicide is much more common than in the general populace, and at least a few recruits have gone "postal".

This is not a voluntary army. I think that parents, politicians, military officers, and the police all have a great responsibility to protect these young men who are completing compulsory service. There is no excuse for the abuse they suffer. When I look at some of my students, especially the sensitive unsporty types, I feel really sorry for them as they prepare to enter the military.

I have always felt that Korean military service has a negative affect on Korean men. I think that they are brutalized and become more brutal. Those who come out relatively unscathed have my respect.

Namsan on an autumn day

The weather this weekend has been beautiful. I love the autumn and this is my favorite kind of weather. The sky is clear and the temperature around 10C. There is a gentle breeze. This is just enough to add a touch of color to your cheeks, keep you from getting too hot if you are hiking, but not make you cold.

Namsan (Nam Mountain) is in the center of Seoul, and I live at the base of the mountain on the south side. There are a lot of really nice paths on the mountain, and, if you stay away from the tourist areas and dating paths, it is pleasant and relatively quiet (except for the ubiquitous hum of tires on roads that is everywhere in Seoul - if you have a good imagination, it can sound like a mountain stream). There are lots of birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. I've heard that there are pheasants, but I haven't seen any yet.

I walked from my apartment (in the middle of the picture on the left) on the south side of Namsan. I went up to the Hyatt Hotel, then to top of the mountain and Seoul Tower then down to the west; then I walked back up to the peak and down the other side to where I started (kind of a Figure-8). In total, it was about 10 kms and took about 4 hours. The air was relatively clear, and there was very little second-hand smoke. I think the signs warning about the danger of forest fires have a lot to do with that (although ignoring signs is a national pasttime). It also may be that the hike up the mountain doesn't appeal to smokers.

I hadn't been up the Seoul Tower since November 1976 (30 years ago), so I decided to splurge and pay the W7,000 to go up to the observation area. It's a lot nicer now than it was years ago. There isn't much point in going up the tower if the air isn't clear, but, on a nice day, it's worth it.

If you don't want to hike up, there is a tram on the north side of the mountain. Buses and taxis also go as far as the Tower.

Along the paths, there are several good clean toilets, a number of wooden platforms where you can sit and have lunch, and several fitness areas (Yes, that's a real Nordic Track strider). I'm quite amazed by the lack of theft and vandalism in Korea. If we had weights and exercise machines in parks in most Canadian cities, they would last a couple of days and then they would be gone or trashed. Here, the equipment is used by a lot of people (especially older guys) and it is in reasonably good condition.

Aging

When I lived here years ago, everyone thought that I looked like Marc Singer. Yeah, right. We all look alike.






Last Friday, I was told by a Korean friend that I reminded her of Bruce Willis in 16 Blocks. What??? Bruce can look good, but in 16 Blocks, he was playing a worn-out, alcoholic cop. I'm trying to take it as a compliment, but I'm not sure. I'm obviously not aging well.











This is a picture of me from a week ago. You be the judge.

Bad Hair Day

To the best of my knowledge, this is a Eurasian Red Squirrel. Apparently, even though it is called a red squirrel, the color can range from black to red and everything in between.

If anyone knows different, please let me know.

I saw this handsome little guy at Kyungbok Palace. I took a lot of pictures today, but it was really smoggy, and I'm not very happy with most of them - so a couple of squirrel pictures is enough for now.

Saturday Morning News

Most Saturday mornings, I get up around 7AM and go to the local Familymart (like a 7-11), pick up a copy of the International Herald Tribune, and go for breakfast at the Nashville (scrambled eggs, bacon, and a couple of pancakes). Then I sit for a hour, have breakfast, and read the paper. Most mornings, the news is not really that thought provoking - another tirade against or for the war in Iraq, an explanation of how to do business in China, yada yada yada. This morning's paper though had several interesting opinion pieces:

Meanwhile: The wonders of same-sex education
For a long time, people (mostly women) have been trumpeting the advantages of same-sex schools for girls - with a lot of good reasons. This article suggests that it would be good for boys, too. I taught high school for 7 years in Canada, and I have often thought that same-sex schools and uniforms would go a long way to avoiding a lot of the behaviour problems that plague public schools in Canada. The students' focus is often on how members of the opposite sex perceive them. They spend an inordinate amount of time on primping and preening. The focus for many kids is not on getting an education. There are problems associated with single-sex education, such as an inability to socialize with members of the opposite sex, but I don't think that this is a real concern. Most children interact with a wide range of kids outside of school. I definitely think that this issue needs some serious consideration.

Dealing with North Korea
Because of the fact that the six-party talks are back on, and in light of a recent U.N. report on the dire state of human rights in North Korea, this article is interesting. I would like to see some progress on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programs and on the North's human rights abuses. However, the current U.S. administration always seems to lump everything together and then coat it with a layer of regime change. It hasn't worked. Working on both at the same time, but not tying progress in one area with progress in the other seems reasonable.

In a farewell, Seoul's original rock star is rediscovered
I'm not a real rock fan, but this was interesting, especially the part about the singer's run-in with former President Park Chung Hee.

Lost World

Recently, two news articles have made me sad and depressed.

David Suzuki, a well-known Canadian scientist and environmentalist, is retiring, but it's not just his retirement that is depressing. It is the fact that, a man with the backing of many and the ears of many politicians, seems to be giving up. I certainly don't blame him. He fought the good fight for a long time. He did more than most and he certainly deserves to enjoy time with his family. But, it makes me wonder what hope there is for the world.

Environmentalist Suzuki to quit spotlight for simple life

...
He regrets that after decades of campaigning for everything from cleaner air to sustainable farming, his work has not had more impact.
...
"I feel like we are in a giant car heading for a brick wall at 100 miles an hour and everyone in the car is arguing where they want to sit. For God's sake, someone has to say put the brakes on and turn the wheel."
...

The second article was a BBC news story about the impending demise of the oceans' fish.

'Only 50 years left' for sea fish

I have been angry at the fishing industry for years. The driftnet fishing of countries like Japan and Korea waste millions of tons of fish which are caught "accidentally" and then just dumped back into the sea. The trawlers that drag nets across the ocean floor, destroying everything in their wake seem senselessly destructive. Almost all of our modern fishing methods seem to result in the needless capture and destruction of many species. And, even those that catch the fish that they are intending, catch too much. In Canada, we have seen the destruction of the Atlantic cod stocks, and we are always fighting about how many salmon we can catch in a sustainable way. Stories of the early explorers who came to Canada and saw so many fish that they could almost walk across the water on them must seem like unlikely fairtales now.

"The way we use the oceans is that we hope and assume there will always be another species to exploit after we've completely gone through the last one," said research leader Boris Worm, from Dalhousie University in Canada.

"What we're highlighting is there is a finite number of stocks; we have gone through one-third, and we are going to get through the rest," he told the BBC News website.

...

"You have scientific consensus and nothing moves. It's a sad example; and what happened in Canada should be such a warning, because now it's collapsed it's not coming back."

And, once again, I wonder when we will learn. I don't blame young people for any of this. I live in Seoul, where the air pollution is bad, but many young people don't know any different. When I talk to them, they don't really understand. But, we older people have known a world were the air was clear, the fish were plentiful, and the land beautiful. We should know better.

KOTESOL

This past weekend, the Korea Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (KOTESOL) organization had their annual conference. It ended a long and rather tiring week (midterm grades were due on the 27th). I also had a visitor from Dubai who was a presenter at the conference, so I was out showing her the wonders of Seoul. It was really nice to see her after two years. Showing my friend around was pleasant, but a lot of stuff didn't get done. I'm actually wearing my last clean dress shirt now, and I have a pile of laundry that's almost as tall as me.

The conference was very pleasant. I've always liked going to teachers' conferences. It feels good to be in a room full of teachers who are mostly there at their own expense for professional development. I saw half a dozen good presentations and, this time, there were no stinkers. Some of the presentations were helpful. Often they remind me of things that I once knew but forgot. Sometimes, I hear about things that I do, but are done in different ways. And, sometimes, I hear things that make me sit up and say, "Why didn't I think of that?" The publishers' displays are always full of really cool books (Yes, I know, you're thinking, "How can a grammar book be cool." Well, it takes all kinds.)

I met a few new people and chatted with some old friends. All in all, it was a weekend well-spent. My grades are done. Now I need to get that laundry done and go to the gym.

What have we taught them?

I wrote this several years ago, but the recent post of a blog calling into question the sexual orientation of several young girls holding hands reminded me of the issue (I'm sure he wasn't really serious; however...). So, I thought I would take it out, dust it of, tweak it a little, and post it.

When I first came to Korea in 1976, I was amazed, and perhaps shocked (as a Canadian of Scottish descent brought up in a culture where same-sex touching was not common), to see that everyone was touching. Both men and women held hands or walked arm in arm with same-sex friends. In 1983 when I came back, it was still common to find friends closely linked together or drapped all over each other. When people talked, they often seemed to need to be in contact with the person they were talking to. When men shook hands, they often didn't let go until the conversation ended. In returning to Korea in 2002, I was again shocked but this time by the lack of touching.

I recently spoke to a group of middle school teachers about this, and the majority of the teachers said they had been told over and over by western teachers at English language schools that westerners thought that same-sex friends who held hands actually were (or would be perceived to be) homosexuals. These Korean teachers in turn spoke to their young students, and a social change seems to have begun.

As an English teacher, I admit that I have in the past counselled Samsung electrical engineers who were going to the U.S. to study not to hold hands nor to sit on their friends’ knees in a lounge IN THE U.S. I have also explained that the three-second handshake would be much better when shaking hands with westerners than the older Korean custom of shaking hands and not letting go for the duration of the ensuing discussion. I’m horrified now to think that I have contributed to this unhealthy fear of touching that North American culture seems to have. The close and long-lasting bond of Korean friendship often filled me with envy, and I hope that whatever changes occur in Korean society are the result of Koreans’ desire to improve their society, not by some misguided attempt to become western or to avoid offending us. For those of us who are visitors to Korea, perhaps we should remember the adage, “When in Rome, do as Romans do.” If Koreans' touching bothers us, maybe WE need to get over it.

Nat King Cole

I picked up a new CD today at the Kyobo Bookstore - The World of Nat King Cole.

I had forgotten how smooth he was. It doesn't seem fair that anyone can be so cool. Unforgettable!

Sensible shoes

On my palace walk today, I saw several fairly large groups of tourists - mostly Japanese, I think. I'm sure that they were all given some information about the tour before they went on it. I probably sounded something like this:

We will be walking quite a lot for several hours on gravel paths, cobble stones, and up and down lots of stone stairs. Please wear sensible shoes.

Now, this woman is beautiful and those boots do look like Nancy Sinatra's boots that were made for walking, but, really....how comfortable could those be under the best of circumstances. I suspect that, under that rather fetching baseball cap, there is a vacuous space.











I always like a woman in flats, so this girl misses out. What was she thinking? This is a palace tour. Does she expect to meet Bae Yong Jun?
















You might ask what I was wearing - Rockports, of course.