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.

Palaces

I've seen the palaces in Seould evolve greatly over the past years. 20 or 30 years ago, my favorite palace was Kyungbok. However, because of its location, it has become the main stop for tourists and it has become crowded, noisy, and far to neat. Doksu Palace is pleasant because it has a modern art museum that often has good exhibits, but it's not very interesting structurally. The walk outside of Doksu around the back is still nice. Now I've developed a liking for Changgyeong Palace, but it is often seems to be crowded with school children.

I usually go to Changgyeong by getting off the subway at Jongno 3-ga and then I walk through Jongmyo Shrine to the back and cross over the road to Changgyeong. I have to say that Jongmyo Shrine may become a favorite simply because it is quite quiet. I think the signs at both entrances make a small difference. Well, that and the fact that I heard some old guy bark at some noisy kids.

As an English teacher, I always have my grammar radar working, and I have to think that this sign should say, "Please be solemn" or perhaps "Please be quiet" (I think that solemn is the appropriate feeling though). Unfortunately, I didn't have my red pen to correct it.

The pictures in the sidebar were taken on Saturday morning. One of my favorite pictures has always been this "Barren Tree". I took this several years ago, and I went back to the tree to see what it was doing in fall. It's a lovely persimmon tree, and it certainly looks different covered in orange persimmons rather than snow. I still like the barren tree picture more.

Cheonggyecheon - the dark side

My usual Sunday morning walking companion didn't make it today because he was hungover (tsk, tsk), so I thought I would make a side trip that I had been considering for quite some time. I really enjoy walking along Cheonggyecheon, and I had noticed that there are two "tributaries". I have been quite curious because I assumed that the tributaries would be like mini-Cheonggyecheons and that more of Cheonggeycheon had to be even better.

Well, my curiosity has been satisfied, and, as they say, curiousity kills the cat (it almost did). The first little stream that joins the Cheonggyecheon about halfway down the main stream was my target. Five minutes of walking along that foul little stream was enough to make me gag.

Now I can understand that they may not have had enough money to fix up all the little streams as they flow through an industrial recycling area where they were dismantling all manner of household appliance. However, to let this foul water join the Cheonggyecheon beggars belief. What is the point of starting out with clean water and then adding sewage and industrial waste to it? It certainly explains why the Cheonggyecheon stinks so much at the southern end just before it empties into a larger river. Why not put this water into a proper sewer system?

I read recently (Stream Improving Seoul's Air Quality) that there were now 23 varieties of fish in the Cheonggyecheon. I hope that they are upstream from this.

That soccer ball is probably left over from the 2002 World Cup.

Prostitution???

In Canada, prostitution is seen as an ugly thing. I don't think I know a single person who would ever admit to using a prostitute. Among "manly" men, paying for sex is also seen as a statement of failure as a man to attract a woman - any woman.

I can't imagine the derision that would be heaped on a Canadian man who admitted to paying for sex with a doll.

Certainly men have bought and used inflatable dolls since rubber was first discovered. However, this was always done in the privacy of one's home, and the "package" was always wrapped in brown paper (or so I've been told) when it was delivered.

(Wikipedia: Sex doll - "They were first developed in their modern form by Japan and Germany during the late 1930s and early 1940s - in Germany as part of the military 'Model Borghild' project, and in Japan for use on submarines. In both instances, the aim was to give sexual relief to men confined in an all-male environment." - But there's a big difference between an all male military setting and a large city in Korea.)

This article in the Chosun Ilbo just gives me the creeps (and I don't even really care if the the law protects the dolls).

Do the Anti-Prostitution Laws Protect Sex Dolls?

A “doll experience room” is a place punters rent for some W25,000 (US$1=W958) an hour, a fee that includes a bed, a computer, and an inflatable sex doll

(I'm not even sure why you need a computer. Would you broadcast it with a webcam?).

After the Special Law on Prostitution went into effect in 2004, the press reported that certain motels were providing the dolls to customers to bridge the gap, but this is the first time establishments dedicated to the experience have sprung up in the city. Ads looking for others who are interested in running their own sex doll rooms are springing up on the Internet, a development that leads police to suspect that more such establishments exists across the country.

Forget the brown paper wrapper. Do these "johns" wear a brown paper bag over their heads?

And then, of course, there is the big question: Would a wife be just as jealous of her husband for fooling around with an inflatable doll than with a real hooker? It really would add new meaning to that tired old expression that unfaithful husbands have used since, well, the beginning of time, "Really, honey, she meant nothing to me."

There are other questions, of course.
Would you need to rent the room for a full hour?
Would you expect to have foreplay?
Would you want to talk after?
And, what would happen if you, um, fell in love with "Barbie." Would you be jealous if she were"seeing" other Johns?

Axis of Evil

This morning, I saw an interesting Kim Dae Jung inteview on CNN. The information he gave was interesting, but the question came up of how George Bush's comment on the Axis of Evil affected the dialogue between North Korea and the rest of the world. The issues are complex and I don't really want to discuss them. HOWEVER, the mention of the Axis of Evil ALWAYS brings to mind this "article" on Satirewire. It always makes me laugh.

A Day in the Country

For the past two and a half years, my life in Korea has been, to put it mildly, much less than I would like it to be. Part of this, of course, must be related to my own character. But I find that I have very few "normal" experiences. I meet very few Koreans in "normal" settings. Perhaps part of it is cultural. Informal entertainment in one's home doesn't seem to be common. I go out for dinner and movies with Korean friends, but it's always a date or something.

My day to day life involves me interacting in an academic setting with students who are half my age. I don't socialize with them. If I invite Korean colleagues to my home for a drink or coffee, it always becomes a party, and it feels more formal than I would like. I would just like them to relax and feel at home. I just want to socialize outside of a work setting. I don't want to hang around in bars.

Living where I live, Itaewon, hasn't helped either. I can't leave my apartment and walk a hundred meters without breathing second-hand smoke. If I walk down the main street, it is crowded with carts selling things to tourists and made more crowded by groups of touts hanging around smoking and making rude comments about western, Japanese, and Chinese women. Itaewon is not all drunks. A lot of it is rough, middle class Koreans on the make.

So...an invitation from a colleague to join her and her family (her husband is a professor) for a barbecue in the country was very special. Her husband has twice yearly barbecues for current and past grad students at a family house in the country. We drove for an hour and a half northeast of Seoul to arrive at a very pleasant house with lots of greenery and fresh air. Of course, the yard had to be mowed (Boy, did that bring back memories).

The barbecue was beef and chicken. There was salad, taco chips and salsa, and beer. The grad students were a very pleasant, relaxed bunch. I had a really good time.

Perhaps the worst part of the day was returning to Seoul. As we neared the city, the air turned gray and foul. It was quite depressing knowing that I was going back into that soup to breathe that air.

Art???

The mayor has decided to add some sculpture in order to beautify the city and to draw tourists. The artists commissoned were Claes Oldenburg (U.S.A) and Coosje van Bruggen (the Netherlands). The sculpture, Spring, has drawn a fair amount of criticism. Because it was installed at the head of the Cheonggyecheon, where I begin my Sunday morning walks, I thought I would check it out.

An article in the Korea Times reviews the art:
Chonggyechon's Sculpture Unveiled Amid Controversy

The city is hoping that the sculpture will draw tourists, however, these visitor said,

"...I was just thinking: Dear God! What is that? It’s so ugly. It just isn’t attractive.’’...

"It looks like an ice cream," said Taru Salminen, an employee at the Embassy of Finland in Seoul. When the project was explained, she reconsidered. "Oh, it could also be a shell, now that you mention it," she said....

Sean Freer of Australia was summary in his judgment. "It’s an eyesore," he said. "Why not have something cultural?"

................................

Driving through Seoul, Oldenburg saw it differently and defended the towering blue and red snail. ‘‘The sight [sic] is beautifully solved by the piece. It’s a big opening: The river is flowing, and "Spring" creates a source.’’

While it's not the most horrendous piece of sculpture I've ever seen, the sculpture is a shell; how does that reflect the idea of the source of a river or stream? I'm assuming that the snail is the type that is sold on the streets so it does have a local component. From the east at a distance, it does seem to fit in...however...$4,000,000.

From previous posts, you will know that I'm not always supportive of modern art. You be the judge.




















A new addition to Cheonggyecheon is the "replica" of the Cheomseongdae astronomical observatory in Kyongju. The replica is interesting in the the "bricks" are automobile headlights. I don't know if it lights up at night. That many headlights shining in your eyes could be a little bit too much; however, it is interesting. Perhaps the lights have a connection to the stars. Okay, I'd pay a little bit for this.

Hi Seoul Marathon

This morning when I went down for my Cheonggyecheon walk, I found the grassy area in front of City Hall filled with people and an MC with a megaphone leading a warm-up exercise. The weather was fantastic for a run - a light overcast but no rain and temperatures around 26C.

I put most of the marathon pictures in the sidebar. I have started using Slide.com which allows a variety of formats from slides to fade in. I haven't decided which format I like best.