A Few Random Pictures

Recently Katie and I went with some friends to the new City Seven Mall here in Changwon. The mall is significant because true malls don't seem to be that common in Korea. City Seven is quite large, and though all the shops weren't open yet, we visited on grand opening day. The mall had hired a group of weird Russian circus-folk -I really have no other words to describe them- to kick off the opening festivities. In addition to the gymnasts you see here, there was also a juggler, unicyclist, fiddler, and an opera singer...


...not to mention a couple of very scary clowns. The other one played a mandolin, but I didn't get any photos of him.


Katie spotted this cute baby, not an uncommon sight here in Korea. Moms typically carry them around in papooses like the one pictured.


In honor of the birth of our nation, we went to the Outback Steakhouse. I am not unaware of the fact that we were eating Australian beef in an Australian-themed steakhouse. However, Outback is an American company (based in Tampa, FL, according to Wikipedia), and what could be more American than eating a chunk of beef? We each got the fillet and it was amazingly delicious, almost exactly like back home. Plus, there was... I can scarce type the words... sour cream on our baked potatoes. Heavenly.


Remember, I said these photos were random. In order to cross many larger streets in Korean cities, you have to take underground walking tunnels like the one you see me descending into. They are typically cool and dank, and Katie has been a little frightened of them ever since we spotted an enormous spider residing in one.


In the U.S., tunnels such as this would be perilous places, inevitable magnets for rapists and muggers. Or, they would at least provide irresistible shelter to dozens of homeless men. But in Korea there is nothing to fear, no matter the hour, except spiders, of course. The tunnels are actually very convenient since it can take a long time to cross an intersection using crosswalks.

My Country 'Tis of Thee...

On Saturday we accompanied Henry, Nancy, Tom, Jackie, and Evan to the fabled Costco in Daegu. Daegu is the fourth largest city in South Korea, and it took us about an hour and-a-half to get there by bus. When we arrived at Costco, we immediately realized that, much like the U.S. consulate in Seoul, Costco is actually sovereign U.S. soil. The following photos should serve to illustrate my point.


Just like Costcos back home, this one had a concession area where you could buy hot dogs, pizza and ice cream. We ordered two pizzas which, as you can see, were quite large.



The building was almost exactly like any normal Costco in the States, except that there were two floors. Otherwise, the place was standard: a warehouse with pallets of over-sized bottles of condiments.


Giant containers of Cheese Balls. Like I said, sovereign U.S. soil.


I had actually never heard of "Rocky Mountain Marshmallows" before, but they're made in the U.S.A. (Okay, they're made in Illinois, but they still reminded me of Colorado).



Spotting a 2 lb. block of Kirkland Cheddar cheese simultaneously, Tom and I engaged in some initial disagreement about who should procure it. Shortly thereafter, we noticed a freezer case full of blocks. The unpleasantness was soon forgotten...




So, not everything was "American", strictly speaking. Yoshida's BBQ sauce is from Japan. "Howdy, gangstas! I'm average American cowboy!"


I also noticed this. As you'd expect, the meat department at the Daegu Costco is quite large, and contains a lot of beef. Read my previous post, and you'll understand the significance of an American wholesale chain selling "safe and clean" Australian beef.


As we made our way back to the bus station to head back to Changwon, I saw this group of old guys hanging out. I had to take a picture because they look like nearly every old guy I've seen in South Korea. I like their hats. The one with the sunglasses is wearing a white linen suit, traditional Korean summer attire.

Mad Cow Madness

I think it's finally time to say something about the mad cow disease madness here in South Korea. Ever since we arrived we've heard tidbits about it here and there, and I think I've finally figured it all out.

In 2003 South Korea banned all U.S. beef imports due to panic that followed one report of mad cow disease in the United States. South Korea had previously been the third largest international market for American beef exports.

But several months ago, Korea elected a new president, Lee Myung Bak. Lee worked out a deal with President Bush that would allow limited U.S. beef imports into Korea (only boneless beef from cattle not more than 30 months old). This deal sparked mass hysteria amongst Koreans, who began protesting all over the country. President Lee was forced to reshuffle his cabinet in an attempt to quell the rising anger against his administration.

Mad cow disease affects cattle that have been fed the remains of other cattle. The United States banned this practice in 1997. In the history of the mad cow epidemic, only three Americans have died from the disease believed to be linked to mad cow. Nevertheless, in September the U.S. agreed to allow South Korean officials to inspect American beef processing facilities. Beef exports resumed only after they gave their consent.

Several weeks ago, Katie and I were surprised to encounter a parade blocking a large main street near our apartment building. It turned out to be a U.S. beef protest. Soon all my kids were talking about it (often calling it "crazy cow", and laughing since they are all convinced that "crazy" is a bad word). Since Katie and I saw the protest here in Changwon, massive protests have occurred in Seoul, some turning violent.


A couple of my middle school students attended the above protest in Seoul. They explained to me that Lee Myung Bak is a terrible president, and that they don't want American beef. These same same students have no opinion whatsoever regarding the impoverished condition of North Korea, or the plight of North Koreans who escape into China. I don't blame the students, of course, but I think this serves to shed light on what is important to their parents.

Allow me to offer a little first-hand perspective regarding the issue. If you go to the store in Korea, with the intention of buying ground beef, you have basically two options: Korean beef and Australian beef. The Korean beef is obscenely expensive, perhaps $16/lb. No, I'm not joking. The Australian beef is more reasonably priced, though still expensive by U.S. standards. It is clear that the resumption of U.S. beef imports would drive down the cost of beef in Korea.


This is a photo of a protest involving an estimated 50,000 people, staged several days ago in Seoul. Several likely factors immediately come to mind regarding why Koreans aren't hip to the prospect of importing U.S. beef. First, they may not want to impede Korean beef sales. Korean beef is widely referred to as "pure", though the rumor among the foreign community is that it is not inspected. I have found many Koreans to be staunch cultural elitists. I was recently asked to proof-read an essay written by a 10-year-old. In his essay he stated that he wants to grow up to be a diplomat so that he can "show the superiority of Korean culture to other countries." I asked him if he really wanted to be a diplomat, and he confessed that his father made him write that part.

Second, Koreans eat relatively little beef, particularly when compared to the inordinate amount of pork they consume. Koreans are fond of boasting about their healthy diet and long life-expectancy. However, Korea (with an average life expectancy of 77.4 years) has now fallen behind the United States (currently at 78.1 years), not to mention a number of other Western countries -Canada, Australia, and England included.

And finally, many may simply find the excitement of getting caught up in the hysteria simply irresistible. Hysteria is something Koreans have developed into an art form. Take, for example, "fan death". According every Korean I have met, sleeping with a fan on in the same room is tantamount to sleeping next to an open gas spigot. Fan deaths are reported in the media each summer, and the validity of the phenomenon is acknowledged by the Korean government. However, Korea is the only country on earth where fan death occurs. Not one shred of scientific evidence exists in support of the concept. Wives-tales such as this abound in Korea, and the verdicts of science do not appear to dissuade anyone from believing them.


This last photo is of protesters in Seoul being gassed by the riot police. Hopefully this has served to provide a little insight into the mad wow controversy here in Korea. I'm not sure to what extent it has been covered in the U.S., but it has been big news for the past couple of months here.

Work Dinner

A few nights ago my school hosted a work dinner for the entire staff. After work we all went to a "meat buffet" (I know. It sounds appetizing, doesn't it?). The restaurant was actually very nice, and the concept was pretty cool, too. You grab a plate and then select whatever you want from a wide range of thinly-sliced raw meats. Then you proceed back to your table where you cook the meat yourself, as you would at a Korean BBQ restaurant. Left to right above: Eric, Henry, Nancy.


Large, whole prawns were also available, and of course Henry couldn't resist. He did something, however, that I have never seen a human being do, and must admit that I was not aware that a human being was capable of doing until I witnessed him do it. He ate an entire prawn -well, except the head with it's abundantly long antennae- shell, legs, tail and all. He said that when you eat the whole thing, it has a different flavor...


On the far right of this photo are Kyle and Robin, the Canadian head instructors at my school. The others are Korean staff members who I only know by their "English" names: Anderson, Kevin, Skippa, Steve.


These are some of the other foreign teachers I work with. From left to right: Mary Ann (Canada), Stephen (South Africa), Teri Ann (Canada) and Casey (U.S.A.).


Here is the director of my school, "Conan" (again, an assumed English name), along with another foreign teacher, Vanessa (England) and several other Korean staff members.


At the end of the night, I was disappointed to discover that Katie and I had failed to take any pictures of each other. So I thought I'd post at least one picture of Katie, in this case triumphantly brandishing an ice cream cone. The photo was taken at dinner one night after we visited the Jinju orphanage.

Famous

As many of you know, the English worship service that Katie and I attend is hosted by a much larger Korean church, Hanbit. The main church recently published a short article in their bulletin featuring us. I was asked to write a blurb containing facts about us, such as when we were married, when we came to know the Lord, etc. The blurb was then translated into Korean, and published in the bulletin. A longer article about us will also appear in the church's quarterly journal. Last Sunday Katie and I were surprised -and just a little embarrassed- when people we had never met from the main church kept greeting and smiling at us enthusiastically. They even knew our names...

The first line of the article says, "How are you? This is Aaron and Katie." If you are curious what our names look like in Korean, here they are:

So Yang Children's Home

A couple of Sundays ago we, along with the Hanbit English worship service, traveled to an orphanage on Gadeok-do, an island off the coast of Busan.


After traveling by car to Busan, we boarded a ferry to the island. It was something between the ferries we rode in Washington and the ones I rode in Peru.


Our captain told us a lot of stuff over the PA that I'm sure was really fascinating, but it was all in Korean.


Shortly after we docked, we had our first view of the island. This is a massive tidal plain with hundreds of traps of some sort visible in the distance. We arrived at low tide and the plain was muddy and barren-looking, as you can see. Later in the day, when we returned, the tide had come in and the scene looked completely different.


There are a handful of small villages on the island, and we had to walk through one of them. Katie and I were a little relieved to walk through an area that looked as if it hadn't been built within the last 10 years. We walked through a maze of narrow, winding streets until we finally arrived at a rendezvous point where we were picked up by vehicles from the orphanage and transported the rest of the way.


On our walk we saw this enormous pile of garlic. One thing we have learned about Koreans is that they love garlic. Or perhaps they are just really afraid of vampires...


After boarding the vehicles we were whisked up a network of narrow mountain roads past flooded rice paddies. When we arrived at the orphanage, Katie and I expected it to blend right in with everything we had just seen. To our surprise, the orphanage was beautiful and very modern-looking. Much of the grounds were occupied by what looked like giant, brightly-painted McDonald's Playplace equipment. About 80% of So Yang's funding comes from the Korean government. The remaining 20% comes from donations.



After being treated to a lunch of noodle soup and rice, we all gathered for a worship service. The worship was led by a combination of the Hanbit worship team and older students from the orphanage. There are approximately 120 orphans at So-Yang at any given time, and, in addition to a number of other skills, they must all learn to play an instrument. As the result, their "orchestra" was actually quite good.


In this shot you can see a number of the older children at the orphanage. They were extremely well-behaved, and helped set up and take down everything for the service.


From left to right: Arriane, Evan, Chi Hyung-Shik (director of So Yang), Erica, Nancy, Allen, Katie, and me. We are standing in front of a massive wooden house, unlike any other we have seen in Korea. The house is home to the director and his wife, but also contains a large recreational area for the children and guest quarters for visitors staying at the orphanage for extended periods.


The Hanbit group posed for this shot just before leaving. You can visit So Yang's website at http://www.lovesoyang.org/.

Prayer Retreat

A few weekends ago Katie and I attended a prayer retreat with Hanbit. We spent the day in the nearby mountains, and though it rained quite a bit, the scenery was still quite beautiful. The topic of the retreat was communication with God. Sitting next to me, from left to right, is Arrianne, Michelle (she is very active in the Hanbit English service), and Kevin (the Hanbit deacon in charge of the English service).


At one point Henry went outside and came back in with a small, wet puppy. Katie fell in love immediately, and we all had a difficult time parting with the little guy when it was time to leave. Someone had obviously been taking care of the puppy and his brother, as there was a food and water bowl set out for them. Still, they looked pitiful in the rain.



Here is Henry and I, along with Tad, another American friend from Hanbit. Katie found it humorous that I am throwing up a "peace sign" in order to mimic what every Asian does when they see a camera -meanwhile Henry is flashing a gang sign.

Children of the Secret State

Yesterday Katie and I watched a very interesting documentary about the plight of orphans (and others) in North Korea. It's about an hour long, and worth the watch. It's called Children of the Secret State. (Click the link if you want to see it).

At one point the film shows covert footage of rice being sold on the black market somewhere in North Korea. The bags bear the words "A Present from the United States". The food had obviously been "diverted" by someone looking to make a profit, rather than going to feed starving kids.

As if we all needed any more motivation, I think it's clear that this is just one more reason to be disgusted by commies.

My Life as a Saun Sang Nim (Teacher)

At long last, I have managed to put together about the kids I teach. Teaching these kids has been quite an experience, especially as they come to me at various ages (about 8-17 years old) and at different levels of English proficiency. They are sweet, mean, kind, lazy, hard-working, and absolutely hilarious. The above photo is of Andy, Steven and Kevin, from one of my elementary classes. These are, of course, not their real names. They get to choose whichever English names they like for use at the academy. Remember your alter ego from Spanish class? It's the same basic idea. Some choose to be called by their Korean names, and that's okay, too.


Here is a shot of my desk. As you can see, I have a pretty decent setup, complete with white board, computer, wall calender, and desk caddy.

My favorite times teaching have been when the kids pop off with some random and hilarious question or comment. Here are a few examples:

Pointing to the hair on my forearm, Andy comments, "Teacher. Too much fuzz." This is because Koreans have virtually no "fuzz" on their arms. Mid-lecture I have felt a tiny hand patting my arm, only to find a perplexed kid looking at my "yellow fuzz". The hair on my head is, of course also "yellow" (blond).

Our topic one night was apartheid in South Africa, and we were talking about "race". I asked them what race I belong to, and they said "white". However, one particularly thoughtful kid interjected, "But Teacher, you are not white. You are pink." I asked what color he thought he was, to which he replied, "brown."

While discussing breakfast with the kids, I explained that each morning I eat a bowl of cereal (assuming that this would be a "typical" example of breakfast). The kids all burst out in laughter. I asked what they ate for breakfast, and they all gave the same matter-of-fact reply: Rice.


This is John. He was in one of my middle school classes last term. He was an all around good kid, and paid attention even though his class lasted until 10:30 at night. John and his friend, Brian both like American brands and used to always ask me questions like, "Teacher, do you wear Levi's?" and "Teacher, is 'The North Face' American brand?"


This is Robin, whom I photographed just as he was going in for another paw-full of funions. Robin is one of the naughtiest students I've had the pleasure of teaching so far. He is the master of manipulation. Before class begins you might enjoy a 5-minute long conversation with him about how sick he was over the weekend. He is better now, of course, he is happy to report. Only later do you realize that he did not complete any of his homework. "Oh, but Teacher, I was so sick!"


Bella is a total smarty-pants, a student who always answers correctly, always does her memorization, gets A's on tests, etc. She was in the same middle school class last term as Robin.


Crystal is an elementary school student, and is another example of a "model" student. Some of these kids are bewilderingly smart. I'm sure Crystal will grow up to be a brain surgeon or a physicist. Aside from her smarts, Crystal is also every bit as sweet as she looks in this picture.


Here is Crystal again, along with Sarah and also Emma (who is hiding behind Sarah). Sarah is hilarious. She loves music, and constantly asks me if I like this or that singer. I frequently have to tell other students to stop talking, but I have to tell Sarah to stop singing. Seriously. Emma is very little for her age and extremely cute. She was very quite at the beginning of the term, but came out of her shell a little toward the end.


Left-to-right, this is Emily, Julie and Helen. They are middle school students and all pretty good unless they start giggling about something. As you may notice, Emily and Julie are photographing me with their phones as I took their picture.

A quick note

It's been a while since we've posted. Aaron has been busy with work, and there really hasn't been anything new to report. We have gotten to do a few cool things with the church over the past couple weeks. Our friend Nancy put together a cool prayer retreat up in the mountains of nearby Jangyu. We were surrounded by beautiful green, lush forest while we prayed for the needs of the church and each other. We were also treated to a Korean style barbecue lunch. Then, last Sunday we took a ferry from Busan to Gadeok Island where we visited the SoYang Orphanage. We had lunch with some of the kids and also church, and then took a tour of their home. Aaron will post pictures from both the retreat and the orphanage soon.
Our Korean lessons are going well. Our instructor says that I am better at listening and speaking, and Aaron is better at reading and writing Korean. I guess it's just another thing we have come together on!