Examinations

One of the assistants to the English Ed center said her dream was to be a police investigator. She said she spent 7 years studying for the examination. During this period she only studied. She could not work, there were no classes involved. She only studied.

She passed the exam, but after several interviews did not get a job offer. She is now over the age to be hired for this position (34 yrs old). Lost wages and lost youth with no job. The exam was in multiple stages, I don't remember exactly how many. If you pass phase one, then you are invited to phase two, then phase three, etc. Fail at any point and you must retake the entire exam.

What could possibly take 7 years to study for?

As I met a few other people I learned that these examinations are common for careers. There is a teacher's examination that takes 5-7 years to study for. There is an exam for those who want to enter government. Again, similar timeline.

Earlier in life there is an exam that students take in high school that will dictate their future. Their score will determine if they can go to university, and the quality of the university. Perhaps, not so different than the US. However, I am under the impression the Korean exam scores have a far greater effect on one's life.

I am told that this is similar in nature to examinations in Confucian government. In so many words the exam became the goal in life.

Seoul Take 2

I visited Seoul, this time with a Korean Co-teacher from another school. She is "a farmer's daughter" and Seoul is "like a foreign country" to her. I seemed to figure out the Subway more easily than she, however, her Korean tongue gave her the edge.

She had never visited the Palace in the North of Seoul. We did that, and it was impressive. It seems more decorative than protective compared to the castles in Europe. It begins with the outer wall and a great gate. This leads to a large court yard, and a mote. In the center is a large rectangular one room building and another walled in area behind that. As you work your way North to the Mountains you pass wall after wall, and finally the living area. The colors are bright yellows, greens, and reds. Intricate patterns, and all wood structures.

We all visited Insadong, an arts district in Seoul. Everyone had a camera, guitar, or wind instrument. Musical instrument stores were equal in number to art galleries. Tourist shops had ceramics, tea sets, traditional Korean masks, and intricately carved jewelry boxes with inlaid mother of pearl. Very expensive. Jade jewelry and decorative small knives. Art supply stores with more rustic looking art tools than what we'd see in a typical art supply store back home.

Finally, we went to Namsan Tower. We took a cable car to the top of a mountain, and climbed stairs to a large tower that overlooked Seoul. In the pictures you'll see the typical "Apartment blocks." Even small towns have these apartment blocks. It is normal to live in one, and has no negative connotation. Hyundai owns and bears their name on many, as does Lotte, and other large conglomerate corporations. I think there is likely a mixture of rent, and ownership. Corporations seem to be double dipping, or smoothing revenue streams by these long term real estate investments.

PC Bangs

PC Bongs are computer rooms. There is a mix of men, women, and kids that fill them all day and all night. Business men in suits chain smoke and play World of Warcraft. College aged and older play too. Common to see military in their fatigues playing first person shooters.

Went into 3 PC Bongs today and I couldn't get a seat because of the holiday. There are VIP computers, and computers with bench seats for couples to play together. Sometimes there is a smoking section, but most PC Bongs tend to be smoky despite what section you sit.

They sell Ramon noodles, sodas, and coffee. Sometimes you see people who have been at the PC for untold lengths of time, cigarette butts everywhere, empty Ramon noodle bowls, and empty soda cans. Rumor has it someone around here died in one of these chairs after days of playing... rumor has it.

Solar New Year

Solar New Year is around the corner. I knew a holiday was coming up when Lotte Mart (local supermarket) filled the isles with gift sets. Ginseng gift sets cost from 125,000-250,000 won. Other gift sets include whiskeys, and soju with glasses. My favorite are the Spam gift sets. A package of every kind of Spam you can imagine. I had thought previously there was only one kind of Spam, also I had never thought of spam as a premium gift set item. I am mistaken.

Cities are emptying as people return home to be with family for the holiday. In Jecheon it seems like more traffic than usual. Combined with the full day of snow there have been plenty of small car accidents. Accidents are settled quickly in cash and each party goes their own way. The efficiency of it is intriguing. No lawyers here.

I walked with a friend to Uirimgi lake. The 6-8km walk was pretty stupid in the night and heavy snow. My hair was frozen, my face I thought I would lose to frostbite. My Korean friend dug deep to find appropriate English... "no pain, no gain" "I'm a fighter" "you can do it tiger" and occasionally the English song, "you raise me up."

At some point my muscles seemed weak, I was out of breath, heart beat fast, stinging pain in my face with my eyes feeling like they would freeze shut. This is the winter version of the same stupidity that lead my brothers to bring a blow-up raft to a sandbar at Hutchinson Island.

Giving and Taking

One of the small incidents of culture I appreciate is the way Koreans give, or receive, something. If I give something to a student they present both hands in a manner that resembles receiving Communion in church. They almost never take something, they always present two hands in a receiving manner. Shop keepers do the same when handling cash. When giving money back they hold the money in one hand, and present the arm with the other hand.

Traditionally one never pours their own drink. You should hold your cup with two hands when your drink is poured. Here are two pictures I found on the internet that show a little of this.

Seoul

This post is short because of a html script error that was embedded in the original blog post. I had to delete and reload all the images. Uploading and formatting takes a bit of time.

Seoul is a big city. It was clean, orderly, and modern. Many Westerners. More people from the middle east and India than I expected. However, when I flew to Incheon there were several Indians and people from the Middle East on my flight.

I have little big city experience. I have briefly visited New York, Mexico City, Madrid, Paris, Byrne, and Barcelona. My living in Miami does not count as big city experience. Seoul was different than these cities. More clean, more orderly, and for a city of 10-12 million it didn't seem so busy. The latter part probably had to do with my visiting on a Sunday. As the day went on the activity seemed to increase. Korea does seem to be a night culture. I was on the 6:30 bus, so I missed the night.

The bottom most pictures are of a Private Kariokee room. There is a Korean word for this but I don't remember. They are extremely popular. There are also private dvd rooms. A Blockbuster that rents you the dvd, the tv, the suround sound, a couch, and a private room. We went to the Kariokee room after dinner celebrating my Korean Co-Teacher's birthday. Thought you would enjoy that.

Communication and Food

A few weeks ago I befriended San Hyeong. He is a working class man of my age. He drives a flatbed truck 6 days a week for a Hyundai business. He invited me to eat with him and his friend when I was eating alone one night. He is good natured, and physically healthy. He has an English vocabulary of 20-30 words.

Half of his English is in the form of Corporate slogans, or movies lines. "Nothing is impossible... Adidas." "No pain. No Gain." "You can do it." "Just do it." "Okay!" "Jim Carey, YES Man." In addition to San Hyeong I have Korean friends who speak English well, because they are Korean English teachers. Then I have some American friends who are obviously fluent in English.

San Hyeong and I are like a dinner show for the others, because they are amazed we can communicate through gestures, sounds, and English or Korean respectively. Our communication is part game of charades, and part talking to the deaf. I picture explorers talking to Native Americans and wonder if this is what it was like.

Examples of communication, "chicken fingers." Chicken fingers turns out to be chicken feet... chewy but tastes like chicken. "Fish snake," is eel. Chewey but with enough red pepper sauce it tastes fine. "Morning food," is breakfast. "bok bok," was chicken before he learned chicken.

Speaking of food. I was photographing people ice fishing for what I am told is a delicacy. The fish they catch is a 3-5 inch nearly translucent, or "x-ray" as they say, fish. They are eaten alive with hot sauce. Being the fine Koreans they are I was offered and then forced to have one. So I dipped the live fish into hotsauce, chewed and swallowed. Just one more strange food to add to the list with chicken feet, pig intestines, fish-snake, raw crab, and so forth.

Yongdoosan and Ice Fishing