Bibimbap V2 I3 Nov. 2014

featuring

Learn the standard procedures for discussing issues with your school.

Is it possible to take extra unpaid vacation time?

A look at K-Pop and its history.

Buying a car and getting a driver’s license in Korea.

{bibimbap{ A Healthy Mix of Jeollanamdo Teacher News and Information

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{bibimbap{ EST. 2013 • Volume 2 • Issue 3• November 2014

For questions and comments concerning articles please contact the writer via their emails listed at the end of their articles

For general inquiries please contact: BibimbapNews@gmail.com production team

Chris Devison chrisofficeofeducation@yahoo.com

Upcoming holidays, festivals, and events Holidays

November 29 – January 4:

November 27 Thanksgiving (USA)

(부산크리스마스트리문화축제; Busan)

December 16-24: Hanukkah December 25 Christmas

Busan Christmas Tree Festival

December 12 – January 25:

January 10 – February 1:

(보성차밭 빛축제;

(화천산천어축제; Gangwon-do)

Boseong Green Tea Plantation Light Festival

Edward Chaney edwardtchaney@gmail.com

January 1 New Years Day

Pyeongchang Trout Festival

Julia Cheng jucheng86@gmail.com.

February 18-20

December 26 – January 4:

Seollal/Chinese New Year

Busan Port Lighting Festival

Lindsay Ross Ross6520@gmail.com Tyson Vieira tyson.vieira@att.net Winnie Stone winnie.isastone@gmail.com

Edward Chaney

November 7 – 23:

Seoul Lantern Festival November 7 – December 25:

Dinh Nguyen layout and design

Dinh Nguyen

(롯데월드크리스마스축제; Seoul)

November 13 – December 13:

(정동진 해돋이축제; Gangwon-do)

December 31 – January 1:

Ulsan Ganjeolgot Sunrise Festival December 31 – January 1:

Maryangpo Sunset and Sunrise Festival (마량포해넘이 해돋이축제;

Seoul Photo Festival

Chungcheongnam-do)

(서울사진축제; Seoul)

December 31 – January 1:

November 21-23:

Seongsan Sunrise Festival

PajuJangdan Soybean Festival

(제주성산일출축제; Jeju-do)

(파주장단콩축제; Gyeonggi-do)

December 31 – January 1:

November 26-30:

Seoul Design Festival

Expressions:

Korea in Winter Winter = 겨울 (gyeo-ool) It’s winter! = 겨울이다! (gyeo-ool ee da!)

First snow = 첫눈 (cheot-noon)

December 31 – January 1:

(울산간절곶 해맞이축제; Ulsan)

Lotte World Christmas Festival editing contributors

(평창송어축제; Gangwon-do)

(부산비엔날레; Busan)

(서울빛초롱축제; Seoul)

copy editor

December 20 – February 8:

Jeongdongjin Sunrise Festival Busan Biennale

Hwacheon Sancheoneo (Mount Trout) Ice Festival

Jeollanam-do)

(부산항빛축제; Busan)

Now - Nov. 22:

JaraseomSingsing Winter Festival (자라섬씽씽겨울축제; Gyeonggi-do)

December 26 Boxing Day

November

January 2 – February 1:

December

Dinh Nguyen d11nguye@gmail.com

Justin Ancheta jancheta25@gmail.com

January

Homigot Sunrise Festival (호미곶 한민족 해맞이축전; Gyeongsangbuk-do)

I wish that the first snow would come early. = 첫눈이 일찍 내리면 좋겠다 (cheot-noon-ee il-jjik nae-limyeon jo-gaet-da Cold (temperature) = 춥다 (choop-da) It’s/I’m so cold! = 너무 추워요! (neo-moo choo-wuh-yo!)

Cold (illness) = 감기 (gam-gi) Be careful not to catch a cold = 감기 조심하세요 (gam-gi jo-shim-ha-say-yo) Snowman = 눈사람 (noon-sa-lam) Do you want to build a snowman? = 눈사람 만들래요? (noon-sa-lam man-teul-lay-yo?) by lindsay ross ross6520@gmail.com

(서울디자인페스티벌; Seoul)

cover photo: Dinh Nguyen

All non-credited photos, courtesy Wikimedia creative commons.

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November 27 – December 5:

Seoul Independent Film Festival (서울독립영화제; Seoul)

December 31 – January 1:

YeosuHyangiram Sunrise Festival (여수향일암일출제; Jeollanam-do)

To list upcoming events for your organization, please contact Linsay Ross, or send a message to: Bibimbapnews@gmail.com

Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy

6 10 13

Tech Talk: Online education resources

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Dining w/ Dinh: A recipe for the oatmeal haters

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A reflection on spending quality time with friends and family

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Finding balance between family, friends, and work

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Buying a car and getting a driver’s license in South Korea

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Dear Chris: Discussing issues with your school, and asking for extra vacation time

Photos of the Month

Behind the cover

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K-Pop culture: A brief history of K-Pop

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Education 4 dinh nguyen

justin ancheta staff writer

Y

ou’re teaching a class with your brand new PPT that you’ve slaved on for hours on end, and you’re getting nowhere fast. Despite your best efforts many of the students are giving you glassy-eyed looks that make you wonder if you’re teaching a room full of mannequins. The students at the back of the class are and some of the girls on the sides have their BB cream and mascara out. Even your best students are struggling to keep engaged.

Their eyes are half-closed; their mouths utter English phrases so flat, artificial, and monotoned that they’d put a Borg drone to sleep.

“How did this happen?” you ask yourself. You were told to talk about yourself and your home country and expose them to your native culture, hobbies and interests — and you did.

Sure, some students were interested, but many just don’t care.

With so many things competing for your students’ time and energy, there is no such thing as a silver bullet for perfect classroom management and student engagement. But there are resources that can help us better connect to our students. And they are much easier to harness and use then it may seem

The power of Korean cool As Euny Hong writes in her 2013 book, “The Birth of Korean Cool,” pop culture has become a monstrous force in Korean society; and nowhere is that more evident than in the two domains in which our students display unrivaled mastery: music and video games. Powerful companies like B2M, SM Entertainment, CJ E&M, and JYP have enthralled many students through a bewilderingly dynamic stream of hyper-charged pop groups and personalities: EXO, B1A4, BlockB, Infinite, B2ST, SHINee, Girls Day, MissA, APink, f(x), Red Velvet, Or-

ange Caramel, Such groups rise and fall in and out of students favor at a breakneck pace.

Meanwhile in the PC bangs, legions of students clash on virtual arenas, wielding personas, and magical abilities just as exotic and fantastical as any glamorous teen singer. Clockwork daughters, deposed kings, and blowpipe-wielding pandas join mercenaries, alien assassins, and demonic monstrosities in conflicts playing out on screens nationwide.

These are the realms of Korean pop culture today: K-pop and computer games. They are the groups like Sistar and SNSD. Games like League of Legends, and StarCraft 2. It’s a culture that is just as orthogonal to our own as our culture is to them; especially for those of us who equate gaming with Mario, Link, Donkey Kong and Sonic the Hedgehog.

This is world in our students are immersed in. Whether it is through online K-pop fan forums or the neighborhood PC bang, their popular culture is an important part of how they view and interact

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Culturally competent teachers In 1994, Gloria Ladson-Billings wrote about what many in academic pedagogical circles know as Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy (CRRP), an approach to teaching that advocates the inclusion of students, their culture, and their experiences. As EFL teachers, this CRRP can be quite useful to us as it help: Build Student Rapport:

Building a rapport is a huge asset in teaching, no matter what class or subject you teach. It builds respect between teacher and student and increases the ease with which students and classes can communicate. And in turn, it fosters an atmosphere where students can feel more relaxed and willing to have conversations with us.

Build Student Engagement:

For many of our students, English can be an abstract subject, with

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massive industries worth hundreds of millions of dollars and are at the heart of Hallyu movement).

Asking them about what pop groups they listen to or even the basics of how they play their games, helps them feel that their experience and knowledge are valued. Using that knowledge in making class or game materials can help students feel more involved and more excited about English class.

Theory to practice:

Where the rubber meets the road How can we use CRRP in our daily experience as teachers? I’d like to propose a 3-step process.

Data Collection:

Getting to know the students’ culture means going straight to the source. This can be as simple as asking them before or after class about their favorite groups or games, or as in-depth as:

“

{

Applying Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy to the classroom

Our students are the experts in fields that adults may find immature and childish (never mind that video games and K-pop are massive industries worth hundreds of millions of dollars and are at the heart of Hallyu movement).

with those around them. As educators, we need to be aware of this.

Yes, it’s important to introduce our students to our own culture as foreign teachers and native speakers; to broaden their horizons with the games we like to play and the movies, music and TV shows that we enjoy. However, we need to remember that it goes both ways – just as we expect our students to be curious and want to know more about our culture, they want us to know about theirs.

seemingly little or no relevance to their lives. However, if we try to involve student culture in our lessons, we can help make even basic activities like dialogue practices more interesting and engaging to our students.

Build Student Involvement:

Our students are the experts in fields that adults may find immature and childish (never mind that video games and K-pop are

Surveys/Polls:

Students can be given surveys or poll worksheets to fill out and these worksheets can be used in information gap activities where they have to interview other students (like with student “Speed Dating” activities).

Collecting the worksheets afterward is a great way to get data on what groups and games your students like.

See CRRP, Page 8 5

Tech Talk Julia Cheng

Online education resources for the self That’s it for Tech Talk! I will be leaving Korea, so this is my final article. It’s been a pleasure to write for Bibimbap and share my tech knowledge with you.

Safe travels and remember; multiple back-ups!

I

n this issue, we’ll explore online learning resources that can help you grow as a teacher both inside the classroom and beyond.

Learning Korean Master the basics of Korean online so you can practice with your coteachers or the staff at your local kimbap nara! These three free resources can get you up to a functional, intermediate level:

Memrise There are thousands of free, community-created courses on Memrise and they specialize in making memorization fun with drills and memory games. I linked to their Korean language courses.

Talk To Me in Korean This website offers short video lessons and accompanying PDF handouts which cover nine basic levels of Korean grammar and topics such as idioms, K-pop, and drama phrases.

How to Study Korean “This website will show you exactly how to study Korean by giving you everything you will need at each step of the way. By the time you are done, you will know 9000 of the most common Korean words and 99.9% of the grammar used in Korean conversation.” HTSK works well in conjunction with Memrise.

At the start of each grammar lesson, there is a link to an accompanying vocabulary list.

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Free College-Level Classes You can enroll in or audit free classes from top universities all around the world from the comfort of your desk chair.

With subjects ranging from songwriting to game design to elementary Chinese, classes are offered year-round or only during specific semesters. Certain courses also provide verified or certificate tracks. For a curated selection of some of the best classes available during this fall, as well as descriptions of several websites that host online classes, check out Lifehacker U’s website. They update their list every semester, so keep it bookmarked!

Here’s my selection of online classes this semester that may be especially relevant to English teachers in Korea. Please note the starting dates. If you’re interested, you can sign up early and receive notifications.

Get Organized: How to be a Together Teacher (Relay Graduate School) Starts: October 29th (but you can still sign up and participate) Returning graded homework, responding to parents, attending gradelevel meetings, writing letters of recommendation, eating your own lunch... In an environment where even using the bathroom requires advanced planning, organization is key. This course provides insights, templates, and exercises designed to get every teacher organized.

Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence (Case Western Reserve University) Starting: November 3rd

Emotional intelligence, hope, mindfulness, and compassion help a person reverse the damage of chronic stress and build great leadership relationships.

cally examine our own and others’ speeches through interactive practice.

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 8: Developing Relationships(Commonwealth

Postcrossing

Education Trust)

Starting: November 10th As a teacher you will need to establish appropriate relationships with many different groups within the school and the wider community. It is important for you to understand how critical these relationships are to student learning.

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 3: Learners and Learning (Commonwealth Education Trust) Starting: January 5th The teacher’s work becomes meaningful when it is informed by research and theories of learning, and their relationship to actual practice. This course provides an opportunity for you to identify and understand students’ expectations and prior learning.

Introduction to Public Speaking (University of Washington via Coursera)

Go at your own pace In this class, we will study the principles of public speaking; criti-

November Picks!

“If you send a postcard, you will receive one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.” Several teachers have told me how successfully they have used Postcrossing in their classrooms. Students practiced writing short English letters and were thrilled to receive a real postcard in the mail. This could be a creative lesson idea to use during this sluggish post-exam period or during conversation clubs.

Nanowrimo November is National Novel Writing Month! It’s exactly what it sounds like--- try to write a novel in just one month!

On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.

I sign up for this almost every year and it’s always worth the attempt even when I can’t finish. Great way to burn through those deskwarming hours! jucheng86@gmail.com

Want to get involved with Bibimbap? Good news, we’re accepting new writers.

Looking for volunteer writers for the following: • Technology columnist • Food columnist • Education, classroom strategies, and teaching method writers

For more info, email: bibimbapnews@gmail.com 7

CRRP: Teaching with K-Pop and videogames ESL “Snowball” type games (which you can search for on Google) are not only a great scaffolded CLT activity or icebreaker; but they’re also great for also getting students to write about their favorite games and/or Kpop groups. The snowball papers are also a great source of Korean Pop culture data.

dents complete a dialogue between people in a given scene. You can have Baekhyun from EXO mourn over a broken smartphone with Darius, while Cho’gath (The Terror of the Void) asks Minah from Girls Day if she wants to go to the park tomorrow.

The possibilities are endless. Google Image and DeviantArt searches are one way to find them, but you can also go to some excellent sources of renders for bothLeague of Legends, and K-Pop groups:

Material Collection:

Fansite Kits and Desktop Pictures:

So let’s say that you know that your male students love League of Legends and your female students are crazy about EXO. You want to include this in your PPTs, games, and activities, but how? Young learners are highly visual and research has shown that visual aids are an important part of the learning process. You need pictures. Where can you get them?

Fansite Kits are bundles of highresolution artwork distributed for free by video game publishers to help market their games. They often contain desktop pictures that are great for use as backgrounds for slides or to help establish a scene for a dialogue between characters. They’re also really good for use as buttons and visual elements of PowerPoint games. League of Legends has a Fansite Kit, as does StarCraft 2; and you can even go to a special place for other game Fansite Kits::

Continued from Page 5 “Snowball Games:”

Renders:

“Renders” are images of K-pop celebrities and video game characters taken from other pictures, akin to cardboard cutouts. They can be used in a variety of ways, like roleplays; as characters for student-made comics; or for activities where stu-

Using What You’ve Got: You have a wide range of possibilities, now that you’ve got access to a wealth of freely available image resources.

Here are some ideas that can help you get started:

Art Projects, Board Games, etc.:

“Bomb Games”, and other similar “Jeopardy” style games where students answer questions on PPT slides are controversial, but arguably they can be an effective way to reach lower level students or to help build interest and engagement in the material – provided that they’re not overused. Game questions can be made like dialogues between characters, where students have to either fill in blanks or solve word/letter puzzles to complete them and then must practice them in brief skits with other students.

If you want to be more ambitious, you can include renders or resources in other art projects, creative projects, or places where you might want to used task-based learning. Students can use printed-out renders, along with appropriate templates, to make their own comics or produce their own puppet dramas. K-pop renders/artwork can be used in a slide to introduce a task where students have to write a letter in English to their favorite singers or actors. Likewise, video game art/renders can be used to introduce a task where students write a short review of their favorite game, with what they like and don’t like about it.

Adding Flair to Slides:

Building Critical Thinking:

Simply adding a render of a favorite K-pop singer or video game character to a slide can be a surprisingly easy way to make drab slides full of text a lot more interesting.

The poses and emotive expressions that renders often take mean that you can easily add a text bubble to them in PowerPoint with the key sentence or phrase from your lesson. Adding a background relevant to the situation in which it’s used can also help students understand it’s social context.

To go beyond games and activities, K-pop and video games in the classroom can also give students an opportunity to think critically about their culture – something LadsonBillings also talks about in her writings on CRRP.

PowerPoint Games:

For higher-level classes, debate classes, or special afterschool classes; students could be tasked with discussing the pros and cons of how men and women are depicted in K-pop videos or how the Hallyu has affected international attitudes towards Korea.

Video games are also excellent fodder for discussion too: regulation/banning of video games, as well as the debate over violence and addiction in video games could also be potential topics for discussion.

To that end, I’ve used discussion articles from KoreaBang, which takes popular articles from places like YTN News, Daum and Naver, and translate them into English – along with the most updated and popular user comments too. They still provide the Hangeul text for both articles and comments, which makes it a good scaffolding tool for students who need help in reading. I should offer a word of caution: some of the articles they post (as well as the comments) can be highly inappropriate and potentially offensive to your students. Be careful about the articles and comments that you choose to include.

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jancheta25@gmail.com

Photography 9

dinh nguyen

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Photos of the month Christina Riley-Hedinger

is an elementary school teacher living in Yeosu.

Her interest in photography began recently, when husband started using her photos for his website.

They are currently working together as a team to capture moments across Korea. Check them out at: dukestewartwrites.com Top left: There is nothing quite like a sunrise and a temple on Korea’s east coast, Naksan Temple, Yangyang.

Top right: A rare moment without tourists at the beautiiful Gyeongju’s Bulguksa Temple, on the slopes of mount Toham.

Bottom left: Timing is everything — joy rides in the park on a hot summer day. Yi Sun Shin Park, Yeosu Bottom right:: Seoul’s Han River serves as a reminder of South Korea’s incredible economic growth.

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Leisure 12

dinh nguyen

k-pop culture

{

Boy Bands & Girl Groups:

A brief history of K-Pop

{

winnie stone

T

urbo, Rain, Big Bang, and Infinite. What do these seemingly random nouns and adjectives have in common? To the musically unsuspecting, these are just words; but to a K-pop fan, these words have a completely different meaning. But, while today’s K-pop is oozing with sexuality and perfectly manicured artists; I’d like to start you off by taking you back to K-pops more innocent beginnings.

The 90’s, a golden age of boy bands such as ‘N Sync, the Backstreet Boys, and 98 Degrees took America by storm. If you remember what that was like (or are still hoping to forget) then you have a pretty good idea what the K-pop scene was like at the time.

Music in Korea after the Korean War was highly influenced by western music. The early 90’s were no different, as early Kpop is highly reminiscent of 90’s music, particularly boy bands in the US. If you search any names like H.O.T., Shinhwa, Fin K.L., and Seo Taiji and the Boys, the music will instantly catapult you back to the nineties, the moody chords and obnoxious haircuts a far cry from today’s sexier Kpop. Their success was unexpected but has become legend, as they have come to be thought of as the origin of what we see

today. Korea embraced the boy and girl band format, and, as the fad faded from western music, Korea embraced the concept and perfected it.

We might not see as many of these legendary 90’s K-pop bands around today, but their effects are still felt in the industry.

Kim Jongkook from Turbo is a now a ballad singer who enjoys great popularity on the Korean variety show, Running Man. One of the most famous people in the current K-pop industry, a former member of Seo Taiji and the Boys, is Yang Hyunsuk the CEO of YG Entertainment. Yang is responsible for big K-pop names such as PSY, Big Bang, 2NE1, and Akdong Musician.

ed as “artists” and “idols.” The idols that are assembled these days are produced under harsh environments with years of rigorous training away from the public eye. These potentials are instructed in singing, dancing, languages, and acting by their companies in the hopes of one day achieving stardom.

Few make the cut, but the ones that debut seem nearly identical, cut from the same K-pop cloth. Almost all idols these days speak at least a second language as well as Korean. These “trainees,” as they are called, are created to be entertainment machines. Only the ones that survive the gauntlet go on to debut in a group; but even after they achieve success, they must still endure the harsh stipulations of their contract .

Today K-pop has become an invaluable asset to Korea.

In a country that is powered by nationalism and corporations, K-pop has taken its seat next to them as a powerful part of Korea’s modern history. I hope you join me next time as I dive into some of the even juicer elements of K-pop.

Check out some of the iconic songs of the time: Seo Taiji - I Know (1992) Turbo - Black Cat (1995) Kim Gun Mo - Wrongful Meeting (1995) FinK.L. - Blue Rain (1998) Check out Allkpop’s List of Top 10 Songs from 2003

K-pop, whether you love it or hate it, is here to stay. But hey, don’t knock it before you try it! winnie.isastone@gmail.com

Lee Hyori from Fin K.L has also made a name for herself as a solo artist, and in 2006, she was the highest paid female singer in K-pop.

Since the early 2000’s, Kpop bands have slowly rebrand-

dinh nguyen

2000’s

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Dining w/ Dinh

I

hate oatmeal. I hate the way it tastes. I hate how long it takes to traditionally prepare it. I hate the bland porridge appearance it has after you cook it.

Given that oatmeal is a fiber-filled, cancer fighting, skin-saving superfood; I have tried to acquire a taste for it on several occasions. But, no matter how much milk I drown it with or the amount of raisins and cinnamon I cover it with; I cannot trick my face to smile contentedly when oatmeal enters my mouth — that was, until, I discovered my new favourite breakfast recipe.

A few weeks ago, my sister sent me a list of life-hacks and time-saving recipes. Being the well organized, independent, professional adult that I am; I battle for a few extra minutes to spend in bed and

Dinh Nguyen

{ Oat meal for the oatmeal haters { Two-minute recipe:

the shower every morning. If you’re anything like me, you end up sacrificing breakfast time for other, warmer things.

One of the instructions my sister gave me was a non-cook, flavor-infused oatmeal recipe that eliminates breakfast preparation time in the morning. The catch? You have to take two minutes to prepare it the night before.

Unlike the traditional oatmeal which many find bland, this recipe calls for the grain to be refrigerated overnight; where it marinates and becomes infused with milk and cinnamon.

You can add other toppings to the mix as well. I let it steep with raisin, banana chunks, almonds, and walnuts. The expected bland taste is erased as every oat-

meal particle is plumped full of absorbed milk and cinnamon flavour.

It is best to use whole oatmeal, as it better soaks up the flavour and provides a greater number of health benefits. Use almond or soy milk if you prefer it sweeter.

Since it is very beneficial to jump start your metabolism in the morning by eating something high in fiber, I eat my oatmeal concoction as soon as I swoop out of bed. The banana and raisins compliment the savory flavour of the nuts and oatmeal. It tastes like banana-nut milk pudding— almost like a cross between ice cream, the sweet flavour milk and cereal gets the longer the one sits in the other, and a very moist muffin.

Ingredients 1/4 cup of steel cut oatmeal

1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1 small banana

1 dozen almonds

6 walnuts

200 ml of milk

Directions 1. In a 16 ounce or larger glass Tupperware container or mason jar, combine the dry ingredients, oatmeal, banana chunks, cinnamon, and nuts together.

2. Add the milk to the dry ingredients and mix. Increase the amount of milk if you prefer a liquidier texture.

3. Seal the hearthy mixture. and refrigerate before bedtime.

4. Serve in the morning, add more nuts and fruits if desired.

d11nguyen@gmail.com

14 dinh nguyen

Life & Culture

dinh nguyen

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Life of a traveler:

Holding on to quality time tyson vieira writer

J

ohn Lennon once said: “A dream you dream alone is only a dream, but a dream you dream together is reality.”I often embraced this quote in the most optimistic manner, but did not consider that some dreams are nightmares. During my last parent “Skype date,” my mother mentioned again that she used to dream about losing me, when I was an infant, in a crowded mall or at the river behind my house. Some of these consistent dreams of hers were borderline absurd; such as losing me under orange peels while she was eating an orange. She never took these dreams seriously (especially the fruity ones), but yet shared them on several occasions.

I’m on my 3rd JLP contract and the feelings of homesickness are very few and far between. The first birthday and Christmas away were the hardest moments, with which I think many teachers living abroad can relate.

However, it’s actually moments when I’m observing others that leave me wondering about

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those back home. Two friends from orientation found out mid-contract that their mothers were diagnosed with cancer. Another friend lost a brother back home while teaching over here. Another lost his father early last year.

Whenever such events happen to our friends, we can’t help but think about our own friends and family and what we would do if such tragedies happened in our lives.

These questions will inevitably occur in the life of a teacher overseas; but for many of us, it might not alter our perspective of living life of a traveler -- roving amongst countries and cultures.

My first visit to Korea was just two months. It was actually my first adventure abroad and, even then, the “travel bug” was already permanently engrained. On my last day, a close friend who’s lived abroad for 18 years, looked me in the eye and saw my sadness at the thought of returning home. He said:

See Life of a traveler, Page 20

Seeking

Balance:

Perspectives, pebbles & balls Healthy Musings with Chris Devison chrisofficeofeducation@yahoo.com

On

the surface, the word balance is simple— a state of equilibrium, consisting of two or more equally shared parts. However, when thought about in terms of unique individuals like you and me, “balance” becomes much more complex.

One of the – many – trendy themes in 2014 seems to be “balance.” I see so many stories about finding happiness and seeking balance on my newsfeed every day. Again and again, these articles profess the same things: the importance of family, friends, and relationships of all sorts and taking time to do things that you, as an individual, enjoy. They also warn of the evils of working too much, material things, and sweating the small things; among many others.

There is a great video about a professor with an empty jar who “fills” it full of small balls and asks his students if it is full .The students answer yes and, to their surprise, he proceeds to add small pebbles; asking the same question once again to hear the same answer. He goes on to fill it with sand and finally water until he finally agrees with his students that it is now indeed full.

He then proclaims that the balls are the important things in life: your family, friends, etc. The pebbles are also important, but smaller things. The other things, the sand and the water, were the unimportant things and shouldn’t be held with the same amount of importance. He says that if we filled the jar with sand and water first, there would be no room for the balls, for the important things in our life.

For the most part, I agree with the professor. Family, friends, and loved ones are important and should be valued above all else. The issue I have with this metaphor (looking back at our definition of balance), is that we tend to feel balance as an equal division of parts and equilibrium. With balance, people may feel that these important things require more time than the less important things, which may not only be untrue, but also unrealistic.

I ’ m w o r k i n g abroad and although I don’t spend much time in my home country, I still hold my family closest to my heart. They are still the small balls in the jar, but, in terms of time spent together, they would seem to be more like the sand. This is a balance I have become accustomed too and, although it might conflict with most articles, I generally feel in a state of balance and happiness because I seek it in other ways.

Another issue I have with many of these articles on balance is that they try to provide a specific formula that will work for everyone. Realistically, human beings are unique and what makes us happy is distinct for each one of us. I enjoy my work.

I enjoy the challenges that come with it and I hold my work as an important part of my life. It is part of who I am and I take pride in doing a good job. Helping others brings me great satisfaction, helping to bring balance to my life.

Although this is true for me, I know many who don’t receive the same satisfaction from their careers. It may be their career selection, but I believe many of them are just inherently different than me; and therefore receive their balance from other things in life.

In seeking balance and happiness, it is important for us to realize we are unique and that different experiences will be more important to us than for others. These will also need to be in different proportions in order to bring each individual balance and happiness.

What I hope we all can do is find that unique mix of balance that suits us best so we can live our life as happily as possible. I encourage each and every one of you to explore what works for you and to not feel pressured to follow a set guideline from some generic article hastily written to make a deadline. Often, trying to meet someone else’ expectation is what sets us up for failure. It sidetracks us from balance, the thing we were seeking for in the first place.

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On the traveler’s road:

Buying a car and getting a driver’s lindsay ross writer

K

orea’s public transportation system is leaps and bounds ahead of other countries’ in terms of efficiency, accessibility, and cost. Anyone, regardless of Korean language ability, can buy a bus ticket or get a taxi to take them wherever they want to go. However, while people in Seoul don’t often dream of owning a car, those of us in Jeollanamdo may think differently. As convenient as Korea’s public transportation can be, there are some other conveniences that having a car can afford us with.

For example, it is probably frowned upon to belt out EXO’s “Overdose” at the top of one’s lungs on a bus. Just saying.

Buying a Car Step 1: Look around.

Before buying my car, I had a look at the options that were available to me and decided which matched my needs/budget/things. The best way to do this was to look online. I used two websites: Encar (English) and 몰던카 (Korean). By perusing these websites regularly, I got a feel for what was available, what I wanted; as well as what was a reasonable price.

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Step 2: Find the means.

Step 4: After buying.

Once I had a general idea of what I was after, I had to figure out how to actually buythe car I wanted. The options for expats tend to be between: buying from a fellow foreigner or finding a dealer/thirdparty. I opted for the latter; not necessarily as a conscious decision, but because I had just happened to meet a dealer as I was wandering around a used car lot. He didn’t speak English, so I had a Korean-speaker help.

If you buy from a foreigner, you have the benefit of them speaking English, but you don’t necessarily have the ease of processing the Korean paperwork involved. I also find that cars sold by foreigners can be old and over-priced.

Now for the fun part: Make the car yours (and safe)! Find a local service centre, which caters to the make of your car, to have it inspected. Car service in Korea is pretty cheap. I took my car in for a once-over which only costed me $110 and it involved an oil change, the replacement of the surge tank under the hood, and some wiring repairs behind the dashboard. Korea is also home to cute car accessories like phone number plates.

Step 3: Official things.

After finding the car you want, there’s paperwork (ownership and insurance).

This hassle alone would be enough for me to recommend going through a Korean car dealer. Because I worked with a dealer, I honestly have no insight as to what was involved. He helped me shop around for insurance quotes, processed the paperwork, and I just had to sign the papers. On top of all this, he took the car to a mechanic nearby to ensure it was in good condition before signing the papers.

Getting a License In terms of licensing, there are a few options. Please keep in mind that I’m Canadian and the process is slightly different depending where you’re from.

International License Before coming to Korea, I got an international license (which can be done at CAA for $20). This was a super easy process, but the license is only valid for one year and can only be processed in the country where you are licensed to drive (although it can be done from Korea with help from a friend at home).

Exchanging foreign licenses for Korean Because my international license was about to expire, I went with this option. By exchanging my foreign license for a Korean one, I wouldn’t need to renew it every year and it’s much cheaper in the long run.

The first step in exchanging my license was to go to Seoul to get a certificate from the Canadian Embassy (캐나다대사관) stating that my Canadian driver’s license was valid.

To do this, I went to the embassy (with my Canadian license, alien registration card, and passport), filled out a form, paid $50 (they only accept credit card), and was out in 20 minutes.

My next step was to head to the licensing office located inside the Seoul Global Centre which was a short, 20 minute walk from the embassy. Once there, I was directed to the 5th floor where I found the single, small desk which processes licenses.

What you need: Embassy certificate, Canadian license, passport, alien registration card, 3 passport photos.

After filling out some forms, I was directed to the nearest hospital (which was lit-

license in South Korea erally across the street) in order to get a basic physical exam. This process was a lot less scary than I had anticipated; it required only a vision test and a visit with a physician who signed a piece of paper confirming that I had the body parts required to operate a vehicle. The hospital was freakishly efficient, with nurses pointing me towardsthe numbered area I was supposed to go to next. In the end, it took about 15 minutes and 8,000 won.

With my medical forms in hand, I headed back to the licensing booth in the Seoul Global Center. My forms were processed, I paid 7,500 won, and I had my card in-hand within 5 minutes.

This license is valid for 10 years and is class 2 (which allows you to drive passenger vehicles, vans with less than 10 passengers, freight trucks less than 4 tons, special vehicles less than 3.5 tons, and motorized bikes under 125cc).

dian license. If I want to get the Canadian license back, I have to return to the Seoul Global Centre with my passport, alien registration card, Korean license, and an airline ticket. This must be done within 3 years or they toss it. As I understand it, you don’t have to re-surrender your Korean license to get your Canadian one back. I don’t completely understand the point of the process, but it is what it is.

Getting a Korean license There is also the option of getting a Korean Driver’s License from scratch.

A perk of this option is that it can be done more conveniently at more places than just Seoul. Find the list of examination offices here. A non-perk is that it involves a bit more than just paperwork.

You should visit a KoROAD Examination Office as early in the day as possible. Bring your passport, Alien Reg-

istration Card, 3 passport photos and a bit of cash. Once there, you will fill out an application (which is available in English) and then watch an educational video (which has English subtitles). You will also need to complete a medical (aka vision) test.

The first test is a computer-based, written test which will assess your basic knowledge of how to operate and drive a vehicle.

The English can be difficult to understand, but a pass is 60%. Once these initial steps are completed, you will need to schedule your first of two road tests. These can either be completed that same day (if there are spots available) or another day, but need to be completed within a year of passing the written test.

The next step is to take the Driving Course test. This will assess your skills in operating the vehicle, both while stationary and in-motion. For this test, you are alone in

the car with a GPS instructing you (possibly in English) how to operate the vehicle.

After the Driving Course test, you will sign up for the On-Road test. For this test, you are taken out into the streets with an instructor and possibly one other person who will attempt the test as well. This will test the entirety of your driving abilities; lane changes, parallel parking, etc.

Altogether, this option costs around $60 which makes it comparable to exchanging a foreign license. This license also permits you to drive with the same qualifications, just as if you were to exchange your foreign license (it’s valid for 10 years and is class 2). ross6520@gmail.com

Exchanging my license meant that I had to surrender my Cana-

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Life of a traveler:

Lessons from a nightmare Continued from Page 16 “I see you got the ‘bug’in you…

I have two pieces of advice. First, you’re on ‘cloud nine’now, but don’t expect others back home to feel the same excitement or put aside adequate time to listen.

“Travel is beautifully addicting and dreamlike, however, the average person sadly relates very little to it.

You can show pictures of the Buddhist temples, the wonderful colors, even the monks; but can you really relate the essence of what it’s like inside those temples to the folks back home? You can have a collage of your students and their lovely smiles, but can others back home realize the special intercultural bond between a foreigner teacher and a local student?

“Travel and living abroad is like war or an affair: one can read and study all their lives about it, but not truly understand it until they experience it. Your family and friends might be ecstatic for you, but their attention spans will fade faster than you’d wish and soon they’ll talk about the latest TV show or local gossip. Second, spend the best quality time possible with those people, because they led you here today.”

It’s true. Overseas teachers live a life that few have found and many dream of. We have more benefits and very few drawbacks. But, for the first time, I had a nightmare about one of these drawbacks: I was on a bus while Skyping my parents. For the first time, I realized that their age was showing. They had a few more winkles and more grey hair. I was trying not to be so loud because the bus was full. The quality of the video was dwindling, so I asked them to Skype me back. After several moments, they did; but, for some reason, their faces had become more wrinkled and grey. It was only minutes before the quality became poorer again.

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We hung up and called back.

This time, the Skype “effects” button was on and I couldn’t see my parent’s faces because of the Spiral Blur filter.

I was trying to tell them how to turn the effects off, but they weren’t able to. dinh nguyen

The signal on the bus was dwindling, stop-by-stop. They called again, but this time it was just my mother with no effects. She was looking very old.

I asked, “Where’s Dad?”My mother responded, “Honey, he passed away a few years ago, it’s just me now remember.”I was in shock and disbelief; crying I said, “But I didn’t even see his face! I just wanted to see his face.”I kept repeating that over and over until the call was dropped. My mother called again.

Empty bus.

She was losing her hair and was on oxygen support. I asked, “Mom, what happened?”She smiled and said, “Life, honey…we all get old even over here.”She laughed and then quickly coughed. The bus stopped and the driver was asking in Korean for my ticket and motioning for me to get off. My mother continued, “I had another dream of losing you, I was so worried I lost you.” I quickly responded while hushing the bus driver, “You aren’t going to lose me, mom…but I got to go. I love you.”Before closing the laptop I heard her respond: “I love you too. I wish I could hug you goodbye. I’m so proud…” Click.

I closed the laptop.

Before waking, the bus driver said in English, “I can’t imagine saying all your ‘goodbyes’ with just ‘clicks’ instead of hugs.”

Considering Lennon’s quote, I now share a similar dream with my mother: the loss of a loved one. But I refuse to view this as a reality, even though we both dreamed the same type of dream. I never pondered the thought before committing to my career, traveling and teaching.

I visited home last winter, which marked 21 months since I’ve hugged my family back home.

Seeing my friends was an interesting experience because many regret not taking the opportunities I’m currently taking, although most get to hug their family daily. I regret not spending as much quality time with my family when I was younger. We share the same regrets.

The song “Rivers and Roads”

by The Head and The Heart relates dramatically to the emotions of those who live abroad. It chants: “Been talkin’about the way things change, and my family lives in a different place/ If you don’t know what to make of this, then we will not relate.”

The song then ends with a continuous rally, “Rivers and roads, rivers and roads, rivers ‘til I reach you.” Especially during the holidays, I have moments when it’s hard to relate to those who aren’t away from their families. There’s a special bond between expats because they all miss something or someone who is temporarily gone and whom they deeply love. Yet thus far, during every holiday I’ve spent here, I recognize again and again that I have another family here as well. A family made of an alluring assortment of expats and locals, who, when we depart, I will miss.

What I’ve learned from my nightmare wasn’t to throw away the life of a traveler or even to use every vacation possible to see my family, but to use every opportunity to spend quality time with them both here and back home.

While at home, every memory will be richer, every hug will be tighter, and every bite of home cooked meals will be savored. I will try to visit more than every two years, but honestly, with the whole world at my fingertips, even that’s hard to do.

Skype isn’t the same as in person, but that doesn’t mean that quality time can still be shared or even limited. We are blessed to be the expats of our day, to live the life of a traveler and yet have the technology for instant messaging and video communication with our loved ones on the other side of the planet. I encourage you to set more time aside for quality connecting while abroad and spend deeper, quality vacation time with your loved ones while those “rivers and roads” are still possible to tread. tyson.vieira@att.net

dear chris

Q

What is the standard procedure is for discussing problems we have with our apartment or others issues with our school?

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t’s a great question and something that we can actually follow a standard procedure with. With that being said, every situation is unique and using common sense and your natural intuition should take precedence in all matters. And then at any point, if you are ever unsure, you can contact me.

Let’s examine a common problem many teachers have with their apartments: Mould; and use it as a step-by-step of how we typically address an issue. Your first step should be to take whatever action you can, yourself. Your coteachers often have a lot of work to do so they usally don’t want to be bothered with small issues. If it is a simple clean up, you could do it yourself. If it is more serious, requiring new wallpaper and/or flooring, you will obviously need

Q

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By the Books

Dear Chris is a monthly advice column written by Chris Devison, the Jeollanamdo Language Program’s Provincial Coordinator and 9 year resident of South Korea. If you have questions to ask Chris you can send them to chrisofficeofeducation@yahoo.com

to talk to your main co-teacher about what can be done.

Simply address it with him or her in casual conversation, as asking directly can seem somewhat forward, demanding, or even threatening to a Korean. I like to use the analogy of planting a seed. Bring it up first, so they can have time to think about it.

Often they might even do some initial investigative work to see what options you have, and work towards a resolution.

If the issue has not been resolved, address the subject again with your co-teacher after a few days, to see if your seed has grown. Let them know about the issue you are having and the problems associated with it. Ask them what, if anything, can be done and also suggest what you think would be an appropriate

resolutions to the problem.

Once again, give your coteacher some time to think about and look into it. Even if the school is completely cooperative with your wishes, the request will still need to go through a chain of command, red stamps, and approvals. Be patient. After a few days, you can remind the co-teacher again, or ask for an update on the situation.

Now where it gets tricky is when it is a problem that the school should fix but they are unwilling to do so. In the case of severe mould, our office doesn’t want you living there. It is best to contact me at this point. I will usually ask you to discuss it with the co-teacher one more time, making sure they have sufficient notice about the issue. I may also

provide you with some helpful information, contract numbers, info, etc...that may help you.

I will also suggest that you to casually mention that you have now been in touch with my office about the issue. The schools don’t like my office calling them and often try to avoid if they can. This may be enough to motivate them to resolve an initial issue.

Giving the school sufficient time to address the issue is imperative because of the hierarchy in Korea. The schools can become upset with you if we call there about a problem they have not had time to resolve. It is important to give them at least a chance to resolve it before we contact them, as we will explain that we know the teacher has al-

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ready asked for help on a number of occasions.

At this point, if nothing is done, I will have a supervisor call the school for an initial investigation into the problem.

The supervisor will discuss your concerns and often make “suggestions” on what they should do to resolve the problem.

After giving the school a few days to settle the issue, we may check back in again to encourage them to speed things along.

Usually by this point, we will have some resolution or at least an estimated time frame of one.

By following these procedures, you will have the best chance of resolving any issue while maintaining a healthy relationship with your school.

What’s the story with taking additional unpaid time off during semester or in addition to our allotted vacation period?

Additional time can be taken, but usually only for good reason; and the schools do not have to accept your request. Some will expect the teacher to follow the contract in terms of vacation and special leave. However, other schools (and by schools I mean principals) will be more flexible than others.

There are a few factors affecting the school’s decision to allow you to have additional time off.

First is the reason for the extra leave. If you want an extra week or two of vacation to lounge on a beach in Southeast Asia, most schools will likely decline your

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request for obvious reasons.

However, if you are looking to do some professional development or, heaven forbid, you need to be home to visit a sick relative, the school is much more willing to accept your request.

Another consideration is the school’s plans during the vacation period. Do they have camps or other commitments you may be needed for? If so, and your extra vacation time would cut into this, they may likely say no.

If you have no classes and there is still enough time to take additional time off while still fulfill-

ing your commitments, then the school may agree.

A third consideration is when you are requesting the time off. It is easier to request time off during vacation periods rather than when school is in session. The principals usually do not want you to miss days during the semester as there are no substitutes for you and your co-teachers will then be burdened with your classes.

With that being said, there are sometimes fortunate (like weddings) and unfortunate events which a teacher may

need to go home for during the semester. These can be discussed with your school and, depending on the reason, they are often accepting to the idea.

If there is any difficulty securing time off, especially for an unexpected tragic event, my office can help communicate it with your school.

The schools generally want to help the native teachers and have become much more accommodating to special requests over the last few years.

You can discuss them with me

Vacation Vagabond

and l’ll advise you on how to approach the school and what steps to take next.

One last important detail to keep in mind, though, is that vacation time (paid time off) can only be used during vacation time, not during the semester.

Some schools may offer you special arrangements in an attempt to help you out, only to find out what they offered is not possible. It is best to discuss any changes in vacation or time off with me so I can fill you in on everything you will need to know.

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Biminbap- November 2014

dinh nguyen