Issue 158

COVER FEATURE

ii

COVER FEATURE

1

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

ISSUE 158

12

COVER STORY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS (VOL.3)

LONG TIME, NO SEE. DID YOU MISS US? We here at Groove Korea wanted to let you all know that even though COVID has attempted to kick us in the behind, we’re still here and we’re not planning on going anywhere. However, because of the pandemic, we have taken the time to sit down and rethink a few things. Namely how to keep bringing you, our readers, quality content in a (mostly) regular time frame.

We have decided to take a new approach. We will not be publishing every month, but we still intend to put out regular magazines. And by allowing more time in between issues, we can focus on going more in-depth with our content. Each issue will have one theme and all the articles will center around this theme. While there will be fewer articles, as mentioned before, they will be more thorough and longer. If you have ideas on issues you would like to see covered in Groove Korea, as always, our info@groovekorea.com email is waiting for you.

That said, our first issue back is focusing on our annual international school guide. We chose a selection of international schools in South Korea and have gone in-depth with each one, providing a unique look at the campuses. They may all be international schools, but no two are the same and each has their own essence. But over all, the one thing they each has in common is the desire to provide an excellent education to all their students.

So take a read and hopefully Groove Korea can help those parents out there searching for the right school for their child.

Editor-in-Chief

2

web VERSION available!

issuu.com/groovekr

ISSUE 158

MORE ONLINE STORIES at

groovekorea.com Like and follow us

/groovekorea

10

12 Seoul Foreign School 22 Dwight School Seoul 30 North London Collegiate School 42 Korea International School Jeju

COVER STORY

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS In our annual international school guide, Groove Korea features in-depth looks at six schools around the country and what they have to offer for all students

52 Dulwich College Seoul 60 Busan Foreign School

74

68

FOOD & DRINK

FOOD AND DRINK

EULJILEWIS COVID ruined your travel plans?

Check out this hidden gem of a cafe/bar in Euljiro to be transported all the way to the U.K.

NOSTIMO While it may be a long time coming, Nostimo brings an authentic taste of Greece to South Korea with everything from its wine to its handmade Feta cheese

Special thanks to: Saeree Moon, Aria Seon Yu Park, Grace Zimmerman, Alexander Shim, Liz Allen, Vanessa Allepuz, Jane Forster, Samuel Wigginton, Todd Sample, Patrick Little, and Michael Hurt

4

100% entry to top universities around the world Preschool - Grade 12 admissions@dwight.or.kr

CONTENTS

Weare also online

groovekorea.com

KOREA

Editor-in-Chief

EMMA KALKA emma@groovekorea.com

Advertising ads@groovekorea.com

Copy Editor

GIL COOMBE gil@groovekorea.com

General Inquiries info@groovekorea.com

Food & Drink

ROWENA SHEK row@groovekorea.com

Fashion

DIANNE PINEDA-KIM dianne@groovekorea.com

Travel

WENDY PALOMO wendy@groovekorea.com

Beauty

LORENA JIMÉNEZ lorena@groovekorea.com

Photography

SOPHIE GEE miss.sophie.grange@gmail.com

Editorial Design and Layout

CESS RODRIGUEZ rodriguez.cess@gmail.com

Media Contents Creation

BECKY WHITE beckyw@groovekorea.com

To contribute to Groove Korea, email submissions@groovekorea.com or the appropriate editors.

To have Groove Korea delivered to your home or business, email subscribe@groovekorea.com To promote an event or share your opinions, please email info@groovekorea.com or the appropriate editor.

The articles are the sole property of GROOVE KOREA. No reproduction is permitted without the express written consent of GROOVE KOREA. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher.

STAFF WRITERS / COLUMNISTS Publisher

SEAN CHOI sean@groovekorea.com

Amy Benham, Katie Martin, Jill Robbins, Jiaying Lim, Marley Herckner © All rights reserved Groove Korea 2006

6

North London Collegiate School Jeju

IBDP SUCCESS! 100% PASS 3 STUDENTS = 45 51% = 40 + Average score = 39

Star t here. Go anywhere.

NLCS Jeju is a British International boarding school for girls and boys aged 4-18.

We welcome Korean passport holders and all foreign passport holders.

We offer the IGCSE and IB curriculums - recognised at all universities around the world.

For more Information : www.nlcsjeju.co.kr : 064-793-8004 : admissions@nlcsjeju.kr

WHAT'S ON

EXHIBITIONS

Phil Colbert

Sejong Museum of Art, Sejong Center Ends May 2 “The most exciting thing since Warhol!

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he’s the godson of Andy Warhol.”

- André Leon Talley (former Vogue editor-at-large)

Gerhard Richter: 4900 Colors

Espace Lous Vuitton Seoul Ends July 18

Louis Vuitton’s showcases its collection of the German artist Gerhard Richter’s artworks

Mr. Kandinsky

Museum 19.8 degree at Hongdae Ends April 30

Unique presentation by docents with detailed and insightful interpretation of the artist Fee: 20,000KRW

Fee: 12,000KRW

8

COVER FEATURE

EXHIBITIONS

Andy Warhol

Beginning Seoul The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido Ends June 27 Fee: 15,000KRW

teamLab: LIFE

Museum of Colors

DDP Ends April 4

63 Art in 63 Building Ends August 29

teamLab is an international art collective, an interdisciplinary group of various specialists such as artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects whose collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world

Fee: 15,000KRW

Fee: 20,000KRW

9

INTERNATIONAL COVER FEATURE SCHOOLS GUIDE

INTERNATIONAL

guide Story DR. MICHAEL W. HURT Photos by PATRICK LITTLE AND COURTESY OF NLCS JEJU, SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL, DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL, AND DWIGHT SEOUL

METHODOLOGY INTRO To define a school’s character Nowadays, before beginning any piece of academic work or lofty evaluative essay, it is considered pro forma to talk about one's perspective, angles of approach, and methodology.

To understand my critical orientations, along with points of crucial interest and disinterest, as a writer for this story on elite foreign schools in Korea, there are a few key biographical points necessary to highlight before proceeding any further.

First and foremost is the fact that I am an ethnographer by both trade and training as a professor and academic. This is simply a way of saying that I'm an anthropologist of sorts - one tasked with making sense of social groups, institutions, and their particular cultures. In my own academic work, I use the camera as a field recorder to access and explore visual and digital subcultures in Seoul. I am an ethnographer of Korean street fashion youth, Instagram models, influencers, and itinerant drag performers.

10

Needless to say, as a non-member of these subcultures, it is a daunting task to enter their respective frays and glean not only honest and unguarded answers from my subjects, but to gain a sense of the warp and woof - the fine-grain feel - of their group norms and values as they crucially differ from (or jibe with) those in the outside world. I am able to glean quite a bit of insight from thin slices of social exposure and experience with these groups from a combination of intuition and observational experience.

Additionally, it informs my entire approach to this endeavor that I am myself the product of a private boarding school experience at Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Additionally, that institution and its ample resources helped me gain access to attending Brown University for my undergraduate degree.

Outside of that, in the spirit of full disclosure, I feel it pertinent to mention that another point of common cultural experience with institutions similar to those covered in this project lies in the fact that I was a foreign teacher of U.S. History in several foreign language high schools that once defined the upper tier of elite instruction in Seoul and by extension Korea, all in the early 2000s. These schools included Daewon FLHS, Ewha Girls' FLHS, Waedae Yongin FLHS, and Hanyoung FLHS. I have quite a bit of experience working with and inside schools of the very type encountered in the present project.

Importantly, I follow the legendary anthropologist Margaret Mead's instructive mantra that "What people say, what people do, and what people say they do are entirely different things." It's the insightful ethnographer that can discern the difference.

The problem with learning about and making relative sense of the cultures of a group of highly competitive, private schools across the country in a relatively short period of time (without being able to do the impossible task of living with them each one for a year apiece) is that one has to make sense of how much larger social milieu from a relatively small set of thin-slice samples from each of the environments.

And one must do this while cognizant of the official self-representations and assertions that each school is better in some ways than the others. Each school is inherently

COVER FEATURE

in contradiction to the assertions of all of the other schools' equally contradictory claims. This poses a uniquely problematic task to any project to evaluate all of the schools in relation to one another.

I strive to step around that thorny project by simply approaching the task altogether differently. Another major way to tackle such a project would be to set up some semblance of seemingly objective markers across a rubric that can neutrally evaluate the schools against one another. However, the folly of such a solution lies precisely in the attempt to set up some semblance of objective points of reference. To do so "fairly" would involve setting up cold categories of comparison that actually offer very little of the warm, subjective data that actually can help parents and children make real decisions about where to go, where to spend perhaps the majority of their scholastic lives.

For example, how many swimming pools a school has, how many meters long and deep it may be, and how many volumes of books are in its libraries relative to the number of students might be relevant to someone interested in library science and been counting, but this doesn't necessarily result in the ability to evaluate how a school will be able to concretely influence the social, moral, and intellectual constitution of a young life. How many and what type of sports teams may be relevant to a child interested in doing different kinds of sports, or whether a certain school has a darkroom or makers' space or football field may or may not bear some relevance to the interests and possibilities of a given child and their families, but such markers are much better thought about in terms of how much a school is dedicated to providing certain kinds of resources, which itself speaks to our schools overall commitment to a certain educational philosophy. Which in itself suggests that maybe the wiser and more direct path may lie and simply getting right at the heart of the matter and trying to gain a clear understanding of an institution's values and commitments based on admittedly thin slices of data.

In this sense, the assumptions of this ethnographer will be to look at concrete resources as functions of the schools’ educational cultures and value systems; and in any case, most of the numbers and metrics are some of the first things obviously available in any school's promotional

materials. Given the limited amount of space and analytical opportunity here in this column, we feel it more important to dedicate our explanations to get right to the heart of each school’s educational "subculture", as it were. Because in the end, the ideal choice being made about sending one's child to a particular school that will define the life choices for that

I follow the legendary anthropologist Margaret Mead's instructive mantra that "What people say, what people do, and what people say they do are entirely different things." child for quite possibly life involves making sure the goals and values of the child in question line up as much as possible with a particular culture of the school here she might eventually choose to attend.

The goal of this column is therefore not one of "reviewing" the schools in some illusion of an objectively fair structure of evaluation, but to place the ethnographer as accurately in line with the particular culture of the school, gleaned subjectively by directly experiencing the culture of the place. So, since inevitably, the choice to send a child to a particular school will be an essentially subjective, customized, and bespoke one, the approach and encounter with each school was appropriately subjective, customized, and bespoke.

Still, some attempt at a semblance of objective regard was made, as in for example, a list of questions that

11

shaped the ethnographic interviews and encounters with the schools and their representatives. We let the schools speak for themselves and allowed the schools to form their reactions to and interactions with us based on commonly posed questions and initial encounters to start off the ethnographic process. We started with interviews as much as possible before moving into guided and structured tours of the facilities as much as time and circumstances allowed.

But we made no mistake in thinking that every encounter happened in the exact same way, along the same lines as the fact that none of these schools were very much like most of the others. And so many of them varied in size, shape, and age that there is very little ability to squarely and fairly size them up against one another. This is especially true since no set of parents and their children are exactly the same as many of the others. Not all kids in foreign schools are hell-bent on Harvard, just as not all kids in foreign schools even intend to spend all of their school years in South Korea. Not all parents want to send their kids off to boarding schools to live in dormitories for years at a time, in the same way that not all parents can even afford the option.

Similarly, not all the schools are even beholden to the same rules and regulations regarding ratios of students of different nationalities being allowed to attend their schools and thereby have completely different constitutions and institutional characters depending on where they are, how large they are, and how they are otherwise institutionally situated. In the end, you have various points of comparison across various kinds of institutions across various kinds of student and parent needs.

It's almost an infinite number of variables if one wants to inclusively cross-reference them all. This is essentially like comparing apples to orangutans, peas to protons, black to bitter.

My job as an ethnographer, and this special edition's goal is to be as helpful a guide as possible to inform what is ultimately a very personal and subjective decision. We feel that if we can offer a clearer sense of how these schools exist and feel as the right place for your child, your educational goals, and your resources, this guide can help foster movement towards a clear decision for everyone involved. •

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

12

SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL

INSPIRING EXCELLENCE, BUILDING CHARACTER SINCE 1912 Seoul Foreign School 13

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

39 Yeonhui-ro 22-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

14

SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL

S

SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL is an institution steeped in tradition. What I immediately felt about the culture there was the commitment to the school’s mission, which permeated every aspect of the conversations and experiences I had.

This also extends to the curriculum, in that students are not only encouraged, but expected to engage in praxis as a way of integrating and enabling theory with real world experience. The school has a more direct and traditional way of expressing the trendy concept of praxis as the far more grounded "mission in action."

After hearing about the basic set of "core values" that drives all school experiences forward and into a singular matrix of purpose, it was quite easy to understand how the school sees itself, sees the future of its students, and how the school works.

The main operational and motivational question of the school seems to be, "What are we doing to make sure we're living our mission?"

15

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

Founded in 1912, Seoul Foreign School is the seventh oldest international school in Asia and one that takes seriously the idea of educating and enriching each child in its care. One of the first things I learned about the place is that the brand new state of the art high school building is designed as a place to provide collaborative spaces in which to congregate, be creative and socialize. Interestingly, the school sees itself as an institution that is constantly moving forward, like the Angel of History being blown forward by the winds of Progress, even as it gazes back upon a long and storied history.

It would be a mistake to think about the institution as fundamentally "conservative."

I was told that any educational institution must instill the ability to be inquisitive.

Additionally, any educational institution that wants to survive for as long as SFS has must also learn to be innovative and change not only with the times but be ahead of them as well. The school describes itself as a place that is always asking the question, "What's next?" and that can't afford to rest on its laurels, which is one of the reasons why the school has a more than 100-year history in the first place. Indeed, the logical conclusion must be, "If the school had remained the

16

SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL

same as it had been in 1912, it's difficult to imagine the school even being here today."

Innovation continues at SFS, including the British School curriculum framework with an emphasis on "big ideas" that stand at the center of concept-driven learning. Students are challenged daily to inquire about their learning as they collaborate with peers and teachers to integrate cross curricular concepts in the learning cycle from entry to exit points. Tellingly, upon walking into the high school building for the first time, I was fairly surprised to see someone who looked like the well-known and critically acclaimed artist Kim Hyun-Jung, with whom I was already familiar, walking out of the building as I walked in. Her identity was mostly given away by her slight stature and being in a hanbok and six-inch heels, which is what I remembered she was wearing the last time I saw her at a large exhibition in Insadong.

I actually didn't think too much of it and thought that maybe I was just recognizing what I thought I saw and that she probably wasn't who I thought she was. Yet, when hearing SFS was celebrating Arts in Schools month, it made sense. Kim Hyun-Jung was visiting, and had just given four talks that day to students, staff, and parents about her

Founded in 1912, Seoul Foreign School is the seventh oldest international school in Asia and one that takes seriously the idea of educating and enriching each child in its care

17

postmodern Korean paintings that blend elements of the traditional and modern.

I was a bit surprised to find that my initial identification of the hanbok-clad esteemed artist had actually been correct.

In light of what we were discussing about the school's effort to link big ideas from outside of the school to concrete thinking and praxical engagement in response to them, it was especially fascinating to see young students do immediate reaction projects to intellectual stimuli and provocations they had just been given.

As I toured the school, it was especially enlightening to come across a piece of student artwork that had been a direct response to the paintings of the artist who had literally just left the building. This was a school that took its own mission statement and philosophies quite seriously. To wit, here was its (educational) "mission in action", standing right before me, as plain as day.

What I witnessed, quite coincidentally, with my own eyes really bolstered all the things I learned about the core, global values of the school. I learned about global service projects scheduled into the curriculum, as well as a quick line built with

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

identity and belonging isn't always measurable by asking the question, "What are your passports?" but rather, "What's your story?

global perspectives in mind. It was clear that not only was this belief expressed in reality, but also that the teachers and students deeply believe in the school's mission, from talk to walk.

Another striking example of the school putting students into spaces in which they can mount projects to connect with the community is in the fascinating VoiceLab audio project "Into the Gu".

It involves students going out into the local community — before COVID —and conducting ethnographic interviews that pose pointed philosophical questions to members of the local community to build a profile of the culture and history swirling all around them and the school. It's thoughtful and well presented work and the stuff that an ethnographer such as myself can truly appreciate. It doesn't look like "student work" but rather the work of thoughtful media professionals. Importantly, the smart web design and layout of the school’s project seemed to bear the imprint of National Public Radio's "Radio Lab" influence and hence, teacher influence and guidance. It

18

was heartening and frankly fascinating to see another such example of the school's truly useful and compelling projects that connect town and gown.

And when it comes to the inner makeup of the school, SFS is a place that enjoys the visible diversity of a truly international school in Korea. But the school stresses that diversity comes in different forms, and that identity and belonging isn't always measurable by asking the question, "What are your passports?" but rather, "What's your story?" This is a story framed by a balancing act between the cultures of the "home country, host country, and the adopted country."

Put more simply, the school works hard to build a safe space of love, faith, service, selfcontrol, acceptance, forgiveness, integrity, hope, and joy. While that's quite a bit to fit into a list of Christ-like attitudes or the school to post in nearly every hallway, it's important to note that when we had conversations about where the school fits into ongoing global shifts in discourse about diversity, equity and inclusion, the ready and sincere answer

SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL

was always consistent. In a school, learning is everything and as a requirement to learn, intellectual open-mindedness is necessary.

And for this, one requires acceptance, which is literally a central principle in the school’s master set of principles.

This is when I started to realize what the school is truly pioneering in its stated commitment to Christian, Christ-like attitudes in an increasingly politicized world. In "a school centered in Christ that caters to the learning and well-being of the students" the school is actually positing an approach to Christian learning that is open minded and accepting. I was told that, "it is not about whom you worship but who you are, what your values are. And being a good person." Indeed, for the school, this is "all about values, not about which god one worships." And that core belief is what allows for the space to accommodate students of all faiths, in that it is a common core value separate from religion itself that unites the students; what book or altar one prays to is secondary as long as the primary value orientation remains a shared one."We are a Christian school for everybody. For us, it's more about being Christ-like; it's about instilling values, not religious belief."

In this sense, it became easier to see how the school navigates what an outsider might see as possible vexing conundrums, but which the school itself sees as learning points made easily solvable by sticking to core school principles. This is how it becomes possible and quite easy to imagine Muslim and Jewish students comfortably attending a self-described Christ-like school. From where I sit as a curious outsider, it is because this attitude would involve being more a matter of acceptance and invoking its own stated core principles than coming to a stance based on quoting chapter and verse in order to bolster a more political stance. That's the key thing I came to understand about SFS during my brief visit and my conversations there; more than being simply nominally Christian with all the possible allegiances and politics that may imply, being Christ-like is by far the more accurate way to describe the school’s commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.

It would be remiss to not mention that SFS is a place that focuses the efforts of two intertwined institutions - the British School alongside the Elementary, Middle and High School, within a single place that includes the core values of the British school and the learner profile of the International

19

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

Baccalaureate Programme -- both of which "bake in" globality and a global perspective into the educational and social milieu of SFS. Accordingly, “SFS is proud to be the most experienced IB DP School in Korea (since 1981), with a strong history of excellent education since 1912.” It is very difficult to argue against SFS being the giant in the room in terms of being a truly global-minded place. Unlike many schools around Korea that have come into being since the country became relatively rich and famous, and that stick the G-word (“global”) as a descriptor in front of every possible noun used in their titles or promotional materials, the school's putative globality isn't a matter of desperate, debutante-esque debate. SFS has been a global-minded institution since before Korea's last Joseon king had perished from the earth.

Given this undeniable history and heritage, I have little reason to doubt any asserted globality of the institutional and educational culture of SFS. Indeed, by the end of their time there, every Diploma Programme (DP) student is at least bilingual, and the TOK (Theory of Knowledge), EE (Extended Essay), CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) courses that ground DP student development in praxical intellectual work in

20

SEOUL FOREIGN SCHOOL

the real world also stand as testament to how the exigencies of the local in the real world match up with the far-reaching, international goals of the students who aim their sights far away from the campus.

I feel happy allowing actual products of SFS and its long history to speak for themselves. My visit to SFS became an explanatory experience that matches up with the temperaments of the SFS alumni I know personally, who developed as young people there. While a broad range of personalities and people have surely passed through the gates of SFS over the years, people whom I personally know

well who came out of this place actually embody the core values and Christ like attitudes that I witnessed and heard about myself. While surely another subjective data point to throw into the analysis, it cannot hurt things to mention that these data points all line up to illustrate a real culture of empathy, intellectual curiosity, and the willingness to constantly challenge oneself to develop and grow as stated in the ever-visible principles outlined in the mission statement that "Seoul Foreign School, Centered in Christ, inspires a passion for learning, pursues academic and creative excellence and is dedicated to the service of others." •

21

it was especially enlightening to come across a piece of student artwork that had been a direct response to the paintings of the artist who had literally just left the building

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

Smaller, Forward-thinking, and Intrepid "The Hype Is Real" Dwight Seoul School

22

Dwight SEOUL SCHOOL

23

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

24

Dwight SEOUL SCHOOL

21 Worldcup Buk-ro 62-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul

Empowering students through education

T

THE Dwight School Seoul emphasizes its "legacy of innovation and personalized learning" from the first words on its webpage. This is something that schools like to say, and it was my job to try to move past the flashy words and get a sense of what is real. For this story, I talked to a lot of PR people who tried to convince me that their respective schools were a lot of things, and a leader and innovator and a bunch of other great descriptors were thrown about fairly fancy free. One thing struck me when I started my interaction with a representative from the Dwight School and this was the continued mention of "developing the whole child." The other thing that stuck out when hearing about the school was the continued pattern of actual firsts that seemed to match the narrative that the school tends to be ahead of the curve.

I believe that the schools with whom I interacted for this story all believe their own hype, quite fervently. While it might sound a bit dismissive, I do believe that these schools believe in their own respective ethoi, and spending a lot of time going over what is essentially already available in the brochures and other PR materials doesn't reveal a lot of decisively helpful information about the school culture. But one thing that did come up again and again in its own natural pattern was the fact that the school is actually quite intrepid and actually seems

25

to be ahead of the curve in regards to many other schools in its class.

When trying to get a feel for a place and its people, its foundational stories become prominent and important to understand. I learned how the school came to be involved with the VEX robotics competition after a particular student who had become quite interested in robotics found programmatic support from the school. Said team captain Youngju Choi, "We started Robotics as a hobby between friends, pretty much on our our own but when we wanted to go further and compete in the national championships, the School gave us a room and dedicated unlimited time and support; the school also opened up resources and mentorship to help us go all the way." The VEX Robotics Team went on to win nationals two years in a row and second place in the division of VEX World Championship while also pushing the school forward to develop a robotics team and an industry-standard robotics labs. In fact, this would become one of the first robotics labs in such schools in Korea. And this seems to be indicative of the main charm of the Dwight School, which is, as an institutional culture that truly supports innovation within it, which inevitably produces pioneers.

And it must be mentioned that Dwight School Seoul was the pioneer of the IB curriculum in Seoul and the founding chair

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

of the IB Association in Korea. and it was after this that many other private schools followed suit and made this a standard here. What I find interesting is the fact that Dwight School Seoul, while perhaps not possessed of the largest makerspace lab on the peninsula or the largest endowments or biggest dining halls or whatever metric one might want to use, it's difficult to ignore a culture of FIRST. And indeed, the fact of something having been first may or may not matter too much in the present moment, but the question must be asked if you want your child to be at the kind of place where stepping forward ahead of the pack is an actively encouraged cultural value or another place where these might just be fancy and inspired words?

26

Another telling story that has increased relevance in the present era of the pandemic is pandemic preparedness. And even in the writing of the present story, the question of pandemic preparedness came up as a question in terms of whether to emphasize this as a major angle. One reason that this did not become a critical heuristic in evaluating the schools had to do with the fact that in general, most of the schools adhere to pretty strict and responsible policies regarding the pandemic.

Therefore,, it is not really a useful point of comparison. No school in the present moment is doing much particularly different or better than another school in terms of pandemic safety measures, from what I've observed. But it is important to mention that

Dwight SEOUL SCHOOL

The Dwight School Seoul emphasizes its "legacy of innovation and personalized learning

the Dwight School was already thinking ahead and making pandemic action plans over the lunar new year holiday back in February 2020, back when few individuals, much less institutions, were equally entertaining the way things would go and how this virus would impinge on the new normal and our daily lives going forward.

Importantly, the Dwight School had already experienced their "come to Jesus" moment in a crisis meeting held in early February last year. In that meeting, many hard decisions and plans were made in relation to concretely measured eventualities that would come up within mere days. As many institutions across the world were scrambling as nations and smaller places were starting to lock down,

panic, or even ignore what had to be done.

Dwight School already had action plans in place. This is the school that is always forward thinking and ready to be in the proper place as conditions and thinking changes.

It continues to impress me that this kind of intrepid thinking seemed to actually be reflected in the actions of the students as well, both in intellectual and practical contexts.

"Empowering students through education."

It might seem like a hokey thing to say, especially in an article like this, but judging from the content of the student actions in the ECO-protest walk in Seoul, the school encourages students to put their bodies

27

where their interests lie. In addition to the Eco Protest, Dwight became an official certified Eco School in early 2020. At the same time, Dwight is connected enough to know the context of future ideas and social directions to ensure that students will be safe and secure in their extracurricular and political participation. One student helped organize a Black Lives Matter Vigil raising over KRW 5,000,000 to support organizations. And given that the BLM movement and solidarity action here in Seoul was already controversial against the backdrop of a somewhat controversial movement in the United States, one might think that a more conservative institution would discourage students from participating.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

Again, it looks like another case of Dwight’s thinking being in the right place before the fact and students haven't been already supported to be in those places. It is also telling that all of the pictures used for this article were produced by students.

Indeed, whichever direction my conversation or critical probes go in regards to the school, the character of the place as one of pioneering intrepidness as far as student development and learning though — this seems to come to the fore and commands my critical attention.

My observations seem to bear out the idea that a kind of educational environment that "develops the whole child" is tied to the IB curriculum, and an IB curriculum that is inherently global, which includes research and outreach projects that encourages experimentation and exploring outside of safe and established zones and intellectual spaces, but which nevertheless take place under strict parameters and supervision by the staff.

Further along the lines of “educating the whole child,” Dwight’s new Quest Programme is made available because “each student’s “spark of genius” is unique and all individual paths are distinctive. Quest takes a different approach with every student...No matter what form they take, Quest programs focus on one thing: personalized learning to meet the individual needs of individual students.”

28

Dwight SEOUL SCHOOL

Also, coming soon is the Dwight Night Academy, which offers additional classes for upper school students after school sports and extracurricular activities. According to the Head of School Kevin Skeoch, “Exploring options for parents and students to engage, learn and thrive is what we are all about and the rationale for spearheading new initiatives simply comes down to knowing where your children are and ensuring that opportunities are probably better managed in a safe and known environment like Dwight.”

I was left with the impression that the Dwight School is not just interested in numbers and purely concrete markers of success but in fostering an environment within which to grow and succeed. I was told that this is a place that realizes that they all "do not follow a singular path to success." In that the school seems like a place where it not only allows but encourages students to lead the way, I believe them. •

I was told that this is a place that realizes that they all "do not follow a singular path to success." In that the school seems like a place where it not only allows but encourages students to lead the way, I believe them

29

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

The Luxury Liner of Elite Education in Korea North London Collegiate School Jeju

30

NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL JEJU

Campus grounds with view of First School and Boarding Houses

31

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

I

IN certain fields, the industry leader, according to the major metrics used by most of the players within it, stands out and is nearly indisputable. As I toured the school, the joke kept coming up that really there wasn't much to really do other than show the school and literally let the facilities and the students speak for themselves, along with the three separate libraries with dedicated librarians, with more truly college-level and industrystandard specialty journals and magazines than I could count (that are actually run by the students themselves). This was all before even before getting to the more than half-dozen dormitory/mini-communities that help constitute the emotionally and intellectually rich scholastic culture of the posh British boarding school, right here in Korea.

And it wasn't just the buildings that impressed, but also the extremely high calibre of the staff and students. Of course, one might think to take with a

grain of salt any specially chosen students introduced by the school. That being said, I was particularly impressed with two of the student representatives with whom I had the pleasure to speak, the Head Girl and Head Boy, Elysia Bae and Nick Oh, respectively.

I wasn't only impressed by their effortlessly confident eloquence at a relatively young age, nor the wonderfully mature and enlightened things they were saying. I quickly learned that both the Head Boy and Head Girl, despite their obvious maturity and status as being ahead of the curve and being by definition the best the school had to offer, still seemed quite literally par for the course at NLCS Jeju. Yet, their stories remain instructive as ways to represent what the school is all about, as well as the warp and woof of the educational and social culture there.

Starting with Elysia, her story is certainly inspiring and worthy of much lauding on the individual level. Put simply, Elysia is a

32

33 Globaledu-ro 145 beon-gil, Daejung-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju

NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL JEJU

View of Halla Mountain from the School grounds Junior School facade

33

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

remarkable young lady, possessed of an easy and professional confidence, as well as a startlingly refined intelligence that seems to belie her young age. Elysia started her experience in English quite early and was fairly comfortable in English by the time she entered the school in her third grade of the junior (elementary) school. And as she was essentially intellectually reared by the school from a younger age, it is safe to say that she benefited and grew in relation to the close and considerate care she was given by the many mentors and enervated students around her who helped define one of the most intellectually and emotionally fertile environments for a young mind that one could imagine. Not to reduce the effort and accomplishments of Elysia herself, but the facts remain that it is the environment of the school that allows a beautiful flower such as Elysia to take root and grow.

Nick, the Head Boy, is actually an important counter-case to consider and is an even more instructive story that can describe the educational and social culture of NLCS Jeju. Nick entered the school

in the Year 3 of Junior School and found English to be a major challenge for him.

While this may seem a precarious position for a young student to find himself in terms of being able to integrate and catch up with his fellow students, after passing the entrance exam with a bit of translation help, the school designed a specialized ESL curriculum around his needs in order to get him to the point of being able to independently keep up with a normal set of classes in the normal curriculum. And accordingly, Nick was able to integrate with the other students after three to five months of ESL support that slowly tapered him into a general curriculum and by the end of the first year, he described himself as becoming just another student standing on his own two feet.

What struck me about the two students in question here wasn't their accomplished abilities in the linguistic arts nor their impeccably polite comportment, but the feeling I got as I toured the school and talked with other staff and students was that for as much as the Head Boy and

Head Girl seemed to be somewhat stellar exemplars standing apart from their peers, the other students that I met directly and could encounter from a distance through campus publications seemed to be just as accomplished in their own rights.

I got a compellingly strong and good sense of the students' abilities from their other exemplary works in their publications, which I quite honestly have almost never seen at such a high level outside of most of the universities I've worked within. And even within the works of many quite good student publications, rarely have I seen such inspiration and incisiveness. Although I knew I was supposed to be impressed by the several copies of student publications and magazines available on the table in the Marketing Office as I leafed through them on my own and lightly perused them without much intention of looking too closely at any of them, I found myself closely engaged with the writings in La Musawah, the feminist pop-culture critique journal named after the word for equality in Arabic as a gesture of solidarity for what

Class of 2020

34

NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL JEJU

was described as the least protected area for women's rights in the Middle East.

As a necessarily lefty cultural studies scholar trained at UC Berkeley, I wasn't so surprised by Year 12 student Sunny Baek's cry of "Viva la revolucion!" in the opening editorial notes of her new magazine, as much as by the fact that the school seems to truly stand by its mission to allow students room to explore their own paths along their own intellectual journeys while providing the support and structure to allow that to happen most safely, effectively, and fully. I

was actually much more impressed by the high quality of the articles and the rest of the content of the magazine that included a quite sharp graphic design and layout along with obvious intense editing to get both the focus and the content down to a sharp, readable edge.

Using my own experience and knowledge of similar feminist critiques of pop-culture publications, I had only seen similar levels of sophistication in analysis and aesthetics in a legendary feminist pop culture magazine published out of Berkeley in the 1990s and

gaze, a similarly themed journal I advised at Korea University published by a group of motivated students there in 2018. It goes nearly without saying that I was fairly surprised to see stuff of this calibre coming out of a non-college level institution.

All of the student work I saw at NLCS Jeju similarly struck me as truly studentoriginated while given the support of a nearly boundless supply of resources from the school. After hearing about the results of Capstone programs, meeting teachers and staff running the impressive theater, music,

Principal, Ms Lynne Oldfield

A "values-based school" that produces a certain, high caliber of students that constantly and consistently define its brand throughout the world

Headboy, Nick Oh

Student Council Chair, Elysia Bae

35

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

Students in Boarding House

and Maker's Space facilities, and asking after the workings of the quite impressive art exhibition space there, I formulated a new question as I spoke with more administrators towards the end of the day. I said that I had started to get the impression that in short, one of the advantages of the school seemed to be the fact that if a student's intellectual or extracurricular interest took nearly any conceivable turn, that idea or enterprise – and that could be quite nearly anything — could find concrete fruition through the structured guidance of teachers and advisers in the school, who could connect students to quite nearly infinite resources. While I started to pose this question around to not only students and staff to whom I was introduced, I was also able to gauge this issue with staff members I met quite accidentally while wandering around the school in unplanned detours and happenstance encounters.

I was taken, as a matter of course, to all three of the school's libraries, for example.

While they were all wonderful – no surprise here — I had a moment to engage in some friendly banter with the librarian in the secondary school facility. I took the opportunity to make the most enjoyable and exploratory use of around 10 minutes spent talking in close, intense detail with the head librarian, as a professional scholar and researcher. Not expecting to necessarily expecting an answer to my every prod and probe into the quality of the databases the school pays quite a bit of money to allow access (both on campus and remotely), I quite enjoyed the chance to test the limits of where the school's information infrastructure might reach. Although this information isn't necessarily crucial to the performance of any particular student nor is it required for the success of a student in a learning institution at the secondary school level, I was surprised at this. Put simply, the school has both a JSTOR and EBSCO subscription, with domestic KISS and RISS databases at the ready as well.

36

I hadn't at all planned to rake the librarian over the coals, but since the conversation never got to the point of being uncomfortable, and though I could have easily continued the conversation for another 30 minutes and exhausted her patience, I was more than satisfied with how a secondary school-level library had bested the database offerings of most of the top universities in Korea.

To be sure, not every student is going to establish and edit a journal of feminist popular culture critique, require access to a journal article indexed in the JSTOR or EBSCO database, or create enough art pieces to require a professional installation within a gallery on par with any found in a major world capital. In fact, statistically speaking, most students aren't going to be quite that exceptional or require such extravagant resource options. But the point of sending your child to this school lies squarely within having the comfortable knowledge that if that kind of potential lies

NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL JEJU

Year 11 student, Julia

37

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

38

NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL JEJU

within your child, at NLCS Jeju, there's no conceivable limitation that could hold them back.

But this is even before getting to the question of non-academic life and the seemingly wondrous experience to be had in the dorms, which define the social/ intellectual cradle that frames the entire educational experience at a boarding school. Indeed, it was the dorms in the realm of the “Student Life” offices of my own boarding school at Phillips Andover Academy and Brown University that helped make my educational experience stellar.

While at NLCS Jeju, the “houses” Geomun, Mulchat, as well as Halla East and Halla North strongly invoked my memories of my own Rabbit Pond in the “cluster” system at Andover, as well as the freshman “units” that linked the intellectual and the personal within the dorms at Brown University.

As a person with experience in the deep belief that most of the important socialization and intellectual scaffolding that focused me into a new person took place within the structured activities and interactions found in a well-planned-andimplemented boarding experience. I had a detailed tour and inspection of one of the houses on campus and was completely floored by what options exist there. From

39

well equipped kitchen and recreational facilities to extensive support in terms of dorm counselors and "matrons", it seems as though all immediate student needs are covered.

But even if a school meets all of the creature comfort demands and points of necessary care for a student, this does not necessarily constitute meeting all student needs at a boarding school. What was most impressive on the tour conducted by Head of Houses Peter Scargill was the obviously ample amount of thinking given to this very point by making sure that residential life was purposeful and meaningful in molding students into becoming positive and intellectually actualized people. Which is why the school constantly emphasizes the importance of the boarding experience all the more in this country and culture that is somewhat new to the idea of the boarding school. As part of the British boarding school educational culture, this is perhaps one of the best-represented and best-preserved aspects of that type of educational culture, which can be found in very few places outside of Great Britain. Not only is this institutional function fun and familiar to anyone who knows the ways British boarding schools work, it is absolutely necessary to educate a child healthily and holistically. It was quite

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

impressive to see the inner workings of the houses, since they seem to be the quiet, beating heart of NLCS Jeju.

Upon leaving the school, I was confident that I had gotten a fair sense of how the resources matched the school's commitment to instilling and fostering a certain kind of values in the students as part of the kind of overall social, psychological, and intellectual education the school takes upon itself as having the responsibility to provide. I could have easily talked about the near-Olympic-grade swimming pool with a water polo program with the singular limitation is that it has difficulty finding other teams with which to compete, or the several industry-standard dance studios that bolster the school’s requirement that all students must take dance classes until Year 9. Alternatively, this column could have waxed on about such impressive-yetinevitably minor affordances as the new spin class studio I saw being constructed.

But in the end, these are not the thin slices I felt were the most important to convey to readers wanting to get an organic feel for how the school is, in some relative, larger sense.

One problem I had with my exploratory foray into the school’s physical structure and culture is the fact that inevitably any trip into the school would be simply too thin of an experience-set from which

As close to the magic of the Harry Potter experience that one can find on this side of the Muggle-verse

40

NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL JEJU

to extrapolate. So in doing what an ethnographer must inevitably do, one must thin-slice samples from as many different directions as possible and extrapolate about the atmosphere and general nature of the environment as much as possible.

Especially given the consistency of the data I was able to glean from both structured and unstructured encounters on the campus, I am able to confidently assert that my read of the culture of NLCS Jeju is quite consistent with the image portrayed in its official informational materials and official representations of itself. I truly believe that the school has been able to live up to its goal of duplicating the high standards of NCLS back home in the U.K., as well as the cultural norms it sets for itself as being a shining beacon of excellence in providing a global, intellectual orientation to the children within its walls.

As Principal Lynne Oldfield has said before, and which she constantly emphasized in our interview together, "If a child cannot feel safe they cannot learn to their full potential." The intellectual, emotional, and physical safety of the student stuck out in all my interactions as a prominent, paramount point. Principal Oldfield summed up things by saying that NLCS Jeju was a "values-based school" that produces a certain, high caliber of students that constantly and consistently

define its brand throughout the world, especially as the school has been defined by having achieved a #22 rank as a global IB school. As far as this ethnographer is concerned, the ample resources of the institution are certainly worthy of any and all accolades within the school inevitably finds itself ensconced.

No amount of space in a single article, or even an entire magazine, could possibly do this impressive institution justice. The best way to end this commentary on NLCS Jeju is to muse more pointedly on its feel.

In terms of defining all of the outstanding academic programs and myriad options for young minds here, there is just too little space. I think it's best to end the treatment here with a description of the two representative students with whom

41

I had a chance to converse. Of all the students in the school, Principal Oldfield has said they “are a real delight to teach and have a genuine love for learning.” Both Nick and Elysia embodied this statement and were as impeccably well-spoken and as seemingly accomplished as anyone even a decade their senior. And although both of these students are still in Senior School, the sense of them already being accomplished is something that surely stems from the fact that their future successes and accolades seem quite nearly a fait accompli. This is a strange, nearly déjà vu sensation that one rarely encounters in life, and I definitely got the sense that such are students one rarely sees outside of direct contact with this place, but which might be expected of products of “an exceptional British education.” •

INTERNATIONAL COVER FEATURE SCHOOLS GUIDE

GloCal Mind, GloBal Heart Korea International School Jeju

42

KOREA INTERNATIONAL COVER FEATURE SCHOOL JEJU

43

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

A

AFTER exploring the institutional culture of the Korea International School in Jeju, I came to the solid conclusion that this was a place strongly committed to providing a healthy emotional and intellectual environment for student learning. While this may seem an obvious overlap with the PR materials of any competitive school in Korea, what I came away with was the fact that these do not seem to be empty, public relations words for a fancy, American-style school.

What struck me the most directly was the apparent openness and willingness to be frank in my series of interviews conducted with the quite warm and engaging staff. One thing that stood out to me most prominently was the fact that what seemed to be somewhat stressful or even sensitive questions in my interviews at other schools seemed to be the very points that KIS eagerly focused upon and even expanded the conversation around when I approached the very same issues during our interview encounters. Tellingly, this particular question, which seemed to cause some concern or trepidation at other places not mentioned in the present project was: "Social movements from Black Lives Matter to LGBTQIA equality are redefining social norms and relations across the globe. How and where does the school place itself, its students, and the curriculum in relation to these social changes?"

44

KOREA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL JEJU

34 Globaledu-ro 260 beon-gil, Daejung-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju

the job of the school is to create spaces for the students to direct and design their own development within As an experienced, professional ethnographer, I knew full well that this question might be because of some concern to traditionally conservative elite schools in Korea, especially as they tend to be allergic to apparent social controversy and possible religious/philosophical points of possible difference with conservative parents. But the question was more of a prompt to get a sense of the school's reaction to the question itself as much as it was a query actually concerned with the contents of the response to the question.

What was truly impressive about the response to what was my #3 question out of seven was the ease and eagerness with which all of the interviewed responded to the question, offering what seem to be a frank and earnest response that tended to focus around the schools eagerness to embrace diversity in behavior and thought amongst the student body while encouraging students to even be comfortable with their own discomfort sometimes at dealing with new issues and encountering new ideas and people that might be foreign to their sensibilities. One respondent even noted that the school had "come a long way" and might even "have quite a ways to go" in regards to some issues related to the question, but firmly answered my query by stating that while things were certainly not perfect, the school definitely had made an effort to foster an environment in which people could feel

45

accepted and safe, despite any differences in thought and opinion on points of possible social controversy, and that no matter what, the emotional comfort and safety of everyone in the schools community was first priority. It was a surprisingly candid response in an interview which one would think might be the wrong place to leave open the possibility for PR vulnerability.

But, bolstered by the similar responses of very different interviewees around this very point, it was clear that the school was comfortable with discomfort, and committed to the idea of agreeing to leave a space for a disagreement, as long it was all for the sake of fostering a better learning and living environment for the students.

This was a very impressive point of candor that could not have been orchestrated or feasibly faked by a coordinated effort amongst various interviewees in some kind of impossibly rehearsed fashion.

The other possible Occam's razor conclusion to make was that this seemingly consistent and complementary response was the result of an actual school culture of acceptance and a highly held value of diversity for diversity's sake. This was an important point which I was able to peer past the veneer of a superficial PR interview and was where I was able to further trust that I was getting a clear and accurate feel for the institutional values of this place.

Even as other teachers and staff described a very open scholastic environment where

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

students lead new initiatives that the school eagerly back and supported with structure and resources, appointment was made again and again by different people from different directions and seemed to be an actual value in their system. It was quite interesting to hear a specific example in the telling of the story of the formation of an LGBTQ student club proposed by the school called the Qloset Club, formed by a student interested in improving the social environment for LGBTQ peers, in line with the school's stated values.

What was interesting to me was how I got the sense that this was a student-led initiative that seemed to have possibly caused some consternation from the school side but which was never the less seen as a test of the school’s commitment to its own values, one which the staff members interviewed seemed to agree the school passed with flying colors. Again, while there seems to be the sentiment that the school obviously had a ways to go yet, there was unanimous satisfaction that the school was committed to always working in the direction of its own value systems and the key decisive point in any consideration of these values was always student welfare. It was also interesting to me that this question was not a PR talking point presented to me but a crucial possible fault line in the schools stated value system. It was a talking point prompted by me and around which there was a coordination not explainable by purposeful preparation for the question but by a consistency of character that seemed to truly define what kind of school this was.

This really lined up well with the direction of the initial conversation I had with the Director of Teaching and Learning Dr. Cindy Toland as she emphasized that "the job of the school was to create spaces for the students to direct and design their own development within," and also to find ways in which the academic and intellectual can meet inside a zone of social and emotional support, which was presented to me from the first interview as the school's biggest priority next to fostering a high degree of academic excellence.

Although much emphasis was given to their large, so-called "create spaces" in a concrete, resource-specific sense, with mention of the 3-D printing possible

in the impressive Maker's Space, but interestingly, the pattern of emphasis I kept hearing was the importance of building character and education through non-academic school life itself, in order to "develop the whole child", especially through dormitory life.

From the dorm to the classroom, the "emotional safety" of the students is highly emphasized, and since their WASCA accreditation was "instituted as an essential learner need."

The school tries to encourage "conversations" that foster a sense of "empathy and global awareness", which may at first not seem directly relevant in an educational world that gauges education in terms of test scores and other seemingly concrete metrics. But the school works hard to push against the flow of this tendency in Korea by creating a safety force field of sorts in the school, which could be described as a major tool for shaping and connecting character and the intellect.

Given that a large portion of the school consists of students from the Korean diaspora and Korean heritage speakers, whether nationals or not, it makes the dormitory experience much more central to the shaping of the students into

46

KOREA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL JEJU

From the dorm to the classroom, the "emotional safety" of the students is highly emphasized

Top photo: Elizabeth Maltby, Dean of Boarding Bottom: Mary O'Bryon Jones, Associate HS Principal and AP Coordinator

47

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

48

KOREA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL JEJU

truly global citizens, which is a stated scholastic goal. Thereby, "the dorms have an obligation to engage with students" and function as not only living places but thinking spaces as well.

Link with official structural support for student learning through co-curricular's and formal latitude given to student-led ideas through the capstone program, it is the students that lead content and thinking within the schools structure, and the boarding school obviously plays a big role in that. The intellectual culture of the school is one that fosters leadership amongst the student body, and the school thereby strives to make students into leaders.

Although "leadership" is a keyword that many schools on this level utilize fast and freely, when listening to several engaged staff members describing different facets and angles of this obviously real institutional culture and value, I started to get a sense of why and how certain other concrete resources and rooms

49

were created within the school. In fact, it was a student initiative that resulted in putting robotics and 3-D printing on the administrative radar at the school , which resulted in the Maker's Space well before it was cool or *de rigueur* in Korean schools.

In this way, a good way to understand the school is by pairing together the academic emphasis on the AP Capstone program, which trains students to find their own topics and subjects — without overly strict limitation but structured guidance from teachers — and pursue them to a collegiate level of exploration, concrete research, and academic writing and presentation, and the guided intellectual experience of dormitory life.

By training students to think, research, and write through this rigorous program, students are pushed towards an intellectual focus. Paralleling the push to become more intellectually focused and actualized is the dormitory experience pushing students to better speak the

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

The school tries to encourage "conversations" that foster a sense of "empathy and global awareness

50

KOREA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL JEJU

social language and add another level to the overall "academic layering" aspect of the scholastic experience. Put simply, the dormitory experience undergirds the co-curricular programs, which further support formal focus and training in the AP Capstone program. In this way, seemingly disparate aspects of school life come together in such a way as to make a coherent sense to students moving forward through their paths to social and intellectual maturity. What strikes me as interesting wasn't the proper keywords and buzzwords being used together or commonly amongst a well-prepared set of staff interviews, but rather an overall strategy centered on pushing students forward through life that seemed genuine and well-conceived.

This is one major institutional pairing strategy that seems to help guarantee a holistically good experience for students.

Yet it is matched by what seems to be a great

deal of thought given to the "balancing act" between global/local concerns, and the active effort the school makes to respect its status as a local, Korean institution with Korean value yet work hard to build a truly global sense of identity and thinking. A good deal of conversation was had about this, resulting in what could've been described in another keyword: that of being "glocal."

It was interesting to note the fact that, for as much conversation was had about this tension between global and local, Korean and non-Korean student numbers, and personal and formal academic learning, the buzzword "glocal" never came up.

This was significant for me as an academic having worked in a selfdescribed research center for "Glocal and Social Empathy" and as someone watching the interesting life trajectory of this fastgrowing and mutating buzzword, it was interesting that the school was talking

51

deeply about and inside the concept, deeply and consistently, yet hadn't entered this mode of thinking from the doorway of just jumping onto the next cool keyword of the times. It occurs to me that since I doubt that no one in the school has ever encountered the term, it is significant that the school seems to embody it, both in philosophy and execution, yet hasn't chosen to emblazon the term across all it's promotional spaces or proclaim it from the proverbial rafters. The school has come to embody the true spirit of this buzzword before even bothering to invoke it and use its power. And it also occurs to me that perhaps it is the very embodiment of the buzzword that has made the school not even bother or perhaps realize that this is squarely where the school lives. Similarly, a fish doesn't know it lives in water, nor do you even people often think about the air we breathe all the time. •

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

The Biggest Small School in Seoul Dulwich College Seoul 52

DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL

Photo taken before the COVID-19 pandemic

53

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

D

DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL was the smallest big school in Seoul that I surveyed for this story. At the same time, it was also the biggest small school I visited. Weighing in at around 700 students and 150 staff and housed within a single, attractive building nestled deep in Gangnam, the structure itself felt the most scholastically familiar and traditional of any of the places I surveyed. I remember pointedly thinking that this would be a quick and cursory visit in terms of the geography of the space.

I also remember thinking that the size of the institution itself might predispose people to think that considering the school in the same category as the others might constitute an unfair comparison. However, I would soon find myself fascinated by the way my guided visit would literally unfold and unfold and unfold, like a nested puzzle piece continuously and comically revealing additional levels of structure in itself, much like a disarmingly deceptive set of nested Russian dolls.

As I was introduced to the school and walked around and around the hallways, the structure revealed itself to be full of many more rooms atop other levels and green spaces on top of terraces that were nestled underneath other floors. Play spaces placed between and next to rooms directly on top of rooms you just left. It gives a sense that the school was a dizzyingly efficient and maximal utilizer of space. As I climbed up one level to discover a sports field on what seemed like the roof and then spiraled up another level to discover a swimming pool, then an outdoor garden space followed by another surprising example of spatial maximization, I simply found myself confused and actually remarked at how it seemed like the school had somehow crammed several buildings worth of space into a single building that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

In a nutshell, the spatially dense building is a metonymic structure that stands as a walk-in symbol of how much can be fit into a single school without it feeling like it's too much. Alternatively, one might

liken the experience to when Harry Potter ran straight at the wall between Platforms Nine and Ten. Upon crossing the threshold, one finds himself standing in a broader new world that doesn't seem like it could possibly fit into the one recently departed.

It's a bit jarring, disorienting, and strangely natural all at the same time. However one might describe it, I did feel I had left the outside world and was deeply ensconced within a new one, with ever-unfolding new layers folded into itself.

The school boasts that the young, trained minds it produces shall "Graduate Worldwise."

54

6 Sinbanpo-ro 15-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul

DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL

55

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

While it is a bit cliché to say that the school does more with less, I do not want to imply that the school is any lesser than other places. It is actually not all too different from other similar high-quality schools in terms of educational resources or emphases. The stated goal of Dulwich College is to "educate the whole child." With original roots going back to the establishment of the original Dulwich College in England in around the time the Pilgrim Separatists landed in what is now Massachusetts, the school follows the National British curriculum but is an IB school for high school. Head of School Gudmundur Jonsson told me the school places a great emphasis on values and despite it's relatively recent start in the running here in Seoul, the Dulwich brand and institutional culture has a rich tradition to draw upon, which extends back into the mists of premodernity and the

56

time of the oldest ancient regimes, back to the year 1619.

One interesting aspect of the school’s unique approach to knowledge is how Head of College Jonsson described the pandemic as a “golden opportunity” to think differently about what the “new normal” will be. The school aims to foster a new attitude through its educational approach that emphasizes forward-adjusting student thinking into spaces the rest of the world will be in a generation later, encompassing sustainability and the moral requirements of the present climate emergency. It is telling that Dulwich has an intellectual take such that it tends to think about the pandemic as a moment for a cultural reset on a global scale, rather than merely as a logistical inconvenience or transnational disaster. It’s a unique, heady place, from the Head of College on down.

DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL

Simply put, the school strikes me as a place full of heart, and there weren't very many places or school tours that have the capacity to actually move mine. On what seemed like an ordinary tour down the hallway to see classrooms, I was surprised to hear a story unfold as astonishing as the continuing depths of the seemingly endless rabbit spatial hole continuing to unfold before me. Marketing Manager Sam Wigginton told of a student whose grandfather was caught up in the travails and trauma of the Korean War, which is not an uncommon family connection and experience to have in South Korea. With a plan, some focused interviews, and a resultant oral history in hand, Senior School students performed a play at the school’s auditorium for their parents and the local community primarily based on the tale of the student's grandfather's journey from

North to South Korea during the Korean War. Dulwich College Seoul students met and interviewed local seniors and relatives to listen to and incorporate their words into the play, verbatim. The grandfather and others interviewed were present to see this personal history re-enacted and memorialized, and the grandfather gave a moving speech afterwards. Such monumentally moving projects are rare to see in life, let alone see carried out by young students, then being reported in the Korean press. It was yet another large surprise (of several) to see in a seemingly small school.

Another surprise lay in store for me at the lovely library, filled with colors, an inviting warmth, and loads of wonderful books -- which is fairly standard at this type of school, no matter how big. I had just gotten through remarking to Mr. Wigginton (in the

57

impressively spacious main auditorium that I could not fathom actually fitting into the building I had entered a couple hours earlier) about how impressive certain other large libraries in certain schools down in Jejudo had subscriptions to huge academic databases.

And as if on cue for a cosmic, comic punchline, in a library poster containing the expected ads for the Dewey Decimal system, the online Britannica system, and a plaintive reminder about the "online e-books available on Sora!" was a quiet, how-to summary of using the J-STOR database. It was a fitting bookend to my journey up and down the Korean Peninsula looking at these schools and their cultures, in that the smallest foreign school I visited had the exact same database access that had impressed me as much as the largest one, which had considerably more resources.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

58

DULWICH COLLEGE SEOUL

In the end, Dulwich is physically quite new and small. But there is quite a bit underneath its humble façade and seemingly simple story in Gangnam in 2010. In the same way that its hallways run deeper than the eye can see, Dulwich College Seoul packs a punch where it counts, boasting some of the same world-class library resources as its largest competitors, as well as a connection to an institutional history that goes back much further than anyone in its class, stretching as far back as the same decade as the publishing of the King James Bible. It doesn't seem strange to note that this British school in Seoul, at 11 years old, is as young and fresh as the Gangnam neighborhood in which it finds itself, yet has roots stretching back to before the English language had even finished developing its most basic syntax rules and idioms. Or around the same time as Admiral Yi Sunshin defended the nascent Korean nation from its most impactful invasion.

The school boasts that the young, trained minds it produces shall "Graduate Worldwise." Such a confident claim would be unusual and perhaps a punch above its weight class were it made by many other institutions of such a size. But given the truly worldwide orientation and origins of the person representing and navigating Dulwich College Seoul into the future, its stiffly British emphasis on superior values focusing a truly well-rounded education is highlighted by the Head of College Gudmundur Hegner Jonsson. Where else does one find a trained archeologist and scholar of the Vikings who was also an opera singer before gaining experience heading schools? Such worldwise people and perspectives seem to be where Dulwich College Seoul defines its crucial difference from the rest in its class.•

This British school in Seoul, at 11 years old this year, is as young and fresh as the Gangnam neighborhood in which it finds itself, yet has roots stretching back to before the English language had even finished developing 59

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

Room to Shine Busan Foreign School 60

BUSAN FOREIGN SCHOOL

61

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

45 Daecheon-ro 67 beon-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan

T

THE first thing to know about Busan Foreign School is that it's small, but proud of its cozy and close-knit community, the facilities it has to offer, and its quality education. Yet, small in Korea isn't always what Koreans think of as a positive thing. The bigger the university or institution, the better it must be, and for that reason the more famous it often ends up being. The assistant principal Carl Brenneman told me that a smaller school is actually an advantage, and that specifically from a student’s point of view, "You have room to shine more."

It was interesting to go from some of the physically largest and most imposing schools in Korea to one of the smallest and most humble. It was a bit of whiplash that took some gear-shifting and adjustment in my angle of approach, but once made, framed a pleasant experience in an inviting environment. Walking through the halls of

62

this normal-looking school actually really brought me back to my own public school experience, with familiar hallways and a feeling of home.

With the only U.S.-style curriculum at a foreign school in Busan, the school prides itself as a good, homey, and safe space to be. I actually ended up spending a long time with the school counselor Rebecca AustinCastillo, who also illustrated how the school took seriously the value of establishing an entire environment as a "safe space" to not only learn but to explore, branch out in new directions, and truly grow.

Since I, myself, come from a generation to whom mental health is quite nearly a taboo subject and visiting the school psychological services is something many would never be caught dead doing, I was truly curious as to how she integrated with students. Also, how much of a presence

BUSAN FOREIGN SCHOOL

her services and expertise could be to their lives. She related how she literally integrates her own office as a concretely safe space into the greater idea of a safe space in the general sense. She explained that her office is a place where anyone could walk into and simply sit down and have lunch for no real reason and without an appointment. Some kids actually do wander in from outside and have lunch in there, nearly every day, she said. A kid can feel free to talk about anything, make chit chat, or simply not talk about anything at all but just sit and eat. She also interacts with all the students in the school from an early age and has a known presence and support structure for them.

By the time students come to know her place not only in the staff structure but also as a friendly face and a safe space to go to for any reason, they always have someone to talk to and somewhere to fall back on.

As I sat in her office engaged in a most

The assistant principal Carl Brenneman told me that the smaller school was actually an advantage, and that specifically from a students point of view, "You have room to shine more."

63

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

pleasant chat on a most comfortable couch listening to her talk about the importance of fostering empathy as a cultural value in the school and the importance of "embracing diversity" in the most passionate and plaintively fervent tones, I realized what the vice principal had been talking about.

Glenn Saunders, the director of admissions for the school, also emphasized how the school was "small and flexible" and able to adjust itself to accommodate any and all cases, sizes, and shapes of students. Yet, first and foremost, the school presents itself as a U.S.-based family and as a "continuity school" with a U.S.-based core curriculum for Americans in Korea.

This is followed by a large community of Korean repatriates who are often returning Korean nationals who want to continue with an American-style curriculum. Next comes the Russian population or Russian diaspora members. For them this school is a bridge to the world. And then there are many other types of families and students who look to

64

the school in terms of a quality education and curriculum conducted in English.

Overall, it's pretty simple. BFS is a highquality school that can send students to the Ivy Leagues but is also a place not obsessed with doing so. It is more geared to maximizing students’ goals and potential to go to as prestigious schools as they desire within their set of goals. Small and efficient, the school is "not the Queen Mary but a speedboat" -- a cozy and safe, tight and efficient, sound means of transport.

Everyone with whom I spoke, as well as everything I saw, spoke to a quality education and a good, little school that looks forward to the future, positively and actively guides students in the proper direction, and makes sure to define a space of academic and intellectual excellence along with honesty.

It stays ahead of educational trends and on top of where students need to be in order to be competitive, including an emphasis on STEM, a CAD-enabled maker space, and real emphasis on the AP Capstone program. This

BUSAN FOREIGN SCHOOL

is not to downplay the school's distinguished academics but rather to emphasize that such quality academic cornerstones are there but also placed against a cultural/ institutional emphasis on wellness and mindfulness in the process. While yoga and stretching breaks for everyone may seem like small things, along with an emphasis on more recess — at least two per day — and naptime for the kindergartners, the emphasis on academics along with a holistic sense of overall education is no small thing at BFS. And it's a subtle small thing that really makes the school a place I didn't want to leave by the end of my encounter there.

Indeed, I was told by a couple different staff members about the fact that it was a common occurrence for families of students in the school to alter their plans to return to their home countries in order to allow their kids to finish their educations at the school, since BFS was often quite a superior option to what they would have in their move back home.

65

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS GUIDE

But more than anything else I saw in the institutional culture of the school was the fostering of a space of emotional openness and cultural respect, and the assistant principal made it clear that there was a great deal of respect for the host culture of Korea and the promotion of school values.

In the space of respect for different cultures in the school, it was interesting to hear talk of making sure students are connected with their "heart language" in that English, while important, still leaves room for valuing the languages students and their families spoke at home. What I saw was an institutional culture that recognizes the potentially sensitive feeling of prohibiting Korean speaking in the halls, given they're very real and painful histories related to such linguistic and cultural prohibition.

Also, the fact that the school seemed very eager to be a Korean school for foreign students as much as it was a foreign school that happens to be in Korea.

It seems to me that in order to be a speed boat gliding along in this potentially precarious space in between many things, it becomes absolutely necessary to create a zone of emotional and intellectual safety that requires a deeply empathetic generosity towards others. In such an environment, it was not much of a surprise to see a couple teachers and also a student

66

BUSAN FOREIGN SCHOOL

wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts, placing the school quite naturally on the right side of history and social justice as is the direction such things seem to be taking. But the wearing of such T-shirts, as politicized as that can be in some places, seems decidedly not so in this space, and like another active voting with one's feet for empathizing with the possible plight and challenges faced by others. It just seems to be quite naturally something the school would do, as opposed to the potentially prickly political point that many similar schools might feel the need to dance or tread lightly around.

In a nutshell, BFS felt like the kind of

place where an enterprising young student could find the room to not only chart their own path but define their own set of unique goals to move forward. It became easy to see how this educational culture could easily cater to a student with dreams of going to that fancy Ivy League school the whole family dreams about, while also speaking to the needs of someone who sees a different path forward. What I saw in the hallways, in the classrooms, and on the comfortable couches of the school, not to mention the bright and cheery cafeteria, a true "iconography of inclusiveness", which school counselor Austin-Castillo had talked about when we first sat down.

67

"Not the Queen Mary but a speedboat"

FOOD & DRINK

68

FOOD & DRINK

Nostimo Story ROWENA SHEK • Photos SOPHIE GEE

T

he last time I tried Greek cuisine was….. well, in Greece: perched near the port of Heraklion, and nibbling on fresh feta, placed precariously on top of olives, tomatoes and greens. When word that a new Greek restaurant was opening, my ears pricked. Since 1995, Todd Sample has created waves in Korea’s food industry. Transitioning from Teacher to FDI Consultant to Event Management to CEO and Chef, Sample has well and truly gone through a number of memorable changes in Korea.

When you’re strolling around Greece, the Mediterranean air holds a sense of vibrancy – the richness of laughter, chatter and plentiful fresh food; and that vibrancy is exactly what Nostimo aims to provide – and more. After 2.5 months of refurbishment, Nostimo finally opened its doors in August 2020, the latest in Sample’s achievements.

Serving fresh, authentic Greek cuisine, Sample reaches back to his Greek roots. As a third generation Greek-American, he knew there was a lack of good Greek cuisine in this country: “Greek food in Korea is still terribly

69

underrepresented….. Korea is crazy about international food. That’s what people want, that’s not what people are getting…..”.

Working as co-CEO with business partner Sarah Eun Sun Park, they both hold unique set of skills, building the foundation of Nostimo’s ever-growing popularity. Park, with a degree in Dairy Science, hand crafts all the homemade cheese for the restaurant – from Feta to sour cream to Greek yogurt – to creamy perfection.

Sample, on the other hand, focuses on the dishes and the flavour, which sets the extensive menu Nostimo provides.

FOOD & DRINK

Surprisingly spacious, the clean-cut walls of navy and white, fits perfectly with the simple setting of wooden tables and the dark ‘oak’ floors. Turn your head, and you’ll also notice Nostimo holds an impressive range of wines. With most of them from Greece, you have everything from red to rose. If you’re a white lover, go for their popular Malagousia or Gavala Santorini – either will be well chosen. Or take a dive and try their newcomer Ovilos – available in both red or white, the white is rich with apricot, honey and tropical fruit, with undertones of vanilla from the French oak barrels it’s fermented in. While the red exudes raspberry and red fruit, harmonizing with aromas of cedar, smoke and chocolate.

Sample and Park have a vision – a space to unite people together over homemade food, quality wines and Greek culture.

“We’re constantly out here talking to people, explaining about the food,” Sample explains. It’s clear how much pride he takes in the restaurant, and so he should.

The attention to source and quality is impeccable, and the evidence is all in the taste.

Spacious, simple and clean cut

The Spanakopitakia, fresh from the oven, arrived in all its glory. A creamy spinach, feta and dill filling, encased in layers of crisp filo pastry, beautifully paired with homemade tzatziki (homemade mix of sour cream, cucumber, dill and garlic). The fragile crunch of the layers reveals the buttery, emerald filling. The dill and cucumber in the tzatziki really pops through, and gives a cool and refreshing edge to the rich pie. Deliciously moreish.

Their infamous homemade feta arrived in two forms: Cheese Saganaki and the Feta Plate. The former is a generous slab of Park’s handcrafted feta, delicately panfried and served simply with fresh lemon.

Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, with the saltiness cut through by the tangy lemon, this is the perfect portrayal of feta at its finest. The Feta Plate is similarly delicious, but much more pure: served as it is, another slab of homemade feta (brined for two weeks nonetheless), smothered in

Sarah Park (left) and Todd Sample (right)

70

FOOD & DRINK

Greek extra virgin olive oil, and topped with kalamata olives (harvested only in South Greece, these are famously healthy) and Greek oregano. Rich, intense, savoury - the olive oil is eye-poppingly fragrant, while the oregano is wonderfully earthy. If I close my eyes, i can almost pretend I’m back at the Heraklion port, or lunching in central Olympia again.

Sample doesn’t just stop at savoury treats, his desserts are just as intense and deep. The Baklava is a gleaming concoction of crushed walnuts, almonds, cinnamon cloves, orange and homemade sugar syrup.

Topped with layers of crispy filo, this is the perfect cheeky end to a perfect night.

Personally not a fan of Baklava, this one changed everything – extremely sticky as expected, I bit though the syrup-soaked filo layers, before an intense hit of cinnamon and orange overcame my mouth. Speechless, the sticky texture and the herby flavours accompany each other remarkably.

(Clockwise) Greek yogurt, Baklava, Spanokopita, Grilled Feta, Homemade Feta

71

FOOD & DRINK

Sarah Park

Homemade Feta

If you prefer something lighter, their Greek Yogurt is exactly what you need – homemade and topped with dried cranberries, roasted walnuts and Greek honey, it’s strained by Park herself, which produces a luscious, thick result. The other star of this dish is the honey – shipped straight from Greece, the sweet and intense fragrance will almost immediately prick your nostrils, and rounds off the yogurt perfectly.

When probed about future plans for Nostimo, Sample simply replies: “Greek desserts. Greece has a tremendous amount of desserts, so we will eventually introduce café-style based desserts”.

How exciting! Anything else? “A cultural space to promote Greece. We want to fill that gap, that’s been our philosophy for many years now.” Of course, with years of event management experience, combining culture and food was always going to be one of their many visions. Greek cuisine still has a way to go in Korea, but with food and drinks as true as Nostimo, it shouldn’t be long till locals realise what they’re missing out on. With eyes on a bigger menu, a bigger space and bigger flavours, Sample and Park share confident smiles, as they conclude “Up until now we’ve grown our customer base purely through word-of-mouth. They love our food, and we love to serve. Our food, our authenticity, our passion – this is what enables us to grow organically.”

72

FOOD & DRINK

73

FOOD & DRINK

EULJILEWIS Story ROWENA SHEK • Photos SOPHIE GEE

S

couring the vintage maze of Euljiro, hidden amongst clusters of antique camera shops, stands a 1970s black and white TV. Guarding a thin doorway, you climb up 3 steep flights.

As 1950s tunes slowly crescendo, you pass cute Polaroid’s of an international couple showcasing their UK travels. A sudden sharp bark- and you know you’ve finally reached another one of Euljiro’s hidden gems – an LP player, World War 2 tunes, antique lamps, floral teacups and an atmosphere that can only best be described as ‘the coziest British living room’.

Lewis Jarman, who’s been in Korea since 2012, greets you with a smile (and a mask), and humbly shows you to one of the 5 antique tables in the room, and plops a heavy novel in front of you. Don’t be alarmed- inside holds the pages of the menu! From afternoon tea to cheeky cocktails, Euljilewis has got you covered, not to mention some sweet treats and some savory surprises.

Leaning back on my rose-patterned high back chair, it’s astonishing how much I feel like I’m back in the UK, and this is exactly what Lewis wanted: “We

were inspired by Euljiro’s quirkiness, and wanted to open a hidden cafe here that was British inspired. We wanted to create a different world when you step in”. His dog, small and calm, lies down on the burgundy Turkish rug. If you’re lucky, you might even see him dressed in his tuxedo!

It wasn’t long before Lewis brought over their Pimm’s Special and Espresso Martini. The Pimms Special is a fresh blend of gin, Martini Rosso, orange liqueur and homemade cucumber syrup – with a tinge of natural sweetness, this is perfect for reminiscing Summer afternoons. The Espresso Martini was a strong blend of vodka, Tia Maria and fresh espresso- slightly bitter but wonderfully smooth, the balance is a great perk-me-up. With more cocktails, whiskey, white and red wines on the menu, there’s definitely something for everyone. “Me and my wife like to drink” Lewis confesses shyly, “so we wanted a cafe-by-day and bar-by-night concept.

At night we switch to old pop classics (think Blur, Queen and Oasis) and the vibe completely changes”.

Homemade British Scones

74

FOOD & DRINK

Handpicked vintage European furniture for the interior

Experience tea the British way

The Coziest British Tea Room 75

FOOD & DRINK

‘We wanted to create a different world when you step in’

Sausage Casserole

It wasn’t long before the food arrived.

At the moment Euljilewis only offer a few savory dishes, but more are on the horizon: “We definitely want to expand both the bakery and the kitchen.

Unfortunately space is an issue, but we would like to possibly offer homemade soups and fresh sandwiches in the future!”

Lewis pipes. The steaming hot Sausage Casserole features 4 pork herb sausages, stewed in a fresh tomato sauce made of carrots, onions and herbs, all encased in the world’s largest homemade Yorkshire pudding- literally the size of the plate, the pudding is crispy on the outside, and eggy and layered on the inside. A lovely complement to the tangy filling.

Next is a beautiful cheese board, sliced, positioned and crafted by Lewis himself: Brie, smoked cheese, cheddar, mango cream cheese, peanut butter pretzels, whole-wheat thins, apple slices, cherry tomatoes, salami, prosciutto, roasted peanuts and green and black olives.

All snugly surrounding a wholegrain mustard dip and chunky tomato chutney, and with no packaged American cheese or Laughing Cows in sight, the whole board was a very welcome sight, compared to some of the overpriced, and bizarre, cheeseboards I’ve sadly had to experience in Korea.

Got that second stomach calling? Not to fear – everyone knows a British café is judged by its tea, homemade scones and sweet treats. Using Taylor of Harrogate teabags, the true wafts of an authentic British black tea prickles my nostrils, as I delightfully brew my cuppa (Lewis even provides an adorable ‘tea timer’) to my desired strength (very strong, if you’re wondering) and then delicately tip in some fresh, full fat milk. Tea does to a Brit, what coffee does to anyone else – calming, soothing and a hush of calm,

Pimms Special

76

FOOD & DRINK

as the liquid gold trickles down the throat. Though what is tea, without a treat? Homemade, crumbly, buttery scones with real English clotted cream and strawberry jam? Yes sir.

Homemade lemon pound? Oh aye.

However the star has to be Lewis’s homemade Sticky Toffee Pudding – a muscovado sugar sponge, soaked in a homemade, brown sugar toffee sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream. The deepness of the brown sugar, the smoothness of the sauce and the delicacy of the sponge – my eyes popped as I let out a gasp. I’ve had many a sticky toffee pudding in my time, but this was just indescribable.

Afternoon tea or cheeky cocktails, both will treat you well. Euljilewis is not one to let you down, and with the most beautiful, vintage British interior you’ll find in Seoul, it’s a clear throw away from any other vintage café you’ll have gone to. It might sound like I’m blowing its horn, but that’s exactly why you should come here – to experience yourself the wonders of being in the coziest British tearoom in Seoul.

Cheeseboard

Afternoon tea or cozy cocktails both will treat you well

Sticky Toffee Pudding

77

LISTINGS

EMBASSIES American Embassy (02) 397-4114 • 188 Sejong-daero, Jongno-gu, Seoul Canadian Embassy (02) 3783-6000 • (613) 996-8885 (Emergency Operations Center) Jeongdong-gil (Jeong-dong) 21, Jung-gu, Seoul British Embassy (02) 3210-5500 • Sejong-daero 19-gil 24, Jung-gu, Seoul Australian Embassy (02) 2003-0100 • 19th fl, Kyobo bldg., 1 Jongno 1-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul Philippine Embassy (02) 796-7387~9 • 5-1 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul Spanish Embassy (02) 794-3581 • 726-52 Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul French Embassy (02) 3149-4300 • 30 Hap-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

HOTELS & RESORTS Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul (02) 2250-8080 • San 5-5, Jangchungdong 2-ga Jung gu,Seoul Novotel Ambassador Gangnam (02) 567-1101 • 603 Yeoksam 1-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Grand Hilton Seoul (02) 3216-5656 • 353 Yeonhui-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul Somerset Palace Seoul (02) 6730-8888 • 85 Susong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul Park Hyatt Seoul (02) 2016-1244 • 606 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul Lotte Hotel Busan (051) 810-1000 • 772 Gaya-daero, Busanjin-gu, Busan Park Hyatt Busan (051) 990-1244 • 51, Marine City 1-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan 612-824, Korea

EMERGENCY MEDICAL CENTERS Gangnam St-Mary’s Hospital 1588-1511 • 222 Banpo-daero, Seochogu, Seoul Yonsei Severance Hospital (Sinchon) (02) 2227-7777 • 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul Seoul National University Hospital 1339 • 28-2 Yeongeon-dong, Jongnogu, Seoul Seoul Samsung Hospital 1599-3114 • 50 Irwon-dong, Gangnamgu, Seoul Asan Medical Center 1688-7575 • 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul

HEALTH ORIENTAL MEDICINE Lee Moon Won Korean Medicine Clinic 02) 511-1079 • 3rd fl., Lee&You bldg.

69-5 Chungdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul Specializes in hair loss and scalp problems and offers comprehensive treatments and services including aesthetic and hair care products COSMETIC SURGERY MIZAIN plastic surgery Seoul National University College of Medicine graduate doctors offer the best quality medical services (02) 515 6199 • Dosan-daero 423 (Cheongdam-dong 91-11), Gangnam-gu, Seoul www.mizainps.com MVP plastic surgery Welcoming environment for foreigners and friendly staff guarantees a pleasant visit for cosmetic surgery related consultations.

(02) 3442 6669 •Nonhyeon-ro 819, Gangnam-gu, Seoul JK plastic surgery center Experience the best medical system in Korea. Its superb system allows the minimum efforts for your medical experiences (02) 777 0337 • 584-2 Sinsadong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

UROLOGY & OB Tower Urology (02) 2277-6699 • 5th fl. 119 Jongno 3-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul OPHTHALMOLOGY Dream Eye Center The best eye clinic for LASIK and LASEK. 3,000+ foreign patients over 20+ years of experience with 0 complaints. If you’re considering getting this, make sure to choose the best.

• 1588 9881 • 14 fl., Mijin Plaza, 825 Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul ANIMAL HOSPITALS Itaewon Animal Hospital (02) 797-6677 • 210 Noksapyeongdaero, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Dulwich College Seoul Dulwich College Seoul offers an exemplary British-style international education (including IGCSE and IBDP) for over 600 expatriate students aged 3 to 18 from over 40 different countries.

6 Sinbanpo-ro 15-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Korea http://seoul.dulwich.org/ admissions@dulwich-seoul.kr 02-3015-8500

Sign up for our original WELLNESS program and make sure your pets stay healthy WELLNESS program offers free day-stay during business hours, basic care including nail clip and paw trim, priority reservations, WELLNESS pendants, and discounts on medical expenses including neutralization surgery

VACCINATIONS

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE (rabies vaccine)

SITE PARA OL R CONT

WELLNESS PROGRAM

P E R MA IDENTIF NENT ICA (MICRO TION CHIP)

hon angc Haeb

SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1967

n ida ngr Kyu

Post office

Itaewon Animal Hospital LEXUS

Tel. 02. 797. 6677 Operation Hours: 9am – 6pm (Lunch 1pm – 2pm) Monday - Sunday Appointments required for grooming

Noksapyong Stn Line # 6

Reach for Excellence at SIS SIS provided me with all the tools I needed to develop as an artist and explore new ideas, avenues, and modes of expression without being restricted. The school makes an environment that fosters creativity, allowing me to be who I am as an artist today.

2021 NAHS/NJAHS Juried Exhibition Winner

SIS student’s “Hopeless Zoo” was accepted into the 2021 *NAHS/NJAHS Juried Exhibition out of 1,187 applicants.

*NAHS (National Art Honor Society) established in 1978 recognizes high school students with an outstanding ability in art and showcases their artwork.

15, Seongnam-daero 1518 beon-gil Sujeong-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Korea 13113 Contact : admissions@siskorea.org 031-750-1327~8