Words of Wisdom on a Poster in Korean Classrooms

1. There is no royal road to learning.
2. Rome was not built in a day.
3. Heaven helps those who help themselves.
4. A bad workman always blames his tools.
5. Time and tide wait for no man.
6. Never put off til tomorrow what can be done today.
7. Make haste slowly.
8. Slow but steady wins the race.
9. Better late than never.
10. Time is money.
11. They that govern the most make the least noise.
12. Preachers say, Do as I say, not as I do.
13. Be wise worldly, not worldly wise.
14. Love and a cough can not be hid.
15. Good words are worth much and cost little.
16. Time is the rider that breaks youth.
17. One father is more than 100 school masters.
18. Life is half spent before we know what it is.
19. We are never so happy or unhappy as we imagine.
20. It is more ignominious to mistrust our friends than to be deceived by them.
21. The mond is always the dupe of the heart.
22. I look upon the world as my parish.
23. Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry.
24. To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.
25. The computer is only a fast idiot; it has no imagination; it cannot originate action. It is, and will remain, only a tool of man.
26. One man with courage makes a majority.
27. Television has a real problem. They have no page 2.
28. Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.
29. If you want to be happy for a year, plant a garden; if you want to be happy for life, plant a tree.
30. Only the person with faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.
31. Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
32. Work banishes those three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty.
33. Education has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.
34. A friend in power is a friend lost.
35. Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
36. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

Cosmic Call #4

[SETI Receiving - Identifying Brogue] Buzz.. beep, boop, breep... ...

Goseong will prove life existed for thousands of years.

Goseong is world famous for having dinosaur footprints preserved in petrified
mud. The town continues to capture the tracks of living creatures into the modern day; everywhere that
you find cement you're certain to find human footprints, car tracks,
bike tracks, dog tracks, cart tracks, and anything else that could leave a mark on wet cement. Once I have a camera I will be sharing the pervasive (and likely schemed) imprints.

The kids here are great... on some days... but completely fearless everyday. In the face of corporeal punishment the kids defy authority and break a plastic broom while hitting it against the trunk of a tree. To what end?

The kids clean the school once a day, except for the restrooms which are handled by one female janitor. It was during this "cleaning period" that some students were chopping at a tree with a plastic broom, with which they were supposed to be cleaning the school, in an attempt to cut down branches. Several days after that the students were playing baseball during the cleaning period, using the brooms as bats and their sandals as the ball (no bases, just batting and pitching). Acceptable behavior during the cleaning period includes: climbing on each other, playing with a close friend's hair, gambling, cleaning.

In school I arrive and immediately change into slippers. No one wears shoes inside the school, only slippers. It is really pleasant, once you are accustom to the routine... beep, boop... boop... beop... ....

[signal lost]

Native English Teacher Class Recipe

Ingredients:
1 Korean English Teacher
1 Native English Teacher
1 Large Teacher's Lounge
25-35 adolescent Koreans (homogeneous gender)
1 Modern English Room
1 flat-screen touch sensitive projection television
1 computer with Internet Connection
1 A/C unit
1 microphone
1 English Learning DVD

Instructions:
Prepare instruction by placing Korean English Teacher and Native English Teacher in large teacher's lounge. Set aside and allow time to deliberate. Measure Korean students temperatures for evidence of debilitating and/or infectious diseases.*

Combine the two (2) teachers, the Korean students, and the Modern English Room. Add A/C, computer, and flat-screen touch sensitive projection television. Allow time for students to become fully quiescent. Add microphone and English Learning DVD.

Stew for 45 minutes. Korean teacher inhibits uprising while the Native English teacher interjects experience to facilitate cultural experience.**

Serve Native English Class along side Korean English Grammar class.


* Not necessary to clean aural thermometer between uses.
** Add pictures, songs, games, food, etc. to supplement cultural experience when appropriate and always to taste.

I know Korean (Hangul)

Just kidding. Ja Kuhl Hangul.

First observations about Korea:

1- The pervasive rumors about Koreans and Kim Chi are completely credible. Kim Chi is more of a food staple than rice.

2- Korean folk are extremely kind and generous, especially if you respect their social norms (which predominantly involve group oriented behavior and adding the correct ending to a sentence to show respect for someone's age).

3- Although they have a coin that is worth less than a penny, throwing it away in repugnance makes observation #2 null. I never did, but it was a prevalent joke at orientation in the orient.

4- Korean's seem to really care about their health.

Supporting evidence:

If someone has a cough then that person wears a mask all day and may even be quarantined. At first I thought it was because I was among a large group of foreigners that could be bringing a new sickness from overseas, but then I saw people in my rural town of Goseong wearing masks! Also, every day my temperature is taken before I can enter my school. Contemporary Korean cinema reflects the cultural concern for disease; a major point of horror and suspense in the first Korean film I saw in Korea was a mysterious "virus" (The Host).

At nearly every meal in "traditional" restaurants the server brings antiseptic wet cloths before serving the food. Also, most Korean's are proud to say they eat very healthy food, and from what I have seen most Korean cuisine is very healthy (check out the stats on Kim Chi!). However, there are some outstanding contradictions to this cultural value of health and prevention.

Several public toilets had wastebaskets for toilet paper disposal. Human fecal matter exposed to the open air is pretty bad, but then when I asked about bringing your own toilet paper around some Korean's have said that it's kosher to re-use found toilet paper if there isn't any available in the restroom, thereby rendering the face mask all but useless in preventing the spread of disease. Also, as I walk around Goseong, every so often I sourly wonder if the sewer system is open to the air. I don't mind being asked to take my temperature before coming to school... but I don't really like that they stick a thermometer in my ear that has been used all morning in everyone else's ear. Their swine flu prevention is incredible, but they welcome ear infections. Lastly, because I don't want to sound like too much of a jerk for pointing out contradictions, I've eaten several meals where chicken and pork are brought raw and definitely not always cooked completely. Not the biggest deal... but cause for some concern.

4- Korean's seem to be very pragmatic. It wouldn't necessarily be pleasant to wear a mask around when you have the flu, but I imagine it helps prevent the spread of infectious disease (when combined with other sanitary living conditions). Korean cars have a second rear-view mirror... it is attached to the back window so that the driver can see what is behind the car. There is a need for this kind of control because of the space restrictions; insert cliche statement that is cliche because its so true. Nevertheless, pretty simple, sleek, and safe mirror. I say safe very precariously when it comes to Korean drivers...

5- The EPIK program (English Program in Korea) attracts a widddeee variety of folks from all over the world. More on this later?

If you have questions or demand more observations... please behest.

Explaining myself

Hopefully I can maintain a ready and steady flow of words and I'm a registered alien in Korea (although still awaiting my standard issue probe).