Teach English in Korean Countryside?

Apparently the Korean administration has plans to offer foreign teachers the opportunity to teach English in the rural parts of Korea. The Korea Times article Recruitment Starts for English Teachers for Rural Areas mentions the new program TaLK.

This looks as if it is a government scholarship program and is executed in a different manner than how private schools hire teachers.

After reading through the article my impression is that this program is meant to implement a greater impact of English in the rural areas of Korea, due to that most English-expat Teachers prefer to teach near modern society (i.e. Seoul). Since teaching in rural areas is an unpopular choice for some, it seems they have made the benefits of the job the major selling point.

• You teach after school classes. Working hours are Monday to Friday (5 days a week/ 3 hours per day) and are not required to work on Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays of the Republic of Korea. Wow! Hmmm now giving up a flushing toilet is starting to sound more plausible.


• Not only do you work just 3hrs a day but you still get paid for it. 1.5 Won per month or about $1400 USD. On top of which you get housing allowance and a free plane ride.


• Extras like 'Korean Government Scholarship' certificate will be presented to each participant. Fancy paperwork that you can pin up inside your free-rent shack

But seriously people I don't know what rural Korea looks like. From the Korean Dramas and Movies I have seen I am sure it offers beautiful scenery and that back-to-nature goodness.

I think that if I had a choice for this program while I was searching for schools to teach in Korea, I would have hesitated at the opportunity. Mostly because I need to be near modern hospitals that supply my modern medicine. Therefore, visiting the Korean countryside will be more of my way of getting a taste of rural South Korea.

Hair cut + beach

Saturday was spent getting a hair cut and venturing off to the beach.
Hi! I am a new women! Just kidding.

And on to the beach. We had a heat wave here in SF so why not take advantage of it and go to the beach?
:)

quickie

After reading a lot of Korean expat blogs today....I feel like I can't wait to be there and experience it all!

I think I am going to have a lot of fun. Especially when Bo Kwan comes in July and he can show me so many things and explain to me what it all means!

;)

The End is Near!

Yo!

Perhaps this will be a frequent series on this blog. Because lately and I don't know if you have noticed, there have been a lot of news about how this and that is going to become instinct or scarce.

Take for example today's news on the BBC News. Rice is becoming a precious commodity along with wheat and soy. Take a moment to think about what is in your pantry. Maybe you don't have a sack of rice sitting in there but I bet a lot of the products that are sitting on your shelves have ingredients that include: wheat, soy or rice. I for one am guilty of this too. But really we are not to blame for buying such products. The finger should be pointed towards what is happening to our world's food supply on the global scale.

For example, the BBC article states:

"Land for producing rice and irrigation water is being lost to industrialisation and urbanisation. "

"The growing appetite among Asia's burgeoning urban middle class, especially in India and China, for meat and dairy products is also leading to less land for rice production."

"Factors such as the flooding in Indonesia and Bangladesh and recent cold weather in Vietnam and China have also hurt production, it said. "

Hmmmmmm

When I come upon articles like these I can't help but see that image of the old man holding a sign on the street that says "The End is Near!" If you are an Evangelist than maybe this is good news for you. But really what am I to do about the running out of our precious food resources? Should I buy less? Should I buy from only companies that support its communities in its Asian Countries? Heck, will this mean that when I go to Korea and need to buy a sack of rice it is going to cost me $$$? Not that a sack of rice is cheap here...maybe $12-$18 for a 10lb bag. (I don't know really).

Here's my opinion:

Humans are a species that knows how to survive. Heck we are surviving in the face of AIDS and the Bird Virus. (well not everyone, I guess). But in essence no matter how much we f***k up the planet we will learn and adapt so that in the end we can keep on having babies and investing in stock.

Seriously it isn't the planet we should be considering saving it should be ourselves. Look I know this sounds cynical. But sometimes that is the kind of mood I get in when I start hear about all this. Especially living in the Bay Area you can't help but be thwarted by the onslaught of "Save-this" "stop-that". Of course, I also feel it is important to stop buying a ton of plastic products that are just thrown away. I guess it is the part where these do-gooders tell me I am a wrong-doer for buying my food at Safeway and not Whole Foods.

Okay, okay...

(Deep breath). Enjoy your rice tonight or tomorrow because eventually someone down the line is going to look back at this time period and think "Ah those 21st Century people didn't know what was coming."

And now your moment of Zen:

*Love me*

Getting the Job (Part 3 - Choose your country -Examine Korea)

Let's Examine Korea!

First let me recap: China and Japan were both great contenders as a choice for teaching English abroad. Each unique with their own culture and benefits for foreigners. However, China was shot down because of its poor attitudes towards environmental cleanliness and Japan was given the thumbs down due to its level of competitiveness. Also I feel that because most foreigners go to Japan as their top choice, I kind of wanted to be different and go to Korea.

When did I first discover Korea?

It would seem that during my public education days before college I did not pay attention enough to understand that there are more Asian countries out there besides China and Japan. Of course I knew about Korea but the country, at that time, never really struck me as a place to think twice about. My general knowledge of Korea was based upon the news presented to me about the conflict with North Korea. How it is part of the "Axis of Evil" and so on and so forth.

But then came high school graduation and maturation into adulthood. During which time, I made a Korean friend online via Yahoo Chat. Because of the time difference I would be up at 1am chatting with this guy. Because of him I began to acknowledge the country of Korea, its pop culture and cuisine. Do you remember Mom when we went to that Korean place in Sacramento?

Since that time 5 years have passed and in between my knowledge of Korea matured more and more. During my last college years at SFSU I took courses in Asian Art History. One of which was Korean Art History.

I won't go into an art lesson here but basically sum up that when compared to China and Japan Korea is distinctive in their traditions in pottery and Buddhist statues.

The way to think about this is that Korea was kind of in the middle of the path of the Silk Road . By middle I mean the middle between China and Japan. Therefore, and it is evident in their artworks, Korea was influenced by China. Whether or not influence bounced back from Japan is uncertain. Yet, Japanese art during that period does reference Korean art.

OK! OK! I promised not to give an art lesson I guess I couldn't help myself.

It is evident that I became very much interested in Korean art and its people and culture.

Let's consider that the art and culture of Korea are the underlying factors that made me desire to go live in the country.

However the real reasons I have chosen Korea are mostly for its wealth of better living conditions.

Examination:

1. Location: Seoul offers a plethora of hospitals. One of which is Yang hospital that specializes in internal medicine (i.e. bowl disease.). Their infrastructure is very modern and includes speedy bus service (as confirmed by Bo Kwan). There is a large expat community.


2. Salary: This, as I found out, varies depending on what age you want to teach and what hours you are willing to commit to. For example, teaching adults and working from 4pm to 10pm will earn a salary of about $2400 USD a month. Teaching youngsters from 9am to 7pm will earn a salary of $2000 USD a month. So it just depends upon what kind of daily work life you are willing to commit to.


3. Benefits: Free airfare, free housing, partial health care, pension and one month salary compensation after working a whole year. To me that is more than just getting the icing on the cake!

There you have it folks! I am going to Korea because I am enthralled with their culture and in love with their benefits.

But maybe the real reason I am going to Korea is because of one person. Who...oh who could that be?

Thanks for reading my series!

Olympic impressions

Update here on the buzz of the Olympic Torch.

I didn't go out and see it all for myself but I have to say the whole thing is quite impressive. I did see a bit of it from the office window. For those who don't know my office is on Sansome and Jackson street. My building is right in front of the Pyramid building. I believe when at the time when the route was drastically altered there were a large amount of protestors disoriented. At that time they spread out amongst the streets. I saw a large group of protestors go down Jackson street. Some went left and others went right. But it seemed most were lost.

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of my own of this event. The ones posted here are taken from SF Chronicle online. As we all know there were a lot of protestors. I have been watching it Live on CNN without audio in my cubicle.

Yes, a big part of me wishes I were out there capturing it all. I will try not to fail on the next big event.





*Joy