Tuesday 3rd May, 2011

I have been away from my blog for the last week as I've been running around trying to get things sorted out and packed before we head off to Spain tomorrow for a weeks worth of Tapas, Vino, Sol and the beautiful Spanish culture.

Last Tuesday, Tiger, Emma and I went to to Changwon Art Museum, to spend the afternoon checking out Modern Art. There was an exhibition by Korean Artist Kim Young Won and entry only cost us W3,000 (so cheap!!!)

Art Exhibition Banner

Kim Young Won Art Exhibition

On the wall outside the Art Museum

If you've been in enough museums, it's safe to assume you know the rule of 'NO CAMERAS' or 'NO PHOTOS', but rules were meant to be broken eh! so with the following photos, I have given you a sneak peek at what Kim Young Won's exhibition is about.

Naked red bodies..

Human sculpture outside of the Art Museum

Giant Human Sculpture

If museums interest you, I do recommend going during the week as they get very busy on the weekends. In saying that, when we went there was a group kids, but because they are tiny and I am a little taller than them, I was able to get a good view of the art works on display

Sail boat fountain

Emma- Pretty as a Tulip!

My pretty Tulips!

On Saturday night Daniel and Darren wanted to head out, so while Daniel had a quick nap, I stayed up watching the Royal Wedding on Prince William and Kate Middleton. Ahhh her dress was so beautiful and her sister looked just as stunning! I tried waking Daniel up to watch the moment of the much anticipated 'Kiss' with me and he did. He's so cute how he does things for me

We went out to party at around 10pm. Our first stop was at the ultra trendy Lounge Groove Bar in Sang-nam Dong for some cocktails and snacks.The bar was surrounded by neon lights and had a big projector screen that was playing the Victoria Secrets Fashion Show. It started to get crowded as we left and seems to be the place to meet for many young adult Koreans.

Echo Mansion!!!

Us at Echo Mansion

My Muscle Man x

From The Lounge Groove, we headed over to Echo Mansion, a very popular rave club. I have been here once before for Darren's birthday but in all honesty I don't remember much of it. That's how good that night was. Tonight however, I was being good and wasn't drinking too much, so I called it a night at 1.30am. Daniel and Darren stayed out partying the night away.

Posers

Stylin' Darren

getting cheeky!!!

Nurse attending to Darren

The boys wasted

Daniel didn't come home till about 4am. It was a very lazy Sunday for us both, as he was recovering and I started to pack up our hotel as we leave for Spain later in the week. As I was looking through a few Korean websites, I came across this very informative one called Koreabridge.net. It's a very useful site for foreigners as it gives you advice and information about living life in Korea, such as recommended bars and restaurants, job classifieds, tourist destinations and everything you need to know about the Korean culture and customs. I thought I'd become a member and soon enough I had my new login details. A few minutes later, I received an email from Jeff, who runs the Koreabridge.net website, telling me how he loved my blog and if he could have it re-blogged onto the Koreabridge site. I was so surprised, but so excited!!! I was reaching a bigger audience with my crazy travel adventures. I immediately replied back to him telling him what great news that was and was happy to have my blog published. Full of excitement, I jumped on the bed, waking up Daniel to tell him how awesome this was. It felt good to know that people really enjoy what I write and want to follow me and my time overseas.

Yesterday, Tiger, Emma and I went to the Lotte and Emart to do some grocery shopping. When I came back home, I turned on the TV and Osama Bin Laden's face was on the screen. He had been killed by American troops and the whole nation was celebrating this victory. To think that 9/11 happened 10 years ago and the thousands of people that have been affected is quite disturbing. If you have ever been to the Ground Zero site in New York City, you soon realise the immense terror the moment that the Twin Towers were attacked had on the country and the world. That day changed the way we travel. It has made us paranoid, has risen security levels and has made everyone suspicious of eachother. But we can't let that destroy who we are or how we want to live our lives. One of the things we must do, is continue going forward and doing those things that make us happy, as we can't let others instill fear in us.

This morning, I went to the Post Office to mail 4 boxes back home to Australia. During my time here, I have bought so many items of clothings and decorations and other cutesy things, that it would be near impossible to take it all back home with me, so posting it is the smarter and cheaper way to go about it. I had Mr Lee from the hotel come with me and he is not the best translator. In fact, having him there proved to be pretty useless. Anyway, after 40 minutes of trying to understand what was going on, it turned out one box was over by 1kg would you believe it, so I would have to take afew items out. I ended up posting the 3 other boxes and brought the bigger box back with me to re-pack it.

The big box was just full of winter clothing, so I took a few items out, re-taped it and the girl from reception is going to take me back to the post office at 5pm so we can sent it off today. Hopefully the boxes will reach Australia in a smooth and secure manner and when I unpack them, it'll be like a very big, early Christmas for me! hahahaaa.

I went over to Tiger's place to drop off some of my medication which I won't be taking with me, but needs to be refrigerated. We were going to then go see the Changwon House, which is a traditional Korean House, not too far from my hotel, but instead we decided to stay at her house and she cooked us a very delicious noodle and vegetable soup. It was so good to have a home cooked meal. How I miss them. We will go visit the Changwon House when I'm back in a week's time.

Right now I am in my hotel room, typing and thinking about the things I need to do before we leave tomorrow. I have organised and confirmed our taxi pick up tomorrow to take us to the airport. I have our luggage bags packed and our hotel room is ALMOST packed up. There's just a few things left over, like toiletries and food, which I can put away tomorrow morning.

I am so excited about Spain right now, I feel like having a little jumping around session. From Busan, we will fly into Narita, Japan and after a two hour wait, will then board our 12 hour flight in Frankfurt, Germany. From there, we will get our connecting flight to Madrid. It's going to be a long flight, but I know it will be ohhh sooooo worth it!!!

x

Art Museums, Clubbing and World Events- All in a week!!! remains copyright of the author Two Otters, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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day two in boseong, we found what we were looking for at boseong’s green tea theme park, where they are so dedicated to their namesake that they don’t even sell plain water — it’s all infused with green tea. we climbed the mountain and tried to find interesting ways to capture the scene.

the trail leading up to the park.

we thought these steps to the bamboo forest were killer until we saw the trail up the green tea mountain.

i didn’t know bamboo got this big.

on our way up the mountain.

why can’t all agricultural endeavors also double as enormous public art works a la the spiral jetty?


after a while, it got to feeling like the whole thing could just swallow you up if you didn’t watch your step.

seriously, jeju-do as a contender for the modern 7 wonders of the world when you’ve got this?

…ing (아이엔지)  is a 2003 film about the life of young girl who has become defensive and apathetic to the world as a result of her chronic illness and deformed hand. The film quietly portrays the unconventional, yet heart-warming relationship between mother and daughter Min-ah (Im Su-jeong) and Mi-sook (Lee Mi-Sook) as well as the development of Min-ah as she is begrudgingly befriends the high spirited and carefree photographer Young-jae (Kim Rae-won) who moves into their apartment complex.

Chris in South Korea note: this is a guest post from Chris D., whose biography is part of the story. Since we happen to share the same first name, please kindly address your comments to Chris D. (the author of this guest post), or Chris B. (yours truly) to avoid confusion. A post written by myself on the same topic is scheduled for later today.

This piece is about the oft discussed and hotly debated issue of ATEK. My goal here is to discuss one issue that is often left by the wayside in the stampede that is nearly always generated by any discussion on ATEK. That issue, in clear language is: What do Foreign English Teachers in Korea need?

A bit about myself before diving into this shark tank of a debate…

I worked in Korea from 1997 to 2008. I married a Korean woman in 1998 and that meant I moved from an E2 visa to a F-series visa a few years after our marriage. I have been an observer of ATEK since it was just an idea being debated online by one of its eventual founders. I also contributed to the ATEK debate on the now gone Hub of Sparkle site. I wrote the undediced position piece in that debate. I also commented on this issue on several blogs and on Daves ESL.I had my reservations when it came to ATEK from the beginning but always thought NETs did need something to help them in Korea. Now, after nearly 3 years and so many controversies that I lost track, ATEK seems to be very near to being a toxic brand when it comes to NETs and what they need.

I will not go into a detailed history of ATEK as that has been done many times and most recently on 3WM as well as on Roboseyo’s blog. The broad lines are that ATEK started out with too many goals and jumped into arenas it had no business jumping into (advocacy) as it had no mandate to do what it did initially. The association in trying to be everything to everyone became nothing to nearly no one. A quick glance at what ATEK has claimed or tried to be in its short 3 years is confusing, startling, depressing and shocking.

Now, what do FETs need?

Foreign English Teachers in Korea need INFORMATION and a CENTRAL place to get that information. Just doing this would be a huge boon for new teachers and experienced teachers alike. I would say that FETs also need a chance to network with others if they want to and that a centralized information network would achieve this. This centralized network could also link with other established organisations to further centralize information. That type of organisation would be well suited to being run by volunteers who donate their time on a part-time basis. It would not required a heavy organisational structure, a substantial budget or a heavy bureaucratic structure.

Going beyond that was ATEK’s first and it now appears most critical mistake. ATEK started off by challenging Korean government on a human rights issue and claimed to represent all foreign teachers when they in fact represented no one. Over their short history they have claimed to want to represent foreign teachers, defend their rights help then, offer them professional development, assist teachers in need and so on. This brief recapitulation shows an organisation that wants to be far bigger than it can be. A look at ATEK’s structure shows a myriad of officers, heavy bylaws, duplicated bureacratic positions and a list of initiatives and goals that are quite substantial for an organisation that currently has 1200-1400 members.

My position from the beginning on this has been that to achieve even half of the goals stated by ATEK, it would need a substantial budget, full time paid staff with a vast array of expertise and qualifications. This seems highly improbable considering that it is currently staffed mostly by teachers who donate their time.

Lets go back to what I said earlier, teachers need INFORMATION and a central place to get it. An association or organisation that tries to be more than that too fast will hit a very stiff wall. This will happen for one very evident reason: the make up of the foreign teaching community in Korea. This is another issue that is also left by the side of the road in the ATEK debates.

This basically boils down to the following: the foreign teaching population in Korea is TRANSIENT in nature and made up in majority of younger new graduates. This of course is the result of how Korea selects teachers and is not a slam on these teachers. They have a job opportunity and they take it. It does however have profound meaning for what an organisation for teachers should be doing.

Furthermore, in my experience, most foreign teachers come to Korea for the following reasons (in no particular order):

1- To travel

2- To experience a new culture

3- To pay off student loans

4- To experience a new culture

5- Because they cannot find satisfying employment at home

Note the absence of wanting to teach. Again, this is not a slam on foreign teachers, people can go to Korea for their own reasons. This does have implications for what an organisation should be doing if it wishes to help foreign teachers in Korea.

Finally, the vast majority of foreign teachers stay in Korea 1-3 years (with the bulk staying 2 years or less).

Considering all this, why would they invest themselves in an organisation that wants to challenge the Korean government on human rights issues and that sounds more like a union than anything else?

When that is considered, ask yourself whom does ATEK represent? It seems to represent itself and the interests of its officers.

So again, if foreign teachers need information and a central network and are a transient mostly short term community, what sense does it make to create an association with a heavy bureacratic structure, complex bylaws and a list of goals that would make the UN human rights commission blush?

Considering all the controversy ATEK has generated and gone through since its launch, it seems to me that the ATEK brand has become toxic and will corrupt and pollute whatever it gets involved with when it comes to foreign teachers in Korea.

The time has come for that association to disband, for its leadership to leave and for something new and far more on scale with what teachers need to be created.

I offer up AFEK as an example of a smart, lean and efficient organisation that can be mirrored.

AFEK has a simple website, a light structure and has quickly become a superb source of centralized information for F-series visa holders. It does not dive into advocacy issues, make loud statements, have a nearly interminable list of officers and bylaws. It just works.

This is PRECISELY what Foreign Teachers need!

Once ATEK has been put out of its misery, a new organisation could be put together. that organisation would need a simple intuitive website that teachers could easily access (ALL TEACHERS not just members). This could serve as a centralized information network. This site would have information, and linkage with other organisations that can provide services to teachers (ex: KOTESOL).

It would not need a heavy bureaucracy, a heavy budget, or many full-time workers. It could be run by teachers who donate their time. I would also look at galbijim’s site for examples of things that work.

This new organisation would be lean, flexible and efficient and would attract far more teachers that a formal association with rigid rules. In doing so, it would also generate a lot more buy in from even short term teachers and could become a very effective networking nexus for teachers.

Why can’t ATEK do this?

Its past (recent and distant) has shown that it is unable or unwilling to limit itself to that mandate. Its structure shows a tendency for resume padding through many impressive sounding yet action light officer positions. Its dismally low membership numbers and its byzantine rules for access cut it off from most teachers. Finally, the near constant bickering between its leadership, the numerous dropped initiatives, the mind bogglingly high turnover rate in personenl and the farce that elections have been over the years (often 1 candidate for one open position and as few as 10 votes to get elected). All of these things have rendered ATEK a toxic name.

Its time to do something else.

Chris in South Korea again – comments are open, play nice, and let’s focus on the future.

© Chris Backe – 2011
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