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Important visa / immigration news

UPDATED 25 July 2010 with additional information regarding background checks for Americans.

I have Stafford Lumsden at the Chosun Bimbo to thank for making these changes known, and to Matt at Gusts of Popular Feeling for his research into the subject.

Some important news regarding E-2 visa holders is coming out - and this time, it's about as official as things can be. The original announcement can be found at hikorea.go.kr, although the Chosun Bimbo has already gone through and vetted the changes.

First, the good news:

  • Stafford says it best: "If you stay less than 3 months outside of Korea between visas you do not have to submit a Criminal background check again." This seems too good to be true, and might be cut back to a shorter time frame in the future. For the time being, this means you can visit another country or go home without needing to get another expensive piece of paper.
  • Effective September 1, 2010: Immigration will no longer require sealed transcripts! Since getting them from schools can be both slow and costly, that's one big issue that can be put in the past.
  • Effective September 1, 2010: You'll no longer have to submit your original diploma with every new English teaching visa (E-2) application. There's a caveat here (read the bad news).
  • Effective July 15, 2010: You'll no longer need an HIV/AIDS test to satisfy Immigration. This comes as a result of a Constitutional Court decision last year, although I can't find a link to the decision off-hand. It's not mentioned on their website, though as of this posting the most recent decision is from February. Stafford notes that local boards of education may still require one, though I'd personally be interested in learning the legal basis for the tests - especially if Immigration no longer requires it and a Constitutional Court decision has declared it unacceptable.
  • E-2 visas are now good for 13 months - your 12-month contract plus an extra month to either pack up or look for a new job.

Of course, there's also some bad news as well:

  • You'll still take a TBPE test for narcotics - and now you'll also take a test for pot. Fine by me - I've never touched the stuff. What concerns me would be the rare false positive from eating poppy seeds (for what it's worth, Mythbusters did confirm it). That only certain hospitals that have a "perfect system" may add to the compliance burden is an issue as well, though it may make things a bit more efficient (they know how to get it done since they do it more often).
  • Starting January 1, 2011: your criminal background check will need to be a national check - not just the sort you can get at your local police station. The problem here is that these things take some serious time to get. If you come from countries that have no local-level reports (e.g. New Zealand), nothing will change for you. Americans, this means a background check from the FBI. For more information about that, check out http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm (hat tip to Footprints Recruiting). Bear in mind that this thing can take three months to receive - apply well in advance of when you need it. Until 1/1/11, the criminal background checks you have been getting are fine.
  • Starting September 1, 2010: Your college / university diploma needs an apostille from your home country. In case it's been awhile, the apostille is the internationally accepted certification that certifies everything else is correct. It's what you may have mailed off to the Secretary of State of your state in the US. If you're already in Korea, you can receive a verification from the Korean Council for University Education. As Stafford noted, however, it doesn't appear that Immigration and the KCUE are on the same page as of this posting. Once that information has been verified, you won't need to submit it every following time.

In short, a few headaches go away and a few more are potentially created. Welcome to life as a teacher in Korea.


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Creative Commons License © Chris Backe - 2010

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.


 

The Korean and the foreigner

Living in a foreign country as an expat there are certain customs that one is expected to adhere to. However the same society that invites them to help better their country and community must offer a certain level of hospitality.

Korea is no different, being an English teacher means you being involved in a trillion Won industry (billion US dollars). Private English hagwons (institutions) are constantly popping up inviting freshly graduated people to teach the next generation of Koreans.

Korea is a reserved and respectable culture with status and age playing a big part in the social hierarchy. Depending on your role in society also plays a pivotal role in social interactions, having a business card showing your job title can influence how one is expected to act with another.

Working as an English teacher was seen as a high status job. Today the teaching role has been somewhat darkened by private academies competing with each other at the cost of the teacher and also the students. Many hagwons base the hiring on looks rather than ability, an attribute that does not bode well with the western counterparts. They require for all teachers to have a degree, although the field does not always matter. An oddity with some advertisements is that they ask for ‘no experience is necessary’, which is strange as employers are potentially entrusting the shaping of future generations to a 21 year old Physical Education graduate. What this creates is a large influx in recently graduated expats being paid a fair amount of money with little responsibility.

Different motivations bring people to Korea; money, experience, travel, whatever the reason being an expat, comes with the capacity of being an ambassador for your country and showing some respect for your host country.

Of course there are always people who do not follow these unwritten rules.

Time and money can breed a destructive force and when mixed with alcohol can cause problems if you are unable to control or fully understand the surroundings. Witnessing a drunk abusive expat is embarrassing for them and for others. While some people strive for individuality through the judgemental eyes of some Koreans, expats are one and the same.

Hate groups have been made and the LA times recently wrote an article of a group wanting to purify Korea by removing expats.

As with every nation there is a small group of nationalists, some more dominant than others. It is when the general public have reason to agree with their ideals, through curiosity or fear that problems begin to happen. The majority of expats come from a more richly diverse and cosmopolitan culture and now they are thrown into an ethnic minority.

Some Koreans are unaware of some ‘social bloopers’ which an expat would find offensive. Queuing in a western country, is seen as a way to promote organisation, order and a form of democracy. However you will find that some Koreans are not aware that people around them are waiting and eager to get what they want will immediately go to the front of the queue and order. Being the first to wait for the next bus does not automatically mean you will be the first in the queue, you have to fight for the right to get onto the bus and this means being competitive. Holding the door open for people with a smile brings very little acknowledgement and at times nothing more than a murmur. Being talked about in front of you and being stared at are also common occurrences for the expat.

As the minority we are constantly under the microscope and will always be stereotyped. For some, living in Korea you have to be thick skinned to get through the day.

There is a change taking place though, with this generation of Koreans, native English speakers are educating them on both a conscious and sub-conscious level on the understanding of a western culture. While we are not talking about taking away Korea’s individuality as a nation, a greater understanding of life outside of it’s borders is needed.


© John Brownlie 2010


today’s lesson: diversity

shawn: “teacher, why nose so big?”

i had to stop myself from saying, “’cause i’m jewish, kiddo!” or better yet, the punchline to the worst joke about jews i have ever heard: “’cause air is FREE!” talk about a can of worms…

then there’s justin, the only black teacher at my school. he’s greeted by refrains of “teacher, why are you brown?” how endearingly unselfaware five-year-olds are…


 

Korean Sociological Image #45: Modernizing Traditional Korean Clothes

( Source )

For all my love of Korean culture, I’ve never really understood the appeal of modern hanbok (한복).

Primarily, because of their impracticality: after performing the ancestor worship rites known as cha-ryae (차례) in mine at my parents-in-laws’ house on various Korean holidays for instance, I find it very difficult to eat the traditional breakfasts that follow with such baggy sleeves getting in the way, especially at the low tables that most Koreans use. It also has no pockets, no zipper, and can get uncomfortably hot very easily, especially during Chuseok (추석) when the weather can still be quite warm. And my wife has similar problems with hers too, adding that women also seem to find their slightly more elaborate version more uncomfortable than men do theirs.

For those reasons, I fully expected the Wikipedia article on hanbok to mention that despite popular perceptions, only the small elite known as the yangban (양반) ever really wore them historically, who were notorious for being resolutely opposed to performing anything that smacked of physical labor. Was Koreans’ pride in their “national dress” a little misplaced then, and just another invented tradition like the kilt in Scotland?

Alas, it doesn’t say, although it does seem reasonable to suppose that practical considerations were undoubtedly more important for the bulk of the population. But what the article does demonstrate though, is that the hanbok has as rich and varied a history as, say, the Western suit (it was naive of me to be surprised at that), and the frequent changes in the various forms and usages of the garment over time indicate that its role as a signifier of class, status, and occupation was much more complicated than I first thought.

Still, I can’t think of a more unflattering garment for women.

No, I’m not so unsophisticated as to think that women can only be attractive in clothes that are form-fitting and/or show some skin. But then from the neck down, the hanbok is almost like a burqa in that it’s impossible to tell if there’s a man or woman under it, and I certainly can’t imagine anyone ever describing as a woman as sexy in it, nor a woman feeling so in one. See for yourself at Flickr, or in the hanbok sections of recent Miss Korea pageants in the two videos below:

Of course, possibly I’m being too harsh, and by all means feel free to disagree with me: these two bloggers here and here certainly do for instance. But regardless, hopefully now at least you can understand why I did a double-take when I saw the following new hanbok designs last week:

( Source )

Unfortunately, the only information about them are in advertorials direct from the company that makes them (see here, here, here, and here) , and rather clumsily-written ones at that, but at least they do explain a little about the logic to the new designs. Here’s my rough translation of the first of them, which incidentally also has the best quality version of the image on the left(!):

아찔한 초미니 한복 / Giddy Ultra-miniskirt Hanbok 2010-07-07 12:09

한국의 아름다움을 오롯이 담고 있는 우리의 옷, 한복. 복을 부르고 화를 쫒는다는 뜻을 담고 있는 한복은, 인생의 중요한 순간마다 반드시 갖춰 입어야 하는 우리 생활의 일부이자 소중한 문화유산이다.

The hanbok is the item of clothing that completely and harmoniously shows Korea’s beauty. It has the meaning of bringing good luck and dispelling anger, and at every important event in your life you should wear this vital part of our cultural inheritance.

한복을 아름답게 입기 위해서는 속적삼과 속치마는 물론이고 긴 치마와 저고리까지 제대로 갖춰야 하지만, 시대가 변하고 젊은 층의 안목도 새로워지면서 한복은 어느새 고리타분하고 촌스러운 옷으로 전락하는 듯 했다. 그러나 명품 한복 브랜드들을 위시해 전통한복을 계승하고 퓨전한복과 한복 드레스를 내놓으며 젊은 층은 물론이고 나아가 세계인의 시선까지 사로잡는 상품을 개발함으로서, 한복은 다시금 아름다운 우리의 옷으로 발돋움하고 있다.

In order to beautifully wear the hanbok, of course you need to the undershirt, petticoat, long skirt, and top and to properly wear them, but as times change the hanbok is become old-fashioned and rustic in young people’s eyes.  However, the hanbok is currently taking a big step in becoming all Koreans’ beautiful clothing again by the entrance on the market of a new brand which has developed a fusion style of traditional hanbok and long skirts that will appeal to everyone from the young generation to globalized people.

( Source )

한복 알리기와 보급에 주력해 온 명품 브랜드 <안근배 한복 대여> 역시 초미니 한복 드레스와 퓨전 한복 등, 차별화된 디자인과 소재 개발로 고객들의 다양한 요구를 충족시키고 있다. 최근 2010/2011 신상품 70여개를 출시한 <안근배 한복 대여>는 높은 퀄리티의 전통 한복뿐만 아니라 파격적인 초미니 한복 드레스와 퓨전 한복등을 선보이며 화제를 모으는 한편, 우리 고유의 멋을 계승하며 신세대 고객들의 입맛까지 사로잡았다는 평가를 받고 있다. 특히 <안근배 한복 대여>는 전통 한복의 아름다움은 그대로 살리면서도, 더운 여름철에 쾌적하게 한복을 입고 싶어 하는 고객의 구미에 맞는 상품을 전략적으로 출시해 눈길을 끌었다.

Angunbae Hanbok Rentals (AHR) is a company that has concentrated on supplying and letting people know about this new style of hanbok, and in addition to having one fusion type with and ultra-short miniskirt, is differentiating its designs and materials in order to satisfy the varied demands and requirements of customers. Recently, AHR has launched 70 new designs for the 2010/2011 season, and these have been attracting lots of attention not just for their high quality traditional forms but also their fusion with unconventional ultra-short miniskirts, and have been gaining a lot of praise for their coolness that satisfies customers’ modern tastes. In particular, AHR has been noticed for strategically providing customers with hanbok that, while showing off the garments’ traditional beauty, are also a comfortable choice for their summer tastes.

<안근배 한복 대여>는 초미니 한복뿐만 아니라 전통 한복과 한복 드레스 등 다양한 상품으로 인기몰이중이며, 업계 1위의 브랜드답게 전문화된 콜센터 운영과 홈페이지 운영으로 고객들을 만족시키고 있다. 특히 공식홈페이지 www.hanbokrent.kr에서는 7월 한 달 간 진행되는 신랑 신부 커플 한복 20% 할인 행사 안내와 다양한 신상품들을 확인할 수 있다.

AHR doesn’t just provide hanbok with ultra-short mini-skirts, but is also popular for its traditional hanbok and hanbok dresses and so on, and provides a wide variety of products to rent; as the top brand in the business, it operates a call center staffed by experts and a homepage to make sure to fully satisfy customers’ needs. And please note: any couples about to get married, visit www.hanbokrent.kr to get a 20% discount on couple hanbok and/or a variety of new products.

( Sources: left, right )

Is 300,000 won reasonable to rent the first ones? Regardless, see many more examples at the “Fusion” section of AHR’s website, and I’m all for changes to any popular item of clothing that make it more comfortable, cooler to wear in the summer, and a little sexier and more elegant too.

But this post wasn’t intended to be only about hanbok. In fact, the humble podaegi (포대기), or traditional Korean baby sling, may ultimately be much more interesting:

( Source )

Quite simple to put on once you get the knack, it’s very easy to see why Korean mothers would use these while working in fields, or even just the kitchen (scroll down here a little for a picture). Hell, if I had to carry a baby for hours while doing manual labor, then I’d probably choose something that comfortable and tight too, and so I wasn’t surprised to hear from my father’s Nigerian colleagues that my wife’s was just like Nigerian ones, where they’re called (naturally enough) “wrappers”, and the act of wearing one “backing” (thanks to reader eccentricyoruba for the terms).

Still, note that the shoulder straps are a recent adaptation carried over from Western baby harnesses (no pun intended), and there weren’t many versions with them available in 2006 when my first daughter was born; wearing a version like this without them then, my wife’s back got tired quickly, and she speculates that perhaps that would have been less of a problem had she been bending over in a field in it like her mother and grandmother did (she eventually got a Western-style baby harness). Also, as you can imagine they can get extremely hot in the summer, which is why these modern mesh types are now available (and I’m sure ones with shoulder-straps are available too):

( Source )
( Source )

Clearly then, podaegi manufacturers are also quite capable of adapting their products to modern tastes. But still, one big, possibly insurmountable problem with them remains.

Men usually refuse to wear them.

( Source: unknown )

At this point, I should probably mention that I don’t wear anything to carry either of my 2 daughters myself: when Alice was born in June 2006, I was working long hours and my wife became a housewife, so it was only natural that she carry her while I carried groceries and so on; when Elizabeth was born in August 2008, my wife carried her whereas I had Alice to walk with me, chase after, and/or only briefly carry when crossing roads. Sometimes I wish I had used a Western style baby carrier though: both daughters refuse to sleep or be carried in my left arm, often crying until I put them in my right one, and I’m sure that I now have a slightly crooked spine as a result.

Still, of course I did wear my wife’s poedagi at home sometimes, especially when she was out and I had to put them to sleep in the way that they were used to. But in public? Never, for I think I’m safe in assuming that the vast majority of Koreans consider the podaegi as inappropriate on a men as a bra, and which is why you’ll only ever see pictures of them in podaegi if they’re posed in comical situations like the above.

Western-style harnesses however, you’ll see plenty of Korean men wearing them, which leads me to a question I’d like to throw open to readers: are podaegi then, in a sense an impediment to changing people’s beliefs that childcare is only a women’s job?

Yes, of course popular perceptions of clothes and senses of appropriate fashions are constantly changing, and of course there are also a myriad of reasons why Korea has the highest number of housewives in the OECD that are compltely unrelated to clothing. But recall that throughout our daily lives,  we are in fact constantly bombarded with subtle messages that reinforce the notion that parenting is women’s job, so it  doesn’t seem unreasonable to suppose that this may also have an impact.

Alternatively, look at it this way: if you were a woman expecting a baby soon, which style would you buy if you wanted your male partner to take equal responsibility for carrying the baby after it arrived?^^

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Filed under: Body Image, Childcare, Gender Roles, Gender Socialization, Korean Children and Teenagers, Korean Families, Korean Fashion, Korean History Tagged: Hanbok, 포대기, 한복, podaegi
  

 

The Spaz Goes for Run...

...And didn't die or get hurt!

In the past year and a half I have sprained either or both ankles 3 times. For the first time in my life I have been seriously out of shape and it was really starting to bother me. I'm never overweight but not having real muscles is so weird. Yesterday I was uber productive. I came home from school, got my books, met the Partial Asian for dinner, studied for 2 hours and then went for a run.

It was slightly pathetic. To be fair, I was doing loops at the base of the mountain, so lots of up and down but still. There was much panting involved. I also managed to startle the crap out of one of my students when she was out walking with her mother.

The weird thing is, I usually hate running. I have almost never voluntarily chosen it for exercise.  Usually, I find plain running boring and painful, even when I'm actually in shape. It's just that for weeks I've been having dreams where I'm running. Not how running in my dreams usually goes when I'm being chased by something menacing but  just running for the sake of it and feeling incredible. It wasn't as effortless as my dream but it still felt really good.

Things to know about running in Korea:
-Most people don't run in the streets. They go to parks or down by the river to run if they do so at all. Be prepared for staring...but it's not too bad since you pass them fairly quickly. 
-Try to avoid the clouds of gas when they spray for mosquitoes. It makes your lungs feel pretty awful.
-Watch out for the stumbling drunks near restaurants.

Bets for how many times I go for a run before I hurt myself?

American Business Turns Sour on China

James Mann punctures the inevitable “truthiness” of the freer trade position with a report on how “Corporate America Turns Against China”.

American and European companies have vied for centuries, through all of China’s upheavals, to dominate what used to be called “the China market.” Now, increasingly, China wants to keep that market for itself.

It opened up to foreign companies in the 1980s and 1990s not because it believed in free trade or because it thought the visitors were wise and wonderful, but rather because it wanted their technology and know-how. But China no longer needs the multinational companies as it once did. The Chinese government has proved ever more adept at running an industrial policy that privileges its own companies, many of them state-owned.

In turn, the disenchantment of the Western business community colors the larger political and diplomatic landscape. In the past, corporate executives would lobby their presidents or prime ministers for an improved relationship with Beijing, one, needless to add, that would open the way for more investment and trade. That was the world Bill Clinton faced in the 1990s. But today, CEOs descend upon Washington or European capitals to ask their presidents or prime ministers to adopt a tougher stance with Beijing in commercial disputes.

just converted to the free trade gospel! Don’t get me wrong, the case for free trade is a slam dunk. But, anyone who thinks politics doesn’t trump theory in the real world courts an early cardiac. Free trade was good for business once – in the long run, it’s always good – but not now for the rent-hungry, lobby-deploying anemic breed the US is enduring now. Maybe, though, the whining titan-ettes of industry should take their game to Bangladesh!

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Filed under: Business/Economy, East Asia, Europe, Politics, USA Tagged: china, free trade, james mann, matthew yglesias, prc, tnr

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