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Learn English with an Indian accent?

I have nothing against the Indian people. Seriously - they work incredibly hard for a fraction of what the rest of the world gets paid. They study harder than virtually anyone on the planet (that includes the Koreans) and have a vibrant history I would love to learn more about. I have had few difficulties conversing with the far-too-few Indians I've had the pleasure of meeting.

But this is a flat world (see Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat for reference), and that means competition. A LOT more competition. That's great if you're a business or a customer - who doesn't like having many different stores to shop at and choices to choose from?

If you're an employee, though, that flat world is probably more threatening to your current job / lifestyle than almost anything out there. Think about it - why would an employer keep someone if they can get the same thing from someone else for cheaper?

The story was first reported in the Joongang Daily, and has been blogged about by Brian in Jeollanam-do and Stafford of the Chosun Bimbo. A few quotes from the Joongang article:

The [Education] ministry will recruit around 100 Indians early next year and if the trial is successful, it could raise the number to 300. The source said there is a high chance that those teachers will be dispatched to regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area where there is a shortage of native English teachers.

So only 300 Indian teachers among 20,000 or so native English teachers already here? The NETs don't have too much to worry about... right?

Korean schools introduced the so-called English Program in Korea project in 1995 for “globalized education” and set the goal of allocating one native English teacher for conversation with students for every class. Currently, there are 7,088 assistant native English teachers employed but they are from seven English-speaking countries - the United States, Australia, Britain, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Their monthly salary ranges between 2 million won ($1,700) and 2.5 million won.

Bear in mind that it's 7,088 teachers just in the public school system. Include native teachers in hagwon or universities and you're easily over 20,000.

On the low end, $1,700 x 12 = $20,400 / year; not precisely the stellar wage one might expect for a teacher. Even including the 'free' apartment (which is often being replaced by a housing allowance that may or may not cover the actual cost of housing), a certified / 'qualified' teacher may do better / have a better standard of living in their home country.

The ministry has spent more than 300 million won a year on hiring and training those teachers but experienced difficulty gaining sufficient “qualified” teachers, given that only 13 percent of them have official teaching certificates.

Finally - a partial definition on what being a 'qualified' teacher actually means - a freakin' piece of paper. This continues to beg the question - if you want teachers with a piece of paper, why haven't you made it part of the job requirement? Then, pay them what they're worth - if we can make the same amount in our home country, there's little reason to pay for a flight over (reimbursement doesn't count if you leave within 6 months and they take it out of your last paycheck), learn a new culture, prove our cleanliness / certifications / qualifications, and otherwise put up with live in a foreign culture.

Another thought: Korea is not hurting for applications anymore - Footprints Recruiting recently sent out an e-mail saying SMOE has already received enough applications for jobs starting in Spring 2010. It's November 2009. You do the math.

Park Jun-eon, a professor of English language and literature at Soongsil University, said competition for jobs will intensify if the Korean government brings in native speakers of English from Asian countries such as India and the Philippines who might better understand Asian cultures.

Hmm - this might be a valid point. The caste system of India would seem similar to the Confucian way in Korea. They would be more used to the food and lifestyle, being from a relatively similar country.

I seriously doubt a majority of native English teachers in Korea will be replaced anytime soon. It continues to look good if a school has a white face in the classroom, and it makes parents happy. But there is a lot more competition than there used to be. The solution? Be the best teacher you can be. Avoid just showing up on time, and just doing your job - there are far more ways of getting involved around a school. When's the last time you made a worksheet or got out of the textbook (assuming you're allowed to do that?) Make it - show it - let your other teachers use it if they like. Act like you care about being there and doing a great job - no matter what your fellow NET's are doing. Be a professional about the job. Be thankful for the job - and if it's a crappy job, get out. No one's holding a gun to your head saying you have to stay here.

If competition has gone up and the bar has been raised, there's only so much we can do about it. We can, however, become indispensable or helpful to the point that no Indian (or any other nationality) can take our job.

—

Oneweirdglobe.com

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On taking the suneung, getting into university, and a modest proposal

Few things in life seem to scare Koreans more than tests. The teenager that can play any number of ultra-violent first-person shooter computer games (complete with 'Headshot!' often coming from the computers' speakers) gets nervous when it comes to a test. But it's far more than just a test.

Although colloquially known as the suneung, it's officially called the Daehak suhak neungnyeok siheom; despite its importance, it's only offered once a year - the third Thursday of November. It's only taken by high school seniors, but other grades may take a 'practice' test on the same day - for those lucky teachers, it might mean a half or full day off. Today is also the high school placement test for third grade middle schoolers (9th grade in the US) to get into high school. As a result, middle school teachers get today off as well in many cases.

Because the suneung plays such an important role in one's adult life, it's prone to the sort to anxiety one might expect from, say, the American SAT, times 50. Parents go out to pray for their kids. The military stops exercises and drills for the day. Companies tell people to come in to work later to reduce traffic jams. 1st and 2nd grade high-schoolers cheer on their seniors in high school. This blogger did an excellent photo essay on the suneung - a sample photo:

We can learn a little through Wikipedia's page on the College Scholastic Ability Test. A high school senior is tested on Korean, Math, English, Social Studies, Science, other Foreign Languages, and 'Vocational Education' - a category that may test you on anything from 'Introduction to Fisheries to Programming'. This thing lasts five periods, and you know it's going to a long day.

There's an interesting Korean belief - what university you attend, what job you get, and where you are at 60 years old is based on this test. While it may not be as accurate anymore, it still plays a huge part in how your life will progress. To attempt a Western analogy, you may have a great life even if you don't go to Harvard or Stanford, but you'd better go to college. While Koreans naturally aim for the SKY schools - Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, much like the 'Ivy Leagues' of the USA - their scores may either assist them in earning a spot or force them to choose a different major.

If you've lived in Korea for any length of time, you're already familiar with the test-taking / cramming culture that provides the predominate mindset. This video gives some more information, but even this 12-minute video can't tell the full story when it comes to getting into university. There's another test to look forward to.

It's called the nonsul - a writing test that the individual university offers. These tests are supposedly neither standard, multiple choice, nor easy to study for. Wikipedia seems to think "no more than 20 high-class universities at most because huge efforts and time are needed to look into the answer sheets and fairly evaluate it." As a result, there's little that can be said about them in general - and since it's much more an unknown, one is typically more insecure about such a test.

That such a system places far too much emphasis on tests has been pointed out for decades - and thus far little has been done to change it. It is, of course, those that were most successful on these tests that are mainly now in positions of power - after having gone to the best universities, which were prepared for by going to the best hagwon and finding the best tutors. The next time you wander by Daechi-dong, take a look at how many ads for hagwons and private tutors you see.

It's almost heart-breaking as a teacher to work in this system. It's not because I don't want to see them lose years of their life to a test, but because the system both discourages creativity and encourages the rote memorization / regurgitation that such a test requires. There's no creativity needed to circle 'B', and too much creativity may even be seen as a bad thing on such writing tests as the nonsul. Seriously - what's the point in taking a 'creative writing' class, music lessons, figure skating lessons, dance lessons, or any other artistic venture when the 'only' things you have to know for university are your native language, English, math, and perhaps a few other minor things?

There are the occasional stories of universities being more holistic in their admission requirements. KAIST and POSTECH began the new trend from a story back in March 2009, while admission officers are supposedly going to accept 10,000 students from another story in March 2009. I haven't seen any stories like these more recently, but my eye is definitely tuned towards them.

Here's my modest proposal: Consider the whole person. Yes, test scores can be an indicator of better brains, but more often than not that indicator doesn't - and can't - tell the whole story. Just because someone is a genius on a test doesn't mean he knows how to work with a group, have a creative idea, or express themselves clearly to someone else. Paper doesn't talk back, after all.

The undergraduate college application - even at an American one - needs little more than the following:

How would you improve yourself as a person at our school - academically, socially, spiritually, etc.
After having consulted our college's catalog, what programs, fields, or careers interest you the most?
What opportunities have you had thus far in your life? How have you used them?
What are your goals in life?
How can our university assist you in reaching those goals?

Test scores, teacher recommendations, and so on may play a small role, but their emphasis should be downplayed to the point where such numbers are trumped by the real person.

Korea may produce 'results', but it's time to see how much those results cost and begin the painful process of change.

Gapo Dong

10 Oct 2009, With no big plans for the weekend, I wander out into rural South Masan

Honeymoon: Hong Kong Harbour

It seems the British did good things with Hong Kong during their extended leasing of the estate. The deep natural harbour and central shipping location have also contributed to its rise as one of the more impressive financial centres of the world.

On the top floor of every skyscraper, I like to imagine a millionaire businessman sipping coffee and staring contentedly at the concrete empire below. Then I like to imagine that one day I'll be someone rich and powerful like that. Then I imagine that I would buy a speedboat and zoom across this harbour, drinking Moet & Chandon straight from the bottle while gloomy office workers stare from their office windows.

But then I wake up and realise that we can't all be at the apex of the capitalist pyramid.

They say it's lonely at the top anyway.

Although Heather and I were pretty keen to buy these 'I love HK' shirts, we haven't worn them since. They seem a little irrelevant elsewhere, and I'm trying to think of other things that HK could mean.

Happy Kids? Heptagonal Kangaroos?

In case you didn't know, the new hip thing to do in now is to take a photo of yourself when you jump. The aim is to create a non-digitally altered special effect, whereby it looks as if you're floating in the air. The most logical way to approach this task is for the camera operator to count to three and synchronise the timing with the jumpee.

(Jumpee (n): One who jumps).

Easier said than done. Canon cameras autofocus as you press the shutter down, which means that the timing of the image to the split second is a little difficult.

It took a while for Heather to get airborne, but in the end it was well worth the effort. If you use your imagination extensively, you might look at the picture above and think that Heather is actually floating around on her anti-gravity knees. As our friend Anthony likes to say "Nothing is impossible."

And then I like to add "But some things are infinitely unlikely."

Yuen Wo Ping is a kung fu choreographer who has worked on some of the classic Hong Kong movies. He also directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Incidentally, him and I seem to have almost exactly the same sized hands. I wonder if that means anything.

Well, for a start I guess it means that I could borrow his gloves and they would fit quite well.

Here's Heather doing a bit of role playing.

And here's Heather doing a bit of shopping. We'll have to change the name of this blog soon to Lee's Heather Blog.

The Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong has one of the best lobby views in the world. They've really made the most of it too, with large glass panels and an elevated seating area.

One would expect hotel lobby food to be overpriced, but it's still fun to look at the menu and proclaim daylight robbery anyway.

You do need to divide by seven to get US dollars. But still, that is a bit steep for a bottle of wine.

Heather and I ordered a cocktail each. Whenever I find myself drinking cocktails before midday, I always think of our friend Jef in Busan. Not because we used to drink cocktails together before midday, but because he taught me never to feel guilty about being a daytime alcoholic.

I like the composition of this photo.

It takes a while to get a westernised tongue around the pronunciation of Tsim Sha Tsui.

On our first day in Hong Kong, we found a foot massage place. Heather really wanted to go back to the same place on the third day, but we couldn't quite remember where it was. We finally found it after walking up and down the streets in 30 degree heat. In the photo above, Heather is displaying how pleased she is at recognising the poster in the lift.

For about US$13, they will massage your feet while you watch TV for 45 minutes.

The funny thing was that Heather really likes strong massages, while I like soft ones. But I ended up getting some dude who really got stuck into me, and Heather got a little lady who barely touched her. Contrary to our appearances, Heather is actually the big tough one in our relationship, while I'm fragile and delicate.

Then our three nights in Hong Kong were up and we left on the ferry to Macau. The photo above is from the HK-Macau ferry terminal. In a nutshell, Hong Kong is a place worth visiting. The locals are friendly and the city is geared toward tourism. The good points are that the food and shopping are excellent. The bad points would be that it is a little congested at times, and the humidity can limit your outdoor options. All in all though, I'd definitely go back again. Hong Kong reminds me of Kuala Lumpur, but with more British flavour.

And in the next post, we're off to Macau.

See you soon!

Korean Sociological Image #23: Male Objectification

Acutely aware of the role my heterosexual male gaze can play in my choice of subjects and images for this blog sometimes, ironically I spend more time looking for those involving men these days, hoping to find something of note with which to achieve a balance.

In itself, this new commercial with boy-band 2PM hardly qualifies. But not only is male objectification an increasingly common theme in Korean advertising in recent months (see here and here for two examples featuring Lee Byung-hun {이병헌} and JYP {박진영} respectively), this would easily be one of the most audacious examples I’m aware of.

And coming so soon after this one for Cob Chicken (Cob 구어조은닭) too, then perhaps, like kissing, male objectification will be yet another advertising taboo discarded in 2009?

Granted, this may sound like exaggeration to readers based outside of Korea: all of the above examples are rather tame compared to their Western counterparts (NSFW) for instance, and the frequency of male objectification in the Korean media is easily paled by that of women, whom are also subject to excessive objectification and commodification in daily life here.

Nichkhun's Abs Real Brownie Commercial But that media imbalance is hardly confined to Korea, and the speed of change is particularly remarkable. After all, however unbelievable it may sound today, recall that social norms prohibited Korean women from publicly admiring men’s bodies until as recently as 2002!

Meanwhile, apologies for not providing a translation for the commercial, but given the product’s name then I think you’ll quickly get the idea!^^ And I would very much appreciate it if readers could tell me of any more examples like it that I may have missed.

(For all posts in the Korean Sociological Images series, see here)

Posted in Korean Advertisements, Korean Men's Body Images, Korean Sociological Images Tagged: 2PM, 마켓오 브라우니, 박진영, 이병헌, JYP, Lee Byung-hun

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Two new community efforts worth your attention

The next time you find yourself in Seoul lamenting the lack of expat community, think again.

Exhibit A: 2S2 - organized by Rob over at Roboseyo, it's a community that focuses on doing something together with other expats in the real world. 2S2 is as much a reference to it's date (2S = 2nd Saturday of every month) and time (2pm) as it is a name. The next meet up will be this Saturday, 2pm, at the Twosome Place near Anguk station (line 3, exit 1). Turn right out of the gate, then look right just before the intersection. It's free, it's cool, and it's a great chance to meet up with some new people that you don't work with. This month, Rob and crew will be teaching / playing GoStop - you've seen the older women play it, now learn for yourself. Read up on the rules here, then come out to have some fun.

Exhibit B: Chatjip. Korean for 'teahouse', think of this as your one-stop news / commentary / online community resource while here in Korea. Beyond user-contributed stuff (full disclosure: this blog, among many others, is aggregated in multiple sections), there are opportunities to connect with other expats, a guaranteed troll-free message board, and a lot more that you can peruse for yourself. It's been in beta for awhile, and I'm happy Joe from ZenKimchi has done a great job at putting that together. A bit more about the new site, from ZenKimchi himself:

Find out what’s going on.

Events are a major deficit in the K-blogosphere. We have a constantly updated events calendar for any type of happening. Tours, DJs, concerts, festivals, art shows, classes, and more! If you have an event you wish to promote tell us, and we’ll add it.

Better information.

The posts from ZenKimchi Blogs & News have been moved to “The Big Blog” in Chatjip. Posts will be more informative, so you won’t have to search through multiple blogs and message boards for simple basic life info.

Enhance your leisure time on and off work.

Our Leisure, Travel and Food sections cover some of the most entertaining blogs out there that give suggestions on where to go, what to do and how to make the most of your time in Korea. Even if you’re at work, the Videos, Podcasts and Time Wasters can occupy any static break time.

OK, extended free advertisement over - both things are worth checking out. For more about 2S2, check out this post by Rob. For more about chatjip, type it in, add a '.com' at the end, and browse away.

Me Lost Mee Curry at the Disco.

In his classic song Me lost me cookie at the disco, the Cookie Monster sings not only about the physical loss of a cookie, but also about how his love of cookies actually drives him up the wall. He's bemoaning an obsession that has literally taken over his entire life, one he has to know is unhealthy, but is nevertheless powerless to stop. Although I can't claim to have the same level as expertise as the Cookie Monster, I think I understand him.

I've been feeling alot like the cookie monster ever since I arrived in Penang. This place is a food playground, and I've been averaging out at something like six meals a day. It can't go on, it's unsustainable, but I just can't help myself. I've lost my cookie big time.

Yesterday was a good day for street food. The day started at an almost antique alleyway shack off Chulia St with some roti butter (doorstop slices of toast with butter) and a cup of the local Joe. The coffee beans are fried with butter and sugar prior to grinding, making for a lovely, silky smooth texture and a unique taste.

Later, at Penang Hill, we packed in a chickpea special (or that's what he called it) from a stall selling an assortment of nuts and other goodies. What was so special about these chickpeas was that they had been combined with masala powder, lime juice, sliced red onions and bombay mix. These little beauts certainly were special, and had Sarah tooting all the way down the other side of the hill.

Later still, we took respite from the rain at a hawker centre with some chicken, lamb and beef skewers, dipped in a chuncky, spicy satay sauce. The meat was exceptionally tender, and I had to stop myself from scooping out the leftover sauce with my fingers.

Me number one dish of the day however, was at me "second breakfast." - Mee Curry. This affair involved two types of noodles - vermicillii and a thicker, round noodle - in a spicy, coconut milk broth. Heaped on top were acres of beansprouts, slices of bean curd, cubes of pigs blood, some cockles, and a few other veg and sea things. The broth was incredible - flavoursome, silky smooth, and just the right amount of oily. I also thought I detected a peanut flavour in there but can't be sure. The remaining ingredients mainly added some bite and texture to the broth, with the exception of the cockles - each one was a localised explosion of sea that went above and beyond the other flavours, yet nevertheless managed to maintain parity.

Do you see what I mean?

Haendeupon

In Korea, mobile phones are called '핸드폰', or 'hand-phones', and it seemed that now I was living in Korea I had to have one. The search began soon after my arrival. It proved to be a monumentally frustrating experience, so a friend loaned me an 'old' Samsung SPH-M4655 as an interim measure. I carried it around for a while, but found it slow, and the on-screen keyboard was too frustrating for my main intended purpose, which was making various notes while I was out, such as Korean words I saw and their translations.

I wanted a smartphone with a keyboard, but as I visited one store after another a depressingly familiar pattern began to emerge. Again and again I was told that 'nobody' really uses phones with physical keyboards. Sometimes the store was large or varied enough to have a selection - but the selection was, without exception, either the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610, or the LG KE850 aka the LG Prada Phone. There was nothing else, and maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, because no matter how many hundreds of stores there can be in one area - and there are - it doesn't take long to realise that they all carry the same stock, and most of the stores are basically the same. KT, SK Telecom and LG Telecom. The lack of diversity extends to the network providers, who are... KT, SK Telecom and LG Telecom. Now you begin to see the problem. Here are three mobile phone stores, for example, opposite each other on a road, all selling the same phones for the same networks:

And it became more surprising, because if I had any ideas about cheap and ubiquitous mobile Internet access, which I definitely listed as a nice to have, I could forget it. The limitations, complications, and charges per gigabyte (Gb) were simply so far off the scale with KT and SK Telecom that they were out of the question.

For example, with SK Telecom there are four 'different kinds' of 'Internet' access:

Free Zone - consisting of twenty SK ring-fenced web-sites
Nate - which allows connection to Nate-related services
June - which obviously allows something else, which I never quite worked out
'Direct Internet Access' - which allows actual connection to non-SK controlled web-sites

So, when you take out your phone service, you first have to decide what kind of 'Internet' access you want - Free, Nate, June, or Real. After this, you then need to decide on your data allowance. There are three types of data allowance package:

NET - allows you to connect to the 'Direct Internet' only, and
DAT - allows you to connect to the 'Direct Internet' and the SK mobile services ('Free', 'Nate', and 'June'), and
Data Perfect - which allows you to connect to the 'Direct Internet' only, and cuts you off when your quota is reached

The details are:

NET 1000 allows 1Gb of data transfer per month, and costs 23,500 won (£12.17/$20.28)
NET 2000 allows 2Gb of data transfer per month, and costs 41,500 won (£21.46/$35.81)
DAT 35 allows 4Mb of data transfer per month, and costs 3,500 won (£1.81/$3.02)
DAT 70 allows 11Mb of data transfer per month, and costs 7,000 won (£3.62/$6.04)
DAT 150 allows 80Mb of data transfer per month, and costs 15,000 won (£7.76/$12.94)
DAT 250 allows 250Mb of data transfer per month, and costs 25,000 won (£12.94/$21.58)
Data Perfect allows 33Mb of data transfer per month, and costs 10,000 won (£5.17/$8.63)

This might be confusing enough, but with the exception of 'Data Perfect' it's the additional above-quota charges which can really provide the sting in the tail. Additional data usage is charged at approximately 1.8 won per kb (although the precise amount depends on the tariff you are on), which means around 1,843 won per Mb. So running just 100Mb above your quota would land you with an additional bill of 184,300 won (£95/$159). And people do, so there are a considerable number of horror stories and tales of woe on various Korean message boards about people receiving absolutely huge phone bills. Suffice to say, one of the first things a lot of people seem to do with their new phones - is disable 3G and their data services to ensure that they never accidentally use it.

Fortunately, it seems the Korean Government decided the mobile network operators were deliberately making life difficult for people and they ordered them to switch to clearer service offerings. Which is just as well, because having worked through all this trying to make sense of it, I felt like giving up entirely and buying the cheapest phone on the market for the occasional call. The upshot of the Government intervention is that from this month, SK now have the following packages:

50Mb of data transfer per month, which costs 10,000 won (£5.17/$8.63)
500Mb of data transfer per month, which costs 15,000 won (£7.76/$12.94)
1.5Gb of data transfer per month, which costs 19,000 won (£9.84/$16.40);

By comparison, LG Telcom appeared to be a much better system - charging 6,000 won (£3.10/$5.18) per gigabyte under the old system, which seemed much more reasonable. I was minded to choose LG Telecom as my provider, but there was another complication - we couldn't get a smartphone with a keyboard on LG Telecom, not even LG's Prada Phone, although LG were happy enough to sell us numerous phones from their bitter rival, Samsung. LG produce a number of phones with a keyboard, but not for domestic consumption, and not on their own network. I came around to the idea that this was why their mobile Internet access was comparatively cheap - it wasn't something you were probably going to be using a lot with the phones they did support; once you pulled up an on-screen keyboard the amount of space to view what you were doing was typically so small it was extremely off-putting, and far from a genuine browsing experience as far as I was concerned. So it seemed I could forget about having mobile Internet access with the kind of phone which would make it worthwhile.

And what of KT and SK Telecom? Well, they were more than happy to sell me the LG Prada Phone for almost 1,900,000 won (£1,000/$1,644), and it is a very nice device, but there was no way I was going to spend around 1.2 million won just for the word Prada written on an electronic device. If I wanted to advertise the lack of meaning in my life I could write a blog, I don't need to advertise it in public with my choice of phone. And since their mobile data charges were so expensive, it took away some of the purpose of having a device designed to provide a more interactive Internet experience.

Besides which, I didn't really like the Samsung Omnia's keyboard, which seemed to defeat the purpose, and the feedback I got in the stores on the Xperia X1 was far from positive, with one assistant going so far as to tell us that they were withdrawing it from sale within their chain of stores due to the huge number of after-sales faults it developed. Allegedly. I couldn't help wondering if it suffered from a very common but somewhat hard to define fault that blights a range of items in this country, including the Sony Bravia screens which are often to be found forlornly in the corners of some of the electrical stores - that of being 'Not Korean'. Certainly, while the phone isn't perfect, the Korean Xperia experience seems hard to resolve against the Western one.

So I gave up, and bought a Samsung SPH-M4800, which ironically isn't very far away from where I began with the borrowed M4655. It has the questionable virtue of having a tiny Blackberry-style keyboard on the device which makes it possible to write slightly faster than the hardened text junkie can with predictive input, but I guess it's enough for me to wander around Busan writing down notes and words in Korean and English. Of course, the device uses Korean Windows Mobile 6.1, which makes navigating around its unfamiliar interface somewhat challenging, even though I've been using Korean Windows XP on my desktop and NC10 netbook for some time now. It is at least, quite fast, unlike the M4655.

If the whole phone buying experience was ultimately very disappointing from a form and function perspective, there was at least some good news. The price was 70,000 won (£40/$66) on a 24-month 10,500 (£5.40/$8.85) per month contract with and a 60,000 won (£31/$51) charge if I cancel before the end of the contract. Assuming I don't cancel, this puts the total cost of ownership at 332,000 won (£170/$279), which I didn't think was too bad for a Windows Mobile-based smartphone which can be synced to my desktop and automatically hold my calendar, contacts and Word files with lists of Korean vocabulary and phrases. In fact, a friend of ours who's thinking of going into mobile phone retailing when he graduates picked out the deal for us, and seemed to think it was a good one, so I just went with it. Maybe two years from now, I can find a smartphone with a keyboard which can be used for cheap Internet access in this country.

Shortly after I bought the M4800, the same friend who'd picked out the deal bought an Xperia X1, so perhaps I'm not the only one who thinks that physical keyboards have a future.

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Busanmike.blogspot.com

Twitter: @BusanMike
YouTube: /BusanMikeVideo
Flickr: /busanmike

Tory Curly Queens

Tory leaves and the weather turns to crap.
At least she left "the list" behind.
Game On.

Koreabridge