Another US citizen detained in North Korea

North Korean officials have reported that they now have a second American in their custody for illegally crossing over the border from China. The first is, of course, Robert Park, the Christian missionary who crossed the border and planned to get caught so that he could raise awareness of the human rights abuses, particularly against Christians in the country. (Of course, what he probably did, instead, was start a new persecution of what few Christians are left in the country after 50 years of communism..)

Now reports are starting to come forward about this second detainee. Supposedly, according to the Dong A Ilbo... (which is a South Korean news source, and we know how reliable those are...) this man crossed the border because he wanted to join the North Korean army and escape from the capitalist world.

Sounds like a nice plan. Good luck to him if that really was his real motivation for entering NK. He's definitely as far from capitalism as you can possibly get. I bet working in a labor prison camp for no money and hardly any food is just what he had in mind.

I'll keep following this story to see if a more plausible explanation arises.

Reuters Article
Bloomberg Article

Haiti Fundraisers

2S2 has compiled a list of some of the fundraising going on in Seoul to support the earthquake victims in Haiti. Check out their post for a list of events.

The North strikes again..

After the South issued a statement last week stating that they were willing to make a preemptive strike against the North, if there were clear signs of a nuclear attack. There's little surprise here that the North jumped at the opportunity to say that the South was threatening war and has now decided to push the South into making a strike against the North and prove how serious that threat is.

Yesterday the North set up a "no-sail zone" along the western borderline. This "no-sail zone" stretches even into South Korean territory.

Yesterday at 9:05 am the North started firing a barrage of coastal artillery shells towards the Northern Limit Line.

Soon after the North fired at 9:05 a.m., South Korean marines on the island fired bullets as warning shots in the air toward the North instead of counterattacking. The North’s artillery shells landed in the North’s own waters, said Won Tae-jae, spokesman for the South’s Defense Ministry. Won also said that the North fired some 30 shells in two rounds from 9:05 until 10:16 a.m. The first round lasted for 20 minutes and was directed toward the upper no-sail zone and the second round began around 9:45 a.m. and aimed toward the other zone. Another round of shells was fired at 3:25 p.m. [1]

Since the shells didn't land in South Korean territory, the South had no reason to counterattack, following the rules of engagement. They fired warning shots into the air and warned them not to provoke an attack.

The North blames the South for this, claiming that they provoked them and declared war with their statements last week.

"Our revolutionary armed forces will regard the scenario for 'preemptive strike' which the south Korean puppet authorities adopted as a 'state policy' as an open declaration of war," its state KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the armed forces general staff as saying. [2]

Others see this as a way to rally the people with their government and hope they forget about their hyperinflation that is sweeping their nation. And of course warn the South that they are more than willing to attack at any time.

"North Korea is exercising a two-track policy of aggressively seeking economic cooperation and humanitarian aid on one hand while heightening military tension on the other," said Kim Yong-hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University. [3]

As usual, the North flutters between showing signs of wanting to improve relations and ready to start a war. I'm almost getting sick of reporting it because it's the same old story, over and over again. North tries to provoke an attack. The South doesn't take the bait. Really, why would the South even want to attack the North unless it felt genuinely threatened? The South has nothing to gain from war with the North, except gaining a country full of impoverished, starving masses who are ill-equipped to adjust to the modern day South Korean world of capitalism and high competition.

Training

Both jobs that I've now worked for in Seoul have both been very good about training. At my last job I had 6 or 7 days of training, and her I get 6 days of training. I am very grateful for this. But, I must say, I hate observation. Especially now, for my second job, also another SLP, I know how to teach a class. It's nice to see other people's teaching styles, but you can only take so much of sitting in the back of a classroom and watching someone else teach this mind numbing grammar or whatever before you start to go nuts. My papers have little drawings all over the margins. They look like my student's book's margins. I still have four more days of observation before I start teaching on Monday, and I may just go nuts.

They have no real work for me to do in the office. I wouldn't mind some lesson planning or homework list making, or writing syllabi right now because there's only so many times you can check facebook during break times before you start to feel unloved because nothing has changed since the last time you checked it, 5 minutes before.

I can't believe it's only Tuesday. Tuesday, before classes have even started, for that matter. This must be the longest week on record and it only just started.

Anyway, in other news. I finally found a dresser, and we bought a comforter set for the bed on Gmarket (Korean version of Amazon, or whatever online shopping site you use) last night. It wound up being about 70,000 won for the whole set (only duvet, not a blanket) which felt a little expensive, but it was one of the cheapest we could find. The other other cheap one had bad reviews. This one had generally very positive reviews.

So, the apartment is just about completely ready. Once I get the comforter set up, maybe I'll take some photos to put up here.

I'm having cell phone issues. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I lost my cell phone 2 days after getting it set up on a new prepaid plan. While I debated what to do next, my boyfriend found a phone from a friend of his. He won't charge me any money for his nice phone, but the deal was I had to pay his bill. Well, he hadn't used it for 4 months, but the bills had still been piling up, so there was a 78,000 won bill. After going all the way to the SHOW service center I got the bill all cleared so I could use the phone. But, the second problem is that I need a converter for the cell phone charger.

See, all cell phones in Korea need to be able to use a single, standard phone charger. Sounds genius, doesn't it? Except that most new phones nowadays are either too small to fit that charger, or are too cool to put that old school charger on their phone. So, their solution? Make a cell phone charm that adapts the charger socket to the old style socket. So, you're stuck with this ugly phone charger adapter as your cell phone charm when you could have something cool like a hamburger or chili peppers or something just as inane.

My problem is that my boyfriend's friend lost his. So. No charging my phone for me until I get that little adaptor. The SHOW service center didn't have it. I need to go to an Anycall (my phone brand) service center. I got directions by phone this morning from my boyfriend from looking at a map online, but unfortunately, the conditions on the ground were not quite what the map appeared and I wound up missing my turn and consequently didn't make it to the service center and was quite nearly late for work on my third day. No good.

So, anyway, I'm still unreachable for the most part. But at least I have a job, dresser and comforter in the mail.

So long til next time.

New Job

So yesterday I started at my new school, Songpa SLP. I was immediatly impressed by the big, clean, new building. Compared to my old school it was sparkling. I was ushered into a confrence room when I arrived and the head teacher came in to meet me. They ordered me some lunch (thank God) and started explaining my schedule for the next few days. Monday I have to go in at 9:40 and get my health exam. I'm a little peeved that they are making me pay for half of the exam, 40,000 won, even though it's a visa requirement. Oh well, what can you do.

My schedule seems ok, MWF five 40 minute classes. One class only has two, well behaved students, and another class only has three, slightly odd, boys. The other classes are moderatly sized and moderatly behaved. I think it looks alright. I still don't know about TTH classes yet, but the schedule sounds light.

The staff seems friendly enough. The morning teachers and afternoon teachers are separated by 5 floors, so I get the feeling it's going to be very hard to get to know the morning preschool teachers as my office is on the 5th floor. At least the afternoon staff seems friendly enough. There is one other guy starting with me this week. It's his first time in Korea. It's always interesteing to hear newbies speak about their first impressions. I'm reminded of things that I totally forgot about that are wierd and different.

Anyway, I hope things continue to go well at this new school. It seems like a good place to work for. I'm hoping my daily commute everyday does not become cumbersome. last night I didn't get home until after 10 o'clock. I don't think that will be normal, as I waited around in the office for some people to get things done, so we could walk together. Plus we were helping the new guy to find a grocery store. I expect that the whole commute took about 50 mins, including walking, waiting, and walking again. The train ride itself didn't feel that long... And when I have homework to do on the train, I bet it will go even faster. I hope.

Connections...

I'm finding more and more that the best way to get a job in this city (or anywhere in the world, I'm sure) is if you have some connections. I had a better chance at my job because I had a friend of a friend working at my school. That friend of a friend, whom I am replacing, just got a sweet job (which I also applied for and didn't get) at Yonsei University Foreign Language Institute which offers free Korean language studies at the school plus a 3-8pm working schedule. They got that job because they had a friend who pulled some strings for them. Today I send a friend a recommendation to apply for a job at my friend's school because he's in the market for a new job too. Providing that job is still open, my friend should be able to get him a job.

The great thing about being here for so long is you start to get connections with so many people. Old co-workers who move on to bigger, better schools. People you meet around who work at other schools. All of a sudden you find yourself hearing about job openings left and right. For me, it never seems to work out that it's when I need a job, but nevertheless, it helps you find jobs for others.

Don't forget to use all the connections you have when trying to find a job, whether it be here or at home. Unfortunately, in this economy, it tends to be one of the most important factors in finding a job...

My very own Kimchi Bokkumbap

This week I decided to try my hand at making kimchi bokkumbap (or kimchi fried rice). To some people who don't eat kimchi all the time, it might not be an appealing sounding dish, but ohho, let me tell you, it's one of the great dishes Korea has to offer.

My students always tell me that this is the easiest dish to cook. Usually when I ask them to write instructions on how to do/make something, they always seem to choose kimchi bokkumbap because it's something most older kids know how to make. It's pretty easy.

1) Chop up whatever veggies you want to stir fry in your bokkumbap. I chose onion and garlic, but feel free to be creative.

2) put some oil in the pan and fry up your veggies for a few mins.

3) After they've been frying for a few mins, add your kimchi and fry that for a few more mins.

4) Add your rice and fry that for a while.

5) For extra flavor, add some sesame oil.

6) You're done! Top with fried egg and or seaweed and sesame seeds for more flavor!

7) 많이 먹어요! Eat a lot! Enjoy!