Hand Sanitiser Edition

Well, the traditional Korean over-caution about foreign threats is well to the fore with the H1N1 threat. I was in Seoul for an English teachers' conference, and there is controversy in the neighbourhood in response to a university plan to build new dorms.

The pic of the week shows a guy painting the apartment opposite. He's on the 10th floor, working alone, suspended by a single rope and sitting on something similar to a child's swing. And not a bother on him. You see a lot of abseiling for cables or maintenance, and workers dangling over moving traffic for street works.

Seoul conference
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I joined the Korea Teacher's of English to Speakers of Other Languages organisation (KOTESOL), and we had our international conference at the weekend. It was an excuse to have a big night out in Seoul, and it was a very late one.

Visiting 'the others'
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Most of the English teachers in Daejeon are in the new downtown area, called Dunsan-dong, which is where most of the private schools (hagwons) are. The town is quite divided between the old downtown, Eunhaeng-dong, nearer to me, and the new downtown. In 'Lost' parlance, I call the teacher's over there 'the others', and we rarely mix. Two English teachers that I worked with in Costa Rica are 'others'. They've been here since before I got here, and I'd only met up with them once. So I gave them a shout last week, and we decided to meet up. It was strange meeting them outside the tropical climes of Costa Rica. We all agreed that we're quite happy here money and workwise, but that we still miss Costa Rica a lot.

Ajuma protest
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The item that I've got most response from people since writing from Korea was about my summer ajuma class. The ajumas are housewives, but the term is synonymous with a small, older but strict woman. Anyway, there is a protest outside the university these days, because there is a proposal to build a new dorm. They're appalled by the idea of more dreaded 'foreigners' being housed there. On a Monday and Wednesday I have to go past them on my scooter, usually stopping right beside them at the lights. I hear the 'foreigner' word in the middle of their Korean. But if I smile at them, they're too polite to smile back. The other day they were all wearing surgical masks, with black X's on them. So I guess there's been some sort of a gagging order. Yet another example of the very healthy protest movements of Korea.

Swine Flu
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I'm not sure how things are back in Ireland with the swine flu threat. But here it's being dealt with in a very Korean manner. There are hand sanitisers everywhere. Whoever is in the business of making them must be getting very wealthy. Every public building has one at the entrance. In addition, many people are wearing surgical masks (and not for a protest). You see it from time to time here in public places anyway, but it's at a different level now. Most of my Chinese students were totally housebound when they went home, because their parents thought that the risk was too great to go out of my house. It's getting closer though. A friend of mine (and I was out with her on Wednesday night) went down with it over the weekend. And she's on 7 days quarantine.
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Well, that's it for this week. I'm off now to prepare for my classes tomorrow morning. I'm running a bit behind because I was away for the weekend, and have been marking the mid-term exams.

Well, that's it for this week. So until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in Kyunghyang Shinmun: Influenza A shows signs of pandemic

Definitely Autumn

Well, I'd almost forgotten about the weekly update it's been so long.

I had a great trip home in August, and I'm well back into the new semester here.

The pic of the week is the view from my apartment. This is from the front, looking North, I guess. In the foreground are a group of allotments where locals grow vegetables. The group of buildings towards the right, just before the mountains, is Daejeon University. My own university, Woosong, is just a turn left at the junction on the main street that's visible, Daehak-ro.

Trip home to Ireland
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Well, since my last email I've been home to Ireland, even though that was a long time ago at this stage - August. I had a great trip. It was primarily family-focused, and mostly concentrated on catching up with my niece Robyn around her six-month birthday. I did get to Dublin for a long weekend, and caught up with some people. However, it was holiday season and a lot of people couldn't make it.

Work
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I'm back in the swing of things at work. I much prefer working in the semesters. In the summer and winter university breaks - called 'the intersessions' - we get very bitty classes. We have schedules that change from week to week, and we're always meeting new classes and new students, so there's no continuity.

Now that we're back in the semester I have a firm schedule until the second week in December. I now know all my students, and, for me, that's a much easier way to work.

Autumn is here
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One thing that Koreans are very proud of is that they have four distinct seasons. And it's true, although spring and autumn are brief compared to the long winter and summer seasons. We're now well into autumn. It's colder, although today is quite beautiful. Even on the 10th floor I have the windows wide open. It's currently (Sunday afternoon) 24 degrees. The mountains are changing to autumnal colours, and the Koreans are out hiking. En masse.

Mid-term exams
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We're actually at the mid-term now. And it's mid-term exam time. To give you an example of the level of some of my students, this is an actual example of the submission I got back from one guy. All they had to do was to match 8 supplied words with the gaps in sentences.

• My sister has been making poetry since we were kids. She wants to be a director.
• I can only run for a short time. I'll never be able to run a home movies.
• Don't put those marathon on your letters! They are from my collection.
• Jet Li signed coins for half an hour last night outside the movie theater.
• I enjoy all types of literature. But wildlife is my favorite.
• I saw an excellent program about the animals of South America. There were some fantastic images of autographs.
• I don't think collecting kites sounds like fun. I like to spend my money!
• People love to fly stamps in the park near my house on windy days.

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Well, that's it for this week. So until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in Chosun Ilbo - President, ruling party will push to cancel gov't office relocation plan

Partial solar eclipse

This week and next week are my busiest two weeks since I've been at Woosong. Twenty hours, but as they're all new classes there is a fair bit of preparation too. Still, after that I'm off to Ireland for two weeks.

The pic of the week shows the partial solar eclipse we had last week. It was the longest eclipse there will be this century, but we weren't on the path of totality. That ran to the south, and went over Shanghai in China.

Solar Eclipse
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The solar eclipse had a path of totality through India, Bhutan and China. It continued to Iwo Jima in Japan and on into the pacific. It was the longest eclipse of the 21st century, and the sun was blocked for about six minutes.

Here in Daejeon we only had 80% of the eclipse, which was less than Dublin in the 1999 eclipse (that was something like 94%). I was looking at it by reflecting it through my binoculars and looking at it on a white sheet, because I didn't have proper glasses. I took this picture without looking, and it didn't work at all. What you see there is some sort of reflection. The sun is extending its glow in the top right. I don't know how the reflection got there, and it's tiny in the original photo, but it's got the exact shape of the moon blocking out 80% of the sun. Although it looks dark this is because it was so bright I had to reduce the light right down, making it look like night. It was actually a beautiful sunny day with blue skies. Unlike in Shanghai where thousands tried to see it, but were blocked by clouds.

Scooter
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Just before I went to Taipei I bought myself a scooter. It's just a small basic scooter, second hand, and it cost just €160. I don't know myself with it now. Because I'm living a little further away, and my classes are geographically widely distributed, it's a great time-saver. With the scooter I'm 10 minutes from my furthest class.

Top five Dublin pubs
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A friend and his girlfriend are heading to Ireland on vacation, because her sister lives in Navan. He wanted to know the best pubs in Dublin to go to, and I had to think. I much prefer the old style pubs, and each time I go home I find there are fewer. But I settled on my top five, and have recommended them to him. They are

5. Bowe's, Fleet Street
4. The Long Hall, South Great George's Street
3. Kehoe's, South Anne Street
2. The Palace, Fleet Street
1. Mulligan's, Poolbeg Street

So now I'll have to try them out again myself when I go home.
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Anyway, that's it for this week. I'm in again in the morning.

In Ireland I'm going to be mostly down in Ennis, so I'll be up in Dublin for a few days around the weekend of 13th August, so I'll probably just park myself in a bar for the night and let you all know where to find me if you want to! Details to follow.

So until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headling in Seoul Shinmun: President Lee names new chief prosecutor

Taiwan

I'm back after my week in Taiwan. It was a great break. I really liked the country and the people, and would highly recommend it.

The pic of the week shows Sun Moon lake at dawn. This was taken from the balcony of my hotel room. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Taiwan
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I didn't know that much about Taiwan before I went. I had taken a flight with China Airlines one time, and had been surprised that the airline flew to a all main countries in the world, with the exception of China!

So I looked up a little on the history. It's an island in the Pacific, is less than half the size of Ireland, but with a population of 23m. Originally settled by Pacific islanders, it has been part of China for most of its history, but with some settlement by the Portuguese and Dutch. In the early part of the 20th century it was controlled by the Japanese, but reverted to being a Chinese province at the end of WWII.

After the war, back on mainland China there was a civil war between the Communists, let by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse Tung), and the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai Shek. Following the Communists' victory, Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalist leadership fled to Taiwan. They regarded themselves as the legitimate government of the Republic of China. Mao led the People's Republic of China on the mainland (a little like the Republic of Ireland, and the People's Republic of Cork). In the Cold War world of the time, Taiwan as the Republic of China was recognised as the real China. It wasn't until the thawing of relations with Communist China in the early 70s that the PRC was recognised as the real China, and China's permanent seat on the UN Security Council was given to Beijing.

Taipei
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Taipei is the capital city. It's a large Asian city, with some older districts in the west, where I stayed. And a modern, high-rise area in the east. I went to the viewing observatory of the largest building, Taipei 101, and it was only when I was in it that I realised that it was the tallest building in the world.

The people are exceptionally friendly, most speak very good English (with the notable exception of taxi drivers!), and they go out of their way to help you in shops and on the metro. There's a lovely gay area which was quite near my hotel, with a big open-air courtyard with a large selection of bars and restaurants. It was very cool and relaxed.

Sun Moon Lake
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I had wanted to spend a little time in Taipei, but then to have a relaxing few days on the beach. When I looked at tourist brochures I changed my mind and went to Sun Moon Lake, the largest lake on the island (but not very big even by Irish standards). It's in the mountains in the centre of the country, and I arrived after a difficult trek around the Taipei working out how to get there.

Sun Moon Lake is beautiful, and my hotel was right on the water. It was peaceful and relaxed. There are a lot of hiking trails, and there's a lovely walkway (very like the boardwalk in Dublin) around a good portion of the lake, which was lit up in changing colours at night.

The main tourist activity is boat trips on the lake, but I was more interested in visiting the Buddhist temples and pagodas I could see on the other side of the lake, so for €1.70 I got a day ticket on the local bus and did a full tour. I loved it.

Sun Moon lake is where Chiang Kai Shek took his holidays, and there are memorials to him everywhere.

Back to Daejeon
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I arrived back to Korea on Saturday, and stayed for the night in Seoul, returning to Daejeon late on Sunday. I've had an easy week at work, just working 12 hours, with 8 of those being easy conversation classes. I have the same schedule this week.

It's been very rainy this week. July is traditionally rainy season, but it didn't really happen last year. I see what it's like this year, with the worst rain I've seen since I've been in Korea. Today there are torrential showers and thunderstorms.
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Well, that's it for this week. I'm off to visit friends for dinner.

Until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo

Éamon

Today's headline in Donga llbo: N. Korea suspected to have orchestrated cyber attacks against South

Korean website rant

Well, I'm writing from the balcony of my hotel room at Sun Moon Lake, the largest lake in Taiwan. It's Tuesday, and I'm here until Thursday, then back to Taipei for two nights, then Seoul for Saturday night. I'll be back at work on Monday.

The Taiwan pics are on my camera, and I don't have a cable to transfer them to the computer. So the pic of the week this week are three of my TOEIC students from last week. Part of the TOEIC exam is to describe a picture for 45 seconds. So I put them into groups, and they had to decide on poses for 3 pictures, to be described later in class by another team. This is the green team's idea of an 'action picture'. It shows three of my students in what I call their boyband shot.

Korean Websites
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I mentioned before that I hate Korean websites. It might be a cultural thing, but they're extremely busy, with lots of flash components winking and blinking, and bouncing around as you scroll. Every site seems to depend on Internet Explorer. But they don't tell you that until you're well through the transaction. You can choose the English option, but as sure as eggs is eggs, when something goes wrong up pops a box written entirely in Korean and you can go no further.

Booking the ticket to Taiwan with Korean Air was a case in point. I went through the transaction on my browser of choice, Firefox, and eventually got the Korean pop up box with 'Internet Explorer 5.5' in the middle of the text. So I realised the problem. I use Ubuntu as my operating system, so I have to log out, and log back in to Windows to get at Internet Explorer. Then I have to repeat all of the same procedures. Only this time every screen comes up prompting me to install some ActiveX component. When I got to the same stage as I had got to earlier in Firefox, everything went dead. Nothing happened. So I went through the troubleshooting guide, and it asked if I had pop-ups blocked. I didn't think so, but as I never use Internet Explorer I wasn't sure. When I checked, they were blocked. So I turned off the block, and went through the entire transaction again,. Same problem. It turned out that Internet Explorer had toolbars installed from Yahoo, Google and Ask all with their own pop-up blockers.

So I turned all that off. Then it asked me if I wanted to pay with my Korean bank card. I said yes. It popped me up a Korean language window, which by trial and error I managed to navigate. But in the end it wouldn't validate my card. At this stage I decided to phone them. but the 'freefone' number ate up the remaining credit on my phone while going through the recorded introduction.

So it was back through the whole transaction again, this time selecting Visa. It popped up a different box (in English!) to authorise my MBNA Europe card for credit card transactions on the internet. Even though I've used it countless times before. In the end it refused, saying that it wasn't an MBNA Europe card. Even though it clearly says MBNA Europe on it. I repeated the entire transaction again, which was at least the fourth time, and was finally successful with my Mastercard credit card. Even though it was also an MBNA Europe card, and I'd never used it online before!

The whole transacton took 3 hours from start to finish.

Multiple-Entry Visa
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You'd think I would have learnt my lesson, but I went for a Korean website again. My teaching visa is called an E-2 visa. I'm allowed stay in Korea and work for the year. But if I want to leave in that time I need to get a re-entry visa, which is like an upgrade. For W30,000 (€17) you can get a single entry visa, and you can make one trip out and back. For W50,000 (€28) you can have a multiple-entry visa, and can leave as many times as you like. I need a multiple-entry.

I had planned for weeks to go to immigration, but then someone told me you could do it online. I logged out of Ubuntu, into Windows, into Internet Explorer, set up an account with Korean e-government for foreigners. So far so good. I applied for the visa, it found my alien registration, showed all my details on screen, and deducted the money without a problem from my Visa account. The transaction would take 3 days.

The second day the status changed from submitted to received. And for the next 4 days it stayed received. That brought me to Friday, and I was travelling Saturday. It said that the application was with the Daejeon immigration office. And gave a number. I called, and got the message that 'this number is not in the directory'. I looked their numbers up online, and got about 12 phone numbers. Same message with each of those numbers.

I had to go to work to the personnel assistant, who handles these sort of issues. He phoned them, they said that they hadn't processed it, but to print off the certificate of application, and to show that to immigration at the airport. So I did, and they told me that that was just the application, and that it hadn't been processed. I told them I knew, but that they should have finished on Thursday, it says 3 days. At the airport they told me they had no authority to change it. The only solution was to pay the €17 for a single-entry visa, in addition to the €28 paid online!

Happy birthday
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After all the hassle of the bureaucracy in Korea, going through immigration into Taiwan was a joy. Saturday, my day of travel, was my birthday. I hadn't remembered it at all (4am starts do that to you), but I remembered filling out the paperwork at the airport. But when the immigration official was processing my passport and immigration form her face suddenly lit up. "Oh," she said with the brightest smile, "today's your birthday! Oh, have a really happy birthday in Taiwan". And so I did.
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Well, that's my rant for this week. I'll write about the trip next week.

So until then,

Goodbye in Chinese, which I don't know how to say.

Éamon

Yesterday's headline in Taiwan News: Jackson family orders new autopsy

Summer schedule

I've had a week now on the new summer schedule. My schedule changes every few weeks, but it was fine last week, just 13 hours. And just 11 this week, because my kids class finishes tonight.

The pic of the week was taken at a fundraiser we had the week before last. It was for one of my colleagues who was hospitalised with a tumour, and is facing some heavy medical bills. As a photo I really have to say I think it sums me up. I partcularly like the serious face.

"Vacation"
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I have to say vacation here, because if I talk about holidays, they think I'm talking about Christmas or Halloween. Anyway, I get 5 weeks vacation in my first year, and six after that. They can be requested for any time within the 'intersession'. So I requested 3 weeks in the summer, one at the end of this month, and two in August. I'm holding onto 2 for the winter break.

I am going home in August, primarily to see my neice Robyn, who I only briefly got to see when she was just a couple of days old. She'll be almost six months by the time I get home. I arrive into Shannon on 9th August, and will be in Dublin for a few days around the following weekend.

I hadn't really decided what to do with my other week, but vaguely thought I'd go to Japan, as it's close. But when i did a search on airfares, China and Taiwan are cheaper. And I know they're a lot cheaper to stay in. As the visa process for China is slow, I didn't want to cause complications by booking just a week ahead. I'll go there again, but for now I've decided on Taiwan. I know nothing about it, except a lot of things are made there. And there's an ad always on TV "Ilha Formosa, Taiwan will Touch your Heart", which makes it look good. Either way, I'm going to have a good break, and I'll report back.
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Well, that's it for this week. I have a party with my kids tonight, and then just two TOEIC classes and a day off on Thursday. I head to Taiwan on Saturday,

So until next week,

Annyeong-hi haseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in Segye Times: S. Korea, world's second developer of anti-submarine torpedo

Ch-ch-changes

The pic of the week shows a big change, my new apartment in the block of apartments on the bottom right. Because I'm over the hill (which the Google Maps photo doesn't particularly show) people think I've moved miles away. But as you can see, I'm right beside the university, (top left where the blue markers are).

New apartment
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When you start in Woosong you're given the most basic accommodation, and then put on the 'housing seniority list'. When better accommodation becomes available as people leave, they're made available to the highest person on the seniority list that wants it. Being very new, I was number 42 on the single people's list. There was nothing wrong with the apartment I had except it was very small. I had no place to eat really, except on my bed. But it was clean and modern.

When an offsite apartment was put on the board I didn't even apply, because at number 42 I didn't think I had a hope. It was only when it was put on a 2nd time, and they said that if nobody wanted it they'd have to give it to another department that I thought I might have a chance. It was described as 'a corridor-style apartment. Old, but neat and tidy, and with a bit of space'. It had been married accommodation, but was now available to singles. I enquired, and was told to get the key and have a look.

I wasn't impressed when I saw it first. It's in an old shabby apartment building, and it was absolutely filthy. I felt dirty even sitting down when I visited. But it's quite a bit bigger than I had. Not so big that I can understand how it was married accommodation, but a lot bigger than my tiny room before. There is a kitchen that's big enough for a kitchen table and chairs, and a bedroom that's at least as big as my old apartment. There is a desk, TV and TV unit in the bedroom. There's a bathroom with a bath (almost unheard of in Korea), a little washroom, and an enclosed balcony, where you hang your washing to dry.

I really didn't know whether to apply or not, because the clean up was going to be intense. I the end I did apply, because I knew at least it could be cleaned, there was nothing I could do to make the old one bigger. I still didn't expect to get it, but to be honest, I don't think anyone else wanted it.

I've been here 3 weeks now, and I'm really happy with it. There's been a lot of cleaning and tidying, with a lot more to be done, but it's nice to have a bit of room, and I think I'll be happy to stay here for my duration at Woosong.

The university is built on a hill, and this apartment is over the brow of it, so when it gets into high summer it's going to a difficult walk up and down, so I'm going to buy myself a little scooter.

Summer schedule
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Last week was the end of our 15-week semester. I can't believe how quickly it went, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Particularly my Korean university first year student class. We had our end of year exams, and now I'm marking and updating the system with their results. Every mark has to be explained so that the papers can be verified in the event of a recheck being required.

Last week we were given our summer schedule. A lot of universities finish totally in the summer, and teachers are paid through the breaks even though they're doing nothing. Unfortunately, that's not the case at Woosong, where there are many courses run during what they call the 'intersession'.

My schedule is a mixed bag. My children's class continues until next week, so I just have one extra class added this week and next, an intensive course in TOEIC speaking. TOEIC is an internationally recognised Test of English for International Communication. There are 32 classes starting with between 30 and 40 in each. That's over 1,100 students. We don't know where such an enormous amount of students are coming from.
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I'm sure there are another few things to catch up on, but I'll leave it there for this week. I haven't even had time to mention the former president's suicide or the nuclear threat from north of the border. I start at 1pm with the TOEIC class for 3 hours. Priorities!

So until next week.

Anneong haseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in JoongAng Ilbo: Intelligence authorities identify 11 possible spots for 3rd nuclear test