The Reason for Silence

Frank!

I'm finding Benjamin Franklin's autobiography a really entertaining read.

'So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for every thing one has a mind to do.'

Describing his change from a vegetarian to a meat eater after he smells a lovely bit a fish, and justifys eating it by noting that this fish eats smaller fish; Ergo the fish has no moral objection to him eating it!

Update more later

Moonngtigi

Was out for Phil and Alex's birthday last night. I wish I had a photo but we had some lovely meat called Moonngtigi.

It tasted like a good pork chop and was excellent. Plenty of beer and 2 new drinking games. The first one is called 'the chopstick game', where, after 3 seconds, you shout a number and point to someone you continue the line around the chopsticks for that number and the last person has to drink. Quick and exploitable.
The other one is called reputations where you make a questions like. 'who has snogged the most rotters?' and point at someone after 3 seconds. Whoever has the most votes has to drinks.
Randomly I won the 'most posh' but failed to win 'nicest eyes' so I am extremely sceptical of its validity.

The Back End of Racism

The Korean Beat is a blog which translates Korean news articles into English. Although one or two major English newspapers have an English edition, they are often not exactly the same as the original. Most newspapers in Korea, understandably, can be separated into tabloid and broadsheet journalism.

I have experienced very little racism in Korea but I have seen its existence and heard from reputable sources about unseemly events. Some is not undeserved however. Many new teachers are fresh out of uni and try to continue the lifestyle of late night drinking, mid week parties, and a relaxed attitude to social proprieties. They fail to see that not only are they in a more reputable position in society but also this society is a lot more conservative than the one they previously dragged in to degeneration.

I will state that a vast majority of the teachers I know like their job (maybe not the hours), care about their kids, and want to see them improve. They may enjoy the occasional Wednesday night out but so do most Korean men. This article, in my opinion, co relates to all The Sun and Daily Express publishings that seek to sell more stories by picking an easy, less protected target, and degrade them all with one bush on baseless or singular examples. While at the same time ignoring all the positive things they bring to society and in this case the duty of the employers to higher and treat staff responsibly. I know most Korean people, like the Brits, enjoy the benefits of multi culturalism, but there's nothing like a xenophobic article to make you feel like your on the back end of racism.

Please read the article here.

NB. When I say conservative I don't mean you can't drink a lot and party. Korea has plenty of opportunities and ample enough young population to do that. They just see jumping around the street at 4am, shouting profanities at passers by, showing of your chest hair and being sick on the street as thoroughly off putting and undesirable.

My Late Monday Class

I really feel sorry for Korean kids. They are pushed much harder than any kids back home. Granted there is nothing wrong with ambition and making your child study hard. However my last class on Monday between 9.00pm and 10.30pm is with a 11 year old kid.

Her English is really good and I actually think she is a really nice, bright girl, but her and many other Korean kids spend all their childhood studying. These kids go to school at the regular time of 9am until 3pm; but after they head home for dinner they are usually back out in private academies until 10 or 11 at night. In addition they have to fit in their homework somewhere and they will usually be at school and academies on Saturday too. It's a tough life and It is meant to be (from our point of view) the least stressful days of your life.

I understand for most Koreans employment relies on a degree, much more heavily than in the UK, and that is a major reason for the pressure on kids. I have been thinking a lot about the Korean system and how different it is from the UK. I think I will write about it in a separate article later.

Free Pizza

Yay nothing better than after a hard days work than getting a free pizza.

Thanks Mi ;)

Korean food! #2 Sam-gu tang

I first had sam -gu tang a few months ago with Mimi. It is like a fresh chicken broth with onions, ginseng and garlic. It usually comes with a small chicken stuffed with rice a gin seng and chestnuts in a bowl of hot broth in which it has been cooked in for a few hours. It usually comes with a small side plate of salt and spice in which you can dip your chicken in or add to the broth. I really enjoyed it the first time as pictured above.


However sometimes it's great to be a teacher. My two conversation students invited me round to one of their houses to cook me lunch instead of having a class. Sometimes when I see the high rise apartments stacked around me I get a feeling of despair. Hundred of thousands of people packed into identical blocks.

How wrong was I. As I reached the 11th floor I buzzed the tiny metal door only to enter one of the nicest apartments I have ever seen. Granted my student is a University lecturer in art I didn't expect the sheer size never mind the interior design. It was decorate with tasteful art and an original Andy Warhol print. It had 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a study, extremely large living room-kitchen and and 2 balconies.

I was served a five course meal from prawn salad, homemade sam-gu tang, fruit, ice cream, coffee and tonic. Everything was either handmade in a traditional Korean style or designed by my student herself. Was excellent!

In addition to the food it was also nice to be accepted into a Korean's home and I enjoyed interesting cross cultural discussion with 2 older Korean woman. Was really interesting and insightful. Going back to work after a few glasses of red and a full stomach is not advisable.

Invade Privacy and Let the Industry off Scot Free.

Two new legislation on the table and one announcement on the banking industry and to me it's totally back to front and completely out of touch with reality.

First of the bat are plans to ban smoking in cars where children are present. Who would ever say that smoking when your child is in the car is a delightful habit?! What father would protest this bill? No one can come out and say this is a bad idea or that it's ok to smoke with children are around. However without an argument for the negative it doesn't mean the government should legislate control over an individuals lifestyle choice. The car at the end of the day is a vehicle in which you lose all your privacy. Cameras watching your speed. Police watching your driving and holding the right to stop and search you whenever they want. Government and companies ensuring your car's innards are in respectable order and so forth. And all this is needed to ensure road safety and a high standard of public safety. However new technology which auto tracks your windscreen and watches you from afar has already been piloted across Britain. Putting away the mobile phone is a good idea but being fined for popping a sweet or switching the radio on is backdoor secret surveillance and dare I say, totalitarianism. You can't smoke at work, in the pub and rarely at home now everyone has jumped on the anti-smoking banned wagon (which I am part of btw). Now you can't even roll down your window and have a smoke when your stressed out from grid lock, the kids are screaming in the back seat and your wife just left you for spending to much time at work.

It's a horrible image but I don't think the government or police should be concerned with our private habits and indeed their role should be protecting not suppressing them.

Legislation number two is tougher regulation on Sun beds, or tanning salons as they are called now. Again what argument or specialist is going to stand up and defend the right to have artificially brown skin, but I question the government when they want to clamp down on unmanned salons and underage bronzing addicts when hedgefund managers, banking executives and the like are off gambling with the public's savings; and after losing them ask for a government handout. When looking around the commons it is more likely that the sun kissed skin of our right honourable MPs is not from overdosing on UV beds but from vacations in the Caribbean or Sunday afternoons sailing on their moats which they fiddled through tax payer funded expenses. It almost too ridiculous to believe.

Looks like today Darling will announce that regulation was not to blame for the financial crises. To an extent tough regulation in the UK would not have stopped a global economic turn down but it would mean our banks would not have been such a major part of it. Regulation is what's needed and its what the public want too. If someone commits a crime you may blame the police for not catching them before they done it but you never let the criminal get off scott free on the same presumption.

English Camp

As I mentioned before I was working an English camp this month. The camps vary from forest retreats to an extra Saturday studying. This one was at a countryside school but it was kitted out well with 2 large LCD HD TVs directly connected to a PC hub and internet. I decided to incorporate this into my lessons and add some fun to the day. I had to start early at 9am, leaving at 7.30am, and work till almost 4pm. In reality though I only taught four 40min classes and they were just a lot of fun.

As you can see I taught the the intricacies of the Act of Union and then gave them a project to do.

My teaching assistant Mr. Bean!
After teaching present continuous, I am Verb+ing, I used the videos and asked the students 'What is he doing?'

Musical chairs
After this we played musical chairs having to perform the verbs they learned. Running, hopping, dancing and eventually the Moon-walk ;)
(to the tune of 'There's a Moose Loose Aboot this Hoose'

Add a tweed jacket, a pot-belly and less hair and that could be me lecturing on Marxism in 10 years time!

My weapon of choice for unruly students!

Ceilidh Dancing
I only really know the Gay Gordans so I decided to give it a bash as the finale, and they seemed to like it. Prizes if you can guess what song it is, the clue is in the picture!!

<------------I think we done some thing right
they went from petrified to smiles!------------>

Korean food! #1 Duk Bok Ki

It might not look that appealing but Duk Bok Ki is a family favourite over here. It's basically rice cakes in spicy sauce accompanied by veg or fish cakes. When I first came here I couldn't handle the spiciness. Now it is actually tasty. Pictured here it is mixed with some beef n veg.

Korean spiciness has strange effects. It's like when you go on holiday and crave a certain food from back home. Like a cup of tea, fish 'n' chips or a curry. When I go home this has the same effect on me. I rarely eat it, it singes my nostrils, it burns my tongue and it is guaranteed to wreck my digestive system, but I just got to have it.

Slow Start

Slow start this month with only two posts. However I have been a little busy. I have 3 new classes at work. Three TOEFL writing classes twice a week. Now most people from English countries have never heard of TOEFL, however it the standard test for any student who wants to go to university. It measures your ability to read, write, speak and listen in English in an academic environment. After teaching the writing course a few times I also think it forces student's ability to analyse and write essays.

I also worked a camp in the countryside this weekend which was fun if a little tiring. I'll put up a separate post about that when I get some photos.

This Month

OK, I reached 25 posts and finished Zarathustra amongst other things.
This month I am gonna set a few more aims.

• Get comments flowing on my new idea of 'Question of the Month'
• Get photos up of Korean food.
  
• More comment on international affairs.
• Read Franklin's Biography
• Continue aiming at 25 posts

Question of the Month: June

As a new project for my blog I am going to pose a question every month which I will encourage friends and visitors to comment on.

This question will be on a number of issues from politics, philosophy, society to food or traveling.

This months questions is something for my immediate age group.

'Is university financially worth it?'

Financially, as in you might of had a great time sipping your £5 Blossom Hill wine or £1 pint for 4 yeas, but has it help your career; or left you crippled with debit in a job you could have worked up to or attained with any BA never mind your specialization.

Skype Teaching

Shoes for Darren Pt. 2

Well how about these? Bargain at a tenner.


Now stop worrying and book your tickets over here.

The Curremt Democratic Deficit and Nietzsche

After the little offers of reforms from the major parties it reminded me of the democratic studies I did at university.

Two things stick in my mind. Firstly, democracy is dependent on civil society not on political parties. Secondly democracy, in history and in practice, is never given it is always taken.

After reading Zarathustra two quotes stick in my mind.

'A right that you can seize yourself you should not let yourself be given!'.

I agree. When politicians milk the system and then promise to change it when they are caught, do not be fooled. They have not had a moral revelation and are not doing a good thing for our country by changing our system. Our democracy is a right not something we should be thankful for or have to plead for. We should take it back not wait till we are offered it.

Secondly,

'but though it is old and smells musty, therefore it is all the more honored. Antiquarian chatter still counts as wisdom.'

Did we not trust our gentry and institutions too much simply because they were traditional, noble and right honourable?

It's not enough.

Cameron It's not enough.

You can't cross a canyon in 2 steps.

That's all.

Zarathustra

'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' by Nietzsche is more like poetry or a lyrical rendition than a story.
Laced with metaphors which leave you perplexed it can be difficult to see beneath the surface. I never enjoy having to flick forward to the end notes in order to decipher what the writer is going on about. However this exercise, however frustrating, engages you with the book and increases your understanding of the writer as a whole.

Sometimes Nietzsche hammers a point home by directly addressing an issue and taking it to pieces through plain speech and a self driven philosophy. This will to power leaves you enthused with wanting to do the same thing. Other times his metaphors, similes and anecdotes tell more than an example could ever do.

I personally relate to Nietzsche in a number of ways. Yes he is polemical, arrogant in his writing, and sometimes seems in dispassionate and nihilistic. However I think this is to take Nietzsche at the extreme.

His argument that we have to grasp life now and anyone who preaches otherwise is misleading strikes home with me. His love of humankind is twisted by his continued references to herd mentality and human condition. However it seems to me that he has deep compassion for humanity, as a product of nature. The condition of being part of nature means we contain both the qualities to create and destroy. This must be overcome , become the overhuman, so we can drop the latter and keep the creativity and passion. Nietzsche notes 'if one thing is true nature also has a backside' which in context is a clear reference to nature also containing an arsehole.

I could go on but I'll leave it here. If you want to discuss or criticise leave a comment.

They then call out 'Zarathustra is Godless'

And especially their teachers of submission call this out -but in their ears I love to shout: 'Yes! I am Zarathrusta, the Godless!"

Who is more godless than I, that I might seek out his instruction'

This Time it Will Hurt the North

In my amateur analysis I would say North Korea's actions will only harm itself.

• The Obama administration opened the door and eased negotiations for aid and power supplies to North Korea. These will become more hardline, if they resume at all.
• China has distanced itself from DPRK recently and this will continue this trend.
• China is worried about mass immigration if the DPRK falls or becomes fragile. This has encouraged them to prop up Pyongyang in the past. But if the US can broker a deal. Such as financing (from DPRK assets frozen in Switzerland?) or guaranteeing taking on refugees from the north then this could be solved.
• If this test is related to internal affairs in a bid to scare away outsiders interfering in the passover of power then it has only shown the weakness of the regime. Furthermore it may have just tipped the scales in in the minds of international negotiators that the only way to solve North Korea is regime change.
• The likely hood of war is minuscule but the Chines can literally not afford a long scale/damaging war between the US and North Korrea, never mind coming in on the DPRK's side. If the US bails on the Chinese deficit then China will sink. If the dollar falls so do China's cash reserves. Blessed be trade.
  
• South Korea has no choice now but to fall in even deeper with Japan and the US. North Korea's threats of war due to Seoul's relationships with the West will now be totally ignored.
  

Downtown Daegu

Something I have meant to do for ages is share photos of downtown Daegu.

Here are a few and when I get soe better once I'll put them up too.

North Korea is Breaking My Bank

I know there are more important things but look at the change in currency rates after the North tested that bomb.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/11/40382/intraday.stm

It's osting me money!

North Korea Test Nuclear 'Bomb'

At 11am this morning I switched on the TV and it was being reported that North Korea tested a nuclear explosion within the last hour. It has now been confirmed by North Korean media that it was a nuclear test in the name of 'security deterrent'. As I write there are some fighter jets scrambling over head.

I think most South Koreans have got used to the idea of a nuclear motivated neighbour.

New Way Thinking

I like the concept of noting the division between those committed to politics and those who rely on violence. It is obvious that the Islamic faith is divided between those who use faith to justify certain religious beliefs and others who defend Sharia law, barbaric actions and primative views. Moreover some who take a literal reading of holy texts can and will use it to justify violence.

We in Britain can tolerate any viewpoint and commit ourselves to freedom of belief inside the boundaries of debate and politics. In this way we can draw a line between us, of any and no faith, who are commited to a peaceful society and those who seek to bring change through violence. This could overcome the major hurdle of where particular groups 'fit' in society. Looking at the Muslim faith in this way can also help to marginalise radical groups through open debate and deliberation of ideas.

Teachers' Day

Friday the 15th is Teachers' Day in Korea.

Parents and kids are meant to thank their teachers for hard work and dedication to them.
This was often done by giving them gifts and money. However the tradition got so out of hand because of bribery attempts by mothers that the government actual made a law making it illegal to give gifts to parents or it would be treated as an offence.

Luckily for me many of my students are adults and don't really think the law applies to them. Bring on the pressies. I managed to get a box a delicious home made brownies and 2 silk handkerchiefs. Not bad I say. I also got another strange girt which I still haven't figured out what it's for or why I would need it.

Mmmmm a delicious box of 20 homemade brownies.

?

I'm sure it will come in handy one day and was great to receive a gift regardless.

Who Would You Have Instead?

Well I am not sure if the question referred to the Euro elections, politicians in general, or the Labour party.

I'll try and write a quick answer to all three. Well I have already publicly severed my connections with Labour a few posts back. I'd still support a party headed by a coalition of David Miliband, Alan Johnson, and Jack Straw over the Osborne and Cameron club. However Labour has too many unpopular, uncredible and downright poor front benchers. I genuinely fear another Labour victory will lead to a sterile, ineffectual government whose only hope of popular governance is an appeal to xenophobia and active scare mongering. Which would most likely result in more anti-liberal laws, scape goating and preservation of the status-quo. At least if Labour came back to power the party may be so unpopular that all cash for honours and bribery may end.

We still need politicians though and I'll be voting for the party which offers the most ambitious but realistic set of reforms. In 1997 Labour ran on a reform agenda set on bringing in proportional representation and reform of the House of Lords. They have spent 11 years probing at the latter and have completely forgotten the former. Clegg, on Sunday, renewed calls for Lords reform, something which I think is greatly needed, and ordered any capital gains avoidance made from house 'flipping' and and profits from property investment to be paid back to the public. Is that change we can believe in? Maybe not, but its the most radical, realistic alternative.

In regards to Europe there are two parties i would not like to see take the seat. The SNP or the Tories (well ukip and BNP are unlikely). Labour can't be trusted the clean up their national expenses so I doubt their MEPs will be troubled much by not only Europe's SISO system or their massive public waste. That leaves us with the Greens or the Lib Dems and I don't even know who their candidates are.

Ahh, delving into minority party voting...it feels so....unprofessional.

Shoes for Darren

In my short time home last October I went shopping fro new trainers with Darren. However he was never quite satisfied with any recommendations I made. He liked arty, colorful, some would say unique, others, gay.

However I think I have found shoe heaven for Darren and I have attached photos of my recommendations.

Hope you like them mate!

A British activist for Korean Independence.

An interesting story about the 100th anniversary if Ernest Bethall, a British journalist who started Korea's first free press and was involved in the anti-colonialism movement.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BloggerMartinUden/~3/8B6O19Ai5Ts/a_british_activist_for_korean

Proxy Voting

Should I bother to find a proxy?

I can't vote in the local elections only the European elections.
It's a Labour safe seat.

However I do want to 'Throw the bastards out!'

A house of Cards

The bloggosphere is rattling with sounds of keys being smashed to the tune of 'get those rotten MPs out', 'Corrupt institution' and 'losing faith in democracy'

I am going to add my own 2 pence worth but keep it contained to what has interested me.

• Class; As Andrew Neil notes, 'class is never far beneath the surface' in British politics. While Labour MPs forage for capital gains and squander the rest of our money on bath plugs, porn and junk food. Tory MPs have been using our taxes to maintain there swimming pools, tennis courts and Georgian mansions.
  
• Transparency International rates Britain at 16th in the world. This was before the cash for honours, nepotism, extension of detention without charge including denying evidence to those who would be charged, and last weeks corruption revelations. Let's face it, we all guessed these things were going on but lets see how far we are down graded on this measure of freedom.
  
• Michael Martin has simply forgotten the Speakers role in Parliament. Not for the first time either, and lest not forget he was embroiled in his own expenses controversy over his house a few years back. He failed over protecting parliament from authoritarian governments, crumbling in front of the police and now he has completely misunderstood the public's reaction and a foundation of democracy; transparency. He has pushed his ineptness beyond party and kinship loyalty and should (eventually?) be pushed off of a very high position. But as we know the lofty never fall far and will probably land on a comfy red bench with a long, indeed, eternal shelf-life.
  
• This is the first time I have seen David Cameron take a lead on any issue since Northern Rock. He stood tall and has took a tough line. The government is now truly on the back foot and losing control of the agenda. This might be what exactly Cameron needed and hats of to a well presented speech. I don't think for a second e would have took this issue seriously if it wasn't threatening his own leads in the polls but he has handled it well.
• Reform, with every crises comes opportunity so lets hope we grab a chance to reform not only the banking sector but way of parliament too.
  

This Will Not End Well

One Criticism

Maybe it's just my fear o conglomerates or my left wing history but it seems sport in Korea is dominated by big business and sponsorship.

What's great is that Korean's love their sport, maybe to watch more then play, but their is no doubt the variety and interest in sports and activities in Korea makes the UK seem like a bunch of couch potatoes who only eat one flavour of crisps. Turn on the TV an not only will you catch the latest Korean soccer league games but also the English and Spanish headlining matches. Turn over a few channels and you'll find every sport from hand ball, to ice skating , coupled with UFC and Tae kwon do matches. Even females get a look in with sports from bowling to golf. It really is surprising the variety and the multiplicity of Korean sports channels.

I only have one criticism. When ever you mention a team in the UK it is usually by its place name. Such as "Man City' 'Newcastle' or with the team name like 'Celtic', 'Villa', 'Spurs'. These names, seem to me a least, to echo a connection with the area and a history of dedication to the sport coupled with historical roots. However every team in Korea goes by a company name rather than a place or title. As I mentioned earlier 'Samsung Lions' are Daegu's team. However this is mostly boiled down to just Samsung and for every other town and city they are known by their sponsor whether it be 'Hyundae' 'Ooori' or 'LG'. It's not just baseball it's every other sport too and it's always the same companies. So in the volleyball league there is a Samsung team but this time they represent Seoul and in Basketball they will be the main title for another sports club. It's all very confusing and I wonder how much these companies get out of it. It's so ingrained, it seems to me, that Daegu would rather drop the Lion before Samsung.

Maybe it's all just a financial aid to the teams and I'm just a grumpy old lefty but it just seems unfamiliar having a powerful symbol of one's allegiance reduced to a generic brand name which is chosen through purchasing power.

My First Baseball Match

I never thought I would ever go to a baseball game, least of all in Korea, but they just love it here.

It was a blistering 32 degrees and I had already agreed to go and see the baseball with a Canadian friend. It turned out to be a pretty big game. Daegu's Samsung Lions versus LG Seoul.

My first impression was mild disappointment. Not only was the stadium pretty small for a guy used to a regular 60,000 attendance at his local football game, a mere 10,000 here, but also the size of the field was pathetic. Whenever I caught a glimpse of baseball on American or Korean TV I thought the field was huge, at least the length of a football pitch. Instead it looked like I could hit a 'Homer' given the right 'pitch'.

It was filled to the max however. The atmosphere was of festivity and it seemed like a mix between a family day out and a drinking competition. Now this I could enjoy. I stocked up on some nice cold beer and sat in the sun listening to the intricacies of baseball being explained to me by an avid fan. It was actually pretty interesting. So much so that I enjoyed watching it. It's a sport were you spend most of the time sitting, drinking and talking. Occasionally paying attention when the bases are 'loaded' or a star player is about to bat. Which for Daegu was a 39 year old playboy / fan favourite who seemed to just 'bunt' the ball and woddle off.

Between all of the 'innings', whatever they are!?! There were drinking, dancing and kissing competitions where people made a fool of themselves for a chance to be on the big screen. This is pretty unusual and you can't even bring a beer into a stadium back home never mind hosting a down-in-one competition sponsored by that teenagers' favourite boy band 'Big bang'.


I was asked about cricket and I did my best to explain the rules but politely stated that cricket was about as popular in Scotland as Thatcher. That didn't clear things up much.