Korea
Class Loss
Mar 7th
When I used to teach English at institutes here in Korea, I generally was allowed only one week of vacation in a year. The worst part was that there was no choice as to when I could take it. The school would shut down for a week in the summer and all employees were then considered to be on vacation. So when I went freelance, one of the things I was looking forward to was the freedom to take my vacations as I please. In reality, it doesn’t quite work that way.
Taking a two- or three-day trip now and again isn’t an issue. But anything longer can become problematic. I have a set of what I consider core classes that I have been teaching for a year or more (I’ve been teaching members of one particular family for around 8 years). I have great relationships with the people involved in those classes, so if I tell them I plan to take two or three weeks to visit my hometown, they have no problem with it. My agent is cool about it too, as are the class members I have through him (whom I’ve been teaching now for over three years). The problem arises with the other classes.
At any given time, I’ll have one or more classes which are relatively new. While I may be on good terms with the people involved, it takes time to establish a strong relationship. Especially so when the people managing the class aren’t the students (as in the case of parents). If I take off for two or three weeks, there’s a risk of losing these classes. My job performance is irrelevant. They haven’t been with me long enough to feel any sense of loyalty toward me. If something interesting comes up while I’m gone, my class is expendable.
True, classes cancel now and again even while I’m not away. I’ve posted before how my schedule goes through cycles. But it’s a given that any time I take an extended vacation, I can expect to lose one or more classes upon my return. This is based on experience. And last month’s trip to the States was no exception.
I returned to Korea last Wednesday. By Friday, I had lost three classes. One I had started teaching in January and was supposed to continue until April. They didn’t bother to inform me that the class was canceled. I had to hear it from the housekeeper when I showed up at their door Friday morning. No big deal, since it was a temporary class anyway. I was asked to take a “break” with two other classes (one I’d been teaching for around five months and the other for four). Usually that means I’ll never hear from them again. I won’t hold my breath, anyway.
In all, my monthly income is down by around $1000 USD. That bites, as it means I have to curb my spending a good deal in order to meet my monthly savings target. New classes always come along eventually, but deciding whether and when to take a trip to the States is never easy.
Large vs. Large
Mar 5th
Every time that I go back to the States, I’m often amazed by the amount of food served at some restaurants. On this last trip, the wife and I visited a BBQ place for lunch. They gave us so much that we ate it for dinner also and were stuffed after both meals. We took my mother to a Korean restaurant. The servings there were double the size we would have expected in Korea. No wonder so many Americans are overweight.
The biggest surprise came when I ordered a large smoothie at Smoothie King. In Korea, a large at Smoothie King is roughly 20 ozs., the same size as a small in the US, where a large is 40. I like me some smoothies, but that was just way too much. I made the same mistake at Dairy Queen one day when I ordered a large malt. Never again. Americans really need to wake up. Quantity is just as important as quality when it comes to food, and Americans are eating too much.
I took a shot of the Korean Smoothie King cups this morning. Unfortunately, I have no pics from the US for comparison.
Taco Bell in Korea
Mar 4th
I knew of two Taco Bell locations in Seoul in the early 90s, but they were gone by ‘94. I guess Korea wasn’t ready for it.
In ‘99, a Taco Bell opened up on the main US army base in Seoul about a month before I quit the part-time job that gave me base access. So the only way for me to get it was to ask someone who could go on base, which is something I don’t like to do.
These days there are several Mexican restaurants in Seoul (Tex-Mex, or Ko-Mex). Looks like Taco Bell is ready to try again. I saw this in Itaewon today:
My iPhone?
Feb 9th
I have a shiny, new iPhone sitting on my desk, still cradled in its box. A complimentary case is parked right next to it, package unopened. The reason being that I don’t yet know if I get to keep it.
After all of the rumors, confusion, and misinformation around about foreigners buying iPhones in Korea (some of which I wrote about here), it turned out that my particular problem was quite simple. After having been told, I thought, by one shop that KT was in the middle of upgrading their system and no foreigners would be able to buy a new iPhone until Feb. 1st, I read on a blog post somewhere that a guy had just gotten one early in the last week of January. He also went on to mention that the policy had apparently changed again. As an F-4 visa holder, he was supposed to have been eligible for the 24-month payment plan, but found he was forced to pay for the whole thing up front, thereby losing the subsidy. He hinted that this was true for all F-series visa holders (and I can’t, unfortunately, find the post now to link to it). A bit miffed, I stopped at a different shop later that day en route to one of my classes to inquire.
The first thing I wanted to know was whether or not foreigners could, at that time, buy an iPhone. When that was answered in the affirmative, I then wanted to know if I was eligible for the 24-month plan. That came back in the negative. I asked if this was a new policy of KT, that all foreigners were required to pay upfront, regardless of visa status. The clerk had no idea, but gave me a KT customer support number to call and find out. Not trusting my Korean enough to discuss a topic like this over the phone, I handed the number off to my brother-in-law when I got home that evening.
After running around in circles for several minutes with the customer service rep, he was referred to an insurance company. That was a bit of a surprise. It turns out that every time someone signs up for a 24-month plan with any telecom in Korea, that plan is insured. I don’t know the details of the insurance, or which company it is. Furthermore, there are limits on how many simultaneous active payment plans any individual can have. For Koreans, this is three or four. For foreigners, it’s two. If you are at the limit, you have to pay the full amount upfront for any cell phone service plan you want to purchase. Only after you have paid off one of the 24-month plans can you sign up for another.
Eureka! I finally understood my problem. Back in August, I lost my Samsung Haptic 2 cell phone and bought a new Samsung Amoled. Both were on 24-month plans, and I’d only had the Haptic 2 for just over 8 months when I lost it. So I was unable to sign up for a 24-month iPhone plan because I was already paying for two plans, the maximum for a foreigner. Given that the iPhone plan I wanted (called the iPremium, which includes 800 minutes of phone time, 300 text messages, and 3GB of data transfer) is quite pricey, one of the two plans needed to be paid off. Given that there was only 300,000 won (just under $300US) remaining on the Haptic 2, over 400,000 won less than the Amoled, it was a no-brainer.
So, today, I had a little time between exercise with the trainer and my scaling appointment with a local dentist. So I headed on over to a cell phone agent I’d dealt with a few times before. He’s one of the multi-telecom agents that works with SK, KT, and LG. I explained the situation, paid off my Haptic (which was with SK), did all the necessary paperwork to sign up with with KT (exclusive iPhone dealer) and transfer my phone number from my Amoled (also with SK). Then I paid the 30,000 won service fee all new telecom customers have to pay (if I later get another phone with KT, I won’t need to pay that fee), and all was ready to go. The agent said it would take a while to process, as KT was pretty overloaded these days. So he put everything in a bag and asked me to give him a call later to see if everything was set up. At that point, I’d be able to hook up with iTunes and start making phone calls.
Two hours later, after I had left the dentist’s office and was on my way to teach my evening class, I was still getting messages and phone calls on my Amoled. Not a good sign. Two hours later still, the Amoled was still working. On my way home, I dropped by the shop to find out what was going on. For whatever reason (time of month, normal procedure, or whatnot), the payment I made on the old Haptic 2 hadn’t yet registered with the insurance database. So I was still precluded from signing up for the 24-month plan. The agent had called around and learned that all should be well tomorrow. So, he would try to get me in the system again and I should give a call to find out if all went well.
At this moment, it’s just after 6 am the next day (I am such a slow typist, I’ve been working on this post for over 20 minutes). The iPhone is sitting there, powered off, beckoning me. Will it still be in my possession at the end of the day? Will it be functioning? I really don’t know. My fingers are crossed, but I’m not counting on it. I’m really expecting that there will be another hitch and that I’ll have to wait longer. I should find out in about six or seven hours, before or after I hit the gym. Wish me luck 
Chicago
Jan 27th
Back in the late 90’s, a girl K-Pop group call Fin.K.L came into popularity. All four members were quite young, but one in particular, Ock Joo Hyun, had an amazing, powerful voice. Since the group disbanded, Lee Hyori has been most prominently, and most consistently, in the limelight. Given that I mostly keep up with the K-Pop scene through my students, I forgot about the rest of the group. Then, a couple of years ago, I saw an advertisement for the musical Chicago, starring, among others, Ock Joo Hyun.
I had already seen one Korean production of Chicago, back in 2002, but I thought it would be interesting to see Ock perform, given that I loved her voice. What I didn’t realize is that she had already been performing in Aida and Cats, two musicals I had thought about seeing, but, as usual, never got around to. Since I saw that ad in 2007, the same production of Chicago has had two one-month runs per year. Each time, I considered going to see it but never did. Last year, Ock also starred in 42nd Street (here’s an article about it) , another musical I thought I’d like to see. And didn’t.
Given that I quit smoking nearly seven years ago, that I drink very rarely these days, and that I’ve lost a good deal of weight and regularly exercise, my New Year’s Resolution for 2010 was not one of self-improvement, but one for more varied entertainment. I’m resolved to see more concerts and musicals. Since the end of December, I’ve seen two concerts (Lenka and Green Day) and, as of last Saturday, one musical. Chicago is playing once again with Ock Joo Hyun as Roxie.
She has certainly come a long way since her Fin.K.L. days. Now 29 years old (31 by Korean reckoning) she has matured as an entertainer. These days, it’s not just her voice that is spectacular. Her overall performance was enchanting. Her version of Roxie is a combination of silly, sexy and funny. I particularly enjoyed the ventriloquist scene. Unfortunately, their weren’t many opportunities for her to bring the house down with her full vocal power, but her voice was great, nonetheless. I don’t want to slight the other performers. The whole production was well done and quite polished. But I went specifically to see Ock Joo Hyun, so she’s the one I focused on through the show.
Aida is opening again in April. I don’t know yet if Ock will be in this production. I’ll go see it, regardless, but I’m hoping she is. If you haven’t seen her in Chicago yet, this run lasts for another week, I believe. I expect it will open again in the summer, but I recommend seeing it while you can.
Green Day in Seoul
Jan 24th
I wanted to post about this sooner, but a dead power supply and a lack of time to buy a replacement kept me offline for a few days.
Green Day came to Seoul last Monday (Jan 18). I didn’t hesitate to get tickets. I’ve been a Green Day fan since Dookie, though I still don’t have all of their albums. Without doubt, it was the best concert I have ever seen. It was nonstop energy from the first riff. They had audience members up on stage singing (who did surprisingly well, given that English is not their native language) then stage-diving back into the crowd. And there was a good bit of humor mixed in as well.
Someone has posted the setlist online. If you follow through the list, you’ll see they deviated from their own material a bit and goofed around with some other stuff, like Iron Man and Highway to Hell (though they didn’t play the complete songs). The King For A Day / Shout / Love Me Tender / Satisfaction / Hey Jude medley was a lot of fun, with the band donning different hats (and a bra, in the case of Tre Cool) and the bits after Shout played lying on their backs. The first encore continued to rock, but then everyone except Billy Joe Armstrong cleared the stage for the second encore. He played the last three songs solo, on an acoustic guitar (though the band did come in on the last third of Last Night on Earth). A nice end to an electrifying show.
I’ve been to a few rock concerts in my time, some big name and many not. There’s a noticeable difference between those who really love what they do and those who are in it for the fame and fortune (or just don’t care either way). With Green Day, it’s quite obvious that they belong to the former group. These guys know how to work the crowd. They’re funny. They have boundless energy that keeps the crowd going. And they make spectacular music. If I ever have the opportunity to see them again, I’m there.
iPhones for Foreigners From February
Jan 10th
Last Tuesday I attempted to buy an iPhone in Seoul and failed. Even though I have an F-5 visa which, according to information released by Korea Telecom, makes me eligible to be treated the same as a Korean (and well it should, given that this visa even allows me to stand in the line for Korean citizens at the airport immigration checkpoint), the system wouldn’t accept my ID card number. The agent I was dealing with was at a loss to explain why.
On Friday, I tried again at a different place. There, I learned what the problem was. From the beginning of January, KT began to upgrade its system to better accommodate accepting foreign customers. Until the upgrade is complete, no foreigners can get an iPhone, regardless of their eligibility. The current projected date of completion is February 1.
This is good news. The other telecoms upgraded long ago, but KT has been a stubborn holdout. And given the tone of a KT rep in an article I read just a week ago, it seemed the massive number of complaints they’d received from foreigners wasn’t having any effect on their policy. I’m hoping that this upgrade indicates they are relaxing their requirements like SK and LGT did years ago.
Two weeks without my iPod so far. I suppose I can hang on for three more!
iPhones For Foreigners in Korea
Jan 4th
There’s an article up at the Joognang Daily that describes the difficulties foreigners have in getting an iPhone in Korea. The release of the device here has highlighted KT’s abhorrent policies more than any other product. In most cases, foreigners I know with cell phones registered in their name (myself included) opt for SK or LG. Since the big reform a few years back, they have been sensible about their attitude toward foreigners. KT has not. And in this case, KT is the only choice for an iPhone. This article shows the problem well, which is really summed up in the last line:
[A KT official] emphasized, however, that the regulations regarding foreign customers are not particularly strict compared to other countries.
That’s probably true when comparing with countries in which foreigners can’t get cell phones at all. But, come on. How can you tell someone your regulations “aren’t particularly strict” while denying them service?
In my case, at least, it seems I qualify under KT’s current policy since I have an F-5 visa, something I was confident of but hadn’t actually inquired about yet. So, barring no ridiculous issues, I’ll try to pick one up later this week. I really don’t want to give my money to a backwards company like KT until they change their policies, but my desire for an iPhone trumps my moral principles this time.
I’ve Lost the Touch
Jan 1st
It seems 2009 was, for me, the Year of Lost Devices. In early August, I lost my 8-month-old cell phone. In October, I threw my two-year-old iPod Classic in the washing machine. I still have the cell phone that I bought to replace the lost one, thankfully. But to close out 2009 on a low note, the iPod Touch that I bought in October is no longer in my possession. I managed to lose it when out with some friends a couple of nights ago. The frustrating thing is that I remember clearly where I left it. It was gone, of course, when I went back to get it. Farewell, my iPod Touch. I hardly knew ye.
So, in looking for a bright side, I’m seeing this as a good time to get an iPhone 3Gs. They are considerably more expensive here in Korea than they are in the States, coming in three price levels depending on how much free data transfer you want for internet service (1GB, 2GB, or 3GB). I’m also not sure if both the 16GB and 32GB models are available. I may need to reconsider if the 16GB is my only option. I had already surpassed 16GB on the iPod, and deciding what to cut out won’t be easy. There’s also the problem of dealing with KTF, the most foreigner-unfriendly mobile carrier in Korea.
Anyway, if I do decide to get it, I’ll give my current phone to my brother-in-law and let him take over payments on it. Those payments still include the price of the phone I lost, so I’ll need to pay it off the remainder so he doesn’t have to (both phones were just shy of $1000 US, and I was paying for them on 24-month plans as part of my monthly phone bill). So I’ll look into this next week. My only concern is that I’ve heard that the batteries drain very quickly. Given how often I listen to music when I’m commuting between classes, that’s not a good thing.
Race in Korea
Nov 3rd
The Metropolitician has a post up describing a racial incident he experienced, reinforcing the theme of a recent NYT article on race in Korea. He writes,
Just this past weekend, when a friend of mine who is the global HR director for an international firm was here visiting the Korea branch, along with her younger sister, a lawyer from LA, in tow, I was joking about how I always avoid the subway, and try not to violate my own rules from “Tips to Avoid Being Assaulted in Korea” post. The two sisters happen to be Korean American, by the way.
Lo and behold, we were sneered at by most of the passengers and yelled at by the bus driver for speaking English in a perfectly normal tone of voice. Such derision isn’t given to the irritatingly loud students or irritating [older women] yelling into the phone; basically, English “sounds” louder and more irritating. Sure, I’m no saint — when people speak Cantonese or Thai in the Midwest, people stare. But we’ve had enough training in tolerance — and use a bit more common sense — to not constantly attack them for it.
Which is what happened when we got on for literally 2 stops, as we traveled from Kangnam to Samsung Station. The Korean American two sisters and their two Korean cousins and I are literally discussing which exit to use and other directions-related stuff when an [older man] yells for us to “shut up!” My older friend looks at him like he’s crazy, but I calm her down. From her perspective, she’s an American-educated corporate executive, not used to being pushed around or swallowing a public insult, especially for doing something no worse than anyone else in the extremely noisy subway car was doing — talking in a normal tone of voice.
Given that he’s not a white guy, this doesn’t surprise me at all. Over the years, I’ve heard accounts of similar incidents from non-whites on more than one occasion. And how do whites often react when they hear this sort of news?
I also wonder whether certain white folks can stop the implied victim blaming when they puzzledly point out, “Well, I never had a problem.”
Well, that’s YOU, white man. Good ON ya.
He’s right. As a white guy, I can say we’ve got it good in Korea these days. There’s the occasional dirty look, but they’re quite rare. I can attest, though, that it wasn’t always that way. It’s only recently, in the past few years, that I’ve noticed a change. In the 18 years I’ve been here, the country has changed dramatically. But I can list a number of incidents involving racially motivated attacks against whites through the 90s and early into this decade. I experienced them myself. And I can never forget, when I was still in the dating game, the dirty looks, sneers and hostile language directed at me and my date as we simply went about minding our own business.
I recall once walking up to Seoul Tower with a Korean American woman, Cindy, I was dating not long before I met my wife. In those days, I couldn’t speak Korean well at all. Three college-aged guys were walking behind us, talking to each other in disgusted tones. Later, Cindy told me they had been talking trash about her, saying that only whores and ugly bitches date white guys. All intentionally so that she could hear it. Another time, around 2002 or so, I was with some friends at a bar in Chongno, just after Christmas. Two Americans, one Canadian, one Australian, and a couple of Korean women. A group of guys at the next table were talking trash, yelling, “Yankee go home!”, a phrase usually directed at soldiers. And when I was a soldier, I can’t count the number of times I encountered drunk guys cursing me out in Korean, interspersed with the occasional,”Puck you!” One or more of his friends would have cooler heads and work to turn him around while apologizing to me.
Those sort of situations were harmless, but common. Other people experienced more serious incidents. In the early 90s, a high ranking enlisted soldier with over 20 years in the Army was beaten to death with a weight bar. A couple of Korean guys passing in a car saw him walking down the sidewalk with a younger Korean woman. So one of them jumped out in a rage and murdered him. In the mid-90s, a young American man and his young Korean wife, who was several months pregnant, were attacked by several young men in front of the main US military compound in Seoul while waiting for a taxi. The men repeatedly kicked the woman in the stomach, causing her to lose her baby. Around the same time, an American soldier got into a scuffle on the subway with a couple of older Korean men. One of the men had called the wife a whore. The two got into a verbal argument which ended with the man slapping the wife. The soldier did what any husband would and punched the guy. In the end, it was the soldier who was convicted of assault based on the testimony of witnesses*.
I have so many more stories like that. Most relatively mild, some quite severe. Granted, many of them involve soldiers. But there are plenty that don’t. The most severe ones, which resulted in the death of a foreigner, never made the front page news. But any time a foreigner, especially a soldier, murdered or raped a Korean it was all over the papers. And some of my students would bring it up to me in class, asking me why soldiers committed so many crimes. When I asked their opinion on the other cases, where a foreigner was the victim, they had never heard of it. White soldiers still have it worse off than other whites, but even with short hair these days I don’t get the issues I used to in the years after I left the Army.
So to my fellow whites in Korea, yeah, you’ve got it really good now. And if you’ve only been here for a few years, you very likely have no frame of reference for what the others races are experiencing every time they go to a crowded place with a Korean woman, or get on a bus or subway train. So the next time you hear one of these stories, don’t make like it’s too absurd to be true, or that it’s somehow the victim’s fault. It’s real. Hopefully though, with time, the situation will improve as the generations move on.
* To clarify, most of the witnesses testified that the wife slapped the man. The couple’s accompanying friends and at least one Korean witness testified to the opposite.
