THE ANSWER IS 12
#227 Yellow Dust Off...Welcome to the Show...
2/16/10The first semester of Korea's school year is well under way (I'm one day from finishing week four). It's a strange new year with several changes, none of them good. Unfortunately, that's par for the course here. I've been swamped trying to keep up with two of my final three classes for my MSEd. I've got one month to do three homework assignments (two of them already late), one short paper, two major project papers, and two tests. I am not looking forward to April, although I'm pumped for May! It seems that as of late there has been an exodus of sorts as many of my friends have left Korea. That is finally beginning to turnaround with the return of Eric, Pump and now Timber.
By the Numbers...
26 : The number, in millions, of Americans who eat McDonald's every day. 14,000 : The number of McDonald's in the U.S.
33 : Percentage of South Koreans who answered incorrectly on a recent survey when asked what year the Korean War started.
1 : The number of cities in 1800 with a population of one million or more people (Beijing).
381 : The number of cities in 2010 with a population of one million or more people.
10 : The number (in billions) of songs sold on iTunes as of Feb. 24. The 10 billionth was Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way."
5-4 : Decision of Korea's Constitutional Court to uphold the death penalty. Good for them!
10.4 : Population (in millions) of Seoul (17ish if you include the burbs).
26,000 : Population of registered foreigners in Seoul.
7.2 : Number (in millions) of average daily subway users in Seoul.
4.6 : Number (in millions) of average daily bus users in Seoul.
2.9 : Number (in millions) of registered vehicles in Seoul.
3.59 : Average salary (in millions of KRW) of the average Seoul resident.
4 : Average cost (in millions of KRW) for a semester's tuition in Seoul-based universities.
40 : Average bus fare (in KRW) in Seoul in 1977.
30 : Average subway fare (in KRW) in Seoul in 1974.
1,000 : Average bus and subway fare (in KRW) in Seoul today (the decrease comes from all the elderly and children).
120 : Average cost (in KRW) of a bottle of soju in 1975.
1,200 : Average cost (in KRW) of a bottle of soju today.
70 : Percentage of Korean words originating from Chinese characters.
1,017 : Number of sex crimes committed against children under the age of 12 in Korea in 2009.
4,110 : Current minimum wage (in KRW) in Korea.
10,322 : Number of people who received Ph.D.s from Korean universities in 2009, the first time the country has surpassed 10,000.
1,494 : Number of Koreans waiting for hearings in U.S. federal immigration courts nationwide. This is a tiny number considered that even Korea has admitted to more than 150,000 illegal Korean aliens living in the Los Angeles area alone.
1.7 : Estimated amount (in trillions of US dollars) by economist Charles Wolf at the Rand Corporation of the cost of a North-South Korean reunification.
930 : Amount (in billions of US dollars) of South Korea's 2009 GDP.
1,600 : Number of Korean restaurants in the U.S.
2,032 : Number of Korean restaurants in China.
293 : Number of Korean restaurants in the U.S. with chefs holding a Korean cooking certificate (18%).
204 : Number of Korean restaurants in China with chefs holding a Korean cooking certificate (10%).
86.2 : Amount (in billions of KRW) Koreans spent on the impotency treatment market (erectile dysfunction) in 2009.
More People Getting What They Deserve...
2/25/10
They are called "killer" whales for a reason. And Dawn Brancheau died at the Orlando SeaWorld for her failure to understand this concept. Tilikum grabbed Brancheau by the wrist towards the end of a noontime show and dragged her into the water. He thrashed her around hard enough that one of her shoes flew off. Authorities don't know yet if she died by drowning or by being thrashed about. "You can't put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you," Brancheau once said. I'm guessing they had some trust issues.
Three guys left KNU during the break, two from my department and one from the other English department (there was only two to begin with). I expected one of ours to leave, but the other two came as a surprise. We didn't replace any of them, so everybody took one overtime class.
KNU's president had one of our head teachers (a Korean woman) do an impromptu translation of his speech for us at our big school meeting. This meeting marks my 14th semester and the first time the school has made any effort whatsoever to clue us in on these meetings. She only did it for the president's speech. Ignorance was bliss. He had nothing but gloom and doom for us. Between her mousy voice and sketchy English, it was difficult to understand everything she translated, but what we did understand was all gloom and doom.
KNU froze tuition for a second year. I didn't know that we'd frozen it last year. Not being one of the higher-ranking universities means that we had to find some way to compete with the quality schools. As a private school, KNU has more control over its tuition.
The president used his speech to tell us how bad off our school was and to ask all the professors to make themselves more available to their students and to make greater efforts to befriend their students.
"Satan's mentally challenged younger brother," Stephen King describing infamous fear monger and all-around nut-job, Glenn Beck.
Korea has strengthened its immigration rules concerning sex crimes. Foreigners with a sex crime conviction from their home country will be denied entry into Korea, foreigners who commit them here will be deported and permanently banned from reentry, and foreigners convicted of sex crimes in a country other than their home country will also be denied entry. The National Police Agency has reported an 11 percent increase in the number of rapes committed by foreigners between 2008 and 2009. Before this change, foreigners convicted of sex crimes could reenter after a five-year waiting period. These regulations began last month and have already seen two foreigners deported and banned for past sex crimes.
My former employer, Daewon Foreign Language High School, has made the news again. A DFLHS student's parent has blown the whistle and claimed that the nation's top private foreign language high school collected 400,000 KRW from each student's parents in 2007 to purchase meals and gifts for teachers, for summer break bonuses for teachers and for "allowances" for principals and vice-principals. The Korea Times reported that this totaled 870 million KRW ($770,000). None of that ever found its way to the foreign staff while I was there. The parent has account books showing three year's worth of records of the donations from his/her time as a member on the school's parents' council member. Daewon's teachers and officials denied the existence of a parents' council. I still remember having conversations with a teacher and many of Daewon's students about the bribes they gave teachers for grades.
New Semester, Some Same Old Sh*t
And Some New Old Sh*t...
And Some New Old Sh*t...
3/8/10
I am about to finish the last class of the first week of the first semester of the 2010 Korean school year. Yes, this semester begins on a Tuesday and ends on a Monday. I don't care for these semesters. It's a mind screw to have a weekend separating the beginnings and endings of each week. Three guys left KNU during the break, two from my department and one from the other English department (there was only two to begin with). I expected one of ours to leave, but the other two came as a surprise. We didn't replace any of them, so everybody took one overtime class.
KNU's president had one of our head teachers (a Korean woman) do an impromptu translation of his speech for us at our big school meeting. This meeting marks my 14th semester and the first time the school has made any effort whatsoever to clue us in on these meetings. She only did it for the president's speech. Ignorance was bliss. He had nothing but gloom and doom for us. Between her mousy voice and sketchy English, it was difficult to understand everything she translated, but what we did understand was all gloom and doom.
KNU froze tuition for a second year. I didn't know that we'd frozen it last year. Not being one of the higher-ranking universities means that we had to find some way to compete with the quality schools. As a private school, KNU has more control over its tuition.
The president used his speech to tell us how bad off our school was and to ask all the professors to make themselves more available to their students and to make greater efforts to befriend their students.
Down with the Clown...
3/10/10
Wow. People are stupid. I know I say it enough that it's almost become a mantra for me, but damn, people are stupid. "Nightline" did a segment on the Insane Clown Posse, Psychopathic Records and the Juggalos this week. A couple of recent murders committed by fake-arse Juggahos and last week's episode of "Law & Order" prompted them to sensationalize the world's biggest underground band and label. According to the segment, Arizona, Utah and Monroe County, Pennsylvania have classified Juggalos as a gang. Wow. I'm in a gang in two states and a county of butter churners. Wow. Quote of the Week...
3/16/10 "Satan's mentally challenged younger brother," Stephen King describing infamous fear monger and all-around nut-job, Glenn Beck.
Rape Rules...
3/21/10Korea has strengthened its immigration rules concerning sex crimes. Foreigners with a sex crime conviction from their home country will be denied entry into Korea, foreigners who commit them here will be deported and permanently banned from reentry, and foreigners convicted of sex crimes in a country other than their home country will also be denied entry. The National Police Agency has reported an 11 percent increase in the number of rapes committed by foreigners between 2008 and 2009. Before this change, foreigners convicted of sex crimes could reenter after a five-year waiting period. These regulations began last month and have already seen two foreigners deported and banned for past sex crimes.
Some Things Never Change...
3/26/10 My former employer, Daewon Foreign Language High School, has made the news again. A DFLHS student's parent has blown the whistle and claimed that the nation's top private foreign language high school collected 400,000 KRW from each student's parents in 2007 to purchase meals and gifts for teachers, for summer break bonuses for teachers and for "allowances" for principals and vice-principals. The Korea Times reported that this totaled 870 million KRW ($770,000). None of that ever found its way to the foreign staff while I was there. The parent has account books showing three year's worth of records of the donations from his/her time as a member on the school's parents' council member. Daewon's teachers and officials denied the existence of a parents' council. I still remember having conversations with a teacher and many of Daewon's students about the bribes they gave teachers for grades.
