Stuff I've learned/observed/experienced

I've been back in Korea for a little more than a week. Here's some random stuff.

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If there's a line forming, then stand it. You won't regret it even if you don't want to be in the line. You never know when an entire elementary school of kids may show up. A colleague of mine who didn't take my advice dallied about for a few minutes. Suddenly, a million Korean kids showed up. He got back in line, but far enough that I needed binoculars to see him. Thankfully, the lines in Korea go quickly, so he ate about 15 minutes after I did.

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My favorite sandwich shop opens at 10 a.m. I learned that a few days ago at 8:30 a.m., after walking 15 minutes out of the way to eat there.

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I saw one of the directors at my job wearing a mask over his nose and mouth. Does he know something I don't know?

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As a foreigner in Korea, I often must trust the Koreans around me. My colleagues helped me set up my bank account. I was standing there, with my documents out in the open for anyone, along with my allegedly secret password that seemed to be available for public information.

People show up at my apartment saying they need to take me somewhere. I do ask them questions about who they are just to confirm that I'm not being shipped off to China.

I should blog more often just so someone will notice if I have gone missing.

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It snowed a lot a few days ago. It snowed the day after I arrived. Before I left D.C. I was slip sliding around in 16 inches of snow.

I hate snow. But I already knew that.

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There is occasionally miscommunication between Koreans and non-Koreans. The more I understand Korean, the more I see that there is plenty of miscommunication between Koreans, too.

That would be fine if it didn't involve me. But I had another example...a manager rushed to me, saying I had to be at the main office at 4:40 p.m. today. At about 5:10, after I asked many times in Korean and English why I needed to be there, the manager apologized that I didn't need to be there.

I knew that, too.

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Drivers can run red lights here at small intersections, as long as there are not pedestrians present, and as long as there aren't other cars speeding through the green light. Unfortunately, jaywalking is also rampant, meaning bad things happen at some intersections at which both drivers and pedestrians don't pay attention to signs and lights.

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The ATM machine I went to earlier today was bilingual (Korean and English). There may have been other languages, I forgot to check.

I was just happy to be able to do stuff with my money in English. I hate guessing, wondering if the button I'm pushing means that I'm transferring my money to someone else's account.

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A bad thing about banks here...a Korean friend of mine told me earlier today that they charge customers a fee for withdrawing money from an ATM. That's even when the bank is closed and you don't have an option to go directly to a live teller.

If there's a user fee, it should be for seeing a live person, not an ATM machine that is available 24/7.

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Not every Korean is generous. The guy who picked me up at the airport not only did not offer me and the other pickup anything to eat, but he also proceeded to eat a Korean snack as he drove. He was munching away.

He did arrange for food later before we stopped for the night at a remote location. He dropped us off at a 7-11.

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GPS machines in Korea warn drivers when they have gone several kilometers over the speed limit in an area with speed cameras. The damn sound can get so loud that you slow down just to shut it up. In comparison, radar detectors in America are almost always illegal. I guess the point here is really to get people to stop speeding, not to collect money for the city.

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I also love the gas stations over here. Stopped at one with a colleague a few days ago. Apparently every gas station in South Korea is full-service. I've never seen customers pump their own gas.

The receipt shows customers that 10% of the money collected was a tax.

They serve canned coffee at some gas stations. Of course, the coffee snobs won't like that.

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Drivers in Seoul are bad. I hate them.

The only thing I hate more than the drivers in Seoul are the drivers outside of Seoul.

CJL

linked by Booker Rising,

Update: Thomas Sowell was interviewed by Walter E. Williams on the show. I'll listen to it and mention their main points.

"Yoegi Anjuseyo!"

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Rich talking back

The rich are talked about very often in negative terms, but how often do the rich respond in kind? Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, who inherited most of her money but apparently has also done very well with it, recently railed against class warfare and had some advice for the non-rich : "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working." She complained about politicians raising taxes, regulations that slow investment, and other anti-business policies that harm the poor. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."

2020-11-26 My basketball story

This photo was uploaded today by my aunt Annette. This was back in the day, when 1) I had a head full of hair and 2) played basketball a lot. That first year of playing organized basketball, I focused on playing defense. It seemed that everyone wanted to shoot the ball, so I passed the ball and played defense. I probably led the league in steals, rebounds and blocked shots. I enjoyed taking on the best player from the other team, I felt like I would get better, quickly. The second year, I was a different player. I will never forget the first game that second year--we lost 29 to 26, I scored 18 points. I probably led the universe in scoring that second year, although we didn't win much. One thing I learned from that experience is that one great player 9 (at least in his own mind) can't beat a team. An eye injury ended my pro career before it began, to this day I still have floaters in my eyes because of the injury. I started wearing glasses, but the problem never went away. On t...

2020-07-24 Pandemic Tutoring

The question comes in various forms, as a request, a recommendation, a plea, an insinuation, an accusation, and sometimes (or most of the time) it is a demand and complaint at the same time. In my in-box yesterday: "And I wanted to know if TNKR also transitioned to online services as any other educational institutions globally under the pandemic." This was from a previous volunteer who is now in the USA, so I took more time to answer him, and will expand it now so I can share it with others asking. As context, TNKR started in 2013 as an informal volunteer group connecting North Korean refugees with volunteer tutors. In 2016, we became an official organization despite lacking funding. Mainly because we have limited resources we keep focused on our main mission, but try to expand based on the needs of North Korean refugee learners. We have developed a learner-centered organization that has a great reputation among North Korean refugees. That means we are not a social club or re...

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Yesterday I attended a discussion with writer Michael Breen, hosted by Barry Welsh. Very often, when I attend a speech or discussion about a topic I know a lot about, I often think about ways the speaker/facilitator/discussant could have done better. But I didn't feel that way about Breen, it was one of those times that I really felt like I had a lot to learn and should listen more than talk. He's been in Korea for three decades, working as a reporter, commentator, communications specialist. He reminds me of Andrei Lankov in that his analysis seems to be based on observation of how things work rather than trying to get the world to fit his biases. I don't know him, so his friends may say he is a raging ideologue, but that's not the impression I had yesterday and based on his writings. Michael Breen (L) and Casey Lartigue I first read his book The Koreans about a decade ago. It was a delightful read, that was both warm to Koreans but also critical at times. Yes...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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