Korea Life Blog - Copy Cats in the Land of Sameness

I wouldn't recognize this myself because my Korean is not so good. I'm actually surprised this kind of blatant copying exists. I wonder how many more examples are out there.

In the words of the reader who sent these photos to me:

"A lot of Korean store signs really cracked me up. Even two stores side by side on the very same street tried to copy-cat each other. The difference is very subtle and it is really obvious that one tried to copy-cat the other's sign.

If you look at the first pic, you will see the two signs, 'Eating galbi while standing' and 'Eating galbi while sitting'. The second and third pics should have been taken together, but I couldn't capture them in one picture because of the distance. Anyhow, one says, 'brother, it is me!' and the other says, 'sister, it is me'. Both of the restaurants serve pork galbi."











I have to wonder if these restaurants are owned by the same family. You would think that the people being copied would be outraged otherwise.

Today, by coincidence, I happened to notice the name of the new apartments being built in my town is Shin Han. The old apartments next door are called Han Shin.


I always wonder why they build the same kind of stores and restaurants right next to each other. As I've said before, there are chicken restaurants in my town side by side. A stationery store recently opened up directly across the street from another. It's not uncommon to see entire streets lined the same style restaurants. Right in Suwon there is a street where every restaurant serves sam gyeop sal. Even ajummas set up their deokboki and o-daeng stands inches away from one another. The same cellphone stores selling the exact same phones are literally on every corner. Unfortunately there is all together a pervasive lack of creativity in Korea. Most architecture looks alike, which most people agree is a disappointment when traveling from city to city. Even way down in Geoje-do everything looks like it does everywhere else. Oh well, I guess this is also becoming true in America. There used to be a lot of diversity between cities and towns before the onslaught of fast food and shopping franchises.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Comments

I really appreciate when people leave comments. I was disappointed to go back through some of the old posts and discover that all comments up until September have suddenly vanished. I apologize to the people that took the time to comment back then. I don't know what happened. The more things like this happen the more discouraged I become. Maybe it's time to just give it up and stop updating.

Well, I am honestly surprised to see all the comments being left urging me to continue. Thanks everybody! What a nice treat to see 20+ comments today. The more people leave comments, the more I'm encouraged to work on my site.

I found out what happened to the old comments. Haloscan, the free commenting service I started using for my blog back in June or July, is in the process of archiving old comments on a different server. They were running out of resources with over 4,000,000 old comments. If I want them to be available on my blog for readers to see, I will have to pay a donation of $10 to be upgraded to premium service, at which time they will return them to the current server. This is not a bad price, I admit.

I am also facing a real dilemma. When I started this blog, I thought 25 MB of server space would be enough. That was before I bought a digital camera, back when I was writing the Geoje-do stories. Now I'm rapidly approaching my limit. I contacted Blogger, but there is no way to upgrade to more space. This means I either have to delete old posts and pictures or start a new blog soon, which I will probably do when I get my own computer. For now, I'll keep updating here while considering my options, until I'm out of space.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - World Cup Reminiscence



Long after the Word Cup, decorations such as these still remain - and probably will for years to come. Just looking at the picture brings back memories of hoards of fans wearing "Be the Reds" T-shirts chanting "Dae Han Min Guk!" (clap clap clapclap clap!), "Oh Pilsung Korea," and "We are the Champions." I was fortunate enough to be here during that time. Although I didn't see a game first hand. I was part of the massive crowds watching the games on big screen TVs. It was a wonderful time to be a foreigner here. Xenophobia ceased to exist, strangers hugged me and took my picture, girls who would never have looked twice at me before had a sudden, overwhelming interest in me. A far cry from the Apolo Anton Ohno incident at which time songs of "Fucking USA" and other anti-American sentiment swept the land , everybody hated me and I had to say I was from Canada.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Parking Agashis


While retail employees are all together more numbersome and formal at shopping centers here than in America, they also have duties not found back home. In America parking lots at supermarkets are huge. It can actually take several minutes to walk to the entrance. In Korea, however, most parking is done inside. This of course is to save space. And in Korea, God bless this country, often times they have beautiful, neatly dressed agashis outside to greet you with a bow and direct your car into the parking garage. Inside, more agashis and/or young guys with radio sets direct you to an open space.


A decent example of a parking agashi directing the traffic in and out of some chain store or other. Notice the shorter than average skirt and knee high white boots which they're usually wearing. Some places will have two or three of these women out there. If you're really lucky, the store you're entering will have pretty, scantily clad, privately hired agashis (similar to these girls) promoting various products inside, a future post here for sure.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Subway Scenes (2)



One of my perverted readers sent this picture of an ajushi sitting comfortably on the subway. Judging by the angle of his arm, he's probably picking his teeth with a toothpick as well. If he just closed his legs a little, not only would everyone across from him feel better, but someone could probably squeeze in next to him. That person will definitely not be me, however.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Red Peppers (1)

They're red peppers and they're everywhere. You see them drying on the floor in the grocery store, in livingrooms, on rooftops, outside in someone's yard, and right on the streets. The ajumma at the small store near my home dries them on the floor. In order to get to the Ramyon you have to walk over the peppers. The ajushi at the stationery store dries his on the dirt next to his shop.



Here's a great example sent in by a reader of a bunch of red peppers drying on the sidewalk. Anybody and their dog may have walked on them. I know I've been tempted to stomp on them myself. Just another reason to wash your vegetables when you buy them.



Suddenly you find yourself in the Land of OW! Talk to the Mini-Pepper People and then follow the Red Pepper Brick Road. Then find the Wizard of OW! - he can give you the magical liquid able to quench the fire in your burning mouth.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Korean Jokes

There was this Spanish guy, this Korean guy and this Russian guy all working for the same construction company. At the beginning of the day the boss comes out and says to the Spanish guy, "You're in charge of the cement."

Then he said to the Russian guy, "You're in charge of the dirt."

Then he said to the Korean guy, "You're in charge of the supplies."

Then he said, "I'm gonna be back at the end of the day to check on your work. It better be good or you're fired."

So they all go off to go get their work done.

At the end of the day, the boss comes back to check on their work. He looks at the big pile of cement and goes, "Good work," to the Spanish guy. Then he looks at the big pile of dirt and says, "Good work," to the Russian guy. Then he couldn't find the Korean guy so he asks, "Where the heck is the Korean guy??"

All of a sudden, the Korean guy jumps out from behind the big pile of dirt and yells, " SUPPLIES!"


This is an obvious poke at the difficulties in which some Koreans have with the differentiation of the English L and R sounds. Of course, I should point out that I can't pronounce the Korean L/R letter and I must sound completely silly. I'm not sure how funny the rest of these jokes are, but you can check them out here: Jokes and humor about Korean people. I looked at a few of them and they seem as harmless as the one above. I was hoping to find more Korean jokes translated into English, not jokes that target Koreans. Any Korean person have a good joke to translate here? Dun' go, Mung is a pretty good one.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Park it Here - No Problem! (2)



Trucks and motorcycles line the sidewalk - a classic example of thoughtless parking sent to me by one of my inspiring fans. How am I supposed to navigate my way through this? I guess I'll have to walk out into traffic. It just may be safer than using the sidewalk. Any moment some crazy delivery guy will likely zip out of the mess and run me over.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - In the News (2)

While Anti-Americanism has swept the country over the past year, in other news taken from today's Korea Herald:


50% of students prefer U.S. citizenship


Nearly half of local college students would opt to become U.S. citizens if they held dual citizenship and were required to make the choice, a university newspaper said yesterday.

The survey of 244 students conducted by the Korea University News showed 44.8 percent favored U.S. citizenship while 55.2 percent said they would retain South Korean nationality.

The survey result contradicts the common belief that many members of the younger generation, especially college students, abhor the United States, as indicated by a series of anti-U.S. demonstrations led by radical college students.



2003.10.07


While the results of the survey are still surprising, there are definitely some unanswered questions here. Were there any other countries to choose from in the survey such as Canada or Australia? Also, what percentage of those who would choose U.S. citizenship are males? If given the choice to avoid 26 months or more in the military, I would also choose to leave. Also, how many of the students have actually visited America before or have relatives there? And finally, a survey of only 244 students is hardly a conclusive study.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Geoje-do Wonderland

I still get e-mails asking me if I know about the Wonderland in Geoje-do. It seems they are in need of teachers again. Yes, I do know about that place. In my Geoje-do stories, I changed the name to Wonder School. I strongly advise anyone to seek employment elsewhere. The school was horrendous and still is. Here are recent e-mails I've gotten:

I don't know how the
school is going to operate when I leave Saturday. They have about 180
students. The school is open until 9.05 mon, weds, fri. Nightmare schedule.
Normally they would have three Korean teachers, two foreigners. At the
moment she has two foreigners, a Korean university student (illegal)
and a part timer for the mornings. We are doing loads of overtime.

Another:

One Korean English teacher handed in her notice to leave today (P driving her crazy). Another one told me she's going to leave in August. The other teacher (of 3) had a massive row with P [owner's wife] today. I don't think he will last much longer. He offered to be replaced today. She avoided a situation there. He was pissed off because she said his lessons are generally boring. He went mad . She's not talking to me at the moment. Don't know what I've done this time . P hasn't mellowed, that's for sure. We got hit with an electricity bill for 124,000 each today . What can one do? Rip-off man. We didn't use the heating, and we haven't seen the Korean bill either.
I'd like another job in Korea when this one finishes, but where is there anything half-decent? Apart from Wonder land, what other schools are best avoided? (I gave you website address to the teacher who is leaving, she said she would like to leave a message on it)
I will blacklist this school when i leave, that's a certainty.


I'm posting this so that people can avoid what others including me have gone through. So many teachers end up quitting there after a few months and returning to their home country convinced that Korea is awful. Korea can be a wonderful place if you have a decent job, but it can be a nightmare if you get the wrong one. Make sure you do your research beforehand.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - At the Hagwon (4) - Talent Market

Last Friday at the Hagwon was "Talent Market Day". This is when the students redeem their good performance stickers for fake dollars to buy things at the "market". We hold it once every two months and the students love it. There are no regular classes that day, so I love it too. It was a good chance to snap some pics.



Samson, an overweight, annoying yet somehow cute boy shows off his purchases. Gloria is to the right, obviously thinking "what a dork!"



One of the classrooms. Thought I'd throw it in case you were wondering what they look like. The letters on the right spell out "EVERYDAY NEW FESTIVAL EASTER" whatever that means.



A cute shot of three girls. There's happy little Fiona on the left. The girl on the right, Bonnie, is a new student. She's totally adorable. I forgot who that is in the middle...oops.



Some more girls who demanded I take their picture. They're kind of cute too but a little annoying in class.



Here's Gloria again with her toy and handful of loot. Pretty darn cute, I must confess.



Check this out, lucky kids. For 9 talent dollars they can get a cool Matchbox Car. Maybe I'll steal one when nobody is looking...muhahah!



This is Julie, my biggest fan. She follows me around constantly, jumps on me, punches me, grabs my ddonk-bae(pot belly), and otherwise annoys me to no end.



Here's a cute kid. His name is Peter. All the Korean teachers love him. He's quite a comedian in the classroom. Personally I'd like to throw him out the window, but that's me. Check out his cool Digiman shirt.



More goods for sale at the Talent Market. Hey when is the Talent Market for Teachers Day? I'm jealous. I'm not sure if I would earn that much talent though...

written by shawn matthews    -|link