For some reason my eyes have been opened recently to the level of violence that exists in my school. On one day last week, just as I was entering the building I witnessed a teacher smack a 15-year old boy across the forehead because he wore his street shoes into the school building. I also found out about a girl-gang in the local area, the leader of which is an eighth-grade student at my school. Apparently she has a group of underlings who regularly go to the elementary schools nearby and shake down the sixth-graders for pocket change. She's like the Tony Soprano of the Buk-bu school district.

Just a couple of days ago, a kid in one of my classes was sporting an eye patch. I asked if he had pink eye because I'd heard it was going around. He answered, through my co-teacher, that he'd been hit by an older boy. He said he didn't know why, it was just a random attack. Most people I've told that story to doubt it was really that random. I only have his word to go by, but I have no reason to doubt him. He was embarrassed to have to admit in class that he'd been beat up, which made me feel bad. I apologized for embarrassing him, but I'm not sure if he understood.

Finally, last night I spoke with a young Korean-American guy I met recently, who spent his early childhood in the Korean school system. He corroborated the stories of violence, and added the importance of the hierarchy factor. i.e. a lower grade student who disrespects an upper grade student will likely be made to regret it.

These are just the things I've witnessed personally. I have read and heard stories of even worse incidents from around the country, gang violence, sexual assault, the occasional teacher who loses his shit and pummels a student. Violence begets violence. The kids are certainly getting an education, but one that is found nowhere in the code of the National Curriculum. The quality of public education is a hot topic in this country, as it is just about anywhere. Almost anyone you ask inside the system or out would agree that Korean education is in need of a major overhaul, but if the school itself is not a safe place, haven't the schools failed at an even more basic level than that?

Labels: life in Korea

An article I found through Digg this morning says 75 percent of all the blogs on Blogspot are spam. The article went on to claim that the majority of what's on the Internet today is spam. Apparently, but for the valiant efforts of a few sites like Yahoo and Google, the Internet would decay into nothing but an endless stream of penny stock scams, ads for body part enhancement pills and pleas from Nigerian probate attorneys.

Blogspot even thought the good old BoB was a spam blog for a time. A while back I tried to post an entry and found my posting privileges had been suspended. At the same time I got a weird notification that Blogger's splog detectors were on to me. They said the Blog of Brian had all the earmarks of a spam blog, such as several links to the same location and line after line of gibberish. Well, anyone is free to criticize my writing, but that's getting a little personal, don't you think?

Actually, what I think happened was their robot computer came across my New Year's entry where I typed out "Happy New Year" phonetically in Chinese and Korean. Since their computer only speaks American (how dense) it thought I must be up to no good. Fortunately, getting back in Blogger's good graces was fairly easy. All I had to do was sign in, enter a turing code, promise I was a real person, turn around three times and spit, and then weirdest of all, buy lunch for a guy in Mountainview California.

Seriously though...I've wanted to move to Wordpress for some time, but besides the fact that I'd have to pay for my own hosting, I don't think I have the technical skills right now to pull it off, and also don't really have the readership to justify it. So for the moment at least, here on Blogspot we shall stay.

I have further thoughts about blogging and the future of the BoB, but I will save it for another posting. That's enough gibberish out of me for one day.

Labels: Meta-blogging, The life of Brian

Itaewon is getting a second Starbucks. There is a big banner up announcing it on a building at the lower end of the street, where all the cheap tailors hang out. Some people might get uptight about yet another Starbucks, but I'm fine with it. Maybe some people like Itaewon's grunginess. I am not one of them. It's not like 'cool' grungy, just dirty grungy. Within the next five to eight years the US Army will no longer be at Itaewon's front door to provide customers for its knock-off sportswear and souvenir schlock. I expect upscale retailers will replace the old shops one bye one over the next few years as rents are raised, leases expire, and yes, as tenants die. Within a decade I predict the Won will be unrecognizable from its former, inglorious self.

On the other hand, does Itaewon really need another Starbucks? Probably not. Personally, I was hoping one of their competitors would set up shop. No doubt the Bucks' move is meant at least partially as a preemptive measure. If they saturate the coffee market, no one else will dare move in.

That reminds me, a friend of mine who speaks better Korean than I could ever hope to, tells me the hip kids are calling it 별다방 (byeol ta-bang) these days. Byeol means "Star" and ta-bang is the old school Korean word for coffee shop. What's most striking about that little piece of argot is that Korea has managed to Koreanize America's coffee behemoth just a little.

Though as for that, I recently learned that Starbucks franchises in Korea are at least 50 percent owned by the Sinsaegae group. Buying a grande latte from Starbucks and buying a liter of milk from E-mart are essentially the same activity. The money basically goes to the same place is what I'm saying. Because of Korean laws regulating foreigners doing business, that same situation exists pretty much anytime you see a foreign company doing business here. Like, if you have spent any amount of time in Korea you have no doubt met a couple where the husband (who is almost always from Canada) owns a hakwon. He may be the manager and handle all the day-to-day operations and it's "his" business in every sense, except his wife must be the titular owner because a foreigner can't own a business in Korea. The deal with Starbucks is basically the same.

These are just some random thoughts...and looking over this, I feel I should mention that nobody has paid me anything so say this. Normally I try not to mention product or business names at all, but this was a special case. Blogging for hire is a growing problem, and I would never engage in that filthy practice....unless the money were really good.

Labels: life in Korea

Last night I happened to see one of my old entries about my attempts to quits smoking last summer and fall, and realized I haven’t given an update on that for some time. So I thought I’d tell how it’s going these days.

It’s going very well.

Thanks. See you tomorrow.

No, really. It’s been nearly seven months since I gave up smoking as a vocation, and except for one crazy night on Ko Samui last January, have not lit up once in that time.

What happened back then was I had a little financial hiccup during my vacation and it gave me no small amount of stress. Added to this was the notion that by not smoking I was somehow missing out on something. It’s an insidious addiction. The odd thing was, during the crisis I held the compulsion at bay pretty well. It was only after it had passed that I finally gave in. I guess I let my defenses down too soon; a lesson for the future.

At dinner the night my liquidity was restored, the cravings were overwhelming, and not just for tobacco. In fact, smoking was more or less a compromise at that point–a safety valve to try and stave off more dangerous temptations. I got a pack of my old favorite brand, the same ones whose butchering I had described in a previous entry, and lit up outside the 7-11. It was…not that big a deal. I could taste the tobacco, which I never did as a regular smoker. Drawing in the smoke was burden, and I have to say I didn’t enjoy it much. With about a third remaining, I stubbed out the cigarette and went back to my hotel. Later that night I smoked two more, and was just going for my fourth when I had a vision of how hard it was to quit smoking (not to mention expensive), and was horrified by the thought of having to go though that again were I to get re-addicted. Although it was extremely tempting to have “just one more,” I put the cigarette back in the pack, then doused the entire container with water to render it un-smokable.

The following day, despite the noticeable heaviness in my lungs, the urge to smoke was strong. I had crossed the line once, it would be easier to do it again. Fortunately, I spent most of that day riding around Samui island on a rented scooter, so I was too busy to think much about smoking. The next day was taken up by a fifteen hour trip back Bangkok by boat, bus and train, so not much chance to smoke there. By the time I got back to Bangkok the cravings had pretty much subsided again, and you know what? They have never really returned as strongly as they were then. I hesitate to say it was just something I needed to do because it could easily have had dangerous consequences. But the fact it, having that experience helped me realize I’m missing absolutely nothing by not smoking. Smoking added nothing truly positive to my life. Not smoking has been nothing short of a miracle.

Labels: The life of Brian

Chris is like El Nino. He sort of shows up in my life now and then, unpredictably, and upsets the general order of things, and then leaves just as suddenly as he came. Where the analogy breaks down of course is El Nino doesn't send me text messages asking to come over for the weekend, and I don't answer those messages saying, "Sure Nino, CU l8tr! :)"

I do love Chris. I just never know quite what to think when were are together. See, we had a brief, stormy affair (with torrential downpours) a few years ago. Now we have grown and have settled into a long-term immature friendship. It's a friendship in which the boundaries aren't always properly defined however, so it gets confusing at times, at least for me it does. As far as I know, Chris is just having fun and all is good. I am having fun too. Most of the time I'm quite happy with our arrangement. It's just...well, i'll just say it gets confusing and leave it at that.

Here are a few of pictures I took of Chris over the weekend. I wanted to practice taking portrait photos, and he agreed to be my model.

Labels: The life of Brian

The Nano was in a weird mood this morning on the way to work. I set it to shuffle and the first song that came up was The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" The next track was "Driftwood" by a less well-known band called Travis. By now I was suspecting a trend so I anxiously awaited the next song in the queue. It turned out to be "Make your own kind of music" by Mama Cass. You think you're so clever Mr. Nano, don't you?

The song set is interesting because it reflects the decision process I'm going through at the moment. Contract renewal season is coming up in about two months so with regards to Korea I'm asking myself, "Should I stay or should i go?" The lyrics turn out to be startlingly appropriate.




Ok...lest you think I'm that resentful of Korea, I should emphasize I mean this in a tongue in cheek manner...mostly.

"Driftwood" is a song I used to listen to when I was feeling especially sorry for myself. I am that piece of driftwood, I thought. No home, nothing to attach to, just drifting along with the currents, powerless to defend myself against whatever harm the world would inflict on me.

Ugh! Pathetic.

Thankfully, I (almost) never go to that place anymore. Hearing it today though, it gets me thinking once again about how I've been living outside of the United States for a number of years now. It's fun. It's an adventure and it has given me opportunities I never would have gotten at home, but it does get old, and think I'm ready for some stability. I'd be perfectly happy to wash up on a beach somewhere and start growing moss.

"Make your own kind of music" works nicely as a counterpoint to "Driftwood." Its message is to be the actor rather than the acted upon. I guess Nano is trying to tell me, "get off your ass and make a decision already."

Perhaps this isn't as random as it looks. I am the one who put the songs on the Nano after all. Plus I seem to be twisting facts to force them to fit my chosen paradigm, like the "Bible dipping" scene from Running with Scissors. Then again, it could be a sign from above. In fact, now that I look at my ipod a certain way, I believe I can see...yes it is...I can see the Virgin Mary in the scratches on the cover...and she says she has a message for me.

Labels: The life of Brian