Dr.fish

I'd heard about Dr. Fish, but didn't know much about them. Basically Dr. Fish refers to a type of fish who feed on dead skin.  What happens is the patients stick their feet into a tank of these fishies, and these fishes go to work feeding on the dead skin, allowing the new skin to grow. It has its critics as I found out later, but I'm glad we went for the experience.

After finding the coffee cafe, we paid 6,000 won (around $6) for our smoothies and drinks- one per person, and an added $2000 for the Dr. Fish experience. I'd been expecting a spa, or beauty clinic, but instead it was located in a normal, slightly extravagantly priced cafe.  We waited for our turn patiently.  Once beckoned, our feet were cleaned and rinsed, and were directed to the tank of fish in the ground.  The feet swarmed around our feet, softly gnawing at our dead skin.  It felt like tiny suction cups, and made us all scream from the tickling sensations.  Once we found the courage, we made our way to the larger fish tank, where the two inch fish with much larger mouths went to work on our evidently gnarly feet.  These fishies mouths felt more like sandpaper than the smaller guys, and like in the smaller fish tank, we had to work hard not to kick our feet in reaction which greatly disturb the fish.  Kyle was especially funny to watch, as he squealed like a little girl being tickled.  It was great fun, and a strikingly new experience.  I'm not sure how much good they actually did, or if the health benefits are actually what are touted, but I fully enjoyed the experience. There are many places around not only South Korea, but the world which provide these services, but I've listed below the directions to the specific one we visited for those interested in following in our footsteps.

 Gangnam’s Dr. Fish Cafe: 02-599-1210

To get to the Dr. Fish Cafe in Gangnam, go to Gangnam station, exit 6. Walk a few blocks and it is in the building next to Krispy Kreme on the 2nd floor.

Swing birth

The conversation began simple enough, about children's innate ability to swim.  It was swimming day.  All of our children came completely prepared with life vests and tubes for all.  No one would EVER drown on our swim days there are so many floating devices. One of my coworkers said she'd heard that if you threw a new born in a water, that because of so much time spent in liquid in the womb, they naturally know how to swim.  This led the discussion into births in bathtubs and how it was becoming more popular with the home-birth movement.   I'd also recently heard a talk on NPR about home births, and why it's popularity was rising.   "My friend from Holland says that everyone has home-births in her country." added my co-worker. "When we found out she wasn't going to the hospital, we were shocked, but she said, no one goes to the hospital unless there's an emergency."
"Cindy, what happens in Korea?" I asked, "Are home births common?"
She explained that they were not common, but did occur. She'd recently heard of this thing she described as a swing for birthing.
"A swing?" we asked
"Yes, you swing while you give birth." she continued.

A quick google search came up with zilch.  So she typed in Korean, and through the miracle of a google translator we discovered, THE ROMA BIRTH WHEEL.
Yes, this thing is real, and is not a hoax, as far as I can tell.  Has anyone ever heard of this or seen this in use before?  Very interesting....

Beautiful Seoul Project

This Seoul video is amazingly done.  It gives one a peek into the beautiful side of this rectangular, and often ugly and uninteresting (in the way of looks) city.  Check it out.
Seoul Time Lapse 2011 from Oh Choong Young on Vimeo.

Misunderstandings

One of the things, we, as foreigners struggle with in this country is communication.  Communication is not just about talking, but relaying meaning and many times, even though plenty of words are said, the meaning gets lost.   English, because we are teaching at an English academy (of sorts) is the language of choice. One reason, communication is an issue here, is that it so rarely happens. This Sunday, Kyle had to work. On Wednesday, he was told he wasn't needed, however, on Friday, the Friday before this Sunday, he was told, it was a possiblity that he was indeed needed. However, there was no confirmation.  Saturday, Kyle had to seek out the scheduler to find out for sure if he needed to come in and if so, what time. Last minute, has a new meaning in this country, or possibly this school. No one seems to talk to anyone, and no one ever seems to know what is actually happening, or who should know what is happening.  The director of the new high school on our campus, told us a story, of trying to find a key to the sports equipment room.  He asked director, after director, maintenance after maintenance to no avail.  Not only did no one seem to have the key, but no one knew who should have it.  Clear communication is severely lacking in this school.  The foreigners often blame it on the language and cultural barrier, but I think it runs deeper than that. Friday, my co-teacher, Cindy came into work dizzy.  She had a difficult time concentrating. Monday, Cindy was still struggling with the dizziness and had even fainted in her apartment the previous evening.  She made a quick trip to a clinic, which result in the doctor telling her she had some type of ear disease which often occurs in old age. (it was a wrong diagnosis she was later to find out)  She told our boss (in Korean, their native language), who then told the education department.  When a teacher was sent from the education department to replace Cindy for the day so that she could rest, we were told, that the education department had understood Cindy to be quitting, and they were therefore already looking for someone not only to replace her, but to take her apartment.  Cindy was horrified.  She didn't want to quit, she wasn't going to be permanently dizzy.  She hadn't in anyway insinuated that she was leaving, and yet, a search for a permanent replacement had already begun.  All of this communication had occured in Korean by Koreans, and yet the communication had been severely butchered. How would this information have been misinterpeted if it been communicated in English, I wonder?


Communication is a complicated beast, and when you add in culture and language deficiencies, the equation gets even murkier, making for exciting times here in the Village.

Discovering New Music

Because we live in an international community, we're not only learning and picking up many new phrases, but we're also being introduced to new movies and music.  I haven't always had a love of music.  My family, because of how they were raised, actually many times prefer silence to song.  My mom, even in the car, drives in complete silence.  I think there is something to silence.  It allows your mind to wander, and frees your mind from the girdle and constraints of noise.  Being able to sit with yourself in complete silence commodiously is a skill in itself, something that I continue to struggle with, even to this day, as do most people in industrialized nations. So because I was raised in a family without much music, I was never up to date with the latest musicians.  My music education came in the form of my next door neighbor, who introduced me to the sounds of the radio.  She was appalled when I informed her, I'd only ever heard soft rock.  Today, I mostly listen to music while cooking, eating dinner or cleaning, and occasionally working out, although I've almost completely switched to podcasts.  One evening, as our international gang lounged on our couch, we began discussing musicians.  The lethargic mood lifted to an elevated one, as each of us shared music that the others had likely not heard.  Many European musicians do not make it to America because of the competitiveness of the industry, so it was exciting discovering new candy for our ears.  Below, I have listed a few of the bands we've recently discovered:

The frames are an Irish band.  If you've seen the movie, "Once" you've heard this song.  And although I'd downloaded the album from this movie, I did not discover that THE FRAMES were a band before and after the movie. I LOVE THIS SONG!


Adele is an English singer that has made it in America.  She is actually a grammy award winner so I'm most likely just behind the times in my music knowledge.  Her voice is amazing.


Paolo Nutini is a Scotish musician.  I love his sound.


Save the World is a song by Swedish House Mafia which is as far as I can tell an electronica band, but this new song, which I discovered from a friend on facebook has such a great sound, and the video is HILARIOUS!



Rubberbandits: The Rubberbandits are the award winning comedy hip hop duo from Ireland.  They've won awards for both their music and COMEDY.  They disguise their faces with plastic bags because part of their act is to remain anonymous.
 **WARNING*** DO NOT watch this song if you dislike CURSE WORDS.  DO NOT, because it has A LOT of curse words.  However, if they don't bother you- this song is HILARIOUS.  There is a clean version they played on the radio, but I couldn't find it in video form.


This song is about "knackers"- basically an Irish word for "white trash" but refers to a group of people who travel in caravans (which is why he says he has a horse outside) around Ireland. These people actually even have their own language, but are poor, and have reputations for drinking and poor societal behavior.

Gestures around the world

 While I was still in the "education department" meaning the camp portion of English Village rather than the preschool where I am currently teaching, I was commissioned to make a culture class.  I love culture, as you might have noticed by the amount of culture posts I have written regarding Korea.  And, Koreans, like in every country I have ever visited, love their own culture.  Honestly, I think this is important aspect of being a citizen of a nation, to be proud of your roots, to be proud of where you come from.  I don't believe in ignoring faults, or smearing history in order for your citizens to have false pride as often happens in schools around the world.  In Israel, as in Germany, directly after WWII, the autrocities which had occured weren't spoken of, or even acknowledged. In America, many of our history books are written with such slant that its obvious to any student that America is the only worthy and good country out there, and that America's moral conduct in the world has always been strictly ethical and even motherly.  If you'd like examples of what I'm talking about, I'd suggest a book called, "Lies my history teacher told me." An utterly depressing book, but I'm sure the concept of slanting truths for your particular country is not unique to American history books.  However, the purpose of this offshoot was to comment on Korean children's lack of desire to leave their country. I see this in my own country all the time, but the excuse I give Americans, valid or not, is that America is a freaking huge country, and there is much diversity within our own borders.  Korea is the size of Indiana.  Imagine, never leaving Indiana. Never tasting cuisine authentically from a different country or region (such as our states), since Korean cuisine is just about the same all over the country.  I had a hard time pinpointing one aspect of culture to teach the children, but in the end, I settled on the importance of intriguing them to one day explore outside the confines of their country.  I created two power points, one which is geography based, but in the form of a quiz so hopefully more exciting,  and the other a travel jeopardy with subjects such as music, food, gestures and habits. I scoured the internet looking for a well made youtube video about gestures in different countries, and I found some, but nothing perfect and nothing slow and clear enough for an ESL learner, so instead, I decided to make my own because I am insane.  (I didn't actually calculate the amount of time it took, but I estimate somewhere close to 20 hours of filming and editing) Click here to view said video.



These are the two ppts I made.  Anyone, especially teachers, are more than welcome to use them, download them, and use them in your classroom. The sound files didn't transfer to Slideshare, so you'd have to import your own music, but that should be simple enough.

Travel jeopardy best… This ppt was created for ESL middle school students, interlow to interhigh. I can't take all the cr...

View presentation 

World Geography ESL… This is a powerpoint to test geography skills. It is fun and interactive and can be played as a gam...

View presentation

One night in Manila

The four hour layover in China wasn't too bad. In fact an upside was that we had made some new friends. This foreigner bond, this willingness to talk to anyone with a familiarly foreign face, one who speaks the same language is an interesting one. It is true anywhere you go, finding people who understand your situation, who are going through the same thing, makes life just seem more rich. Don't get me wrong, I love the aspect of learning about another's culture. I wouldn't be a travel bug if that wasn't the case. But sometimes it is so nice not to struggle to communicate. It's nice to speed up your English to a regular tempo, to use larger words that Koreans or Chinese people wouldn't understand, even when they are English speakers.

So while we waited, we made some new friends. Ate seaweed flavored Pringles, no I am not making that up, and yes, we all liked it.

We had been told to skip Manila entirely that it was a dangerous and dirty city. That there was nothing to see except crime and dirt. We choose the closest hostel to the airport as we had to spend the night in this city before flying out to our REAL destination- Boracay. However, close, was a relative term. We spent $15 on a 30 minute cab ride to our "close" hostel- The Green Mango. The hostel private room wasn't even $12.

While checking in, a familiar looking girl approached me.

"You were on the layover in China right?" she asked. I recognized her shoes. I had noticed them in the airport. I wanted to steal them, but as I can occasionally act like an adult, I peeled my eyes from her feet and said, "yes, we were."
"I wanted to chat with you guys but you looked like you had a big group." she confided.
"I'm sorry you didn't, non of us knew each other." I told her.

I told her that Kyle and I had planned to go try a local beer if she wanted to join us. Thats the greatest thing about hostels. You are always meeting new friendly folks. I still keep in touch with travelers we hung out with for only a few nights from years ago in a hostel meeting.

We made a date. After inspecting our hard mattress placed in a shoebox room with nothing but a sheet and a sad excuse for a towel we quickly exited.

A, her boyfriend met up with us at a bar they frequented.

"I grew up in this neighborhood. It is one of the safest neighborhoods in Manila. It has changed so much since I was a kid though." she offered.

She had been teaching English in China. Korea doesn't allow Philippinos to teach English, even though their official language is English.

"We want to try local dishes." Kyle exclaimed over enthusiastically as we choose our table.

"Alright. I'm not sure if you'll like it, but it's not expensive." Our new friend told me.

Ten minutes later, a hot skillet with some type of sizzling meat was placed in front of us. Kyle and I grabbed our forks and took a bite. It was interesting. It was ground, but had some harder chunks.

"Do you like it?" They asked timidly.

Kyle said he did. I hadn't made up my mind.

"It's fried pig face. Its a favorite local dish." they finally admitted.

I nodded knowingly. Of course I was eating pigs face. What else would people eat? No wonder it had strange cartilage pieces within.

The next dish was intestine on a stick. It was A's favorite. I took a bite, slowly chewed and swallowed diligently like a child trying something that her mother is making her eat. Ironically though, the spicy chicken wings, the most normal dish on the table was what made me feel nauseous after only one bite. Needless to say I didn't eat much that evening.

It was a fantastic evening, hanging out with bona fide Philippinos in a NON-tourist bar, eating real Philippino food. But not only that, they were people we enjoyed being with. They shared their culture, and we shared ours. Actually, random funny story, their friend had just gotten back from working abroad in none-other than our home town- good ole San Antonio, Texas. We were so taken aback at this we couldn't stop asking him questions about home. He confided that he was tired of everyone speaking Spanish to him because he was constantly mistaken for a Mexican.

As we sat out on the patio on the warm humid night, a few children approached us selling flowers. They were beautiful flowers and they didn't charge much, so we bought a few, and gave him a little tip. However before he left, our friends gave him a strong talking to in their other native language (Tagalog or now officially Filipino). Afterwards they told me that they made him promise to buy food and not the glue that the street children are so well known for being addicted to. They start at young ages because of its cost effectiveness and the lessening of appetites.

From a general article I found on the internet:

Glue sniffing is perceived as a cheaper and safer alternative to intravenous drug use among street children themselves. The ‘high’ occurs quickly, with effects similar to drunkenness, although glue sniffing can also induce sometimes hallucinations. Users do admit, however, that glue sniffing kills their appetite, its fumes burn their eyes and leave the body dry. Medical reports say that glue sniffing can cause damage to the brain, lever, kidneys, heart and myocardium. Daily use over a period of six months can cause permanent brain damage. Prolonged addiction also visibly impairs a glue sniffer’s comprehension and can lead to dangerous side effects on behaviour, such as psychosis.

The economy in the Philippines is improving, but it is still considered third world. At one time their economy was thriving. "We lent South Korea food and money when they were poor." Our diving instructor informed us. "At one point, we were well off." he said sadly and yet proud of his country's history.

Besides the depressing news about how their poverty affected the innocent of the country, we had a fabulous time. I even wished a little that we had opted to stay in Manila more than 12 hours, but our flights were booked, and we were ecstatic about our relaxing beach adventure awaiting us.

p.s. The Green Mango Hostel was very friendly and for the most part clean. Other than the disturbing water situation; we had brown water in the evening flowing out of the faucet I was about to brush my teeth with, and no water in the morning, it is a good place to stay. And I am pretty sure it is the city with the water issues, not just that hostel.

About the Philippines

Interesting Facts:

• The Philippine islands are an archipelago of over 7,000 islands lying about 500 mi (805 km) off the southeast coast of Asia. The overall land area is comparable to that of Arizona. Only about 7% of the islands are larger than one square mile, and only one-third have names. (It is debated by some that the Philippines has more islands than any other country in the world)

• Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, explored the Philippines in 1521. Twenty-one years later, a Spanish exploration party named the group of islands in honor of Prince Philip, who was later to become Philip II of Spain. Spain retained possession of the islands for the next 350 years.
• The Philippines were ceded to the U.S. in 1899 by the Treaty of Paris after the Spanish-American War.
• On Dec. 8, 1941, the islands were invaded by Japanese troops. Following the fall of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's forces at Bataan .
• It was the first Southeast Asian country to gain independence in 1946, following World War II.
• About 80% people of the country’s total population are Roman Catholics (because of the Spanish influence)
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• Philippine culture is a combination of Eastern and Western cultures. Traditional festivities known as barrio fiestas (district festivals) to commemorate the feast days of patron saints are common due to it's Spanish and American influences.

• The Philippines' rainforests and its extensive coastlines make it home to a diverse range of birds, plants, animals, and sea creatures.^[76] It is one of the ten most biologically mega-diverse countries .
• Around 1,100 land vertebrate species can be found in the Philippines including over 100 mammal species and 170 bird species not thought to exist elsewhere.

Money eating Eagle

Tarsier, a nocturnal bug eater

The elusive mouse deer

• Due to the volcanic nature of the islands, mineral deposits are abundant. The country is estimated to have the second-largest gold deposits after South Africa and one of the largest copper deposits in the world.
• The Philippines is the world's second-biggest geothermal producer behind the United States, with 18% of the country's electricity needs being met by geothermal power.

• After World War II, the country was for a time regarded as the second wealthiest in East Asia, next only to Japan.
• The economy stagnated under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos
• The two official languages of the Philippines are English and Tagalog, recently renamed Filipino. Most people however don't speak one or the other but a mixture of the two nicknamed Tag-lish. Here is an example of taglish in the "Philippines got talent" Taglish video.

More Facts & Trivia About the Philippines

• There are more than 10 million Filipinos living overseas, of this, about 8 million are OFWs or Overseas Filipino Workers. Their remittances account for 10.8% of the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

• Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines can read and write at the age of 2. He grew up speaking 20 foreign languages including French, Greek, Chinese, Latin and German.

• The karaoke is a Filipino invention, not Japanese. Karaoke meaning "singing without accompaniment" in Japanese was invented by Roberto del Rosario. He called his invention "Sing-Along-System", which was later called karaoke.
• The Philippine flag is the only flag in the world that is displayed upside-down when the country is in war (red on top and blue at the bottom when in war).

• The Philippines is considered the "text capital of the world". They text more than the total daily text messages sent in the U.S. and Europe combined.
• However, China has overtaken the Philippines by sheer volume of users. Even though the Chinese sent more text messages in total, they send an average of only 3 text messages per cell phone per day, while Filipinos sends on average 20 text messages per cell phone user per day.

One word China, EFFICIENCY! Part 2

Heading back to Gwangzou:
Back through the Health check stand, up to the deceivingly fancy Immigration counter:

Officer: Passport and Boarding Pass please.

Me: Our flight leaves at 9am tomorrow in nearly 12 hours. (It's 10pm) We only have an itinerary. (hands itinerary to officer.)

Officer: No boarding pass?

Me: No, just itinerary. (points to itinerary in officer's hands)
Officer: You must have boarding pass first.
Me: Ok, where do we get it?(Officer points to a single empty check in counter across the way.)

Me:...There's no one there.

Officer: Just go wait, they come.

Me: Ok thank you.(we go and wait in line at the empty counter.

Meanwhile, other people from our flight and a few other flights start lining up in the immigration lines. Vanessa and I inform them that our officer told us we needed boarding passes first. After 5 minutes or so, most of the foreigners have formed a line at the single empty check in counter. A girl in purple then walks to where we are and asks the couple at the front of the line;

Purple girl: What are you doing?

Couple: We were told we need boarding passes first.
Purple girl: Did you go through immigration check?
Couple: No, they told us to get boarding passes first.

Purple girl: No, no. Immigration first, then board upstairs. Immigration first.

(Group sigh from all the foreigners as we disperse to get back in the immigration lines.

Purple girl walks off, talks to an Officer then walks back to the check in desk and starts typing on the computer. An officer walks over to a few foreigners and tells them to get in line at the Check in desk with Purple girl. The foreigners stutter a few buts and protests but get waved off by the officer who keeps pointing at the check in so we all start to head back over.)

Once we are back in line, we wait about 10 minutes. 4 people get their boarding passes and a very angry looking officer comes over and starts directing us all back to the immigration lines. At this point we are all getting grouchy and are feeling like a heard of cattle. We get through the lines only to be rounded up again in our little holding corner and this time have to wait for nearly an hour before receiving our passports, again with someone calling out names for the officer.

Now most of us were expecting to be lead back upstairs to our departure gates but instead we are told that we should proceed downstairs and that we can check in at the counters down there tomorrow morning. We later found out that we had been given 1 day entry visas which aren't very common in China and usually cost a bit. Regardless, we really didn't know what to do at this point but figured that being the well traveled and resourceful teachers we are, we could fend for ourselves. Check in was at 7 which gave us about 10 hours so here's what we did:

9pm: Scoped out the airport looking for a good place to rest our rumps.9:30pm: Picked a spot with some decently comfy chairs but no carpet, talked about building a fort and busted out the snacks. But decided to get some McDonalds as Pringles weren't cutting it.
11pm: After running around trying to buy something at the golden arches (they wouldn't take any type of credit card and wouldn't exchange money. Between us we had five currencies; Korean won, Thailand baht, Philippino pesos, American dollars and the little bit of Chinese yuan. We somehow managed to buy enough nuggets and fries to feed our group with about 10 dollars worth of Chinese money one guy had left over from his last trip here.

12am: A group of Philippinos that were on our flight inform us that they found out about a free hotel for people who's flights have been delayed. We debate about how sketchy this feels and whether or not it's worth the risk of being taken off to an organ farm or labor camp. The van driver keeps yelling at us, "no money, no money!" and some other things in Chinese no matter the question. A few decide the dude is just too shady but most of us decide to go and hope that there really is safety in numbers.

1:30 amish: We arrive at the hotel about 20 minutes away from the airport in what feels like the armpit of China. Huge neon lights welcome us in to what at first felt like a skanky love motel. 45 minutes later, they let us check in after making copies of our passports and itineraries and we head up to our rooms that are surprisingly comfy and clean. Truly one of the nicer hotel rooms we have stayed in in Asia and while the beds where hard as rocks, we slept well for the next 4 hours. We got a wake up knock right on time and were handed boxes of warm milk and a half loaf of white bread for breakfast. We got fast curbside drop off right on time in the morning and didn't have to pay a dime. Just goes to show things aren't always what they seem. We checked in, did the stupid immigration check one last time and headed off to our gate to meet up with the rest of our foreigner crew and crashed on the carpet in front of our gate for the next 2 hours before heading back to the amazingly clean and efficient South Korea.

It all made me wonder if this is just a symptom suffered in that part of China alone or if it was a byproduct of a more systemic lack of efficiency and critical thinking in the big red country. I'd like to believe that it was just a fluke but something tells me that in a country of over a Billion people who all need jobs, sometimes they just gotta find ways to look busy and at least pretend like they know what they're doing.
Whatever the case, it sure gave us something to write home about.

Monkey Business

One of my co-workers shared this story with me the other day, and I found it fascinating in its relation with humans and culture. You see this type of behavior, not necessarily so violent, but the same basic ideas in business culture. Unfortunately there is no evidence that this experiment was actually performed, rather it is just a story tale if you will for business folks to think more critically about their behavior in the work place. It's still worth sharing however especially since it is a true reflection of business culture all over the world (at least as far as I can tell.) I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

The experiment involved 5 monkeys, a cage, a banana, a ladder and, crucially, a water hose.

The 5 monkeys would be locked in a cage, after which a banana was hung from the ceiling with, fortunately for the monkeys (or so it seemed…), a ladder placed right underneath it.

Of course, immediately, one of the monkeys would race towards the ladder, intending to climb it and grab the banana. However, as soon as he would start to climb, the sadist (euphemistically called “scientist”) would spray the monkey with ice-cold water. In addition, however, he would also spray the other four monkeys…

When a second monkey was about to climb the ladder, the sadist would, again, spray the monkey with ice-cold water, and apply the same treatment to its four fellow inmates; likewise for the third climber and, if they were particularly persistent (or dumb), the fourth one. Then they would have learned their lesson: they were not going to climb the ladder again – banana or no banana.

In order to gain further pleasure or, I guess, prolong the experiment, the sadist outside the cage would then replace one of the monkeys with a new one. As can be expected, the new guy would spot the banana, think “why don’t these idiots go get it?!” and start climbing the ladder. Then, however, it got interesting: the other four monkeys, familiar with the cold-water treatment, would run towards the new guy – and beat him up. The new guy, blissfully unaware of the cold-water history, would get the message: no climbing up the ladder in this cage – banana or no banana.

When the beast outside the cage would replace a second monkey with a new one, the events would repeat themselves – monkey runs towards the ladder; other monkeys beat him up; new monkey does not attempt to climb again – with one notable detail: the first new monkey, who had never received the cold-water treatment himself (and didn’t even know anything about it), would, with equal vigour and enthusiasm, join in the beating of the new guy on the block.

When the researcher replaced a third monkey, the same thing happened; likewise for the fourth until, eventually, all the monkeys had been replaced and none of the ones in the cage had any experience or knowledge of the cold-water treatment.

Then, a new monkey was introduced into the cage. It ran toward the ladder only to get beaten up by the others. Yet, this monkey turned around and asked “why do you beat me up when I try to get the banana?” The other four monkeys stopped, looked at each other slightly puzzled and, finally, shrugged their shoulders: “Don’t know. But that’s the way we do things around here”…

Fan death

One of our most memorable moments in Chile was a dinner we had with our friend's host family. The season was turning, and cold had set in. In Chile, there are traditional foods for each time of the year. When it is cold, people drink a lot of matte. This is a type of tea drunken using a silver straw with slits at the bottom to keep from eating the leaves.
It is widely believed however that if you step outside after drinking a hot beverage without covering your mouth your face will freeze permanently. They believed this so strongly, they literally prevented us from leaving the room for at least fifteen minutes until they could be sure that our faces wouldn't freeze from the shock. This commonly held belief was so strong, that even well educated Chileans held strongly to this superstition. Everyone knew a friend of a friend whose cousin's mother-in-law had actually had this happen to them.

We have found a similarly bizarre conviction here in South Korea. It is called Fan Death.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say.

Fan death is a putative phenomenon, generally accepted only in South Korea, in which an electric fan left running overnight in a closed room can cause the death of those inside. Fans sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on. The specifics behind belief in the myth of fan-death often offer several explanations for the precise mechanism by which the fan kills. However, as explained below, none of these beliefs stands up to logical or scientific scrutiny. Examples for possible justifications of belief in fan death are as follows: * That an electric fan creates a vortex, which sucks the oxygen from the enclosed and sealed room and creates a partial vacuum inside. This explanation violates the principle of conservation of matter, as indoor fans are not nearly powerful enough to change the air pressure by any significant amount. Additionally if the room is closed and sealed, there is no place for the oxygen to be removed to. * That an electric fan chops up all the oxygen particles in the air leaving none to breathe. * The fan uses up the oxygen in the room and creates fatal levels of carbon dioxide. * That if the fan is put directly in front of the face of the sleeping person, it will suck all the air away, preventing one from breathing. This explanation ignores both the fact that a fan attracts as much air to a given spot as it is removing from it, and the fact that most people point a fan towards themselves when using one, which causes air to move past the face but does not change the amount of air present. * That fans contribute to hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. As the metabolism slows down at night, one becomes more sensitive to temperature, and thus supposedly more prone to hypothermia. If the fan is left on all night in a sealed and enclosed room, believers in fan death suppose that it will lower the temperature of the room to the point that it can cause hypothermia.

The Government of Korea doesn't alleviate this erroneous fear but rather propagates it.

In summer, mainstream Korean news sources regularly report on cases of fan death. A typical example is this excerpt from the July 28, 1997, edition of The Korea Herald, an English-language newspaper:

The heat wave which has encompassed Korea for about a week, has generated various heat-related accidents and deaths. At least 10 people died from the effects of electric fans which can remove oxygen from the air and lower body temperatures...

On Friday in eastern Seoul, a 16-year-old girl died from suffocation after she fell asleep in her room with an electric fan in motion. The death toll from fan-related incidents reached 10 during the past week. Medical experts say that this type of death occurs when one is exposed to electric fan breezes for long hours in a sealed area. "Excessive exposure to such a condition lowers one's temperature and hampers blood circulation. And it eventually leads to the paralysis of heart and lungs," says a medical expert.

"To prevent such an accident, one should keep the windows open and not expose oneself directly to fan air," he advised.

It makes me wonder what strange beliefs we have.

How to open a wine bottle without a cork screw

Learning by experience: Oh what fun that can be!

Step 1: Have record heat of 100+ weather for 45 days and the hottest July on record in Austin, Texas EVER recorded!! And although this does not help in the wine opening, it is estimated that the drought in Central Texas is the worst in the entire United States right now. Lake Travis is the lowest it has been since 1963, 27 ft. under capacity.



Step 2: Leave wine bottle unopened in the car for the majority of the day.

Step 3: Put very warm bottle in the freezer to quickly chill.

Step 4: Watch the cork blow straight out of it's socket without any help from humans because of the building pressures caused by the miracle of chemistry which I never fully understood. (Luckily Kyle caught it before it spewed wine all over the freezer. The plastic covering over the cork had been broken and the cork was a half an inch from being completely dislogdged. "Did you open this wine bottle?" Kyle asked looking at me accusingly. "Nope, must've been the freezer gnome." Science surly is AMAZING! You learn something new every day.

Living in an International Community

Living abroad in a completely, and by all sense of the word, foreign country is an experience, challenging and exciting. However living with an international group adds an even more interesting twist on this not so conventional situation. As I have mentioned before, I work at an English camp. Many teachers who come to Korea work at either private institutions or public schools, but my school is entirely different, unique one might be so bold to say. There are four floors, well maybe five if you include the basement. There are classes and offices on the first and second floors. The third floor is living quarters for the students who are staying for the week, referred to as "the hotel" by the students. The fourth floor is where the staff live, both the Korean staff who are in charge of discipline whom we call the "guardian angles" and the English staff (non-Korean). When I taught English in Chile the volunteers consisted primarily of Americans. There were a few Aussies and Canadians scattered throughout, but the large majority by far were Americans. At this school, however that is not the case. There isn't a strong majority on any nationality. We consist of 5 Americans, 6 Canadians, until recently 5 from the UK, their numbers are down after the departure of a couple who ended their contract, 2 South Africans and 2 Kiwis (New Zealanders). And although we all share the same language, there are some differences in culture among some of the groups. This bowl of culturally mixed fruits could in some instance be a recipe for an outrageous fruit bomb. ( How do you like the silly metaphor which makes no sense?) But surprisingly, there has yet to be an explosion, or even two much spoilage. In fact, I would say, that considering that we live in such tight quarters, working, living, and spending our spare time together, it is miraculous that we get along so well. One of the reasons I was drawn to writing this post was to pass on not only some of the new an interesting things I have learned through living here, but also the different uses of English from the different countries.

Do you recognize this flag? Can you name the country it represents?

If you can, you are better educated than I am. The first day here, one of the teachers had this flag drawn on his nametag.
"What flag is that?" I asked
"Why does no one recognize this flag? It's the English flag?" he responded light-heartedly, but flabbergasted by our lack of knowledge about his country's flag.

So there you have it, that is the flag of England. Are you confused? I was. I always thought the English flag looked like this:Nope, this is the Union flag, often referred to as the Union Jack. This flag represents the United Kingdom. Maybe I didn't pay attention in geography, I take that back, I know I didn't pay enough attention in geography, but I don't remember going over the difference between the UK and England. In my mind, they were the same. I thought it strange that there were several names to refer to the same place, but I had never really questioned it before coming to live with Brits.
Ok, so here is the difference.
England is not the United Kingdom. England is a country in the United Kingdom. I realize that some of you may be thinking at this point, "man is she dense, of course England and the United Kingdom are two different things" but I am hoping that for those of you who were unclear about this as I was, this will help explain things a bit better. England is shown below in Green.
The United Kingdom, however includes, Wales (not spelled with an 'H' as I had previously thought), Scotland, and Northern Ireland (not Ireland). I didn't know there was a division between Northern Ireland and Ireland and I have even visited the country. Of course I had heard about the IRA, but like I said, I didn't pay enough attention in geography obviously. So the United Kingdom is a unitary state made up of four countries which are all run by the same government, Parliament. Queen Elizabeth is still considered head of state, however she is more of an icon than an actual ruler. But however iconic she is, she is still head of state of the 53 Common Wealth countries including, but not limited to Canada, Oceania (Australia, and New Zealand), South Africa, the Bahamas, etc.
Great Brittan is not the same as England, nor as the United Kingdom, rather it refers to the Eastern Island where England, Wales and Scotland reside. It also includes some of the surrounding smaller islands. I find it all very confusing.
One of the Brits (anyone in the UK can be referred to as British however it suggested that you not call an Irishman a Brit) is from Wales. Welsh and English are the two languages spoken in this small country.

Okay, enough of the England, UK, Great Britain lesson. If you are still interested in learning about the complexities of this unique grouping, I suggest you click here.

On to the interesting terminology of the English language. Before I start however, I would like to point out that everyone of the countries represented here is under the common wealth besides the USA. That means that much of the terminology for these countries is the same. Ex: "the lu" is used in both South Africa and in England. Therefore the category for British terminology will be unproptionately large.

UK termonology
Uni- (pronounced 'You knee') refers to University. It is confusing for other countries when Americans talk about 'college' because college to them is something entirely different than a university. It is equivalent to a prep school before University.

well- this adjective is used in many different contexts that we might use 'so' or 'very' or 'really' in place of. "that is well funny" "she is well fit" (fit in this context means HOT or attractive)

sorted- "I've got it all sorted" - a problem has been sorted out.

can't be bothered- I can't remember if I used this phrase before coming to Korea, but it is a phrase I use all the time now, and that everyone seems to use with regularity. Another version of this phrase is "I can't be asked" Ex: "I can't be bothered to work out today." Basically admitting to laziness hence why I use it all the time.

get on- "get along with" is our equivalent. "How do you get on with her?"

geezer/bloke/mate- all a term referring to a friend or guy.

knob- "He's such a knob!" This was used when speaking about Hugh Grant. Arrogant, stupid, slow.

torch- a flashlight, not a stick with flames which is what I though the first time.

bumbershoot- I love this word!! Umbrella!!

zebra crossing- pedestrian walk way.

swimming costume- yep, a swim suite, but this sounds so much funnier.

vitamin- only the pronunciation is different, but it is significantly different. "Vee ta men"

"bum a fag"- have a cigarette

"cheekie beer"- I still don't fully understand this term. But for example, we sat down mid- afternoon to have a beer while waiting for a friend and they said that because it was in the afternoon it was "cheekie." Like we were doing something we oughtn't.

"up the duff"- pregnant

"you alrigh" (notice the lack of a 't') used as a greeting in replace of "how are you?" The first time one of the American girls heard this phrase asked to her, she didn't really understand and said, "yeah, I'm fine" with a little attitude.

rubbish bin- trash can

lergie- a lougie (a snot ball) or a sickness like a cold. "I had a little lergie"

football- a word we seem to fight over all of the time. Soccer is the term we use and is the word we teach since we use "American English" to teach.

zed- "Z" the last letter in the alphabet! They have a different name

H- the pronunciation is like the 'h' is hate, but with a ch at the end. It sounds like Hach.

duvet- (french pronunciation, no 't') a comforter, as in the big fluffy blanket on your bed. In a conversation with someone about the "comforter" I was requesting the other person was very confused because a comforter to them meant a pacifier. Why would I need a pacifier? Some days, no one can understand anything!

South African terminology

bokke- (pronounced "boy key") male term like "dude"

bruv- like "bro"

hey- asked at the end of a sentence like the Canadian "eh?" It's a nice day out hey?

shame- this is used all the time by South Africans. Me: "I am feeling sick today." SA: " shame. I hope you feel better." Me: "That kid doesn't have all of his marbles." SA: "Shame."

courgette- a zucchini

pom- a derogatory term for the British.

New Zealand

Kiwi- ( a New Zealander)

sweet as- came from "sweet as pie" but is shortened to "sweet as." They would say this in response to something they like. "That is sweet as"

mauri- their natives.

Canada

The obvious: eh? - which I have to say is addictive and I sometimes catch myself saying eh? at the end of sentences.

Are you aware that Canada still uses British spelling? I wasn't until recently, but because they are common wealth they follow the spelling of the Queen more so than America.
colour
favourite

They also use the word zed rather than zee as we do in America.

USA

Things I am made fun of for saying:
"yall"- obvious one
"rambunctious"- they said they have this word, but it wouldn't be used unless you were writing a serious paper.
"the wave"- evidently everyone else in the world calls it the "Mexican Wave" because it was first done by Mexicans at a world cup soccer game.