2002 Korando for Sale. Busan/ Gimhae area

I am asking 1,000,000 won or best offer.

My 2002 Korando is a 2/4WD, two seater, farm-purposes diesel, manual transmission vehicle with more than 200,000km on it.

Photo #4 shows replacement hinges for the back door – originals seized up and were replaced.

Photo #5 shows the remnants of a back-up mirror that broke off.

Photo #6 shows a rain gutter for the driver side that partially broke off.

It is described at ‘farm-purposes’ and probably isn’t the best for gas mileage but I have driven Seoul to Busan and back many times with no concerns. but the back is NOT for passengers. A person can sit on the floor back there, even curl up and rest, but it is not a wonderful experience. My in-laws were farmers but the Korando has not be used much for carting farm materials so there is no farm-smell; simply put, the back is a flat storage space that is not built for humans to be comfortable. As well, there are no side-windows in the back.

It has been a good car for me but I am moving out of country. I would prefer to keep the car until April 21 but can arrange an earlier sale.

Big Ho, I would drive to Seoul if you wanted it!

Gapyeong War Monument for Canadian soldiers

From Wikipedia: The Battle of Gapyeong:

The Battle of Kapyong (Korean: 가평전투, 22–25 April 1951), also known as the Battle of Jiaping (Chinese: 加平战斗; pinyin: Jiā Píng Zhàn Dòu), was fought during the Korean War between United Nations (UN) forces—primarily Australian and Canadian—and the Chinese communist People’s Volunteer Army. The fighting occurred during the Chinese Spring Offensive and saw the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade establish blocking positions in the Kapyong Valley, on a key route south to the capital, Seoul. The two forward battalions—3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) and 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI)—occupied positions astride the valley and hastily developed defences. As thousands of South Korean soldiers began to withdraw through the valley, the Chinese infiltrated the brigade position under the cover of darkness, and assaulted the Australians on Hill 504 during the evening and into the following day.

Although heavily outnumbered, the 27th Brigade held their positions into the afternoon before the Australians were finally withdrawn to positions in the rear of the brigade, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties. The Chinese then turned their attention to the Canadians on Hill 677, but during a fierce night battle they were unable to dislodge them. The fighting helped blunt the Chinese offensive and the actions of the Australians and Canadians at Kapyong were important in assisting to prevent a breakthrough on the United Nations Command central front, and ultimately the capture of Seoul. The two battalions bore the brunt of the assault and stopped an entire Chinese division during the hard fought defensive battle. The next day the Chinese withdrew back up the valley, in order to regroup. Today, the battle is regarded as one of the most famous actions fought by the Australian and Canadian armies in Korea.

I am grateful for the enthusiasm of the Korean masons but I wish they had gotten someone to spell-check their work: There is no “Princess PatBicias” infantry groups.

Also, I suspect the monument was “erected” with a ‘c’ not an ‘o’.

This shrine was near the Canadian monument but I don’t know the significance. Because today was the anniversary of the battle, Canadian flags were all along the road and I saw them being collected as I left the monument.

Nearby is an American monument. Private Jesus Aguigui, residence unknown. Probably an immigrant.

This home might have been built around the time of the Korean War. On the other hand, Kudzu grows fast and it might have abandoned only a few years ago. It seemed atmospheric.

At the top of a nearby mountain, I am facing North Korea and displaying my look of resolve!Tourism information from Gapyeong County.

GPS info on the monument.

From veterans.ca

Ara Canal Ride

I had a great ride today that was about as long I could currently handle. It wasn’t very long!

I took my bike on the subway to Ara Canal, north of us, that runs alongside the Han River. It is the start for the 4-rivers paths which apparently would take me from the mouth of the Han River to the mouth of the Nakdong River. It is a little neat that I have lived at both places.

Anyway, i got off the subway at Gyeyang. There are many bike rental places on the route including this one right at Gyeyang Station.

Get ready for a lot of photos of signs. They seem to be the easiest way for me to include distance information and maps.

On the way west, I passed this structure on the other side of the river.

I returned east on the other side so stopped at it to rest.

A friend is planning a bike hike on the 4-rivers path and plans to camp. This looks like an ‘official’ camping area.

At the west end, I could have gone a little further but stopped at this open area.  There were a few rowers out.

Props to the local subways with bike racks in the first cars!

I had trouble connecting on Map My Walk so this map starts after I had gone around halfway west. It, uh, also includes some of my subway trip at the end -if you can see I managed 54km/h, it wasn’t by pedalling.

A successful week

Jobs are beginning to roll in. Many are still short but I am busy which feels nice. I am also getting experience with the type of teaching this group wants.

I have taught youth up to university age for fifteen-plus years and I have taught adults here and there. And yet the groups I am now working with have a different set of needs.  Last week, I taught a 20 hour course in presentation skills in English to Korea Customs personnel. Working in the field of customs meant that they already had strong English skills.  I think all of them had more than ten years experience in their work and a few had more than twenty.

I learned a whole lot about customs.

This group, individually, often gave presentations to customs officials of other nations and to junior members of their own organization.

I have taught presentations skills classes to university students and had them give 2-5 minutes talks about their hobbies or the like.  This crew gave 20 minutes talks that were condensed from one or more hour talks they frequently gave. Their slides were professionally made. The main ESL thing I did was work on pronunciation: the ‘rl’ in words like ‘girl’ and on ‘ths’, especially in ‘months’.

Regarding presentations, we worked on a catchy opening and simplifying slides. Some of the PPT slides they used were very busy and hard to follow.  They were horrified when I told them about the 7 X 7 rule (check the link, but basically, add very little text to your slides).

One cool thing that happened during the three day course was one student didn’t show up one morning. I teach kids; this is not unfamiliar. But the excuse was pretty cool. His staff had intercepted several kilograms of cocaine entering Korea and he had to speak at a news conference on the subject. He returned that afternoon and gave a strong talk the next day.

One of first things I was taught at an adult hagwon in Seoul was that I was the ENGLISH expert, not the all-round expert. Many of my students then were far more knowledgeable in their fields and didn’t need my advice on those subjects. I needed to walk a line; strong in my English criticism and cautious on my outside commentary. As a university instructor, I forgot that advice because a) I have more life experience and b) students needed the high grades that I could give and so needed to accept unnecessary advice without complaint.

Well, time to look for more work and fill in some holes in my schedule.

---

On Quora, there is a discussion on how to start freelance work. The question is vague and the location of the people asking and answering is largely unknown but the answers chiefly cover writing. Hasan Mirza wrote:

What you need to do is visit sites such as odesk, elance, freelancer, fiverr and sign up. For example on Elance, you can give skill tests to prove how much you know, and how much is demanded. How it works is, you sign up and look at the jobs people have posted, and bid on them. If you can get a job, the respective platforms have quite a few services that assist both the employer and the employee.

 

A day in the Life

…of a guy trying to make a living as a freelance English teacher.

I don’t think this is a rant but a warning to others who might look for this kind of work in South Korea. To some extent I am, not thinking ‘aloud’ but thinking ‘atext’; working things out on paper. Welcome to the way my mind works. Caveat lector!

Yesterday I left the apartment at 8:30 with the expectation of returning home around 7:00 and working four hours during those ten-and-a-half.  Things didn’t work out that way and I am not sure what the result was.

First, I went to a factory that had been taken over by a multi-national which wanted all or most of the employees to speak English. I was there to administer an oral level test of ten employees.  I was never made aware of all the end results of my judgement. I know  in at least some cases, the students were tested to see what sort of English class would be a good fit. All the people I interviewed spoke about job stress and drinking too much alcohol. It is possible that if an employee’s level did not improve, they might be let go. I’m not saying that will happen but, some of the employees seemed tense. The range of ability was from very low to nearly native speaker level.

After the interviews were done, I spoke with the organizer. She works at a corporate English recruiting firm – does that company description sound right? She had placed an ad on Craig’s List for corporate private teaching and similar work and I had applied. Anyway, the original position was to teach an executive at this company. I was accepted. Then the executive decided he would rather have a Korean English teacher. Then they offered me this level testing gig. Then the executive decided he wanted a foreigner and I might have that job. The level testing gig was moved to a new day. …

The people at the recruiting firm were not exactly jerking my chain. As middle-men, they had to adjust to a variety of schedules and whims.

Another similar company has also hired me to teach a few classes in October that will conflict with teaching the executive. I may have to cancel or reschedule two days. It didn’t seem a big deal to me because of all the rescheduling I had been through at the hands of the recruiters.

We discussed this and the recruiter is delivering messages to and fro to see what to do when I miss those days.

So we separate and I have three hours until my next gig, which is maybe forty minutes away. I buy a drink at a Paris Baguette and type for a while.

At the next job I am replacing a teacher who had to return home for a funeral. I actually don’t know how much I will be paid. I had the time free and feel this is the compassionate thing to do. I do expect to be paid.

And when I get there, I learn they have nothing for me to do and I should go home.  I had already worked there Monday and Wednesday and had a schedule for Friday. No, they tell me, I am not needed because the students had come in the day before. I did not raise my voice but noted that I had organized my day around this work and had traveled a hour to get there and would travel an hour more to get home.

I am not good with money.

In this case, as noted, I wasn’t expecting to receive a lot of money for the work, but I do need to convince myself to fight for the hours to be paid for. It hardly mattered what the rate was, I deserved it for the 2.5 hours I had expected to work there.

I think I will be paid for a satisfactory amount of hours there.

At home two hours early, I checked my email and saw an email from the second recruiting company. This is the company with work in October. They have offered me a two day Presentation Skills in English class and a three day Presentation Skills in English class. They interviewed me for the two day class and offered the the three day one as well.  Both take place a significant distance south, in the same town but for different groups in different locations. The two day event will pay X won and the email I received asked me if I would do the three day class for X won. The pay for two days is good if not worth dancing over. The pay for three days – the same pay or 1/3 less per hour – is still good. Better than sitting at home, not being paid.

I am not good with money. Imagine a Victorian trying to explain inter-racial sex to another person’s children and you have an idea of how uncomfortable I am in walking the line between appearing to be greedy and having a desire for fair pay.

After I finish this post, I will craft an email explaining my point. My main concern here is that the same company is hiring me to teach similar material -but of differing durations – at the same cost. If a sixteen hour course is worth X, then a twenty-four hour course should be worth 3/2X.  A complicating point is that the money offered per hour would not be enough for one hour or even two. It would be worthwhile for four or more because I only travel once and the activity causes only one conflict rather than a continuing stream of them.

Freelancing is challenging!

Image from.

In early July, I moved to Incheon, where my wife had been transferred, from Busan, where I had worked and my son went to school.  We were a happy family again…

A week later, I went to Gangwon Province to work at an ESL camp, returning to Incheon in mid August. Two weeks later, the whole family – all the in-laws – went to Jeju Island to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday.

In between all that and continuing to this moment, I have been looking for work.  Summer isn’t the peak hiring season for universities although I applied to all within, first 50 km, then 80 km and then as classes began, up to 120 km away.  Nothing.

I had been looking at piece work but didn’t want to commit in case I found a long term employer.  And so, now I diving into piece-work.

So far, I can’t complain about being too busy. I spend an hour or two a day on four websites: Koreabridge, Dave’s ESL Cafe, Craig’s List and Facebook specialty pages with job listings (you need to be invited to these so no link here). Of the group, Craig’s List has the best short term listings. Or, it has the most, which might not be the same thing.

Now is a good time to note that I have an F-6 visa, different from most native speaker English teachers, and working at a variety of places is permitted. As a university instructor, my contracts included a clause that I would not work off campus without the permission of the university. In other words, working off campus sometimes meant breaking the contract rather than breaking the law.

And so currently on my plate are:

subbing for a few days for a person going home for a funeral,

an interview for teaching one evening a week at a high school,

and working in a nearby suburb with a young professional and being paid by his corporation.

The thing is, the funeral was put off a week (I don’t know how that works), the professional wants to meet me today, next Tuesday but can’t, and not can because I don’t have subbing to do and the meeting I was going to have with the high school at 5:00 but couldn’t because of the subbing was moved to 6:30 and now back to 6:00.

I look at ten positions and mailed three to five applications a day and when I get responses, they don’t always include information on the position.  Today, I had to ask an employer (No, let’s say client. It sounds better) to refresh my memory on the details.

I now keep Google Calendar open all the time in a browser and will now record the details of every position I apply to in a dated file, “applications Sept 8” to help me keep track.

My brother-in-law is a dentist and an incredible guy.  The thing about dentists is, they are masters of production line throughput in a way that I don’t see with other medical doctors.  While the freezing is taking effect in a patient’s mouth, or an X-ray is developing (that might be an outdated phrase now, do digital x-rays develop?), he is doing the actual fingers-in-mouth work or interviewing a patient or parent…. At his home, he has horses and the farrier (I mean the guy who trims the hooves and works with horseshoes. I think that’s the right term) was in to work while I visited. The two discussed the similarities in their work, with my brother-in-law saying, “First, you find work, then you get a reputation, then you find work sites closer together and choose clients deliberately rather than desperately”.

That describes my plans, such as they are.  The three work sites are not close to home but will get me noticed.  The corporate work is likely to grow and in my interview, I described this first contract as a probationary one for both of us. We would both see how the other worked and hopefully grow from there.  They are interested and eager to find me work in my home neighbourhood if they can.

I gotta keep organized and on top of the schedules and check the postings every day.  It’s a good life if you don’t weaken.

Surprise! Now I live in Incheon

An internet friend who has blogged for a few years in Korea has moved back home and hung up his keyboard. He writes:

… I’ve felt less compulsion to blog, perhaps not just due to a lack of time, but also because I’ve become extremely familiar with this country that I now feel is truly my second home.

I’ve felt the same way.  In Gangwondo, I was one of only a few English language bloggers and felt I filled a needed niche.  Plus, the place was weird.   Now I am comfortable in Korea and I moved to a giant city with many bloggers.  I don’t know but I guess I posted five or ten things since I moved to Busan six years ago.

Some of those posts were good.  I am proud of my discussion of libel in Korea.  But I just didn’t feel the urge to blog here.

I deliberately unlocked my blog from a location.  My previous blog was titled ‘Gangwon Notes’ and once I left it, I felt strange in adding to it. Surprisesaplenty is supposed to be open.  Maybe it is too open.  For reasons hard to explain my creativitiproject blog has been going well. Open in location but focused on subject matter seems to be the way to go.

My wife was recently transferred to Incheon and I have moved there to join her. My life is currently very befitting the title of this blog as my life is in a state of flux. What will I do next? Teach?  Take the plunge and write full time?  Organize my blogs so they fit together?

I’m not giving up on this blog but I don’t know where my adventures will lead.

On Policing – a rambling exploration of violence

What is it like to be a police officer?  On the one hand, there is this letter by a police officer’s wife (heavily snipped):

Dear Officer,

I want you to know that I see you.  I see you choose the booth in the restaurant that allows you to have your back against the wall.  I see you walking to your next traffic stop while you hope that it isn’t your last. … I see your cause and I want you to know that I appreciate it.

…

I need you.  We need you.  America needs you.  I know that the world isn’t making it any easier for you to wake up with the same passion you had when you first started.  I know the world is making it extremely difficult for you to feel like anyone is on your side.  I know the world is making you feel like the only allies you have can only be found in each other.  I know that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to put your life on the line for a world that has seemingly turned their backs on you.

…

I wish I knew how to fix it.  The only thing I know how to do is support you.  I’m aware that there isn’t a magic solution that will make the world see you for who you are; the amazing men and women in blue.  I just want you to know that I see you. I need you to know that you are appreciated by a vast majority who is in your corner.  I need you to know that you aren’t alone.  I need you to feel the presence of those who love and support you.  We are rallied behind you and ready to defend your character at any given moment.  You are honorable.  You are courageous.  You are worthy of a nation’s support.

And on the other side, police officer tased teen into coma.

 

The letter is from the wife of a police officer.  I am the son, grandson and husband of police officers.  If my eyes were better, I might be one myself -or at least have applied. The two extremes posted above, plus the killing of Sammy Yatim by police officer James Forcillo in Toronto have made me unsure of where I stand.

Background on Yatim.  The mentally man stepped onboard a bus and threatened the other passengers with a knife.  They were evacuated, police arrived and Yatim was shot by Forcillo:

On August 19, 2013, James Forcillo was charged with second-degree murder. On July 30, 2014, he was also charged with attempted murder. On January 25, 2016, Forcillo was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter, but guilty of attempted murder.

At issue in this case was how much of a threat Yatim was.  The passengers had been removed, but the man had a knife.  How far apart were Yatim and Forcillo? Did Forcillo need to approach Yatim at that time?  It appears he, and other officers, could have waited outside the bus.

I’ll return to this in a moment, but I wrote “unsure of where I stand”.  That is still unclear, even in what line or side I imagine exist to stand on or in.

There is one more bit of history to include. My own father was investigated for a shooting.  This was long ago and I do not know the details. Maybe it is better I don’t.  Maybe the question here is, ‘Am I brave enough to learn family history?’

What I think I recall is my father and other officers had a man in a car surrounded. I think he was an escaped convict or possibly a suspect in a violent crime.  It was suspected that he was armed.  In the course of events (how neutrally I phrase this), the man’s hand dipped out of sight and someone (this is not an evasion – I don’t think anyone knows who it was) fired.  At this point, every officer emptied his pistol.

One important point I can add for the education of any  readers. To fire less than every bullet in a revolver or automatic gun requires more control than firing two or three.  If a person thinks his/her life is at risk, there is no benefit to a halfway measure.  The dead don’t get any more dead so firing more shots than needed has no downside.  In any case of a killing by firearm, the fact of the killing is important and should be legally actionable, but the bullet count is not important.

This is a key difference between the Ontario Provincial Police (and probably police in all of North America) and at least one police group in South Korea.  Here in South Korea, officers are trained (how well, I cannot say) to wound, to aim for a leg or arm.

Back to my father.  The killing was ruled justified and aside from nightmares, my father and the other officers received no punishment.

Training now is far different for police officers.  in the 1960’s, my father was hired either right out of high school or soon afterwards.  Police today are often university degree holders and older hires, late twenties or so, are preferred.

Fifty years ago, a few members from every detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police were sent to Wasaga Beach for a long weekend holiday in May -known as the May two four weekend.  They weren’t there to relax but to rein in the motorcycle gangs that converged on the otherwise quiet village.  I am too young to recall, but my father would return home bleeding at night on occasion.  Who were these bikers to disrespect the law and who were these officers who did not have the confidence to stamp the problem out? For that matter, who were the general public that didn’t give enough support to the police to handle the matter safely for all concerned, especially the police that were wounded in such battle?

I imagine if a similar problem presented itself today, enough force would be found to charge all gang members at the location and people would accept the rationale for the arrests.

Today, police in Canada are armoured more by their badge than their vest or weapons. If a police officer is threatened, the public normally sides with the officer.

They didn’t side with Forcillo and his position was no defence at sentencing.

The mandatory minimum prison sentence for attempted murder with a restricted firearm was never intended to apply to police whose job is to protect the public, a lawyer for a Toronto officer found guilty in the shooting death of a troubled teen argued Thursday.

But the judge who will decide Const. James Forcillo’s sentence for attempted murder said he saw no reason why police officers should be exempt from the minimum of five years behind bars.

“It’s not a licence to kill,” Justice Edward Then said of police-issued guns. “Police officers are entrusted with the use of a gun for a particular purpose. In this case the jury has found that it wasn’t to serve and protect but it was with the purpose of attempting to kill.”

I feel Forcillo’s profession, and it is a profession now, unlike in my father’s day – does earn him special consideration when on trial for actions done while on duty.  I am definitely not talking specifically about Forcillo, as I know only some of the details available to the public. Here is my reasoning.  In the past, and probably still, killing a police officer who had identified himself as such, was a greater crime than killing someone who wasn’t a police officer.  I feel this is fair because police are required to approach danger while others are welcome, even encouraged, to move away from danger.  Making the killing of a police officer a more serious crime was a way to protect people who worked to protect us.  In the same way, giving the police some greater leeway when they use force seems fair.  They aren’t supposed to retreat from danger the way I, for example, am.

I don’t feel the police should get a free ride, should be able to murder with no consequences.  But I do feel reduced consequences are reasonable.

Hmmm. I do feel I cleared up at least one point in my own mind. “But the judge who will decide Const. James Forcillo’s sentence for attempted murder said he saw no reason why police officers should be exempt from the minimum of five years behind bars.” He definitely should not be exempt. But the possibility of a lower sentence should be open.  If the standard sentence is five to ten years, I feel Forcillo should be looking at three to ten years.  He should not be exempt from a long sentence, but his position as a person who could not run away should mean something.

Now, in reading Boingboing, one might come to the conclusion that police already are free of many legal restrictions and punishments we civilians are bound by. That link is to posts tagged with ‘police’ and a few are not relevant but most are.  I can only hope they are American poli… Not, I don’t want any police officer or department to be so poorly overseen. For the police to be protected, the public has to have faith in them.  I have faith but not quite as much as the wife that wrote the letter excerpted above.

I will finish with this thought.    My father was a patient man with me but also an angry man in general.  Kind-hearted, generous and friendly, but so often angry.  I know what it is like to be a police officer’s son and we heard from the wife of a police officer.  I wonder if police themselves are able to talk about such things.  How do they stay professional – or what makes their professionalism break down?

New direction, same posting rate?

I enjoy blogging.

Really.

I do most of it these days at creativiti project and Evolution Creation Busan. I, uh, don’t really care for the name of the latter blog but I do post there once a month or so.  At creativiti project, I post a little more than once a week.

This article at motherboard has encouraged me to attempt something similar: Facebook group identifies rare species in Cambodia.

…the loss of a generation of scientists under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s has stunted scientific research into the country’s wildlife for half a century.

But over the past three years, a social media group set up by a pair of nature enthusiasts wanting to share their encounters with the country’s wilderness has mushroomed into a dynamic online community of “citizen scientists” that has provided experts with insights into the distribution of some of the country’s native species and become a portal through which members of the public have witnessed newly-discovered species for the first time.

My goals are a little less grand.  I would love to find rare species but I would settle for less-known species.  Korea has a thriving biology field at universities but I would like to share such information in English.

I enjoyed making such posts and want to do more in that regard.  If I have enough content, perhaps I will look at transferring it to Facebook.

fsgh

Alternative Reality Gaming as an ESL Activity

I’ve just finished day one of two of KOTESOL International Conference.  Some presentations were better than others but one, though not the best transfer of information seems the most interesting to build on in the next semester.

An Alternative Reality Game has many of the following elements: fictional narrative, interactive, transmedia (takes place in the real world and online in a variety of media), “This is not a game” mentality (don’t break character), puzzles and codes.  The 1997 Michael Douglas movie, The Game, is an example and another one is given below.

Oh, the talk was given by Paul Starr of Seoul National University.  He gave a good talk that explained the basics but I don’t think it got into the “Participants will then be asked to design some basic ARG elements for their own learning environments.” part described in the conference guide.  To be fair, he had a lot to cover in a short time and I did become interested enough in the idea to want to learn more and that’s gotta be an indicator of success.

I think I’m at three now:  On the third hand, he also included a code game on his handout so some of us ignored part of his talk to solve his mini game.

I teach various classes at my university and also run voluntary activities at the “English Cafe”.  In the past, we’ve watched The Simpsons -with questions to be answered for a prize, played board games (again with prizes available) and every semester we have a scavenger hunt.  If I can get this going, next semester we will have an ARG instead of the Scavenger Hunt.

As my very first brainstormed ideas, I envision:

• Some kind of code or QR code in the official class information for ESL students.  Leading to…
• Posters randomly appearing on campus – at the English Cafe and elsewhere.
• Interruptions or notices during half-times of sporting events or school festival week.
• Directions to as many English locations on campus – the library has at least two floors with English hard cover books, the ESL profs’ offices, the TOEIC testing room, ….

The big thing lacking is a narrative.  As a sci-fi/ fantasy fan, could it be the signals of a future Dongseo student trapped in time by an experiment in the engineering or medical training spaces?  Or is that too cliche?  Whatever, I want to do this.

ARGs on Dave’s ESL Cafe

An old ARG that rests, slowly decaying, online.

Socks incorporated

Alternative Reality Gaming  Network