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Koreabridge Blog Section

  • Earth Hour 2010

    This Saturday is Earth Hour, a global event run by the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The idea is for people to turn off their non-essential electrical appliances and lights from 8:30pm until 9:30pm local time this Saturday, March 27th.

  • Teaching

    Largely, I think, due to my move and the efforts in becoming acquainted with new material to teach, I have been more focused on teaching lately than in the past few years.

    While at my previous university, I had prepared plenty and was known for my interesting and unusual methods of teaching.  Still, most of the preparation had taken place over the past few years, rather than over a single semester.  I am adapting old material and creating new material and it is both fun and tiring.

  • Angry Whites with Guns

    For the past few months I've been tracking the trajectory of the health care debate back at home. I've been reading articles on left and right-wing sites, watching video, and wasting countless hours perusing, lurking, and baiting people on the message boards. As I'm sure you all know, I am a big supporter of health reform in America, and firmly supported this now-passed, bill, despite its many flaws and seeming handouts to Big Insurance.
  • Surprise: employees want days off

    Well, duh.  From the Chosun Ilbo:

    Three out of four office workers are in favor of substituting national holidays that fall on a weekend during the working week, a survey finds. In the poll by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute of 1,000 office workers released Tuesday, 767 were in favor of substituting holidays that fall on weekends.

  • Convicted criminal returns to job

    Lee Kun-hee resigned or otherwise left (see below) his position as Chairman of Samsung and soon afterward went to jail as a result of his actions while running Samsung.  In a move fairly typical Korean justice with chaebol leaders, he was soon pardoned (the surprising thing is that he spent any time in jail at all).

    He was released in February and will soon return to work in the same position at the same company that he broke the law in previously. Part of the reason for his pardon was his previous work on the International Olympics Committee.

  • Convenience Culture

    One of the biggest (+)'s of living in Korea is the culture of convenience. Restaurants will send ajossis on scooters to your door without a delivery charge (even if you only order a $3 kimchijjigae), and come back later to collect the plates. They even deliver McDonald's here. If you order something online from a Korean company, expect it to arrive at your doorstep within a couple of days.
  • Ode to My Pencils, the Korea Times, and Life

    I don't have much going on right now.  To give you an idea: I actually wrote an entire paragraph about the love I have for my new pencils in an e-mail to my parents. That's right, an ode to my pencils. 

    However, there is always the Korea Times to make fun of! This bit constantly makes me giggles a little:
  • Fresh Air

    After our pottery class in Haeundae on Sunday, we went to Songjeong Beach. It wasn't far, which surprised me. I realise in retrospect that every time we've been there before it was by car, and since separate trips to Haeundae and Songjeong have never connected, I'd never made the geographical connection between the two. This tells me I'm still orientating myself when it comes to getting around Busan.
  • Life in Korea: 20 things to check on your contract

    Author's note: I am not a lawyer - just a blogger reasonably seasoned in reading contracts and figuring out what's missing. This is not necessarily an all-inclusive list - if I'm missing something, comments are open!

    Contracts are a tricky thing - while some are barely worth the paper they're printed on, others have some force to them. They're not typically written to benefit you, and there are plenty of protections for the party that writes it. Since there is no such thing as one standard contract, things might be left out that really need to be included.

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