My parents are coming to Korea to see their first grandbaby, so I found out some great stuff about the airport, and renting phones.
I’ve been quite interested in Korean designs and patterns for some time now. I’ve also been hoping to incorporate some of the best Korean patterns into my designs. However, there seems to be a real lack of Korean design resources out there, so I decided to make my own. In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a cool Korean circle pattern like those found on many Korean traditional buildings and clothes. This is one of the coolest patterns I’ve found in Korea, so it was a lot of fun making it in Illustrator. I found a similar pattern here, and if you want to see more great Korean patterns, I encourage you to pick up this book all about Korean patterns.
Well, let’s begin.
Today in class, all my students were asleep. Teaching them was like pulling teeth: not pleasant at all. I’m constantly discouraged by the educational system in Korea, particularly hagwons. But more than the system itself is the mindset that drives and encourages the system. Hagwons in and of themselves are not evil or even bad. They are present to fill a need (real or perceived) and they generally succeed in what they strive to do. Rather it is the “need” that drives much of the success or failure of schools and hagwons in Korea. The need is: to receive high quality education, learn enormous amounts of material quickly, pass difficult high school and university entrance tests with flying colors, graduate from an “Ivy League” (or at least upper-level) school, and ultimately have all money, wealth, and fame lavished upon them for their accomplishments. However, in their rush to get a jump on the competition and increase their own standing, I feel that many students (with their parents’ strong encouragement) are actually doing themselves more harm than good. Often I feel, the very goals these students are attempting to achieve are hindered by their own self-destructive study patterns.
Living in a foreign country definitely has it’s ups and downs. Of course every country has its share of frustrations and difficulties, blessings and good points. But, by being a foreigner in a foreign land, it can often be much easier to complain openly and “blame” that land (in my case Korea) for its differences. We (expats) can easily begin to fall into an “us vs. them” mindset, especially in Korea where everyone who is not Korean is labeled a “Wei-guk-in (foreigner).”
What a sad statement for Korea and all Koreans on May 23, 2009 as former President Roh committed suicide in the early morning hours. It’s not only regretful to see your former (well-loved) President commit suicide in the midst of a bribery/corruption/investigation/scandal, but also to realize that your country has the highest rate of suicide among all the OECD countries and now kills nearly as many people as cancer. Add that to the fact that Korea is ranked 6th in the world for most dangerous countries to drive in (traffic accidents here are as regular as rain), and the birth rate is the lowest in the world and we’re looking at a nation facing crisis (but undoubtedly in denial).
Today, the exchange rate for the Korean Won took one of the largest drops it’s had in over a month, bringing it from about 1356 Won down to 1278.25 (to $1 US). This also marks the lowest the exchange rate has been in almost 4 months (it was lower in early January, but only for a day or two). And the April monthly average for the Korean Won is the lowest it’s been since October of last year (2008). Read the rest of this entry »
The Republic of Korea and Google enter the schoolyard of the Internet, with good intentions to play nice together. Somewhere along the line, the ROK gets burned by a bully and decides it needs stronger rules before continuing play. Google on the other hand, liked things the way they were going, and doesn’t want to change things mid-game, (plus, it might give them an advantage to play the game with a few “features” left out). The ROK’s friends start to think he’s too demanding, and side with the “easy-going” Google. The ROK feels slighted and decides to “take out Google’s kneecaps” or at least spread ugly information about him so that the rest of his friends don’t want to play with him any more.
Recently I’ve been reading some interesting news concerning the Internet (perhaps I should say concerning news interested in the Internet?) here in Korea. Apparently, from April 1 of this year, the government has passed a new law to require all Internet users, bloggers, and content uploaders to use their “real name” and government-issued ID numbers in order to post anything to Korean servers. As this Korea Times article mentions, “Korea has now become one of the first democracies to aggressively use the law to hold Internet users and Web sites to account, and the revised copyright law represents the boldest step yet in this direction.”
As anyone who’s lived in Korea for even a short time is probably aware, this country is on the bleeding-edge of technology. They have cell phones, computers, LCD and HD TVs galore and as the video on this website mentions, Korea has become a virtual testbed for the newest and latest technologies. This article from the JoongAng Daily gives a few notable numbers:
Korea is one of the world’s most wired nations, with more than two-thirds of homes connected to high-speed Internet and more than nine out of 10 people owning a mobile phone.
However, for all its technological glitter, the state of South Korea’s Internet is anything but golden.
What a lovely tool we have at our fingertips: the Internet. It’s full of tons of useful information, interactivity, buying, selling, trading, free-lance business, banking, videos, games, music, and so much more. However, your online experience is only as good as the browser you use through which to do your “surfing” and there are indeed massive problems with Internet Explorer, especially versions 6 and below.
Aaron Snowberger's Home Abroad 
