Korea in China

Here's another attempt at using up some old pictures.

One might expect that, having moved to China, I would spend a lot of time with Chinese people. Not so. However, I spend a lot of time with Koreans. Several major Korean corporations have operations in Suzhou, and they tend to go much deeper into the rank and file when then send employees here (as opposed to the Western companies, who typically only send high-level engineers, managers, and accountants). That is apparently a sore spot with the Chinese government, which I have heard pressures the Koreans to give more of those jobs to Chinese workers.

I digress, as usual. As I said, I spend a lot of time with Koreans. I never really knew any Koreans before I came here, and I like them. The kids are, for the most part, friendly and hard-working. Too hard working, in some cases. A lot of these poor kids finish school only to go to Korean schools all over again for the evening. Many of the kids (in particular, the girls) are incredible musicians as well. I was at the elementary school talent show last year. It was pretty impressive.

And of course, let's not forget the Korean food, which I have really developed a taste for.

The Korean kids are very, very partial to all things Korean. When we take them on school trips, they always bring bundles of mom-packed food, in little nested boxes and neat packages (all to save them from having to eat anything Chinese). Sometimes, their enthusiasm is better described as nationalism. Case in point, have you ever heard of Dokdu Island? Talk to a Korean for a few minutes and you will. It is a rocky speck of an island halfway between South Korean and Japan. It is officially accepted as Korean territory (and they have two caretakers stationed on it to make sure the claim is firm).

However, occasionally, Japan makes noises that it rightfully belongs to them. There have literally been street protests in South Korea over this, including bizarro stuff like when a college student sliced his fingertips and wrote his loyalty to Dokdu in his own blood. At school, I have had to reprimand kids for starting up arguments over it. In the library, atlases and even wall maps have been hand marked to show Dokdu, and remind everyone who it belongs to. This is in addition to the fact that the same maps have often been defaced so that the "Sea of Japan" has been renamed the "Sea of Korea".

I digress again. Below are some pictures of some art from some of the Korean 4th graders from last year. They have nothing to do whatsoever with anything I said above. They just made me laugh. For this assignment, the kids were supposed to draw a picture illustrating "empathy". They had some interesting interpretations. Names have been blocked out.



This one if from a very sweet girl who was one of my favorites. If your friend will cry over your dead dog with you, she is a true friend.




I'm not sure what this kid was thinking. Perhaps he has heard the expression "walk a mile in his shoes".




This is the best one. This kid really didn't get the concept.

A quick post

Between the fact that I have no time, and we continue to dither as to the future of our blog plans (see last post), I haven't had anything to say. In the meantime, I'll through out a picture. This is an advertisement I saw in the Beijing subway that made me laugh. Hip young popstar types are routinely used to advertise all manner of products. But kitchen range hoods?

Does it come in candy iPod colors? Are the other kids jealous? Does this punk even know how to cook?

Quietly Been Back for Some Time

We've been back in China for some time now (about a month). Life is very busy now. School has been demanding for all. Lee has a supervisory position this year, and after a fun year in the wilderness teaching elementary, I'm back to teaching high school.

The past month hasn't generated any good stories or pictures, so I really don't have much to say. I do have some good pictures left over from last year, and I'll start posting some more of those.

It was really, really good to see friends and family back in the U.S.A. We are sorry for those of you that we missed. It was not so nice to spend so much money. We try to tell ourselves that we were making up for a year of no clothes shopping (in reality is was more like two years, because we kind of skated by on old clothes last year), but that doesn't really make us feel better.

One of the things that surprised me when I talked to friends back home was that, of everything I blogged about, the one subject that generated the most interest, and the most questions, were my travails as a incurable handyman trying to fix up my apartment in the hardware and building supply wasteland that is retail China. I thought I was beating a dead horse on that subject, so I actually passed on a whole lot of little stories and anecdotes that I could have told.

So, by apparent popular demand, I will expand my offerings of do-it-yourselfer nightmares in China. Obviously, I have a bit of a niche carved out for myself. Maybe I'll take up some new hobbies so I can subject myself to further hardware humiliations. Perhaps I can generate some more material from school, where I have been appointed the "master carpenter" for the high school drama program (so much less impressive than it sounds, but don't think for one minute that I won't milk it for all it's worth on my resume).

One final note. Lee and I have been discussing merging our three blogs, with the idea that the two of us together can give everyone more frequent and consistent posts. Any opinions? Give us some comments.