Teaching English Abroad

[HisMajestyBOB]

Staff turnover is crazy here. I just came back from the going away party and like 1/4th of the staff is transferring and that's totally normal.

Yeah, public school teachers are required by the school boards to move around every 3-4 years.
Private school teachers (not to be confused with Hagwons) can stay for as long as the school administration will have them.

[Syt]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/02/korean-iphone-stylus-its-made-of-meat/

Korean iPhone Stylus: It's Made of Meat

A Korean sausage maker is experiencing a sales boom due to cold winter weather. People are buying CJ Corporation's snack sausages to use as styluses for their iPhones.

The sausage-fingers, which may or may not be called "Max Rods", conduct electricity and let iPhone owners use their devices whilst keeping their gloves on. According to the rather hard-to-interpret Korean news story, a cold winter has boosted sales by 40%.

The photo, taken by Byron of the Bikehugger community, appears to show commuters stroking their meat across the capacitive screen while still encased in its plastic sheath — good news, as otherwise things might get a bit gross. We wonder how long these sausages last. We guess that if they are encased in their plastic sleeves, and used in the cold, they'll probably be good until spring, whereupon they can be repurposed as a delicious snack.

[DisturbedPervert]

I didn't realize some touchscreens required electricity conduction.  I'll be sure to avoid those.

[Josquius]

how odd

[Grey Fox]

I didn't realize some touchscreens required electricity conduction.  I'll be sure to avoid those.

They all do.

[DisturbedPervert]

I didn't realize some touchscreens required electricity conduction.  I'll be sure to avoid those.

They all do.

They do not.  You never played on a DS before?  You can use anything as a stylus.  No meat sticks needed.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Olds!!! How's the Gout! Good to see you on Languish 3.0 (it's at least as good as windows 3.0 :p )

[Grey Fox]

I didn't realize some touchscreens required electricity conduction.  I'll be sure to avoid those.

They all do.

They do not.  You never played on a DS before?  You can use anything as a stylus.  No meat sticks needed.

Oh, right

Must have something to do with multitouch.

[jimmy olsen]

Yikes, the young guy replacing Ms. Lee is just out of school, and while he can read and write fine, his spoken English is definitely not the best.

On a positive note, I feel like I've learned more about teaching in the two classes I've had with him than in the previous 4 months combined.

[oldman]

Those "sausage" snacks are wholly artificial and can keep for years, they taste terrible but some folks like them. I never say anyone use them as a stylus though, there are dozens of brands of the stuff throughout the country.

Funny thing about my gout, when I first came to Korea I had it real bad, the worst I have ever experianced until I found out what was giving it to me. Then I went nearly two and a half years without any problems but then I come back home and I got it again!   Its mostly died down now but the my body has not liked the change in diet.

I'm still in counter-culture shock, I had forgotten how many fat people there are here.

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like no party in Namyang tomorrow, what are you doing Friday night?

[jimmy olsen]

The teachers had a welcome to Namyang Middle School party today at the local bbq place and it was awesome. They used beef instead of the usual pork and it was just exquisite. Some awkward conversations though.

New Ms. Lee:  Do you like Boys or Girls?

Me: Girls

New Ms. Lee:  Why?

Me: In what way do you mean?

New Ms. Lee: As students.

Me:  Oh...

[Josquius]

Same thing surely? :p

[jimmy olsen]

How annoying.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jjz-1FsdSMQjYDWp3qoa60B4b_jwD9EATIE00

Report: NKorea has medium-range missile division

By HYUNG-JIN KIM (AP) – 1 hour ago

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has recently created an army division in charge of newly developed intermediate-range missiles capable of striking U.S. forces in Japan and Guam, a South Korean news agency said Tuesday.

The report came as North Korea stepped up its war rhetoric against the U.S. and South Korea after the allies started their annual drills aimed at improving their defense capabilities.

The North's People's Army recently launched a division supervising operational deployment of missiles with a range of more than 1,860 miles (3,000 kilometers) that it had developed in recent years, Yonhap news agency reported citing an unidentified South Korean government source.

The missiles could pose a threat to U.S. forces in Japan, Guam and other Pacific areas that are to be redeployed in time of emergency on the Korean peninsula, Yonhap said.

The report, however, didn't provide further details such as how many missiles the new division possesses and where they are positioned.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it couldn't confirm the Yonhap report. However, a ministry document published last year showed that the North deployed a new type of medium-range missile believed to the same as one it displayed during a military parade in 2007.

If confirmed, the division's launch could suggest that the North has succeeded in developing more medium-range missiles since 2007 and it needed a bigger unit to manage them, said Ohm Tae-am of the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul.

The division's creation would also mean the North has a unit whose primary role is to prevent the U.S. from redeploying its troops in the Pacific to the Korean peninsula in the event of a conflict, said Baek Seung-joo of the same institute.

North Korea's missile program and nuclear weapons development program are major regional security concerns.

The North conducted a long-range rocket test in April in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits the country from engaging in any ballistic missile-related activities. A defiant Pyongyang subsequently quit nuclear disarmament talks and performed a second nuclear test.

The United Nations responded in July by imposing punishing new sanctions that toughened an arms embargo on the country and authorized ship searches on the high seas.

On Tuesday, the North continued its salvo against the U.S. and South Korea over their military drills, which the regime has long slammed as a rehearsal for invasion.

"This cannot be interpreted otherwise than a grave provocation," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said the North will continue to bolster its nuclear capability as long as the U.S. military threats persist.

The ministry, however, said the North is ready for both dialogue and war, a position that contrasts from a military statement Sunday that the North would break off dialogue with the U.S. in response to the drills.

About 18,000 American soldiers and an undisclosed number of South Korean troops are taking part in 11 days of drills that began Monday across South Korea.

The U.S., which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has said the drills are purely defensive.

The Associated Press

[Razgovory]

Now that Tim is in Korea I'm in favor of preemptive strikes on the North.  Let'em do their worst!