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Night Court — Korea

PANELISTS
Grace Park and Stephanie Maing (Crazy Korean Cooking)

What’s That Smell?

“Dokdo Breeze” cologne from Demeter

Seoul Street Food: Heart Attack on a Stick

‘Karate’ Suits Inflame Taekwondo Lovers

The first glimmer of controversy appears to be a posting on the website of the North Jeolla provincial government titled, “Brochure for the Taekwondo park, a shame.” There, a devotee of the Korean martial art pointed out, “The models wear karate suits, their belts are tied improperly, and what is worse, there is no green belt in Taekwondo. This brochure is a waste of money. How could you administer the Taekwondo park without being able to distinguish the Taekwondo suit from the karate suit. Will you promote the spirit and culture of Korea in a brochure with kimono-clad models?”

In the brochure, five foreign girls and boys are seen smiling, wearing white suits with belts in red, violet, green, orange and yellow. The suit does indeed look like those worn for the traditional martial art of Korea’s arch-rival Japan: the top is a jacket rather than a pullover, and the neckline is just white, unlike that of the original Taekwondo suit, which is black or red or both. But the suit is in fact a new design adopted in hopes of improving the popularity of the sport.

Still, the “improved” suit is so similar to a karate suit as to smack of capitulation. Now there are calls for proper standards for Taekwondo suits to be drawn up.

NEW FEATURE: ASK SEOULPODCAST

Horrible Hagwon?

Sir John Hawkins

Ok guys, I have been here for a little less than a month and I am starting to see that it probably isnt going to work out between my Hogwan and I. Today, I was waiting for my class to start (every other day I dont have classes for the first hour because lack of classes) and I was trying to figure out what I was going to teach that day, the secretary came back to the office to check what I was doing (she tried to check if I was on the internet before she talked to me, which I wasnt) then in some sort of weird broken english told me to go sit in on the other teachers class (I was told to do this when I didnt have class, but the other teacher doesnt do it, so I figured that I didnt have to do it all the time). After that, I was called out of class twice (the admin watches via CCTV from her other school) to tell me I wasnt teaching correctly (not enough energy, too much individual study) so, I went back to class. Later that day, one of my classes no showed (1 person class) so the director wanted to talk with me. During this meeting, she got out one of the childrens book and went through it line by line telling me how to teach it (this is a box, draw a box, discuss a box) this went on for about 15 minutes. Then, she asked if I was cold (I had my coat on) I am like, no, I am fine. And she asks why I have my coat on, and I said, well its cold in here without it (most students and the other teachers always have their coats on as our school knows nothing about how heat works I guess) then she proceeds to tell me how many shirts to wear “tomorrow, please wear more shirts…blah blah blah”

Having a Hard Time finding a Job…HELP!

Optik404

Just to clear a few things up first. I have my F visa already, all documents, mid-20′s, thin, neat preppy style, etc…

I’ve been in Seoul for three weeks now and have been emailing job listings from the Worknplay job board and the one on Dave’s.

Have gone through a bunch of recruiters, some don’t bother replying and the ones that do…all the job offers I get are outside of Seoul. Every now and then I get a offer in Seoul…but when I look up the school info, they have a bad rep, so thats a no-go. I’ve had several interviews in Seoul, but all with schools with bad reps. And the other interviews I get offered are very far.

Is there something I am doing wrong?

Should I walk-in to hagwons in the area I want to work at and drop off my resume?

Karl’s Korean Pizza Video

Konglish Moment: Eye Remover

For now…

Video that shows that Korean comedy ain’t too far off from SNL (if that says anything)

Seoul Tower | Locks of Love

Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases – Telegraph

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