I recorded a CD single. It can be heard over at MySpace:
For those who don't know, an "ajeossi" is a middle-aged Korean man who works too hard and drinks too much.
Enjoy it!
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Strange behavior by co-workers
I work as the only foreigner in a Korean government office.
My co-workers are nice and kind. They act fairly normally around me. However, I'm not encouraged to be actively involved in decision making, and am often left out of the loop. Everyday I'm asked about my lunch, and my eating habits are regulary analyzed. My limited Korean is praised too highly. One guy always acts overly delighted to see me, like it's a surprise that I came into the office again today after being here for five years. You get the idea. Some of them struggle to act naturally around me, others are great.
The one time I notice some of them trying way too hard is when another foreigner visits the office. After a too-formal introduction from the Korean co-worker, the foreigner and I will start making small talk and getting to know each other. The Korean stands by, overreacting and misreacting to almost everything. A simple question from me to the foreigner is met with, say, laughter. A simple comment about the weather is met with, say, a worried expression.
At its worst, it makes me think that some co-workers have their "foreigner face" on and know how to deal with one foreigner in a controlled situation, but an improvised, informal scenario blows their circuits and they struggle to adopt the appropriate emotions.
My co-workers are nice and kind. They act fairly normally around me. However, I'm not encouraged to be actively involved in decision making, and am often left out of the loop. Everyday I'm asked about my lunch, and my eating habits are regulary analyzed. My limited Korean is praised too highly. One guy always acts overly delighted to see me, like it's a surprise that I came into the office again today after being here for five years. You get the idea. Some of them struggle to act naturally around me, others are great.
The one time I notice some of them trying way too hard is when another foreigner visits the office. After a too-formal introduction from the Korean co-worker, the foreigner and I will start making small talk and getting to know each other. The Korean stands by, overreacting and misreacting to almost everything. A simple question from me to the foreigner is met with, say, laughter. A simple comment about the weather is met with, say, a worried expression.
At its worst, it makes me think that some co-workers have their "foreigner face" on and know how to deal with one foreigner in a controlled situation, but an improvised, informal scenario blows their circuits and they struggle to adopt the appropriate emotions.
Monday, February 23, 2009
A Beef Cattle Rancher from Ohio Writes...
There was a good letter to the JoongAng Daily editor from a 4th-generation cattleman today. He wrote on the beef issue.
The letter is full common sense, is well written, and the writer oozes integrity. In other words, it's unlike anything from last summer's anti-U.S. beef protests.
[Letters] Reassuring Koreans on U.S. beef
February 23, 2009
I should like to respectfully respond to Mr. Sun Yang’s letter (“The case against cheap U.S. beef,” Feb. 20). I do not pretend to understand all of the issues behind the Korean people’s concerns about this issue but I do feel that it is important that you know the truth and judge me, my family, my business and my product with facts as opposed to vicious politically motivated propaganda, lies and misinformation.
My family and I are beef cattle ranchers in the United States. We are a fourth-generation family-owned and operated beef and beef genetics producer dedicated to breeding and producing the highest quality, most efficient, and yes, profitable, beef cattle for our fellow U.S. and international cattle breeder customers and beef consumers worldwide. Our family has supplied beef genetics to Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Britain, Germany, Poland, Russia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa and most U.S. states. It is highly possible that anywhere in the world a person eats beef, our family may have had some small part in producing that beef.
This is a responsibility that we take very seriously and personally. Your readers should take reassurance that I and my family buy and consume U.S. produced beef without any qualms or concerns as to its safety, wholesomeness and healthiness and this comfort comes with a lifetime of knowledge and experience of the entire U.S. beef production industry.
Why and how exactly is U.S. beef cheaper than Korean beef? The price of any beef is determined by the universal laws of supply and demand. Cost of production, however, is a different issue.
I suspect that the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South America all have many production cost advantages over Korea. In the U.S. we have vast open expanses of grass and pasture with very low population density. This allows us huge relative economies of scale with very efficient labor and land costs per head of cattle raised.
We also have very efficient grain and feed production. These advantages are the results of geography, climate, population density, soil fertility, and the judicious use of production technologies, research development and education - not some sinister international conspiracy.
U.S. beef cattle are not fed meat from “diseased” animals; feeding any beef products back to beef cattle is illegal and highly regulated in the first place. Why would I, or anyone, feed dangerous products to our cattle which we would in turn eat? We do not feed our cattle unhealthy amounts of “cheap overabundant” grain. Corn and soybeans are neither cheap nor abundant; why would we spend more than necessary for feed grain only to waste it?
Antibiotics are also very expensive and very highly regulated. Do Korean producers let their cattle get sick and die? What do they do with the ones that are just sick? Do they get sold for consumption? I should hope and expect not.
The grain fed to cattle has the same amount of pesticides (if any) that chickens, pigs and people consume. Pesticides are expensive, very highly regulated and used to a minimum. Another falsehood is the claim that beef consumption is the cause of obesity. Statically the occurrence of obesity is increasing while per capita consumption of beef is decreasing.
It was with great concern that I and my fellow beef producers in the United States watched the great civil unrest in Korea allegedly caused by our product. We were dismayed that what we produce with such great care and pride was so viciously maligned by falsehoods, lies and propaganda for reasons that we still do not understand. Our governments failed us both.
As a farmer rancher I also feel a great kinship with all beef producers, and harbor no ill will towards Korean beef producers and wish them all success. But please understand that the product that we produce and hope to make available to you is the same that I feed my own family with pride, honor, integrity and great confidence.
Sam Johnson, Summitcrest Farms, Summitville, Ohio, USA
www.summitcrest.com
---
I already wrote and told him how much I appreciated his letter.
The original can be found here:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2901340
The letter is full common sense, is well written, and the writer oozes integrity. In other words, it's unlike anything from last summer's anti-U.S. beef protests.
[Letters] Reassuring Koreans on U.S. beef
February 23, 2009
I should like to respectfully respond to Mr. Sun Yang’s letter (“The case against cheap U.S. beef,” Feb. 20). I do not pretend to understand all of the issues behind the Korean people’s concerns about this issue but I do feel that it is important that you know the truth and judge me, my family, my business and my product with facts as opposed to vicious politically motivated propaganda, lies and misinformation.
My family and I are beef cattle ranchers in the United States. We are a fourth-generation family-owned and operated beef and beef genetics producer dedicated to breeding and producing the highest quality, most efficient, and yes, profitable, beef cattle for our fellow U.S. and international cattle breeder customers and beef consumers worldwide. Our family has supplied beef genetics to Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Britain, Germany, Poland, Russia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa and most U.S. states. It is highly possible that anywhere in the world a person eats beef, our family may have had some small part in producing that beef.
This is a responsibility that we take very seriously and personally. Your readers should take reassurance that I and my family buy and consume U.S. produced beef without any qualms or concerns as to its safety, wholesomeness and healthiness and this comfort comes with a lifetime of knowledge and experience of the entire U.S. beef production industry.
Why and how exactly is U.S. beef cheaper than Korean beef? The price of any beef is determined by the universal laws of supply and demand. Cost of production, however, is a different issue.
I suspect that the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South America all have many production cost advantages over Korea. In the U.S. we have vast open expanses of grass and pasture with very low population density. This allows us huge relative economies of scale with very efficient labor and land costs per head of cattle raised.
We also have very efficient grain and feed production. These advantages are the results of geography, climate, population density, soil fertility, and the judicious use of production technologies, research development and education - not some sinister international conspiracy.
U.S. beef cattle are not fed meat from “diseased” animals; feeding any beef products back to beef cattle is illegal and highly regulated in the first place. Why would I, or anyone, feed dangerous products to our cattle which we would in turn eat? We do not feed our cattle unhealthy amounts of “cheap overabundant” grain. Corn and soybeans are neither cheap nor abundant; why would we spend more than necessary for feed grain only to waste it?
Antibiotics are also very expensive and very highly regulated. Do Korean producers let their cattle get sick and die? What do they do with the ones that are just sick? Do they get sold for consumption? I should hope and expect not.
The grain fed to cattle has the same amount of pesticides (if any) that chickens, pigs and people consume. Pesticides are expensive, very highly regulated and used to a minimum. Another falsehood is the claim that beef consumption is the cause of obesity. Statically the occurrence of obesity is increasing while per capita consumption of beef is decreasing.
It was with great concern that I and my fellow beef producers in the United States watched the great civil unrest in Korea allegedly caused by our product. We were dismayed that what we produce with such great care and pride was so viciously maligned by falsehoods, lies and propaganda for reasons that we still do not understand. Our governments failed us both.
As a farmer rancher I also feel a great kinship with all beef producers, and harbor no ill will towards Korean beef producers and wish them all success. But please understand that the product that we produce and hope to make available to you is the same that I feed my own family with pride, honor, integrity and great confidence.
Sam Johnson, Summitcrest Farms, Summitville, Ohio, USA
www.summitcrest.com
---
I already wrote and told him how much I appreciated his letter.
The original can be found here:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2901340
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Good Painter
Good painter. He's a North Korean defector. He went to Hongdae (famous art college) and does parodies of North Korean propaganda. Smart, funny, interesting.
Read about him here and see samples of his work:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/04/asia/painter.1-410764.php
Friday, November 28, 2008
Modern Office Worker Nonathlon
Next week I have a physical fitness test. Apparently it’s required of government employees (technically, I am one). I’ll be tested on 9 tasks: stationary bike, sit-ups, grip strength, sidestep, standing on one foot, etc. Call it the Modern Office Worker Nonathlon. (I had to look that up; it’s one short of a decathlon.) There is a funny thing: Employees are ranked after the test (Koreans love rankings) and given a score. One woman down the hall has already taken the test. She is proud of her score, a “minus 2”, which means that her health is like that of a woman two years younger than she is. Those with minus scores have something to brag about; those with plus scores will probably want to keep them quiet.
I’ll let you know my score. I would hope that I can best the average 48-year-old Korean male office worker – considering that so many smoke and that drinking plays a big part in their “work.”
I’ll let you know my score. I would hope that I can best the average 48-year-old Korean male office worker – considering that so many smoke and that drinking plays a big part in their “work.”
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Quote of the week
From an article in Thursday's JoongAng Daily about conservative civic groups sending propaganda leaflets toward North Korea, titled "'Few ways' to stop anti-North flyers":
What a stud.
The Unification Ministry's naively idealistic dream of unification is misguided and deliberately blind to the reality of life in the North. It's nice to see that pointed out.
"...the government also faces fierce criticism from conservative legislators, who denounced it for being too soft when it receives demands from the North. Lee Hoi-chang, the conservative Liberty Forward Party chairman, expressed discomfort with the government's moves to meet Pyongyang's demand with little rebuttal. "I'm afraid the Unification Ministry may be called the Seoul office of the North Korean government," he said yesterday.
What a stud.
The Unification Ministry's naively idealistic dream of unification is misguided and deliberately blind to the reality of life in the North. It's nice to see that pointed out.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
A Survey Question re: Taxi Drivers
I'd like to ask readers a question about taxi service in Korea. I take regular taxis, not the expensive black ones, and I'd say somewhere between 10-15% of the times I take a taxi, the driver does not say anything: not a single word -- no greeting, no repeating of my destination, no fare total at the end of the ride, no "thank you" -- no nothing!
It's something that would be considered rude in America, of course, and I wonder if it's considered rude here. In other words, is the driver intentionally being disrespectful? Or am I not aware of a cultural difference, and is this kind of behaviour not uncommon here?
For the record, I'm a middle-aged white American male who speaks Korean well enough to describe my destination, and to give directions along the way if necessary.
I'm wondering how often this happens to you, readers.
I thought of emailing a Korean female friend with this question, but I'm sure the situation is different for Korean female passengers.
If I ask my Korean male co-workers a question like this, I can't really get a straight answer. They answer as "Korean representatives" and say things like, "Maybe the taxi driver has had a difficult life."
It's something that would be considered rude in America, of course, and I wonder if it's considered rude here. In other words, is the driver intentionally being disrespectful? Or am I not aware of a cultural difference, and is this kind of behaviour not uncommon here?
For the record, I'm a middle-aged white American male who speaks Korean well enough to describe my destination, and to give directions along the way if necessary.
I'm wondering how often this happens to you, readers.
I thought of emailing a Korean female friend with this question, but I'm sure the situation is different for Korean female passengers.
If I ask my Korean male co-workers a question like this, I can't really get a straight answer. They answer as "Korean representatives" and say things like, "Maybe the taxi driver has had a difficult life."
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