I prefer Calvin's idea

One of the most beautiful things to be seen in the world are the northern and southern lights (aurora borealis and aurora australis respectively). For those of us who have yet to see them in person, I believe we are missing out on something special and spectacular. One only needs to do a google search to see ample evidence of their beauty.









I dream of one day being able to see such beauty for myself. To sit in awe beneath the shimmering lights I feel would be utterly breathtaking.

Part of their beauty and magnificence is the mystery involved; that is until now.

Science as always wishes to know more and more about our world and that is not a bad thing. For the past couple of years scientists in both Canada and the US have worked to better understand the cause of these magnificent lights, and apparently they have found the cause.

"The Earth's magnetic field buffers the planet from much of the cosmic radiation of the solar wind, but in doing so takes on the shape of a teardrop, with the side facing the sun compressed while the opposite side stretches out into a far-reaching tail.

One theory on solar substorms suggests that as energy builds up in this tail it stretches it out farther and farther out until, stretched to its limit, the magnetic field snaps back like an elastic band, converting the built-up energy into kinetic and heat energy that returns to the Earth.

Some of the charged particles hit close to the planet's upper atmosphere, where they interact with the gas molecules to create the spectacular displays that are viewable at high latitudes."

Interesting, no doubt, however I can't help but echo the insightful comment of one of my favorite people; Calvin.


Yes, that Calvin.

It was Calvin (speaking for the masterful Bill Waterson)that said:

"That's the problem with science. You've got a bunch of empiricists trying to describe things of unimaginable wonder."

I would have never thought it possible for someone to make these magnificent displays seem so boring. Charged particles interacting with gas molecules. Whoopee.

As important as scienitic inquiry and discovery is, perhaps they could hire a few writers to come up with descriptions that match the beauty and wonder of what they are describing.

- shakes head -

I'm proud to be Canadian. I thank God that I was born in such a place as Canada. Sometimes though there are things that happen in Canada that really makes me wonder what the hell is going on in my country.

Two such cases have turned up over the past two days.

The first is a case where an ex-serviceman, a person who was willing to lay his life on the line in defence of this nation, is looking at being evicted from his apartment for flying the Canadian flag.

What?!

Apparently the powers-that-be that control his rental unit feel that this gentleman is violating the rules because "he was told the flag violates a rule requiring all subsidized properties to have a uniform appearance."

What has Canada come to when it's against the law to fly the Canadian flag?

It is my sincere hope that his neighbors would take up the challenge, come to the defence of their neighbor and sanity by flying flags as well. Then the units would have a uniform appearance.

****

The second is a case where a mother has had her children removed from her custody by the state due to her political beliefs. The mother in question is a proponent of 'white pride' and when her daughter had had the swastika that she had drawn on her arm removed by her teacher, the mother helped her daughter redraw the swastika.

Now in no way am I defending racism or supporting 'white power' mongers but I have to wonder what Canada has come to when what a parent believes is justification for losing custody of their children.

"University of Winnipeg professor Helmut-Harry Loewen, an expert on hate groups, said while he disagrees with the ideology, he fears taking custody based on beliefs is draconian.

"If children are apprehended based on parents' political or religious beliefs, then one is opening a kind of slippery slope," he said."

Who is to decide who's beliefs are right?

I'm reminded of a quote from George Orwell's classic Nineteen Eighty-Four:

"Power is not a means, it is an end."

This smacks of Orwellian thought police when the state can come in and dictate what right and wrong belief are. Especially when they have the power to deprive one of their very children if they are found to be in violation of the state's dictates.

Today it concerns racism and the promotion of white supremecy, something that is understandable. What will it concern tomorrow?

It's a sad day in Canada, in my opinion, when not only can the state do such a totalitarian thing but have it be supported:

"University of Manitoba professor Harvy Frankel, dean of the faculty of social work, said officials did the right thing.

"We should be reassured that this is child welfare practice as it should be."

Where the path leads

Last Friday my plans for Korea became much clearer. I was able to meet with two of my future Korean supervisors who had traveled to Canada from Korea. The meeting was informal, over coffee at a hotel restaurant, but I was a bit nervous nonetheless. The questions they asked were about what I had expected and addressed my reasons for wanting to teach in Korea, classroom management techniques, whether or not I'm a team player, and how I anticipate handling the culture shock. Everything went fairly well and I was officially offered the job and proceeded to sign my name about a hundred times.

During this time I was also able to talk about where it is that I would be teaching. The location was dictated by which age range I was interested in teaching. I decided to go with my training and stick with the elementary grades. This provided me with a few options, all of which were in smaller cities in south-eastern Jeollanam-do.

Map of Korea showing the Jeollanam-do prvince

I don't remember all of the names but the one I went with was the largest of the cities offered: Suncheon.

Map of Jeollanam-do province showing the Suncheon area

I chose Suncheon for a couple of different reasons. Firstly was its size. While small by Korean standards at approximately 270,000 people, it will be by far the largest place I have ever lived. It's my hope that this size will allow for something of a western presence in the city to help with some of the culture shock and with acquiring the amenities that I am accustomed to, but also it's small enough that I can experience much of Korean culture.

Second was its location at the intersection of two rail lines; the Gyeongjeon Line (running east - west) and the Jeolla Line (running north-south). I figure that this will allow for fairly easy travel around the country and connection to Korea's high speed rail lines.

















Third was the living situation. The recruiter told me that most if not all of the western teachers that they had placed in Suncheon, approximately fifty in all, lived in the same apartment complex. This interested me as it offers me something of a ready made social community. This I feel will not only be important for helping with the culture shock and acclamating myself to Korea, but given the fact that I will be the only western teacher at my school I can't rely on meeting other westerners at my job like many english teachers.

The Jeollanam-do coast line

Jeollanam-do is known more for its agricultural production than anything else. It isn't as mountainous as other sections of Korea which allows for greater farming. Jeollanam-do also has nearly 6,100 km's of coastline and approximately 2000 islands. The province receives abundant rainfall and has the warmest weather in Korea.

Suncheon, known as the City of Beautiful People, is a mixed agricultural industrial city located near Suncheon Bay. Situated a little over an hour from the provinces largest city, Gwangju, and roughly forty minutes north of the port city of Yeosu, Suncheon is experiencing strong development.

Cultural and historical attractions near Suncheon include the 16th century Suncheon Japanese Castle, Baekje stone castle, Naganeupseong Folk Village, the Songgwangsa Buddhist temple, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring grave markers, Dolmen, from the first century BC.

It looks like it will be an interesting place to live and explore.

Hard to argue

Whether or not this is true, old or new, I find it hard to argue with its sentiment.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a high school about eleven things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set the up for failure in the real world.

1. Life is not fair - get used to it!
2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
3. You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a differnet word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
6. If you mess up, it's not your parent's fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
9. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go and get jobs.
11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
    

Land of the morning calm - part 2

In a previous post I began comparing Korea and Canada and wrote mostly about the difference in size between the countries and how that relates to space. This is one of the most common things that I hear about when talking with people who have lived in Korea; the lack of personal space (at least from a Canadian perspective).

In this post I wanted to continue comparing the two nations.

As was stated in the previous post, Korea has more people than Canada, but what else is there to know about the people of each nation? Lots.

The median age of a Canadian is 40.1 years, with an average life expectancy of 81.16 years. The median age of a Korean is 36.4 years with an average life expectancy of 77.42 years.

Canada's population grows at a rate of 0.83% with 1.57 children born per woman. A birth rate of 2+ per woman would suffice to keep a nations population steady, so while Canada's is below this rate our population continues to grow pointing to the impact of immigration on Canada's national population. Korea's population grows at a rate of 0.371% with 1.29 children born per woman. While Korea is growing at a slower rate immigration too is playing its part.

Surprisingly the religion in Korea with the most adherents is Christianity with about 26.3% of the population. This is followed closely behind by Buddhism at 23.2% of the population. Nearly half of Koreans, 49.3% profess no religious affiliation. Not surprisingly the majority of Canadians profess adherence to Christianity at 70.3% with 16% of Canadians claim no religious affiliation.

Canada is a member of the G8, and is recognized as being a very wealthy nation. Canada has an budget exceeding $569 billion, while Korea's budget exceeds only (in comparison) $248 billion. Canada's GDP is a healthy $1.266 trillion with a per capita GDP (PPP) of $38,400. Korea too is a wealthy nation whose GDP is also a healthy $1.201 trillion with a per capita GDP of $24,800. Currently Canada is ranked as the world's 9th largest economy followed closely by Korea in 12th. In PPP Canada ranks 19th while Korea ranks 33rd. Despite this wealth Canada ranks 117th in the world with roughly 15.9% of the population living below the poverty line. Korea ranks 118th with roughly 15% of the population living below the poverty line.

In terms of crime, Canada ranks 12th in the world with approximately 9 out of every 1000 people having been convicted of a crime. Korea ranks 37th with approximately 3.6 out of every 1000 people having been convicted of a crime. In terms of assaults, Canada ranks 9th in the world with approximately 7 out of every 1000 people having been assaulted. Korea ranks 46th with approximately 0.3 out of every 1000 people having been assaulted. Canada ranks 44th in the world with approximately 0.015 murder per 1000 people. Korea ranks 32nd in the world with approximately 0.02 murders per 1000 people. In terms of total crimes, Canada ranks 12th in the world with approximately 75.5 per 1000 people. Korea ranks 24th with approximately 31.7 per 1000 people.

On paper there are some distinct differences between Canada and Korea. I can't wait to experience them for myself.