The Seoulite

Hooray for Kim Yu-na! She has beat her own world-record at the 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver with a score of 78.50. This puts her in first place in the running for the medals that will be decided in the last event to be held this Friday morning Korea time!

If you missed her phenomenal performance from a couple days ago, click on the video above. It’s in German and subtitled in Korean… because NBC won’t let international viewers watch online. Harumpf!

In a surprising turn of events that reads right out of a Korean action movie… one of Korea’s top SAT instructors reports that he was kidnapped and beaten before he was able to escape to the United States.

Jeffrey Sohn, 38, a well-known SAT Writing instructor drew a salary of 1 billion won per year (almost 1 million US dollars) to teach at the highly-regarded Recas Institute. But according to the Joong Ang Daily, Sohn was kidnapped, taken to a house in the outskirts of Seoul and then beaten.

Why? Did he get an answer wrong on the practice exams? (It’s what probably happens to most of his students at home.) No, his contract was almost finished and his bosses founded out that he was thinking of taking a better offer elsewhere. Better than a million a year teaching SATs? Wow! In the cut-throat atmosphere of education preparation, it’s big money. And often these hagwons are operated in some dirty, sleazy ways. But this is unbelievable!

The president of Recas has been barred traveling out of the country and the police are currently investigating the company. We hope that Jeffrey is safe and recovering well in the states. Apparently he has some leverage in that he has proof that the owners of the school were engaged in cheating scandals with the SAT test.

The Seoulite personally knows people who have worked at Recas and other academies. The atmosphere does have its share of bullying and strong-arm tactics. Of course this environment exists everywhere and in every country. Humans are just cruel creatures… the smart-stupid ones that is. But he takes STRONG offense when the targets of this manipulation are teachers. People with a teacher’s heart usually bear the brunt of mismanagement, office politics and general incompetence because they have a commitment to their students.

It’s the teachers who have to put on a smile and grind through… making up for every other deficit in a school’s management in order to prepare our next generation. Too bad it had to come to this extreme level of gross indecency. I hope this case will blow up those who are destroying the nation’s educational advancement and reputation. It’s time for reforms.

And really, the mothers have a large role in this. They have to stop throwing money at people who are willing to cheat on their children’s behalf. Their children should be groomed into future leaders. Not over-priced followers.

* Photo above used for illustrative purposes.

This is the hardest working guy in Korean entertainment. He’s taking on America.

And his remake of Kung-fu Fighting was good dues to pay. He was able to take out the mocking anti-Asian tones from the original.

He’s about to make a big hit with Ninja Assassin!

3 Starts to Share Lead in ‘Legally Blonde’ Musical
Chosun Ilbo

The starring role of Elle Woods in the musical “Legally Blonde” will be shared among three stars — 2006 Miss Korea Lee Honey, Jessica of girl group Girls’ Generation, and actress Kim Ji-woo. The Korean version of the musical opens on Nov. 14.

What do they bring to the part? This is Lee’s second musical after “Polaroid,” and she is probably the closest to the character of Elle Woods in that she was the winner of a beauty pageant and is a graduate of the nation’s top university, Seoul National University, with a degree in Korean traditional music.

“It’s a musical with modern music and dance full of elements that will appeal to female audiences,” she says. “Just like Elle is fighting against the stereotypes of blonde beauties, I want to break the stereotypes of Miss Koreas.”

Jessica is making her musical theater debut with “Legally Blonde.” “It’s physically tough as I’m quite busy with other things going on in addition to this musical. But it was one of my dreams to be part of a musical production, and I love the role, so I’m really happy to take part,” she says. “I need to improve my acting, but I consider being part of a girl group a kind of acting. I’m similar to Elle in the fact that I never give up once I’m determined to do something. But I’m different from her because I’m more of a quiet, introverted person.”

Kim is the most experienced of the three as she has appeared in other musicals including “Singles” and “Singing in the Rain.” Kim says she is particularly attracted to “Legally Blonde” because “it is rare to find a musical that is led by one woman character.” “Lee is sexy yet cute, and Jessica is cute yet sexy.” She evaluates herself as “similar to Elle because she is outgoing and strives for change.” “As I’ve spent some years doing musicals, I think I can now feel more relaxed being on stage.”

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/10/31/2009103100199.html

Sasha Fierce she was. Beyonce completely rocked the stage at Olympic Stadium last week with her Seoul leg of her “I AM… Sasha Fierce” tour. The Seoulite’s good friend got us free passes and since it was just Tuesday… on we went.

First off we had to have dinner. So we went to the Family Mart convenience store in the park and ate ramen and boiled eggs! It was The Seoulite’s first time eating ramen while standing inside the store next to the instant coffees. Yummy yummy yummy. Maybe I was too excited about Beyonce to notice that I was getting instantly fat from the ramen.

Unfortunately it wasn't like this.

It was more like this.

I did a little research online before going to the concert. Being out of the states keeps The Seoulite at an arm’s distance from the latest music trends. Sasha said this concert and album represented her need to ‘grow artistically’. How many times have we heard that from pop princesses while the true artists will be discovered long after we’re dead? So I thought it would be an adequate evening to see some American-sized smoke and mirrors with some catchy music.

But BAM! Check out this opening y’all! Never seen something this cool in my life.

By the way f(x) who were supposed to open for Beyonce was a no show. According to sources there was a miscommunication between Beyonce’s concert promoter B4H and the artist herself.

Well, if the diva cancels the opening act, she better be getting herself ready to deliver! And that was the biggest surprise to The Seoulite. In an era of so much mediocrity, Beyonce’s performance was 110% of her magical spirit. So much beauty, humanity and grace flowed right from all those booty shakin’ moves right to the audience. She’s the real deal.

The Seoulite’s personal favorite: Irreplaceable

She be singing Happy Birthday to everyone too!

Tribute to Michael Jackson:

And one more tribute:

Oooh what a tease:

People were crying. Getting ugly-faced with their passion. All because they saw a light so bright and more beautiful than anything they’ve seen before. Really, it was that great.

Note: These are not The Seoulite’s videos. So please don’t attribute those cheesy comments in the background to him! He was making an even bigger fool of himself dancing to Single Ladies!

One note about the concert promoters. They put the venue as ‘Olympic Gym’ on the wristbands. This is the Olympic STADIUM. The 1988 OLYMPICS were held here for cryin’ out loud. It ain’t no high school gym. No wonder they messed up the opening act by f(x)!

This is the Dutch embassy in Berlin. The foreign embassies in Korea do not look this nice. Governments should increase their embassy budgets here!

Need a list of the embassies here in Korea?

Australia http://www.southkorea.embassy.gov.au 02-2003 0100
Brazil http://www.brasemb.or.kr 02-738-4970
Canada http://www.korea.gc.ca 02-3783 6000
China http://www.chinaemb.or.kr 02-738-1038
France http://www.ambafrance-kr.org 02-3149-4300
Germany http://www.seoul.diplo.de/Vertretung/seoul/ko/Startseite.html 02-748-4114
India http://www.indembassy.or.kr/ 02-798 4257
Italy http://www.ambseoul.esteri.it 02-796-0491
Japan http://www.kr.emb-japan.go.jp/ 02-2170-5200
Mexico http://portal.sre.gob.mx/corea/ 02-798-1694
Netherlands http://southkorea.nlembassy.org/ 02-737-9514
Russia http://www.russian-embassy.org/ 02-318-2116/8
Singapore http://www.mfa.gov.sg/seoul 02-774-2464
Switzerland http://www.eda.admin.ch/seoul.html 02-739-9511/4
Taiwan 02-399-2780
Thailand http://www.thaiembassy.or.kr 02-795-0095
United Kingdom http://ukinkorea.fco.gov.uk 02-3210 5500
United States of America http://seoul.usembassy.gov 02-397-4114
Vietnam 02-738 2318

Yellow dust was pretty intense yesterday.

Want a quick way to check whether you’re just being paranoid about that cough… or whether it really is yellow dust?

Check out this site from the Korea Meterological Agency. It gives you an hourly line graph of yellow dust conditions for all major areas of Korea.

http://web.kma.go.kr/eng/asi/asi_02_02.jsp

Asian Dust (also yellow dust, yellow sand, yellow wind or China dust storms) originates in the deserts of Mongolia, northern China and Kazakhstan where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles. These clouds are then carried eastward by prevailing winds and pass over China, North and South Korea, and Japan, as well as parts of the Russian Far East. Sometimes, the airborne particulates are carried much further, in significant concentrations which affect air quality as far east as the United States.

In the last decade or so, it has become a serious problem due to the increase of industrial pollutants contained in the dust and intensified desertification in China causing longer and more frequent occurrences, as well as in the last few decades when the Aral Sea of Kazakhstan started drying up due to a failed Soviet agricultural scheme.

Areas affected by the dust experience decreased visibility and the dust is known to cause a variety of health problems, not limited to sore throat and asthma in otherwise healthy people. Often, people are advised to avoid or minimize outdoor activities, depending on severity of storms. For those already with asthma or respiratory infections, it can be fatal.

The first known record of an Asian Dust event in Korea was in 174 AD during the Silla Dynasty. The dust was known as 'Uto (雨土)' and was believed at the time to be the result of an angry god sending down dust instead of rain or snow.

Where can you get the quick facts on Korea?
The CIA!
Because sometimes you just need details.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ks.html

hehehe.

Korea’s first rocket was supposed to launch last week, but there was a malfunction with the countdown software. Then yesterday it was show time. All looked good for the first 30 minutes as the rocket burned through the first stage of its fuel. This first stage was built by the Russians. Then after the second stage which was built by us Koreans… the rocket didn’t go into the right orbit. And right now, they actually don’t even know where the rocket is.

Korea just started the Naro space center and is in the early stages of the industry, which is why there is close collaboration with Russian technology. But I suspect there is an organizational behavior study that needs to be commissioned early on. I love Confucianism, but the traditional hierarchical management structure is death for any space program that relies on absolute precision.

Take the Challenger shuttle launch. It crashed and killed all on board. Technically it was because the rubber O-rings were too cold, which made them contract and compromise the structure of the rocket. Managerially… people were stifled by management. Same thing with Korean Air pilots. A horrible safety record revealed that communication culture compromised standard ‘pilot communication’. They changed their policies. And have a better record.

Be warned and take the proper precautions KARI! And then it’s on to success to be a top 10 or top 5 global space power. It’s Lee Myung Bak’s goal.

The US President telling it just like the way it is.
Good job.

Hi, I’m Sean Lim, an American expat living in South Korea.  This is my blog about becoming a Seoulite.

What is a Seoulite?
A ‘Seoulite’ (서울깍쟁이) is a citizen of Seoul, just as a ‘New Yorker’ is a citizen of New York. Of course the label ‘Seoulite’ doesn’t simply denote a place of residence [...]