Can't wait

This week, I booked my trip to Hong Kong -- the first visit to my birthplace since 1995. In fact, it's been so long that the last time I was there, it was still the territory of the United Kingdom.

About two months ago, I talked with a British guy at an English bookstore about Hong Kong (random conversations with other expats tend to happen quite frequently, I find). He told me that Hong Kong has changed a lot since its colonial days. I guess I'll finally see how much it has changed.

Above: Seoul's Incheon International Airport. I'll be seeing this place again in February as I leave South Korea for vacation.

I'll actually be leaving the same day as a fellow Vancouverite who's also stationed here in Seoul as a native English teacher, so that should be fun. I also have a Vancouver friend who's going to be in Hong Kong during the second half of my stay; there'll be no shortage of Vancouver representation this coming February, that's for sure.

I'm actually a bit excited about the trip. I've missed being in a place where I actually speak the language and where I'm close to people I know (besides the people I may have met during teacher orientation here in Seoul). I miss going out for dinner and not having to get Korean food all the time. It's interesting how at home, you don't realize that you're taking something for granted until it's no longer available. Some of you might know, but Vancouver is like a big Chinatown; visiting Hong Kong feels like visiting Vancouver in a way.

I was in Itaewon (Seoul's international district) last night to get a T-shirt printed, and there was a family there. They were obviously tourists, and were having a blast. But then came the moment where they had to ask someone to take a picture for them. Unfortunately, their English wasn't all that great and they couldn't speak Korean. However, they spoke a language that I understood -- Cantonese, the language of Hong Kong. So I offered (in Cantonese) to take the picture for them. They looked so relieved that someone actually understood what they wanted.

That look really reminded me of my first day in Seoul, before orientation started. That day, I was lucky enough to need help at Yongsan Station, which is one of Seoul's foreigner magnets (due to the nearby electronics market and US army base).

The Hong Kong trip will last for a while -- almost the entire month of February. The reason for that is because my school wanted me to shift some of my summer vacation days to winter. I get 21 days of vacation, and they wanted me to take 16 of them this winter (leaving 5 for summer). The winter breaks for schools are typically longer, and they didn't want to have to keep me around for such a long time in winter, deskwarming or "work from home" or otherwise. That allowed me to book a flight leaving on February 5 and a return trip on February 28.

I have no problem with that, because I need to get my Hong Kong ID anyway (since I was born there) and the processing takes weeks. And I think being in Hong Kong during the brutal winter months in Seoul could be a blessing. It'll certainly be a big savings in utilities, since I'll be unplugging everything and leaving the tap dripping (to prevent freezing) before I leave.

Six and a half weeks to go.

They just don't care

My third grade classes don't care anymore.

The third grade of middle school in South Korea is roughly equivalent to ninth grade back in North America. They are the seniors of middle school. A few weeks ago, they finished their final exams, leaving me over a month to teach them... whatever. And because they already finished their exams, anything that is taught from now until the end of the year isn't being tested on, and is basically meaningless.

So as a result, they don't really care if they do well now. And as a teacher, it's hard to teach a class where the lack of enthusiasm is that big of a problem. Sure, you are still obligated to cover the rest of the textbook, but no matter how interesting you try to make the material, it's probably not going to fly. It's frustrating.

(The reason why their exams are so early is because they have to have the grades determined before they apply for their high schools, which can get quite competitive.)

For the next week and a half, I was told to pretty much do anything. I think it's obvious, but when you don't have any new material to teach and the students don't really give a damn anymore, 45 minutes of class time can feel like 45 hours.

I can fill the class up with games (as most other native English teachers are doing, from what I've gathered), but my co-teacher is often saying that the games may not be age-appropriate and often ends the game much earlier than anticipated, catching me off-guard.

One and a half weeks of pure torment. Fun.

Aww, poor student

Sometimes I have great classes. Sometimes I have bad classes. But to simply label a class as completely good or completely bad would be simplistic and inaccurate. I found that out yesterday.

Usually, Mondays are lax in terms of classes but they are also a train wreck. My first class is so smart that they understand every concept right away, and I often end up blowing through the material with lots of time left over. Otherwise, they'd get bored. This earned me a comment from my co-teacher that I seem a little "disorganized" lately.

It also doesn't help that they are the senior grade, and the seniors have already written their final exams, which means that they're not really interested in learning anymore (since the time between now and the end of the year no longer matters) which, in turn, makes the whole teaching experience monotonous.

In contrast, my final senior grade class for Mondays is usually unattentive and more interested in talking with their friends. Yesterday, they paid no attention to most of my lesson, and even the co-teacher (who is different from my first class) didn't really care.

However, there was one student from the latter class who paid attention to everything I taught, and when I asked for an answer for a question after giving an example, he would often get the answer right; if not, at least he gave a shot at it.

Sometimes it's hard to keep tabs on all your students, especially when you have more classes than any Korean English teacher in the school, with over 30 students in most classes. However, that doesn't mean that good students aren't noticed. (On the flip side, if you're a bad and disruptive student, you tend to be noticed too.)

I actually owed this student a Choco Pie from winning a class game last week, and that nearly slipped my mind. He reminded me at the end of class, and I asked him to come with me to my office to get his reward. On the way, I told him that I really appreciated how attentive he was despite all the shenanigans going on around him, and how I really enjoyed seeing him give an effort even when his answer is incorrect. And to show my appreciation, he got TWO Choco Pies instead of the one that I promised him.

I could tell he was a bit frustrated with the other students' behavior in the class, and to be recognized really made his eyes light up. Sometimes it's a bit nice to see that even in the crappiest classes, there are a few good apples out there. Perhaps they feel lost in the hooligan crowd sometimes, so recognizing them for their efforts really does make a difference.

Sometimes I miss it all...

One of the guilty pleasures that is readily available here in Seoul is English DVDs. Recently, I bought some of them and among the new DVDs I now own is Jennifer's Body. That movie holds a special place in my heart because it is the last movie I ever worked on.

Some of those who know me are already aware that I was a movie and TV show extra back in Vancouver, as my part-time job while I was in university. Sometimes watching some of the movies and shows I took part in, I almost start missing being part of the Vancouver film industry. Almost.

There are many pros and cons of being an extra. The biggest pro is obvious -- you get to be in a movie, and sometimes with big-name stars. Also, you get a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day when the movie or show finally comes out. It's not like other jobs where your work is quickly forgotten or sometimes ignored. In the film industry, it doesn't matter whether a film bombs or becomes a hit -- your work is immortalized in some way or another.

After thinking of those fond memories, the cons start streaming in, and there are many. One of the biggest issues with the job is that you have no idea when (and often no idea where) you're supposed to report for work the next day. It is normal for your agent to tell you, at 11:00pm, to report at 6:00am in the middle of nowhere. And the agent often can't be blamed for the timing, because they are kept in the dark by the productions as well (and, indeed, it is also common for crew members to be in the dark). I remember such a situation for Hot Rod, when we had to report to Cloverdale, a largely rural area quite a ways from the city, by 6:00am (and often, you're expected to be there around a half hour before the call time).

Also, there are often some pretty nasty clique-ish behavior that goes on among the extras. A lot of people find that amusing, but it's true. A lot of extras, especially those who are unionized, have a tendency to act like they are above everyone else. They often form their own little social circles where they try to walk all over everyone else, flaunting their "higher" status as much as possible. There was a unionized extra I had a nice chat with once who was actually ashamed of his fellow unionized extras, and in fact didn't reveal himself as one until almost halfway into the work day.

And there are also a lot of extras who try to rely on movie extra work as a primary source of income, which is always a bad idea. Being a film extra is not full-time work. I don't think it's even part-time work. Relying on the job for a steady stream of income is very dangerous, given the constant "busy" and "quiet" periods in the film industry. There have been times when my phone was ringing off the hook, but also times when there was no work for months at a time. Relying on this pattern to sustain you financially is a suicide mission.

Of course, there are some good memories. Among them:

• the 7:00pm-to-7:00am overnight shoot at BC Place with Pierce Brosnan (Butterfly on a Wheel)
  
• the awesomeness of George Takei (season 1 episode of Psych)
  
• finding out that Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) and Megan Fox (Jennifer's Body) aren't really friendly people
  
• that Adam Brody is actually a nice guy (Jennifer's Body)
  
• my first film extra job (season 2 episode of The 4400)
  
• coincidentally, being part of the last scene EVER for the The 4400 before it was cancelled
  
• my last film extra job (Jennifer's Body)
  
• how we magically and instinctively turned a simple concert scene into a chorus scene (Jennifer's Body)... that gave me chills at the time and still does
  
• the cool riot scene in Hot Rod
  
• the 1200-extra scene in Hot Rod's school bus jump scene
  
• being named by the assistant director as one of her favorite extras, resulting in actual RECOGNITION by the cast and crew, despite being a lowly extra (Aliens in America)
  
• dressing as a communist soldier, only to be rained out on the shooting day (Watchmen)
  

And then there are the things like the call time issues that I stated before, there are also issues that suck, such as with wardrobe (which may be just as annoying as the call times), productions that may delay or screw up the payroll, the strange ups and downs in the number of movies being filmed, the long work hours (my average was 10 hours per work day, and it was normal to go above 12 hours per day), the poor work conditions (such as really cold extras tents and some safety issues on set), the clique-ish extras on set, and the mind-killing boredom during the long wait times (such as the 7-hour wait time for The Invisible).

So every time I start missing being part of the film industry as an extra, I remember the problems that came along with the job. Suddenly, I remember why I decided to get out of that job in the first place.

It was nice to have a job that pays you for nearly doing nothing, but it's by no means an easy job. There's a reason why the turnover rate was rather high, and by my 4th year in, I was already considered a grizzled veteran in the movie extra industry.

My newest love-hate relationship with Miley Cyrus

Recently, I got an iPod dock that also has an alarm clock radio function. I took advantage of that, so now I wake up for work to the American Forces Network Korea (AFN Korea) radio station -- one of the two English stations in town.

As you can expect, they play a lot of rock music, similar to the music that I usually listen to back home in Vancouver (on 99.3 The Fox). So I thought to myself, "Cool." But AFN Korea keeps playing this really "bubble-gum style" pop song. And the thing is that it's such a catchy song! I found myself humming along to it, and started to wonder who the singer was.

And then I found out that it was Miley Cyrus. I was thinking, "So... I, a grown man, was singing along to a Miley Cyrus song? Wow... that's... awkward."

I guess as a fan of One Tree Hill and 90210 (not to mention Degrassi: The Next Generation, and experimenting with the new Melrose Place), I shouldn't be surprised that I fell into this trap. Why is it that I always end up being attracted to weird songs and shows that 12-year-old girls like? It's amazing how often that happens.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to a party in the USA...

Lest we forget

Above: The poppy I placed on the Canadian plaque for soldiers killed in action during the Korean War, at the War Memorial of Korea.

South Korea: the land of technological shortfalls?

It's no secret that South Korea is known as one of the premier technology hubs in the world. Its high-speed internet network is the envy of the world, and the country is also among the front-runners of robotics and genetic research. However, beneath this rosy image is a major contradiction of what one would normally expect -- specifically in terms of internet technology.

South Korea is known as the world's most wired country, with over 90% of the country equipped with broadband connections. However, while the hardware and speed are incredible, the software has a lot of catching up to do. When I say that this country's software usage is decades old, I mean it almost literally.

An article in the Korea Times today outlined the shortcomings of this country's technology. While the internet speeds here are tops in the world, 99% of the population still uses Internet Explorer as their web browser of choice. Not only that, but they're not using the current version (IE version 8) -- they are still using IE version 6, which was released around 2001. Yes, 2001. That's 8 years ago.

Why are they still using this outdated technology? It's because of ActiveX, a component that came in IE 6. As with the case so often with Internet Explorer, it turned out that ActiveX had some major security vulnerabilities. Despite this, many South Korean websites, such as banking websites, not only decided to continue to base their websites on ActiveX controls, but actually increased its usage over the years. The security problems got so bad that even Microsoft is trying to abandon ActiveX; when the mother of a software wants to abandon it so soon, you know that there are major problems with it.

There is also a dependency on Windows operating systems due to this issue -- the websites based on ActiveX also depend on Windows. That means those buying Apple products are at a serious disadvantage, which leads to Apple's failure to hold any significant market share in South Korea (along with high import fees, which are likely in this country -- just look at the automotive market). In addition, Windows Vista reduced support for ActiveX, leading many people in South Korea to continue using Windows XP.When I first arrived in this country and saw the technology, I was so surprised to see that most people were still using Windows XP. As much as I have an issue with Windows Vista, it was a shock to me that a country this technologically advanced is still using ancient software.

Above: An abandoned computer monitor back home at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, with the prophetic message next to it, reading, "Evolve for the future, today."

ActiveX is so overused that it's preventing users from upgrading their browsers and operating systems. As a Mozilla Firefox user and fan of Apple products, I really hope the South Korean companies wake up and realize that if they want to catch up to the current online technology (such as CSS), they need to ditch ActiveX and allow for more browser and operating system diversity.

This reminds me of a situation at my school. I was having some connectivity issues with my computer, and a Korean teacher was looking at my computer trying to figure out if there was a program messing up something. He almost uninstalled Mozilla Firefox because he thought it was a virus! He was so surprised when I informed him that it was an internet browser, because he was not aware of another way to go on the internet besides Internet Explorer.

Another situation involves the computer in the English classroom. The computer was attacked by some nasty spyware and worms lately, and it appears to have originated from a security vulnerability caused by Internet Explorer usage. Yet, what happened when the computer was finally fixed? Yep, they continued to insist on relying on Internet Explorer and refusing to use Mozilla Firefox or other browsers. They don't seem to learn from their mistakes. The good news is that I've convinced the head English teacher to try to get school funding to get a Mac computer in the future for that classroom (primarily due to multimedia purposes).

Until the situation changes, I'll probably be one of the 10 Firefox-using people in South Korea within a 1-mile radius.