Shipping on the Slow Boat to America

Here's the question:

Hey do you know how much the slow boat costs roughly. Lets say I wanted to ship a box from Korea to NYC, filled with clothes and what not.  Lets say it weighs 50 pounds. How does one go about doing this? 

This is a pretty simple one. Since you don't want to deal with FedEx, you can simply visit your local post office. Before going, I'd spend a few minutes looking over the English site of the Korean post office. United States (as well as Canada and the UK) are in Zone 2. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are in Zone 3. 


Shipping a box around 50lbs (22kg) looks like it'll cost around 40,000 KRW if you go the surface route. By air, it'll run you 120,000 KRW and SAL will cost about 150,000 KRW. If time is not an issue, sending it by boat is easily the cheapest method. There are a few other fees you might want to consider as well before shipping it, but it's pretty simple.

Hiring Trends in Adult Language Institutes in Korea

Brian made a few comments about the rumors of a possible reduction of NSET's and contract renewals in public schools over the next couple of years. I don't think the situation is as dire as he predicts, but the timing of this news is telling and it's worth making mention of another trend I've been noticing.


For the past couple years, many adult languages institutes have been slowly moving away from basic E2's in favor of F2's. Without going into detail, F2's are quick and easy hires. I've been an F2 for nearly three years and while I personally haven't had any problems, I know plenty of F2's who are having an unusually hard time getting the exact position they want. It sounds entitled, but F2's usually get the position and salary they ask for because schools don't want to deal with immigration, documents and processing times. It's a win-win. 


Now, however, being an F2 isn't as rare as it once was since many are staying in Korea a little longer trying to ride out the economic downturn. The competition is high for these good gigs and the F2 isn't the golden ticket it once was. 


That's old news though. The trend that I'm seeing both from recruiters and other managers of adult institutes (including mine) is that NSET's are being replaced by gyopo. Adult students tend to be a little more tolerant than mothers and that allows these institutes to save cash.


How?


Simply put, a basic pay scale at an adult institute follows a pretty common pattern. The F2's generally make the most cash, followed by the E2's, then the gyopo and then the Korean teachers. Schools might prefer F2's to E2's for a variety of reasons, but the demands that F2's make makes it harder to keep them around. E2's, on the other hand, are cheaper but require plane fare and housing. They are both expensive.


Gyopo usually don't get much of anything, though. Many times, they must pay their own way over here and then, once here, they usually don't get any housing or allowance. Unlike E2's and F2's, gyopo are generally getting paid per class which is still better than many Korean teachers who get paid per student, but the total earnings usually fall short of their NSET counterparts. 


Money aside, these trends are suggesting that the English industry is quickly warming to non-Big 7-ers and non-traditional methods of education. More and more parents are turning to video/phone English, some provinces are paving the way for Indian teachers to enter the classroom, and the Filipina nannies are increasing in number.


I don't think that this means the end is near for the NSET's, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is the beginning of a cycle for Korea and the English industry to improve itself and shake some of the loose-ends free. There's no denying the need for reform on all levels and this might be a catalyst. 


Let's just call it growing pains.

Why Are Asians So Smart?

Aside from the over-emphasis on test-taking skills, I think it's a decent start. Are Asians actually smarter?

International Relationship Advice

Anyone want to add anything to the initial list?

Simple Lessons from Buddhism

There is much to learn from Buddhism and even during short temple stays, solid messages can be taken away. I could could go into detail again, but it don't think I need to. For a look at what Korean Buddhism can teach Christians, click here.


From a recent conversation on the Korean temple stay program:


The problem, however, with temple stays in Korea is that they are often just that: a short term stay where little philosophical or theoretical instruction is given so that the Westerners visiting can take home with them something to alter their worldview and free their minds from the torment of stress, confusion, and negativity, and ideally recognize their true nature as human beings.


He continued:


After years of practicing Zen in Korea and abroad, I remember vividly a conversation I had with a Buddhist nun from Europe who was practicing and living in a temple in Northern Seoul. She confirmed what I feared the most regarding the state of Buddhism in Korea….”if you really want to study Buddhism temple stays are not the place, this is merely tourism Buddhism.” I couldn’t have agreed more, sure the temple stay was a break from the fast pace of modern Korean society where time seems short and everyone wants life to revolve around them, but I was truly searching for a place to dig deep and grow roots under the guidance of a proper teacher where the full import of Zen practice could take hold.


A temple stay is clearly designed for both domestic and international tourists and I fail to see just how that is a problem. To me, the intention of the stay is NOT something meant to "alter...worldview[s] and free... minds from the torment of stress, confusion, and negativity, and ideally recognize true nature as human beings." If you were to ask a monk or even a layperson in Korea whether or not a stay is meant to be anything more than an interesting tourist activity, you'd get a resounding, "NO!"

Anyone who practices any form of Buddhism knows that not only is breaking free from foolishness in search of right-mindfulness a difficult and long-term goal, but those who seek Enlightenment by name usually fail. The goal of these retreats is not conversion and most people have no expectation (or desire) for such a thing. The goal is the same as what most people want when they sign up -a relaxing and semi-spiritual taste of something that is different from what they're used to.

In some cases, a casual tourist really connects with the retreat and chooses to stay on longer in a different capacity and study the religion in greater detail. That is always available to "tourists". From where I'm standing, temple stays don't represent Korea's departure from its already checkered past with Buddhism, but appears more as a stab at combating the rabid globalization that is consuming much of the spiritual and philosophical world. Most religions and places of worship open their houses to the curious knowing that the full experience is impossible to gain in a short time.

My own experiences with religion in Korea have easily proven this. They happily welcome me into their fold, yet put the burden on me to seek a deeper connection and understanding. In fact, some of them have even openly challenged me to engage directly with them and their text.

Why does Buddhism have to be any different? Their burden only goes so far and, until recently, most Orders haven't pursued any form of aggressive proselytism. This, to me, is a good start in the right direction.