Restaurants in Korea

With the short time I spent in S. Korea a few weeks back, I got to relive the delicious food I had missed for so long. What I had evidently failed to notice years ago was how disturbing some of the restaurant signs were. I admit it. The food is incredible and the atmosphere is contagiously amicable, but those lit up signs in front of these places disturb me at times. For example, a place that specializes in duck meat would put up a sign with a duck eating roasted duck. Does that not traumatize anyone else in the least? The signs clearly depict an act of cannibalism taking place, yet people find it as more incentive to eagerly rush in and eat. In fact, I can bet that the frozen smile of said duck-mascot on the welcome signs is onto a slow and gradual mental deterioration as it is forced to watch hundreds of people stream in and eat its brethren. I'm no vegetarian, but just considering the psychological aspects of putting up a sign like that. *shivers*

Is this ethically correct? 

Haha welcome! I fixedly watch my kind getting butchered and consumed on a massive level for an indefinite amount of time! :) 

The fiestas never end in Spain...

Reyes Magos in Spain!

 
One thing that I love and hate about Spain are the holidays and fiestas. Even though Christmas is over, there is still New Years and Reyes Magos (it's like Christmas again... but for the kids) to look forward to. And even after, there are just more and more days off and "puentes" ('bridge' days where, if you have one day off in a week, they connect it to the weekend). You gotta love all the days you don't have school and work, but on the other hand you have to wonder if this is a bit of a waste of time. Too much vacation actually has the opposite effect on me, and I feel like I have to do something productive before I implode.

On another topic, I started re-reading some books I read a few years back, like To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye. For some reason, I enjoy books a lot more when I'm reading them on my own time, not when it's a school assignment. A LOOOT more. Even when they're good books, they seem really boring and textbook-y when these books are based on some standardized school curriculum. Shouldn't books be read at our own pace and give us a chance to interpret it, rather than making everyone think and read it at the same rate? That just kills it for me.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Did you know that South Korea (my "home" country) is one of the countries that invest the most money into learning English, English programs, teachers, textbooks, etc.? I would know, seeing as the whole country is littered with academies for learning how to speak English (like.. 1 every 10 meters squared) and all of my Korean friends dedicate so much time to these language programs. It was kind of disappointing to find out that Korea ranks near the bottom in English proficiency... as in 136th out of 161 nations (source). Damn, I love my country and all but that's pretty disconcerting. Just goes to show that certain aspects of the Korean education system don't work.

I keep jumping from topic to topic, don't I? :P Sorry, it's just been very hectic for the past few weeks. I'll be back on track with longer, less shallow posts! And an early Happy New Year to all!

A growing "problem" in South Korea

Last night I came across a horrifying story and I felt like sharing it with you guys. Unfortunately, all the links to the story are in Korean so I'll relay it back to you as accurately as possible.

Introduction (for anyone who is interested)

As many of you guys might know, there is so much competition and pressure to be the "perfect student" in Korea... In fact, this is really common in many Asian countries like China and Japan. Now, I'm all for doing well in school and getting a good education. However (in my honest opinion), Korean parents are taking it too far. Starting from playing English-learning tapes to the baby from the womb, every hour of a Korean kid's day is planned out to get tutored, go to music lessons, go to an academic institution, etc. They have no time to breathe and have a normal kid's life. That's why many of these young kids break off from all that studying (most of the time they get about 3 hours of sleep per day) and turn to petty crimes and skipping school.

Many Koreans do not think this is a problem, but more of a solution to ensuring a "good life" for their kids. What kind of good life consists of being pressured on a daily basis to get a 100 on a test, not a 99? In fact, getting a 99 is almost as bad as getting a 50 in many parents' perspectives. Most of them grow up so dependant on their parents that their parents virtually live with them throughout their college and adult life. They are no longer themselves, but their parents' personal puppet. And when they have kids (with spouses that their parents chose for them), the deadly cycle repeats itself over and over again. Obviously this does not apply to every single South Korean, but a vast majority of them.

The actual story
 A Korean student in his final year of high school was being pushed every single day to be the top of everything. No, his mom was not happy with him being the top student in his school and getting near-perfect scores that would have pleased any parents. He ranked 4000th place out of millions (which ranks him in the 98~99th percentile) of Korean students on a national test similar to the SAT's, which frankly is quite amazing. But as you might already guess, she still wasn't happy. He was beaten every day (sometimes for hours at a time) for not being the best of the best ever since he was a kid. His father left their family when he was little and he was left with his mom who pretty much asked for the near impossible.

He became so desperate to please his mom that he faked his national test results and told his mom he ranked 62nd place, not 4000th place. I'm guessing she still wasn't very happy because she got a baseball bat and a golf club and beat him for ten hours for not doing better. No, I am not exaggerating. She then decided to have a meeting with his teacher the following day about his ranking. Realizing that his mom would find out he lied about his results, he then murdered her and locked her body in a separate room for eight months. Nobody would have found out if his father had not made one of his yearly visits and discovered that one room was sealed with duct tape and a horrible stench was coming from it.

Now, I know murder is never justifiable. And I'm not saying what he did was in any way "right". But I can understand why he did it. I'm guessing that having to grow up without hearing one "good job" from his mom and constantly getting physically and verbally abused would have made him snap at one point. I say rest in peace to the poor woman, but I hope this serves as a message to all parents who treat their children like robots or slaves. There are so many stories like this everyday; Korean kids who run away or kill themselves out of stress, yet this seems to have no effect on other parents and competition becomes even more fierce. Education is extremely important in my opinion, but so is making sure your kid is loved and appreciated even if he or she gets an F in every subject. In the long run, grades and rankings are just stupid numbers, but your kids are real people who deserve love and praise. Many parents don't even see that until it's too late.

And with that, I say have a great day and hopefully more and more Korean parents realize how this intense, almost inhumane academic competition is gradually becoming detrimental to our society.