Joel and I concluded our Kyoto trip on October 3. The day after my last blog post, we went to Nanzen-ji and Eikan-do temples, walked the Path of Philosophy (which, curiously, had about as many stray cats as it did tourists), and then finished the day at Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion), which was absolutely gorgeous and probably my favorite place that we visited. We spent our last day in Arashiyama (the western part of the city) and visited Tenryu-ji (Temple of the Sky Dragon), the Okouchi-sansou villa, and Gio-ji temple. We also walked through the bamboo grove and Sagano, which is a really pretty district with cobblestone streets and a lot of souvenir shops and tea shops. Eventually I will harass Joel to post all of the pictures on Facebook, so look for them there.
We came back from vacation and stumbled through Thursday and Friday at work. We will definitely have to take advantage of our weekends now, since we will not have any more long vacations until the calendar new year. As much as I have enjoyed traveling, I think it will be nice to settle down a little bit and try to save a little more money.
Meanwhile, Joel's parents are in town to visit us for about a week. They arrived last week on Friday night, so we have been showing them around town and taking them to our favorite restaurants. It has been a nice even mix of things: yesterday, we took them hiking on the trail behind our neighborhood (which I'm pretty sure is on a mountain called Jeseoksan, if I'm reading the signs right), and today Joel took them to the Kimchi Festival, which is happening in Gwangju right now. I was pretty bummed that I could go, too, but I had the world's worst headache. Literally. Anyway, tomorrow Joel is planning to take them to the 5.18 Memorial Park, and then we will go hiking on Mudeung mountain on Wednesday morning before they head out on Thursday.
The major event this week was my serendipitous receipt of a second-hand smartphone and subsequent addiction. Allow me to explain.
Joel and I have been attending a Catholic church just down the street from our apartment complex (on the way to the outdoor market) since we first arrived, but for whatever reason, the priests did not notice me until I went to Mass last Sunday. After the service, they visited with me briefly on my way out and introduced themselves as Fr. Bernard and Fr. Thomas. When I went back for daily Mass on Wednesday, however, the younger of the two priests (Fr. Thomas) flagged me down on my way out and gave me a booklet with the Order of the Mass in ten different languages.
Fr. Thomas: Jessica! I think you need this! *as he hands me the booklet*
me: Oh, thank you very much! This is wonderful.
Fr. T: Are you busy?
me: Not especially.
Fr. T: Do you like...espresso?
me: Yes.
Fr. T: Ah, please come.
So we go into his office, where he has an espresso machine, and he makes us each a cup as we sit down to chat. This guy is pretty interesting: not only does he speak some Japanese and have a hobby of drawing anime cartoons, he is also in a band (and he gave me two of their CDs).
Fr. T: Do you have MP3 player?
me: No, I don't. I had a little iPod, but I didn't bring it with me.
Fr. T: Ah, but maybe you can use phone for music.
me: Actually, I don't have a smartphone. My husband and I share a cell phone, but it is an old little 2G phone. We have never owned smartphones.
Now, it is important to understand that South Koreans are super-connected; you can see everyone from high school students to construction workers glued to their phones as you pass them on the sidewalk. My only explanation for what happened next is that this wonderful priest saw my lack of a smartphone as a very obvious poverty, and that he was determined to remedy it.
Fr. T: Actually, I have extra phone.
me: What?
Fr. T: Yes! *he pulls an older Galaxy phone out of his bottom desk drawer* Someone leave this phone here in church! I find this one and I call him and say, 'I found your phone! Please come and take it,' and he say, 'Okay, I will come,' but he did not come. It is six month ago. So...if you don't mind, you can have this one.
me: I can have it?!
Fr. T: Ah...borrow!
me: ...Really?
Fr. T: Yes!
me: ...Okay.
At first I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but after some of my students showed me a few tricks, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Unfortunately, that now means I am completely addicted to my new device. I have installed Laudate (which is the absolute greatest app ever for the practicing Catholic), two different messenger apps (one for everyone here in SK, and one for m friend in China), Facebook, Skype, Google Translate, and Google Reader. I have to resist the temptation to ask if everywhere we are going has Wifi. I am always checking the phone for new messages and new updates. And now I have a new challenge: I have to figure out how to enable USB storage on the thing so I can put music and pictures from the computer onto it.
Ah, first world problems.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
京都から今晩は！ (Good evening from Kyoto!/Boa noite de Quioto!)
Because I am actively studying two languages (Japanese and Korean), I have installed two IMEs on my laptop that allow me to type in Japanese and Korean, which I use fairly frequently. While Joel is usually a good sport about it, he occasionally complains that he can never get on this computer and expect to be able to type in English without turning off the IME.
Tee hee.
We decided to travel to Japan during Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving, since we have about five days of vacation. After getting off of work on Thursday night, we went downtown with our co-workers for dinner and wound up staying downtown all freaking night. After returning home and getting some soup for breakfast/post-bar-early-morning-snack/I-actually-have-no-idea-what-to-call-that-meal, I showered, packed for my trip in about fifteen minutes, and then we caught an express bus to the Seoul airport. While I remain convinced that staying out all night was a terrible idea, Joel insists that we had a great time and it was totally worth it.
Some days I am convinced that this is the college experience that I missed in college and that I might be regressing slightly from being a responsible adult. One of my co-workers just calls it an "Accidental Thursday." Anyway, we made it to the airport and onto our plane to Nagoya without any trouble, and navigated the regional trains to Kyoto with only minimal confusion. The only real problem with our all-nighter is that it took me all of yesterday to sort out and remember what day of the week it was.
We have been in Kyoto for about two and a half days now, and it has been awesome. It is obviously a very old city, and there are Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines (often both in the same complex) literally around every corner. During our first full day in town yesterday, we went to the Imperial Palace Park (entry to the actual palace is restricted to those who request an appointment for a guided tour) and Nijo Castle, the residence of the Shogunate. I was rather unimpressed with the Imperial Palace Park - it's huge and sprawling, but kind of sterile and not very pretty - but I thought the grounds around Nijo Castle were beautiful. Today has been kind of a drag, since there is currently a typhoon passing over us (making this the fifth once we have experienced since moving to this part of the world) and it has been raining all day, but we still made it to Fushimi-Inari Taisha (the famous shrine with the long path through the bright-orange arches) and Sanjusangen-do (with the 1000 Buddhas). We tried to go to the Kyoto National Museum, but it is closed for about a month (lame). It looks like I have persuaded Joel to accompany me to the Funaoka Onsen tonight after dinner (score!). Tomorrow, if the weather clears up, we can hopefully go on the walking tour of Southern Higashiyama recommended by Lonely Planet and maybe even check out Gion (where the geisha are based).
Tee hee.
We decided to travel to Japan during Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving, since we have about five days of vacation. After getting off of work on Thursday night, we went downtown with our co-workers for dinner and wound up staying downtown all freaking night. After returning home and getting some soup for breakfast/post-bar-early-morning-snack/I-actually-have-no-idea-what-to-call-that-meal, I showered, packed for my trip in about fifteen minutes, and then we caught an express bus to the Seoul airport. While I remain convinced that staying out all night was a terrible idea, Joel insists that we had a great time and it was totally worth it.
Some days I am convinced that this is the college experience that I missed in college and that I might be regressing slightly from being a responsible adult. One of my co-workers just calls it an "Accidental Thursday." Anyway, we made it to the airport and onto our plane to Nagoya without any trouble, and navigated the regional trains to Kyoto with only minimal confusion. The only real problem with our all-nighter is that it took me all of yesterday to sort out and remember what day of the week it was.
We have been in Kyoto for about two and a half days now, and it has been awesome. It is obviously a very old city, and there are Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines (often both in the same complex) literally around every corner. During our first full day in town yesterday, we went to the Imperial Palace Park (entry to the actual palace is restricted to those who request an appointment for a guided tour) and Nijo Castle, the residence of the Shogunate. I was rather unimpressed with the Imperial Palace Park - it's huge and sprawling, but kind of sterile and not very pretty - but I thought the grounds around Nijo Castle were beautiful. Today has been kind of a drag, since there is currently a typhoon passing over us (making this the fifth once we have experienced since moving to this part of the world) and it has been raining all day, but we still made it to Fushimi-Inari Taisha (the famous shrine with the long path through the bright-orange arches) and Sanjusangen-do (with the 1000 Buddhas). We tried to go to the Kyoto National Museum, but it is closed for about a month (lame). It looks like I have persuaded Joel to accompany me to the Funaoka Onsen tonight after dinner (score!). Tomorrow, if the weather clears up, we can hopefully go on the walking tour of Southern Higashiyama recommended by Lonely Planet and maybe even check out Gion (where the geisha are based).
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Gwangju: City of Intensives/Gwangju: Cidade de Intensivos
These days, Gwangju seems to be a city of intensives: intense partying with all of the new teachers we've been welcoming (and departing ones that we have been sending off), intense work (and intense stress) because of school summer vacation, intense hiking, and intense weather over the last few weeks.
Intensives
I've been less consistent about blogging in August because Joel (along with two of our afternoon teacher co-workers) was doing summer intensives all month. The students here all have vacation during the months of August and January, so many hagwons offer summer and winter "intensive courses" for students to have extra exposure to English language and (in theory at least) to have the opportunity to study English in greater breadth and/or detail. In practice, what this means is that a few lucky afternoon and evening teachershave to get to teach several classes in the morning, before lunch (and, incidentally, lose the only free time they have to be productive during the day. Naturally, this results in teachers who are overworked, exhausted, stressed, and cranky.
What this meant for us was that Joel was working from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (MWF) or 8 p.m. (TR) with only a break for lunch. With him at work for virtually ever waking moment of the day, I was left to do all of the housework, including cooking, cleaning, ironing, doing laundry, taking shirts to and picking them up from the cleaners, going to the bank and other miscellaneous life-curveballs. It was pretty bizarre here for a while, with Joel the Workaholic and Jessica the June Cleaver-esque housewife (who, by the way, was also still working full time). Also, it's a wonder we didn't kill each other.
But that's all over now, and the nice wad of overtime-pay cash will surely feel good when it finally comes around.
Intense Weather
In case the news has bypassed you because you are living under a rock, we had not one, but two typhoons come through last week. The first one, Bolaven, came through last Tuesday and was so bad that nearly all of the schools and hagwons (including ECC!) closed for the day. While I didn't get much sleep on Monday night because the windows were banging around so freaking loudly, we had a very nice day off hanging out with our co-workers. Unfortunately, this resulted in pretty much everyone at work running around like chickens without heads for the rest of the week, as the schedule had to be adjusted and the new session pushed back to make up for the lost class day.
As if that weren't enough, the typhoon that thrashed Taiwan did a little loop in the South China Sea and then decided to make a longer-than-average trip north to bring us yet another storm.
Because of all of the activity from tropical storms in the region, we've had way more rain than is typical for this time of year. It's rained at least once a week throughout August and now into September. It's so unusual that one of the apartment building residents actually spoke to Joel in the elevator: "Rain is crazy!"
Normally I don't mind the rain, but it is starting to get old, especially now that I have been trying to get to know the hiking trails in the area. Which brings me to...
Intense Hiking
I'm happy to report that I have been to Mudeungsan, the mountain just outside of town, three times now. After going for the first time the weekend of Joel's birthday, I went again several weeks ago with one of my co-workers and hiked up to Jeungsimsa, one of the better-known temples on the mountain. I really want to hike up to the top eventually, so when I discovered that our Korean teacher is also a hiking enthusiast (who has been hiking Mudeung pretty much his whole adult life), I asked him to go with me one morning to show me the way to the top. He got all excited and started to make plans that instant to do it one morning because he has evening graduate classes. "Six o'clock, is it okay?"
No, teacher, it is not okay.
We negotiated to hike up to the halfway point, 중머리제 (Jungmeorijae), and settled on 8 a.m. this past Monday morning. True to his word, he hopped off the bus at the base of the mountain at 7:45 and, after buying some water bottles and some kimbap, began the trek up the trail. And by by trek, I mean sprint - this guy practically ran up the mountain. I was pouring sweat when we reached the clearing at 9:15 and was wiped for the rest of the day at school. Still, it was a great experience, and we talked about going a little further up next week.
Hopefully now that intensives are over, we can settle into a routine that will hold more or less steady for the rest of our time here. We are definitely getting excited for our upcoming trip to Kyoto and to some beautiful fall weather and foliage!
Intensives
I've been less consistent about blogging in August because Joel (along with two of our afternoon teacher co-workers) was doing summer intensives all month. The students here all have vacation during the months of August and January, so many hagwons offer summer and winter "intensive courses" for students to have extra exposure to English language and (in theory at least) to have the opportunity to study English in greater breadth and/or detail. In practice, what this means is that a few lucky afternoon and evening teachers
What this meant for us was that Joel was working from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (MWF) or 8 p.m. (TR) with only a break for lunch. With him at work for virtually ever waking moment of the day, I was left to do all of the housework, including cooking, cleaning, ironing, doing laundry, taking shirts to and picking them up from the cleaners, going to the bank and other miscellaneous life-curveballs. It was pretty bizarre here for a while, with Joel the Workaholic and Jessica the June Cleaver-esque housewife (who, by the way, was also still working full time). Also, it's a wonder we didn't kill each other.
But that's all over now, and the nice wad of overtime-pay cash will surely feel good when it finally comes around.
Intense Weather
In case the news has bypassed you because you are living under a rock, we had not one, but two typhoons come through last week. The first one, Bolaven, came through last Tuesday and was so bad that nearly all of the schools and hagwons (including ECC!) closed for the day. While I didn't get much sleep on Monday night because the windows were banging around so freaking loudly, we had a very nice day off hanging out with our co-workers. Unfortunately, this resulted in pretty much everyone at work running around like chickens without heads for the rest of the week, as the schedule had to be adjusted and the new session pushed back to make up for the lost class day.
 |
| Yay for typhoons! Because we don't already get enough of them in Texas... |
 |
| Because one typhoon just wasn't enough. 어떻게 (WTF) Korea. |
Normally I don't mind the rain, but it is starting to get old, especially now that I have been trying to get to know the hiking trails in the area. Which brings me to...
Intense Hiking
I'm happy to report that I have been to Mudeungsan, the mountain just outside of town, three times now. After going for the first time the weekend of Joel's birthday, I went again several weeks ago with one of my co-workers and hiked up to Jeungsimsa, one of the better-known temples on the mountain. I really want to hike up to the top eventually, so when I discovered that our Korean teacher is also a hiking enthusiast (who has been hiking Mudeung pretty much his whole adult life), I asked him to go with me one morning to show me the way to the top. He got all excited and started to make plans that instant to do it one morning because he has evening graduate classes. "Six o'clock, is it okay?"
No, teacher, it is not okay.
We negotiated to hike up to the halfway point, 중머리제 (Jungmeorijae), and settled on 8 a.m. this past Monday morning. True to his word, he hopped off the bus at the base of the mountain at 7:45 and, after buying some water bottles and some kimbap, began the trek up the trail. And by by trek, I mean sprint - this guy practically ran up the mountain. I was pouring sweat when we reached the clearing at 9:15 and was wiped for the rest of the day at school. Still, it was a great experience, and we talked about going a little further up next week.
Hopefully now that intensives are over, we can settle into a routine that will hold more or less steady for the rest of our time here. We are definitely getting excited for our upcoming trip to Kyoto and to some beautiful fall weather and foliage!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Information Crusader: Follow-Up/Cruzadora de Informação: Seguimento
I finally got a response from the Gwangju News Magazine editors! It was short, sweet, and, I felt, very attentive.
Dear Jessica,
I'd firstly like to apologise for my late response. I've been away on vacation.
Thank you for brining these issues to our attention. The writers of the articles you mentioned below always provide a list of sources from which they obtained their information. Currently, we don't have anyone checking the credibility of these sources, so in future we will do so.
I would also like to take you up on your offer of fact-checking health-related articles. We now realise how necessary this is.
I hope the offer is still available, and thank you again for sharing your concerns.
Best,
[editor]
Ah, sweet victory.
Dear Jessica,
I'd firstly like to apologise for my late response. I've been away on vacation.
Thank you for brining these issues to our attention. The writers of the articles you mentioned below always provide a list of sources from which they obtained their information. Currently, we don't have anyone checking the credibility of these sources, so in future we will do so.
I would also like to take you up on your offer of fact-checking health-related articles. We now realise how necessary this is.
I hope the offer is still available, and thank you again for sharing your concerns.
Best,
[editor]
Ah, sweet victory.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Living in Pentos/Morando em Pentos
Shae: Let's get on a boat to Pentos and never come back.
Tyrion Lannister: What would we do in Pentos?
Shae: Eat. Drink. Fuck. Live!
-Game of Thrones
It occurred to Joel and I this weekend that tomorrow will mark the beginning of our fourth month here in Korea. Many other teachers have commented as they were leaving that the time really goes by quickly here, and now I realize how right they are. It feels like just yesterday that we stumbled into the bus terminal, and yet we're a quarter of the way through our contract. Time really does fly.
For the most part, we have really enjoyed it so far. Some days the "culture shock" gets really frustrating, particularly my quest to get information about our health insurance policy and my ongoing banking saga (more on that in a minute), but by and large life is really easy, and very enjoyable here. We are excited about the two new teachers coming in next week - they are from Texas, and they sound really positive and fun. The outgoing teachers have done a lot to help us get oriented and learn the ropes of the job, but it will be really nice to have our group for the better part of next year all together.
This weekend was a lot of fun. After our Korean language class on Saturday morning (our second to last one for the session - it's crazy to think we have been studying Korean for seven weeks!), Joel and I picked up a nice flat-screen TV that we bought from an Irish guy who is about to leave the country. It's a great addition to our living room and a huge upgrade from crappy analog that came with the apartment (which would change the channel every time you tried to raise the volume and raise the volume and change the channel when you tried to lower the volume), and we can hook it up to the laptop! After we got that set up, my co-worker and I went hiking up to Jeungsim temple on Mudeung mountain. There are so many trails to explore, and every time you check one out, you find another one that you have to earmark for another day. It's so beautiful, though - I can't wait to see what it will look like in the fall!
I got dinner with some friends who work at a different hagwon, and then several of us went out dancing last night. Today I went to a jimjilbang, or a Korean bathhouse/sauna (more on that in a minute, too), and we hosted a movie night this evening. Not a bad weekend, if I do say so myself.
The Ongoing Bank Saga
So after my initial (negative) experience at the bank, my Korean co-worker went back with me to help sort everything out. After that visit, we got both Joel's and my name on the bank account and two functioning debit cards (one of which also works as a bus card). Last week, when we got paid, I went to the nearby branch to deposit our earnings and wire some of the money home. The actual wire transfer went fine, but when I went to put in my bank password, it turned out that I had memorized the wrong one (here, when you set up a bank account, you have a four-digit bank password number, a four-digit password for your bank card, and a separate six-digit PIN for your card for "international ATMs," whatever those are). The lovely English-speaking teller helped me to reset it and even fixed it so that I could use the same number for both my account and the card.
Unfortunately, I discovered later that day that while I could use my card at the ATM to withdraw cash, I could not use it as a debit card. On the other hand, Joel's card could no longer be used at the ATM, though he could still use it as a debit card.
WTF, Korea.
After yet another emotional breakdown at work, I took both cards back into the bank the next day and explained my predicament. The same lovely English-speaking teller replaced both cards and reset both card passwords (again), so we are okay with the bank (for now, at least).
I talked to my Japanese conversation partner about the whole fiasco, and she said that banking in Japan is similarly complicated. Asia, I understand that you are into secure banking, but when my bank account is so secure that even I can't use it, there is a problem. On the positive side, however, I have identified the teller at the bank who speaks English, and I am determined to make her my new best friend. My next task will be to set up online banking. Woo!
The Jimjilbang
I think I may have found my new favorite thing here in Korea. A jimjilbang is a large, public bathhouse/sauna where people go to relax and hang out. Basically, you pay a flat entry fee to have unlimited access to a common area (that usually sells snacks and drinks and has TVs to watch) and segregated saunas and hot and cold tubs. The one I went to this afternoon is called "Big Spo" and has a two coffee shops in the lobby and a Chinese restaurant next door. I spend all of my time in the hot tubs and saunas and did not venture into the common area, but it was an awesome and relaxing experience. You are supposed to wash and scrub yourself before getting into any of the tubs, and a lot of people will go in pairs or groups and help each other do that. After a few minutes of standing around and trying to figure out what to do, I just scrubbed down and jumped in a hot tub and it was paradise from there. As the only foreigner in the joint, I got quite a few stares (mostly from the kids), but once I got past that it was alright. Now that I have figured out how to get there on the bus, I will have to go back more often.
It's nice to be able to kick back and just live.
Tyrion Lannister: What would we do in Pentos?
Shae: Eat. Drink. Fuck. Live!
-Game of Thrones
It occurred to Joel and I this weekend that tomorrow will mark the beginning of our fourth month here in Korea. Many other teachers have commented as they were leaving that the time really goes by quickly here, and now I realize how right they are. It feels like just yesterday that we stumbled into the bus terminal, and yet we're a quarter of the way through our contract. Time really does fly.
For the most part, we have really enjoyed it so far. Some days the "culture shock" gets really frustrating, particularly my quest to get information about our health insurance policy and my ongoing banking saga (more on that in a minute), but by and large life is really easy, and very enjoyable here. We are excited about the two new teachers coming in next week - they are from Texas, and they sound really positive and fun. The outgoing teachers have done a lot to help us get oriented and learn the ropes of the job, but it will be really nice to have our group for the better part of next year all together.
This weekend was a lot of fun. After our Korean language class on Saturday morning (our second to last one for the session - it's crazy to think we have been studying Korean for seven weeks!), Joel and I picked up a nice flat-screen TV that we bought from an Irish guy who is about to leave the country. It's a great addition to our living room and a huge upgrade from crappy analog that came with the apartment (which would change the channel every time you tried to raise the volume and raise the volume and change the channel when you tried to lower the volume), and we can hook it up to the laptop! After we got that set up, my co-worker and I went hiking up to Jeungsim temple on Mudeung mountain. There are so many trails to explore, and every time you check one out, you find another one that you have to earmark for another day. It's so beautiful, though - I can't wait to see what it will look like in the fall!
I got dinner with some friends who work at a different hagwon, and then several of us went out dancing last night. Today I went to a jimjilbang, or a Korean bathhouse/sauna (more on that in a minute, too), and we hosted a movie night this evening. Not a bad weekend, if I do say so myself.
The Ongoing Bank Saga
So after my initial (negative) experience at the bank, my Korean co-worker went back with me to help sort everything out. After that visit, we got both Joel's and my name on the bank account and two functioning debit cards (one of which also works as a bus card). Last week, when we got paid, I went to the nearby branch to deposit our earnings and wire some of the money home. The actual wire transfer went fine, but when I went to put in my bank password, it turned out that I had memorized the wrong one (here, when you set up a bank account, you have a four-digit bank password number, a four-digit password for your bank card, and a separate six-digit PIN for your card for "international ATMs," whatever those are). The lovely English-speaking teller helped me to reset it and even fixed it so that I could use the same number for both my account and the card.
Unfortunately, I discovered later that day that while I could use my card at the ATM to withdraw cash, I could not use it as a debit card. On the other hand, Joel's card could no longer be used at the ATM, though he could still use it as a debit card.
WTF, Korea.
After yet another emotional breakdown at work, I took both cards back into the bank the next day and explained my predicament. The same lovely English-speaking teller replaced both cards and reset both card passwords (again), so we are okay with the bank (for now, at least).
I talked to my Japanese conversation partner about the whole fiasco, and she said that banking in Japan is similarly complicated. Asia, I understand that you are into secure banking, but when my bank account is so secure that even I can't use it, there is a problem. On the positive side, however, I have identified the teller at the bank who speaks English, and I am determined to make her my new best friend. My next task will be to set up online banking. Woo!
The Jimjilbang
I think I may have found my new favorite thing here in Korea. A jimjilbang is a large, public bathhouse/sauna where people go to relax and hang out. Basically, you pay a flat entry fee to have unlimited access to a common area (that usually sells snacks and drinks and has TVs to watch) and segregated saunas and hot and cold tubs. The one I went to this afternoon is called "Big Spo" and has a two coffee shops in the lobby and a Chinese restaurant next door. I spend all of my time in the hot tubs and saunas and did not venture into the common area, but it was an awesome and relaxing experience. You are supposed to wash and scrub yourself before getting into any of the tubs, and a lot of people will go in pairs or groups and help each other do that. After a few minutes of standing around and trying to figure out what to do, I just scrubbed down and jumped in a hot tub and it was paradise from there. As the only foreigner in the joint, I got quite a few stares (mostly from the kids), but once I got past that it was alright. Now that I have figured out how to get there on the bus, I will have to go back more often.
It's nice to be able to kick back and just live.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Immigrant Experience, Part Two/A experiência do imigrante, segunda parte
There are a lot of things you take for granted in your home country. The list is endless, so I won't bother to go into it here, but readers (and especially those that are also English teachers here in the SK) can undoubtedly think of several right off the top of their heads. When my friend who lives in Beijing came to visit me a few weeks ago, we had a long conversation about how difficult it can be to give an answer to people who ask, "So what is life like [insert country you live in]? How is it different from home?" The fact of the matter is that there are so many things that answer this question that you simply cannot explain; you have to experience them. Wrapping your mind around what it is like to learn to navigate a completely different system, even if it is one in a developed country, is a monumental task unless you have done it yourself.
While Joel has cheerfully told people that he has not experienced any culture shock, I seem to be following the typical model cited by our "training videos" that our hagwon had us watch. (We call him "Frozen Man" because in two of the videos, the image of the perky, metro-sexual Korean American man freezes about three minutes in and you are stuck listening to his obnoxious voice for the rest of the 45-minute presentation.) The curve that Frozen Man showed us in the culture shock presentation showed the initial "honeymoon phase" wearing off about two or three months after moving and "culture shock," defined as constant irritation at barriers encountered in everyday life, setting in.
After my Korean co-worker helped me clear up the bank SNAFU the following week, I tried to purchase airline tickets for our September/October vacation through a Korean airline website. After about ten tries combined between Joel and I trying to buy the tickets at home online (Korean websites only work in Internet Explorer, and you have to have pop-ups enabled to install all of the extra security software, and your purchase times out if you cannot complete it in ten minutes), we went into work and requested the help of the same co-worker who books everyone's travel and helped us resolve our issues at the bank. We went through the same website and tried to buy the same tickets on her laptop, to no avail. After inputting my national ID number (why you need that to buy anything is beyond me) and my bank card information, and going through several pop-up windows to install the security software yet again, and doing it as fast as possible to avoid having my purchase time out, I came to a screen (in Korean, of course) that required me to set up some kind of PIN for online purchases. Even after doing that, my purchase was blocked; apparently, if you want to use your bank card to buy things online, you have to set up online banking separately with your bank. I was so overwhelmed by my inability to making a simple effing purchase on the effing internet when I had the money in my account for it that I nearly had a mental breakdown in front of all my coworkers. I stormed out of the office and into the bathroom and, for the second time in a month, just cried.
Side note: I found out later that many Korean websites require you to input your national ID number because they only allow native Koreans to make purchases; if your number identifies you as a foreign national, you cannot make a purchase. Back home, all you need to buy something on Amazon is an address and a credit card. WTF, Korea.
My biggest bout with "culture shock" by far was my epic battle to get information about our health insurance policy. It used to be the law here in Korea that all employers were required to enroll foreign national employees into the National Health Insurance. Legislation was passed in 2007 that allowed them to not do so if it is agreed to under contract; however, most people are not aware of this change and will still tell English teachers that their hagwons are breaking the law if they do not enroll them in the NHI. When we signed our contracts with our school, however, it specifically stated that we would be provided with insurance through a private company, so they are definitely not breaking the law. When we got our first paychecks, I saw that there was no deduction for our policy, so I asked our head teacher about it, and she explained that the school was paying the entire premium. Fine, I said, but can I have some kind of proof of coverage?
And then the struggle began.
A simple request for a health insurance card, or even just a document with a policy number, turned into a mandatory meeting for all foreign teachers where a generic memo with an explanation of the coverage limits of our policy was handed out. They explained to us what was covered (and what was not) and asked if there were any questions. I raised my hand. "Can you give us our policy number?"
The school administrator stared at me. "Why do you need that?"
"Just to have," I responded. "I want to have all of the information."
"I don't have it now, but if you need it, we can give it to you," he said.
"You don't need it," one of my co-workers explained to me. "You just bring in your receipts and they reimburse you."
They went on to explain that if we had a doctor or hospital visit, we would have to pay out of pocket. We would then bring them the receipts, and they would take care of filing the claim for us. I raised my hand again.
"Can we file the claim ourselves if we want to?"
Now I started to get some raised eyebrows. "You can if you want to," the head teacher explained, "but we can do it for you. It is easier for you this way."
I sat quietly through the rest of the meeting and turned the information over in my head. I had heard stories of hagwons lying to English teachers about providing health insurance, or dropping their coverage a few months into their contract, or simply not providing it at all, and while our school is respected and well-established, my instincts to make sure everything was "kosher" were kicking in.
After some more nagging, I finally got our group policy number, and so one morning I tried to call the company and reach someone in customer service who could speak English and verify the policy. After pressing the button indicated on the phone menu for English language service, I waited.
Customer service rep (CSR): Yoboseyo? (Hello?)
me: Ne, yoboseyo! Yeongeo haseyo? (Do you speak English?)
CSR: A little.
me: I need to speak to someone in English who can help me with my policy.
CSR: Wait please. [puts me on hold]
Different CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Yes, do you speak English?
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: (louder) I need to speak to someone in English!
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Sigh.
I hung up and messaged one of our Korean friends asking him if he would be willing to call for me. When I got his response later that day, he told me that our school was breaking the law and probably committing some kind of tax evasion. Back to square one.
The following week, I tried again.
Customer service rep (CSR): Yoboseyo?
me: Do you speak English?
CSR: Yes.
me: Okay, I need to speak to someone who can verify my policy.
CSR: What kind of policy?
me: Health insurance.
CSR: Okay, hold please. [puts me on hold]
Different CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Yes, I need to verify my health insurance policy.
CSR: Do you have the policy number?
me: Yes. [I read the policy number to him.]
CSR: Okay, I will transfer you to someone in that department. [puts me on hold again]
Yet another CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Yes, do you speak English?
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: (louder) I need to speak to someone in English!
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: (louder still) Hello?
CSR: [click]
I stared at the Skype window for a few minutes, then got dressed and stormed off to E-mart (about a 2-km walk) to buy chicken and a jar of curry sauce. In the checkout line I realized I didn't have my wallet...because I'd taken it out at home to pull out our health insurance policy number. It was everything I could do to not throw a fit in the store.
Equally frustrating has been trying to explain to people why these encounters make me so upset. I went from being a fully capable and independent adult in my home country to not being able to take care of simple things (like opening the kind of bank account I want) or get a simple piece of information (like details on my health insurance policy) on my own, because I don't speak the language. Some days I feel as though I have been robbed of self-sufficiency and reduced to being a child, or a petulant teenager at best. It is not helped by the Confucian and paternalistic culture here: while my employers are certainly well-meaning in offering to file my health insurance claims form me, it is all I can do to not feel patronized. They simply cannot understand a desire for privacy when it comes to my health, or my insistence on having the policy information (rather than just trusting them that it is provided), or even just wanting to be able to do things on my own.
I ultimately found my answers at the Gwangju International Center (GIC), a non-profit center staffed by volunteers that provides services for expats living in the city. They do everything from culture lectures to day-trip tours in the region to Korean language lessons. They also offer free counseling services to anyone with employment or legal disputes, or anyone who needs Korean language assistance with situations like mine. When I explained my dilemma to the coordinator (a very nice Vietnamese woman), she instantly understood. A Korean volunteer took my written questions and policy number, got on the phone, and in about 15 minutes had all the information I wanted and had been struggling to get for weeks. And yes, we do have a health insurance policy.
Ultimately, this particular story had a happy ending. But the whole thing has pushed me to think deeply about the "immigrant experience" and the debates, particularly on health and rights to privacy with regard to immigrants, that I paid so little attention to back home. I have been thinking seriously about volunteering with the GIC or another organization that serves migrant women, even with as little free time as we already have. I think it would be worth it to help others work through "culture shock" - the experiences of confronting what should be a simple task that actually just makes you go, "WTF, Korea."
While Joel has cheerfully told people that he has not experienced any culture shock, I seem to be following the typical model cited by our "training videos" that our hagwon had us watch. (We call him "Frozen Man" because in two of the videos, the image of the perky, metro-sexual Korean American man freezes about three minutes in and you are stuck listening to his obnoxious voice for the rest of the 45-minute presentation.) The curve that Frozen Man showed us in the culture shock presentation showed the initial "honeymoon phase" wearing off about two or three months after moving and "culture shock," defined as constant irritation at barriers encountered in everyday life, setting in.
After my Korean co-worker helped me clear up the bank SNAFU the following week, I tried to purchase airline tickets for our September/October vacation through a Korean airline website. After about ten tries combined between Joel and I trying to buy the tickets at home online (Korean websites only work in Internet Explorer, and you have to have pop-ups enabled to install all of the extra security software, and your purchase times out if you cannot complete it in ten minutes), we went into work and requested the help of the same co-worker who books everyone's travel and helped us resolve our issues at the bank. We went through the same website and tried to buy the same tickets on her laptop, to no avail. After inputting my national ID number (why you need that to buy anything is beyond me) and my bank card information, and going through several pop-up windows to install the security software yet again, and doing it as fast as possible to avoid having my purchase time out, I came to a screen (in Korean, of course) that required me to set up some kind of PIN for online purchases. Even after doing that, my purchase was blocked; apparently, if you want to use your bank card to buy things online, you have to set up online banking separately with your bank. I was so overwhelmed by my inability to making a simple effing purchase on the effing internet when I had the money in my account for it that I nearly had a mental breakdown in front of all my coworkers. I stormed out of the office and into the bathroom and, for the second time in a month, just cried.
Side note: I found out later that many Korean websites require you to input your national ID number because they only allow native Koreans to make purchases; if your number identifies you as a foreign national, you cannot make a purchase. Back home, all you need to buy something on Amazon is an address and a credit card. WTF, Korea.
My biggest bout with "culture shock" by far was my epic battle to get information about our health insurance policy. It used to be the law here in Korea that all employers were required to enroll foreign national employees into the National Health Insurance. Legislation was passed in 2007 that allowed them to not do so if it is agreed to under contract; however, most people are not aware of this change and will still tell English teachers that their hagwons are breaking the law if they do not enroll them in the NHI. When we signed our contracts with our school, however, it specifically stated that we would be provided with insurance through a private company, so they are definitely not breaking the law. When we got our first paychecks, I saw that there was no deduction for our policy, so I asked our head teacher about it, and she explained that the school was paying the entire premium. Fine, I said, but can I have some kind of proof of coverage?
And then the struggle began.
A simple request for a health insurance card, or even just a document with a policy number, turned into a mandatory meeting for all foreign teachers where a generic memo with an explanation of the coverage limits of our policy was handed out. They explained to us what was covered (and what was not) and asked if there were any questions. I raised my hand. "Can you give us our policy number?"
The school administrator stared at me. "Why do you need that?"
"Just to have," I responded. "I want to have all of the information."
"I don't have it now, but if you need it, we can give it to you," he said.
"You don't need it," one of my co-workers explained to me. "You just bring in your receipts and they reimburse you."
They went on to explain that if we had a doctor or hospital visit, we would have to pay out of pocket. We would then bring them the receipts, and they would take care of filing the claim for us. I raised my hand again.
"Can we file the claim ourselves if we want to?"
Now I started to get some raised eyebrows. "You can if you want to," the head teacher explained, "but we can do it for you. It is easier for you this way."
I sat quietly through the rest of the meeting and turned the information over in my head. I had heard stories of hagwons lying to English teachers about providing health insurance, or dropping their coverage a few months into their contract, or simply not providing it at all, and while our school is respected and well-established, my instincts to make sure everything was "kosher" were kicking in.
After some more nagging, I finally got our group policy number, and so one morning I tried to call the company and reach someone in customer service who could speak English and verify the policy. After pressing the button indicated on the phone menu for English language service, I waited.
Customer service rep (CSR): Yoboseyo? (Hello?)
me: Ne, yoboseyo! Yeongeo haseyo? (Do you speak English?)
CSR: A little.
me: I need to speak to someone in English who can help me with my policy.
CSR: Wait please. [puts me on hold]
Different CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Yes, do you speak English?
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: (louder) I need to speak to someone in English!
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Sigh.
I hung up and messaged one of our Korean friends asking him if he would be willing to call for me. When I got his response later that day, he told me that our school was breaking the law and probably committing some kind of tax evasion. Back to square one.
 |
| WTF, Korea. |
The following week, I tried again.
Customer service rep (CSR): Yoboseyo?
me: Do you speak English?
CSR: Yes.
me: Okay, I need to speak to someone who can verify my policy.
CSR: What kind of policy?
me: Health insurance.
CSR: Okay, hold please. [puts me on hold]
Different CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Yes, I need to verify my health insurance policy.
CSR: Do you have the policy number?
me: Yes. [I read the policy number to him.]
CSR: Okay, I will transfer you to someone in that department. [puts me on hold again]
Yet another CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: Yes, do you speak English?
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: (louder) I need to speak to someone in English!
CSR: Yoboseyo?
me: (louder still) Hello?
CSR: [click]
I stared at the Skype window for a few minutes, then got dressed and stormed off to E-mart (about a 2-km walk) to buy chicken and a jar of curry sauce. In the checkout line I realized I didn't have my wallet...because I'd taken it out at home to pull out our health insurance policy number. It was everything I could do to not throw a fit in the store.
Equally frustrating has been trying to explain to people why these encounters make me so upset. I went from being a fully capable and independent adult in my home country to not being able to take care of simple things (like opening the kind of bank account I want) or get a simple piece of information (like details on my health insurance policy) on my own, because I don't speak the language. Some days I feel as though I have been robbed of self-sufficiency and reduced to being a child, or a petulant teenager at best. It is not helped by the Confucian and paternalistic culture here: while my employers are certainly well-meaning in offering to file my health insurance claims form me, it is all I can do to not feel patronized. They simply cannot understand a desire for privacy when it comes to my health, or my insistence on having the policy information (rather than just trusting them that it is provided), or even just wanting to be able to do things on my own.
I ultimately found my answers at the Gwangju International Center (GIC), a non-profit center staffed by volunteers that provides services for expats living in the city. They do everything from culture lectures to day-trip tours in the region to Korean language lessons. They also offer free counseling services to anyone with employment or legal disputes, or anyone who needs Korean language assistance with situations like mine. When I explained my dilemma to the coordinator (a very nice Vietnamese woman), she instantly understood. A Korean volunteer took my written questions and policy number, got on the phone, and in about 15 minutes had all the information I wanted and had been struggling to get for weeks. And yes, we do have a health insurance policy.
Ultimately, this particular story had a happy ending. But the whole thing has pushed me to think deeply about the "immigrant experience" and the debates, particularly on health and rights to privacy with regard to immigrants, that I paid so little attention to back home. I have been thinking seriously about volunteering with the GIC or another organization that serves migrant women, even with as little free time as we already have. I think it would be worth it to help others work through "culture shock" - the experiences of confronting what should be a simple task that actually just makes you go, "WTF, Korea."
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Information Crusader/Cruzadora de Informação
For whatever reason, I always find myself writing extensively researched responses to inaccurate statements or articles. For example, when a doctor I saw in college told me that NFP (that's family planning based on a woman's natural fertility signs) had a "failure rate," I spent hours researching and writing an e-mail to him comparing the efficacy and long-term health effects of hormonal birth control (which also has has a "failure rate") to natural methods. Maybe it's a tick, but whenever I see something that is wrong or misleading, I get annoyed.
This time it was two articles in Gwangju News, a monthly magazine put out by the Gwangju International Center, a non-profit organization that serves the expat community here. The magazine has great coverage of local artists and events, and for the most part is a pretty good read. However, it is reliant on volunteer contributions and compiled and edited by volunteers, so I guess some questionable stuff occasionally makes it through. The articles, on the "dangers" of water fluoridation ("Don't Drink the Water!" in the April issue) and "radioactive seafood" ("Fukushima: A Tsunami of Radioactive Seafood?" in the August issue) really raised my public health hackles, so I wrote an e-mail to the editorial team expressing my concerns. I have posted it below for your amusement.
Dear Gwangju News Editorial Team,
My husband and I recently moved to Gwangju and joined the GIC, and we have been reading the Gwangju News with great interest. For the most part, we like the magazine: it has great coverage of the arts and culture scene here, and we really appreciate most of the features. However, we (and I in particular, as a public health professional by training) have been concerned at some of the misinformation and fearmongering in a few of your recent articles, specifically the ones on water fluoridation and radiation in seafood.
Let me begin by providing my credentials: I have a B.S. in Biomedical Science and a Master of Public Health (MPH), which a focus on Environmental Health. After I received my MPH in December of 2008, I worked for one year as a fellow with the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and more recently, for two years as a consultant to the Texas Department of State Health Services on a project with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry, a sister agency of the CDC. I have also been an active member of the American Public Health Association's International Health Section for the last two and a half years, serving as the Communications Committee chair since the Annual Meeting in 2010, and have written public health content for blogs with the International Health Section, Medscape, and End the Neglect (which focuses on neglected tropical diseases). As someone who has worked in public health communications, I can particularly appreciate the value of accurate portrayal of public health issues and the harms that can be caused by misinformation, even from well-meaning individuals.
The Fluoride Article
The first article that I feel was misrepresentative of a public health issue, and the one that bothered me the most, was the article on fluoride ("Don't Drink the Water!") in the April 2012 issue. First off, there were several blatantly incorrect statements:
1. "adding fluoride to water constitutes forced drugging" - Frankly, this is ridiculous. Fluoride cannot be called a drug in any way, as it does not alter the body's function or affect behavior. It is a naturally-occurring mineral and cannot be called a drug any more than magnesium, iron, or calcium can. Therefore it is not in any way "illegal" to add it to the water supply.
2. "The US Centers for Disease Control has labeled fluoride as a level four hazardous substance" - This is also false. ATSDR has classified fluorine, hydrogen fluorine, and hydrofluoric acid (all industrial compounds) as highly toxic and hazardous substances (because they are), but fluoride is a different compound entirely. To put it in perspective, pure sodium metal is highly corrosive, but we eat it all the time as sodium chloride (table salt). For more information, see ATSDR's overview here: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/toxsubstance.asp?toxid=38
There were also several misleading statements, including references to Nazi concentration camps, mind control, and recent legislation passed in the US. To clarify, the idea that the Nazis put fluoride in camp water to control prisoners is an urban myth that has no basis in historical fact (more information on this: http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/oct/06/critics-water-fluoridation/truth-about-fluoride-doesnt-include-nazi-myth/). Besides, even if the Nazis fluoridated the drinking water in the camps, they also provided medical care to sick or injured prisoners. Should we then say that treating people for tuberculosis, or setting broken bones, or providing universal health care, is unethical because it was done in a concentration camp? (For an in-depth account of life in a concentration camp, I recommend Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi.)
The truth is that the CDC has hailed public water fluoridation as one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, and multiple respected public health and professional associations have come out in support of it, basing their statements on multiple reputable scientific studies and meta-analyses. In summary, the article on fluoridated drinking was poorly researched, based on misinformation, and completely fallacious.
More information from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_controversy
The Radioactive Seafood Article
This article was not nearly as disturbing, and I can appreciate its timeliness as the international community continues to debate the pros and cons of nuclear power in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. However, I still felt that the information what somewhat misrepresented and misleading.
1. "imagine fish that swam through irradiated waters for 6,000 miles being...served to thousands of people" - This is a grossly inaccurate statement. First of all, "irradiated" means that something has been exposed to radiation, usually intentionally. While some radiation from the Fukushima plant was released into the ocean, this statement implies that the entire Pacific Ocean was exposed to colossal radiation waves.
2. "Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia...have been proactive in banning Japanese food imports for fear of radioactive contamination" - This fails to take into account ulterior motives or politics. Japan is an industrialized nation with a highly efficient agricultural production system, so naturally they export a lot of produce and food products. It is easy for other Southeast Asian countries to use the Fukushima disaster as an excuse to ban food imports in order to protect their own rice farmers, for example, without drawing international condemnation for unfair international trade policies or foreign policy consequences.
3. The article makes repeated references to finding "trace amounts" of radioactive contaminants in seafood and citing this as a reason for concern. The term "trace amount" is indicates that the compound is present in the sample being tested, but at a level that is barely above the detection limit. What this means is that some machine could pick up some tiny amount of the compound in some of the samples.
The Japanese government destroyed all of the harvested produce that had radioactive materials above its own legal limits, which are even lower that international standards set by the World Health Organization. Furthermore, to expect no radiation in any of your food is ludicrous; radiation occurs naturally throughout nature and can be found in bananas and granite countertops (for additional perspective, refer to this chart: http://xkcd.com/radiation/). As the article itself mentioned, we are exposed to radiation at much higher levels during medical procedures and airline flights that has been detected in any tuna samples. To generate public fear about it is unproductive and potentially harmful to farmers and fishers, as avoidance of these foods will affect their livelihoods.
I understand that the magazine relies on contributions from volunteers and that people should be able to express, and write about, their opinions freely. However, these articles in particular were poorly researched and the ignorance of the authors painfully obvious to anyone with a scientific background. Neither of them listed any education or training in public health, environmental science, or (in the case of the radiation article), nuclear science. As editors, I know you understand the importance of making sure your contributions are factually accurate and well-researched. If you receive any contributions in the future about health-related articles, I would be more than happy to review them for any misinformation or inaccuracies.
This time it was two articles in Gwangju News, a monthly magazine put out by the Gwangju International Center, a non-profit organization that serves the expat community here. The magazine has great coverage of local artists and events, and for the most part is a pretty good read. However, it is reliant on volunteer contributions and compiled and edited by volunteers, so I guess some questionable stuff occasionally makes it through. The articles, on the "dangers" of water fluoridation ("Don't Drink the Water!" in the April issue) and "radioactive seafood" ("Fukushima: A Tsunami of Radioactive Seafood?" in the August issue) really raised my public health hackles, so I wrote an e-mail to the editorial team expressing my concerns. I have posted it below for your amusement.
Dear Gwangju News Editorial Team,
My husband and I recently moved to Gwangju and joined the GIC, and we have been reading the Gwangju News with great interest. For the most part, we like the magazine: it has great coverage of the arts and culture scene here, and we really appreciate most of the features. However, we (and I in particular, as a public health professional by training) have been concerned at some of the misinformation and fearmongering in a few of your recent articles, specifically the ones on water fluoridation and radiation in seafood.
Let me begin by providing my credentials: I have a B.S. in Biomedical Science and a Master of Public Health (MPH), which a focus on Environmental Health. After I received my MPH in December of 2008, I worked for one year as a fellow with the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and more recently, for two years as a consultant to the Texas Department of State Health Services on a project with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry, a sister agency of the CDC. I have also been an active member of the American Public Health Association's International Health Section for the last two and a half years, serving as the Communications Committee chair since the Annual Meeting in 2010, and have written public health content for blogs with the International Health Section, Medscape, and End the Neglect (which focuses on neglected tropical diseases). As someone who has worked in public health communications, I can particularly appreciate the value of accurate portrayal of public health issues and the harms that can be caused by misinformation, even from well-meaning individuals.
The Fluoride Article
The first article that I feel was misrepresentative of a public health issue, and the one that bothered me the most, was the article on fluoride ("Don't Drink the Water!") in the April 2012 issue. First off, there were several blatantly incorrect statements:
1. "adding fluoride to water constitutes forced drugging" - Frankly, this is ridiculous. Fluoride cannot be called a drug in any way, as it does not alter the body's function or affect behavior. It is a naturally-occurring mineral and cannot be called a drug any more than magnesium, iron, or calcium can. Therefore it is not in any way "illegal" to add it to the water supply.
2. "The US Centers for Disease Control has labeled fluoride as a level four hazardous substance" - This is also false. ATSDR has classified fluorine, hydrogen fluorine, and hydrofluoric acid (all industrial compounds) as highly toxic and hazardous substances (because they are), but fluoride is a different compound entirely. To put it in perspective, pure sodium metal is highly corrosive, but we eat it all the time as sodium chloride (table salt). For more information, see ATSDR's overview here: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/toxsubstance.asp?toxid=38
There were also several misleading statements, including references to Nazi concentration camps, mind control, and recent legislation passed in the US. To clarify, the idea that the Nazis put fluoride in camp water to control prisoners is an urban myth that has no basis in historical fact (more information on this: http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/oct/06/critics-water-fluoridation/truth-about-fluoride-doesnt-include-nazi-myth/). Besides, even if the Nazis fluoridated the drinking water in the camps, they also provided medical care to sick or injured prisoners. Should we then say that treating people for tuberculosis, or setting broken bones, or providing universal health care, is unethical because it was done in a concentration camp? (For an in-depth account of life in a concentration camp, I recommend Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi.)
The truth is that the CDC has hailed public water fluoridation as one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, and multiple respected public health and professional associations have come out in support of it, basing their statements on multiple reputable scientific studies and meta-analyses. In summary, the article on fluoridated drinking was poorly researched, based on misinformation, and completely fallacious.
More information from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_controversy
The Radioactive Seafood Article
This article was not nearly as disturbing, and I can appreciate its timeliness as the international community continues to debate the pros and cons of nuclear power in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. However, I still felt that the information what somewhat misrepresented and misleading.
1. "imagine fish that swam through irradiated waters for 6,000 miles being...served to thousands of people" - This is a grossly inaccurate statement. First of all, "irradiated" means that something has been exposed to radiation, usually intentionally. While some radiation from the Fukushima plant was released into the ocean, this statement implies that the entire Pacific Ocean was exposed to colossal radiation waves.
2. "Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia...have been proactive in banning Japanese food imports for fear of radioactive contamination" - This fails to take into account ulterior motives or politics. Japan is an industrialized nation with a highly efficient agricultural production system, so naturally they export a lot of produce and food products. It is easy for other Southeast Asian countries to use the Fukushima disaster as an excuse to ban food imports in order to protect their own rice farmers, for example, without drawing international condemnation for unfair international trade policies or foreign policy consequences.
3. The article makes repeated references to finding "trace amounts" of radioactive contaminants in seafood and citing this as a reason for concern. The term "trace amount" is indicates that the compound is present in the sample being tested, but at a level that is barely above the detection limit. What this means is that some machine could pick up some tiny amount of the compound in some of the samples.
The Japanese government destroyed all of the harvested produce that had radioactive materials above its own legal limits, which are even lower that international standards set by the World Health Organization. Furthermore, to expect no radiation in any of your food is ludicrous; radiation occurs naturally throughout nature and can be found in bananas and granite countertops (for additional perspective, refer to this chart: http://xkcd.com/radiation/). As the article itself mentioned, we are exposed to radiation at much higher levels during medical procedures and airline flights that has been detected in any tuna samples. To generate public fear about it is unproductive and potentially harmful to farmers and fishers, as avoidance of these foods will affect their livelihoods.
I understand that the magazine relies on contributions from volunteers and that people should be able to express, and write about, their opinions freely. However, these articles in particular were poorly researched and the ignorance of the authors painfully obvious to anyone with a scientific background. Neither of them listed any education or training in public health, environmental science, or (in the case of the radiation article), nuclear science. As editors, I know you understand the importance of making sure your contributions are factually accurate and well-researched. If you receive any contributions in the future about health-related articles, I would be more than happy to review them for any misinformation or inaccuracies.
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