There is a recent startling Asian news item that I realize may not be public knowledge back in the western world. It is about a string of stabbings and killings in Chinese kindergartens. This article was posted on May 12th on The Shainghaiist, an internet publication from Shianghai, China.
"While U.S. and European schools have been haunted by repeated school shootings in the past decade, it seems like a rash of violent attacks is continuing to plague schools around China in recent months. The latest in a series of attacks on Chinese schoolchildren occurred on Tuesday morning in Shaanxi Province’s rural Nanzheng County. Seven children and a teacher were hacked to death and at least 20 children were wounded in an attack on a kindergarten, reports Xinhua. The attacker later killed himself, police officials reported. No further details of the incident have been given so far.
"This attack is the fifth such one against school children in less than two months. In April, a hammer-wielding man set himself on fire after injuring five children and a teacher in Shandong province. In Guangdong Province, a teacher stabbed and wounded 16 students and a teacher with a knife at a primary school. In March, eight children were stabbed to death in Fujian Province by a man suspected of having mental health problems.
"Beijing has called for “fast action” to strengthen security for schools, requiring all schools and educational authorities to take steps to prevent further incidents. Early this month, China’s Ministry of Public Security sent 18 teams to different areas of the country to supervise boosting security measures around local schools and kindergartens. Chongqing is spending RMB1.2 billion, the equivalent of almost half of the city’s 2010 public security budget, on campus security. The city will be deploying over 6,000 police officers and stationing 50,000 security guards around nurseries, middle and primary schools. The WSJ reported that police even provided nearly 100 schools in Beijing’s Xicheng district with large steel “forks” that could be used to fend off potential attackers.
"Personally, we’re not sure how effective equipping kindergartners with steel forks will be. How about delving into the root causes of these attacks? Some experts are saying that the rapid social changes China has undergone in the past decade has caused serious stresses that may be causing people to lash out in these attacks. Psychologists have said that changes in Chinese society that include mass migrations, a weakening of traditions, and increasing disparity in wealth have unsettled people and created tension. In addition, a number of these school attacks were perpetrated by suspects who were mentally ill. Regular mental checkups, treatment and monitoring of people could prevent more attacks, say experts."
On the lighter side, I was walking through the cafeteria at school yesterday and spotted a teacher wearing a white T-shirt whose top line read, in bold, black letters, "f**cking..." All of the teachers who sat around her were blissfully unaware. In fact, I believe I'm the only person in the school who took notice. Sigh.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
I blinked and it was May!
Ariella, myself and Shaeley from Jeju at the yoga workshop.
It was held at a very unique Art Center in Seoul.
Happy Birthday to me! Yes, that is a feather in my cap.
I'll just backlog for about a month...
April 24th: Amidst a recurring sickness that my friends, my boyfriend and I were passing back and forth for a number of weeks, I found my vocal chords and sang a few folk tunes at the bimonthly Jeju Open Mic. (See facebook for pictures) I love playing the guitar and am so glad I gave the time and attention to learning it while I've been living here among fine musicians. (Not that I don't live among fine musicians in Seattle, just that we all have ample time to hang and jam.)
April 29th: I've come to find out that my school has an exhaustive list of extra-curricular activities for both students AND parents. In mid-April I was approached to teach an evening yoga class for parents of my elementary students. I was a bit taken aback, knowing that English is only spoken at home by only 2 of my 700 students and concerned that I would not be able to convey a heartfelt or safe yoga class in Korean. The first class, which took place on the 22nd of April, was (to me) disastrous. The 25 parents and teachers who turned up were quite surprised to be taught by a foreigner and I don't think I said anything correctly in Korean. So I buckled down and spent the next week studying hard. My Korean teacher and I transcribed an entire hour-long class into Korean and I memorized a good chunk of it. So on the 29th of April I gave what I consider to be a successful class in Korean. I did consult my notes quite a bit and had difficulty explaining some poses, but we all laughed together at my language stumbles and the students' beginner yoga ability and had a really great class. This week will be my 4th class of 12 and I must admit that I'm so happy to have studied Korean and so proud that I can actually teach for a full hour in Korean. And, of course, it's a yoga class so that makes me pretty happy, too.
May 5th: If you're considering moving to a foreign country, pick one where your birthday coincides with a national holiday. Once again, I had a warm, Spring day off to celebrate Korean Children...and myself. Jason, my boyfriend, spoiled me with his supremely delicious coffee, a morning of lounging in his rooftop hammock, and a tofu scramble delight. We went on a little adventure out to Seongsan Ilchubong, or Sunrise Peak, where we hiked the quick 30 minutes to the crater and slowly rambled back down, exploring fields of sweet peas, the beautiful rocky seashore, and the local haenyo (woman diver) house. We stopped for dinner at my favorite Korean teahouse which specializes in green tea sujaebi (a creamy bean soup with rice cakes). Then it was home for a nap, a movie, and an early night to bed. I must be getting old.
Birthday dinner with Kee Jeong, Julia, and Cindy at the Baghdad Cafe
At the top of Sunrise Peak
As is the case here, summer arrived overnight. It was cold, snowy, and windy for 5 months, rainy for a month and a half, then *poof* summer. We've had about 3 weeks of warm to hot weather perfect for motorbike tours around the island and beach volleyball. Jason and I had a few nice weekends traveling to some of the more remote places in Jeju on a motorcycle and the beach camping will begin very, very soon. Last weekend many of us gathered at Iho beach for the 1st practice weekend of beach volleyball. The 3rd fundraising tournament is coming up in a few weeks and we're excited! Too bad Cindy, my good friend and teammate, is currently in a hard cast from toe to knee for a small fracture in her ankle. Nonetheless, we'll be camping and lounging in the sand together. She'll still come out to support our team.
This coming weekend is the annual school festival and sports day, followed by our school's birthday on May 17th which means another day off! Buddha's Birthday is also a holiday so no school the following Friday, the 21st. Hooray! I love May.
In case you were wondering about proper etiquette for public restroom use.
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