As you know, I try to keep up with current events as much as I can, and the fact that I have loads of free time at school means loads of time to read the news religiously. I have a few favorite websites - Drudge Report, Fark.com, CNN, BBC - but for all things Japan-related, I turn to JapanToday.com. Japan Today's journalism isn't as good as the other major English language newspaper in Japan, the Japan Times, but it does give its online readers the opportunity to comment on articles. So I mostly read the comments, truth be told.
Anyway, today I clicked on an article - well, more a poll than an article - that asked readers if they thought the word gaijin was a racist term. This particular topic is one of frequent debate among foreign residents and visitors of Japan, but for those of you unfamiliar with it, here's a little background:
Gaijin, 外人, literally means "outside person", and is commonly used to refer to foreigners. It's an abbreviation of the more "official" term gaikokujin, 外国人, or "outside country person". Most foreigners overwhelmingly prefer the latter term, because they consider the former to reinforce the idea that they, as individuals (regardless of their country of origin), are inexorably "outside" Japanese society. Which is true, but nevertheless, it takes the edge off when you refer to someone as being from a foreign country rather than label them as a foreigner.
Further, while you could translate gaijin as "foreigner", it doesn't mean the same thing to the Japanese as it means to most of us. For non-Japanese, being a foreigner usually means being in a country other than the one you come from. So while someone from France would be a foreigner in the U.S., an American would be a foreigner in France. To the Japanese, however, being a foreigner means being something other than Japanese. So, a Japanese would consider her American neighbor to be a foreigner (non-Japanese), but when she goes on vacation to Hawaii, she finds herself surrounded by "foreigners" (again, non-Japanese). It sounds funny to us to hear a Japanese person, when vacationing abroad, say, "Look at all the gaijin!". But we must remember that it's not some weird insular provincialism at work here (at least not entirely), but rather a simple difference in how Japanese and non-Japanese conceive of "the outsider".
Anyway, a lot of my fellow expats get miffed when they hear that particular term, staging a mini protest every time (it's gaikokujin, thank you very much). Others bandy it about quite liberally, in some instances ironically (hey, look at the dumb gajin over here!) and in others quite earnestly. The word definitely means different things to different people, but I personally think it has a lot to do with the context in which the word is used, and the intent of the person who uses it. Obviously an drunk densha otoko yelling, "Get out of Japan, gaijin!" means it in a racist way, but your buddy Takeshi who says, "I have a lot of gaijin friends," doesn't. It's all about context, you see. I have always believed that no object in this world has meaning other than that which we impart to it. In other words, words mean what you want them to mean. As my former boss was so fond of saying, "Perception is reality."
That quote's a pretty good end to this entry, but I feel like I could write so much more about the relationship between foreigners living in Japan and the Japanese - and indeed, dozens of books have already been written about that very subject. But for now, I'd like to leave you with a handy guide to what I call the "Hierarchy of Foreigners" which will help you locate your place in Japanese society, should you ever wind up living in or visiting this island nation behind the sun. It goes like this:
1. Japanese - all strata of Japanese society, from the Emperor on down to the burakumin, people descended from the lowest caste who face discrimination even today. As long as you have pure Japanese blood, you're in this group. Welcome to the club!
2. Japanese returnees, halfus, Ryukyuans, Ainu - maybe you're Japanese, or half-Japanese, but you've spent some time in a foreign country and have, as a consequence, picked up some weird habits. Maybe your Japanese language ability has suffered a bit. Unfortunately, when you come back to Japan, you'll be bullied accordingly until you can properly "fit in" again.
3. White people - the Japanese look up to you and look to your European heritage as a source of inspiration. They don't necessarily want you living in their neighborhoods or marrying their daughters (though most are probably OK with it these days), but they're more than happy to practice their English on you and appropriate your food and fashion.
4. Black people - you're considered cool, and many Japanese will try to emulate your music and fashion (albeit with hilarious consequences), but to many Japanese, you're incredibly scary. Be prepared to face this grim reality, though you might win some points if you casually mention that you know Beyonce (and you probably won't be the one who brings it up).
5. Chinese and Koreans - you are blessed, or cursed, with the ability to blend in - at least until someone starts talking to you and you don't understand what they're saying. The Japanese find you to be quite disturbing because they think of themselves as being special and unique, but yet you, a non-Japanese, managed to fool them into thinking that you were one of them. Also, their contempt for you has well-established historical roots, and don't be surprised if they regale you with tales of how they "liberated" your country in WWII.
6. All other Asians - same as #5, but unlike many Chinese and Koreans, you lack the ability to blend in as well as they. The historical stuff still applies, though. Good luck!
-Bob
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
It's easy being green
Apologies for all the posts this week; consider it my way of making up for the lengthy waiting times between some of our past posts. It's exam week at school (and in Japan, it seems like every other week is exam week) which means I have zilch to do all day. I don't bring this up to Katie, of course, whose admittedly understandable response would be to glare menacingly into my very soul, given that her school has recently put her in charge of potty training someone else's kids all day long. We'll keep you posted on how that goes.
In the meantime, I have some downtime with which to wax literary about a variety of topics. So today, I want to talk about composting. More specifically, I want to encourage you all to try it.
Now while my political leanings are fairly left of center, I don't consider myself the leftist type. I certainly wouldn't call myself a hippie tree-hugger, for instance. But recently, and maybe it has something to do with living in a country where so little is wasted, I've found myself becoming more and more interested in conservation and the little things normal folks like you and me can do to reduce the amount of waste in our lives.
In Japan, you don't have a choice when it comes to recycling - it's mandatory. It varies from location to location, but here in Amagasaki, you have to separate your burnable trash (food wrappers and various kitchen waste) from your non-burnable trash (plastic and glass bottles and cans). Each is picked up on a different day of the week. Further, there are one or two days a month where the trash guys come around and pick up things like paper & cardboard, metal objects, and even old appliances, though sometimes you have to pay extra for the latter if it's a large item like a TV or old refrigerator. So getting people to recycle in Japan is not an issue; they're doing it all the time.
The Japanese don't really complain about the whole "mandatory" part, because they have a seemingly built-in contempt for wastefulness. They even have an expression they like to trot out fairly often: mottainai, or "what a waste." Given the limited amount of livable space in the country, it's no surprise that everyone's keenly aware that there simply aren't landfills where garbage "magically" disappears to every week. Contrast this with the US, where New York City and New Jersey actually send their garbage to Virginia because they can't deal with it all. I can't imagine Hyogo Prefecture, for instance, knocking on, say, Niigata's door and asking, however politely (it is Japan, after all), that shitsureishimasu, very sorry, but could it humbly dispose of its humble garbage in Niigata's honorable backyard? There's just no space that hasn't already been claimed by people, industry & commerce, or agriculture.
Now there are a lot of behaviors Western journalists, upon returning home from their week or two in Japan, claim we should adopt from the frugal and efficient Japanese. Most of them are complete nonsense, and anyone who's spent more than a month in the country will tell you the same. However, I do think we should follow Japan's example regarding our attitudes and behaviors towards waste. It's with this in mind that Katie and I decided to start a compost pile.
First, what is compost? They sell it at any home supply store: it's that stuff you add to your soil to make your plants happy and healthy. That's the long and short of it. But what is it, really? Compost is the result of millions of chemical reactions occurring simultaneously, breaking down organic matter into its simplest components - carbon and nitrogen - the appropriate combination of which is like black gold when it comes time to grow those tomatoes out back. If it helps, think of the process as "controlled rotting".
Second, why should you compost? About 1/3 of your kitchen waste doesn't need to go in the trash can. You throw away things like banana peels, apple cores, autumn leaves, and grass clippings without a second thought, then trash day comes and the nice people take your bags to the local landfill, where that perfectly useful organic garbage is mixed in with plastics, metals, chemicals, and other unsavory and un-biodegradable refuse, buried, and as a result takes far, far longer to break down than it would have if properly composted. Also, you'll have a nice pile of compost you can use on your flowers and plants, and it won't cost you a cent. What's more, if you have enough, you can share it with your more horticulturally-inclined friends and neighbors (and charge them a nominal fee).
Third, how easy is it to make a compost pile? Easy! If I, a lazy individual by almost every objective standard, can make one, then so can you. I'll give you an example of how easy it is: did you just eat a banana for breakfast? Are you holding the peel in your hand, ready to drop it into the rubbish bin? Why don't you, instead, take that peel out to the yard, and just drop it. That's right, just drop it right on the ground. There you go. That's the beginning. It's that easy. After that, just keep adding more and more organic material to the pile. Here are some links to help you get started:
You may run into some hitches here and there, but in general, a well-maintained pile stocked with appropriate material will not stink and will not attract rodents or other pests. Even if you experience problems, they're usually fixable. For example, right now our pile has a lot of ants and fruit flies (solution: bury exposed fruit and veggies lower in the pile and mix pile more often to disturb ant colonies) and smells strongly of ammonia (solution: too much "green" material, need to add more "brown"). Check out the troubleshooting sections of the above websites to guide you through any issues you may encounter.
Just remember, mottainai, and spare the trash man a hernia.
Good luck, and happy composting!
-Bob
In the meantime, I have some downtime with which to wax literary about a variety of topics. So today, I want to talk about composting. More specifically, I want to encourage you all to try it.
Now while my political leanings are fairly left of center, I don't consider myself the leftist type. I certainly wouldn't call myself a hippie tree-hugger, for instance. But recently, and maybe it has something to do with living in a country where so little is wasted, I've found myself becoming more and more interested in conservation and the little things normal folks like you and me can do to reduce the amount of waste in our lives.
In Japan, you don't have a choice when it comes to recycling - it's mandatory. It varies from location to location, but here in Amagasaki, you have to separate your burnable trash (food wrappers and various kitchen waste) from your non-burnable trash (plastic and glass bottles and cans). Each is picked up on a different day of the week. Further, there are one or two days a month where the trash guys come around and pick up things like paper & cardboard, metal objects, and even old appliances, though sometimes you have to pay extra for the latter if it's a large item like a TV or old refrigerator. So getting people to recycle in Japan is not an issue; they're doing it all the time.
The Japanese don't really complain about the whole "mandatory" part, because they have a seemingly built-in contempt for wastefulness. They even have an expression they like to trot out fairly often: mottainai, or "what a waste." Given the limited amount of livable space in the country, it's no surprise that everyone's keenly aware that there simply aren't landfills where garbage "magically" disappears to every week. Contrast this with the US, where New York City and New Jersey actually send their garbage to Virginia because they can't deal with it all. I can't imagine Hyogo Prefecture, for instance, knocking on, say, Niigata's door and asking, however politely (it is Japan, after all), that shitsureishimasu, very sorry, but could it humbly dispose of its humble garbage in Niigata's honorable backyard? There's just no space that hasn't already been claimed by people, industry & commerce, or agriculture.
Now there are a lot of behaviors Western journalists, upon returning home from their week or two in Japan, claim we should adopt from the frugal and efficient Japanese. Most of them are complete nonsense, and anyone who's spent more than a month in the country will tell you the same. However, I do think we should follow Japan's example regarding our attitudes and behaviors towards waste. It's with this in mind that Katie and I decided to start a compost pile.
First, what is compost? They sell it at any home supply store: it's that stuff you add to your soil to make your plants happy and healthy. That's the long and short of it. But what is it, really? Compost is the result of millions of chemical reactions occurring simultaneously, breaking down organic matter into its simplest components - carbon and nitrogen - the appropriate combination of which is like black gold when it comes time to grow those tomatoes out back. If it helps, think of the process as "controlled rotting".
Second, why should you compost? About 1/3 of your kitchen waste doesn't need to go in the trash can. You throw away things like banana peels, apple cores, autumn leaves, and grass clippings without a second thought, then trash day comes and the nice people take your bags to the local landfill, where that perfectly useful organic garbage is mixed in with plastics, metals, chemicals, and other unsavory and un-biodegradable refuse, buried, and as a result takes far, far longer to break down than it would have if properly composted. Also, you'll have a nice pile of compost you can use on your flowers and plants, and it won't cost you a cent. What's more, if you have enough, you can share it with your more horticulturally-inclined friends and neighbors (and charge them a nominal fee).
Third, how easy is it to make a compost pile? Easy! If I, a lazy individual by almost every objective standard, can make one, then so can you. I'll give you an example of how easy it is: did you just eat a banana for breakfast? Are you holding the peel in your hand, ready to drop it into the rubbish bin? Why don't you, instead, take that peel out to the yard, and just drop it. That's right, just drop it right on the ground. There you go. That's the beginning. It's that easy. After that, just keep adding more and more organic material to the pile. Here are some links to help you get started:
You may run into some hitches here and there, but in general, a well-maintained pile stocked with appropriate material will not stink and will not attract rodents or other pests. Even if you experience problems, they're usually fixable. For example, right now our pile has a lot of ants and fruit flies (solution: bury exposed fruit and veggies lower in the pile and mix pile more often to disturb ant colonies) and smells strongly of ammonia (solution: too much "green" material, need to add more "brown"). Check out the troubleshooting sections of the above websites to guide you through any issues you may encounter.
Just remember, mottainai, and spare the trash man a hernia.
Good luck, and happy composting!
-Bob
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
TeamKB Does Korea
Katie wrote up a summary of our recent trip to Korea and sent it to her family and friends, but since my family - whom I assume are the principal readers of this blog - have not yet seen it, I decided I'd post it here so they could read it, too.
Hello my dear readers,
As this monthly newsletter goes to press you'll notice that I am not reporting from Japan, but somewhere totally, completely different: Korea.
Day 0: We left our house at 9 pm to get a 10 pm night bus from Osaka to Fukuoka. The trip was mostly uneventful, other than the fact that the driver would stop every 2 hours, turn on all the lights, and make an announcement over the PA system that began with "I'm so sorry to wake you, but..." If he was really so sorry why didn't he just KEEP THE LIGHTS OFF!
Day 1: We arrived in Fukuoka at 6:40 am, and after eating some breakfast, we went over to the international ferry terminal. There are overnight ferries or high-speed hydrofoils (which take only 3 hours) to Busan, Korea. We opted for the hydrofoil, which was a very pleasant journey, so pleasant I slept through it. My friend Adam teaches English in Busan, so we were staying with him while we were in Korea. He and his girlfriend took us around the downtown area of Busan where we discovered such Korean fads as "face rollers" (a tool you roll on your jaw to make your face smaller) and "couples t-shirts" (2 t-shirts with matching or complementary designs, worn by young couples.) Photos of face rollers here and couples shirts here
Days 2 and 3: Sightseeing in Busan, which is on the southeastern coast of South Korea. Here are some more facts you might not know about Busan:
- It is the world's third largest port, and Asia's largest container port.
- It has thrown its hat into the ring to host the 2020 Summer Olympics (it hosted both the Asian Games and some of the World Cup in 2002.)
- Ground has been broken on the Lotte World II Tower in downtown Busan, which will be taller than any other existing skyscraper in the world. I think the Burj Dubai will be finished first though.
Days 4 and 5: We took a quick trip up to Seoul, to do some sightseeing and of course, visit North Korea. On the morning of Day 5 we took a tour of the DMZ, led by the USO. We stepped inside the building where negotiations are held-- since this building straddles the border, everyone sits on their respective sides of the table. Tourists are allowed to step across the line, so I have now legally set foot in North Korea. It... felt a lot like South Korea. The rest of the tour was fascinating, especially meeting the Army guy who led the tour. He'd only been at Camp Bonifas (nickname "In Front of Them All") for 3 weeks, yet he was already trying to extend his stay for 2 years instead of one. I guess it's better than Iraq. North Korea's government is pretty scary, but honestly I don't think they're that dangerous-- I think that it's all political, and they want the world to pay attention to them. They really couldn't try anything without having the ire of almost the entire world come down on them. Even China is trying to distance itself from North Korea. An interesting note: South and North Korea have technically not made peace, so the Korean War is not yet over.
Day 6: Having returned late the last night from Seoul, we did the only rational thing: we got up early the next day! We had to see Gyeonju, a city that is often called Korea's Kyoto for its history as the capital of the Shilla Kingdom (from about 0- 1000 AD) and abundance of cultural sights. It was a bit of a tourist circus, but worth a visit as the city is basically a giant repository of historical artifacts. We saw some giant tombs that were nearly 2000 years old, and visited a mountainside temple. We also happened to be visiting an astronomy tower at the same time a field trip of Korean 3-year-olds was there. I rescued one kid when he attempted to climb over the fence while his teachers weren't looking. I just can't get away from kids, even on vacation.Day 7: The weekend! Adam and his girlfriend Hyun-mi were off work, so we all went downtown to see a parade. We just caught the end of it-- actually it was a Korea-Japan friendship parade, which I found interesting since there tends to be a lot of distrust on the part of the Koreans towards the Japanese. Many Koreans are still angry over the colonization of the Korean peninsula, the Japanese enslaving the Korean people and raping their women, and the fact that they've never gotten so much as an apology. The parade was fun, but I didn't really catch the Korea-Japan friendship aspect. Some of the ladies in the parade saw us foreigners, and invited us to come dance-- actually I think they wanted Bob to come dance, but he was too shy so I went instead. One old man told me I was great at it, I didn't really believe him... as always, you can check Bob's Picasa account to see photos (they'll be up in a few days.) In the evening we all went to Haeundae beach, which is a great nighttime hangout since you can drink and set fireworks off on the beach. Adam's friend from Seoul met up with us there, and I found out she went to TJ and graduated in '03. Small world...Day 8: Hyun-mi's friend Jiu, who has a car, drove us out to the eastern edges of Busan, into Gijiang county, to visit a cliffside temple overlooking the sea. Adam said quite accurately that this was a day of waiting. We waited in traffic for a long time-- but the temple was totally worth it. We also waited a very long time for our meal, but it was worth it as it was very delicious, consisting entirely of Korean side dishes. I didn't know much about Korean food before I went, but I feel like I learned a lot. The side dishes were my favorite part. Every meal is served with a variety of side dishes, usually a half dozen different dishes. Kim chi is always included but the rest vary-- I couldn't even describe them to you, there is such a range. Just know that there is usually a lot of garlic and hot pepper involved. Delicious!Day 9: We left very early to catch our hydrofoil back to Japan, spent some time in Fukuoka doing some sightseeing, and, just before we caught the bus back to Osaka, we were serenaded by a homeless man outside the station who kept telling us that we were wonderful and I should have kids. Other than that, our day was pretty uneventful.
Ok, so I lied. Korea and Japan are actually pretty similar, as much as each country doesn't want to admit it. I'm still not sure exactly why. I guess that would mean facing the fact that historically, Korea and Japan both drew so much from China, from language to religion to food. The cultural similarity is still apparent-- in fact, I was able to read some signs and understand a handful of Korean words because of its similarity to Japanese through Chinese. But in the last few hundred years and especially in the present day, each country has gone its own way, so to speak, to try to differentiate itself and to make their place in the world. Each country has a lot to offer and should be proud to be compared to the other one.
Love, Katie
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Our yard
As you know, Katie and I have been periodically getting out into the backyard, trying to make it look presentable so we can eventually throw fabulous garden parties this summer. So far, it hasn't proved to be the easiest of tasks, given that we have no easy way to mow the grass. I don't think I've ever seen or heard a lawnmower or weedeater in Japan. We resorted to using hedge clippers and small scythes to trim the grass as best we could, but of course we were left with an uneven mess - but no matter; it's not really important that it look perfect, just that it be short enough that it's not an attractive hiding place for snakes or other such unsavory creatures. So we were out there for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, whacking, cutting, clipping the brambles, and throwing half of the refuse into our compost pile and half into the drainage ditch behind the house - there's really nothing else we can do, really. It was hard work, but as it was a nice day - not too hot - it wasn't bad being outside, although I did discover that mosquitoes find me particularly delicious, despite the insect repellent I had slathered on myself.
So I get to school on Monday, at which time I'm informed that the school will be sending someone to our house on Thursday to cut our grass (the Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education owns the property and is responsible for maintaining it, although Katie and I always try to fix small problems ourselves). What luck! Just after we (mostly) finished doing that very thing ourselves, as best we could at least, given the tools we had to do the job. So now we get a professional - hurray! I can only wonder, though; is this just a coincidence? Why would the school pick this week to do some lawn maintenance, immediately after we tried doing the same for the first time since we started living at the house? Katie said that it's just because they're required to maintain the property, and it just so happens that this was the week they had planned to do it anyway, and the fact that we were just out there is simply coincidence. I suspect otherwise, however. What I think is that one of our neighbors saw us working out there, making a crap job of things, called the Board of Education and told them to have mercy on us and take matters into their own hands. I'm sure if any one of our neighbors did see us out there, it would have been quite the strange sight: two do-it-yourselfers, two foreign do-it-yourselfers, no less, practicing lawn maintenance in a country where practically no one has a lawn.
As an aside, I'd like to note that some of our neighbors have absolutely beautiful topiaries in front of their houses - immaculately trimmed hedges fashioned into elaborate shapes, bonsai trees, bushes and shrubs pruned just so, so that they would grow in the most aesthetically pleasing way. As I understand it, no one does this themselves - they hire professional landscapers. I'm not quite sure how expensive it is, but damn...I want a beautiful Japanese topiary, consarn it!
Anyway, I should also mention our garden. I'd mentioned our garden in a previous post, but I thought I'd provide a quick update on its progress. We have, now, tiny tomatoes! The plants look healthy, though we think they're in need of some pruning now. The two mature basils we bought and the mint are thriving. We threw down a ton of basil seeds once we learned that basil doesn't need to be spaced but a few centimeters apart, and now tiny little tops are peeking out of the ground. Soon, we'll have more basil than we know what to do with, which means a lot of pesto, bruscetta, and caprese. As for the bell peppers, well, I'm not quite sure. They look healthy, and they're budding, but I'm not sure what's going on there - maybe they take a long time to grow. Who knows? Still, Katie and I are very excited; it's so rewarding growing your own food.
Until next time,
-Robert
So I get to school on Monday, at which time I'm informed that the school will be sending someone to our house on Thursday to cut our grass (the Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education owns the property and is responsible for maintaining it, although Katie and I always try to fix small problems ourselves). What luck! Just after we (mostly) finished doing that very thing ourselves, as best we could at least, given the tools we had to do the job. So now we get a professional - hurray! I can only wonder, though; is this just a coincidence? Why would the school pick this week to do some lawn maintenance, immediately after we tried doing the same for the first time since we started living at the house? Katie said that it's just because they're required to maintain the property, and it just so happens that this was the week they had planned to do it anyway, and the fact that we were just out there is simply coincidence. I suspect otherwise, however. What I think is that one of our neighbors saw us working out there, making a crap job of things, called the Board of Education and told them to have mercy on us and take matters into their own hands. I'm sure if any one of our neighbors did see us out there, it would have been quite the strange sight: two do-it-yourselfers, two foreign do-it-yourselfers, no less, practicing lawn maintenance in a country where practically no one has a lawn.
As an aside, I'd like to note that some of our neighbors have absolutely beautiful topiaries in front of their houses - immaculately trimmed hedges fashioned into elaborate shapes, bonsai trees, bushes and shrubs pruned just so, so that they would grow in the most aesthetically pleasing way. As I understand it, no one does this themselves - they hire professional landscapers. I'm not quite sure how expensive it is, but damn...I want a beautiful Japanese topiary, consarn it!
Anyway, I should also mention our garden. I'd mentioned our garden in a previous post, but I thought I'd provide a quick update on its progress. We have, now, tiny tomatoes! The plants look healthy, though we think they're in need of some pruning now. The two mature basils we bought and the mint are thriving. We threw down a ton of basil seeds once we learned that basil doesn't need to be spaced but a few centimeters apart, and now tiny little tops are peeking out of the ground. Soon, we'll have more basil than we know what to do with, which means a lot of pesto, bruscetta, and caprese. As for the bell peppers, well, I'm not quite sure. They look healthy, and they're budding, but I'm not sure what's going on there - maybe they take a long time to grow. Who knows? Still, Katie and I are very excited; it's so rewarding growing your own food.
Until next time,
-Robert
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Favorite new website
So I just joined this website called Postcrossing a few weeks ago. It's a program started by a guy who likes to receive real mail from all over the world, and it just so happens that I do as well. You can register your address and then request to receive an address to send a postcard to. You can have 5 going at any one time, so of the first 5 I sent, one went to Finland, one to the US, the third to England, another to South Africa, and the last one to Holland.
Once your postcard is received (confirmed by entering a handy ID code) your address is then in the pool to receive a postcard from somewhere random. I got my first one while I was on vacation, from exotic Winchester, VA. The photo was of Natural Bridge. Small world, isn't it? But I got two more today: one from Thailand and one from Finland.
I know it sounds scary--give out your address to strangers all over the world? But there are a few things that make it secure: first, users don't exchange postcards with people in their own country. So anyone who is seeing my address is at least across a large body of water. Also, I don't give out my last name, I think most people don't. And of the postcards I've received, they seem to come from very nice, normal people; the Thai girl is a university student who is studying English, and the Finnish boy signed his card "(name) and parents." The website only allows 5 postcards to go at a time, so it's a waste of time for companies and spammers. All in all I think it's a great idea, and a wonderful way to learn about the world. It's like having a local be my tour guide, without having to bother with long flights and taking time off work, and I've already gotten cards from towns I would probably have never heard of otherwise.
by Katie
Once your postcard is received (confirmed by entering a handy ID code) your address is then in the pool to receive a postcard from somewhere random. I got my first one while I was on vacation, from exotic Winchester, VA. The photo was of Natural Bridge. Small world, isn't it? But I got two more today: one from Thailand and one from Finland.
I know it sounds scary--give out your address to strangers all over the world? But there are a few things that make it secure: first, users don't exchange postcards with people in their own country. So anyone who is seeing my address is at least across a large body of water. Also, I don't give out my last name, I think most people don't. And of the postcards I've received, they seem to come from very nice, normal people; the Thai girl is a university student who is studying English, and the Finnish boy signed his card "(name) and parents." The website only allows 5 postcards to go at a time, so it's a waste of time for companies and spammers. All in all I think it's a great idea, and a wonderful way to learn about the world. It's like having a local be my tour guide, without having to bother with long flights and taking time off work, and I've already gotten cards from towns I would probably have never heard of otherwise.
by Katie
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The business (problem) of study abroad
I know I don't actually post all that often, but I'm trying to rectify that. The truth is that I'm too busy-- really! Read Bob's description of his average day, and then compare it to mine:
I leave the house at about 8:45, to arrive at school by 9:20 ("on time" in Japan means 10 minutes early.) The morning preschool classes begin at 10 and last till 2 (of course, lunch and a daily visit to the park are included; I'm not lecturing 3-year-olds for 4 hours.) On two weekdays, I have planning time in the afternoon; the other two weekdays I teach a 2-hour afterschool class for kids who go to Japanese elementary school. On Saturdays the schedule is flipped: I get to plan in the morning, and teach a 4-hour intensive English class in the afternoon. Add "parent comment" time to all these classes and I don't exactly have as much down time as Bob does. All that will change, of course, when he gets a new school in August, but until then he's got about 7 hours of teaching per week, and I've got 24.
Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of articles I found recently. The first is NYTimes article from last August, about an inquiry into the study abroad industry. It works like this: Schools can run their own programs in foreign countries, have exchange agreements with institutions abroad, or partner with a private company that runs similar programs. As far as I can tell, every university has all 3 of these options available. The problem with the private companies, though, is that they are too focused on the bottom line. In August 2007, some of these providers were caught bribing universities to get kids to sign up for their programs-- you can read the article here.
I understand why colleges use these companies: it's just too hard for every school to develop their own programs, or to partner with other schools. With thousands of institutions of higher education, it's just not possible. There isn't enough money, faculty, or time-- relationships between schools and local professors can take years to develop. The demand is increasing, too: over 200,000 students studied abroad in 2004-5, which is more than double from a decade ago. The Lincoln Commission just released a report stating its goal of sending 1 million American students abroad within 10 years. So schools turn to these companies to diversify their offerings. The problem with these companies is that they are too expensive and too sheltering.
The first part is easy to explain: third-party providers can, for example, provide a program that places students at a foreign university. However, directly enrolling in a foreign university often costs less, much less, than U.S. tuition. Exchange programs- where two students from different countries trade places- also have this problem. A friend of mine who studied in France told me she enjoyed her program, but was frustrated by the fact that she was paying a few thousand dollars (her normal UVA tuition) to be there, and her French classmates were sitting in the lecture halls for free. The private programs, however, usually cost upwards of $10,000 per semester, even $20,000-- and that's not including airfare. Few scholarships are available, so most of the kids who enroll in these programs are wealthy. Universities exacerbate this problem, too-- read the article above!
So the group of students on one of these programs is going to look pretty homogenous: most- if not all- have wealthy parents, and statistically speaking, they are likely to be white, female, liberal arts majors, college juniors, studying for 1 semester in Western Europe. But I'll get into that stuff another time. Essentially, students may be spending their semester with Americans who are very similar to them, so they won't have to step out of their comfort zone. Companies advertise their programs by offering "personal pre-departure advisors," and group field trips, which exclude the local student population. Depending on the program, some are not integrated into any foreign university, which is called an "island program." Americans take classes with Americans, study only in English, and live with Americans. I think the reasoning here is "Let's make our program sound exciting yet easy, not too different from an American campus, and lots of students will sign up!" Which equals lots of $$$. If a program is led by experienced, passionate faculty, has comprehensive student support services, and most importantly, has depth, then an private program may be the best fit for a student. But if programs are developed with attention to quantity and the bottom line, with little attention paid to quality- and this goes for university programs too, if they are developed poorly- those 1 million kids will have experiences closer to this. It's an article from the Onion, but it accurately captures aspects of the American college overseas experience.
When abroad, traditional learning often takes a backseat to experiential learning, but when done poorly, experience can be (according to Homer Simpson) "just a bunch of stuff that happened." If students remain in the "American bubble" the whole time and are never forced to step outside their comfort zone, they're not experiencing anything new at all.
by Katie
I leave the house at about 8:45, to arrive at school by 9:20 ("on time" in Japan means 10 minutes early.) The morning preschool classes begin at 10 and last till 2 (of course, lunch and a daily visit to the park are included; I'm not lecturing 3-year-olds for 4 hours.) On two weekdays, I have planning time in the afternoon; the other two weekdays I teach a 2-hour afterschool class for kids who go to Japanese elementary school. On Saturdays the schedule is flipped: I get to plan in the morning, and teach a 4-hour intensive English class in the afternoon. Add "parent comment" time to all these classes and I don't exactly have as much down time as Bob does. All that will change, of course, when he gets a new school in August, but until then he's got about 7 hours of teaching per week, and I've got 24.
Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of articles I found recently. The first is NYTimes article from last August, about an inquiry into the study abroad industry. It works like this: Schools can run their own programs in foreign countries, have exchange agreements with institutions abroad, or partner with a private company that runs similar programs. As far as I can tell, every university has all 3 of these options available. The problem with the private companies, though, is that they are too focused on the bottom line. In August 2007, some of these providers were caught bribing universities to get kids to sign up for their programs-- you can read the article here.
I understand why colleges use these companies: it's just too hard for every school to develop their own programs, or to partner with other schools. With thousands of institutions of higher education, it's just not possible. There isn't enough money, faculty, or time-- relationships between schools and local professors can take years to develop. The demand is increasing, too: over 200,000 students studied abroad in 2004-5, which is more than double from a decade ago. The Lincoln Commission just released a report stating its goal of sending 1 million American students abroad within 10 years. So schools turn to these companies to diversify their offerings. The problem with these companies is that they are too expensive and too sheltering.
The first part is easy to explain: third-party providers can, for example, provide a program that places students at a foreign university. However, directly enrolling in a foreign university often costs less, much less, than U.S. tuition. Exchange programs- where two students from different countries trade places- also have this problem. A friend of mine who studied in France told me she enjoyed her program, but was frustrated by the fact that she was paying a few thousand dollars (her normal UVA tuition) to be there, and her French classmates were sitting in the lecture halls for free. The private programs, however, usually cost upwards of $10,000 per semester, even $20,000-- and that's not including airfare. Few scholarships are available, so most of the kids who enroll in these programs are wealthy. Universities exacerbate this problem, too-- read the article above!
So the group of students on one of these programs is going to look pretty homogenous: most- if not all- have wealthy parents, and statistically speaking, they are likely to be white, female, liberal arts majors, college juniors, studying for 1 semester in Western Europe. But I'll get into that stuff another time. Essentially, students may be spending their semester with Americans who are very similar to them, so they won't have to step out of their comfort zone. Companies advertise their programs by offering "personal pre-departure advisors," and group field trips, which exclude the local student population. Depending on the program, some are not integrated into any foreign university, which is called an "island program." Americans take classes with Americans, study only in English, and live with Americans. I think the reasoning here is "Let's make our program sound exciting yet easy, not too different from an American campus, and lots of students will sign up!" Which equals lots of $$$. If a program is led by experienced, passionate faculty, has comprehensive student support services, and most importantly, has depth, then an private program may be the best fit for a student. But if programs are developed with attention to quantity and the bottom line, with little attention paid to quality- and this goes for university programs too, if they are developed poorly- those 1 million kids will have experiences closer to this. It's an article from the Onion, but it accurately captures aspects of the American college overseas experience.
When abroad, traditional learning often takes a backseat to experiential learning, but when done poorly, experience can be (according to Homer Simpson) "just a bunch of stuff that happened." If students remain in the "American bubble" the whole time and are never forced to step outside their comfort zone, they're not experiencing anything new at all.
by Katie
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