Big Man on Campus

“Higher education provides considerable value to individuals, to the economies where

educated individuals live and work, and society in general." 

                                                             Hill, Hoffman and Rex, Arizona State University 

If you are thinking of Daegu in terms of business, career development, or for personal reasons, you've come to the right place. You are unlikely to find a metropolitan area with more top universities and colleges that are so easily accessible. Amongst the nearly 25 institutions of higher learning you will discover:

-Kyungbook National University, one of the highest ranked national universities in Korea,

-Daegu University, recognized as one of Korea's top universities for special education, rehabilitation science and social welfare programs,
-Keimyung University, which many observers believe has the most beautiful college campus in Korea,

-Yeungnam University, with its nearly 30,000 students, has been designated as one of the best universities in the fields of business and international trade.

Big Man on Campus, Yeungnam University

According to researchers, "economies that have experienced substantial investment in either private or public institutions of higher learning, have realized considerable growth and prosperity" (Hill, et al). Daegu fits that description with significant long term higher education investments in technology, research and infrastructure. 

Yeungnam University may be the best example. On its campus of more than 900 acres, Yeungnam features both the very old and the state-of-the-art; the campus hosts a historical Korean folk village and it is also the site of the Kyungbook Techno Park. Daegu's world class subway system recently expanded the terminus of its green line to Yeungnam University's main gate. Each morning thousands of students, faculty and staff enter the university, generating an academic pulse that eventually circulates throughout the whole economy.

Yeungnam freshmen during Spring orientation 

Yeungnam, which dates from 1947, was founded in its current form by Korea's former president, Park Chung-Hee. By any number of measures including acreage, number of students, number of buildings, and number of employees, Yeungnam University is one of Korea's largest institutions of higher learning. Yeungnam includes a medical school and teaching hospital in Daegu, and an expansive, verdant campus in the adjacent city of Gyeungsan. Demographically, the university's population includes several thousand foreign students. Its Foreign Language Institute alone, has a staff of more than fifty native English speakers who teach English to thousands of Yeungnam students.

Cherry blossoms near Yeungnam Library  

Daegu and its satellite towns are a true epicenter for learning and knowledge creation. Collectively, the cities and towns here in the Daegu region continue to realize growth and prosperity thanks to its vibrant network of outstanding and diverse universities and colleges.

Leaving (or Arriving) On a Jet Plane

"Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled."

Mohammed

One may ponder the age-old chicken or the egg dilemma when it comes to Korea and travel: has Korea's meteoric rise on the world stage been propelled by rapid increases in the number of outbound and inbound tourists, or, has its rocket-like economic trajectory caused the dynamic growth in travelers both to and from Korea?

In either case, the Korean Immigration Service is certainly thinking globally as it has "devoted itself to simplifying the procedures of issuing visas and handling residency matters with an aim to attract outstanding overseas talents such as foreign investors." If my recent experience at the Daegu Immigration Office is any indication, the Immigration Service is certainly well on its way to reducing red tape and melting away the bureaucracy.

The Daegu Immigration Office is easily accessible by public transportation

I needed to extend my E-1 visa for another year of teaching at Yeungnam University. Fearing the worst, I reserved a good chunk of the day for dealing with the anticipated bureaucratic challenge. My dour expectations were shattered; I was in and out of the Daegu Immigration Office in less than 20 minutes. Buyer Beware: there is certainly no guarantee that your next travel document processing experience will be this seamless, but it may offer signs for optimism. The DIO was bright, organized, and staffed by folks wearing smiles and armed with helpful attitudes.

Inside the Daegu Immigration Office: bright and efficient  

The rapid increase in travel from Korea is likely propelled by a number of factors including increasingly popular low cost carriers which have focused on neighboring countries and other Southeast Asia regions where many Koreans like to visit and spend their holidays. Related factors are longer leave entitlements, the stabilization of the Korean won against the dollar and more diverse sales channels which offer outbound travel opportunities at lower prices. On the other hand, South Korea's easing of visa issuance regulations has also boosted a growth in inbound tourists from the region and beyond.

Happy Customer! Got my E-1 Visa extended

If you need information. documents or visas you can confidently make the Daegu Immigration Office your destination. Their Help-Line is 1345.  Hours: M-F, 9-6 PM and Closed 12-1 for lunch. Open Saturdays 9-1. Closed Sundays ad Holidays.
Address: 1012-1, Geomsadong, Dong-gu, Daegu.
Phone: 053-980-3512
For more information and directions: http://www.exploringkorea.com/daegu-immigration-office/

As helpful as the Daegu Immigration Office may be, they probably won't tell you this most important piece of travel wisdom offered by Susan Heller:

"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then, take half the clothes and twice the money."

Sangju: "City of The Three Whites"

Conde’ Nast Traveler, the highly regarded voice on international travel, when discussing the short term opportunity for tourism is Korea, recently referred to South Korea’s accomplishments on the world stage as “remarkable” and to the country itself, as the “miracle of South Korea.” Seoul, it noted, is Asia’s next hot tourist destination. By extension, all of Korea may very well see a significant up-tick in tourism in the coming months.

View of countryside near city of Sangju

This might bring long overlooked Korean cities like Sangju, out from under the tourism radar screen. Sangju, tucked in the rural northern extremity of Gyeungsan-buk-do province, is a quiet, beautiful and unique destination for travelers. The small city is nicknamed Sam Baek, or "Three Whites," referring to its three prominent agricultural products rice, silkworm cocoons, and dried persimmons from the area. It is also the self-proclaimed bicycle capital of South Korea with the country’s oldest active biking program.

In its downtown core, some of the streets around the market are blocked off to motor vehicles and on the main street there are bike racks every 100 meters -- which are heavily used.  City officials estimate that there are about 85,000 bikes in the city--an average of two bicycles per household.

The number of students using bicycles is given as approximately 14,000.  When the school day ends they flood the streets heading in all directions. Impressively, outside the downtown area, there is a 63km-long bike path, which is paved with asphalt made from recycled rubber and lit at night with solar powered lights.

Fittingly, Sangju is also home to the Bicycle Museum.  It is built on the site of a former school, about 5 km west of the center of town.  You can get there on the riverside trail.

Festivities before the start of the Sangju 10K, half and full marathon in November

Sangju is also the site of the Sangju Persimmon 10K, Half and Full Marathon which takes place each November. As a race participant one can personally get a sense of the beauty of this small gem of a city. After cooling down from the race, head to the city park just north of the city that overlooks the Nakdong River. There, numerous hilltop perches offer brilliant, idyllic vistas of the Korean countryside.

Near Sangju in North Gyungbuk Province

Getting There
Sangju is about 1½ hours by car from Daegu. It is also accessible by train or bus. And don’t forget, Sangju is a great place to explore by bike.

For more info on Sangju:
http://wiki.galbijim.com/Sangju

Inhaling Korea: Learning Its Language & Culture

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart."

Nelson Mandela

Many people believe that learning a language is required to really understand a culture. If that is so, learning to speak, at least some Korean, may be your ticket to gaining insight into this amazing place called Korea. I was fortunate. I first came to Korea as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer. That organization ensured that all its volunteers had three months of intense language and cultural awareness training. It was a free-pass to the living museum that is Korea--a gift that I did not fully appreciate at the time. I do now.

Thumbs Up! Learning Korean at Yeungnam University's Korean Language Institute

There has never been a better time to learn the language and the culture. Your efforts will reap immediate benefits. You will see Korea through a richer and more intimate prism. Koreans will generally react very favorably to your efforts to learn their language and explore their culture. For more about how many Koreans react to foreigners learning Korean visit

http://hangukdrama.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/how-do-koreans-react-to-foreigners-learning-korean/

Fortunately, there are numerous avenues for learning Korean and for exploring Korean culture. Many local universities and language institutes offer both language and culture courses. For example,Yeungnam University in Gyeungsan, conveniently situated on the green line, has its Korean Language Institute. http://www.goabroad.com/providers/korean-language-institute-at-yeungnam-university/programs/study-korean-language-at-yeungnam-university-in-south-korea-79567

Private language institutes and other organizations provide numerous meeting and cost options. The Daegu YMCA, for example, has a variety of language levels and class meeting times. They also offer cultural classes related to Korean cooking, art and traditional musical instruments. Go to http://www.tgymca.or.kr/html/main.html, then click on "Home" for the Winter/Spring schedule of classes.

What time is it? Learning to tell time in Korean

The internet offers even more language learning options. Two recommended online language learning vehicles are Learn Korean Online http://www.learn-korean.net/ and Livemocha http://livemocha.com/

One can always choose to live in Korea without learning the language. But the wisdom of the ages strongly suggests otherwise."To have another language," said Charlemagne, "is to possess a second soul." 

Full of Bull

"How about a bullfight?" my Korean teacher asked me one recent afternoon. "A bullfight? In Korea?" Once I got past the total incongruity of that image, I pushed back. "No way," I said. "I once saw a bullfight in Barcelona, Spain. The blood, the torture, the sheer brutality. I walked right out of the arena in total disgust." "Ah," Ms. Kwak responded. "Obviously you don't know about Korean bullfighting."

Scratch the matador, the sword, the gore. It's all bull in Cheongdo, South Korea. Bullfighting has been a tradition here for over 1,000 years. Korean Hanwoo bulls weighing between 1,322 and 1,764 lbs. clash like huge brown titans. Happily these bulls live to fight another day. "Spain's bullfight is between man and bull and assumes that men will defeat bulls," said Lee Joong Geun, county executive of Cheongdo. "But Cheongdo's bullfighting is an energetic fight between two bulls." In fact, owners have deep affection for their animals. Some even sleep with their bulls.

Korean bulls: clashing of heads and horns; but no matador, no gore

The annual Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival is held each March. Nearly 100 bulls compete for the title of "strongest bull." Foreign guests are invariably pleasantly surprised by their Korean bullfighting experience. It's curiously entertaining and fun. Two bulls fight head-on until one just backs off, either from exhaustion or intimidation. Sand is certainly kicked up, but unlike their Spanish and Mexican counterparts, there are no casualties other than perhaps loss of pride. 

Packed arena during the March Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival

In fact, I left the arena will a wide smile on my face. I had bet Ms. Kwak that the bull with the blue marking would win. She had taken the bull painted with the red circle. Mine won. Lunch was on Ms. Kwak.

Getting to Cheongdo: From downtown Daegu it is about 35 kilometers to Cheongdo. It can be reached by bus, train or rental car from Daegu.

Statue at the Bullfighting Museum in Cheongdo

[Dec/Transportation] Subway Superlatives: Riding the Daegu Subway

It's almost always sad to witness the slow, reluctant demise of an aging athlete: the once robust, virile performer becoming a shadow of his former self. Inevitably, a young upstart with speed and agility, wrapped in a fresh package, steps onto the stage, bathing in the spotlight of adulation.

Every major city in its time must respond to the challenge of efficiently transporting its citizens from one point to another. Boston (slow and without a schedule), New York (dark, dirty stations) and Paris (antiquated access, wheelchair-unfriendly)--all boast subway systems that remind us of athletes past their prime.

Korea's subway systems are the fresh, new "kids" on the world transportation "block." Daegu's new subway system leads the pack as perhaps the best example: it is fast, spotlessly clean, safe, reliable and brimming with optimism.

Daegu subway stations: bright, litter-free, safe

Daegu Subway System Fast Facts
Began Operation           Nov. 20, 1995
System Length             118.2 Kilometers/74 miles
Lines                            Red (Line 1) and Green (Line 2)
Stations                        58
Transfer Station            Ban-wol-dang Station
Basic Fare                    1200 won/$1.10 (1100 won with a transportation card)
Managed By                 DTRO/The Daegu Metropolitan Transit Corporation

The mission of DTRO is to provide "safe and comfortable transit"--and that it does, superbly. http://www.dtro.or.kr/open_content/en/main/ The subway cars are glistening clean and modern. The stations are bright and user-friendly offering handicap access, elevators, escalators that turn-off when not in use, and easy access for passengers with bikes-all driven by a state-of-the-art electronic pass system.

Convenient bike rails. Bikes welcome on weekends

For a great "how to navigate the system" overview click here http://daeguexpat.info/transportation/daegu-subway/13-how-to-ride-daegu-subway

Boasting best practices from around the world, Daegu's subway system is simply best-in-class. Take her out for a spin. She'll leave you breathless.

http://daeguexpat.info/transportation/daegu-subway/13-how-to-ride-daegu-subway

Message In a Bottle: Korea and Israel

In some surprising ways, Korea has become my second home. I would have hung that mantle on Israel, with all our trips there and my decade of work with Seeds of Peace. But certainly that connection has become far too complicated by how Israel, as a political entity, treats a people (the Palestinians). I think that relationship is a bit like an addict and an enabler. Every time I try to will hope and good intent on the State of Israel, one of its leaders steps forward, yells something about a foolish new policy, and peace retreats two steps, or even further, into the shadows. It's an exhausting and disappointing process.

Korea is a much easier marriage (at least for me). Like Israel, the food here is great. Like Israel, the politics (with its neighbor, North Korea) are heavy lifting. But Koreans ignore the demons. Yes, there are the occasional incursions and gunfire. But what else, they seem to say, would you expect from a sad and outcast drunken neighbor?

The list of what I love about Korea is long: the food, the people, the topography (and only the size of the State of Indiana!), the culture, the history. And, not insubstantially, I suspect (no, I really do), that I may have lived a previous life here. Either that, or I am confusing a previous existence here with my earlier stint as a 22-24 year old peace corps volunteer. Either way, some very emotional strings are pulling me...