KOREA HEARINGS · Title: KOREA HEARINGS Subject: KOREA HEARINGS Keywords
Korea Herald 20090901
1
COMMUNITY 18 TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2009 Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily living of expatriates. It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. To share stories about your life abroad, send stories or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at [email protected] Submissions may be edited for length or clarity. Shiba Raj Pokharel, a Nepali, enjoys a Saturday stroll through Deokjin Park, Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. Raj graduated with a master’s degree in financial management from Chonbuk National University and is preparing to do his Ph.D. at the same university. Rob McGovern By Matthew Lamers This Wednesday will present a unique opportunity to play poker and help the community at the same time. On Sept. 5 the 7 Luck Hilton casino will hold a charity poker night with all proceeds going to Chechon Children’s Home in Jecheon, Chungcheonbuk-do. Tae Kim, head pit boss in charge of the poker room and former Torontonian, helped or- ganize the charity night, but credited the idea to Travis Beck, who introduced him to Chechon Children’s Home. Kim said the casino is dedi- cated to giving back to the com- munity through volunteer work and donations. He described a culture of charity among suc- cessful poker players. “It’s common amongst fa- mous poker players who win tournaments to give a certain percentage to the charity they support. Barry Greenstien has given millions to charity (and) is known as the Robin Hood of Poker.” He said he expects up to 60 people to participate and is hop- ing to hand the orphanage a check for 5 million won. Kim said the tournament is open to all players, serious or just for fun. Referring to begin- ners, Kim said the 7 Luck Tournament For Kids would be a good place to meet people. But he said the tournament will also see a lot of experienced players. And for them, it’s a chance to help out the commu- nity (presumably after winning so much money). But if you’re a pretty serious poker player, he said, “poker has been good to a lot of us ... and this is one way we can give back to the community.” Jane White, the founder of Chechon Children’s Home echoed his sentiment. “Although we do get govern- ment money, anything extra goes toward programs that will make the quality of life better for the kids,” said the Wisconsin native, who has been living in Korea for over four decades. She said they run a lot of pro- grams for the kids, and they cost quite a bit of money. “We do a lot of programs for our older kids because they are going to have to go out and live in society. We have a lot of seminars to bring people in and we always need to pay for programs.” Most of their funding comes from the government, but some comes from missionary funds and Korean sponsors. The orphanage is currently home to 92 kids, ranging in age from a 1-year-old and up. There is a paid staff of 30, in- cluding caregivers and admin- istrators. White came to Korea in 1962, almost a decade after the Korean War came to a halt in 1953. She first worked in an or- phanage her friends had set up in 1959, but it was for older chil- dren and she said she wanted to work with the youngest kind of clientele. “I came to work in that, but it was for big boys and I’ve always loved babies and wanted to work with babies. I heard of a need for an orphanage in Jecheon,” she explained. She moved to Jecheon and lived with friends for a few months until she started the Chechon Children’s Home. “My first child was in February 1963. “I think we’re on 1,225 now. Most have been small babies, then we worked with an adop- tion agency and adopted chil- dren to the United States, but then that was stopped by the Korean government.” To say White has a unique perspective on Korean society would be an understatement. As one of the longest living foreign- born residents in the country, she has lived through the same dictatorships and witnessed the same economic development that most Koreans have. The 47-year Korean resident explained that when she first arrived, there wasn’t much in the way of social work, so she and her evangelical colleagues “just did the best we could.” “And now there is a lot of help — and even Koreans are adopt- ing children now. There aren’t as many orphans, single mothers having babies and not as many abandoned as there used to be.” The 7 Luck Tournament For Kids starts at 1 p.m. on Sept. 5. The cost is 100,000 won, plus a 20,000 won buy-in. See www.cchkorea.org for more information on Chechon Children’s Home and go to www.7luckpoker.com for infor- mation on the 7 Luck Tournament For Kids. — Ed. ([email protected]) By Rob McGovern JEONJU, North Jeolla Province — Shiba Raj Pokharel is a bit of an ethnic rarity in a city not exactly known for its diverse range of expats (or their cuisines). It doesn’t seem to bother him. Raj, as he prefers to call himself, said there are around 30 Nepalis in Jeonju, all studying at the same university as him. All can speak English and some can speak the local language, which helps, consider- ing some of their lectures are given solely in Korean. Raj modestly admits that he can speak Korean quite well, but then he has been self studying for three years. Jeonju’s lack of diversity tends to make Raj stand out from the crowd, maybe a little exotic even. There are hundreds of “garden variety” expatriates here, masses of Canadians and Americans, Kiwis and Australians, Irish, British (of which we have a Welsh person and even a few Scousers!). Raj, a Nepali, has called Korea and Jeonju his home for the last three years. He graduated with a master’s degree in fi- nancial management from Chonbuk National University last February and is currently having a well-earned rest before embarking on his Ph.D., which will keep him in Jeonju for another three years. The home of the Himalayas, Mount Everest and Lord Buddha (in Raj’s words), Nepal is a landlocked country with a population of around 30 million. Raj has found that the Himalayas, and in particular, Mt. Everest have in a small way helped him settle in Korea. Just about every expat in Korea has had their nationality wrongly assumed once or twice, and Raj is no exception. He has been referred to as “Indo” once or twice, but when Raj points out that his country is home to Mount Everest, the penny drops and people instantly know where he is from. Since mountain climb- ing enjoys great popularity here, Nepalis get away with a bit of hand clapping. Raj is very laid back, but admits that he has good days as well as bad. “The as- suming nature of Koreans sometimes does make me feel a bit sad, but I don’t let it bother me too much.” Until four months ago Raj was alone in Korea. His four brothers, three sisters, par- ents and extended family, were all more than 2,000 kilometers away in Nepal. But in May one of his brothers came to live in Jeonju with his wife to study at the same university as Raj. His brother and their group of friends often get together to eat and socialize, and both Korean and Nepalese festivals or holidays are cause for a feast of native food. Although Raj does admit it is hard to cook genuine Nepalese food here because of a lack of authentic ingredients, the food is adequate enough to placate any desire to eat a real, home-cooked meal. Three years down the line, Dr. Pokharel will be looking for a job that could well take him away from Korea and surely away from Jeonju. “It de- pends on where the jobs are,” he said when asked about his plans. Like many expats, Raj dreams of one day returning to his homeland to live out his days. “When I am about 45 years old I will think about returning to Nepal to retire.” Nepal is a progressive state: It’s one of the few countries in Asia to have abol- ished the death penalty, and in November 2008 the nation’s Supreme Court ordered full rights for LGBT indi- viduals, including the right to marry. But in a country where no government has survived for more than two years, the po- litical scene could hardly be described as stable. The country came out of a decade- long civil war in 2006, where an estimat- ed 13,000 people died, leading to an in- terim parliament passing a bill making Nepal a federal republic. The king left the royal palace for the last time in 2007, ending 239 years of royal rule. Raj is hopeful that one day Nepal will be a peaceful place, but at the moment admits that it would be difficult to live there. For now Raj is happy studying and liv- ing in Korea, eating kimchi jjigae and sam- gyeopsal with his friends and studying. ([email protected]) Poker for a good cause? You bet Nepali chases ‘Korean dream’ The Photo Challenge is sponsored by Hyosung Camera (English: 010-7203- 9599) and Babo Shirts (www.ba- boshirts.com). Winners of the weekly competition receive a 50,000 won store credit at Hyosung Camera and a Babo Shirt. To take part in the competition, simply upload your photo at www.flickr.com/groups/seoulphoto- club — Ed. By Aaron Raisey Last week we examined the econom- ics of film vs. digital cameras and came to the conclusion that in the long term, there might be very little between the two. This week the question of conve- nience between film and digital comes into focus. With two very important ex- ceptions, there is very little difference between actually using comparable dig- ital and film cameras, and there are also a couple of important peripheral considerations. Before we examine the differences, how are they similar? On either camera the photographer must make a few choices before taking the shot. For ex- ample, what mode shall they shoot in (aperture priority, manual, full auto, etc.), or do they need to apply any expo- sure compensation? These decisions are common to both types of camera: make decisions, compose and shoot. Not much difference in convenience here. Digital though, does have a couple important advantages around the time of capture. The most obvious is the feed- back we get from being able to view the image immediately, and the subsequent choice whether to keep it or delete it and shoot again. This feature is cer- tainly convenient and useful, particu- larly for those new to SLR photography. Perhaps more significant is the ability to select different ISO values on the DSLR. (Very briefly, the ISO value is the “speed” of the film or digital sensor — the higher the number, the more sen- sitive to light the film or sensor is. Higher ISO values allow better perfor- mance in low-light situations.) With a film camera, you commit to a fixed ISO value when you purchase a roll of film, and once loaded into the camera there is no way to change it short of loading another roll of film with a different ISO. This gives the DSLR a tremendous advantage when it comes to adapting to a very broad range of lighting conditions. From bright sun- light to the dim interior of a coffee shop on a Friday evening, the DSLR can take it all in stride. The peripheral issues I mentioned in- clude having to be prepared with extra rolls of film — the capacity of memory cards precludes having to worry about that issue with digital — and post-pro- cessing. With film we have to find the time and convenience to drop off undevel- oped film and pick up those hopefully great images we’ve been dying to see. Shooting digital means we have likely already vetted our images at the time of capture and now we are ready to share and enjoy them when we get home. But beware of getting sucked into spending hours in front of the computer making your images “better.” For me, I think the digital camera has the edge. I like my DSLR’s ability to easily adapt to different lighting condi- tions and I appreciate the convenience and the flexibility this gives my photog- raphy. Next week, we’ll look a bit closer at images from film and compare them with those captured digitally. In the meantime, head over to the Seoul Photo Club on Flickr. ([email protected]) PHOTO CHALLENGE — weekly winner — A shopkeeper in Samcheong-Dong, Seoul reaches for the top shelf in her cluttered stationery store. Tom Hicken Film or digital? All about convenience
description
In Focus: Film vs. Digital - Convenience
Transcript of Korea Herald 20090901
COMMUNITY18 TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily living of expatriates. It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. To share stories about your life abroad, send stories or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at [email protected] Submissions may be edited for length or clarity.
Shiba Raj Pokharel, a Nepali, enjoys a Saturday stroll through Deokjin Park, Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. Raj graduated with a master’s degree in financial managementfrom Chonbuk National University and is preparing to do his Ph.D. at the same university. Rob McGovern
By Matthew Lamers
This Wednesday will presenta unique opportunity to playpoker and help the communityat the same time.
On Sept. 5 the 7 Luck Hiltoncasino will hold a charity pokernight with all proceeds going toChechon Children’s Home inJecheon, Chungcheonbuk-do.
Tae Kim, head pit boss incharge of the poker room andformer Torontonian, helped or-ganize the charity night, butcredited the idea to Travis Beck,who introduced him to ChechonChildren’s Home.
Kim said the casino is dedi-cated to giving back to the com-munity through volunteer workand donations. He described aculture of charity among suc-cessful poker players.
“It’s common amongst fa-mous poker players who wintournaments to give a certainpercentage to the charity theysupport. Barry Greenstien hasgiven millions to charity (and)is known as the Robin Hood ofPoker.”
He said he expects up to 60people to participate and is hop-ing to hand the orphanage acheck for 5 million won.
Kim said the tournament isopen to all players, serious orjust for fun. Referring to begin-ners, Kim said the 7 LuckTournament For Kids would bea good place to meet people.
But he said the tournamentwill also see a lot of experiencedplayers. And for them, it’s achance to help out the commu-nity (presumably after winningso much money).
But if you’re a pretty seriouspoker player, he said, “poker hasbeen good to a lot of us ... andthis is one way we can give backto the community.”
Jane White, the founder ofChechon Children’s Homeechoed his sentiment.
“Although we do get govern-ment money, anything extragoes toward programs that willmake the quality of life betterfor the kids,” said theWisconsin native, who has beenliving in Korea for over fourdecades.
She said they run a lot of pro-grams for the kids, and they costquite a bit of money. “We do a lotof programs for our older kidsbecause they are going to haveto go out and live in society. Wehave a lot of seminars to bringpeople in and we always need topay for programs.”
Most of their funding comesfrom the government, but somecomes from missionary fundsand Korean sponsors.
The orphanage is currentlyhome to 92 kids, ranging in agefrom a 1-year-old and up.There is a paid staff of 30, in-cluding caregivers and admin-istrators.
White came to Korea in 1962,almost a decade after theKorean War came to a halt in1953.
She first worked in an or-phanage her friends had set upin 1959, but it was for older chil-dren and she said she wanted towork with the youngest kind ofclientele.
“I came to work in that, but itwas for big boys and I’ve alwaysloved babies and wanted towork with babies. I heard of aneed for an orphanage inJecheon,” she explained.
She moved to Jecheon andlived with friends for a fewmonths until she started theChechon Children’s Home.
“My first child was inFebruary 1963.
“I think we’re on 1,225 now.Most have been small babies,then we worked with an adop-tion agency and adopted chil-dren to the United States, butthen that was stopped by theKorean government.”
To say White has a uniqueperspective on Korean societywould be an understatement. Asone of the longest living foreign-born residents in the country,she has lived through the samedictatorships and witnessed thesame economic developmentthat most Koreans have.
The 47-year Korean residentexplained that when she firstarrived, there wasn’t much inthe way of social work, so sheand her evangelical colleagues“just did the best we could.”
“And now there is a lot of help— and even Koreans are adopt-ing children now. There aren’t asmany orphans, single mothershaving babies and not as manyabandoned as there used to be.”
The 7 Luck Tournament ForKids starts at 1 p.m. on Sept. 5.The cost is 100,000 won, plus a20,000 won buy-in.
See www.cchkorea.org formore information on ChechonChildren’s Home and go towww.7luckpoker.com for infor-mation on the 7 LuckTournament For Kids. — Ed.
By Rob McGovern
JEONJU, North Jeolla Province —Shiba Raj Pokharel is a bit of an ethnicrarity in a city not exactly known for itsdiverse range of expats (or their cuisines).
It doesn’t seem to bother him. Raj, as he prefers to call himself, said
there are around 30 Nepalis in Jeonju, allstudying at the same university as him.All can speak English and some can speakthe local language, which helps, consider-ing some of their lectures are given solelyin Korean. Raj modestly admits that hecan speak Korean quite well, but then hehas been self studying for three years.
Jeonju’s lack of diversity tends tomake Raj stand out from the crowd,maybe a little exotic even. There arehundreds of “garden variety” expatriateshere, masses of Canadians andAmericans, Kiwis and Australians, Irish,British (of which we have a Welsh personand even a few Scousers!).
Raj, a Nepali, has called Korea andJeonju his home for the last three years.
He graduated with a master’s degree in fi-nancial management from ChonbukNational University last February and iscurrently having a well-earned rest beforeembarking on his Ph.D., which will keephim in Jeonju for another three years.
The home of the Himalayas, MountEverest and Lord Buddha (in Raj’swords), Nepal is a landlocked countrywith a population of around 30 million.Raj has found that the Himalayas, andin particular, Mt. Everest have in a smallway helped him settle in Korea. Justabout every expat in Korea has had theirnationality wrongly assumed once ortwice, and Raj is no exception.
He has been referred to as “Indo” onceor twice, but when Raj points out that hiscountry is home to Mount Everest, thepenny drops and people instantly knowwhere he is from. Since mountain climb-ing enjoys great popularity here, Nepalisget away with a bit of hand clapping.
Raj is very laid back, but admits thathe has good days as well as bad. “The as-suming nature of Koreans sometimes
does make me feel a bit sad, but I don’tlet it bother me too much.”
Until four months ago Raj was alone inKorea. His four brothers, three sisters, par-ents and extended family, were all morethan 2,000 kilometers away in Nepal.
But in May one of his brothers came tolive in Jeonju with his wife to study atthe same university as Raj.
His brother and their group of friendsoften get together to eat and socialize, andboth Korean and Nepalese festivals orholidays are cause for a feast of nativefood. Although Raj does admit it is hard tocook genuine Nepalese food here becauseof a lack of authentic ingredients, the foodis adequate enough to placate any desireto eat a real, home-cooked meal.
Three years down the line, Dr.Pokharel will be looking for a job thatcould well take him away from Koreaand surely away from Jeonju. “It de-pends on where the jobs are,” he saidwhen asked about his plans. Like manyexpats, Raj dreams of one day returningto his homeland to live out his days.
“When I am about 45 years old I willthink about returning to Nepal to retire.”
Nepal is a progressive state: It’s one ofthe few countries in Asia to have abol-ished the death penalty, and inNovember 2008 the nation’s SupremeCourt ordered full rights for LGBT indi-viduals, including the right to marry. Butin a country where no government hassurvived for more than two years, the po-litical scene could hardly be described asstable. The country came out of a decade-long civil war in 2006, where an estimat-ed 13,000 people died, leading to an in-terim parliament passing a bill makingNepal a federal republic. The king leftthe royal palace for the last time in 2007,ending 239 years of royal rule.
Raj is hopeful that one day Nepal willbe a peaceful place, but at the momentadmits that it would be difficult to livethere.
For now Raj is happy studying and liv-ing in Korea, eating kimchi jjigae and sam-gyeopsal with his friends and studying.
Poker for a good cause? You bet
Nepali chases ‘Korean dream’
The Photo Challenge is sponsored byHyosung Camera (English: 010-7203-9599) and Babo Shirts (www.ba-boshirts.com). Winners of the weeklycompetition receive a 50,000 won storecredit at Hyosung Camera and a BaboShirt. To take part in the competition,simply upload your photo atwww.flickr.com/groups/seoulphoto-club — Ed.
By Aaron Raisey
Last week we examined the econom-ics of film vs. digital cameras and cameto the conclusion that in the long term,there might be very little between thetwo. This week the question of conve-nience between film and digital comesinto focus. With two very important ex-ceptions, there is very little differencebetween actually using comparable dig-ital and film cameras, and there arealso a couple of important peripheralconsiderations.
Before we examine the differences,how are they similar? On either camerathe photographer must make a fewchoices before taking the shot. For ex-ample, what mode shall they shoot in(aperture priority, manual, full auto,etc.), or do they need to apply any expo-sure compensation? These decisions arecommon to both types of camera: makedecisions, compose and shoot. Not muchdifference in convenience here.
Digital though, does have a coupleimportant advantages around the timeof capture. The most obvious is the feed-back we get from being able to view theimage immediately, and the subsequentchoice whether to keep it or delete itand shoot again. This feature is cer-tainly convenient and useful, particu-larly for those new to SLR photography.Perhaps more significant is the abilityto select different ISO values on the
DSLR. (Very briefly, the ISO value isthe “speed” of the film or digital sensor— the higher the number, the more sen-sitive to light the film or sensor is.Higher ISO values allow better perfor-mance in low-light situations.)
With a film camera, you commit to afixed ISO value when you purchase aroll of film, and once loaded into thecamera there is no way to change itshort of loading another roll of film witha different ISO. This gives the DSLR atremendous advantage when it comesto adapting to a very broad range oflighting conditions. From bright sun-light to the dim interior of a coffee shopon a Friday evening, the DSLR can takeit all in stride.
The peripheral issues I mentioned in-clude having to be prepared with extrarolls of film — the capacity of memorycards precludes having to worry aboutthat issue with digital — and post-pro-cessing.
With film we have to find the timeand convenience to drop off undevel-oped film and pick up those hopefullygreat images we’ve been dying to see.Shooting digital means we have likelyalready vetted our images at the time ofcapture and now we are ready to shareand enjoy them when we get home. Butbeware of getting sucked into spendinghours in front of the computer makingyour images “better.”
For me, I think the digital camerahas the edge. I like my DSLR’s ability toeasily adapt to different lighting condi-tions and I appreciate the convenienceand the flexibility this gives my photog-raphy.
Next week, we’ll look a bit closer atimages from film and compare themwith those captured digitally. In themeantime, head over to the Seoul PhotoClub on Flickr.
([email protected])PHOTO CHALLENGE — weekly winner — A shopkeeper in Samcheong-Dong,Seoul reaches for the top shelf in her cluttered stationery store. Tom Hicken
Film or digital? Allabout convenience
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