Remembering My Korean Teacher

Dear Ms. Kyung Hee Lee,

The short time you spent with us exhibited the kindness, warmth and hospitality of the Koreans. Special mention are the friends from Giam-hae. We had a good museum visit, a nice car ride and a sumptous dinner. :)


The dinner at your home brought us, your guests from China, Vietnam and Indonesia to become in touch even at far distances. I communicate with Dr. Jia of China, Suri of Indonesia, and LeNgoc Bich of Vietnam. I hope to start communicating with you and your friend, Ms. Jo Mi-Hye.

My shopping spree became convenient with the help of your husband assisting me with the things I'm looking for. I think the Korean stainless chopsticks, coffee stirrer and fruit forks are of the best quality.

And of course, the best part and very unforgettable, a very rejuvinating experience is the jimjibang or the Korean sauna. I also think it's one of the best sauna in the world, very wholesome, very warm and spacious saunas with healthy baked eggs and drinks! Aside from the red ginseng tea, I actually brought home some of those healthy red juices for women. :)

I hope I will have the chance to see Busan again, to see all of you. :)

Thank you for the friendship, the hospitality and the cultural experience.

Cheers,
mavic pineda
Manila, Philippines

The Princess of Public Schools: The Dae-shin Elementary School

The Dae-shin Elementary School, a public school in Busan, was made to be an ubiquitous model school. The school has a big campus for a public school, clean and spacious classrooms, and well-designed internet lounge for the students and teachers.


It has a huge cyber board, as big as the usual classroom blackboard. The screen makes it convenient for any teacher to teach. It can change the background-- can become graphical notepad for math subject, a musical note for music or a simple blue-red-blue paper background for teaching hand scripting.


The school also uses smart cards for ID and book borrowing in the library. Students are trained to be independent, self-regulated and honest. Students are free to borrow and return the books in the small library using their IDs to tap in this kiosk.

A health machine is also used to make simple physical health assessments of a person. This is good because you don't need to have a doctor always around. The machine can also finish taking physical make-up of a person at a more efficient speed.


The Big brother system is a must in most schools in South Korea. Bullying incidents are very common. Hence, use of CCTV security cameras are all around. This is something I don't want my child to get accustomed with. It's either a child becomes dependent on sombody watching over him or he is contantly curious whether somebody is watching him while picking his nose.