The Mokpo Video

In the same way that he has documented his cat, pharflung has documented various tidbits of Mokpo and goes beyond the apartment video or the class room video.

There are the cliche shots, like the view from Mount Yudal and the New New City, but pharflung also gives us brief glimpses into everyday Mokpo:

• Koreans at Play
• Mokpo at Night
• Crabs and the Dance of Death
• 30 Seconds at E-mart
• The Local Vendor
• The Local Vendor II: The Next Minute
• The Shady Business Deal

There are other non-pharflung Mokpo videos, like Gatbawi Rock, Peace Park (again), Yudal Mountain (again), and the odd occasion of Snow in Mokpo.

The Mokpo School Map

The Mokpo Office of Education website has a list of schools, complete with listings of the elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in Mokpo, and more importantly a map dotting their locations. Of course if you haven't master Hangul, these list may be more scary than useful. So what can we do?

The data that we need is all there, and we just need to convert it into a useful format. For example, if we translate the elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools lists via Google's nifty translation button, we get a better understanding of what exactly is being displayed. But since we have more tools at our disposal, we can go further; if we romanize the data via kawa.net, translate some of the common words, and map the street addresseses, we get ourselves a quick reference table, listing locations of each school in Mokpo, complete with clickable map link.

Elementary Schools
Mokpo Bukgyo Elementary School	bukgyo-dong 1
Mokpo Sanjeong Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 34
Mokpo Seobu Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 1061-2
Mokpo Jungang Elementary School	honam-dong 463
Mokpo Yudal Elementary School	yudal-dong 8
Mokpo Yudal Elementary School Dalli Island Branch	chungmu-dong 301
Mokpo Yudal Elementary School Yuldo Branch	chungmu-dong 161-1
Mokpo Dong Elementary School	sanjeong3-dong 270-1
Mokpo Iro Elementary School	yonghae-dong 240-2
Mokpo Nam Elementary School	honam-dong 567
Mokpo Seosan Elementary School	seosan-dong 22
Mokpo Seosan Elementary School Chungmu Branch	chungmu-dong 38
Mokpo Daeseong Elementary School	daeseong-dong 212
Mokpo Yongho Elementary School	yongdang2-dong 1028-7
Mokpo Samhag Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 1367
Mokpo Yeondong Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 1080-4
Mokpo Imseong Elementary School	seoghyeon-dong 96-1
Mokpo Daeyeon Elementary School	yonghae-dong 631
Mokpo Ognam Elementary School	ogam-dong 236
Mokpo Sangdong Elementary School	sang-dong 364
Mokpo Buyeong Elementary School	ogam-dong 1024
Mokpo Hadang Elementary School	sang-dong 820
Mokpo Yeonsan Elementary School	yeonsan-dong 1270
Mokpo Sinheung Elementary School	sang-dong 1017
Mokpo Ceongho Elementary School	ogam-dong 966
Mokpo Hanbic Elementary School	sang-dong 887
Mokpo Mihang Elementary School	ogam-dong 1102
Mokpo Seohae Elementary School	yeonsan-dong 1271
Mokpo Yonghae Elementary School	yonghae-dong 974
Mokpo Seoghyeon Elementary School	seoghyeon-dong 1172
Mokpo Hangdo Elementary School	sang-dong 264
Mokpo Aehyang Elementary School	ogam-dong 56-1
Gwangju Teachers College's Mokpo Buseor Elementary School	yonghae-dong 289
Middle Schools
Mokpo Jeil Middle School	yonghae-dong 170-5
Mokpo Yudal Middle School	sanjeong-dong 2-10
Mokpo Ceongho Middle School	yongdang1-dong 970-23
Mokpo Girls Middle School	gyeong-dong, 2ga 2
Mokpo Jungan Girls Middle School	sang-dong 899
Mokpo Hangdo Girls Middle School	sang-dong 327
Mokpo Hadang Middle School	ogam-dong 963
Mokpo Ogam Middle School	ogam-dong 1282
Muntae Middle School	yongdang-dong 183
Hongil Middle School	juggyo-dong 575-1
Yeongheung Middle School	sang-dong 55
Deogin Middle School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Jeongmyeong Middle School	yang-dong 86
Mokpo Hyein Girls Middle School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Yeonghwa Middle School	sang-dong 525
High Schools Schools
Mokpo High School	yongdang1-dong 970-6
Mokpo Girls High School	daeseong-dong 40-1
Mokpo Jeil Girls High School	ogam-dong 983
Jeonnam Jeil High School	yongdang1-dong 937-1
Mokpo Gongeob High School	yongdang2-dong 171-11
Muntae High School	yongdang-dong 383
Mokpo Hongil High School	juggyo-dong 575-1
Yeongheung High School	sang-dong 55
Mokpo Deogin High School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Mariahoe High School	yongdang-dong 845
Mokpo Jeongmyeong Girls High School	yang-dong 86
Mokpo Hyein Girls High School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Girls Sangeob High School	sang-dong 525
Mokpo Seongsin High School	sang-dong 328
Mokpo Jungang High School	daeyang-dong 208

Some notes on the directory:

• There are 53 dots on the map with 63 schools listed.
• Not all school street address resolved in a map link.
• There is some disagreement with the Romanization output of kawa.net.
  
• Some schools (especialy the Branch schools) are located outside of mainland Mokpo.
• Just from experience, I suspect that not all data (i.e. names of schools or streets) is up to date.
  

Korean vs. English

I cannot speak Korean.

(And according to the text books that I've seen, I don't speak English all that well either.)

This isn't really a problem at the school where I work since I have a plethora of English teachers who I can magically summon by walking aimless down the hall. But on the odd occasion when I need to talk one of the school staff and my support team is busy with their students or their smokes, I'm in a bit of a bind.

Fortunately there is Google translate and the other language tools on the Internet. Some are viable alternatives to Google and others not so much, but I have a funny feeling that all translation sites use more or less the same engine, much life duff beer, since the translations from English to Korean and vice versa are all far from perfect.

So the only real difference is in the packaging and in the end I usually use Google since it has the direct Korean to English and English to Korean links, the browser button feature, and of course the trademarked minimalistic interface.

For the Korean speaker there's the dictionary at naver.com and if you have the Haansoft's Hangul, you should have an English to Korean dictionary, 한컴 사전, installed.

The Class Room Video

Like the Apartment Video, the English teachers here like to show off their schools, class rooms, and English labs.

Others, like Samuel, go all out and document their school, class room, staff room, staff room with their computer, and their chemically addicted students.

And then there are the students themselves; watch their cuteness fade as you travel from kindergarten, through elementary school, and all the way up to middle school, courtesy of Dawne and Dave.

Etc, etc, etc.

The Apartment Video

A core part of any living-in-another-culture experience is sending back images of where you're sleeping at night. Some people like photos and flickring (or whatevering) them, but there's also video (and video, and video, etc)

And thanks to the yearly rotation of foreigners armed with cameras and easily searchable video hosts, it's easy to chart the evolution of apartments like a certain oppicetel in 2006 and 2007.

It's like watching time lapse photography of a flower.

Kind of.