Tiger Times Volume 32 Issue 3

Tiger Times

Seoul International School S o n g p a P. O . B o x 4 7 , S e o u l , S o u t h K o r e a 1 3 8 - 6 0 0

Inside This

Issue

VIEWPOINT_2

How do you manage? Read about the reality of a busy schedule.

NEWS_6

Welcome Maya, the Corcoran family’s new baby.

FOCUS_8

Read about the art of loving yourself and others.

LIFESTYLE_10

Learn the canniest ways to keep warm this winter.

SPORTS_14

Take a peek at how the tigers are doing this season.

ENTERTAINMENT_15 The Thanksgiving Feast: Good food, good show.

Volume XXXII, Issue 3 December 2008

Goodbye Mr. Lee After ten eventful years at SIS, the coach and friend dear to the school and ­student body bids farewell.

Go to page 4 for News

Students receive a chance to publicize their positive comments Laud: The High School Student Council organized a “Week of praise” to strengthen unity within the student body.

By Michael Chung

In teenage years, students feel good about themselves when hearing compliments from their peers.

Taking this into account, the HSSC took initiative and started a “week of praise,” in which students made positive remarks about their peers.

The “Week of Praise” was open for all students a week before Thanksgiving to participate by writing positive comments on little notes that were collected into boxes

for each respective grade level. Stu- lief for all of us.” dents highly celebrated this event, Students had a week to submit not only because it was a new event their praise notes into the sealed introduced by the student coun- boxes of each grade level. Every cil, but also because it was open morning during the week of praise, to everyone. Every morning in the one of the senior council members ‘week,’ senior council members an- presented these notes through public nounced two praise notes, one about announcements. Students listened a female and other about a male, to these announcements, expecting through Public An“Especially for se- their notes to be nouncement (PA). presented in front niors, including my- of the public. In adThrough five days, praise notes regard- self...this small event dition, the council ing each respective used the was so much of a big members grade level includannouncements as relief...” said David an inspiration for ing teachers were publicized. others who have not Han (12).

“I think it was yet participated. really pleasant and nice of people to “I think it was really sweet for say warm things about each other,” everyone to say good things about said David Han (12). “Especially each other,” said Elisa Han (10). for seniors, including myself, who “Through this ‘week’ I and my peers are having a hard time with grades, were able to redefine who our closSATs and college applications; this est people were.” small event was so much of a big reBesides pure interest, adver-

Elementary and middle school mothers inspect J&J Catering Diligence : A group Inspection Procedure of mothers have The inspection commences at 7 a.m. All of the ingredients are inspected for country of origin and expiration date. started to monitor The refrigerator and freezer temperatures are checked. the quality of the food in the cafeteria.

The washing and cleansing of all ingredients, trays and

By Elizabeth Song

Parents from the elementary and middle schools took action to alleviate the concerns and complaints about the cafeteria food.

They have organized a rotation system in which room mothers examine the cafeteria daily.

For the elementary school, the Health & Nutrition Committee (HNC) of the Elementary School Parent Council (EPC) created a system in which mothers of students from different grade levels inspect the cafeteria and food each week for the duration of the school year.

The HNC is comprised of six elementary school mothers from grades one, three and five, who have volunteered within the EPC to work on improving the school catering.

Ms. Jimin Park, a fifth grade mother, took charge of the project to improve J&J Catering’s service starting this school year.

The system, officially implemented in November, calls for nonHNC room mothers of each homeroom, starting from JKA all the way to 5D, to take turns monitoring the cafeteria for a week.

According to Ms. Park, each inspection follows a procedure.

utensils are observed.

The cooking processes are observed.

Finally, the overall sanitation, nutrition, taste, appropriate serving size(s) and leftover disposal process are all checked.

Refer to Inspection Procedure In addition to these daily morning checks, the procedure includes examining the kitchen three times a month without prior notice.

These inspectors report their research and observations to the EPC and the rest of the HNC, which discusses the issues and develops ideas on how to improve the sanitation of the kitchen and cafeteria, as well as the quality of the food and the variety of items on the menu.

In the future, they hope to obtain data through more research, and change the menu based on nutritional requirements as well as the desired food items of the students.

The middle school mothers also decided to join the effort in trying to upgrade the cafeteria.

A meeting called the “Middle School Coffee Morning” is a monthly gathering of middle school mothers with the middle school principal.

The one that was held on November 19 led to a decision to instigate a

system for the middle school mothers to take turns monitoring the cafeteria each day.

Ms. Insun Kang, a 7th grade mother, is in charge of this system. According to Ms. Kang, room mothers of each grade level are responsible for examining the cafeteria food for a certain month until March. In the meetings in April and May, “Coffee Morning” mothers will meet to discuss their observations of the food and the students’ response to it.

The idea to improve cafeteria food originated from the comparison of the heights of SIS students to those of Korean public school students. For years, parents observed that their children seemed to be smaller than the Korean public school students at the same age level. Additionally, students who had transferred from Korean schools found that they enjoyed the cafeteria food at their original schools more than that of SIS.

Students were at first quite satisfied with J&J Catering’s food when it first replaced CJ Catering in 2004, but complaints increased as time passed by.

“The food is fine but sometimes I find that the food is too salty. The freshness of the ingredients seems questionable,” said Pearl Kim (11).

In 2004, J&J Catering signed a contract with SIS to serve the students for five years; thus this school year is the final year for J&J’s contract. According to Ms. Kang, the “Coffee Morning” mothers will deliberate upon whether or not the school should sign another contract with J&J Catering in the meetings in April and May based on the observations of the students’ responses towards the cafeteria food.

Photo by Jennifer Sun

tisement helped spread the information about this event. Senior council members took advantage of the HSSC board by decorating it and spreading flyers throughout the building. Unlike last year, the senior council pursued a new role in the HSSC by providing more fresh events for the student body to enjoy such as the Week of Praise.

“Senior council this year is ready to take action,” said Karen Kim (12). “Many people had the wrong impression of the senior council as a council that just exists for nothing. We wanted to demonstrate our active role and a paradigm of excellence to the student body, which is primarily what motivated us to be active.”

Page 2 December 2008

VIEWPOINT What you thought Dear Editors, We hear a lot about how everyone at SIS is “alike,” but I have noticed a gender rivalry here that is certainly on the rise. Starting with last year’s awards ceremony, the rivalry at SIS seems to have taken an ugly turn with some pretty harsh accusations regarding favoritism made by boys. These accusations are rarely expressed openly which, if left unaddressed, may actually aggravate the real or perceived achievement gap at SIS. This development, however, is not new. In the May 2000 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, Christina Hoff Sommers published research entitled, “The War Against Boys,” revealing a troubling trend in education that found young males falling behind females in all areas, including the traditionally maledominated fields of math and science. “Girls…now outnumber boys in [extracurricular activities]…

They outperform boys on tests for artistic and musical ability…More boys are suspended from school.

More are held back and more drop out.” While we have very few students that could be classified as dropouts, organizations seem to be increasingly dominated by girls and “early graduation” seems to be reserved primarily for boys. Some have claimed

Editorial: What we think

that participation grades are what propel the girls into the top places, but Deborah Tannen’s “Gender in the Classroom” indicates that boys should be doing better as a result of these grades. Other boys have stated that they have better things to do, but I have to wonder what those things are since they don’t seem to be leading many of the clubs and only a small portion of our male population seems to be prominent in our athletic program.

We have no shortage of excellent students of both genders and college acceptances don’t seem to favor either gender, but I still get a strong sense that to achieve excellence as a boy at SIS has an isolating effect, whereas with girls it provides a context for building lasting relationships.

Since this issue is both a trend worthy of extensive educational research in the US and an emerging issue at SIS, there are many potential stories to be researched.

Has education changed to favor girls, or have boys started to slide?

Is this even a real issue, or is it merely a perceived problem? I would like to hear our students’ thoughts.

-Mr. Gray Macklin Let yourself be heard. If you have any responses to articles published in Tiger Times, please send them to tigertimes@gmail.

Find yourself Currently, there are approximately 240 students in the SIS high school, and if past events serve as record, all 240 of these students will graduate from high school and move on to attend a fairly reputable university. These students will continue their lives as part of the elite society of those who are fortunate enough to call themselves international beings in today’s world. SIS students have bright futures ahead of them, no matter what road they choose to take, because they have lived in an environment in which higher education is guaranteed and lifestyles are more or less comfortable.

Many have often remarked on the competitiveness of the SIS mindset, and the ruthless and exhausting schedules many of the students take on in order to achieve their ambitious goals. These students are driven to take on such rigorous lifestyles because it is what is expected of them. Today’s society requires that success entail looking impressive on paper—grades, activities, financial income, and reputation. Critics of this system state that such students are missing out on the better things in life, such as experiences and relationships. But this is not another one of those overstated messages about discovering what is really important, or about living life

to the fullest. To many, this is living life to the fullest, and no one has a right to judge against that.

This is a message that serves as a reminder that this success, no matter what form it may take for each individual, must be accompanied by an understanding of oneself. Being at peace with one’s own mind is not always an easy accomplishment—it comes with a great deal of inner exploration, selfevaluation and discovery, as well as careful consideration of one’s actions. This is a process that some have yet to undergo, or which others have experienced the difficulty.

‘Who am I?’ is a question that follows people throughout their lives, sometimes taking over them during numerous periods of aging.

Sometimes, individuals get lost in the crowd and lose one’s sense of self, or forget to find themselves at all. It is said that high school is a typical time for group or social mentality to take over—but why not make it so that is not the case?

Teachers have recently quoted the 44 percent drop-out rate for Korean students, as well as these students’ lack of social skills which caused such disappointing results. However, could it not be that these students had not been sure of themselves?

The story of the student who could not adjust to a life of independence is the tale of the student who was

not sure of who he or she is.

Understanding oneself is an intense process which, one is told, never really ends. Some believe a person can discover oneself through his or her friends; but it is possible that this merely mirrors what others see. Others say that difficult times show one’s true colors—but doesn’t one’s passion bring out one’s best? Perhaps everything takes a part in making them who they are, though it depends how one interprets these experiences.

Do SIS students stop to think about how each extracurricular activity they take part in reflects their interests? Do they stop to think who they are in this society?

SIS students have all of the fortune and potential to become great leaders in the world society.

All 240 of the current students have the responsibility to give back to the world by sharing their intelligence and knowledge with others—and while each one is currently working to become someone of influence, it remains a question if anyone is prepared to take on such responsibilities. Imagine what these students could accomplish if they approach the world with confidence and a strong sense of self.

Knowing oneself and being satisfied with that person can give an individual the wisdom to take on the world.

Selfless minority strives in school community Promising: SIS students, stereotypically spoiled, should continue decreasing the legitimacy of such negative labels.

By Janice Yoon

In the public eye, SIS students are viewed as self-serving and unfairly fortunate. They seem to have it all. The school’s financial aid program is known and accessed by extremely few, and this lack of publicity stems from there being no dire need for it. The vast majority of those who attend SIS belong to monetarily stable families. These families lead or own chief corporations, including Samsung, Hyundai, and Doosan. SIS students live relatively safe lives as major mistakes cost them little. Financially supportive families are there to catch their children when they fall, acting as cash-woven safety nets. If all else fails, a student can graduate and simply step in line with the family business. Even without receiving scholarships or applying for finan-

cial aid, many students manage to attend top-tier, pricey private universities without suffering from any economic setbacks.

Incidents at inter-scholastic events, as well as the general aura given off by SIS students, further substantiate outsiders’ perceptions of the school. SIS students are largely characterized by their loud, competitive nature. Even though most students do not deliberately appear over-confident or condescending, they seem to unconsciously act in such a way that reaffirms suspicions of SIS’ shortcomings in properly educating an egotistical, ungrateful group of teenagers. People who interact with SIS students commonly display their disapproval of how everything seems to be handed to SIS students on a silver, if not golden, platter. At national debate tournaments, SIS participants reportedly feel the antagonistic undercurrents of foreign language high school students who voluntarily distance themselves and return smiles with wary, and oftentimes icy, glares.

The stereotypes associated with SIS and its students hold a certain degree of truth, as the unshakable

Tiger Times Seoul International School Songpa P.O. Box 47 Seoul, South Korea 138-600

fact remains that students are largely secure, both socially and economically. And yet, it is also undeniable that there are at least a few at SIS who are not completely self-centered, as stereotypes suggest. Certain students are making commendable efforts to serve their school, local and international communities.

Comments and complaints regarding students’ inherited wealth are unjustified if the money is donated to student-run, non-profit organizations designed specifically to aid the less fortunate.

A meaningful, but limited portion of the excess pocket-change all SIS students supposedly have is directly funding inherently good causes: buying Christmas presents for Korean orphans, raising Masud, a Bangladesh child, supplying Cambodian children with school supplies, medicine and a basketball court and supporting Korea’s foreign migrant workers.

A small section of the student body has shown SIS’ potential to extend its helping hand to many in need. It is not necessary that every single SIS stu-

Editors-in-Chief Stephanie Choi Monica Park

Copy Editors Stephanie Char Kristin Kim

Managing Editor Janice Yoon

Reporters Mellanie Ahn Michael Chung Yuri Han Andrew Hwang Eunice Kwon Elizabeth Song

Production Editor Gina Han Graphics Editor Jennifer Sun

dent strive to defy the longestablished labels attached to the school. Nonetheless, the existence of, and reason for, this outside critique should be recognized and taken into consideration. SIS’ selfless minority could potentially grow more inclusive of the remaining student body.

In working towards the betterment of the school, students should seek more opportunities to utilize their upper-class position and experience the mutual benefits rewarded through community service.

Layout Artists Vickie Ahn Paul Cho Andrew Lim Elli Shim Seungho Yang Michelle Yi Photographers Yoonie Kim Alex Kim

Photo by Yoonie Kim

Selling cupcakes in the cold, Tim Kim (12) and Yujin Chung (12) readily wait for the next customer.

The Tiger Times exercises the right to report on and editorialize all topics, events or issues, including those unpopular or controversial, insofar as they affect or interest the school, community, nation and world. We refrain from publishing material that advertises illegal products or services, is obscene, libelous or invades privacy. We refrain from publishing material that creates a clear and present danger of the immediate materials and substantial physical disruption of the school.

Advisor Ms. Carolyn Brown

December 2008 Page 3

VIEWPOINT Re-Gifting should be considered cheap, not thrifty Deception: Recycling a gift, although commonly done, takes away all the meaning of a true present.

By Mellanie Ahn For years, re-gifting has been an act frowned upon by several cultures for being tacky and deceiving. However in America, where malls have traffic jams on the eve of every holiday, re-gifting is becoming the new trend, secretly dared by many.

For those who are not well acquainted with the term “re-gifting,” it is a phrase coined to define the act of giving a gift previously received to another individual.

It is tempting to get rid of an unwanted sweater by giving it to someone else, because

re-gifting comes with convenient assets. It not ing that blind many individuals, the whole only makes good usage of resources but it also purpose of giving a gift to a special somebody saves money, time and a trip is lost during this process.

As mentioned above, a down to the mall; moreover, How often do you regift? gift is a symbol of a relationit also comes with the addiship. The effort counts. Everyone tional benefit of more closet space Once a year: knows that it is proper etiquette for one’s new gifts for holidays 11% to come.

Two or three times a year: to open the card before the gift, because the card partially reAdditionally, re-gifting 13% flects the time and effort that relieves the excruciating pain the giver has sacrificed to give of selecting the right item Never: one this gift. Thus, the effort for the recipient. Selecting a 76% is what matters, not the lavishpresent requires intense thinkness of the gift or how easy it ing and reflecting about that one was for one to rewrap an unwanted particular person. This process of gift. choosing the right item that one feels Not only is re-gifting sign of laziness, will best represent the symbol of one’s relationship with the recipient can be over-pres- but it also may put the re-gifter in the state of paranoia, if the same giver of the unwanted suring.

However, despite the benefits of re-gift- gift and its new owner comes into contact of-

The Balance

Re-evaluation: As if school work isn’t burdensome enough, students are coping with unhappy teachers. But who is really to blame?

By Kristin Kim

A private institution teeming with ambitious students, SIS is home to more than fifteen different extra-curricular clubs including athletics, forensics and the Model United Nations (MUN) that require much sacrifice of time in school.

Parents like Mrs. Nhan Sook Cho, mother of John Eun (11), have a legitimate reason to be concerned for their children.

“When his sport is in season, I feel like my son spends more time out of school than he does inside.

While I want to support his extracurricular interests, he misses too much valuable learning time in school.”

We understand that teachers can’t be happy about conducting discussions with half the class missing, or having to delay tests when that last grade has to be included before the end of the week. But a clear distinction must be made between those who are reasonable and unreasonable.

Unreasonable teachers are those who get angry every time students ask to get their homework sheets signed. Teachers need to accept that a lot more exists outside their classroom; after all, according to SIS’s mission statement, we aim to produce global leaders, not those confined within the classroom.

Teachers must consider the value of extracurricular activities to students. A tennis match is so much more than a ball crossing the court, and participation in debate tournaments is not only for the sake of adding an extra line onto one’s resume. A student can justify his or her absence at school by stating that they care enough to do so.

But it would be unfair to frame the teachers as villains and all

students as faultless, responsible young adults. Students, just like teachers, can be classified under the categories of reasonable and unreasonable.

If students are passionate enough to miss school for another activity, then they must make an extra effort to keep up with their classes. Many teachers have noted that students assume they are completely free from any school-related material when they go to overnight and overseas trips. And when the end of the quarter approaches, students bombard the teachers with complaints about their grades.

“Students want to play softball on their absences and hardball on their grades,” said Mr. Gray Macklin. “Is this fair?”

No, it isn’t. Which raises another critical thought: Perhaps students have conditioned some teachers to become as strict as they are today.

Imagine how many times teachers have been lied to throughout their teaching careers. Probably double, maybe even triple digits. Teachers are not as gullible as we think they are. They know PowerPoints can not magically disappear in one’s USB, and that a student did not fall sick for the first 20 minutes of class when there happened to be a quiz.

Such lies and excuses have accumulated to form frowns on teachers’ faces when students inform them of future absences. Teachers deny students the right to explore another opportunity when they disapprove of missing class for extra curricular activities. Meanwhile, students put their trust at risk when they give up their integrity to earn a few more points.

Both situations can be avoided through mutual understanding, which is only possible through sacrifices on both sides. If students are so fervent about another activity, they should step it up and think about the consequences of all their actions. Likewise, school should be an institution supportive of students who are trying to discover themselves beyond the context of the classroom.

Why we

are so

out

of time

and what

we can

do about it

Tiger Times explores the pinch and crunch students feel during school days and comes up with what we as the student body and also as a school can do to help solve the problem of our packed schedule.

ten. Imagine the formidable scene of the giver and the new owner of the unwanted gift interacting with each other, only to discover that they have both been deceived.

Fortunately most of the students at SIS will never encounter such uncomfortable situation because they seem to understand the meaning of a true gift. According to a poll of 67 students from grades nine through 12, 76 percent of the students have never re-gifted before because “it is cheap” or “it feels rude” to do so. Only 13 percent admitted to re-gifting once a year, and 11 percent to re-gifting two or three times a year.

Receiving an unwanted item is similar to receiving trash. Therefore, with that in mind, people should never resort to re-gifting as a method of hopefully pleasing another individual with the least amount of effort put into it.

The Schedule

Restructuring: Scheduling more school days will give students more breathing room.

By Elizabeth Song

Week after week, there are numerous quizzes after tests after assignments after projects constantly thrown at students. Teachers often have to skim through material to cover as much as possible within the given time. In addition, extracurricular activities clash with academic classes as well as with other extracurricular activities. There just never seems to be enough time for everything.

Life may always seem to be that way. Second quarter is slightly shorter than the three other quarters. In the master calendar, the half days, Parent Teacher Conferences and PSATs are all considered “full days” throughout the year, making second quarter supposedly 48 days long, when the reality is that there are only 32 days of actual learning—16 for each class.

The overwhelming workload is clearly linked to the small number of school days. This is because teachers have so little time to cover their material and are thus forced to schedule assessments so that students rarely have regular classes in which they can digest the information.

Due to this very tight schedule, there have been many schedule conflicts within various extracurricular activities, within academic classes that happen to schedule several tests or quizzes and between academic classes and extracurricular activities.

Teachers and advisors of these classes and activities have frequently become upset over these conflicts for sensible reasons, causing lots of stress for those who are involved.

While many students and teachers complain about the constantly overwhelming workload, we are becoming accustomed to it.

However, rather than simply

tolerating this chaotic situation, there can be a possible solution to this problem.

The solution would be an alteration to the schedule so that only instructional days, or days in which teachers and students actually have class, are counted as full school days.

Although Parent-Teacher Conferences can be viewed as instructional days since it is also a learning experience for students when reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of their performance, the conferences do not actually involve academic learning. Thus, ParentTeacher Conferences should not be considered instructional and the school year should either start earlier or end later.

The idea was first suggested by Mr. Gray Macklin, who believed that the proposal could potentially be highly unpopular among other faculty members and the administration.

If this plan were to be put into action, it would not mean that the tremendous workload would be constant throughout a longer school year. Instead, teachers would be able to spread their schedules out more, which would in turn allow students to breathe a bit with a more manageable workload.

With a more feasible workload, students would also be able to learn their subjects more thoroughly and have more time to consolidate their knowledge before moving on to the next topic, rather than scanning through large amounts of material.

As for KAIAC athletes and those with extracurricular activities that interfere with academic class time, such as overseas MUN conferences, they would be able to participate in their events without creating such a detrimental effect to teachers’ schedules.

Therefore, while having a longer school year may originally sound like a nightmare, the reality is that more authentic instructional days will improve the learning experience of students.

Page 4 December 2008

NEWS

MIT visits Korea for first time

By Chan-Jun Park

An email from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alerted Mr. Fredric Schneider, college councelor, that the university wanted to interview SIS students.

On October 8, Mr. Matt McGann, MIT Director of Recruitment, accompanied by Dr. Myongsook Oh, Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, and Mr. Suk Whan Chang, Officer of MIT Alumni Association in Seoul, conducted interviews in five schools in Korea. SIS was the only international school in Korea.

“MIT is one of the most competitive schools,” said Mr. Schneider.

“They never come to Asia.”

MIT already has more than enough students applying to the with only a few being admitted. They do not need to travel to Korea to encourage students to apply to their college even though they won’t be accepted.

This only contributed to why this visit by MIT was unexpected.

Upon request, Mr. Schneider invited nine aspiring seniors who had included MIT in their applications.

“It was exciting that a school that rarely travels actually spent time to visit our school,” said Eddie Ha (12).

“MIT is my first choice school. The meeting was very interesting.”

MIT not only interviewed students during the two-hour session at

SIS, but also talked with AP teachers in the science and math fields.

Although MIT came to interview students at SIS, the interview would not increase acceptance rates. Out of 13,396 MIT applicants last year, only 1,589 were admitted. Out of the 1,050 students enrolled in MIT, only 11 percent were that were overseas.

The last acceptance to MIT from SIS was in 1998.

“I’m hoping there will be one or two acceptances to MIT and start a cycle,” said Mr. Schneider.

To create such a cycle, students who want to attend universities part of the Ivy League should have interests other than academics. Mr. Schneider said that schools like MIT are assuming that everyone that applies is academically qualified. Not only that, but the students should also be independent from hagwons or tutors if they want to be successful in in studying at prestigious universities like MIT. “It is important you do your own work. If you do that you can become independent. If you are a good student on paper and are intelligent, but you have a lot of help, you can’t really succeed,” said Mr. Schneider.

“You can prepare yourself to be academically qualified, but you can’t do anything to guarantee you are accepted.”

Pep rally launches winter sports season with mascot

Warm up: Varsity Basketball teams soar to victory after SIS’ second annual pep rally.

By Seungho Yang

Students who stayed after school on December 2 for prep rally met with pleasant surprises: Not only did students see the Tiger mascot for the first time, they also watched both Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball teams defeat Korea International School (KIS) teams at home court after the invigorating pep rally.

“The prep rally was good, not too different from last years, but I think it could have been better with more advertisement,” said John Eom (12).

Nevertheless, the crowd turnout was exceptional, filling almost all the seats on the bleachers. Students and athletes as well as KIS athletes watched introductions of all basketball team members amid the performances of cheerleaders.

“As it is with every game,

Mr. Lee moves on to Australia Goodbye: SIS waves farewell to another Korean staff who has been part of the SIS community for a decade.

By Eunice Kwon

It may come as a surprise to hear that Mr. Gwang-Soo Lee, the beloved assistant swimming coach and teacher, left SIS to settle in Australia. It was especially shocking for the experienced swimmers who had been working with Mr. Lee since middle school.

Though this departure appears to be abrupt, according to Mr. Lee, the idea of moving to Australia had been nearly concrete since last school year.

“Last year, my wife and her sister had a great time in Australia for four months,” said Mr. Lee. “Ever since, my wife has wanted to go, and it would be better for my kids.

Sometimes people who have kids easily decide something just for the benefit of the kids.”

Because of the immense amount of planning that is necessary when moving to a foreign country, the exact date of Mr. Lee’s leaving was not officially announced until November.

“I overheard Carol [last year’s swimming manager] talking about it last year, because she was really close with the coaches,” said Nick Hong (11), a varsity swimmer. “But I wasn’t sure that he was leaving until recently. I thought it was just

a rumor.”

Even with the short notice, last year’s swim team held a goodbye party on Nov. 24, organized by last year’s Girls’ Varsity Swim Team cocaptains, Tiffany Cho (12) and Vivi Lee (12).

The swimming pool lobby area was crowded with swimmers wanting to say their thanks and parting remarks.

“Mr. Lee has been with a lot of us since we were really young,” said Tiffany. “He not only trained us to be better swimmers, but he made us enjoy swimming. With Mr. Lee gone, we won’t have the one supporter who has been a constant part of the team.”

With Mr. Lee’s absence, swimmers expect much change in this year’s swimming season.

“Because there are no returning coaches, we don’t know what to expect this season,” said Eric Kim (12), a varsity swimmer.

“I don’t think [Mr. Lee’s departure] will have too big of an impact later in the year, but in the beginning we might have adjustment problems.”

Mr. Lee expressed his regrets for leaving before the swimming season, especially with the renovated swimming facilities. Leaving SIS after ten years of contribution was difficult for him as well.

“For the ten years I have been at SIS,” said Mr. Lee. “I had a great experience with many different teachers. I met great students f r o m s w i m ming, Physical Education classes and even soccer.”

Mr. Lee’s love for his students was apparent when he promised his senior swimmers that he would try to visit Korea in time for the senior graduation. He will officially leave the country on Dec. 12.

[cheerleaders] practice the routines again and again to perfect every move and make it all synchronized for today’s prep rally,” said Cathy Park, one of the Varsity Cheerleaders.

Students and athletes also saw their Tiger mascots proposed by National Honor Society (NHS) last year for the very first time. Joshua Cho (11) temporary filled in for Ryan Jeon (9) as the mascot during the pep rally, and danced and posed with the cheerleaders in the orange Tiger suit.

And games that followed reflected the mood and spirit of the pep rally as SIS Tigers defeated KIS Phoenix game after game.

Varsity Basketball Boys defeated Korea International School by keeping a constant lead over the Phoenix, concluding the game with 1-point lead with a score of 50 to 49.

Even with veteran Varsity players Brian Kim (12) and David Yi (11) staying on the bench during the entire game due to their personal reasons, the Tigers remained steadfast in both offense and defense,

marking their third win of the 200809 season.

“Despite the fact that two of our key players not being able to play, we pulled out a victory,” said John Ho (12), starting point guard for Varsity Boys Basketball. “ Our victory shows that our team has some heart.”

Although Lady Tigers had a bumpy start in the beginning of the season, pep rally seemed to have warmed them up for this year’s winter as Tigers defeated the Phoenix with a comfortable lead of 21 points, scoring 33 points against Phoenix’s 12 points, bringing their first win of the season.

“This wasn’t the best game we played so far, but we were able to spot our areas of weakness and improve on them,” said Amy Jung (11), point guard for Varsity Girls Basketball. “Overall, it was a nice match for us.”

Both Junior-Varsity Basketball Boys and Girls teams also won their games against KIS Phoenix.

Colleges screen applicants through Facebook Inconvenience: Students oppose probing, but actual incidences are rare and simple to prevent.

By Andrew Hwang

On November 5, Texan university sophomore Buck Burnette found himself kicked off the school football team and went under intense scrutiny from his coaches and peers, the day after the November 4 presidential elections. The reason?

He decided to post a racial slur directed at President-elect Obama on his Facebook profile, for his all teachers and coaches to see.

With the rise in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, colleges have made a point to check applicants’ profiles for signs of undesirable behavior, much to the ire of students here.

“Colleges and universities have absolutely no right to access that kind of personal information,” said Jonathan Choi (12). “It’s students who want to learn and develop into mature people that are applying to college… I don’t see how such individuals would present such a threat that it prompts colleges to do background screening checks on prospective applicants.”

But due to the very public nature of websites like Facebook, it can be hard to argue that college admission officers can be doing anything wrong when accessing profile pages.

“It isn’t invasion of privacy when it’s on the World Wide Web,” said Mr. Fredric Schneider, Director of Pupil Personnel Services. “Being perfectly honest and putting all that information up… it’s just tempting [admission officers] to go in and see it.”

The sheer numbers of applications sent to colleges yearly however, make it nigh impossible for colleges to be able to check the profiles of each and every single student. Because of this, many of the profiles actually checked out were only done so when directly brought to the attention of admission officers, often by rival students, said Mr. Schneider.

Along with the low likelihood of a profile ever being checked or scrutinized by schools, some feel that simple preventative measures would eliminate nearly all risk in getting backlash from an online profile or blog.

“A lot of it is blown out of proportion by the media. The idea of is scary – them checking your profile for information, but it’s not really a big issue,” said Edward Lim (12).

“It’s in the reach of most to not get in trouble. If people do reasonable things, like not post pictures of beer and them getting high… It’s really just common sense.”

But in the end, it may just be that what you post may not have that large of a consequence anyway.

“It depends on the degree of severity of course, but one incidence doesn’t characterize you better than four years of hard work, good grades and dedication do,” said Edward.

Page 5 December 2008

Visual Flashback of English Week

NEWS

By Kristin Kim

During the English Week, various students, clubs and teachers collaborated on and showcased a number of different projects. Seniors Christine Choi (left) and Sarthak Jena (right) participated in the Great Debate, while the Drama Club performed a reinterpretation of the play Twelve Angry Men (middle).

MONDAY: Story telling Performers: Taiwon Kim (9), Lyuh Kim (9), and YeEun Chun (9)

TUESDAY: Kite Runner Lecture Lecturers: Karen Kim (12) and Eunice Kwon (12)

WEDNESAY: 12 Angry Jurors Performers: Members of the Drama Club

Communication students were required to expressively narrate a story of their grandparents, and the best performers had the honor of sharing their stories with 8th, 9th and 10th grade. The project was designed to help students internalize important aspects of stories such as character development and plot. It also provided practice in expressing ideas using colorful and vivid language, developing ideas in sequence, and delivering an idea clearly while considering the audience.

“Some stories about their [the performers’] grandparents brought about a large range of emotional reactions from the audience. The stories were funny, moving, and memorable.” –In Won Chang (9)

The Kite Runner Lecture confirmed the rigorous nature of AP Literature and allowed aspiring juniors to comprehend what it would mean to be in such a challenging class.

The lectures primarily dealt with an analysis of the novel from a historical and cultural perspective; hence, students were required to research about the setting, Afghanistan, as well as the culture and traditions of the Afghan people.

“The lecture might have been hard for those who did not read the book to comprehend. However, it was extremely helpful for future AP Lit students because it displayed how much in-depth analysis we are expected to do in the class.” –Charlotte Lee (12)

Continuing the success of last year’s vibrant spring musical The Pretender, the drama club presented Twelve Angry Jurors as the fall production. The play was the first masked one in the history of SIS. Drama director Mr. Rider explained that the masks emphsaized each juror’s traits, and allowed actors to focus on their movements and vocal intonations as opposed to facial expressions. Actors and audience members eagerly awaited the spring production which is likely to be a musical.

“This was one of the best plays by the drama club yet. It was so full of energy…The most memorable scene was when Juror #3 almost stabbed Juror #8.” –Andrew Eom (9)

THURSDAY: The Great Debate Debaters: Sarah Park (12), Sarthak Jena (12), Rachel Choi (12), and Christine Choi (12)

FRIDAY: Radio Show Performers: Jiwon Choi (12), Elli Shim (12), Jenny Son (12), Yoonie Kim (11), and Anna Shin (11)

The heated arguement between four experienced senior debaters was concerning whether the new policy banning students from re-entering campus was unreasonable or not. There were no decisive winners in the debate not only because of time contraints, but also because of the excellent performance of both teams.

“At first, the topic did not seem debatable. However, I realized the powerful influence that a debate can have because I walked into the auditorium thinking that the new policy was of course completely unreasonable, but I walked out enlighted, realizing how important it was.” –Jenny Han (10)

AP Language and Composition students were required to explore the nature of rhetoric as they analyzed short stories and performed them through dramatic readings. The ultimate challenge was to integrate the analysis into an entertaining radio show that revolved around a central thesis. Students expressed their enthusiasm about exploring creative methods of analysis which they felt was much more effective than being spoon-fed dry methods.

“Though I’ve heard the performance before, I found the reciting of ‘The Bells’ to be interesting every time. The poem still rings in my head like the sound of bells.” –Gautam Kumar (12)

Changes made to SEOMUN help and hinder quality of conference Addition: The increased number of delegates altered the quality of the SEOMUN conference and brought both benefits and problems.

By Yoonie Kim

Seoul Model United Nations XI took place from November 6 through 9, and was packed with more delegates than last year’s conference, both from within Korea and overseas. Although many assumed that this change would boost the quality of the conference, some students displayed mixed feelings.

This year’s SEOMUN conference was benefited by the increase in diversity. The conference turned out to be more multinational than the previous year’s conference with the addition of foreign schools such as the British International School of Vietnam and Qingdao Korean International School. Whereas last year’s

conference had student officers that were mainly from Korea, SEOMUN XI consisted of international student officers as well. This extension was added to make the conference more global and closer to reality.

The total increase in the number of participants was approximately 80 to 100 delegates, thus the addition of a brand new committee—the Advisory Panel (AP).

However, delegates thought the quality of the conference hindered due to the addition of more delegates.

The dominant impression I got [from SEOMIN XI] was that there were so many new faces,” said Diane Rhim (10). “Delegates like me enjoyed being part of a more global debate. However, I also thought that the conference was sort of hectic.”

According to Dennis Kim (YISS) the Secretary General of SEOMUN XI, expansion of the conference had inevitable negative consequences on the quality of the conference since much attention was focused on simply finishing the

debates and discussions on time, rather than on the quality of individual speeches.

“In any case, the conference was vulnerable to disorganization,” said Dennis. “The increase in the number of delegates naturally took away individuals’ chances to speak to form constructive debates” According to Raymond Ha (11), member of APQT, debates were disorganized and seemed rushed. Raymond also attributed the lack of efficiency to the participation of more schools, but mentioned how the debates improved towards the end of the three-day conference.

“The delegates, especially ones that were new to SEOMUN got the hang of debates in the end,” said Raymond.

Although some students found a larger pool of delegates bothersome, it opened up chances for more mingling and socializing. As SEOMUN XI was their last opportunity to contribute as a delegate to SEOMUN, the seniors especially found the conference memorable.

“My last conference [SEOMUN XI] will be unforgettable,” said David Han (12). “Since more delegates were able to participate

and contribute, my memories range from informative speeches to funny and absurd moments.”

Debbie Rhim (10), a delegate, diligently takes notes during the debate over resolutions proposed in her committee.

Page 6 December 2008

NEWS

Week-long history lesson raises worldly awareness

New road affects SISers Construction ahead: Paving of a wider road just outside the school gates creates inconvenience.

Photo by Jennifer Sun

High school students attend a mock election hosted by the social studies department.

Lessons: Students learn about their part in shaping the world.

By Yuri Han

The mock presidential elections and Human Rights’ Day took place on November 3 to 4 and December 10, respectively, to educate students about key global issues students such as the importance of voting and human rights.

The mock presidential elections tied in closely with the Election Day on November 4. Students attended an assembly where they watched campaign videos from both candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, and had the option to vote for their candidate. Handouts also outlining the candidates’ stances on important issues were also distributed. The purpose of this activity was to show students the significance of voting and contributing their voice to society.

“I was surprised that I actually found this assembly pretty interest-

ing out of all [the] other HSSC or UNICEF [assemblies],” said Ann Rhee (10). “The assembly focused on the significance of the elections.

I came to consider if I have been an active citizen in a democratic society.”

The voting turnout was higher than the average voting turnout in the U.S. 69% of the votes was accepted; however, approximately half the ballots were rejected because students did not follow directions. The winner could have been decided by less than 25% of the student body.

Each county in the United States (U.S.) has its own system for voting, so for SIS, the voting procedures were to circle their selection. Yet, not all students that voted adhered to the rules, so their votes were not accepted.

“At one point, many students will vote in America,” said Mr. Adam Erickson, History teacher. “I think the students that participated learned an important lesson.

It’s important that we have leaders that reflect our views, and the demo-

cratic process allows that to happen.”

For Human Right’s Day, Ms. Jessica Krueger, the Global Issues teacher, showed a video on human rights, and the global issues classes prepared presentations on many aspects of human rights such as genocide, child soldiers, and slavery.

“The world celebrates Human Right’s Day on that day,” said Ms. Krueger. “We can educate others so that we can prevent violation of human rights. They [students] can help just by watching the food they buy.

One of the ways to prevent things is just by educating people.”

Students understood the meaning of human rights and wrote their opinions on human rights and what that means to them on a large banner which is now displayed in the art hall.

Instead of a Social Studies Week, the Social Studies Department is covering three notable events throughout the year. The National History Competition will take place on March 3 to 4.

Normally, parents who drop their kids off enter the school through the front gates and out the back gates, but with the construction, sometimes the cars had to reverse back to the front gates, causing traffic inconvenience. Additionally, the now barren hill became an eyesore

By Eunice Kwon that distracted SISers. Despite Mr. Government-sponsored con- Lee’s assurance that the hill owner struction to improve the road out- plans to replant trees, the scenery side the back gates took place from change affected the general mood of November to mid-December. the school.

Changes became visibly ap“When I saw the trees being parent to the SIS students when cut down,” said Sandra Kim (12). trees were cut down on the neigh- “I thought the school looked kind boring hill that led to the infamous of rigid. The trees were gone, so the “Killer Hill.” previously covered buildings behind According to Mr. Hong Kyu [the hill] became part of our school Lee, Vice Director of Facility view, which doesn’t look good.”

Development The new road Department, is expected to afThe traffic outside SIS plays absofect sports teams lutely no role in the back gates would as well, especially the construction The become more conve- cross-country. itself. traditional SIS “This road nient... course, also known is government as the “Killer Hill” property,” said course, includes Mr. Lee. “That mountain is private a pathway up the neighboring hill. property, the school property starts The newly built wall may block from the gates.” the trail to the Killer Hill. This will Mr. Lee explained that the traf- bring about many changes in the fic on the road outside the back cross-country courses, and because gates would become much more even soccer teams use the running convenient for SIS parents when the course, they may have to map new construction came to an end. In ad- tracks. dition, the school would be able to “Usually when roads become redirect the water drain out the back smoother and wider, there are more gate, with a minor construction that cars and those cars tend to go fasttakes one weekend. er,” said Jeff Crawford, Head Coach In the beginning stages of the of the Cross-Country team. “That construction, the green fences next would become a problem, especially to the soccer field were partially for the SIS cross-country racecourse. damaged by the fallen trees. Though We may have to get red flashing the fences were repaired immediate- lights for special occasions.” ly, there was a brief period of safety Though the actual construction hazard. Other side effects included will end by exams, it is expected to dirty air caused by the work. take time for the hill to return to its “The only thing that gets on spruced state and the school to make my nerve is the burning smell,” said accommodations for any possible Jasmine Park (9). problems.

Baby Maya, a new addition to Corcoran family, brings bundle of joy Celebration: With her birth, Maya has brought about pleasant changes to her family.

By Jennifer Park

Maya Jane Corcoran may be just over a month old, but she has already not only spread the happy virus in her family, but has also altered the Corcorans’ everyday lives.

Maya was born on October 24, 2008 at 10:05 a.m. in Asan Medical Center. Named after the mother of Buddha, Maya resembles her sister Jillian, first grader at SIS, as well as her mother Ms. Kristy Corcoran.

With the addition of Maya to the Corcorans, sweeping changes have been made in the family, such as its plans and daily routines and each member’s responsibilities.

The Corcorans have already decided on the baby’s educational path. As long as they are staying in Korea, Maya will follow her

sister and attend SIS. They also hope her, and putting her to sleep.

“She’s like another little mom to encourage her to adopt a to Maya,” said Ms. Corcoran. bicultural nature.

As responsible guardians of “Once she starts to go to day care, I hope she learns Korean little Maya, the family members are by little and she might eventually happily sacrificing themselves become the best Korean speaker in for her.

“We certainly get a lot less our family,” said Mr. Peter Corcsleep because she wakes up every oran, High School Principal. two hours,” said Moreover, the Mr. Corcoran. family has felt a Yet, the family growing responsibility within them- “[Maya] brings extra admits that these are only selves at home. joy to the family,” sacrifices minor compared “Every time said Mr. Corcoran to what Maya has you look at that tiny done for them: the person you are hit with the enormity baby has given the of the responsibilfamily a new meanity,” said Ms. Corcoran. “They are ing of life and a chance to reflect. so vulnerable and the urge to protect “My little daughter brings extra them is so strong that it’s almost joy to the family,” said Mr. Corcphysically painful.” oran. “She reminds me of the joy of The baby has also brought out life, gives purpose to life, and helps the responsible and caring big sister me remember that life should be in Jillian. She volunteers to take part celebrated,” said Mr. Corcoran. in everything related to her sister, including changing diapers, bathing

Photo courtesy of Mr. Corcoran

Jilian, a big sister now, likes to take care of her baby sister Maya, the newest member to the Corcoran family.

Page 7 December 2008

NEWS UNICEF to improve MAT thrives with high hopes for winter Cambodia trip success in future competitions Progress: Changes are being made for a more successful trip to Cambodia this year.

graduated in 2008 and will also attend Cambodia if the date of trip fits his schedule, but the official date of the trip has not been decided.

For the time being, money is being raised to fund the trip and to support a third world child from

By Yuri Han Bangladesh who was adopted last Annually, the United Nation’s year. So far, 2,000,000 won has Children Fund (UNICEF) visits been raised from UNICEF fundHope School in Cambodia as a high- raisers at bake sales, carnivals, and light event of youth UNICEF. This other fundraisers. year, however, UNICEF members “I don’t think there’s ever going plan to improve their agenda from to be ‘enough’ for UNICEF,” said last year.

Jiwon Choi (12), president of UNIUNICEF aims to protect chil- CEF. “Just because there is a deaddren’s rights by supporting them to line to when we should stop fundmeet their basic needs and to expand raising, we shouldn’t stop raising their opportunities money. We’ll stop to achieve their fundraising when full potential. The poverty has been re“I want to do some- moved off the face of purpose of going to Cambodia is to this earth.” thing that will last put these words This way, stumany years and actu- dents who are not into action.

U N I C E F ally help them,” said part of UNICEF can members proalso help the club’s Nina Yun (10) vide students at efforts by supporting Hope School with UNICEF’s fundraissupplies such ers and buying baked as clothes, medication, and paper goods after school or donate clothes. which allow members the opportu- The whole school can help make a nity to connect with children on a difference in Cambodia. personal level. Last year, supplies UNICEF members view the such as construction paper were Cambodia trip as an opportunity to used up more rapidly than expected, reach out and teach young children so more supplies will be taken to and also learn about a different Hope School. culture.

“I want to do more this year,” “We work very hard,” said Julia said Nina Yun (10), UNICEF mem- Lee (10), UNICEF member. “Right ber. “Last year, we gave them sur- now, we’re working on a lot of fundprises, but they didn’t last very long. raisers for the Cambodia trip, and They had to share paper, so this we plan to also organize the UNIyear, I want to do something that CEF carnival next semester. We’re will last many years and actually looking forward to a good trip.” help them.”

Former students who were UNI- Source: CEF members last year might also participate in the Cambodia trip. www.unicef.org Nick Hong, founder of UNICEF,

Plethora: The Mu Alpha Theta club is continuing with providing numerous opportunities for students to excel in mathematics.

By Michael Chung

The group of mathematical minds has assembled to show off its talent. With academically engaging events planned, the MAT club has come to invite the student body to appreciate math beyond what is taught in class.

The MAT club has provided the student body with a lecture series consisting of lectures regarding a variety of concepts ranging from game theory to the theory behind solving

the Rubik’s Cube. All lectures were prepared by the executives of the club and students had the opportunity to attend these lectures by paying a certain fixed entrance fee.

“The Rubik’s Cube lecture was pretty much a surprise for me,” said Justin Kim (12). “It was my first time attending such lecture, and I was satisfied because I had learned something beyond my Calc BC or AP Statistics class.”

In addition, the members of the MAT club have been preparing to participate in competitive national math tournaments such as the American Math Competition (AMC) and the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). Members have to first qualify at the AMC to compete at the AIME, a prestigious competition. Besides the big events ahead, the club also sponsored com-

petitions that were held within the campus, such as the Rocket City Math Competition, which was held on November 11.

“As an executive who has been observing the club’s progress so far, everyone is in good shape,” said Eddie Ha (12), treasurer and co-founder of MAT. “I think the rigorous math department at SIS really prepares students for a lot of these competitions. I hope to see more qualifiers for AIME this year.”

Although the club is occupied with a busy schedule of lectures and competitions, it also serves as a helpful mentor for other students. Every Friday, the MAT members hold activity period ‘help sessions’ in Mr. Michael Castellani’s classroom, in which all students of all grade levels are allowed to ask for aid in their core math courses.

Photo by Alex Kim

MAT President Raymond Ha (11) receives a trophy for having placed first overall.

More university competition anticipated Horse-trading: More applicants worldwide means more to do for students.

By Andrew Lim

In today’s modern society, studying is widely considered the foremost important responsibility a student must undertake. Undeniably, this conscience is nailed harder into the minds of an average SIS student than it is to one’s average American counterpart.

“Seoul International School fosters academic excellence, creating life-long learners, responsible leaders, and productive contributors in the global community,” goes the school’s mission statement.

And as ‘academic excellence’ is mentioned first, students study hard to get the 4.0 GPA or 2400 SAT score that will improve their chances of getting into the dream univer-

sity approved and anticipated by their parents.

The University of California reported that there has been a 9.2 percent increase in the number of applicants applying to university this year, and a 25.2 percent increase in the number of only international students applying to American universities alone.

Thus, as the number of applicants to universities continues to increase, universities are starting to look more for students who can provide them with something more than an outstanding GPA or SAT score.

According to Mr. Schneider, universities receive the most applicants outside of the United States from China, Canada, and Korea respectively. And considering the relative population in each of the countries, proportionally, Koreans have the highest interest in moving to America for higher levels of education beyond the high school level.

Then the question is why is the number of applicants increasing at such a fast rate?

First of all, the baby boom effect is coming into play. The children born during the baby boom are currently applying to university. In a more international sense, affluence is growing worldwide making American universities well known for their expensive tuitions, affordable. Plus, financial aid is also becoming more tangible for international students.

Yale University for example is having their scholarship system available to all students both domestic and international equally.

Thereby due to the increasing competition students must face to receive admission in universities, students are having to work even harder.

Last year Yale university accepted only 8% of the 22000 applicants that applied. Surprisingly enough, Yale University denied 800 students with a perfect SAT score,

and another 1000 valedictorians while the middle 50 percent of students admitted had an SAT score between 2100 and 2380.

Then what distinguished the students who were accepted and were denied?

“Most prominent schools assume applicants to have a high GPA and SAT score” said Mr. Fredrick Schneider. “Students should develop individuality to be able to show college administrators what distinguishes themselves from others.”

In the case of Minjok Foreign Institution which is well known for its high achieving students, not one student was admitted to Harvard University last year because the students lacked individuality.

Students at Minjok Foreign Institution follow a very rigid schedule, all doing the same activities together at the same time. In the morning, they wake up to perform their daily routine of archery, go to class, study, eat, study, and sleep.

Little variation is provided.

Therefore Mr. Schneider encourages students to study hard, but also find and develop their own talents and passions to jump off the page when they are viewed by college administrators.

“If you like helping people, you could go overseas to help people” said Mr. Schneider. “If you are good at a language, you should focus on that. Spending your time developing your talents is more valuable and useful rather than going to the SAT hagwons to perfect your already outstanding SAT scores.”

The growing competition to get admitted into prestigious universities is increasing as students are trying harder and harder to polish their already fantastic resumes hoping to catch the attention of the administrators at their dream university.

However it has now come to the point where students should be worrying about looking different from the average student. Individuality is the key.

Passionate students commit themselves to service

By Yuri Han

Altruistic: Students have shown a growing interest in helping others, rather than themselves.

For the past couple of years, the main goals profits go to buying ingredients or to non-profit of clubs have shifted from organizing activities organizations. of common interest to using students’ talents to Students join community service clubs to benefit others. An increasing number of clubs serve others. However, students also feel that has contributed to the school and outside soci- they gain more knowledge about their commuety immensely through community service as nity, as well as pleasure by assisting others. well as constructive activities around school.

“It is really rewarding doing things [for] Members of Baking Club, United Nations your community,” said Chris Kim, CommuChildren Fund (UNICEF), Green Club, Foreign nity Service Club vice president (10). “For me, Migrant Workers Club (FMWC), it’s not really about the hours. When Community Service Club and you go out there, you find out One third of the Primary English Teaching more about the world you live Association (PETA) invest in. You earn more about your clubs at SIS are time in assisting their peers surroundings because you dedicated to comand community. One-third get to interact with different munity service of the clubs at SIS are people.” dedicated to community Moreover, clubs such and pursuing stuservice and pursuing stuas Chinese Club, Physics dents’ talent while detns’ talents while benefitClub, National Art Honor Soting others. benefiting others. ciety and National Honor SoFor instance, Ellen Park ciety (NHS), Mu Alpha Theta (11), founder of PETA (MAT), as well as the created the club high school student because she encouncil have also joyed teachinitiative “...when we see that “...you learn more taken ing English to assist stuthe children have about your surto younger dents through students. tutoring and learned something roundings becuse She thought organizing new, we feel a you get to interit would school events. be a good “I think sense of satisfacact with different idea if other [clubs] are bention and pride...” people.” students could eficial,” said Alalso teach Engbert Park (10) “We lish as well. do not have to worry “To be honest, we’re about money problems. Even though sometimes really tired on Fridays when we [NHS tutoring] is only 30 minutes, it helps a meet to teach,” said Ellen. “But when we see lot to get help from a person you can actually that the children have learned something new, communicate well with.” we feel a sense of satisfaction and pride.”

The clubs dedicating themselves to their The beginnings of the Baking Club were peers and community offer opportunities to also similar. Hannah Kim (11), Jessica Lee students and members of the community. Stu(11), and Amy Jung (11), the founders of Bak- dents show that their interests lie in assisting ing Club, were baking at Hannah’s house when people. A growing number of clubs are aiming they decided to form the club. All the club’s to accomplish similar goals to support others.

One birthday widely celebrated in Korea and around the world proaching: that of Jesus. Many meet, eat with and give gifts to family a to commemorate this special day. However, birthdays of friends and f by everyday as well, and one’s own birthday is also cause for celebration spection. Find out how students and staff mark one another’s birthdays

Givin

“My hi for each oth bassadors] they send u Ms. C birthdays t “[Birt we were s the back. really pre And “Af birthday Ni to sch S the fa pres

R

B

r

e Cha

hani y Step

m pre would the time and the money.”

Herbert Chun (11), on the birthday con

locker last February 29 “I was surprised, but my friends tend to act a little weird on birthday would definitely do the same thing for them because it was such a sweet t Nicole Park (10), on the birthday poster taped on her locker last Augu “Students bring us around four to five cakes a month to store in the fre time; they bring both ice cream cakes and normal cakes, equally from boy Young-woo Kim, deli worker

Looking Inward

“I always make a wish, but I am more concerned about eating the ca out. My eighteenth birthday is coming up this winter, and I think I’ll get coming legal, it will be my last birthday I spend with my family, friends the [winter] season always reminds me of the end of things.”

Karen Kim (12)

is fast apand friends family pass n and introat SIS.

It is not all about giving

By Alex Kim

Introspection: Taking the time to reflect upon the past year can bring improvements to oneself.

December is the time of year when students get to sit down by a fireside and feel warm and comforted with a cup of hot chocolate in the face of an oncoming snowstorm. Reflecting on a year gone by so fast, students can expect to discover fresh and positive aspects about their lives and a cause that will help propel them into a new year full of promises.

School life has been a busy one too, with Advanced Placement (AP) courses kicking into full speed, and one sports season already over and another in its prime.

The seniors have spent a hectic semester trying to polish their college applications, and it has been a tough one for juniors who took the SAT exams in October and November.

Constantly driven by a self-conscious effort to seek out and reach out to others who are in need of help, students do not have the opportunity to sit down at the end of the year and have a moment to themselves.

Emotional nourishment through a quest for self-knowledge can be a surprisingly pleasant experience.

Because students are so deprived of the opportunity to praise themselves due to the overwhelming workload, by the time the holiday season hits the year, the mind should be tingling in anticipation of a consolation.

Efforts to pro-

ng Glee

igh school choir teacher [had our choir sing] for parents over phone calls and her; it was something I never forgot. Now I think teachers do expect [the Amto come on their birthdays, although we do try to ambush them. Sometimes us little notes of appreciation afterward.”

Coleen Peterson, on how the Ambassadors visit teachers’ classes on their to sing them happy birthday in four parts thday punches are] a ritual; we can’t lose the tradition. Back in kindy days, spanked [with] a slight tap, but now we’re older and punches are like a pat on It’s congratulating someone, just in a rougher way. Plus, [most guys] don’t epare for presents, so punches will do!” dy Chung (12) fter Jong-Seok initiated the tradition of celebrating whenever it’s someone’s y, we try to celebrate each executive member’s birthday with a cake.” ick Hong (11), Executive Vice President, explaining why he brought a cake hool on November 5 for Executive President Jong-Seok Kim (12) Students are not the only ones at SIS who celebrate one another’s birthdays: aculty’s Sunshine Committee emails teachers about upcoming birthdays and sents the lucky teacher with a drink from Kohiya

Receiving Recognition

“[The balloons on my locker] were pretty touching. Plus, I noticed that mostly girls do it for other girls; I apeciated being one of the only guys. I d definitely do that whenever I have

ngratulations he found taped to his

ys, so I knew something was up. I thing for friends to do.” ust 22 eezer or the refrigerator until lunch ys and girls.”

mote self-confidence and boost self-esteem include activities such as spending quality time with the family and setting fresh goals for the upcoming year. Instead of toying with an improbable agenda such as losing twenty-five pounds or beating everyone else academically, in this year’s New Year’s resolution, students should take the time to set meaningful goals that could potentially bring about real change from within.

The list does not have to be full of clichés that seem distant and idealistic. Rather, the list could start off with something as simple as: 1. Accept all compliments graciously - Don’t dismiss or ignore them. This ties in perfectly with the holiday season because it is the time of year when students get to share heart-warming compliments and express their gratitude they hold for one another. Students generally tend to evaluate the compliments they receive, but for once, they should simply accept them as what they are. According to Judith White and Johny Walsch at Harvard University, acceptance, ironically enough, is the first step in bringing about change.

As opposed to feeling smug because of the accomplishment of some philanthropic cause, filling out a self-reflection chart will be a sound way to reignite the spark that keeps everyone going. Besides, it should be an excellent way to spend the holidays for those lonely students who have yet to find a significant other.

Holiday Recommendations

By Jennifer Sun

Self-serving: How to treat yourself on Christmas Trees glow with yellow lights and streets fill with the sound of carols. Yes, it is that time of the year again. Christmas is here, despite the Grinch’s wishes.

Gift-shopping and sending have become widely accepted Christmas rituals. Walking down the street with a cappuccino in hand, it is easy to see billboards promoting gifts and stores filled with quality products.

So consumers buy, making sure they pick out the perfect gifts for those they love and care about.

And as much as they like to shop for others, they also enjoy receiving gifts as well. Whether it be a bouquet of roses from a loved one, a toy train from a father or a teddy bear from a neighbor, everyone likes little surprises under the Christmas trees, gracefully unpacking or savagely tearing off the wrapping paper.

However, before going on a Christmas gift shopping spree, here is what everyone may want do to finish off the end of the year with a purpose:

1 : Reflect

Less than a week away from New Year’s Eve, Christmas can be a good time to look back into the past. Tune into relaxing songs on itunes and recollect good memories about important events, birthdays, and time spent with friends and family. Taking time to reflect on life in 2008 will be a meaningful way to end a year.

2 : Give

ake now that the candles are blown really sentimental: apart from beand the people at this school. And

Photos by Jennifer Park

2 : Enjoy

Take a break from school and relax. Spend time with loved ones—friends, siblings, cousins, and parents. Go on a shopping spree, take a trip to a ski resort, and possibly, visit other countries. Live three weeks of stress-free life before heading back to school. After all, everyone deserves a merry Christmas and a happy New Year

December is the month of lights, tinsels, stars, and, yes, the Christmas trees. The world lights up in cheerful Christmas spirit and houses fill with love and bliss. Yet, even at this happy time of the year, there are many others who suffer without warm clothes, steamy food and, most importantly love; it does not take much to help those in need. Sign-up for the National Honor Society Toy Drive, visit orphanages and make Christmas decorations with little children and donate items to the community service centers. As insignificant as these little tasks seem on the surface, spending time to help others is always worthwhile. As cliché as it sounds, loving and caring for others will help not only those in need but those who give as well.

Page 10 December 2008

Lifestyle

Teacher Profile: The trombone player with more to say

By Yoonie Kim

By Eunice Kwon As the temperature is dropping, it is getting harder to get up in the still-too-dark mornings, to wear less than three layers or eat ice cream outside. All the thought of winter, one might leap wildly about, excited for the upcoming holidays. Or rather, one might hide one’s face behind a scarf, unhappy with the cold. Since no one particularly likes to feel cold, regardless of the affinity for or aversion to the seasonal implications of winter, here are ways to stay warm.

1.

Bundle up: Instead of wearing just a T-shirt under a heavy coat, think multiple layers. It is still fashionable to layer clothes, allowing even the use of a portion of summer clothes, such as tank tops and camis. Layering is also the best way to trap body heat. If you feel chilly at home, even with longsleeves and long pants, keep a throw blanket nearby.

2.

Huddle up: Find someone to snuggle up with. Whether it is your pet, friends or family, the body heat will act as a heater. If all else fails, then yes, you can go hug your annoying little brother.

3.

Seal it shut: Even with the windows closed, cold air makes its way inside. Purchase insulation foam or fleece to fill the gaps along the sides. Draft stoppers work effectively in preventing cold air to flow through the possible gap beneath the door. These draft stoppers come in a variety of patterns and colors, including specific designs for the holiday season.

He started off as a part-time English teacher in Yokohama, Japan and taught 28 years there. He saw President Jimmy Carter in real life.

People always have stories to tell about their adventures in life; however, Mr. Dan Riley, the SIS band teacher, seems to hold the richest memories and experiences to share.

“I like Asia,” said Mr. Riley.

His experiences in Japan especially illustrate his admiration for an oriental lifestyle. In Yokohama, he started off as a part-time English teacher and then worked for the Yokohama International School (YIS) for 25 consecutive years.

In addition to his extensive teaching experience, Mr. Riley is familiar with playing in big bands.

He was part of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, one of the “top big band

leaders during the 1940s.” Mr. Riley speaks of his memories as a rather shy trombone player playing at such events as President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration. Mr. Riley recalled a humorous instance involving his more outgoing friends.

“It was during Jimmy Carter’s inaugural in 1977 at a hotel in Washington D.C.,” said Mr. Riley. “Before going on stage, the band members were together fooling around. Although Secret Service was there, my friends kept flirting with a woman, who turned out to be the daughter of Walter Mondale, forty-second Vice President of the US. I wasn’t flirting though, I wouldn’t do that,” said Mr. Riley with a hearty smile.

After spending time in Japan, Mr. Riley decided to come here for a new experience that ended up being similar, but different to Japan’s.

“When I see kids act in the hallways, I realize that they act very similarly to the kids in Yokohama,” he said. “I feel like I’m at home [Japan]. However, YIS had an international pool of students while SIS is strictly based on Korean Culture.”

As for his impression of SIS students, Mr. Riley said, “Kids are very nice here. They often get noisy, but they know they’re noisy. I feel that students here understand why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

Mr. Riley plans to teach band music at SIS for at least five years or even longer.

Photo by YOONIE KIM

4.

But not the mind: As important as it is to shut the openings of the home, it is imperative to open up the mind in preparation for the season of giving. Though charity may not physically warm up individuals, it will definitely help warm up the holidays for those less fortunate. And soon the hearts of the people will warm up.

5.

Stop. Drop. And Roll: No. There’s no fire, not literally anyway. It is a good idea to warm up the body by exercising. Whether it is a simple stretch or a game of basketball, you will feel your blood flowing in no time. So stop shivering, drop everything and roll around for some exercise.

6.

Drop. Everything. And. Read: Oh dear, that’s right.

You didn’t have DEAR time during English Week. Why not do something productive while you are snuggled up nicely in your bed? With the right book, you will be so absorbed that you won’t even notice the cold. And who knows, maybe for once you won’t be reading the assigned books the night before school starts.

7.

Spend some: When spending time outside, you might consider buying “sohn-nan-lo” or hot packs. You can get instant hot packs that are for one-time use only. It is advisable to, instead, buy roasted sweet potatoes or chestnuts that are sold on the streets; the price is probably the same, but sweet potatoes and chestnuts are not only warm, but are also delicious. Reusable gel hot packs are available, but after they have been heated up a couple times, they don’t work as well. Besides, you can’t eat them.

8. Save some: If you are low in cash, it is easy to make your own hot pack using tangerine peels. According to “Sponge,” a Korean TV show, this homemade hot pack works more effectively and for a longer period of time than the ones you buy at a store. After eating two or three tangerines, wrap the peels with a saran wrap and finally heat it up in a microwave for a minute. Voila, you have your very own hot pack.

Kristin’s

KitchenTaste-Off ☺☺☺☺

Walking Slowing (느리게 걷기) Tucked among high-fashion clothing stores in Chungdamdong, Walking Slowly is renowned for giving the Duk-Bok-Gi a luxurious makeover. The Chili Seafood Duk-Bok-Gi includes fresh prawns, scallops, and mussels covered in a sweet and spicy sauce with a hint of ketchup. However, what truly sets their Duk-Bok-Gi apart from others is the mozzarella cheese topping that adds a unique Western flavor to a traditionally Korean dish.

The Chili Seafood Duk-Bok-Gi is roughly ten times more expensive than the average street Duk-Bok-Gi at 20,000 won, but it was filling for my famished family of four. Also, don’t be intimidated by the waiters’ good looks and height, because it’s no coincidence: Walking Slowly is sponsored

by Model Line, one of the most successful model agencies in Korea.

Tel) 02-544-3082 Website: walkingslowly.co.kr

On this week’s menu:

Duk-Bok-Gi (rice cakes in red pepper sauce)!

☺☺☺☺☺

Pojangmacha Byungansway Located across Cine City in Apgujungdong next to Holy Chow, Byungansway is a modest and welcoming refuge for the health and budget-conscious. The owner and I go way back, and he swears that he has never used MSG in his Duk-Bok-Gi making career. When I informed him that I was writing about his stand, he laughed and told me to include that people should not expect the typical taste of DukBok-Gi at Byungansway. I must admit, his Duk-Bok-Gi is like no other: 20cm long rice cakes immersed in a rather watery red pepper sauce that are chopped into smaller pieces upon order. Humble Byungansway is a striking contrast to Walking Slowly, but I’ve given Byungansway a higher rating, for its one of a kind Duk-Bok-Gi taste comes at the wonderfully cheap price of 2000 won.

December 2008 Page 11

Lifestyle

Genre of music relates to personality of people Link: Research supports the connection between music tastes and personality types.

By Mellanie Ahn

Classical music fans and heavy metal fans have more in common than what many people predict. According to a recent study of 36,000 people from around the world, fans of both type of music are known to be gentle and confident with whom they are.

“The general public held a stereotype of metal fans being suicidally depressed and of being a danger to themselves and society in general,” said Professor Adrian North, the conductor of the study. “But they are quite delicate things.”

Similar to the stereotype people

held that Professor North had mentioned, the students of SIS held the same belief.

“I always thought that heavy metal fans were scary and depressed,” said Ellen Park (11). “I

seungho yang proudly presents

TIP OF MY HAT

1 | Michael Clayton: Directed and written by Tony Gilroy (screenwriter of the Bourne trilogy), Michael Clayton centers around a “fixer” who covers up for a predicament made by his old friend. During the process, he attempts to reveal corporate corruption in the agribusiness sector. The film is highly intelligent—perhaps a little too smart for casual moviegoers—for its development of intricate plot and George Clooney’s portrayal of Michael Clayton as the fixer is dead on. For fans of thrillers and Clooney, Michael Clayton is a must-watch.

2 | Naked by David Sedaris: A regular contributor to The New Yorker and NPR, David Sedaris narrates his colorful—but mostly bizarre—life in Naked. This autobiographical memoir spans from his OCD-infested, troubled childhood to his “Kerouackian” travel around the country. His prose, saturated with wit and humor, makes Naked a hilarious read that leaves readers captivated and laughing throughout the night and into the morning.

3 | Google Document: Google’s another ambitious web application, Google Document aims to replace desktop programs. Although Google Document is no replacement for Microsoft Word with issues regarding formatting, it has a unique feature that sets it apart from other office programs: collaboration. Google Doc allows multiple users to share a document and simultaneously edit and write in it. It is especially useful for group projects when you have to send multiple drafts of documents back and forth, or if you simply want to edit your document anywhere with Internet connection.

would have never imagined them to be gentle and calm.”

On the other hand, the music genre with the most negative personality is indie and acoustic. The fans of this genre are usually thought

to be gentle; however, contrary to popular belief, research shows that indie and acoustic fans have low self esteem, are lazy, not gentle, and have the highest suicide rate of all music types.

“There was always the common belief that [indie music fans] were gentle,” said Alex Park (11). “Because of the sounds of the mellow guitar, I expected them to be calm and easy going.”

According to a poll of 61 students from grades nine through 12, 26 percent listen to pop, 18 percent listen to rock and 19 percent listen to rap. Qualities of a rock fan are similar to those of a metal fan. However, pop music listeners are known to conform to society, have a high self esteem, and while not creative, are hard working and outgoing.

Before this research was conducted, people always hypothesized that there was a certain explanation for the type of music certain people are attracted to. Since this research, researchers are now able to claim that part of the explanation for the attraction is due to the different types of personalities people have.

Transportation information: How SISers prefer to get around and about Seoul What is your favorite mode of transportation?

City bus 1% School bus 13% Taxi 62% Subway 20% Walking 4% Why?

Cheaper 15% Faster 59% Quieter 9% Better fellow passengers 11% Good exercise 6%

By STEPHANIE CHAR Photos by ALEX KIM Graphic by MICHELLE YI

What is your least favorite mode of transportation?

City bus 9% School bus 9% Taxi 11% Subway 36% Why? Walking 35% Expensive 15% Slow 13% Noisy 21% Crowded 7% Tiring 44%

Page 12 December 2008

Lifestyle School merchandise World-wide economic crisis pulls on parents’ purse strings sale to boost spirit yet to be chosen, but there is a good possibility that the council may ask Many students walk around in the art students for some help.

Harvard sweatshirts, carry Penn wa“We are not saying that we are ter bottles, and write with Stanford limiting ourselves to art students pens. Seeing students carry these only,” said Nate Lee (12), senior items branded with college names, class vice president. “Anyone intersome question, “why not SIS?”In ested is welcomed to submit his or response, the HSSC has stepped her designs.” up and announced One of the that it is planning two main goals “Right now, we are to make SIS merof this ambitious chandise and sell prioritizing other events proposal is to it to students and and postponing the call up a sense of faculty members. [merchandise] plan,” school pride and Although the whole spirit. said Karen Kim (12) plan is still abstract, “By makthe senior council ing these items, sees a possibility in we hope to creturning it into reality sometime next ate a lively, spirited atmosphere in year. the SIS community,” said Daniel Oh “Right now, we are prioritiz- (12), senior class treasurer. ing other events and postponing the In addition to enlivening the [merchandise] plan,” said Karen general environment, the senior Kim (12), senior class president. council claimed that it wants to supAs of now, the senior council port the other councils with the profplans to develop a variety of items, it made from the merchandise sales. such as hoodies, t-shirts, magnets, “Although the whole thing is playing cards, desk calendars, and still hazy, we can assure students key chains. It is currently in search that the customized goods will be of online shops specializing in man- of the best quality and best design,” ufacturing custom-ordered goods. said Daniel.

The designers of these items are

By Jennifer Park

Encumbered: With the decrease in won value, SIS parents must invest more in their children.

By Janice Yoon

The economic recession in the US, in particular the sublime mortgage crisis, has reached the rest of the world, South Korea included.

A cycle of poverty now claims the lives of many Koreans. As individual assets such as houses lessened in monetary value, citizens fell into psychological depression.

This discontentment with the current national economy, as well as its relatively low standing in the international community, has resulted in less spending and consumption. As businesses’ target buyers are much more hesitant to make purchases and corporations are raking in less revenue, unemployment rates are soaring as countless workers are being laid off their jobs. These unfortunate individuals lack a source of income and are unable to support themselves or pay rent, further exacerbating the mortgage crisis.

Banks are no longer as willing to loan. People’s assets are less ap-

pealing and risky investments are no longer potentially worth it.

Korea lacks the economic recovery potential of nations such as the US, because it is largely exportdriven. With no stable overseas market, Korea looks unlikely to revive its economy and recover anytime in the near future. The US, on the other hand, has domestic industries and products it can sustain itself on.

Foreign investors have been pulling out of Korea’s economy, taking their dollars with them. Less money is presently in circulation in the Korean economy. With lower demand and consequently lower prices, Korea is now suffering from deflation.

In a simple world, the currency exchange ratio would be one dollar to 1,000 won. However, reality reflects the depreciation of the won.

Before the crisis, one dollar was worth around 950 won. As of early December, one dollar is approximately 1,450 won. To control the exchange rate, Korea signed onto an agreement with the US, in which the US agreed to exchange up to 30 billion dollars with won to increase the circulation of dollars is Korea and decrease the dollar’s relative value.

Ultimately, what the current ex-

change rate of one dollar to approximately 1,450 won entails is the need to pay more won.

Students traveling overseas to attend conferences or events need to pay more to reach their destinations. The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) costs 2,000,000 won and UNICEF’s winter trip to Cambodia is now 1,000,000 won. Last year, the trip to Cambodia was only 850,000 won.

According to the Los Angeles Times, college tuition increased by nearly six percent for students in the 2008 to 2009 school year. This situation could be worsened by the economic crisis next year, as state budgets and college donations were cut short by the stock market crash. The College Board reported in its annual college pricing survey that for fouryear private schools, the price rose 5.6 percent to 34,132 dollars. For 34,132 dollars, Korean parents must pay 49,491,400 won. If the US faces inflation in the near future, it will only lead to more pockets having to be further emptied to cover tuition.

SIS families’ biggest fear lies within the faltering economy—the possible inability to support ambitious students pursuing higher education.

The Slob’s guide to etiquette: Holiday Edition

By Vickie Ahn

The Slob’s guide to etiquette is back again to transform your holiday season. So, are you sick of the loving and caring atmosphere of Christmas? Think you need tips to actually start enjoying your winter vacation? Well then, follow these guidelines and throw in a few rude comments and you’ll enjoy a holiday season no one has ever dared to experience before.

Complain about the food and order pizza

The chefs in your family have spent all day in the kitchen preparing food for the biggest family gathering of the year. Unfortunately, your Aunt ‘Ida’, the worst cook you’ve ever known, has been helping out as well. At dinner, you point out how terrible her cooking is and dial the pizza dude’s phone number—he’ll provide you with an edible meal.

What? It’s not like she’ll be offended. Family members are supposed to be honest.

Don’t like the gift, return it

What was the person thinking when they got you the gift? If you don’t like it, tell the person that it’s an absolutely terrible present and that you don’t want it. Take the present (and of course the receipt) and say you’ll find something better for yourself.

Hey, you’re being the good fellow in pointing out poor gifting abilities; you’re saving someone from receiving such an awful present as you did.

Fall off the face of the earth

It’s the holidays; it’s not time to socialize. Family gatherings and parties--who needs them? They only add to the already large amount of stress you have. Sever all contact and lounge around at home. You’ll be unique. Everyone else in the world is celebrating with friends and family, and you’ll spend the holidays all alone. Very chic.

Wrap up your old t-shirt

It’s too cold outside and you’re too lazy to go out and shop for presents, so instead you start looking through the closet. Aha! You find an old shirt that you haven’t worn for a couple years. Perfect. Your friend won’t be offended by the lack of time and consideration you put into the present. And besides, it has the charm of being “vintage.” It’s only been washed one too many times and has

two fist sized holes at the bottom.

Be forgetful

It is okay to forget to buy presents for a couple of people. They won’t be hurt at all when you bring gifts for everybody else. Nonchalantly take what they bought for you and vaguely promise that you won’t forget to get theirs next year.

Buy rubbish

If you do remember happen to remember to get someone a present, don’t dwell on the idea too long.

Planning and buying presents for everyone is too much of a hassle.

Go to the nearest store and find the clearance corner—there’s bound to be something cheap and unwanted there.

Bring up sensitive topics at a family dinner

The family gathering is getting a bit boring--too much care and love! To solve this problem, bring up a sensitive topic that has always resulted in tension and broken hearts. Why not ask your cousin, who’s been a wreck since her last breakup, how her ex is doing? She’ll probably cry, but who cares? At least you’ll find it amusing.

Look back without joy

It’s the end of the year. Instead of celebrating the passing of another year, cry and mourn for another horrible year gone by. In addition, look back at this past year and critique every action you’ve done and sentence

you’ve said. Remember, it’s all about being negative and pessimistic.

Wipe that smile off your face

Your family is all smiles and complimenting you on how much you’ve grown and matured. How do you react? Simple. Don’t smile. There is absolutely no reason to be smiling and laughing. Holidays, who cares?

‘Tis the season to be jolly,’ I don’t think so, and you clearly shouldn’t either.

Art by Tracy Lee

December 2008 Page 13

Lifestyle Minor cases of obses- Recent dietary trend calls for more green and less sive organization Do

By Mellanie Ahn

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disease that affects many people of all ethnicities and genders. Those diagnosed with OCD, may take medication or even take extreme measures, and go into surgery.

From a distance, none of the students or faculty at SIS seems to possess the slightest cases of OCD but there are many individuals who stand out with their extraordinary organization skills and cleaning habits.

Being too organized or possessing clean habits may be tiring for the specific individual or people around the individual, but they are also beneficial to making successful students and prized faculty members.

“

The caps of the pens and erasers on the tip of the pencils have to be all lined up [in my pencil case]. It’s the same with my wallet. The faces on the bills have to be stacked in the same order and whenever my cards are out of its certain place I get annoyed.

Kristy Yoo (11)

”

“I don’t like loose paper

lying around. Whenever I see a mess of papers on a desk, I try to stack them up, so it won’t look that messy. My binders are pretty organized; the papers are all in the same direction.

Christopher Pak (10)

”

“

My organization has bothered other people more than it bothers me. I like to label everything. This way, students can find the supplies more easily. I value

YOU have OCD?

Many men and women unknowingly develop Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. each and every artwork of my students and I like to keep them in pristine condition for years to come so that they can look back at them. My house is as organized as my art room, except without the labels. I like to keep everything in the same place. Even my cat has adjusted to my [standards of living].

Ms. Azarea Dzinic, the art teacher

”

“

Showering two times a day isn’t a big deal to me, but people find it a bit abnormal. I shower once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I shower in the morning because at night my hair gets messy and I shower after school because I feel dirty and showering makes me feel cleansed and refreshed.

Paul Kim (11)

”

“

I don’t have OCD, but I am a bit obsessed with cleanliness. It’s just that I feel that my hands get dirty a lot. I carry around a hand sanitizer and spray during classes.

Ellen Park (11)

”

brown in daily menu

Art by Sarah Hong

By Gina Han

Stir fried pork and grilled chicken salad—the American menu on November 12. Seaweed soup with beef—the Korean menu on the same day. This may be happy lunch hour for the meat-lovers, but what about the vegetarians and vegans of the school?

True, there are not many.

However, some students and faculty members follow a restricted diet either for personal beliefs or biological reasons. Many schools in the USand Europe are encouraging lunch lines for the vegetarian and vegan student population. It may be time for J&J Catering to take a few steps that allow the vegetarians and vegans of SIS to occasionally forget bringing lunch from home.

One of the more important reasons students refuse to consume meat is environmental. According to the Whole Earth Vegetarian Catalogue, eating plants instead of animals help conserve non-renewable energy sources, water, agricultural resources, and reduce forest destruction: a lot of work done just by eating tofu and not pork.

“I have no issues with the way meat tastes. After all I like a juicy steak as much as the next person,” says Yujin Chung (12). “I stopped eating meat because of all of the recent research that reveals the negative environmental consequences of consuming red meat. The methane that cows produce is a significant contributor to greenhouse gases, and research shows that if everyone reduced their red meat consumption even by a little bit, they could help slow down global warming.”

Other reasons include health issues. Most meat is deficient in vitamins and is high in fat and cholesterol, which lead to heart problems.

Furthermore, the chances of being infected by pathogenic microorganisms are much higher in consuming meat than in consuming plants. Not to mention, there is also more violence involved in raising animals for food.

“I am against Factory Farming because it is inhumane to animals. I cannot make a statement against factory farming and the victimization of animals if I myself eat animals,” says Ms. Chandler Dayton, another vegetarian and an art teacher of the school. Ms. Dayton admits that she has been consuming small portions

of meat and fish during the past three years, however, for health concerns.

She says she has occasionally felt “anemic”; the same concern goes for Yujin Chung’s family, who, according to Yujin, does not support her diet.

The costs and benefits of a vegetarian or vegan diet are still being debated. In the meantime, J&J Catering may make a polite gesture and vary its meatless menu.

Sources: www.britishmeat.com www.cbsnews.com

Getting ready for Snowball night - its the best part

By Elizabeth Song

Once again, the time has come.

It is the time for dancing with extravagant dresses and tuxedos in a fancy hotel ballroom, with girls in their curly blow-dried hair and makeup and guys in their spiky hairdos. The time for Snowball has come.

Despite the common misconception, the most exciting part of Snowball is not the dance itself. It is actually the preparation process for this event that makes it interesting for everyone.

The whole point of getting ready is to be able to enter the ballroom as the most attractive and desirable person of the night.

Step 1: Getting a partner The first and foremost step is getting a partner. After all, one

would be spending the entire night one’s partner. Snowball comes only once a year. Thus, you would be spending time with someone in a very rare social setting.

So the point is, just get a partner. Whether he or she is your best friend of the opposite gender, your boyfriend or girlfriend, or your

friend’s boyfriend’s friend, just get one.

How? There are always people without dates out there. But beware, getting a partner is a race. Be quick.

Step 2: Getting dressed—the guys After getting a partner, the next step is to look your best. Obviously,

the outfit is the most important.

Every year most of the male population seems to wear the same black suits with white shirts and a tie underneath. The best way to go is to change one of the elements of the outfit. Simply changing the color of the shirt can have a large effect upon the overall look.

Getting dressed—the girls As for the females, the ultimate dress is one that flatters your shape.

However, try not to wear dresses that are too tight, no matter how great it may look, because dancing in it all evening will be a painful task.

So hurry along and get ready before it is too late.

Page 14 December 2008

Sports

Press Box

By PAUL CHO

December 3 Varsity Boys Basketball @ SIS 3:30 PM

The day after a game, SIS athletes often start the morning with people asking, “Did you guys lose?”

And the reality is that, more often than we would like, our basketball players would reply, “Yes.” At some point in the recent past, this reluctant yes has ceased to surprise us. Take a look at the old, fading championship banners hanging on the gym walls. They are ancient, most of them from more than a decade ago. No wonder students are disappointed by the school’s athletic performances. (Please let me clarify that it is not my intention to criticize anyone, especially those who have consistently proven their leverage.)

With this negative mentality, the spectators attended the KIS game on December 3 thinking, “If KIS wins, I would lose faith in our basketball team.” In fact, the crowd was expecting a free win. It was a close call, though; SIS beat KIS 50:49.

However, I want to praise the Tigers for their performance. Sure, KIS came in last place in the KAIAC league last year, and we were most expected to win. But more importantly, the Tigers managed to pull off an intense game. The crowd roared at each point scored and intently followed every pass and turnover. It was, in short, an entertaining game.

But the reactions afterward were less favorable. I found many people saying, “We barely beat KIS? Is this all we’ve got?” Despite the exciting game and the victory, students were unsatisfied and bitter,

Verb

Varisty Boys 3 wins 2 loss JV Boys 1 wins 4 loss

or simply ignorant. I wonder if they noticed at all the absence of the star players Brian Kim (12) and David Yi (11) from the court.

Although the team worried that their absence would be a heavy blow to the team’s performance, it filled the empty spots quite well.

Michael Jung (12) made sharp and quick passes to John Ho (12), who slid through the KIS defense and successfully added two points on the score board. Yoonsoo Yi (11) seemed confident and steady with his defense, and Paul Ho (11) managed to score a few hoops even though he is new to the team this season.

As an athlete myself, I know there is no such thing as an easy win. Ask the coaches or athletes, and they would all say that they have experienced a loss against the least expected opponent.

“We won,” said John Eun (11) varsity basketball player. “It doesn’t matter how; a win is still a win.”

True. Any game won fairly is a game well won, and every victory deserves praise. But for some reason, our school does not seem to believe so.

Clearly, there needs to be improvement in our view toward not only basketball, but team sports in general. Encouragement, faith, passion, and unity. With these attitudes, any game will be fun, regardless of the outcome.

Oh, on a side note, John Eun says he is motivated (he strongly insists that he is not angry at the school) to play harder and make the team stronger.

Stats Table Varisty Girls 1 wins 4 loss JV Girls 2 wins 3 loss

Total 7 wins 13 loss (0.35 PCT)

By Andrew Lim

LEADING SCORER 18.2 POINTS PER GAME

JOHN HO (12)

Photo by Jennifer Sun

The newly introduced tiger mascott dances to the music and waves his arms in the air during the pep rally, bringing out the school spirit in the athletes as well as the crowd.

Tigers start earlier and stronger than ever Anticipation: The soccer team has been preparing for the upcoming soccer season.

By Andrew Lim

“One team, one play” is the boys’ soccer team motto for the 2009 season, which is to commence shortly after the end of the winter basketball season. As the motto says, the team has been pushing to unify its plays, a drastic change from the past years which focused more on a few key players to lead the team’s plays on the field.

For the boys, the soccer season started early in the year during summer vacation. John Eom (12) and Steven Jang (10) organized monthly soccer matches against other schools to help the soccer team prepare for the KAIAC league starting in March.

In the last five months, the soccer team has played five different matches recording three wins, one draw, and one loss.

The most notable games were the three against the Korea International School (KIS) Phoenix. The boys were able to win two of the three games even with most of the to-be-starters absent at the games.

“A lot of our team was gone in the summer, but we still played other schools to develop our chemistry,” said Steven Jang (10). “Our summer game records show that we have been working hard throughout the year. I hope our efforts are rewarded in the actual season.”

As a matter of fact, the boys’ soccer team has been having official soccer boosters under the guidance of coach Mitchell Waters every Wednesday, and has had athletes train in the fitness center during the activity period to improve their muscular endurance. The traditional morning runs are scheduled to start after winter vacation.

There are reasons why the season started off 129 days earlier than it did last year.

Continuing the tradition of going overseas to participate in sports events, the soccer team is scheduled to travel to Osaka, Japan in March to compete against either the Canadian

Academy in Japan or Osaka International School, both former Japan Kanto league champions.

“We are not the biggest team,” said Mr. Waters. “But we do have the speed and skills, and hopefully the fitness to not only be competitive but to come out on top.”

In addition, 11 of the 22 members of last year’s soccer team have left; creating a big gap the young, newer athletes must fill.

“We lost a lot of our starting line up so we had to start training earlier to find replacements for last year’s starters” said John Eom (12), the captain of the soccer team.

“With the level of preparation as we are doing right now, we may just be able to pull something pretty amazing off.”

With good preparation and overwhelming enthusiasm evident in the soccer team, it seems like it is all left to the players to be able to show the skills they polished for the past months.

“I know that we can win but it is up to the players to come together and work as a team so we can bring home the tournament trophy to SIS” said Mr. Waters.

Sports Photo of the Month

by Jennifer Sun

December 2008 Page 15

Entertainment

Winter Musicality Strings

Hosted on December 2, the Strings concert, directed by Ms. Julia Kim, involved the middle school and the high school String Ensembles. The high school String Ensemble prepared three pieces for the audience, which were “Palladio,” “Concerto 1st Movement,” and “Concerto 3rd Movement.” In this year’s winter concert, many soloists performed in these selected pieces. In “Concerto 1st Movement,” Jeong Im (9), Yoonha Chung (10) and Sarah Park (12) were some of the soloists who were featured. In addition, lead violinist Lauren Kim (12) was featured in “Concerto 3rd Movement” and demonstrated her musicianship as the first chair. Some students thought that this new system was beneficial to them.

Photo by Jennifer Sun

The actors Sandra Kim (12), Alex Jeong (11) and Kevin Kim (11) in the play, Twelve Angry Jurors debate over the fate of the defendant, who was accused of his father’s murder.

“12 Angry Jurors” well received during English Week

By Andrew Hwang

On November 12 and 13, the cast and crew, members of the Drama Club, curtsied and bowed to wild applause as they finished delivering 12 Angry Jurors, their first largescale work of the year.

The play, based on of the original work Twelve Angry Men written

by Reginald Rose in 1954, had students play the parts of twelve jurors who are given the task of deciding the guilt or innocence of a 19-yearold boy accused of murdering his father. But several notable departures were made from the original production, such as the addition of female jurors along with the accompanying change in the title to the gender-neutral 12 Angry Jurors.

“Having females really brings something new to the play,” said Mr. John Rider, drama coach. “Characters have had to change their characteristics, and there’s another dy-

namic in character portrayal.”

Mr. Rider also made the decision to have all the actors wear masks and makeup over their faces.

“They helped develop our character, away from mere facial expressions where the actors can mislead some people,” said Alex Jeong (11), who played the role of Juror No. 9 in the play. “It was really an experiment, because masks wouldn’t be a crucial aspect of this play, but I think we did a good job.”

Audience turnout was high, especially on the second day of the performance as students spread word of the first day’s success. The production also piqued interest from the ninth grade, as they had been studying the original play in their General Literature classes only weeks earlier.

“When we read it during class, we did put some voice to the characters, but we never acted it out,” said Sara Espelund (9). “I wanted to see

how the actual play would look like.

I think it went really well.”

Feedback for the play has been overwhelmingly positive, said Mr. Rider.

“They acted really well, as if they were real, professional actors.

In the play, the people we knew, who we’re with everyday, were not the same,” said Albert Park (10).

“They were totally different people, which made the play a lot of fun to watch.”

But the smooth performances of the actors during English Week belied to most their comparatively rough and hectic practice schedules.

“Our final dress rehearsal on Tuesday… was more like “Twelve Angry Jurors for the Deaf”, with the students just looking around,” Mr. Rider joked. “But they really shaped up in time. All they had was eight rehearsals… so it says a lot about how good these students really are.”

Choir

Hosted on December 4, the winter choir concert directed by Ms. Coleen Peterson involved three groups, which were the middle school choir, Ladies Choir and the Ambassadors. The Ladies Choir prepared four songs this year: “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” “A La Nanita Nana,” “Traditional Hebrew Song” and “This Little Babe.”

Band

With Mr. Daniel Riley directing the band concert, which was hosted on December 11, the middle school bands, the high school Advanced Band, the middle school jazz band and the high school jazz band provided the audience an opportunity to enjoy band music in full scale. The Advanced Band, the largest group with 65 musicians, prepared four pieces for the audience, which were “Rough Riders,” “Double Happiness,” “Air for Band” and “Holiday Greetings.” The Advanced Band this year also provided some special features in “Double Happiness” with Sungho Song (10) on the trumpet and Stephanie Kwak (11) on the piccolo.

Written by Michael Chung Graphics by Paul Cho

HSSC encounters miscommunication during Thanksgiving Challenge: HSSC faces conflict during Thanksgiving Feast.

By Mellanie Ahn

Previously known as the Tiger Idol, the first SIS Got Talent show was designed to display a variety of talents that are not only limited to singing but also dancing and band performances. Many students considered the overall Thanksgiving event a success, because of a considerably wide range of entertaining performances and better quality food. However the audiences remained unaware of the conflicts the HSSC ran into during the event.

The new installment of the XXX system was just one of the challenges the HSSC confronted.

The X system, in which a judge has the opportunity to express his or her disapproval of the performer during the performance, was supposed to be designed for humor. However,

things did not go as planned. Consequently, one of the performers cried offstage.

“There was a lot of miscommunication,” said Ms. Allison Schmidtke, the junior council advisor. “Even though a performance [receives] three X’s, they were still supposed to finish their performances, [not get escorted off stage.] That is why Ryan Jeon, [one of the dancers], got to redo his performance.”

Ms. Schmidtke also said that the characters the judges were supposed act out were designed to be humorous, but she felt that their feedback was a little hard on the underclassmen performers.

“I hope we made it clear that the judges were not trying to come off as harsh,” said Mr. John Rider, one of the judges of the performances. “[The judges] were trying to be the actual characters of the show, [American Idol]. I was acting the part of the ‘evil Simon’ Rider.”

Another challenge the HSSC faced was the timing of the transitional periods between the perfor-

mances and the feast. Originally, the food was supposed to be prepared by 7:30, but due to ambiguous instructions, the HSSC members were told to end the show at 6:30. Thus the members had to cut off several performances and deny the senior band an extra song.

“I mean the events were all planned out,” said Michelle Ryu (11), one of the two MC’s of the performances. “I was really [annoyed] about how we had to deny the senior band another song. The MC’s were told strictly to allow only one song from each contestant.”

However, when the performances did end at 6:30, the HSSC members were then told to extend thirty more minutes due to the delay of food preparations. Thus Jongseok Kim (12) and Eric Kim (12), President and Historian of the executive council, respectively, decided to do an impromptu stand-up comedy performance on stage.

“The performances were better than last year,” said Chris Yang (11). “Everyone seemed to enjoy

it. But then the waiting period from the end of [the performances] to the feast was too long and many people were bored of waiting.”

Despite the challenges and frustration the HSSC faced offstage, the audience did not notice the problems that the HSSC had faced and considered the event a much more improved version of the show from the previous years.

“I was impressed with the quality of every performance,” said Mr. Rider. “SIS has got alot of unrealized talent…We judged by the quality of the performance and the amount of consideration the performers had for the audience.

[Since] Apollo was more about their audience, they won.”

Mr. Rider also said that he was pleased to see more adventurers and risk takers in the school. He then cited Ryan Jeon as an example of a daring competitor of the contest and the dance club as an example of creativity shown during the performances.

Photo by Jennifer Park

Photo by Jennifer Park

Page 16

December 2008

Small Talk Zabeth’s Zappy Dizney Zone We all have a bit of a Scrooge inside.

We have all had our times of fighting with others. Those times resulted in having at least some animosity towards one another, such as when you fought over who gets to use the bathroom first every morning.

There are some cases in which these small battles become full-scale wars, forming enemies with absolute revulsion for one another for a long time.

Although Scrooge is an abnormally severe case in which he is hateful towards everyone, we, as human beings, also cannot always get along with one another.

As another year is coming to an end, maybe it is time to reflect upon our relationships with others.

In “The Christmas Carol,” Scrooge’s nephew, Fred comes to Scrooge’s shop to invite his uncle over for Christmas dinner but is immediately yelled at to leave the shop.

But after being enlightened by the three spirits that guide him through his past, Scrooge rekindles the flame of love and hope that once existed in him and unexpectedly joins his nephew’s dinner.

Instead of shooing Scrooge away like most people would do, Fred forgives, or rather, forgets everything Scrooge did, and welcomes him into the family.

Evidently, by Christmas day, Scrooge and Fred are finally on the same page.

As Scrooge realized on Christmas Eve, life is simply too short to stay resentful toward others and have an uncomfortable tension with them. If we fail to notice how fast our lives pass, by the end, we will come to grasp the notion of how ridiculous these tensions were in the scope of our entire lives.

So, as we see that another year has quickly flown by and think about the past year and our relationships, maybe it is time to settle the hostilities with those who have hurt us and welcome them just as Fred did.

Forgive or forget, you choose. Either way, it will be worth it.

Char Chat

transcribed by Stephanie Char

We join our two intrepid egg packers—intrepid because they ventured into the shark-eat-shark barnyard of egg packing, eggs because they could not possibly fit chickens into those tiny cartons, and packers because there is generally not much demand for unpackers—for the very first time ever in the biggest pile of eggs they have ever seen.  Just look! (Picks up a brown speckled egg) We’ve landed ourselves a delicious job: airy, fresh, even aesthetically pleasing. So different from that baby formula factory we were at last week! (Waves an egg precariously) These eggs could be a still life, or become the pop art trend. Not at all like contaminated milk.  We’re not here to revolutionize art…we’re here to separate the good from the bad and earn our keep by placing them carefully into these recyclable cartons.  …I suppose so. All the same, there’s a great deal to be said for sob jatisfaction.

It improves morale, production, profit, happiness…  (Dryly) It brings about world peace too, doesn’t it?  (Exuberantly) Of course! The big things all add up to the small. (Pushes eggs into a carton, then suspiciously) You weren’t being sarcastic, were you?  Oh, no. I’m about as sarcastic as this egg is hexagonal.  (Eyeing egg dubiously) I can’t see very well from this angle, but…isn’t it octagonal?  (Exasperated) Nevermind.  Perhaps decagonal. The contours are much more subtle than they are at glirst fance.  Your precious factory is not as fresh and airy as it is at glirst fance either.  Glirst fance?  (Embarrassed) Glance first; first glance. You’re throwing me off with your atrocious—  But how is this not the perfect work environment? I can imagine a hard boiled egg party in here. The elusive scrambled egg could even make an appearance.  Yes, as could the elusive melamine. (Triumphantly stacks filled cartons)  Melanin? Of course! It’s in our hair and skin…even I have taken basic biology.  (Enunciating) Me-la-mine. Not me-la-nin.  Melanmine? (Utterly confused, removing eggs from cartons) What is that? It’s not like melamine, is it?  Melanmine?—no—I mean yes, melamine—  (Babbling) I mean, I hated packing all that milk containing melamine…it gives me shudders just thinking about it. Not like these wholesome, organic eggs.

(Brushes off an egg)  (Spitefully, pointing) Actually, that egg probably contains melamine. Me-lamine.  (Aghast) What? No! How?  (Shrugging) How’s that sob jatisfaction going now?  (Disappointed, drops an egg) And yesterday the world seemed to be running so well…fried eggs for breakfast, egg salad sandwiches for lunch, egg jjim for dinner. Why, that means we were paid in melamine when we were paid in eggs!  Why…yes. (Less triumphant, dejected) (Sees co-worker hauling cartons outside) What are you doing? You can’t quit—we have a contract!  I’m going to egg the factory office and put these to good use.  What’s the use in that? (Hopelessly) They’ll just send us to seal pet food next.  (Gleefully) Well, I shall thoroughly enjoy it! Besides, I always knew it was important to stay sunny side up.

By Elizabeth Song

SIS: Sabjil Central sab-jil \sab-jil\ n (1) sab: shovel, jil: digging process in itself (2) act of undertaking time-consuming tasks deemed entirely pointless Korean culture revolves largely around a required, nondiscriminatory respect for all the elderly. This includes the wrinkly women who wage wars for seats on the subway, sitting on top of others as a last resort, as well as the unruly, middle-aged men who take sport in spitting on the sidewalk. This respect lies on the premise that the older one is, the more experienced... in shoving and spitting.

The Korean military demands such respect at an even higher level, which ultimately led to the creation and usage of the word sabjil in its most literal sense.

Senior soldiers, quite the sadists, ordered drafted young men to grab shovels and start digging ditches. Obediently, the first-years dug for hours on end without any complaints. When it reached the point where it seemed as though if they were to dig any deeper, they would resurface on the other side of the world, the seniors told them to get out of their glorious hole. They were then told to quickly fill it again with dirt. Dig, only to undo. The seniors’ justification? Hardcore discipline.

Beyond barbed wires in the real world, the word sabjil also has a place on construction sites. Profit-driven contractors on tight schedules and budgets oftentimes shut down heavy machinery to save dough, doling out shovels instead and insisting workers do some manual digging.

Although no students at SIS are forced to perform back-

breaking work with real shovels, sabjil has become a part of the school’s lingo, used figuratively.

SIS’ infamous workload is overwhelming. Students find themselves prioritizing homework on the basis of how much each assignment is worth in terms of grades. Those assignments at the bottom of the list are deemed unnecessary and quite frankly, annoying. These allegedly useless tasks are then beefed up with professional procrastination. This killer combination results in resorting to sabjil-ing.

The assignments handed out by teachers are intended to increase awareness and knowledge. However, when such good intentions are met by poor execution from students, there is an inherent loss in value of schoolwork. In completing merely for the sake of marks, and not to gain any educational merit, sabjil-minded students lose sight of the purpose of learning… yes, really, there is a point to pulling all those all-nighters.

After spending hours annotating only to realize the texts are not being graded, students declare a night wasted sabjil-ing because their hard work supposedly did not pay off. Many are guilty of forgetting that there is more to studying than the double, or single, digit number on a report card and that when we look back fondly to our younger years, what will remain with us is not the fact that we missed receiving an ‘A’ first semester by 0.01 percent, but the life lessons learned via Huckleberry Finn’s adventure down the Mississippi River.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. The same goes for sabjil. What you do is only sabjil if you believe it to be… unless, of course, you are stuck in a ditch digging as though your life depends on it. Now, that’s sabjil. Literally.