18 COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14, 2009

’Tis the season

Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily
for seriously
living of expatriates.
It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
To share stories about your life abroad, send stories
or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at
mattlamers@heraldm.com
infused soju
Submissions may be edited for length or clarity. product tastes earthy and spicy
with a dash of cool. The other jar
required a little more work.
I took an empty pizza box and
cut a large window out of the

Three teacher By Joe McPherson

Infusing vodka at home has

been the trend in the west as of
top. I cut some holes on the
sides. Then I lined the inside
with aluminum foil and covered
the “window” with plastic wrap.

training tips
late. In Korea, people traditional-
ly make fruit-infused soju around
autumn, when there is plenty of
fruit lying around after harvest
that needs to be preserved. Since
When the sun comes out any-
time this autumn, I have a
homemade solar-powered dehy-
drator. Feel free to purchase a
thermometer to keep track of

that will work this is a national hobby, the

By George R. Hogan
Ask the expat
I recently became the head
teacher at my school and now
have to train all the new teach-
ers. The problem is that I’m not
too sure how to do it. Do you
have any quick advice for me?
Proper training can make or
break a school and a proper wel-
come to Korea can make it or
break it for a new teacher. And
since you’re the new head teacher,
your ability to train properly can
make or break you. Unfortunately,
much more of this success has to
do with them rather than you, but
there are a few things that you can
do to ensure you’ll have a decent
team of teachers.
Expectations game
Clearly laying out what is and
isn’t expected of the teacher is
very important. I’m not talking
about contractual expectations
like being on time or dress code,
but more about what a teacher
can expect to happen when he
gets in the class. They need to
Proper training can make or break a school.
understand what the directors,
parents and students want from
their teacher. Sure, solid
English education is para-
mount, however there are other
hidden expectations that stu-
dents want. For example, if you
teach adults then you need to
know that teaching your own
life and telling your own stories
is not acceptable if unsolicited.
I also let them know some of
the stereotypes that exist of
English teachers. If you present
it in a constructive way, then they
shouldn’t harbor any anger
against Koreans. Sometimes you
have a new teacher who has nev-
er been out of their country before
and you can tell they are a little
hot-headed. I like to take them
down a notch. It was good for me
as well.
Discussing weekend con-
quests and boozing is off-limits.
It seems pretty clear, but I can
guarantee that those of you who
are also managers have had to
discuss this issue again and
again with staff. The student-
teacher relationship is held to a
higher standard in Korea, so
treat it as such.
If you happen to teach kids,
then you’ve got to play to the
parents expectations, which, in
many cases, are to be an enter-
taining and educating figure
that pays extra close attention
to “their” student. Sounds im-
possible, right? Not if you’re
good at controlling perception.
Attainable goals
Students don’t actually know
their goals. Kids are sent into
class to learn English so they
can do well on tests. You should-
n’t care about that. Adults enroll
so they can become “fluent” or
communicate with international
clients. You shouldn’t care about
those, either. Those goals are not
real goals when it comes to lan-
guage education. Fluency is a
dream that might be reached,
but when you set the bar that
high, you’re certain to fail.
Teachers need to set goals for
their students. Learning a lan-
guage is a slow and grueling
process and taking on too much at
once is a mistake. Set an attain-
able goal for students (like mas-
tering past and future tense for
kids; or having a flawless confer-
ence call for adults). Remember,
Koreans see a lot of value in com-
pleting educational tasks and
reaching preset goals. Once they
hit that goal, reward them.
Don’t over-train
Those of us who have been in
the industry or in Korea for a
while have the tendency to over-
load newcomers with informa-
tion. I do it all the time and have
learned that it stresses people
out and makes them feel like
they’re too far behind to even
have a shot at success. As we all
know by now, technical training
for teachers is less about train-
ing and more about trial-by-er-
ror. So, have them observe a few
classes, talk to a few teachers
and write a few lesson plans.
They’ll get the hang of it soon.
In the end, I think it’s about the
circle of friends they begin with. I
came in at a kid’s hagwon and
met some great people.
Many of them are still here to-
day. They set the tone for me.
They were typically upbeat about
Korea, so that made its way to
me. My biggest concern is that
teachers arrive in Korea and find
themselves in a small hagwon
with few or no other foreign
teachers. That can lead to isola-
tion real quick, which makes
teachers unhappy which, of
course, leads to poor perfor-
mance.
For more of George R. Hogan’s
writings, go to www.asktheex-
pat.blogspot.com — Ed.
Photos by Valerie Pergay
Italy-approved pizza
By Valerie Pergay
Italian cuisine is the most common cuisine
found in restaurants all over the world. So with
another Italian restaurant opening in Seoul,
what’s the big deal, you might ask.
The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo opened in
May 2009. Salvatore Cuomo was born in
Naples to an Italian chef father and a Japanese
mother. The Salvatore Cuomo brand has sever-
al branches in Japan, one in Shanghai and now
one in Seoul.
The Kitchen specializes in authentic pizza.
With the plethora of choices today from cheese
filled crust pizza, pan pizza, even multi layer
pizzas within a pizza, who knows what au-
thentic pizza really looks like?
Pizza originated from Naples. The Italian
government has considered their prized inven-
tion a “DOC” (d’origine controllata) product. As
Champagne only comes from the Champagne
region of France, no one can claim to serve
Neapolitan pizza without being authorized by
the “Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.”
The “True Neapolitan Pizza Association” has
set a specific set of rules in cooking pizza to be
considered and verified a real, authentic
Neapolitan pizza.
Such rules include: kneading the pizza
dough by hand without the use of rolling pins;
must be 35 cm in diameter; center thickness
should be no more than 3 mm; baked at 485 de-
grees Celsius for no more than 60 to 90 seconds
in a domed wood fired oven.
The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo is the first in
Korea to be recognized by the AVPN and is the
300th restaurant in the world to serve true
Neapolitan pizza.
The DOC pizza consisted of cherry tomatoes,
fresh basil and melt-in-your mouth bocconcini.
Bocconcini means little mouthfuls of fresh
Mozzarella di Bufala, another DOC product. It
is made of buffalo milk and fresh cream result-
ing in softer consistency compared to cow’s
milk mozzarella. The roasted cherry tomatoes
oozed with juice and busted with flavor. The
dough exuding a light fragrance of wood was
light and springy. I normally don’t eat the crust
but this was an exception. I have had my share
of pizza from various Italian owned restau-
rants in Seoul, but the Kitchen’s pizza is by far
the best I’ve had.
What sets the Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo
aside from other Italian restaurants in Seoul is
quality. Most restaurants make the simple
“Insalata Caprese,” a salad composed of toma-
to, mozzarella and basil. The majority use
cheap rubbery mozzarella and tasteless beef
tomatoes. The Kitchen only uses the best in-
gredients of fresh bocconcini, vine ripe toma-
toes and basil making this tricolor salad as
they do in Capri.
The Kitchen also receives a shipment of fresh
seafood from Busan every morning. Eating the
Pasta alla Pescatore brings back happy memo-
ries of summers spent off the coast of southern
Italy.
Quality extends to its staff training as well.
The chefs were trained in Japan under
Salvatore’s wing for one year before opening. In
Seoul, they are supervised by master chef
Yoshino, considered Salvatore’s right hand
man. There are four managers, also trained in
Japan, who maintain efficient flow throughout
the service.
I was already full from lunch, but a cup of
coffee would not appease my sweet tooth so I
opted for the Affogato. It’s a delicious concoc-
tion of homemade vanilla gelato, with crumbs
of almond biscotti served with a shot of espres-
so that you pour over the ice cream and eat im-
mediately. This caffeine-infused delight was re-
freshing on a crisp autumn day. Even more
pleasant was the recession-friendly price of
33,000 won for this set menu.
The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo is located in
Apgujeong near Dosan Park. To make reserva-
tions, call (02) 3447-0071 or check out
www.kitchensalvatore.kr for more information.
(vvalkenburgh@yahoo.fr)
equipment and ingredients you
need are easily available.
You need a jar for infusing the
soju. There are some gorgeous
jars designed just for that. Some
say you need a large jar, but I
disagree. Only get the size that
you think you’ll need. Make
sure it has a good seal and a
non-metallic lid.
After that, you need the soju
itself. Yet don’t use just any
In Korea, people traditionally makefruit-
infused soju around autumn, w hen thereis
plenty of fruitlying around after harvest.
green bottled soju. Large multi-
liter plastic jugs of the lethal
liquor are at the market just for
this purpose, and at a higher
proof to boot. And you thought
that they were for people with se-
rious alcohol problems. Look for
the big plastic jugs with 25 per-
cent labeled on them. Sometimes
they come as kits, complete with
sugar. You don’t need the sugar
for what we’re doing.
You can infuse the soju with
whatever vegetable or spice
matter you wish. Lemons work
great, as do kiwis. It also works
great with ginseng roots. Just
clean them, cut them up and put
them in your sterilized jar, along
with enough soju to cover them.
Let’s have some fun with this,
shall we?
Here’s my experiment. In one
jar, I placed three stalks of
sliced celery and a small hand-
ful of black peppercorns. Filled
it up with soju and sealed it.
Celery and pepper? There’s a
purpose for this. In fact, it’s not
a totally original idea. There’s a
popular celery and black pepper
vodka out there. The finished
the temperature. Put it in a
place where it can face south to
get the best exposure.
I sliced up some red, red
tomatoes and put them in the
box, angling at the sun.
The other option works if you
have an oven, whether full-sized
or a toaster oven with tempera-
ture controls. Put the sliced
tomatoes on some aluminum foil
and place them in the oven at the
lowest setting possible, ideally
100-degrees Celsius. Dry them
for around six hours, checking to
see if any parts are scorching.
Now you have some dried
tomatoes, which can be thrown
in pasta salad, pureed into a
pesto or just eaten straight as a
highly addictive snack. For our
purposes, we’re throwing them
in a jar and pouring in some soju.
Keep the infusing soju jars in
a dark cool place. Shake them
vigorously once a day and taste
them daily until they reach a
desired flavor. When finished,
strain the soju into sterilized
glass containers and chill. When
chilled, pour in a shot glass two-
thirds dried tomato soju and
one-third pepper-celery soju.
Throw in a dash of hot sauce
and smear a smidgen of wasabi
on the lip of the shot glass.
What you have there is the in-
fused soju version of a Bloody
Mary.
Enjoy.
For more of Joe McPherson’s
writings, go to www.zenkim-
chi.com — Ed.

In focus: Coping with low available light

The Photo Challenge is spon-
sored by Hyosung Camera
(English: 010-7203-9599) and
Babo Shirts (www.babo-
shirts.com). Winners of the week-
ly competition receive a 50,000
won store credit at Hyosung
Camera and a Babo Shirt. To
take part in the competition,
simply upload your photo at
w w w. f l i c k r. c o m / g r o u p s / -
seoulphotoclub — Ed.
By Aaron Raisey
What do you do in the dark?
Or to be a little more specific,
when you are out there with
your camera, how do you cope
with situations that are a bit
dim, such as a city street at
PHOTO CHALLENGE WINNER — Weekly winner — A water bowl at night or the interior of a bar? It’s
Cheonggye Temple, Uiwang, Gyeonggi-do, on Oct. 3 Chris Mockford a no-brainer, right? Just pop up
the flash and we’re good — our
subjects are well lit, no problem
with blurry slow shutter speeds,
great!
But have you noticed in these
flash-captured pics that your sub-
jects are often harshly lit, or the
background is very dark, or all
the character and feel of the situ-
ation has been washed away?
You could purchase a clip-on
flash unit, which would give you
a bit more control over the light
you supply, but we’re going to
look at an alternative, that
when employed effectively, can
deliver stunning results, other-
wise unachievable.
Low available light photogra-
phy is shooting in very low light
conditions using only the illumi-
nation that the environment
provides. Basically, all you need
are a fast lens, a high ISO and a
steady hand.
The kit lens that came with
your DSLR is likely to be too
slow to be effective; we need a
fast lens with an aperture of at
least f/2. The lower the f-num-
ber, the more light gets in and
we need as much light through
that lens as we can get. An aper-
ture of f/1.8 is good and f/1.4 or
even less is better (but much
more expensive). Fortunately,
most camera manufacturers
make a relatively cheap but fast
50 mm lens ideal for this kind of
photography.
Once we have a fast lens we
need to get out of auto mode. If
we let the camera make the de-
cisions, then it will make choic-
es that don’t suit our purposes
such as popping up the flash or
selecting a shutter speed that is
too slow. Aperture priority mode
is the way to go, as we want to
stay locked onto the aperture of
our choosing.
Select a high ISO value. Not a
problem with today’s DSLRs —
anywhere from 800 ISO up-
wards will be ideal. The higher
the ISO, the more sensitive to
light the camera’s sensor be-
comes.
In practice, what we can do is
this: set the aperture at 2.8, the
ISO at 800, look through the
viewfinder and depress the
shutter half-way. The camera
determines the shutter speed
and displays it in the viewfind-
er. Now we can make adjust-
ments if necessary. We’re look-
ing for a shutter speed that we
can hand-hold without blur
from camera shake. Anywhere
from 1/8th (with a steady hand
and practice) up to 1/60th are
typical in these low light condi-
tions. If the shutter speed is too
slow we can raise it by going to
an aperture of f/2 or f/1.8 and/or
raising the ISO value again. A
little knowledge on how to use
exposure compensation is also
useful for tweaking the shutter
speed.
A couple of other tips to get
the most out of low light are to
ensure that your subject doesn’t
have a bright light source close
behind them, and if you can get
some colored lights behind your
subject (perhaps down the road
or a bit further down the bar)
you will get some super back-
ground effects.
It takes a bit of skill devel-
oped through practice and a lit-
tle patience, but the results can
be truly amazing.
(raisey@hanmail.net)