18 COMMUNITY TUESDAY NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily

living of expatriates.
It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
To share stories about your life abroad, send stories
or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at
mattlamers@heraldm.com
Submissions may be edited for length or clarity.

De-fragmenting
expat community
By Rob Ouwehand
A well-known commentator on
Korea often compares organizing
expats to herding cats: there are
simply too many groups in Korea,
here for too many different rea-
sons, to ever form a coherent
community. Fragmentation is a
sad fact of life, and attempting to
organize is a waste of effort.
Despite that, a few people de-
cided to buck that wisdom, and
form a group: along with dozens
of Facebook, academic, profes-
sional and social groups, The
Association for Teachers of
English in Korea, ATEK, is now
officially organized and operat-
ing, campaigning for member-
ship, and establishing a stronger
foundation to represent their
members.
Members of certain online fo-
rums didn’t feel this organization
represented them, and railed
against the effort to form a more
integrated English teacher com-
munity. That time, rifts formed
between the different classes of
visa: the F-series (long term resi-
dent or married) and the E-series
(work or study visa). Because
they had different reasons for be-
ing here, different goals for their
time here, because they needed
different things from an organi-
zation, how could one English
teachers’ organization possibly
represent both classes of visa?
From time to time on the
English language comment
boards, a similar sentiment arises
between long and short-term ex-
pats: some of the veterans get tired
of dealing with groups of newcom-
ers, always explaining the same
things each year to another new
set of colleagues. Some, especially
those who can speak Korean, feel
they have less in common with
other expats, and leave them to
fend for themselves.
Meanwhile, business people feel
little in common with English
teachers, divisions form along na-
tionality lines, those teaching in
different types of workplaces stick
to their own, and that isn’t even
mentioning expats from other re-
gions of the world: Southeast-
Asian factory workers and country
wives, and diplomats and scholars
from all over.
The final result is the same:
the expat community fragments.
This should not be so. Now this
is not an unrealistic call for
everyone to join hands and sing
kumbaya, nor is it meant to dis-
parage the neighborhood and
coworker connections that natu-
rally develop, but as expats, there
are things we can do for each oth-
er that we haven’t so far.
First of all, expats of any stripe
need to recognize that, for all our
differences, we have a lot in com-
mon. When a story like Bonojit
Hussain, who was victim of a
racist attack on a bus, appears,
we owe it to ourselves to give him
support, however we can. The
same goes for racial discrimina-
tion or scapegoating in business,
in government, or in the media,
because even if it’s not our sub-
group this time, next time it
could be. Racism doesn’t stop to
check visa status, years in coun-
try, skill with children, diligence
on the job, or ability to eat spicy
food: We’re in this together.
Next, we need to get our sub-
groups organized, not necessarily
to make bold political actions, but
so we can stay on top of events
relevant to our community, and
respond appropriately. One rea-
son a group like the Anti-English
Spectrum has managed to grow
so large, and operate so effective-
ly in setting the terms for how
English teachers have been por-
trayed in the media and, now in
the national assembly, is because
English teachers had no orga-
nized response to them, and no
organization with the ability to
mount one, and provide a con-
trasting view to the fear-monger-
ing. Sure, many individual teach-
ers were very good ambassadors
in their individual situations, but
those scapegoating us were orga-
nized, mobilized, with access to
Korea’s mass media — and we had
no answer.
Groups that can respond the
next time our community, or
members of it, are vilified, stereo-
typed or mistreated, need to be in
existence, and ready to either act,
or to support the actions or needs
of other groups. Some already do
exist, and when others try to im-
prove those networks, or start a
new initiative, we would do well
to start off by offering support,
rather than immediately seeking
out flaws, criticizing bitterly,
waiting for impossible perfection,
and at the same time tearing
down the well-meant and earnest
efforts of those who do try some-
thing.
Finally, we need to take owner-
ship of our own groups. Though it
will happen again when the cur-
rent novice is replaced with an-
other, long-term expats need to
continue providing guidance, ad-
vice and information to newcom-
ers, connect them with the bigger
picture, and encourage them to
think ahead, and act in a way
that will leave the expat commu-
nity in better shape than it was
when they found it, for the sake
of the next batch of newcomers.
While many long-term expats
complain about having to rein-
vent the wheel every time anoth-
er fresh-faced newbie arrives,
making these kinds of efforts
might be exactly what improves
the community’s coherence and,
as a result, the retention rate, so
that by investing that time, they
ultimately won’t have to repeat
themselves quite so often.
For more of Rob Ouwehand’s
writings, go to http://roboseyo.
blogspot.com — Ed.
A country road in Gosan, North Jeolla Province Photo by Oh Tae-kyoung
A last gasp This week could be your last
chance to get out of the city and me-
ander through a beautiful fall-col-
ored forest.
And with last week’s pre-winter
preview of what’s in store for the next
four months, don’t expect to be the
of autumn only one wherever you decide to go.
If you’re in the Seoul area, top of
the list is Nami Island. Although
it’s a manufactured type of beauty,
it’s definitely worth a trip. The two
best times to go are in the autumn
and when it’s covered with a blan-
ket of snow. To get there from Seoul,
take a train to Gapyeong Station,
and then jump in a taxi to the ferry
dock. Admission includes a round-
trip ferry ride: 5,000 won for adults
and 2,500 won for children.
Photographers still chasing beau-
tiful autumn portraits will want to
head to Duryunsan, South Jeolla
Province, Mudeungsan Provincial
Park, South Jeolla Province, or
Naejangsan in North Jeolla
Province.
Some say Naejang Mountain is
one of the best places to go to see
autumn’s changing leaves. To get
there from Jeongeup City Bus
Terminal, take No. 171 for
Naejangsan National Park.
Another mountain down south,
Mudeung in Mudeungsan
Provincial Park, is commonly visit-
ed for its accessible trails and pic-
turesque valleys. To get there from
Gwangju Station, take bus No. 18
to Wonhyosa Temple (about an
hour and a half).
Duryunsan Provincial Park,
close to the southernmost point of
A little girl stands on ginko leaves The shadow of the photographer is Twenty-month-old Ko Beom-jun the peninsula, has fantastic photo-
at Hanok Maeul, Jeonju. seen in Gosan, near Jeonju. plays in the leaves on Nami Island. ops. Be sure to check out Daedunsa
Photo by Oh Tae-kyoung Photo by Oh Tae-kyoung Photo by Kim Yeon-hee Temple, which is part of the nation-
al Templestay network. To get there
from Haenam Intercity Bus
Terminal, take a bus for Daedunsa
and get off at Daedunsa Temple.
What’s left
Provided by the Korea Tourism
Organization, these mountains still
have some leaves on the trees.
Mountain Reaches peak
Duryunsan Nov. 12
Mudeungsan Nov. 7
Naejangsan Nov. 5
Hallasan Nov. 4
Gayasan Nov. 1
Bukhansan Oct. 31
Palgongsan Oct. 29
Gyeryongsan Oct. 29
A tree is reflected in a puddle of water in Hanok Maeul, Jeonju. Photo by Oh Tae-kyoung (mattlamers@heraldm.com)

In Focus: Medium format is a wake-up call

The Photo Challenge is spon-
sored by Hyosung Camera
(English: 010-7203-9599) and
Babo Shirts (www.baboshirts.
com). Winners of the weekly
competition receive a 50,000
won store credit at Hyosung
Camera and a Babo Shirt. To
take part in the competition,
simply upload your photo at
www.flickr.com/groups/seoulp
hotoclub — Ed.
By Aaron Raisey
About a month or so ago, I de-
cided to try something new to me
in photography: medium format
film. This week I’d like to discuss
what medium format is, and the
effect that the switch back to film
PHOTO CHALLENGE — weekly winner — Last weekend cars drive after a long time shooting digital
through a breezy autumn evening near Korea University, Seoul. has had on my photography.
Erik Sellgren Medium format is a larger
film than the ubiquitous 35mm
we’re all familiar with. It comes
in various flavors (eg. 645 and
6x7 among others), but they all
share one side of 6cm in length
and use the same “120” size film.
Medium format has been
around since the beginning of
last century and has been first
choice for many areas of profes-
sional photography where the
very best quality prints are es-
sential.
These days though, affordable
high-resolution digital cameras
have all but supplanted medium
format in the more dynamic
kinds of professional capture
such as at weddings, where digi-
tals adaptability and flexibility
give it a distinct advantage.
However, medium format film is
still very popular in areas of pro
photography where you have
time and/or control over the con-
ditions such as shooting land-
scape or in the studio, and also
with those to whom photography
is art to be viewed in a gallery.
But more important than
what medium format actually
is, is the effect the switch to
film has had as to how I per-
sonally practice my photogra-
phy.
On the down-side, the camera
shares the issue typical with
most film cameras — once the
film is in you can’t change it. In
addition, it’s big, heavy and does-
n’t exactly get out of the way of
your photography. The camera I
use is totally manual — I have to
set the aperture, shutter speed
and focus manually — meaning
off-the-cuff opportunistic shots
are almost totally out of the
question. Also a roll of film is
about three times more expen-
sive than 35mm and only yields
10 frames.
There is a flip-side to this.
Once the shutter fires, I can’t
take it back, I can’t immediate-
ly see what I’ve got, and there is
a definite price tag on each
shot. This is the flip-side? It is.
As it turns out, this has been of
real benefit to my photography.
It has forced me to think about
each shot much more carefully
than when shooting digital.
With a DSLR you are free to
take multiple pictures — different
compositions, choices of aperture
and exposure, etc. — but with
medium format I have to consider
every single shot in much more
detail. I’m not free to just fire
away carte-blanche, choose the
best and delete the rest. I typical-
ly get one chance only to get the
best photograph and I try to make
quite sure I’m going to get it. Sure,
I’m not as productive, but my per-
centage of keepers has increased
two-fold over what I was getting
with my DSLR.
This isn’t a film vs. digital is-
sue, it’s all about attitude and
approach. Shooting film, espe-
cially a more expensive format
like medium format, forces
close attention on technique —
your choice of aperture, focal
point and especially composi-
tion. I highly recommend grab-
bing a film camera once in a
while as a wake-up call.
(raisey@hanmail.net)