Asian countries vs. Western countries

While at KAIST, someone once asked me whether it was better to have studied overseas in New Zealand (or any other English-speaking country) before I came to Korea. There was no hesitation in my voice when I told him yes. Even though I'm Korean, having a western culture background was something that I was deeply proud of. You see... having lived in both countries, I see both sides of the argument and I can safely say that having overseas experience gives you a wider perspective. Education systems are distinct, social behviors change, and people seem to have different outlook in life. People from asian countries seem to be more academic-orientated while people from western countries believe in the all roundedness of a human being.

Firstly, there's the overcoming of the language barrier. I was brought up in New Zealand from a young age and thus developed an almost-innate ability to speak English. Seeing many people now struggling to learn the most commonly spoken language in the world, I feel glad that my parents decided to move. Being able to read, speak, and understand English meant that I had access to a new branch of literature, art, music, and persepective. I believe that every language brings a different culture... that every language fills a person with different qualities. For example, have you ever found yourselve unable to express something in English so you have to resort to another language? Perhaps it's the other way around? It's not the vocabulary you're looking for, its the meaning that is only familiar in that language. From English I gained sarcastic witticism and wordplays while from Korean I learned surrealism and ability to portray different meanings to different tones.

Another advantage of having a different background is that I lived in a diverse, multi-cultural country. My friends consisted of people from over at least 20 different nationalities. I was able to learn things from my friends that I could not find in any encyclopedia. You begin to make networks, learn universal languages such as humor, and even start to become attractive to the opposite sex of different cultures. You begin to taste a bit of the diverse world we live in. Don't you find it interesting how even though we are the same human beings, living in different countries can drastically affect how we act towards strangers? I've noticed how students at KAIST who are from overseas (independent of whether they are foreign or Korean) are more willing to meet new people and make friends than the students who have lived in Korea their whole lives.

There are some things that are much better in asian countries than western countries. Since, especially in Korea, asian countries believe in a strict education system, the students have strong motivation and are usually very diligent. However, western cultures believe more in the well-roundedness of the qualities of a person. The common belief is that a human being should be more of a person than a calculator or computer. If a person is stuck with his or her head in books all day, how are they going to know how to apply all that knowledge? The highschool where I came from made it compulsory for all students to participate in co-curricular activities as well as to learn foreign language in the freshman year. It also encouraged students to learn music and art. Even though they did not focus purely on keeping grades up, the end result was that these students became quite talented in areas they did not expect.

Everyone should have the chance to experience the world.

Hitting Kids

When I was a kid, I used to be smacked all the time... by my parents. Not long ago in New Zealand, there was a mass discussion in whether parents hitting their children should be made illegal or not. Many people thought it would be much more effective against child abuse cases. The reason why I think this caused so many strong arguments on both sides though is because people don't yet really know what the difference between hitting and beating. Hitting just means that parents use a form of disciplinary action to physically show their children that they have done wrong. Usually it occurs after the child has been warned many times and the child won't heed the admonishments. However, beating implies violence. Beating means that parents, especially fathers, use violence on their children as an outlet. I actually think that hitting kids has many more positive consequences than negative ones (not to the parents of course).

Usually my parents were pretty lenient. The one thing, however, which they would ALWAYS (and I mean ALWAYS) take seriously was me fighting with my two younger brothers. Being the oldest, I had the "responsibility" to be an example to my brothers and care for them but most of the time I thought it was bad luck that I was born first. Being the oldest out of three boys meant that I was responsible for most of my brothers actions and whenever we fought, it would be me who would be smacked.

Did I hate it? Of course I did. Some times I saw my brothers sniggering when they knew I would get in trouble and I resented them for it. Now, I realise that it probably was the greatest thing that my parents taught me. They taught me how it felt like to be hit. Whenever I used violence against my brothers, my parents would hit me and it would feel terrible. It made me realise how much pain I was unknowingly causing my brothers. It gave me perspective and, for the first time in my life, I put myself in others' shoes.

Usually, if parents aren't from a western culture, they will hit their kids. This is because it is socially acceptable to do so as it is seen as a common form of discipline. The positive side of this is that parents know just how much to hit their kids. However, there are those violent pigs who use this "smacking" as an outlet for their own anger. Parents need to know that smacking is for the children, not for themselves. What my dad used to do after he smack us (which left us feeling angry and resentful) was tell us what we did wrong and give the three of us a hug. This dissolved all those feelings of resentment and left us in tears.

Making "smacking" illegal just means that society is inhibiting a way of parents disciplining their own kids. It will eventually lead to a society where kids may do whatever they wish and only get reprimanded for it. A society where parents have no control. If parents aren't allowed to discipline their children with their own methods, then parents also should not be responsible for their childrens' wrongdoings. In the end, we're left asking ourselves "how can we be responsible for our kids if we are not allowed to discipline them?"

Survivng at KAIST: Exercise

We don't know how much exercise is important to us. At least here at KAIST many people don't know the importance.  If you see my previous post you can see how unhealthy the lifestyles are here, where people indulge in late night snacks/meals. If you can't reduce the unhealthy foods that you are eating, or if you have to skip meals and eat later, perhaps exercising can at least save you.

First of all, what I mean by exercise is more than just walking/biking from class to class (and some people don't even do that). An average person metabolizes according to their height, weight, age and build, but if you are taking in excess calories per day, exercise can help you maintain these levels. This means joining a gym or making full use of the fields and pavements outside. I know student prefer to sleep during the day (... my roommate is asleep right now while I type this post) rather than exercise, so if we had some more information and confidence we might do it more?

1. This is quite a long shot, but personally, I quite like exercising in the mornings. Before I came to university, where I have to go to bed at like 3am after finishing assignments and freshman design meetings, I was a morning person. I would wake up at least an hour before I had to and go for a run and exercise. What this basically does is it wakes me up first thing in the morning and prepares my mind and body to survive throughout the day. Also, since you exercise, you become hungry so you can have a good carb or protein breakfast and head off to a hot shower to make you feel fully rejuvenated. Remember all those times when you woke up feeling tired? What about those times when you put your breakfast in your mouth and it tasted like sand? Morning runs will get rid of that for you.

2. How about in the afternoons? When you can't make time in the mornings, how about after you finish your morning classes? Wait around 30 minutes after lunch and as long as you don't have an afternoon class, head over to a gym or just get changed into a pair of shorts and t-shirt and go for a run instead of napping during the day. What this can do is re-energize your brain. We usually become mentally fatigued during the day or closer to night time, however if you exercise then you will experience significant changes.

3. Hit the gym! Guys... for those of you who haven't actually felt the satisfaction of a full body workout... it is awesome. I don't care whether you are in shape or not, there are plenty of gyms (most of which are free) within the KAIST campus where you can just walk to after your morning or afternoon lecture. After a good strenuous workout, you feel alive. There's a free gym next to the swimming pool at the auditorium. Some of the dormitories are equipped with gyms on the ground floor. You could also get a membership at the new sports complex center. I am a member and the prices aren't too bad. They have good facilities such as changing rooms, lockers, showers, etc and they also provide you with clothes so you don't have to bring your own all the time. They are equipped with many cardio and weight training equipment as well as free weights and TRX straps. Also, they have fitness trainers and programs to get you into a fitness schedule so you can become more motivated and active. Try them out.

4. If you really... REALLY don't have time (and be honest), what you could do is join a sports club. There is a large variety of sports clubs such as soccer, basketball, tennis, baseball and anyone can try out and join. Also there are courses that you can take (you have to take a few of these in order to graduate) on sports and exercise where you spend around two hours a week learning about the sport and taking part in practices. It's a great way to learn the sport that you've always tried out and you won't feel so pressured because a lot of the other people are in the same situation as you.

5. Just get off your butt. I see people driving around cars and scooters to go to classes that are a few hundred meters away. Sure if you are really late to class, you should find a way to get there as soon as possible, but for the rest of us... we shouldn't be so lazy and resort to forms of transportation when you have your feet! If walking is your only form of exercise, try get as much as possible. Ask your friend to walk with you, or listen to your ipod while you walk.

6. As much as I have emphasized the importance of exercise, it is important to notice that you should exercise when the time is right. Exercising after getting drunk is certainly not a good idea (believe me, there are people I know who do that) and also exercising really late at night (I'm talking about like 4 am in the morning). These disrupt your biological clock and may have negative effects on your body. So even though exercise is important, know when to exercise and how much. Experiment a bit and go out a couple of times at different times to get a gist of what is right for you :)

Did you know that exercise can even help you in your studies? I read in a science magazine that exercise helps oxygenate your brain and therefore improve circulation allowing you to think. Also, it keeps you alert and active during the day which can have a great positive effect on your motivation and mood.

ANDDDD

If you want to get really extreme... try this video. He will show you how to move ever single muscle in the body at once :)

Surviving at KAIST: Making Friends

I speak Korean. I eat Korean food. My parents are Korean... yet I'm a foreigner here.

I have lived overseas basically my entire life and now I face the dilemma of making networks at KAIST. 'Sure it's easy' you might say, but I can't accept your comment knowing that you haven't been in my shoes. Do you remember that odd exchange student at high school who you say hi to but don't really hang out with because he doesn't 'belong' in your group? I'M THAT GUY

Let's face it, we all do it. We all stick with the bunch of friends that we make in high school. So where does this leave all the others? Those who come from other countries, perhaps on their own?

Perhaps I can provide some tips I discovered on how to network when you are trying to fit in at KAIST

1. At the beginning of the semester, separate orientations are held for international and Korean students. It is a good idea to meet new people and make friends at the orientation. Usually, there is an after-party or gathering where people may socialize and get to know each other. This is important to meet people who you can hang around. Sadly, I missed this opportunity

2. In the Spring semester, the Korean students are assigned to groups where they are able to socialize. These groups have frequent meetings and many Korean students become good friends. International students, to what I've heard, are also assigned to these groups, so I suggest that you ask around and find out which one you belong to. Then you can attend the outings and have a good time

3. Although you won't many opportunities to make friends during lectures, but it always helps to have some people who you can discuss, meet, and study with. If lectures are too busy or you'd rather listen to the professor, night-recitation class are quite handy to interact with a bunch of students to focus on the subject.

4. Club activities are quite important at any university. Not only are these sources of meeting new people, but you can share a common interest. There are many types of clubs ranging from sports to charity work. If you are good at sports, or have played at high school, perhaps joining a sports club is a good idea. If you played a musical instrument, there's an orchestra you could join, or other musical groups that meet twice a week to rehearse and perform. Remember, if you don't get yourself involved in these, you are less likely to meet a lot of people.

5. Network. If you make a new friend, then perhaps have lunch with them and his or her friends. I met heaps of students just by getting to know one or two people per each new person I met. This way, you also won't have to make a lot of effort in finding a lot of different groups. Since people are likely to stick together, this is a good idea if you want to familiarize yourself with groups.

I know these are pretty simple and easy to disregard. However, I only found out how important small things were until I actually applied them. During the first semester I got quite depressed at the fact that I was at a university full of people and still felt alone. This was mainly due to the fact that everyone seemed to know each other. You can easily overcome this by diving in and just blending. I'm usually a very social guy. I love meeting new people and I love to network. However, it becomes quite tedious when you have to make so much effort in trying to socialize.

That's what I love about western culture so much. If someone is unfamiliar with other person, then they have this desire to get to know them and become familiar. The thing I found here in Korea, and at KAIST, is that international students are seen differently and usually they seem to segregated themselves or become segregated. What I hope to achieve in the future is where everyone becomes a bit more open and sociable. It would be great if everyone was so easy to approach.

Surviving at KAIST: Getting Enough Rest

I love sleeping! It's my favorite part of the day. However, I've realised that it's so hard to get much of it while I'm here. I don't know what it is about late night life that is so attractive to people here, but they seem to think that the day should end around 3 am in the morning. Where I come from, no one makes it past midnight.

Part of why I think late night activity is so lively here is mostly because of the closing times of shops. Here, you can order food up to 3 am and get it delivered to your door. Some places are even open 24 hours. So there is no big problem that faces a hungry student who has been staying up trying to finish homework when it comes to accessing unhealthy food at night.

Sleep is one of the most important things (next to food) that a tertiary student may need to consider when planning out a lifestyle. Many people tell me that you can't really get a good grade by sleeping more than 6 hours a night because you have to use the time during the day to study. In my opinion, this is a really big excuse. We are expecting ourselves to turn into machines that operate on a fixed on and off schedule where we can turn ourselves off for 6 hours and it won't make a difference. What we need to consider is that genetics-wise, a lot of the people can't function properly when they do not get the full 7~8 hours of sleep they need. I read in a science magazine that some people possess rare genes which allow them to function as normally as any other person while getting two or three less hours of sleep. They can wake up easily in the morning after 5~6 hours of sleep and still feel like they slept like a baby.

I knew my genes weren't rare...

When I don't get many hours of sleep (i.e. sleep 6 or less number of hours at night), I tend to waste the following day. I would rather give up 2 hours to sleep more rather than feeling tired throughout the whole day and not functioning properly. Wouldn't you say that is a fair compromise?

When we sleep, we tend to go through cycles which last around 90 minutes. Each cycle we go through is deeper than the previous. At the end of each cycle we go through a period of REM, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement, where our eyes are moving around rapidly. This period is when we dream. During the first couple of minutes when we fall asleep, our body prepares us for rest.  We start becoming relaxed and the brain slows down (well that's what I've read). So in the first 30 minutes of falling asleep, I guess we're really not repairing ourselves just yet. However, when we enter the deeper parts of our sleep, this is when our body repairs all the damage that occurred during the day and attempts to prepare the body and mind for the following day. It's quite hard to wake someone up while they are in their deep sleep and if they ever do, they probably won't remember being woken up because they go to sleep straight away. Their eyes will be blood shot and they will probably look really annoyed.

When we run on schedules which don't allow us to sleep, we are likely to miss out on all this important repair and rest... what is the solution?


Here's a few things that I thought up that might help myself, and others perhaps, to overcome that day time fatigue



1. Get to bed early
Getting to bed early prevents us from late night snacking and also makes it easier to sleep longer and wake up earlier. Sleeping at 3am and getting 8 hours is worse than sleeping at 10pm and getting the same 8 hours. You probably feel like you could accomplish more during the day.

2. Wake up early
This can really make you feel that you can accomplish more throughout the day. I think I can safely say that everyone has at least had some experience when they woke up some time in the afternoon and thought "crap... most of the day is gone and I feel terrible". Try waking up really early. For example, if you have a morning 9 am class, wake up at 7.30 am or 7 am rather than 8.30 am. You'll have more time to get ready, wash and eat, so you'll feel unhurried and much more relaxed.

3. Go for a run in the morning
Oxygen needs to go through the brain and this is best done in the morning. Also, it may eliminate morning drowsiness and encourage alertness. Those of us who have morning classes need this!

4. Eat breakfast
You can have a look at my other post as to why breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nutrition is really important, especially first thing in the morning! Have a BIG protein-carb breakfast, but have a small dinner.

5. Take short power naps during the day if you had insufficient sleep
Remember, 30 minutes before deep sleep, the body prepares. So when we take a nap for 30 minutes, we aren't actually accessing deep sleep so it won't make us feel tired or sleepy when we wake up. In fact, since this 15~30 minutes of sleep makes our body more relaxed, we will wake up feeling rejuvenated.

6. If you want to wake up feeling less tired, try to sleep in 90 minute multiples (e.g. 6 hours, 7 and half hours, etc)
Because of our sleep cycles, it will be easier to wake up and feel less tired if we wake up during our REM period rather than our deep sleep. Set your alarm clock!

Surviving at KAIST: Eating Right

A while ago, I did some research on the effects our lifestyles had on us and I found some things I never knew. Even skipping out one meal or having it at the wrong time can have detrimental effects such as stomach ulcers (which I think I have).

So, as well as helping myself, I decided I would share some things on how to survive through the KAIST lifestyle by eating right.

First, let me explain more about the usual KAIST freshman diet. Nearly always, breakfast is skipped. This is probably due to the fact that we get to bed so late and try to get as many hours of sleep possible before the following morning lecture. On empty stomachs, some people have hot coffee from the vending machines and some others have cold soft drinks. Some students may be lucky and finish lectures around 10.30 am, but most finish classes around noon which is already time for lunch. After lunch, it's right into classes again until dinner.

Dinner is usually around 5.30~7 pm. The one good thing about KAIST is that there are many cafeterias where students and faculty can eat (cheaply). However, to the average student, eating cafeteria food for three meals a day for three or four months is not that satisfying. This is where late night snacking comes in...

The one thing that I disliked about the eating habits here is that everyone seems to snack on processed foods quite a lot. Since its cheap and easy to access (the KAIST mart), we stock up on 2 minute noodles and processed ready-to-eat meals which have hardly no nutrients. There are no places within campus where we have access to a full variety of fresh vegetables and fruit so those who seek nutrition have to catch a cab out to town and go grocery shopping. Also, since the dormitories are not really equipped with kitchens, we can't bring back a lot of raw foods to cook or prepare. They say: who needs to spend all that time and effort when you can easily dial a seven digit number and get fast food delivered right to your dorm?

Alcohol is the biggest factor in my opinion. Do you know how much sugar goes into a bottle of beer or soju? Probably more calories in a cocktail... and KAIST university students love alcohol. In my opinion, although it might be difficult to do, if people started drinking much less they might see a big improvement in health. I personally have had many late night drinking outings as well as 4 am snacks. Every time, I woke up with terrible stomach pains and a nervous digestive system throughout the day.

So overall I've come up with a few things that you may wish to stick to if you ever feel your insides squirming.

1. Don't skip breakfast or meals in general:
They say breakfast is the most important meal and they are never wrong :) I saw this documentary ages ago which said that when people skip breakfast and become hungry, they tend to become more attracted to high-calorie foods in order to compensate. Eat a BIG breakfast full of protein and carbohydrates (this is in contrast to the small meal you should be having for dinner)

2. Stay away from processed/packaged foods
There may be times when you may need to resort to these (especially during exam periods). Since there exists these times, we should try to minimize eating these during our normal week. After all, nothing beats eating raw, fresh foods.

3. Minimize fast foods
Burger King at KAIST might be easy to access (since it's just 5 minutes from all the dormitories) but that's what they want you to think! Next time you walk past that place think of every food being dripped in trans fat before being served. Ergh

4. Reduce that alcohol!
Let's face it. Even I agree that everyone needs a good drink once in a while. Stress can overcome us and we need to lose it once in a while. So that's why I say REDUCE not eliminate :) I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure a drink once in a while with some good mates is healthier (for your mind and body) than getting wasted every night with people you hardly know and losing all those brain cells!

5. Don't eat past 8 pm
I don't really need to say much for this do I? When we eat a meal before we sleep, our insulin levels shoot up since we need to reduce the increased sugar levels in our blood. Then we will probably not get the hormonal balance we need while we sleep in order to feel relaxed in the morning.That's probably why we don't grow so tall either. Also, since we aren't relatively active while we are asleep, the food that hasn't been digested before we go to sleep is stored as fat.

and....

remember, if you don't keep a healthy eating schedule, some effects may include:

Fatigue
Ulcers
Constipation
Fat gain (muscle loss)
...

Good luck ^^

This is a rubbish photo



The cleaning ladies must have had a really great Chuseok