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I am sitting in my tiny cell pondering what has got me to this mess.

I went to Goshichon Today

I bought a few books on the commercial law.

고려대 면접 첫째날 Trois

심심하기도 하고 주변 동정을 살피기 위해 1층으로 정찰미션을 내려갔다. 사람들이 한둘 들어오고 있었고 학생 안내 자원봉사도 눈에 띄었다. 성의가 마음에 들었다. 비가 많이 와서 결시율이 꽤 될 것 같다. 최소 20%으로 예상한다. 1층 학생용 터미널에서 글을 쓰면서 주변을 살핀다. 아, 우산을 비닐로 씌우는 것을 깜박했다. 이제 사람이 몰리기 시작하면 어수선해질 것같다. 안내봉사 학생이 정문에서 신분증을 요구하기 시작하였다.
8시 46분

고려대 면접 첫째날 Deux

8시 33분이 되자 2명의 여자분이 들어왔다. 스터디 같이 하는 인애씨 한테 문자가 왔다. 9시경에 도착하신다는 이야기다. 들어온 여자분 둘다 책을 열심히 읽고 있다. 무슨 책일까? 살짝 가서 엄탐하기로 하였다. 정보화 시대에서 정보는 매우 중요하다.

내자리가 앞쪽 출입구 바로 옆이라 신경이 쓰인다. 의자와 책상은 상당히 좋은 것이라 그래도 만족하고 있다. 수험자 이름을 스티커 용지에 출력하여 자리에 깔끔하게 붙인 것도 성의가 있어 보인다.

8시 36분이 되었다.

고려대 면접 첫째날

6시쯤 일어나 빵으로 간단히 아침을 해결하고 버스에 몸을 싣었다. 전철로 갈아타서 지하철 고려대 역에 예상보다 일찍 도착하였다. 지하철 지상출구 앞에 있는 캠퍼스 지도를 보고 고사장인 법대 신관을 찾아서 걸어 갔다. 토요일 아침이라 사람이 거의 없었고 별로 헤매지 않고 쉽게 도착했다. 예전에도 와 보았지만 캠퍼스가 잘 정돈되어 있고 시설이 좋다는 느낌을 받았다.

법대 신관에 들어서는 커다란 안내 포스터에 내 이름과 함께 조별 강의실이 표시되어 있었다. 2층으로 올라가 교실을 찾아 내 지리에 앉기까지 얼마 걸리지 않았다.

7月 6日， 星期日， 非常热

多云。因为天气不好，心情很郁闷。今天心情很奇怪。制定了学习计划。得不使计划稀里糊涂地结束。

7月 6日， 星期六， 非常热

天气越来越热。天这么热，我什么也不想做。 我和姜柱原是非常好的朋友。 我们关系很好。

7月 5日， 星期五， 非常热

天亮了。太阳出来了。 阳光照耀着房间。 我一般早上六点起床。 闹钟没响。 又睡觉了。

我得喝咖啡才能清醒。我喝咖啡让自己清醒。外面还黑乎乎的。早上的空气非常干净新鲜。

7月 4日， 星期四， 非常热

我怕热。真是热得难以受不了。热得又累又渴。我汗多。身上有汗味。

7月 3日， 星期三， 非常热

天气晴朗。我每天早上听天气预报。气温升到了三十度。今天气温超过平气温， 很热。好像夏天到了。我担心今年夏天该怎么过。
我希望今年夏天比去年两块。真讨厌蔫呼呼的夏天。夏天时，我连外出都讨厌。

我总是晚睡晚起。我每天睡懒觉。我总是困。学习学到很晚，所以没能早点起来。真不想起床。

Post marathon reflection

Last Sunday I ran half-marathon. I hardly practiced for it and I finished in 2 hour and 2 minutes. I would say it is not bad for a first timer. Someone told me that to qualify for Boston marathon, I need to finish a full length, official marathon race in 3 hour and 10 minutes. That is running 13.3km/h for three consecutive hours plus ten minutes. Sounds pretty tough I thought. Maybe if I try hard enough I could do it. Just do it!

Impossible is nothing!

Reinsurance and Me

THE REFLECTION
I toil day and night to get a grasp of the world of reinsurance. Reinsurance as an industry is often impentrable to outsiders. The word "reinsure" is not even registered in MS Word's spelling dictionary. I hardly had any idea of surety and bond business when I began working here. Reinsurance is so other worldly and cryptic. The industry jargons are like foreign languages. But it is not to say that it is not worth getting into. Since very few people are involved in this business, I suppose, I face less competition or I hope.

THE PEOPLE
The R/I section in the international business team consists of four members- teddy bear Lee, Becky, Gwen and me. Mr. Lee, code named Seaside (the origin of which I had no knowledge of) is the expert of reinsurance. Becky is an exuberant, second-year sawon who is a model employee beloved by everyone. Gwen, self titled Hyunny, is a former aide to the president of my company. Her self imposed image of bad girl is not very convincing. She is more close to either a Harajuku or rich girl immortalized in the songs of Gwen Stefani's album "Love Angel Music Bady. Me, well, I am who I am- a humble and restless multitasker who has a far reaching responsibility ranging from making coffee to photocopy.

THE FOOD
The food they serve on the 18th floor is definitely not bad. My palate has been thoroughly violated while I was in the military. My expectation and quality standard have become more forgiving over the years. The 18th floor cafeteria serves typical, limited buffet style Korean meals. You definitely do not want to eat everyday but once a while it is worth the money.

International vs. National Education

Compare international and national education.

There are several models of international education.

The U.S. model follows the national education model used in America. It is not really international per se but because of America's worldwide influence and the large presence of U.S. nationals all over the world, many international schools adapt the model. The schools that follow the U.S. model often have Advanced Placement (AP) programs as their most rigorous college prepatory programs and offer SAT and ACT for college entrance exams.

The British model is similar to the U.S. model. It is still influential because there are many British foreign schools in former British colonies. Many national education systems of former British colonies follow the British model. The well known features are A-level exams, GCSE etc.

I am not very familar with the French model. The best known feature is Le baccalauréat (a.k.a. le bac), the famed high school exit exam.

International Baccalaureate is my favorite. It is probably the only true international education model. It is originally devised to help facilitate school transitions for children of diplomats. Headquartered in Geneva, it offers the programs in several different languages. Its mission is to To become an active, compassionate and lifelong learner who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right (my favorite line).

It is inevitable that the goals of national and international education should be different. National education is, in general, public and funded by government. International education is overwhelming private. National education is set up to produce citizens that meet the national standard and purpose- often those of people in power and authority. Governments inject nationalism and engineered identity by teaching "orthodox" history and "correct" viewpoints.

International education models do teach repective viewpoints and dogmas but do not insist the superiority of one over the other. It is the individual 's job to decide which one to take. Of course, the idea of "international" itself is biased. It is very European.

Having been educated under the international model myself, I prefer the international model. At least the world will become a better place if countries modify their national curriculum a bit and inject some pluralist elements.