Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate

So I suppose I should get this beast up to date. I just returned from my China trip, but I'll get to that later. Before I went to China, I spent three weeks of Winter Vacation completing a teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) certificate. My buddy Zach recommended that I go through International TEFL and TESOL Training. I opted for the 120 hour tutored course. The course cost USD$290 but I'll make that back almost monthly with the pay raise for which it qualifies me. It also makes me quite competitive, along with my almost three and one half years of teaching experience, for future re-employment.

Anyway, I finally received my TEFL certificate, a considerable accomplishment in what I am realizing could be a long-term career path.

Moon Over Yecheon

The moon over Yecheon this evening. Took my camera and tripod out and after about 30 trial and error shots, this one finally came out.

Update Through December - Performances and a Novel

So hi! It's been a while since I blogged and there is good reason for it. I've been really busy since the beginning of November with various projects, performances, etc.

First, I want to take a moment to reflect on the passing of Kim Jong Il, the late dictator of my neighbors to my north, North Korea. I received a text from my friend Zach right before lunch that Kim had died. These kinds of rumors aren't exactly rare form so I hopped on the internet and sure enough, reports of his death were just minutes old, hot off the servers. It seemed as though the country as a whole felt a moment of elation, followed by dire concern. South Koreans, by and large, do not fear North Korea as much as they fear North Korean unpredictability. It is not known who will resume power and when nor is it known if North Korean, in a gesture of catharsis and loss, would sweep the peninsula once again. The country, at least on paper, is still technically at war. That said, I feel quite optimistic. North Korean media reported that Kim died reroute on an inspection trip from natural causes. North Korea has rarely missed an opportunity to justify loss or slight by blaming their favorite scapegoat, South Korea. The fact that the North didn't take this opportunity to blame Kim's death on an assassination attempt conspired by the South gives me hope. Hope in that they are not looking for a reason to instigate aggression. The North would never openly attack the South. Anything I can say about the situation, other than what I have already said, would entirely be speculation. The country has maintained its security system at DEFCON 4 and all public offices are being manned 24 hours. I'm optimistic that there will be a peaceful transition of power as far as the two Koreas are involved.

Other than yesterday's big news, I have been quite busy with personal projects this last month or so. I have continued to play with Jonno and Ryan though we now call ourselves The Band from Out of Town. Here are a couple of songs we performed here in Yecheon at Yoger Presso, a local espresso bar.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpWP9ADgza0?rel=0&w=480&h=360]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1Ze_QhzcU?rel=0&w=480&h=360]

Toward the end of the month, I was also asked to perform solo for the anniversary festival of my school. I played "Sydney (I'll Come Running)" by Brett Dennon and "Hotel Yorba" by The White Stripes.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlDQxfsWCLc?rel=0&w=480&h=360]

Most notably, I have written a novel! For the first time, I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal of the project is to write 50,000 words in thirty days. My novel is called Maximum R&B and it clocks in at about 120 pages in Word. I have gone through on a five-hour editing spree and the novel should be readable but it still requires some tooling. It's about a Max Arenbee, a CD store clerk living in Minneapolis dealing with finding happiness in place and time. I have the current revision in Kindle, Nook and PDF formats if anyone is interested in reading it. I'm not interested in publishing it, just something I've always wanted to accomplish. 

My winter vacation is coming up and I just bought my tickets and visa for China to visit my brother, Colin. I cannot put into words how excited I am to see him. I sat in my apartment the other night, passport and tickets in-hand, unable to believe I was actually going. He and I plan on spending Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, going to Macau for some Portuguese food and then going to mainland China. We will stay a while in his city of Zhuhai, then going to see the terra-cotta warriors in Xi'an. There we will part ways and I will spend the remainder of my trip in Beijing, seeing the Great Wall and Forbidden City. Since I was a kid, looking at my Grandpa's collection of National Geographic magazines and gazing for what seemed like hours at the spread on the terra-cotta warriors, I have wanted to see them with my own eyes. I can't believe my fortune in not only going to China and seeing them, as well as my brother, but how full my passport actually is. The China visa is a full page in my passport and took up the second to last remaining page in it.

 

Rooting the South Korea Motorola Atrix

Gaining root (administrative) access to Android phones abroad can be difficult. Often a crack or break made for a device in one country is incompatible with the same model in others due to differences in firmware. For this reason, I have been apprehensive about rooting my South Korean Motorola Atrix. Today, I finally found a method which does not brick the phone and works splendidly on the South Korea model of Moto Atrix.

I have compiled all of the prerequisite software into one downloadable bundle here, tools for the job.

The following instructions worked wonders for me. The following instructions are taken from BriefMobile.com.

How To: Motorola Atrix 4G Root

Root method found and executed by Brandon15811, the2dcour, and of course eval-! Make sure to thank them over at the forums.

Prerequisites [see above link, tools for the job"]

• Drivers installed 32-bit or 64-bit
• ADB-Fastboot package
• Root image (Mirror)

Outline

1. Extract the ADB-Fastboot package and root image to your C: Drive under a new folder titled “root”
2. Put your device into Fastboot mode: – Turn off your device. – Hold down the power button and downward volume button until you see “Fastboot” on your screen – Push the upward volume button
3. Open your command prompt (Start >> run “cmd” >> enter)
4. Type the following commands
   
   • cd C:/root
   • fastboot flash preinstall root.img
   • fastboot reboot
5. Enable USB debugging (Settings >> Applications >> Debugging)
6. Type the following commands
   
   • adb shell
   • /preinstall/dosu [dosu is actually not correct. instead, use "/preinstall/su" but without the quotes]
7. Type the following commands
   
   • /bin/mount /system -o remount,rw
   • cp /preinstall/su /system/bin/su
   • chmod 6755 /system/bin/su
   • PATH=/system/bin:$PATH pm install /preinstall/Superuser.apk
8. Congratulations! You are rooted!

So why would I risk bricking my phone in order to root it? First of all, Motorola pre-installed Swype and I wanted the newest beta version, a huge improvement. Secondly, I wanted to install Market Enabler in order to shop the U.S. Android Market with access to apps such as Google Music beta, Wells Fargo, Google+, Netflix and other U.S.-only content. Here are instructions to uninstall the pre-installed Skype from a Motorola Atrix in order to install the latest beta version.

Getting the Band Back Together

Link to Songs

As some of you may know, I have joined a band here, consisting of two other foreigners and two rotating members who play with us when they are able. The core of the group revolves around three guitarists, my friends Ryan, Jonno and myself. We have been playing about once a week and have come up with a solid set list of about 10 songs. We had rehearsal last night with Alex, a pro-grade sax player who was a pleasure to play with for the first time. We recorded a few tracks together. Please excuse the quality as we were recording three guitars and a sax on the tiny built-in mic of a MacBook.

Baby Please Don't Go - Ban Ki Moon and The United Nations by sstanhill

We have played two gigs together, both fundraisers for local orphanages in Andong and Jeomchon, respectively. Last Saturday night, after the fundraiser, we went to our favorite local watering hole in Jeomchon called Advice Bar. We played there for friends and customers for a good hour to an hour and a half and we scored a free pitcher of beer out of it. We have another open mic at which we will play this coming Friday and hopefully a gig will come out of a meeting I'm having with a local coffee shop owner later this week here in Yecheon.

Please visit my music page to listen to some of the songs we recorded last night. We are tentatively calling ourselves Ban Ki Moon and The United Nations (as our members consist of musicians from the US, Canada and the UK).

Hilarious Video About the Origins of Pizza

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QizaFkegFcQ?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Installing NH Smart Banking Android App

1. Download the NH Smart Banking App from the Android App Market. Search for "NH" and download the app labeled "NH 스마트뱅킹".


2. Using Windows and Internet Explorer, visit http://banking.nonghyup.com


3. On the Nonghyup webpage open in Internet explorer. Be sure to have your USB key inserted as if you were checking your account online. If you do not have a USB key, you must go to a branch and set up internet banking. Be sure to bring a USB key to the branch.


4. On the bottom of the Nonghyup site, look to the bottom right for a small phone icon which says 스마트뱅킹 next to it and click it.


5. Next, after a few moments of processing and a couple automated page loads, find the OS list of options on the right hand side of the page. Click the little Android dude.


6. After clicking the Android link, a new page will load. It will have a super annoying pop-up which looks like this. Close it by clicking the close link on the bottom right of the pop-up.


7. Click on the purple USB key looking link. It will open a new page/tab. When asked about the security warning, click "yes".


8. A new window will pop up over Internet Explorer. Click on the dropdown next to the floppy A: button and select your USB key from the dropdown.


9. Log in as you would to check online banking.


10. On the Android Device, open up the installed app. It will self install V3 security software. Next, on the bottom of the screen is a picture of a padlock. Hit that shit up. Choose the first of two options under the new screen.


11. This window will pop up. In the top series of boxes, enter in the code displayed on the android device. In the second series, enter in your bank account ID number. Usually it starts with the first set of numbers found on your ARC card. Click the "next" button on the bottom, the one on the left.


12. Next, make up a unique password. Enter it in twice and continue. 


13. Back on the android device, hit the green button under the serial you already eneterd in. You will be asked for that same password on the android device. Enter it in and hit the button on the left. Hit OK. Next hit the Home button on the android device on the bottom left of the screen. Next hit the magnifying glass button on the top left. Choose the first option. It will ask if you want to enable push notifications. Left button means yes, right button means no. You should no be looking at your account balance!