What is 'ex-pat community'?

As I have casually observed the blogsphere and while interacting with students from various countries at University, one thing that has been bugging me is the use of the term 'ex-pat community". It is thrown around carelessly without much thought to the meaning of the word.

I have commonly heard phrases such as "Oh, he is very well known in the ex-pat community". There are currently over 1,000,000 foreigners residing in Korea as of last year. When people say these words who exactly do they mean? Foreign students, factory workers, wives, husbands, English teachers, engineers down in 울산? and the list could go on. Lets have a closer look at the meaning of the word according to Oxford.

Expatriate

noun

Pronunciation:/ɪksˈpatrɪət, -ˈpeɪtrɪət, ɛks-/

• a person who lives outside their native country:

Origin:

mid 18th century (as a verb): from medieval Latin expatriat- 'gone out from one's country', from the verb expatriare, fromex- 'out' + patria 'native country'

So it basically means a foreigner who lives here. Unfortunately when I hear the term tossed around it is used to refer to specifically anyone who lives in or frequents the areas of 이태원 and 한남동, like they are the only important or relevant 'ex-pats' in Korea. Often English teachers and well-off businessmen who work here are also implied to be part of this 'elite group'. Now don't get me wrong, I currently teach English myself and am trying to work my way into the business world here.

However, there are communities of of ex-pats everywhere, in every city and throughout the countryside. If I were to go back to New Zealand and say to someone "He is very popular among the ex-pat community.", people would ask you what the hell that meant. I guess what I'm saying is that the term 'ex-pat community' does not necessarily mean a bunch of white guys drinking in a 서울 bar on a Thursday night but encompasses a whole variety of different ex-pat communities made up of people who do many different things.

What really grinds my gears is how the media uses the terms accordingly as well. Just search 'ex-pat' for yourself on any of the Korean news sites. Now try and search for the word 'immigrant' and see what articles you get. According to the Korea Times (Yes, I know not the best source, but it was easy to search), the term "ex-pat" means anyone in the 이태원 and 한남동 area with a decent income. whereas if you are an "immigrant" you must immediately be a South East Asian married to a Korean or a factory/construction worker from abroad.

Ex-pat article

Immigrant article

Another immigrant article

Now I can hear you saying 'Well a lot of those immigrants will live here for the rest of their lives while I'm just here for a few years and plan to go somewhere else.' What a load of rubbish. Construction, engineering and factory workers from places like Cambodia, Pakistan, Russia, Vietnam to name a few will definitely be going back to their countries. I also know plenty of people from the "blue collar ex-pat" community who will or have decided to live here long term. (Myself being one of them)

Does being an ex-pat make you part of the ex-pat community? Of course not. Plenty of people do not want to be associated with the articles like this and for good reason. I on the other hand think of myself as part of various communities that I have made for myself such as, my work community, twitter community and university community.

So next time you write the phrase 'ex-pat' community, think about who you really mean. Otherwise I'm just going to assume you mean every person here living outside of their native country.

Line Extensions: Bundang Line - Northern Extension

While new transport lines are being built in South Korea all the time, many existing lines are also often being extended. To start off with upcoming projects which most people know about, today we take a look at the original Bundang(분당) line. If you have ever taken a drive in the area around Gangnam-gu Office(강남구청), you'll already know that there is a lot of work going on and it has been affecting the traffic a lot.

Narrow roads and ugly construction sites have become a regular sight for those in Yeoksam-dong & Hak-dong

This extension brings the orginal Bundang line through Gangnam and north of the Han, all the way to Wangshimli(왕십리). While the primary purpose of this extension may be giving residents in Seongnam(성남시) better access to Northern Seoul, it will play a very important part for those travelling and commuting across Seoul also. Since this line passes right through the dense business district of Gangnam it will be largely used by commuters.

Currently, it is a pain in the exterior if you wish to travel directly north via PT.

The best thing about this line, is that it provides the missing link which has been desperately needed within this area. It will be a big relief for many working within Gangnam-gu where a subway station is not within walking distance or commuters want to go directly North or South rather than East or West.

The new extension will provide ease of access for transferring to other lines and accessing other parts of Seoul. Although this extension crosses the Han River, it does so not by bridge but by tunnel. Remember this is not the only underwater tunnel, there are 2 on line No. 5!

From Son-nung(선릉) which is currently the first station on the Bundang line, it will proceed north to the following stations.

• Sam-nung(삼릉) which will later on connect to the line No. 9 extension which I will post about later.
• Gangnam-gu Office(강남구청) which connects with line No. 7.
• Shin-Cheongdam(신청담) is another brand new station.
• Seoul Forest(서울숲역) is sure to be a winner with families and couples on dates.

Finally Wangshimli(왕십리) will become the station with the most internal transfer lines in all of Korea connecting with Line No. 2, No. 5 and the Jungang Line. Although Seoul Station also has 4 lines, you must leave the subway system and pay again at another gate. I cannot fathom how busy this station will become once the extension opens and I am very curious to see how much patronage increases.

The Bundang line's northern extension is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

Upcoming lines: 신분당선 - New Bundang Line

Bundang is an area that I lived in for over a year and grew very fond of. It is a well planned city with generally good roads and excellent transport links. While being situated in Gyeonggi-do, I was impressed with how quickly one could travel to different parts of Seoul by bus. Times were similar to if you were travelling within Seoul itself! However the subway link, the yellow Bundang line was generally a slow and tedious ride. One of the main reasons was due to so many stations being built ridiculously close together on the Seoul end. This area being Gangnam, most say that the rich and powerful living in the area had influence over this, even though they don't generally use the subw

ay themselves. This left the Bundang line a reliable but aggravating journey of stopping and starting for most commuters.

In an area of less than 3km there are 5 stations on the Bundang line!

So since the original Bundang line was generally screwed up as an effective link for those living in Seongnam, a new line was proposed. One which was to be a lot faster and with a lot less stations.

This line will be called the 'New Bundang Line' and it is expected to open in September later this year. (Fingers crossed)

Only six stations and speeds averaging more than 65 km/h, much faster than the Bundang line's 30 km/h average.

Here is a brief introduction of the short line and why you should look forward to riding it.

It will start at Korea's busiest subway station, Gangnam Station(강남역) (Line #2). Now it is about to get even busier and I do not envy those that will be using the station once it opens. Nevertheless, the fact that this line goes straight to Gangnam Station will attract a lot of workers who live in Seongnam and even Yongin to ride in on the line. Of course, Gangnam is also one of the biggest nightlife spots in the country and those living in and around Bundang will be able to enjoy the fact they will be able to stay out longer and still get home quickly.

Next it connects with Line #3 at Yangjae Station(양재역) which is also quite busy due to the number of businesses situated around it.

After that is the first brand new station called Maeheon(매헌) which is situated conveniently at Yangjae Citizen's Forest, a popular get away for busy Gangnamers. Again, this forest will be a lot busier now, especially in the weekends with families I imagine.

Moving out of Seoul you will find yourself at Cheonggye Mountain Entrance Station(청계산입구역) What a mouthful! A well known hiking destination which is also about to get a lot easier to travel to. How wonderful it will be to ride just 10 minutes from the smokey streets of Gangnam on the subway to be surrounded by mountains and trees!

We are then back to civilization in the brand new city of Pangyo(판교). Pangyo Station will be a wonderful asset to the new residents who work in the Gangnam area.

The final station (so far) is Jeongja Station(정자역). Here it meets the original Bundang line where many commuters will transfer. Jeongja-dong is like the Apgujeong of Bundang. It is home to the well known 'Cafe Street' with many modern style shops with decks and outdoor dining.

The trains being used will have the ability to be controlled without a human driver but I do not believe they will be driverless from the start.

And there you have it! Let's just hope that the date doesn't get pushed forward as done on all other new lines. (Or mothballed for that matter, what on earth happened to the Everline?) There are plans for extensions to both ends of the line but I will talk about them in another posting.

KTX Derailment

The KTX has derailed for the first time ever on Friday 10th Feb approx 300 metres north of Gwangmyeong Station. Luckily it was moving slowly so nobody was injured. Nevertheless it has caused big delays and on the day, all KTXs had to use the original main track between Seoul and Daejeon. If the derailment had occurred just a couple of minutes earlier it could have been disastrous.

Korail says they suspect there was a malfunction with one of the switches but investigating the contents of the black box for any further causes. Judging by the photos, it looks as though it happened right on a crossover. The KTX was pulled out by a loco on Saturday and trains are able to use a single track of the tunnel at a reduced speed of 40 km/h.

The derailment couldn't come at worse time, especially since they are currently planning to build KTXs for use in Brazil and were also tendering for export into the U.S also.

Only 25 mins late? That's news?

Coming from Auckland and living in Seoul I have experienced both really amazing public transport and really horrible transport. It is interesting what makes the news over here. The other day Subway Line No. 2, which has the heaviest patronage of all lines was delayed by 25 minutes. It was all over the evening and internet news and it was such a big deal. It got me thinking, imagine if they had a news article every time trains got delayed at peak hour in Auckland!

And it gets better! On one particular morning the delays were so bad the subway stations issued proof of lateness tickets which workers could give to their bosses!

New books

Finished the one on the right but who knows when I'll get through the rest once assignments kick in.

HI SEOUL!

Footage of the flooding in Gwahwamun - Tuesday

Incredible photo taken from plane of the localised rain

Stormy Seoul

Not a great start to the Chuseok holiday here. Rain started late last night and I was woken at around 9am to the sound of extremely heavy rain on the roof. This rain continued the entire day getting heavier and heavier. Up to nearly 290mm fell in some places causing surface and even severe flooding in many places. West and North West Seoul took the brunt of it with whole carparks being turned into lakes.

Cheonggye Stream - The footpath along the stream completely

submerged, it became a raging river surging through the centre of Seoul

This also affected a couple of the Seoul Metro lines as a result. All service was suspended between Guro and Incheon on Line No. 1 and Line No. 4 was also affected, services being suspended between Seoul Station and Sadang. Line No. 2 was unable to stop at Hongdae Univ. Station due to flooding and Gwanghwamun didn't look much better off either.

Oryu-dong Station, Seoul - Line No. 1

This station apparently has a history of flooding easily.

Hongdae and Gwanghwamun Stations became waterfalls.

Outside Hongdae University Station - Passengers unable to get on or off here