Cooking class

We used 3 weeks to learn cooking Korean food
- Bibim noodle
- Cucumber kimchi
- Kimbab
- Nalchi-ar-bibimbap

Most of the time we had too many students and not all of us had the chance to cook, but in kimbab class 5 of us attended only and all of us made as many as 3 kimbabs! :P

Kind teacher with hard-learning students

Well-served bibim-noodle (quite hot for the Philippine ladies)

Look delicious - yet really yummy - kimbab!

Anyway, since it is free to learn, why not join the center that is the nearest to you?

Living Tips - 2

In the program I joined in the multicultural family support center of Gwangjin-gu since April, for the immigrant ladies, I only knew that there are a lot of us living in this area - from Philippines, Vietname, China and Japan. The program offered us:

• orientation
• know about yourself
• learn Korean songs & visit the karaoke
• learn to cook Korean food
• learn about rights and laws to live in Korea

In this August we are having summer vacation as the weather is too hot.

There are some telephone numbers that they ask us to jot down:

For the Foreigners who got married at Korea - the organizations who help in the law assistance: (free charge)

• 대한법률구조공단 132
• 한국가정법률상담소 02-780-568, 780-5689 http://www.lawhome.or.kr/
• 대한변호사협회 02-3476-6515
• 서울지방변호사회 02-3476-6000
• Emergency Support Center for Immigrant Women 1577-1366
• 한국이주여성인권센터 02-3672-7559

Korean Immigration Service 1345 -
Counseling service in 18 different languages
9am-6pm
1345 + numbers-for-language + *
(Korean 1, Chinese 2, English 3, Vietnamese 4, Thai 5, Japanese 6, Mongol 7, Indonesian 8, French 9, 뱅골어 10, Pakistan 11, Russian 12, Nepal 13, Combodian 14, Myanmar 15, German 16, Spain 17, Philippine 18)

On 20th Jul,the Counseling Team leader, 권미경, of Emergency Support Center for Immigrant Women gave a talk for us. She encouraged us to know about our human rights and especally the rights for women.

On 27th Jul, a lawyer gave a talk on the law on the divorce and the ways to search help in emergency situations. She reminded us:

• if the husband disappeared for more than 3 years, the wife can apply for divorce.
• if the husband passed away suddenly (in tragedy), the division of property - (Case without children) Parents (1) and wife (1.5) share and (case with children) children (1) and wife (1.5)  share. --- she mentioned about this because a lot of married ladies do not know about this right
• In the court case of divorse, there was once a case that the husband wanted a divorce and the wife did not want to, but the husband hire a translator who sided the husband. Though the answer of the wife was no - when she was questioned of whether wanted a divorce - the translator said yes. Thus, the wife should find a trustable translator if she doesn't know about the Korean language well.

Living in Korea (for ladies who got married with Korean men) - 1

After these few months I joined program in the multicultural family support center of Gwangjin-gu (the area where I live), I found the information they provide is very useful for us, the immigrant ladies. Also, I hope this information will help those who are coming over here to stay.

The case of the Vietnamese girl, (naver search 베트남신부살해사건 to get more information) who was only 20 years old, was killed by the husband who is almost double of her age, in only less than 10 days she entered the country. The husband is diagnosed with mental problem. What a sad news... so the awareness of the government and the married ladies are both important. This type of case is not the first time, so we ladies should know our rights and get the useful living tips to live happily in this foreign country.

This booklet was given by the multicultural family support center. It is provided in different languages, while I got the English version. My Vietnamese friends got the Vietnamese version, Chinese got Chinese version and others.

Publisher: Korean Government
Planning: The Cenral Office for Multicultural Family Support Centers
This book was publised under the sponsorship of Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs 보건복지가족부,  Ministry of Public Administration and Security 행정안전부 and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism문화체육관광부.
However, the contents of thi book are also available through the multicultural famil support portal site (http://www.liveinkorea.go.kr/)

Contents:

1. Introduction to the Republic of Korea
2. Foreign Resident Support Services
3. Residence and Naturalization
4. Korean Culture and Life
5. Pregnancy and Childcare
6. Education of Children
7. Health and Healthcare
8. Social Security System
9. Employment and Labor
10. Enjoy Korea!
11. Reference

Get one copy for yourself is not a bad idea - as you can get a lot of information to ask in daily life (with useful website references and telephone numbers provided)

This mini booklet was also given by the center for married couples (printed by Seoul Family Support Center http://family.seoul.go.kr/ ). It was printed in Dec 2009, so there are lots of latest useful information (we're expecting our first baby in this coming Nov), especially there is the support from the government from pregnancy to the children education, health and others.
There is also a table listed out the congratulation-rewards for those who give birth of babies - from 1 baby to more than 5 babies. (Seoul governmnt encourages the residents to have babies)

More to come...