I didn't say that

The father of one of my students called the school this afternoon to tell us that he read about me in an article about the oil spill clean-up in one of Korea's national newspapers. H-k found the article on the internet by searching google with my name in Korean. They got some facts right--my name, where I live, my age, and where I'm from--but the quote is completely wrong.

I was asked why I volunteered and what I thought about the clean-up effort. I said I was there for three reasons: 1) I use oil, so I have some responsibility for what happened. 2) I enjoy being outdoors and am concerned about the environment. 3) Though I'm not a Korean citizen, I am a resident of this country and have as much of a responsibility to help this country while I live here, as I do to help my home country when I live there.

I also said that I thought it was encouraging to see so many people working together to assist with the clean-up effort, and although it felt like slow progress and could be discouraging, we have to start somewhere, so I was glad to join everyone and help out.

That's what I said. H-k interpreted for me, and I have no doubt that she's a trustworthy interpreter.

However, I was quoted saying that I was amazed by Koreans' ability to come together to overcome this crisis, just like Koreans came together following the IMF crisis and while hosting the 2002 World Cup.

Huh? I've never in my life talked about the IMF crisis or the World Cup. So, Chosun Ilbo, thanks for thinking of me, but at least get my words close to right.

They published an interesting photo along with the article. It shows a section of beach near where we worked to show the progress that's being made to clean things up, mostly by hand. The first photo was taken on Dec. 9th and the second on Dec. 16th.Here's a link to the article, but it's all in Korean: 해변이 다시 숨쉬기 시작했다