Complain about free service?

I see a ton of people complaining about new features or changes on Facebook. Yes, the interface changes annoy me too sometimes. But, Facebook has been offered to us for free.

It’s quite startling to me that users complain, sometimes even with foul words. Users are supposed to ask for help, suggest improvements or just live with it. No user has been forced to pay a single cent to use Facebook.

Facebook is still the best Social Networking medium to date, and I like the Facebook team’s effort to keep investing in improvements. If you are frustrated and can’t bear with some of the features that are not good enough for your standards, it’s time for you to get on another SNS website. Just remember, that Facebook accumulates more hits than Google does.

I sound like I work for Zuckerberg. 😦

Terps New Uniform

Maryland Terrapins’ new football jersey looks fabulous, perhaps the most distinct uniform I have seen in American Football. The jersey is very representative of Maryland’s identity, fusing the state flag’s patterns with the Terrapins colors.

Winning is most important, even to prove that the risky new jersey is worthy of the nation’s attention. Terps beat Hurricanes, and ESPN Highlight of the Night not only showed the Terps winning in style, but it also discussed the new uniform.

I, as a Terp, love it. What else matters, especially when I have low expectation for our football team?

Tagging on Wall Post or Comments Limitation

You can tag your friends and pages by using ‘@’. More detailed explanation is on the official facebook blog. You can also tag on comments. Today I found out that you can only tag up to 10 friends/pages on each post or comment. I think the tag limit on a photo is 50.

Facebook has recently introduced vast improvements on UI, which most advanced users will like. It may be another tough adjustments for less facebook-savvy users. I believe it is moving in the right direction.

Humuun 1st School Fall Semester Opening Day

On September 1st, Humuun 1st School, the school I work for in Mongolia as an overseas volunteer, opened for fall semester. School opening at my school was exceptionally endearing.

 

When I was in elementary school in Korea, we had our opening ceremony at the playground. There was no such playground or even a suitable field for hundreds of students to line up. Supposedly, about 1,600 students are enrolled in school, but barely half of them showed up for the early morning ceremony. Without a playground, it still was a pleasing view, with kids wearing neat outfits lining up one after another, surrounded by Bulgan Mountain. Many girls were wearing French maid looking dresses (black one-piece with white apron). Teachers dressed up nicely for the opening day; most male teachers wore ties, while female teachers were displaying luxurious-looking one-piece dress and dells (Mongolian traditional outfit).

Some students prepared singing or dance performances as part of the opening ceremonial events.

It was interesting to see that these girls were dancing to a Girl’s Generation (the most popular idol girl group in Korea) song.

This girl was on her own. I think it was tango, but not totally sure. 

Each class lasts 40 minutes, with either 5 or 10 minute break in between, 14 classes in a day, from 8AM to 6:45PM. When a teacher does not have a class, he/she usually takes a break.

At teacher’s room, I was greeted by a bunch of teachers, and a middle-aged male teacher poured me some horse milk (called Airag). It tasted like sour yogurt and my palate wasn’t very pleased. Then, he offered me a curd (called arol), which I felt was like a rock-solid soap-tasting cookie. I could not finish it and I had to sneak it into my pocket to eventually throw away off their sight.

Students were very entertaining. When my fellow computer teachers introduced me to class, I could feel the strong curiosity from students. I was very limited in introducing myself in Mongolia. My speech was basically
“Hello everyone.
My name is Jae Jun.
I’m a computer teacher.
I came from Korea in June.
I know Mongolian a little bit.
I lived in America for 11 years.
It is nice to meet you all.”

A student would shout “Welcome to Mongolia” in English while a few other students would bust out random Korean phrases. Then, I walked around and made eye contacts with them, showing interest in their notebooks (some notebook covers had pictures of either Beckham or Messi, by which I could relate to them) and writing their names in Korean characters per request. This was a very refreshing experience.