Hello everyone

Greetings from across the world to all of you - how I hate the time the difference between us and the travelling time that it takes to get to Korea. As for Korea - ah Korea “I heart you”, even though I speak so very little Korean I really feel that this country is becoming a second home to me. I’m enjoying life here. It’s incredible to think how far I have come in a year, and how different my attitude to this country is than when I arrived.

Life continues at break neck pace over here. Jess and I are busy every weekend and have our weekends planned well into January next year. I’ve neglected uploading news of my life to my blog, and I see that I failed to mention that I went to Japan a couple of weeks ago. We took the ferry from Busan to Fukuouka on Saturday the 21^st of November, watched a Sumo contest, partied on into the night and took a return ferry on Sunday at lunch time. I should have written something at the time, and now I want to write on other topics. Anyway, Jess has posted news about the trip to Japan on her blog for those of you who are interested.

By the by, Japan was the 10^th country that I have visited! Yay, it’s a milestone. I feel fortunate to have visited so many different countries. I have had amazing opportunities that for the majority of people on this planet exist only in dreams. The next country that Jess and I would like to visit is Cambodia which we intend visiting in January next year.

We are still looking into the trans-Manchurian as an option for October 2010, and my good friend Clint has expressed serious interest which brings our little party of intrepid Moscow bound adventurers to four people.

Talking of Clint, I would like to mention that he is going to do a friend of mine a favour by couriering a camera to him. Last Sunday Jess and I went up to Seoul where we searched Yongsan electronics market for a bargain before settling on an excellent price for our friend back home. We managed to save R5000 on what would have had to be paid back at home. What a saving! What is more in between the bargaining we managed to fit in the best Thai meal I have ever eaten - Seoul really is a cosmopolitan city.

On Friday of the same week Jess and met a whole bunch of friends for dinner here in Sangju. We organised a private room at a local restaurant and all told about 30 people joined us - it was a big success.

This past Friday, last night, Jess and I went to Jeomchon, a neighbouring town, where we met friends to party it up and celebrate a birthday. They are such a nice crowd of people and keep introducing us to more people, our social circle is growing which is fantastic. There were three other South Africans at the party, which is unusual - it’s not often that we meet other South Africans, but this trend is changing rapidly. There are already far more South Africans in Korea than when we arrived a year ago.

Today we set out for Suanbo, which is in the mountains about one and a half hours north of here, to investigate the local ski resort and see whether it is open. When we travelled to Seoul last Sunday we passed through lots of snow which got us hoping for a bumper ski season. Unfortunately we have had an unusually warm week and the only snow to be seen at the ski resort was on the two ski runs that were open. We were tempted to hire skis and take part in the fun, but even the two slopes that we could see were looking tacky; and as skiing is an expensive sport we decided to be responsible and head home. All was not lost though, we managed to fit an enjoyable walk in.

Things have been going well for me, but I received some bad news this week. My main coteacher is likely to transfer to another school. When I received this news I felt as though the bottom of my world was about to fall out. Even now that I have had two full days to digest the news I am filled with a sense of dread at the thought of not having her around next year -- I am totally freaked / freaking out. My anxiety increases still further when I start wondering who is going to take her role as my main coteacher next year. I am, with no exaggeration, very very worried about how things are going to pan out for me. None of the other English teachers at my school even remotely understands my situation, how important the role of ‘main coteacher’ is to me and the significant difficulties they can cause me through simple inattentiveness.

I received the news on Thursday evening by means of email in which my main coteacher asked me for my thoughts. I stated in strong terms that I believe she would be much happier at another school. I so wanted to write a completely different reply, but I couldn’t - how could repay her kindness with ill advice? When I saw her the next morning she told me she had not slept at all on Thursday evening. She looked haggard. I didn’t tell her that I also had a sleepless night. I so hope she gets the transfer, she deserves a better work environment; and I so hope her request flatly turned down - it’s nasty to say this, but my I own set of instincts are very much at play.

My main coteacher’s departure will be a real blow to the school, she has been an unappreciated asset. So spare a thought for me. I’ve dropped all grandiose wishes from my Christmas wish list, all I want is a decent replacement.

Kelsey, our town's' "Miss Party Animal of the Year". She's always good for a laugh and an outrageous comment which leads to another laugh.




Romeo sporting his Jamexican [Jamaican Mexican] frog hat. He made it himself.


Jess and yours truly with our gracious host. His staff worked so hard that evening. We were given a discount at the end of the evening, in SA there might well have been a surcharge for serving such a large group -- Korea is unmatched when it comes to service.

Cameron, in the middle of the picture, is one of the newer westerners in our province. He lives in Jeomcheon which is twenty minutes bus ride from Sangju. I like his expression, is it bewilderment or surprise or both?

Wooseong is a friend of Jessica and myself. He taught with Jess for a brief period. Unfortunately he lives in Daegu these days.



Giovanni Romeo, our Italian American friend. He is one of the more experienced teahers, and one of the more level headed westerners I have met since coming here. He really is a fountain of knoweledge when it comes to Korea and a host of other topics.

Some of the guests at the big dinner.

Dak galbi, the meal that ate at the big dinner. It is similar to chicken stir fry.

Here's an interesting articles that I read recently. It's available at http://blog.educationusa.or.kr/category/history-and-background/, it's part of a series of essays that can be downloaded at http://blog.educationusa.or.kr/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/korean-culture-essays-hhunderwood.pdf

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In and out

Dr. Horace. H. Underwood.

The problem of "in and out" is only a small part of a larger pattern: Korea is fundamentally not an egalitarian culture, not one that values equality of treatment, but one that makes distinctions between people, one that is hierarchical.

Well, you knew that Korean culture was hierarchical. But do you know what that really implies? I mean, it's arranged vertically!

Just as one clue, there is no word in Korean for "brother." There is no such word. There is a Korean word for "elder brother" ("hyong") and a Korean word for "younger brother" ("tongsaeng") but no word for brother. American brothers are generally equal to each other, but Korean brothers are not equal; the elder brother has what we would call the responsibility of a father toward his younger brothers. The relationship is different, so the word is different. My Korean friends always consider me slightly immoral in that I do not tell my younger brother what to do.

Koreans have separate words for elder sister and younger sister, too. In fact, they have different words for a man to use for his elder sister and for a woman to use for her elder sister. The words are different because the roles are different and the relationships are different and the responsibilities are different and not equal.

Korea is a Confucian society. Everyone is Confucian, including the Christians. Confucianism is primarily a system of ethics, not religion, and within ethics, even more a system of social relationships. The very center of Confucianism is the "Five Relationships" of "king to subject, father to son, elder brother to younger brother, husband to wife, and friend to friend." Note that four out of five of these are hierarchical. That's about right; Korea is at least 80% hierarchical. (And even "friends" only applies if the two were born the same year, and are thus the same age and capable of being roughly equal. And even then not quite, because the one born a month or a day or an hour ahead is senior. Even twins: like Esau and Jacob, the twin born first is the elder brother. Koreans are very confused when Americans claim that someone clearly not their own age is their "friend.")

Language reinforces inequality not only in things like the words for "brother" but in every sentence. The "levels" of spoken Korean are controlled by and also define the relationship of the two speakers. Even if you know no Korean you will notice that younger people use a lot of long sentences ending with "-imnida," while older people talking to younger people end their sentences with short cutoff endings. Two people can't even talk to each other until they have defined their mutual relationship, hierarchically, by position or age.

Teachers, particularly senior teachers, maintain a certain dignity. Americans may think such teachers are putting it on, but in their minds they are simply being senior, acting as a teacher ought to act. Granted that Koreans treat Americans as somewhat outside the Korean hierarchical system (my "honorary" age for a long time has been about 10 years greater than my real age, though the gap has now disappeared), and granted that Koreans take things from foreigners that they would never take from other Koreans, still, hierarchy is the whole world, and being aware of one's relative place in the world is a way of making life easier in dealing with Koreans anywhere.

About the author:

Horace H. Underwood is the fourth generation of his family to live in Korea. His great-grandfather was one of the first Protestant missionaries to arrive in Korea in 1885, and later founded Yonsei University, where his family has continued to teach. Dr. Underwood first went to Korea in 1946 at the age of three; after earning a doctorate at SUNY Buffalo he served for 30 years as a professor in Yonsei's English Department. During that time he also had various other posts in international education, including Director of the Division of International Education and Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies, and Executive Director of the Korean American Educational Commission (the Fulbright Commission.) In 2004 he retired and moved to a home in South Carolina near his granddaughter, but still returns to Korea regularly as a member of the Board of Directors of Yonsei University and as a friend of Korea. Dr. Underwood can be contacted at: hhund@fulbright.or.kr

Hierarchy at school

Earlier this week one of my classes did not pitch to my lesson. There was no fore warning, they just didn’t arrive. Not being informed of things is a pet hate of mine. I expect my coteachers to inform me when a group of students are not going to attend my lesson. I have often spoken to the coteacher, whose students did not arrive to class, about the need for communication but he continues to fail to inform me. I’ve pleaded and reasoned with the teacher in question, I’ve even refused to attend a school event once when I received notice of it extremely late; all too little effect.

Not being informed of things irritates me, but I try to bear in mind that I am not at home – I am in Korea and the two cultures are markedly different.

At home if important information is withheld, it’s acceptable to be peeved off. Unfortunately for me, Korea is a strictly ordered society. I don’t fit into the ordering well since I have only a very rudimentary understanding of the culture and I am not Korean, but this is not to say that aspects of Korean culture aren’t applied to me. In Korea it is acceptable for more senior people to not pass on information to junior people, and so I am not informed about changes in class schedule.

Similarly junior people are not involved in discussions about decisions which affect them. For example I submitted my request for my winter vacation yesterday, and I was told by my coteacher that the other teachers had discussed my request and that it is likely to be approved. I thanked my coteacher, but I must admit my immediate instinctual feeling was irritation since I couldn’t help but feel that my leave request concerns the schools senior administrator and myself; and nobody else. Unfortunately my feelings don’t match reality – instead of my leave request being a simple matter between two people it has to go through several people; which is why my coteacher could not give me an immediate answer event though my requested dates are in the middle of the vacation. My leave request is likely to land on the desks of - the senior English teachers, the head of English, the 3^rd in charge at school, a senior administrator, the teacher in charge of leave, the vice-principal and finally the principal.

Hierarchical relations are all pervasive in Korea, and are strictly applied; even to the layout of the teacher’s office. The vice principal’s desk is against the windows at the back. The most senior teacher’s desks form a line with the vice-principals, with the second most and third most important men in the room seated on the left and right side of the vice-principal. These senior teacher’s desks are arranged in relation to the importance of their subject. The more important the desk, the closer it is to the vice-principal. Sport is the least important of the subjects, so although the head of sport sits with the most senior teachers his desk is the furthest from the vice-principal. Oh, and the most senior teachers are all men.

The rest of the desks are organized in perpendicular rows to the vice principal’s desk. Desks are assigned according to the teacher’s age and the subject’s importance. So for example, sport is not a very important subject; but one of the sports teachers is an older man so he sits closer to the vice-principal than a younger sports teacher would. My coteacher is a woman and in her mid thirties, but she has a relatively well positioned desk. This is probably because she plays a pivotal role in English education at school; as English is an important subject this warrants her current desk. I’m young and I am one the most junior teachers so I sit at the furthest end of my row from the vice-principal. Although my current desk is situated marginally closer to the vice-principal than when I first arrived, it is next to a basin which makes it an unpopular spot.

Generally the more senior teachers sit closer to the vice principal, the only exception being a group of senior teachers that get to sit with their backs towards cupboards which affords them a bit more privacy.

Finally the least important person – the office assistant, who is a young woman, sits the furthest away from the vice-principal.

At the beginning of the year just about everyone move desks. This was a huge task, both books and desks were pushed around the teachers office. At the time I did not understand why the teachers were prepared to come into school during the vacation to undertake the massive move; but now I understand that the move was important and must take place every year. As the teaching staff changes slightly, the teacher’s office has to be rearranged in order to maintain the hierarchy.

Teaching

Hello Everybody

Hello anybody - does anybody read my blog? (Jess as always you don’t count - oh and Eebee you rock.) Everythings instant these days - where’s the gratification in wading through my half baked blog posts, when you can watch truly random crap on youtube? Well I’ll keep writing, if only to keep a record of my years in South Korea.

So Jess and I have been extremely busy over the last while. I’ve been at the coal face preparing lessons, but I am enjoying teaching and I feel that my effort to become a good teacher is really paying off. I finally feel that I can give the students instructions without resorting to translations if I choose my language, class activities and visual cues carefully. It is so immensely satisfying to walk out of a classroom and feel that the lesson was a 100% success. I only dreamed of such feelings in my early days, and now I experience satisfaction on a regular basis.

This is not to suggest that I don’t deliver crap lessons once in a while. They still happen, but their frequency is on the wane. At least the responsibility for the success of lessons does not lie solely with me, ‘class dynamics’ play a huge role in the success of a lesson. Some groups of students will respond to just about any lesson, while others remain uninterested and unruly in lessons that the majority of other classes have responded favorably to.

I’m enjoying tapping into my creative side. It’s awesome to think of novel ideas for class, and sometimes one has to. There are very few ‘ready made stick in the microwave for five minutes’ lessons that are geared towards large classes of easily disinterested students. Stuff like ‘pair work’ is by and large a joke, it hardly ever works, within minutes it’s a jam session for the majority of the class. This said I had an awesome lesson that involved extensive pair work at my rural school today, fortunately the class that I gave the lesson to are fairly enthusiastic. My only regret is that it took to long to get the activity started, but then again I am well versed in the catastrophic results that come with turning students loose on an activity to soon.

I can’t believe some of the lessons that one finds in text books - I mean do, the authors really believe that teenage boys give a flying continental about introducing oneself at a party, or discussing one’s weekend at work? I realise they teach accurate language, and provide realistic situations - but teenagers aren’t interested in that stuff, they want excitement - they want to use their imaginations. Many of my successful lessons have been based on ‘escapism’, or ‘role-playing’ -- being different, escaping from everyday situations. Who gives a toss if the ‘coffee cup is on the table’? No ways, ‘the gold bar’, which is part of the evidence that you are trying to collect, ‘is on the table’ is soooo much more interesting.

Yesterday I started teaching ‘Africa v2’, that’s right I’ve incorporated some general knowledge into my classes, ‘Africa v1’ was overly ambitious and flopped so I scrapped it after the first lesson. The second lesson is a quiz and is proving successful. The students have time to go through cards that I have prepared before the quiz starts - the only thing is I really didn’t think the cards through very well before diving into preparing them. Each card consists of 3 pieces of paper, each group has 17 cards and there are 6 groups. So 3 X pieces of paper X 17 cards X 6 groups = 306 pieces of paper that need to be cut and glued together = the weekend totally wasted. So now I am laminating the cards as I can just see some little shit scribbling on the cards, drawing phallic symbols, writing stuff, adding horns etc.

If I only I had spent a little more time in the planning stage, I would not have spent nearly as long preparing the materials. Oh well, lesson relearned.

Au revoir great vacuum of the internet.

Comment folk, comment!

Gender Equality in South Korea

Here’s an article that appeared in last weekend’s Korea Times.

It was placed within the editorial on page six.

I don’t know much about laying out a newspaper, but given the exceptional importance of the topic to a large percentage of the population I would have thought that news of South Korea's slide in terms of gender equality would have warranted space on the front page.

I guess it’s a little ironic that the piece was buried deep within the paper, albeit in the editorial.

Gender Equality: Korea's Global Ranking Slides Due to Widening Gap

The nation has a long way to go to narrow the widening gender gap. On Tuesday, the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum ranked South Korea 115th in its gender equality list of 134 countries. The forum gave Korea 0.615 in the gender equality index, which is far lower than that of most Asian nations, not to mention top-ranking Western states.

Iceland won 0.827 points, taking the world's top place. Among the leading groups were Finland, Norway, Sweden, South Africa and Lesotho. The Philippines was listed 9th, emerging as the Asian leader. The United States took 31st place, while China ranked 60th and Japan 75th.

It is really disappointing that Korea's ranking has continued to fall over the past years. The country was listed 92nd in 2006, 97th in 2007 and 108th in 2008. As far as gender equality is concerned, Korea has reached the global bottom. We have to humbly accept the ranking and go all-out to bridge the gap between the sexes.

In fact, the nation has neglected its efforts to promote gender equality, while boasting of only its economic power and technological breakthroughs. Korea gained only 0.0714 in the forum's political empowerment index, the lowest level in the world. The reason is because only a small number of women take elected positions such as those of lawmakers, governors and majors.

Currently, the proportion of female legislators only stands at 13.7 percent in the 299-member National Assembly. Only two women serve as ministers, with no female governors. And a mere 3.68 percent of ranking government officials were women in 2008, a plunge from the 6.23 percent in 2006.

South Korean women also have to tolerate less economic opportunities than their male counterparts. Women's economic participation is less than half that of men and their wages are still lower than those of their male competitors.

The nation is required to make concerted efforts to improve gender equality so that it can cement its social cohesion and raise its national competitiveness. It should implement various programs to offer more and better opportunities to women in every field. The role of women is pivotal to national development in the 21st century.