A Merry American-Korean Christmas

Christmas in Korea isn't as big as it is in America, but we weren't going to let the holiday slip past us.

So for Christmas eve, we didn't know what to do. We almost considered just ordering take-out. But at the last minute, we gathered some Koreans and foreigners together and made a fusion feast with everything we could muster from the local E-mart store.

Steak
Kimchi
Rice
Mushroom Mandoo (dumplings)
Champagne

It even had Christmas colors. Look.......





After the glorious feast, we headed over the the Noribang (singing room) to celebrate with Christmas songs. But since many of the English teachers were fatigued from having taught English Christmas songs all day to our students, we didn't stay long.



The next day, I went to church with Sangeun. We met her sister and her sister's fiance and headed over to a small but warm place of worship in the basement of a building. The congregation wasn't large, but very much alive, as it opened with children's Christmas presentations both modern and contemporary. One girl even recited the gospel by memory in English (I later learned that they had her prepared that just for me). Since I can read Korean phonetically, I was able to sing the Joy to the World and Away in a Manger in Korean. During the sermon, the pastor pointed me out and joked that since I was there, his small church was now an international church. After the service, I talked a little with members of the congregation and we drank tea and ate Dak (Korean rice cakes).



When I'm with Koreans, I can never tell whether they plan activities or just do them spontaneously. It's best not to ask. So when I asked what we were doing next, Sangeun just smiled and said, "wait and see." We went to an outside market in Bupeyong and picked up some ingredients, and to make the story short, Sanguen's sister's fiance fixed us one of the best meals I've had since I'd been in Korea.... seafood pancakes.








It was a Merry Christmas and I had a lot to be thankful for.

Election Day- December 19, 2007

As the US presidential primary season is just starting, the Korean presidential election is just finishing. Korea is similar to America in the sense that it has an unpopular president (Roh-Moo-hyeon) leaving office after finishing his maximum of two terms (eight years).

Banners publicizing not only the three major candidates, but all 12 are all over Korea:





The winner: a Presbyterianism minister turned President of Hyundai turned mayor of Seoul (kind of a combination of Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Rudy Guiliani). His campaign promise was an interesting synergy of free market capitalism and evangelicalism: put faith in my divine ordinance to reshape the economy and bring prosperity to all.

"Change" is coming to Korea....

A Cultural Experience

I've seen some crazy things in Seoul, notably right outside Seoul Station, which is the only place where you really see homeless people. It's pretty much the town square area of Seoul, where people with everything and anything to say come to. I thought I'd seen it all.

But this one takes the cake....



I'd like to say this picture just speaks for itself and leave it at that, but my curiosity led me to check out their website. Apparently it's a social advocacy organization called the WTA (World Toilet Association) dedicated to the global proliferation of high quality sustainable and sanitary toilets. It started off as a national organization simply to improve the quality of toilets in Korea. Now they have expanded their outreach into the world specifically the 3rd one...

From their website: "2.4 billion people do not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. About 2 million people die every year due to diarrheal diseases; most of them are children less than 5 years of age."

and..

"Promoting a new wave concept of 'Beautiful Toilets' and 'Toilets as a cultural' place is also one of our aims."

http://en.wtaa.or.kr/site/wta/wtavision.htm

Blink.

Today in one of my Middle School classes, a student called George Bush a "modern day Kennedy." I understood what she said, but I thought I must have heard wrong. Upon seeing the confusion on my face, she developed a frustrated look on her face and then said to me "Teacher do you know JKF? I mean he's like JFK today."

My feeling of confusion turned into a half state of awe and half state of disbelief, but upon recollecting her earlier comment that she liked George Bush, it all made sense. She also said at one point in the class that she liked Kim Jong-Il more than the current South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun because Kim is a stronger leader. I have to keep reminding myself of the obvious fact that Koreans are just as ideologically diverse (and internally polarized apparently) as anyone else.
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When I told a Korean English teacher about this however, she said Middle Schoolers were too young to understand...... Korean politics much less American politics, and that she couldn't have possibly meant what she said.





Anyway here's some pictures of out Mexican Halloween because we couldn't find traditional Thanksgiving food...

Walking the Footsteps of an English Teacher in Korea

Check out this musical portrait that my roommate and I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO9trdGlaV8

It's best viewed not as a full screen.

Happy Chuseok Everyone

Thank God for Roseanne Arnold

My high school class is by far my favorite...for the simple fact that it is a small class, the students are the most respectful, and they know the most English. (One day I printed out Green Day lyrics, and we just talked about them) Usually I'm up for a challenge, but after a entire day of kids screaming, saying Bye-Bye as soon as I enter the room, barely understanding a word I say, and probably talking in Korean to each other about me behind my back, it's very refreshing.

So in my high school class today, we talked about their upcoming harvest celebration Chuseok and compared it to American Thanksgiving. There were many similarities. Both holidays are dedicated to family, food, and giving thanks. They showed me some Korean food, so I returned the favor and told them about American Thanksgiving traditions: turkey, stuffing, football, and family arguments.

There apparently aren't any songs for Chuseok, but as I was searching for youtube videos for our Thanksgiving song We Gather Together, I came across a Thanksgiving special from the TV sitcom Roseanne. Within five minutes, Roseanne was stuffing a turkey, another character was going to the store for some cranberry sauce, John Goodman was practicing football moves in the house wearing a football jersey, and all the characters were complaining about other family members.

After sharing the Roseanne episode with my students, I realized how much of my American culture I simply take for granted. It's so easy to dismiss our holidays as come corporate scheme to keep us shopping compulsively. But even something as simple as a white sweatshirt with a turkey on it (which Roseanne was wearing in the episode) is a cultural artifact. This year, I am not going to be able to celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving with my extended or even immediate family, It saddens me a little but the fact that I know I will miss it is a quiet reminder of how American I really am.

I also introduced my students to wikipedia, which apparently has not hit Korea yet since they had not heard of it. I amused them when I demonstrated that anyone can edit an entry by changing the word Canada to Korea in a section about Canadian Christmas (before changing it back). It was a great lesson in American internet culture and also the reliability of websites in the English.

For what it's worth, right now--wikipedia says Virginia (at Berkeley Plantation) was the first place where Thanksgiving was celebrated. Who knows what it will say tomorrow!