Sunday, November 29, 2009

More Mixin'

The NY Times has an interesting story about mixed race families here.

As I mentioned before, there is a huge influx of women, mostly from China, Vietnam (which now has a shortage of women), and the Philippines, that have come here through marriage brokers to marry Korean men. Most of the men live in rural areas and many are older. The men have difficulties finding wives because women generally prefer to live in urban centers, do not want the harsh farming life, and there is a growing gender imbalance with eligible males significantly outnumbering females.

A few of the more interesting quotes are:
"Among farming households, 49 percent of all children will be multicultural by 2020"
"the dropout rate of mixed-background children from elementary school is 15.4 percent, 22 times the national average."
"Compounding the risk is the fact that most of the foreign women marry older farmers or manual laborers. Some 53 percent of mixed families live on earnings at or below the national minimum hourly wage of 4,000 won, or less than $3.50"

The focus of the article is the effect on the children and notes there are derogatory names for these children "Kosians" or Korean Asians. Some of the kids want to hide their ethnicity to avoid the teasing. One mother from the Philippines thought it would be better if nobody saw her because then they might think her daughter was pure Korean.

Like everything in Korea, things are changing quickly, mostly for the better. There were very few of these mixed race children 10 years ago and now a massive wave of them are starting to enter elementary school. Koreans have traditionally been a homogenous people and quite proud of their heritage. How are they going to deal with this enormous societal change?

As the article notes, there are multi-cultural family support centers to help these families. The article does not note the TV and radio shows that are available that both give support to foreigners and try to help Koreans understand other cultures and, ultimately, embrace the positive aspects that diversity brings.

When Naoko, a friend from Japan, was visiting we were riding on a train and chatting. A woman heard us speaking English and asked us to sit down and chat. She told us of her life...she was from the Philippines and met her husband through a marriage broker. She had a couple of children with him. She was poor in the Philippines and came here for a better life. She really missed her family and had not been back for years because it was too expensive. She said it is a bit difficult, she has few Korean friends, but there are some other women from the Phillipines that she is friends with.

I suppose that this is normal in any country, you seek out those who you have something in common with. Koreans in America tend to be more friendly with other Koreans, not because Americans are not open to foreigners, but because it is normal to be more comfortable with those who you share a common experience.

I do not know what I think. I see desperation on both sides. Men, who desperately want to be married and have children, have few choices. They seek out a woman they do not know to make a life with. Women, who are desperate to escape the poverty of their homeland, are willing to risk leaving their families, culture and are willing to roll the dice on a better life. Hard for me to imagine.

Both parties have the freedom of choice to make this agreement or not, so it is not trafficking. On the other hand, the man has much more power because he has the money, and knows the culture. In addition, there are many stories in the papers about foreign brides being abused by Korean husbands. The courts do not seem to not take these cases of spousal abuse as seriously as they do in other developed countries.

Korea (and other countries) can not continue to import brides forever. The impact on their home countries must be devastating...losing tens of thousands of women a year is just not healthy for any culture. The Philippines has a law against it (not sure it is enforced too much). At some point, all countries will probably outlaw these brokered marriages. The bottom line is the mail order bride thing is just a band-aid.

The real solution seems to be in promoting gender equality, and eliminating the preference for males something that most Asian countries, including Korea, need to work on. When girls and women are valued more by society, the numbers will come into balance. Strangely, eliminating a tradition (preference for males) is the only way to keep Korean culture.


Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving and a boy who needs surgery


Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is all about spending time with people you care about, and these days my students rank up there for me. It is also about eating turkey, something that most of the kids had never done.

A couple of months ago I decided to make Thanksgiving dinner for the kids who have been volunteering to help out the boy who needs surgery. I decided not to tell them until Monday and most were really excited to join in, but one group said they wanted to not join in because they felt like it was a sort of pay off for helping the boy. They said they helped the boy because they wanted to do something good, not for a payoff. Eventually they relented. You gotta love the purity of some these kids hearts.


The past week has been ridiculously busy (hence no posts) between shopping, collecting pine cones and branches for decorations and cooking. All went pretty well with the small exception of the oven not working for about twenty minutes when I put the turkey in it. My first attempt to repair it, which entailed cursing at it, did not work as well as I had hoped. The second attempt was more succesful and the food was ready, shockingly, a bit early.

Sandy was a great worker as always. Thanks to her and our friends, Elizabeth and Seiphemo, we got the food on the buffet.

33 kids, along with the Principal, Vice-Principal and some other teachers, came in and they were shocked to see the classroom transformed into a reasonably nice looking dining room. We covered the 6 foot tables with white paper so they looked like tablecloths. We ran the pines and pine cones down the middle. We lit up the room with dozens of candles.




We cooked turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, salad and pie. The kids devoured everything with the exception of the green beans...bought ten pounds...got 9.75 leftover.



The kids seemed to have a good time chowing down on all of the food. After they finished with their plates, they began devouring the remaining food.





I thought the best way to top the night was to have a video call with Se Teu, the boy they raised money for, along with his mother and my friend. I did not tell the students about it...it was going to be a surprise. The surprise ended up being my friends web cam dying and us struggling to serve dinner and help her with her technical issue.

We were getting ready to give up and I told the students the final total of money they raised, $1000...exactly enough to pay for the 3 operations the boy needs. I was in the middle of telling the kids that the surprise I had planned and that it was not going to happen when Elizabeth walked in and said we had a connection. I literally jumped and yelled like a little school girl...what the hell has happened to me.

The call was quite short, but perfect. My friend introduced the boy to the kids and they said a few words. After a little prompting from my friend, the boy said, "Thank You" in a sweet, raspy, little boy voice...a couple of the girls had tears in their eyes...it was perfect.


After the call, I thought things would wrap up, but the kids wanted to stay around and chat, so instead of ending around 7 like I thought, we wrapped it up at 9:15. The kids loved Seiphemo and Elizabeth, and now they took over my status as school superstar. I, of course, hate them at this point.





This has got to be one of the hardest, most memorable Thanksgiving Day's that I have ever had. I hope yours was just as memorable.



Friday, November 20, 2009

This is Teacher Training?


Every Wednesday we have a "Teacher Training" class. Three of the teachers from my school along with one from Sandy's school and three other teachers get together and chat so the Korean English Teachers can improve their fluency. I think it has a lot to do with getting out of school for a few hours and a little to do with fluency. Either way, we look forward to chatting with them, and I hope they feel the same way.

We have made some field trips recently. This week it was too the wine tunnel. It is an abandoned train tunnel the Japanese made about 100 years ago that now operates as a semi-tourist attraction. They serve persimmon wine which is much more tasty than you would expect.


These ladies are my colleagues and if ever a picture said a thousand words, this one does. Kyung Hee as patient as ever, Moon Sook telling the waiter what to do (probably with a little joke) and Ock Ran laughing pleasantly.


A surprise highlight happened when a local news crew appeared. They seemed much less enthusiastic about having their picture taken than taking mine. They interviewed me for a show next week...I am sure it will be about local foreigners corrupting upstanding Korean teachers.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A Boy Who Needs Surgery Part 4

The seniors have finished their entrance exam and have free time, so 7 of them have joined our fundraising efforts. This is especially good because I do not teach them...they just heard about the program and wanted to help. They put together a PowerPoint presentation and are going to deliver it in each class. It should be exciting to see how they do.

Bitna, who I wrote about in the speech contest, is leading the group. It is great to spend more time with her and to meet more of the seniors. These extra curricular activities are the best part of teaching.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

More tourist stuff

Pyochungsa is a temple that was originally built in 654 but, like so many other things, had to be rebuilt after the Japanese burned it down in the 1500's. The temple itself is beautiful, but the surroundings were even more spectacular. We had no idea that it was a hiking mecca until we saw hundreds of people pouring down the mountain into the tourist buses at the end of the day.


This was the other spectacular thing we saw...the huge clam at Costco. The one on the left is about 5 inches across and the other is about 10inches...ridiculously big.


Sunday, November 15, 2009

Matchie Matchie


During summer they were everywhere...young couples advertising their relationships by wearing matching clothes. I ran into one student with the whole matching clothes thing going with his girlfriend and he was so ecstatic about it that I gave him a pass and did not make a joke.With the cold weather there is apparently fewer matching clothes choices, but I have run into a few.


I hate to admit it, but I thought the mother daughter matching clothes was quite cute.
As I mentioned before, the matching underwear is available everywhere. One guy told me about the benefits of wearing matching underwear: it makes his girlfriend happy and what better time to have a happy girl friend then when you show off your matching underwear.


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

24 hours of a Lifetime

The Seniors are taking their test tomorrow that will determine the rest of their lives...the college entrance exam. It can not be understated how focused students are on this one moment in their lives.

As the students were departing for the hotel that they will stay at the night before, the other students lined up, banged some drums, and wished them good luck.

One of the nice parts of Korean culture is the respect that students have for the older students. I think that part of it is expected, but partially the student want to show respect for their seniors. A nice tradition and a nice little ceremony.

I took a few random pictures. The girls who begged me to not post their pictures, as always, are posted first.






Saturday, November 07, 2009

Miscellaneous pictures

A few pictures I took that I liked but never posted.

A beautiful temple set in the mountains that has trained Buddhist nuns for centuries.

A box of beautiful persimmons

A remarkably cheerful student.

The rice fields just before harvest.



Really Big and Small People

Today we had a car wash to raise money for Se Teu, the boy who drank acid. As usual, the students were great. They mostly laughed (ok...I heard some complaining at the end) and worked their little hearts out. It was great seeing them in a different situation because you really get a better view of who they are...the leaders, the hard workers etc.

I really did not know what would happen with this whole fundraising thing, but it has turned out great.




On a less wonderful note, a teacher at the middle school that shares the track next to the school decided it was unsafe to have students use diluted dish detergent in "her" area. We were washing the cars on concrete next to a drain, so there were two wet spots from the water that was about 5 by 10 meters each. There were no other students even outside, so it was hard for me to see the danger. When the principle decided to appease her and asked me to move it, I did not complain because he is a nice man. Cost us an hour between moving the supplies and the cars and getting the students going again.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Seoul Tower

Seoul Tower gives great views of downtown Seoul. My favorite was atop the urinal.


The sculpture of the person who appeared to be jumping to their death was just creepy. The sculpture could be interpreted as someone soring, but it does not look that way to me. Given that Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world, I am not sure this is an image that should be encouraged.


On all of the fences around the tower, there are pairs of love locks (conveniently available in the shop for the less thoughtful lovers). Couples lock their locks together on the fence with a love note and then exchange keys. I thought it was cute for teenagers, Sandy thought it was a good idea for people who are in their 40's who have been married for 23 years.

A nice way to spend an hour.

Did anyone die?


We just got back from a trip to the DMZ which separates North and South Korea. There was much to see.

An amusement park near the tourist hotel (FYI, it strikes me as strange too)

A tour which included the Peace Bridge. A train that was shot up


A tunnel which the North Koreans had set up to eventually invade South Korea where photographs were not permitted. Why not allow pictures of a tunnel that thousands of people travel through a day?

We saw the Peace Bell, which at 21 tons is enormous.




We saw exhibits and all sorts of good stuff about the partnership that is building between the North and South. The fact that they are technically still at war was somehow forgotten.

Somehow there was no remembrance of all the men who died in the war. I asked the tour guide and she said there was none. There is one small sign saying 6 million casualties... not sure where the number comes from.

Wikipedia says that 58,121 Korean soldiers, 36,503 American soldiers and about 5,000 men from other countries gave their lives to protect Korea. How can they not be remembered at the DMZ? I am sure they must have a memorial somewhere (I have written the US Embassy to find out if they know of anywhere). It seems to me that a memorial would be set up in a prominent place to remember these men.

When I was back in the US, my father and I always stopped everything when the names of the men who recently died in war rolled across the screen on TV. It seems like the least we could do. I guess I am old fashioned, but I wanted to take a minute and pay respect to those who died. Shocking to me that there wasn't any place to do it here.