Celebrity for a Year

Night before last, I finally went out for soju. Our RAs, Alex and Lucy (two Korean students who attend Jungwon University where we are staying) took us down into Goesan--which funny enough is prounounced gwaesahn--to a little bar. The poor waiter when 20ish of us rolled in!! I had some of the best beer I've ever tasted, even after spending a summer in Chattanooga, as well as some fruit-flavored and regular soju. Soju is a lot like vodka, but doesn't burn. And the fruit soju tastes like fruit juice; you can't even tell it's alcohol... which could be dangerous!

Lucy and her Korean friends then taught us drinking games. In Korea and a few other Asian countries, it's very common to go to a bar, sit with your friends, and play drinking games. There was one where everyone said "bang bada bang bang bang bada bang, etc." while holding your fingers like a gun and waving them around. Then one person yells "zero" but in Korean, and points to another person. That person yells "zero" and points to another. That person yells "seven" and points to a fourth person and yells "bang!!" The two people on either side of that person must put their hands up. Whoever in the three doesn't do it correctly must drink, or the last person to raise their arms.

After anyone drinks from a drinking game, all the Koreans loudly start singing this song and waving their arms and doing a shoulder dance... I'm determined to learn it, but it goes really fast!

The shoulder dance part of the drinking song! Lucy is in the gray and purple, and the girl next to her is my roommate, Erin :)

Today was a big day. All the ETAs traveled to schools for an observation visit of current ETAs. I woke up at 5:45am and we headed out at 7am. My group attended an all-girls public high school in a fairly large district. The school had about 1700 students. High school and middle school in Korea are only 3 grades, and each school starts over with numbering. So elementary is grades 1-6, middle is first grade through third grade, and high school is again first grade through third grade. We observed two first grade English conversation classes (the subject we will be teaching! We don't teach grammar), a high intermediate English level class and an advanced English level class. The lessons were really interesting and the girls really seemed to like them.

We also took a tour of the school and met several teachers. We were required to take our shoes off at the door and wear guest indoor slippers, which was an interesting experience because many in our group do not fit the homogeneous Korean mold for, well, any size, but especially not feet. Of course, I was the only one who couldn't find a pair small enough...

During the bell changes, the girls would come pouring out of their classrooms to stare at us, giggle really loudly, and even shriek at the sight of us. They would peer into the windows and hide behind things. It was pretty funny, but also really overwhelming. We were completely treated like celebrities. When we walked into the cafeteria for lunch, the ENTIRE room erupted into piercing shrieks and screams, especially when a male ETA came in. The screaming lasted for a good 5-7 min before it subsided into photo and video taking. Some of the braver girls asked a few of the especially white American looking guys to take a picture with them. I had a good time, but I was ready to leave when the bus came to pick us up.

To explain the screaming, I'll jump into my next topic and work it through. After the school trip, we had a workshop (generally each of our days consists of language class in the morning and then a workshop in the evening about culture, teaching, etc) about race in Korea. Korea is the most homogeneous nation/society/country in the entire world. It is 99% ethnically Korean. Of the 50 million people here, 1 million of them are non-Korean or foreigners. So for the students to see 16 foreigners wandering their school all at once, it was as if we were aliens arriving from outer space.

But being an "other" is something that is really important to talk about when being a foreigner in a country where absolutely everyone is the same. Our speaker was an ETA back in '94, and has lived here ever since. He explained a lot of the historical context of race in Korea, then brought it to modern day and how it will specifically affect us. He also touched on being a sexual orientation "other," which is extremely difficult in Korea. Until 10-15 years ago, Korean people really had no concept of homosexuality. Their society is not homophobic in the way that the US is, especially not hateful. They just have never discussed it, and many people have never come into contact with it, as people here remain "in the closet" their entire lives.

Another major point he had was that, because Korean people have spent 5000 years being homogeneous, they have an extremely strong sense of community. In the Korean language, they generally don't use "I" or "you," everything is "we." They believe themselves to be of one blood, one family. So, this creates difficulty for many Korean-Americans or Korean adoptees who come to Korea to live, work, etc. Korean people don't understand why they don't speak Korean or automatically know everything about the culture and customs. The speaker also pointed out that many Koreans become offended if Korean-Americans speak English too loudly in public places, especially women. Older Koreans have been known to actually slap Korean-American ETAs for speaking English.

This is because English is such a sign of modernization and Westernization that many Koreans feel those who speak English publicly who are not foreigners are flaunting it, they are bragging rudely and trying to be better than everyone else. Korea has not been a "modern" country for very long. They hit their economic boom in the late 60s/early 70s. Many of these people were once farmers in a nation of farming, village, folksy culture.

So, I had a very interesting day full of new knowledge and experiences. I can't say anyone has ever shrieked at the sight of me before...

And now, I'm exhausted. I was going to stay up and watch a Korean movie with some of the other ETAs, but this bed is feeling pretty comfortable. ^^