At the end of March, all the Fulbrighters came together for a conference in Jeju, the beautiful island off the southern coast of South Korea. During most of the conference, we were in sessions. We discussed everything from homestays to teaching to Korean culture. It was really nice to meet with everyone and unpack and catch up, but I have to admit it was a little strange. As the only Fulbright teacher placed anywhere near my area, I'm fairly isolated from the program. I spend a lot of my time with EPIK teachers, the native English teacher program run through the Korean government. Sometimes, I forget I'm Fulbright and get lost in the label of "foreign English teacher."
The conference helped remind me of my purpose in not only teaching, but studying and learning as well. During some of the sessions, we listened to presentations by the Fulbright researchers. There are two types of Fulbright grantees, ETAs (teachers like me) and researchers. The researchers are studying lots of interesting topics, like multiculturalism and feminism in Korea, traditional architecture, economics, and poetry. I really felt rejuvenated and awed to be in such a great goup of people. One of the researchers used to work in the White House with President Obama!
The conference really helped to serve two purposes for me. To unpack a lot of feelings, experiences, and observations, and to give me a lot of new ideas for lessons and other aspects of my classroom.
Unpacking. It was really helpful for me to meet up with other Fulbrighters and talk about things like stress, homesickness, frustrations with homestays or schools, and difficulties with culture. I feel that I don't often get to vent my negative feelings because I have to be "on" all the time. I attended a talk on being an "other" in Korea, which was really helpful.
Being an "other" means being an outsider to a group, culture, or society. Being a white woman in Korea has both positive and negative aspects. Being white is very much admired in Korea, both for the paleness of my skin, which is considered beautiful, and for the power associated globally with with being white. But there are some drawbacks as well. A stereotype about Western women is that they are promiscuous. Our media doesn't help, especially as pretty much every American movie has women getting naked. This leads to Korean men treating us as more sexualized objects than Korean women. During orientation, we had a women's talk, where they warned us about this view. The orientation team told us this example: a white woman and her Korean woman friend are out dancing at a club. They can be wearing the same outfit and dancing the same way, but the Koreans will still see the white woman as being more sexual or promiscuous.
Another way this view is manifested is that there is a stereotype among older Korean men that all white women are Russian, and all Russians are prostitutes. Prostitution is illegal in South Korea, but it is still rampant, and fairly obvious (barber shops that have two barber poles rotating counter to each other are brothels). So, sometimes, I am asked "
Russia saram (person)? How much-ii?" This is a huge insult, as I am being propositioned. My friend, who is also blonde and blue-eyed, has experienced the same thing. Generally, we just look shocked and angry, say no, and walk away.
So, it was nice to meet with other foreign women at the conference and vent these frustrations on being stereotyped as a minority and feeling like an outsider.
The second effect the conference had was to give me new ideas for my classroom. One of these is the Korean Students Speak project I talked about in my last post. Another is a whole new way to do my final speaking exams.
On the Sunday during the conference, we went on a tour of Jeju. First, we visited Sunrise Peak, a crater that faces east. It was quite a climb, but worth it. Near the top, the way was steep and dizzying. But the view was beautiful!
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| The walkway around part of the crater that makes Sunrise Peak and the view off to the south. |
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| Me at the top of the Sunrise Peak, overlooking the town below. |
Next, we went to Ilchul Land, a park built around a large lava cave. There were some neat cultural artifacts around the park. Inside the cave was really cool also.
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| Ilchul Land, a park with lava caves. |
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| Me and Buddha just chillin ;) |
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| Wall painting inside the lava cave. |
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| These little guys are the famous mascot of Jeju. |
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| Large depiction of Jeju's mascot. |
After that, we traveled to the Jeju Folk Village. It was a lot more touristy than Hahoe, the folk village near my hometown. At the Jeju village, no one actually lives in the homes, and they use it as a site for shooting TV shows and films. It was really neat though, and a lot of Fulbrighters who watch Korean shows loved seeing the sets.
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| haha! Read the second paragraph :) |
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| Love it! |
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| These are black-haired pigs, which make the meat Jeju is famous for. |
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| Some performers drumming. |
The last stop was right across the street, at Pyoson Beach. Unfortunately, it was too cold to more than dip our feet in the water, but I got some great pictures. The water was so clear and beautiful!
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| Pyoson Beach |
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| Such a beautiful day! |
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| Look how clear the water is! |
The only thing I had trouble with during the trip was food. I'm a really picky eater, so eating meals made for large groups of people is difficult. It's a lot easier when I can fend for myself! The worst meal was when we went to eat grilled black pork, which is famous on Jeju. I was fine until I turned the meat over on the grill and noticed some black things along one edge. At first I thought it was seasoning, but then I looked closer and realized the full skin was still on the meat, complete with hair still in the hair follicles. So, yea. Ew.
All in all, it was a really fun trip. The island was beautifull, and it was great to connect with Fulbrighters again. While conferences can be very tiring, it was also refreshing. The only bad part was getting home from the airport rather late and then getting up at 6am for work the next day! I was exhausted for a little while, until I caught my rhythm again. But I had a great time, and I'm happy I got to see such a beautiful place that the Korean people are so proud of!
