Korean Contradictions

• 
  Allo, Allo les amis! Well, here we are again. It's Sunday- I'm tired and hoping that my week-end will not end as quickly as it seems that it will. Time to negociate a three day week-end, I think...
  This week was rough. Not a bad week, not a hard week- just one that I wanted to spend hanging around the house instead of going to work and dealing with screaming kids. Yes, I do love those screaming kids- but I'm just in the mood for some quiet!! January is a month off for those kids who go to public schools, so to compensate for the month that they have off their regular schools, Korean parents like to shove their kids into extra classes at their private schools. So my Tuesday/Thursday heavenly days of leaving the school at 4:30pm have been lost, and now I teach a phonics class from 4:30 to 6:00. These poor kids, I'm tellling you. I've been instructed to finish the book before the end of the month- and I'm both whipping through the material and milking it because the kids in the class are all different ages and at different levels. Then my boss told me to make phonics fun. How do you do that exactly??? In any case, I've been starting the class with fifteen minutes of vocal warm-up (only something a theatre grad would think is important), which to the kids is pretty fun cause they're not reading...
  Since I've been here, I've been closely observing the oddities of Korean culture. They seem so apparent to me, but of course the Koreans fail to see the humor in their contradictions. When you see those shots on the news of people in Asian walking around with those masks on their mouths- I always assumed that it was a lame attempt at blocking pollution. But in fact these masks are worn by people when they're sick to prevent passing their germs to all around them. Pretty considerate I thought. But then they get to their school or place of work- the mask comes off and they are promptly coughing all over you. Koreans don't cover their mouths when they cough, but go to great lengths to ensure that they don't make strangers sick... It is considered extremely impolite - extremely rude to burp in public- and not the way it is in Canada, where you're likely to get a disgusted look by those around you, and then everyone's forgotten about it... it's pretty shocking behavior here. Yet you see people- mostly men- hoarking on the street, in restaurants, in the malls - to the extent that it's not just spit, but you hear it travelling up from the depths of their mucus- producing bodies. And this, is perfectly acceptable. Short skirts- perfectly acceptable- revealing your stomach or even the slightest bit of back- scandalous. Tank tops are unnaceptable for women in the summer- despite the scorching heat and humidity... Yet Koreans find bums very funny and I hear my kids say 'doku' (asshole)- at least a few times every day. And they think nothing of repeatedly touching and hitting each others and the teachers 'dokus' - all the while believing that revealing the slightest bit of belly is the most unnatural thing in the world. The women at the gym don't want to be seen sweating in front of men, so they only walk on the treadmill. And they wear more clothing at the gym than good sense allows. The trainers love hula hoops for some reason - I guess it's good for you or something- but Korean women seem so embarrased that they're moving their hips and making 'provocative' movements, that they compensate for this by making sour faces and keeping their arms crossed over their chest, so that no one in their right mind could accuse her of being 'in her body'.
  Everything here is about image, as I've said before- so this in mind- I went shopping yesterday with my friend Michelle- who is experiencing some frustration- and has been over the past year that she has been in Korea, in finding pants that fit her. Michelle has been labelled 'fat' by the clothing manufacturers in Korea. She wears a size 30 jean. And I didn't believe it possible, but yesterday I witnessed her taking off the rack, what the clerk assured us was the LARGEST pair of pants in the store- and I, being new to the adventures of shopping in Korea, was sure they would fit, after all, they were the largest... Poor Michelle came out of the dressing room minutes later- head down and feeling particularly fat- as the largest pair of Korean pants failed to fit her apparently extra large body. Needless to say, I fear that moment when I need to go shopping for pants and I experience the same shock- and doubtlessly begin to look forward to returning to Canada where I am a normal Canadian girl. I hope this insight into Korean culture doesn't discourage any of you who are a 30+ from visiting Korea- I'm told that white people of this size are not considered fat to Koreans- but a Korean of size 30 'needs to lose a few pounds'. Perhaps this is why my co-workers- all women, (who in many ways, do not to subscribe to the madness of the expectations placed on women here) eat so little. Maybe this sort of 'skinny is in' mentality affects all Korean women, and not just the ones that are obsessed with their appearance. Many of the girls that I work with have spent time in Canada or the US to improve their English- and as a result, are in many (positive) ways- westernized. Women are viewed as being extremely weak in Korea. In fact, my boss was afraid to hire me, as he told the other teachers that no Korean woman would be capable of spending a year away from her friends and family in a foreign country (despite the fact that many of his Korean teachers have done just that). The other teachers informed my boss that Canadian women were not weak, so he had nothing to worry about. In any case, it is still a culture that believes that a woman is to be subservient to her husband- that her husband (or father if she is unmarried) is to be respected as her superior and so on and so forth. So when my co-worker, Sylvia told her parents that she wanted to travel alone - her father forbade her from doing so. He said it was too dangerous, and she was forbidden from going (Sylvia is 27, and according to Korean custom, is still living at home because she is not married). Sylvia, being a little westernized after having spent some time in the US, decided to take matters into her own hands. So 27 year old Sylvia told her parents that she was staying at a friends house for the week-end, took the subway to the airport and got on a plane to Thailand. She called her parents from there and told them not to worry. I felt very proud of her as she recounted this story- especially when she told me that her father threatened to disown her if she ever did that again, and smiling, she told me she'd have to be more creative next time so he didn't find out. But then I thought how sad it was that Canadian teenagers set out in this way to assert their independance over the parents (usually not with trips to other countries, but with sneaking out to go to parties and so on), but Koreans didn't have time for independance until they hit their late 20's. Another co-worker, Jenny had a similar independant streak over Christmas, as she scored a super cheap trip (300$ everything included) to an island just south of Hong Kong. Her boyfriend told her he couldn't get the time off work, and expected Jenny not to go as a result. But Jenny, being more Canadianized than I am in some ways- boarded the plane and had a fabulous week by herself.
  And finally- the confusion of the week with the kids: My smartest kid (and my favorite), Ryan - asked me the other day why I had blue eyes. I told him that my mom painted them when I was little. Ryan was annoyed with my stupid answer and loudly said "NOOOOOO!!!" and walked away- clearly frustrated that I have no explanations for the questions they constantly ask me about why I look different. The best I seem to be able to give is- "People from Canada sometimes have blue eyes/round eyes/small heads/'gold' hair...". After that class, I ran to the post office to mail some packages- the kids caught me sneaking back into the school, and I heard them all discussing how I'd been to Canada on my break. Too smart to believe implausible explanations for blue eyes- but still unable to grasp the fact that Canada is a twelve hour flight away. All they can see is that Canada is two feet to the left of Korea on the classroom wall.
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• • 
    
  •