All The Small Things

**this was written about 3-4 weeks ago which I've only now gotten around to actually posting**

Ok, it's been a crazy few weeks. Please forgive the lack of regular updates as previously promised. I'll start with Songnisan, which was really nice. It was just really nice getting off campus and going away somewhere. And it was really pretty, although we didn't get to do or see much while we were there because it was raining so much. So there was no hiking but it was super-nice just relazing too. My uncle came to visit me while I was there because I think it's closer for him than the university. Having never met him before I wasn't sure who to look for but he recognized me right away because I look just like my mother (handy in situations like this I suppose). I had a nice if weird time with him, my aunt and cousin (who's around my age). Weird only because my uncle acts so much like my dad but doesn't really look like him.

Anyway, while at Songnisan we stayed in a pretty nice hotel and shared one room with 4 people which wasn't *nearly* as bad as I anticipated. It was actually really nice since I bonded a lot with my roomates there, lots of late-night talking sessions, etc. Oh and we had a tv which we don't have at the dorm so we got hooked on this really popular Korean reality tv show, "We Got Married' which is a really fun show. The basic premise is that these Korean celebrities are set up with each other and are pretending to be "married" so they live together and have to do certain things for each other. I don't know what it is but it's just really fun watching how awkward or surprisingly lovey-dovey some of these couples are.

We also went out to eat a lot while at Songnisan(of course) and I had my first experience of eating Korean fried chicken which is seriously the best fried chicken I've ever had. They had all these delicious spices and sauces which went perrfectly with the chicken. Mmmmmm. I also had my first "noraebang" or karoke experience that weekend and it was really fun. I don't know why Americans don't have karoke like this because it's a nice alternative to clubbing or bar-hopping, it's safer, and it's hilarious watching drunk people sing their hears out. I guess I'm not one to talk since I was one of those people singing my heart out. Heh.

While at Songnisan we also visited the Buddhist temple there which was a really amazing experiene. The temple had beautiful views and this ginormous gold Buddha statue which was breath-taking. We also got to see the monks perform a drum ceremony which was also really wonderful to see. I was pretty annoyed though because while they were performing, all these people from my group were getting really close to them to take pictures and were taking like a million pictures so there were flashes going off like every 10 seconds. People were also talking which I felt was a bit disrespectful since it was a religious ceremony we were watching. It made me hate myself for being a tourist myself. Oh but the worst was when the monks went inside one of the temples to pray and they had specifically posted signs asking people not to take pictures and people were peering in through the doors taking pictures anyway. While they were praying. I mean, would you go to a Christian church or a Jewish temple and take pictures of people praying? I think that was definitely crossing the line of appropriate behavior.

In fact, I have to say I've been, perhaps naiviely. astounded by how ignorant some of the people in my group are. Or, if not ignorant, just some of the comments that have been made and the attitutes I've seen exhibited by many of them. I understand for many people it's their first real contact with an Asian/non-Western culture/country but you would think that people would try to keep a more open mind if they applied for a program like this. Actually there have been a number of little things that have been driving me crazy while I've been here. And the worst part is that we're so busy all the time with Korean language classes, prepping for lessons, teaching, attending mandatory workshops, meetings, and events that I haven't had much time to properly reflect, process and digest how I'm feeling in relation to all these little things. And lately, all these little things have been really adding up.

Let's start with how we've been treated during orientation, which is seriously as high-schoolers. We're constantly being lectured and reprimanded and while they keep insisting we be on our best professional behavior, I have to say I've never had an employer treat me like this. I feel like we've also been constantly monitored, we have to sign out if we leave the dorms overnight or over the weekend, and we're constantly talked down to. It's gotten a bit better lately but I still feel like the majority of our workshops have been complete wastes of time. They're three hours when they could easily be condensed to 1-2 hours, they're not interes ting or informative and we have them all the time. It gets so incredibly boring just sitting there being talked at for 1 hour, let alone 3 hours.The worst workshop we've had so far was by an ex-pat who was also an alum of the program. It was about Korean culture, I suppose, but it was such an incredibly biased view of Korea. I mean, clearly the guy has a major problem with Korea because his whole presentation was so extremely negative and critical of Korea. Look, I'm not saying that Korea is perfect or that these types of problems don't exist but it's problematic because it's feeding some people's already negative attitutde towards Korea even more. Not only that but he never bothered to specifically state that what he was presenting was a biased and invididual perspective and I actually heard so many people after the workshop walk away having soaked up all his "information" without so much as critically examining it or even questioning it. And that's a problem because most of us will probably experience a very different Korea than the one he was presenting, that may be worse or better but different nonetheless.

In fact, as I've talked to some of the other Korean-Americans here, many of us agree that the way they treat and present Korea to us is from an obviously biased/Western perspective. All our speakers are American, the program is run by Americans and we're stuck in this little American bubble. And as one of my friends so insightfully said to me, these types of programs tend to cater to the Americans without much regard for people who might already be familiar with the culture and language of the country. In fact much of the tension I can sense among our group I think comes from this divide. It's frustrating being in this position where you're probably more familiar with the culture than even the people "teaching" about it. And besides, culture is something you just have to experience, not something that can really be "taught." I guess I'm just tired of people complaining about Korea or making comments about how "weird" Koreans are or whatever. I'm also tired of people constantly assuming I'm fluent at Korean or intimately familiar with the culture and asking me questions that I don't know (and they expect me to know because...?) or that are just ridiculous questions to be asking in the first place. There's excusable ignorance (becuase I too am learning and adjusting) and then there's just ignorance that makes you really wonder why some people are even here.