First Time in Tokyo

It's only been 3 days, but it feels like longer in a very good way. The flight from Incheon to Narita Airport in Tokyo only took 2 hrs, and I stayed awake the whole time. Despite misgivings, baggage claim and navigation to the hostel went without much of a hitch. I had a moment of doubt when transferring from the express airport railway to the local train to get to the hostel's stop, but an older lady helped me out, and I just took a taxi from the subway, because it was already dark.

I had expected to just chill the first night, but as I was settling down to be on the computer, I met a bunch of college students who are going to play Tekken on the common room tv. Conversations started, introductions went on, and I met people, just like that. One of them led me to Senso-ji, the local Buddhist temple. It was very nice. Then when we came back from our evening walk, I somehow got challenged to a game of Magic the Gathering. It was mainly due to my teammate's hard work, but we won.

Second day. The same friend who led me around the Senso-ji temple leads me there again so I can buy some gifts for family. Then, we explored a bit and went inside the Amuse Museum. It's a small display of Japanese paintings, some old weaving machines, hemp cloth, and a milieu of objects. Then we went to Akihabara. We hit up some collectors' shops, arcades, and then just because I requested it, a porn shop. We stopped at a maid cafe, then there was a doll shop.

Third day. I picked a direction and wandered in a direction that led me to a bridge over a river. It was very pretty. Then there was a small park. I bought a subway pass and took myself to Shinjuku. The skyline was very impressive, and there were many slot machine parlors. I got myself a feather tattoo. I took myself then to Harajaku, which reminded me a little bit of Harvard Square. A friend from the hostel wanted to go for a walk that evening, so we did. We got a bit lost, but I got us unlost.

Fourth day. I got off at Yoracho Station. There seems to be financial buildings all around. I found the Hibiya Garden, but didn't go in because there was rain. Instead, I went to the Inpensu (?) Museum which had a lot of ceramics and wall dividers which had a lot of very detailed paintings on them. There were masks and statues too, but I wasn't allowed to take pictures. Then I took a walk around the Imperial Palace, but didn't actually go to the touristy stuff inside. Then I walked for a long time, and ate noodles inside Otemachi Station, and took myself to Ikkeburo. There was a whole street of old fashioned food, lots of new art galleries and whatnot in the new portion, but also lots of adult entertainment in the older portion of town. I took another hour or two in Akihabara on my way back, and when I came to the hostel, I joined two women for drinks and snacks and we talked a lot about our future plans.

Fighting Over Kimchi (Part 1)

Aah. I had just showered, and am brimming with happiness. It was an awesome weekend, and I wish it weren't ending. Buddha's Birthday weekend was a rare three-day weekend, and I spent it in Seoul, Cheongju and Daejeon.

In Cheongju, four friends came to visit, and I showed them around a city that I had only lived in for roughly 8 months. The only specific request was a visit to Subway, so I led everyone to the basement of the DreamPlus mall, where there is one Subway outlet. There are 3 Subways in total in Cheongju, I later found out, though I only knew of 2. My friend really enjoyed a pizza sub, which she didn't get to have when she went back to America. So we all savored subs - except for me, because I was silly and ate a peanut butter jelly sandwich right before setting out. I'm happy they all enjoyed the sandwiches so much.

We wandered around the rest of DreamPlus, where we checked out little private fashion stores that are all in rented space. They liked the not-crowded and relaxed atmosphere of the place, and amidst all the shiny, I bought myself a classier watch. It has an oval face, with a leather band and circular metal studs. 40,000 won. A while of wandering around in the mall later, we decided to go outside. Conversations about everything make us very slow walkers, and it was a relaxing day, so we go with the flow.

Five people pack into a taxi, and then it looks like a clown car. I sat on my friend's lap, and we went to Sajik-dong. We got off a block from the bus stop, because we were going to find the small lake or pond, but the bus that I rode to get there last time wasn't running that day.

We noticed the stadium, where I explained that the steps and the extra huge television screen are for people who didn't get tickets in time - they can sit on the stairs to snack while watching the game on the tv outside of the stadium. There was also a statue to the side, almost Greek looking, explaining some part of Korean history. Near it are the mascots for Cheongju, little cartoon characters, because all cities in Korea must have mascots. My friends stopped to smell the bright flowers in front of them. We noted the big bonsai tree behind the flowers.

A block later, we head to the golden temple. It was the first time that I had seen it open, perhaps because of the holiday. We wandered and pointed at the buildings, saying hi to the old lady keepers and commenting on things. There were two: one was Chinese styled and painted brightly, a dormitory where the religious family lives; and the other was the temple itself, painted gold and usually locked. The old lady was nice enough to unlock it for us as a random treat. Inside, she explained the turtle dragon, which accompanies the most powerful god places. It reminded me of the robots from Power Rangers.

On the second floor, there were five gods, the biggest one in the center dwarfing all the rest. They were sorted by size and position: nearer to the center and taller means more important. Their Chinese names were framed in front of them. We bowed. They had different styled hats, were all painted gold, and their faces looked both stern and concerned at the same time. We went upstairs to see the biggest god, who had his palm out in the stop position and the other hand holds a giant pearl of sorts. He was also painted gold, with a topknot in a crown on his head. The space above his head was painted with 4 mantras. When we asked about the pearl in the king's hand, the language barrier got in the way, so the lady led us back down to their offices and showed everyone a short history book, in English, about everything that is this temple. I'm waiting on a friend to finish reading it so I can learn too.

Then we wandered around pet street, looking at dogs and cats and pet food. I bought my Eugene another bag of food. All the animals were so cute. We stopped for drinks at a 7-11 before deciding to hop on a bus after all. We rode to Shinae, the downtown area, before deciding we will sit on a pretty bridge. We stopped by for ice cream at Baskin Robbins on the way, and my friend got a bapbingsu, an ice cream mix with lots of ice. I got the Blueberry Volcano, blueberry ice cream with butter cookies and mint candy. After we went and sat on the dragon-ribs shaped bridge for a good long while, we went for dinner.

I took them to haejonggook, which means hangover soup. We all got the sugolgi one, which means beef with vegetables, soup and purple rice plus the usual appetizers. We had good conversations about our mothers and random subjects, and the meal was very fulfilling. Then I had to pack and go back to Daejeon with them for our ziplining trip the next day. They met my cat, while I hung up underwear and packed for the next day. I still had to go back once for some things I had missed.

Then, like clowns, we all hopped into a taxi once again. The driver, seeing that we were all foreigners, was trying to say to us that Daejeon was just a short distance, so we don't need to go to a bus terminal and he can just take us there instead. I told him, no, that costs too much, and he faced the road again sheepishly. We had a good ol' time making fun of ourselves and of him, and he informed us that he has a Canadian cousin and that he would visit soon. He was smiling when we all exited his taxi. You just know that we made his night.

Tale of Two Countries

While we were all going about our normal business during the first week of the private academy semester, Kim Jong Il went kaput in his slew of age and heart related health problems. The hapless North Koreans put their Dear Leader in a glass box for mourning like Snow White, but I'm guessing he'll soon be six feet under. Before taking his last breath, he appointed his second son Kim Jong Un as heir, who expressed potentially hostile intent towards South Korea.

This conflict has been around for about sixty years. To pick a random point to begin, Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War and then decided to occupy Korea like squatters to better watch its interests in China. After the Chinese were defeated, they went back to civil war between the Communists and the Nationalists. The Koreans took the side of the Communists, in return for help in uprooting the Japanese from their country.

As the Koreans and the Chinese worked together to get rid of the Japanese, the Japanese were trying to expand their territory further into China. The European countries had all divided China into their little spheres of influence, and were basically like, who invited you to the party? However, Europe was having its own problems as well, what with Germany having allied itself with Soviet Russia and then going to invade Poland. Then Britain, France and the rest of the Commonwealth decided that was not okay and went to war against Germany and Soviet Russia. The U.S. allied itself with Britain, France and the Commonwealth, and there you have it, World War 2.

After defeating the Japanese and taking away its military, the U.S. and Russia split Korea in half along the 38th parallel. The two bigger countries were supposed to help Korea establish its own government, but the Russians never let North Korea hold free elections and it became a communist dictatorship, first under Kim Il Sung, then Kim Jong Il. Meanwhile, South Korea has a democracy heavily influenced by corporations and reliant on American military despite the existence of its own draft army.

In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. They got to Busan and were trying to establish a new capital, before the U.S. pushed them back almost to the Yalu River. Then the Chinese entered on North Korea's side and pushed again south to the 38th parallel. Such was the Korean War. Ever since then, there have been miniature conflicts: a ship destroyed here, the North Koreans digging tunnels and the South Koreans having to play whack-a-mole there.

Now Kim Jong Il died. Enter Kim Jong Un, age 29, who was educated in Switzerland under a fake name.

My kids tell me they are afraid of war. Some adults are concerned, but others say, they have been threatening war for years. They don't have the guts. There's also the fact that the U.S. military is still active in this country, and are living in army bases in several major cities. That's the South Korean viewpoint. I've heard a secondhand North Korean perspective where they believe the South Koreans are not being true to their roots, are greedy for shiny things and controlled by American culture.

I personally am not too worried myself, and don't think anything will happen in the next ten months. If anything does happen though, I'll probably take a rest stop in China then make my merry way home. The U.S. should be rallying its resources to fix its economy, take care of the problems behind Occupy Wall Street and shaking down the uber-rich (people with $600,000+ incomes per year) for resources anyway. While I support our troops, this is like trying to save a friend from a bully while trying to fend off asthma.

An Intersection of Culture in Everyone

DISCLAIMER: If I stereotype people or sound racist at any time during this post, I'm sorry and I don't mean any harm. It's just to get a point across.

Taking a taxi cab ride back from Shihwa Emart, I had yet another conversation with another driver - probably because driving a taxi is not the most exciting job on the planet, so they enjoy talking to their clients when there's something interesting about them, and when their language skills are up to par. This time it was because I had in arm a box of cleaning supplies half my size, so taking the bus to downtown Daebudo would not be enough to get me home even though I have a bike parked there at the moment. This driver, like a handful of other drivers, asked me where I was from, and then whether I was Korean American.

Conversations like these happen to me a lot. I hypothesize that, aside from a few key areas in Seoul, there aren't that many foreigners in Korean daily life - especially not out here, in the countryside, and they're curious. So after I tell them, no, I'm Chinese American, I get a range of reactions. Usually, it would be disinterest, and then the conversation would be over. I never knew why until today. This driver told me that he felt Koreans judged the Chinese based on the few handful of them who have immigrated here to South Korea for a better quality of life. The Korean Chinese people he's met, he told me, didn't seem very intelligent.

You can imagine why this was a very odd thing for me to hear. I didn't debate with him because I lacked the communication skills and didn't want to offend him, but I really didn't understand how the Chinese in mainland China would be all that different from Korean Chinese people if all they did was immigrate here. Let me take a moment here to clarify what I think are the key differences in Chinese culture and Korean culture today. (All Asians look the same! It's such an old joke, really.)

The old Confucian beliefs in ancestor worship, bowing and the idea that elders know better are rapidly dying in China now, whereas they seem to be very much alive in South Korea. While the Chinese government has been carefully monitoring the internet for fear of dissension, internet freedom is so free here that there are almost no copyright laws, which means that most international media creators won't allow a lot of their work here for fear that it'd be stolen. The feminist movement is far more under way in China than it is here in South Korea. The Chinese trade industry focuses on whatever it can get its hands on, whereas the South Korean trade focuses on computers, cars, televisions and small electronics. Chinese cooking is very varied, and there aren't nearly as many side dishes. So these are a few differences. (I can't tell the difference between Irish, Scottish and Swedish either, honestly. Sorry, Europeans.)

Swinging back to what the taxi driver was saying, hearing that he thought Korean Chinese aren't very bright is a huge contrast to back home where Asian people - the majority of which are Chinese Americans - are the model minority. The stereotype probably came from wealthy Chinese families who kept the academic culture of severely pushing their children to achieve high grades because they believe in the value of education. This still exists to some extent today (further extrapolated on in Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother). However, most Chinese American parents I've met are more like mine - there's a lot of nagging to do well in school, but rarely are there beatings, and the parenting style is moreso an overwhelming - overbearing? haha - concern rather than a domineering strictness where failure is met with punishment.

My parents, unlike most Chinese American parents, however, are still starkly Maoist-Communist. It's an odd ideology to come home to, when the chapter in World History from eighth grade was mainly about how (before China was invaded by Japan and millions of both Korean and Chinese women were made into comfort women) Mao Zedong was rapidly destroying China through his Five Year Plans because he didn't actually know anything about mining or that kind of technology, and millions of people were starving because they were trying to keep up with his quotas. Or the way he grew old and senile and paranoid, so he killed a lot of people who he thought was trying to wrestle power from him.

What my mother grew up in, however, was a beautifully engineered propaganda program where people's lives were great and prosperous because of Mao's ideas, and furthermore, most importantly, they were united with strong family values. Family is family, and a bunch of families together form a community, and these are the things that people relied on, in a fast-paced world of industrialization, Westernization, communism-to-capitalism ideology and globalization. This is similar to the way I grew up being told that I can be whatever I want to be, life is going to be easy because I'm an American, and that all I really need to do is be curious, learn, and do a lot of soul searching. (How's that economy holding up, America? If the rich still refuse to pay taxes and help, and there are still no jobs being created, some Robin Hoods are going to start popping up everywhere.)

This cab driver wasn't interested in America, like most of the other drivers were. He told me he really respected the Chinese, because they are a strong and humble people. (I thanked him, but is that really true? I'm not mainland Chinese enough to actually know?) He thought that my parents must have had a strict upbringing, therefore I must have had one too. (I said I did, but not really - I was never beaten, and my mother's main concern was that I don't starve. I eat! Why doesn't anyone believe me?)

My mother probably had a strict childhood, though. She was the only girl among three brothers, so while she can take rough and tumble like any tomboy, she was the designated secondary caretaker in the family when my grandmother was ill or otherwise absent. The oldest son was allowed to go to London with my grandfather to get a European education and get interested in computers. So my mother did all the yelling and screaming and disciplining, which means that she must have had to have been the model child. The humility part might have been true of my mother - she accepted everything life threw at her, wrapping her mind around everything she couldn't understand or change; the only place she would have things absolutely her way was the kitchen.

This is as opposed to the American international policy, where we must have our way everywhere because we must know better. In my country's defense, Americans have really good intentions to the point of almost being naive. Or opposed to the South Korean policy towards all foreigners: our country, our rules, and we don't really care if it doesn't make sense to you, as long as it makes sense to us. But your army still needs to stay here to protect us from the North Koreans, because we can't talk to them when that crazy man is running things over there. Or even the Chinese international policy: did you want to buy something from us? If yes, fabulous, if no, well what did you want? We have a hard enough time dealing with our factories, pollution and overpopulation as is, we don't care about your country's take on how we're doing things, screw off. Shut up about human rights, worry about your own like Walmart and Microsoft and McDonalds first. We don't want to hear it.

I'm Chinese American. When most people look at me, they see an Asian woman. When they talk to me, I find that they tend to emphasize one of my cultures over the other. When I look at myself, I see an American heavily influenced by Chinese ideas in a small, moderately active Southeast Asian body. When I talk to myself, I think I should learn Mandarin - I speak Cantonese - and write the language so that I can either become an interpreter, a teacher or a cutthroat businesswoman.

(Said in an old lady's voice with mock Chinese accent - One More Thing: We might have talked before, I can't remember ...)

The History of EPIK

As with any job, a person must study up in preparation to meet new challenges. Usually, I would research a company based on its history, its current projects and goals, and then all the press involved with that. If I were really bold, I might go interview someone who is working at the company now over a cup of tea or email someone who has worked at the company in his recent past for a few quick pointers.

Before I jump ahead of myself to record my secondhand textbook knowledge about Korea, it's nice to take a step back and first go over the program and school I am working with.

Through EPIK (English Program in Korea), established between the allied nations of the United States and South Korea, I am working specifically for the Daenam Elementary School in the Daebudo county, in the city state of Ansan, part of the Gyeonggi-do province/region roughly in the northwest of South Korea. (From a random scene in the HBO series The Wire, a commander cop told a street patrol cop that that's the first thing someone should know about his given situation - the very specifics of where he is.)

EPIK has a good fifteen years of history so far, though it is still somewhat a recent development. As with many international efforts regarding education and globalization, the initiator of these actions was Peacecorp, starting in 1981. The South Korean government determined, while working with Peacecorp, that having their youth learn foreign languages and be exposed to the cultures of other countries are important goals. EPIK was established in 1995 as its own organization; however, it became jointly operated by Korea National University of Education and National Institute for International Education (NIIED). In 2007, EPIK fully transferred to NIIED, which is a branch of the Ministry of Education Science and Technology. Since then, they have only gotten more organized, hiring and training more people. For more, see EPIK's Wikipedia page and its more-direct sources.

Daenam Elementary School offers first grade through sixth grade. It's a seaside building in a relatively small town, with the main attractions being malls, the beach, seafood and small resorts. I'll write more about this later when I have pictures for you. So for now, it would be easier to take a step back and look at South Korea - the country as a whole.

I was using Culture Smart!: Korea, by James Hoare as a first reference, but EPIK also has its own little booklet to pass out when training Guest English Teachers (GETs) during orientation called Living in Korea: A Guide for EPIK Teachers. (While I've mainly been talking about EPIK, I'm actually working for GEPIK, which is the branch of EPIK specifically for the Gyeonggi region, but most or all of the rules and procedures are the same - just clarifying that now.) The second source is very useful for specific information and the appendix of terminology in the back because of the Korean terms as applied to daily school life.

All of this will be especially useful when your recruiter asks about a phone or Skype interview. She's going to prepare around ten or so standard questions for you about your experiences, why you want to teach, why you chose Korea specifically, how you will interact with your coworkers, so on and so forth. The more you know, the more prepared you will be to formulate your answers to these questions based on your personal experiences. =)