Teaching, Learning, Singing: Korean Culture (5/25)

C O N T E N T S :

T e a c h i n g                     L e a r n i n g                    S i n g i n g

I .   T e a c h i n g

We got some fans!

 T H E   F I R S T  thing on our agenda was a return to Gwangnam Elementary in Busan to teach some more English. Everything went infinitely faster and smoother this second time around, due in no small part to the fact that I got to teach the older students instead of the younger ones. Our running, yelling, and games were replaced with conversations, which I hope was as rewarding for the students as it was for me! I got to talk to my group about what they wanted to be in the future, which really flaunted their language proficiency with tenses, professions, and the like.

There were two students whose stories stuck out to me, both of them young women. The first was obsessed with marriage and family life, and wouldn't stop talking about how excited she was despite her young age. I must have run into such people in my years in elementary school and either not realized it or not remembered them, because for some reason the thought of such a young person having such an adult focus caught me completely off guard. I don't know that many people with similar aims even now in college! I found myself wondering about gender roles in American and Korean culture while I fought back the urge to tell the first young woman about all the exciting possibilities out there for someone like her beyond marriage when the next student--also a young woman--spoke with equal excitement about her bright future as an astronaut. It felt good to encourage both of them after realizing that women can dream just as freely in Korea as in America.

As far as last meetings go, ours with our students was rather anticlimactic. The bell rang, the students went off to their next class and the rest of their lives, and we left to continue our adventures. Some parting shots of the school:

A view from the school of the beach and the city

Awesome student art!

Some more inspirational stair sayings.

Literally and figuratively uplifting

Successful school!

W E   B O A R D E D our Hongbeopsa van and hit the road for our next destination, with Dr. Yi sharing her wisdom to pass the time in transit. We talked a lot about the social construction of identities and interactions and the sort of complex cultural literacy it takes to be "bicultural" or "multicultural." By this point in the trip I'd gotten pretty good at the customs of the temple that hosted us; I'd actually grown quite fond of the deferral to elders and the respectful formality with which we greeted our hosts. But being outside of the temple meant a return to the murky complications of the "real world"-- especially the ubiquity of the class-based signifiers such as clothes and accessories whose absence around the temple I had not missed. Although I didn't spend much time on the street or moving between different social microcosms, I could certainly notice class creeping between people within and between the places we visited-- even though everyone at Gwangnam Elementary was quite well off simply by virtue of their enrollment, whether or not they had fancy phones and tablets or what level of fanciness they could flaunt was a notable divider even among the elementary students.

I I .   L e a r n i n g

O U R   N E X T  stop was Busan International Middle/High School (BIHS), not this time as teachers, but instead as students, exploring a different side of Korea's education system. Despite being a public school, BIHS is both elite and exclusive, due to its residential nature, rigorous environment, and special international focus. I got the impression that BIHS is the sort of institution that is the first step towards an elite university and an influential career-- it seemed to be part of Busan's fast-track, if you will.

Futbol!

A S   W E  approached the school, we were greeted by the cacophony of an intense soccer match playing out in the schoolyard. The teams were playing hard, and their peers were screaming with glee from the open windows of the school. It was an extremely dynamic introduction to BIHS after our calm and casual departure from Gwangnam Elementary, and it revealed that the students weren't only good at studying at this new school.

The whole school was cheering!

O N C E   I N S I D E ,  we were given a quick tour of the school before being led to a class who we shadowed for the rest of their school day. We arrived right at the end of one class, stayed through a presentation by a Guinean Ph.D. student (part of the class' international/cultural education for the day), and then spent the rest of the afternoon talking with the students (whose English was excellent!!-- many of them had already studied abroad despite being in middle or high school)

Entrance to the school

A model of the facility-- quite large, but understandably so, as it was a residential institute.

Inspiration...?

I   S P E N T  a good long while studying this mural (pictured above) in one of the hallways of the school. It seemed like a pretty intense message, so I want to transcribe it here for easier reading:

"Solitude is luxury, the thoughtless romantics are toxin, and frustration is betrayal for everyone. We must go to the university that we want to attend, to get better culture, to develop the possiblity that is latent in ourselves and to meet some smart people.

To do this, we must begin to study earlier, study much more, and concentrate more than now. We can't deny it. We should put up  with and bear all of the hardships confronting us.

Your competition is not resting at this time. We should go to the university that we want to plant our dreams at. Don't the students of BIMS look really beautiful, following their path, knowing the way they want to go?

Later, if someone asks us the secret of our success, let's answer without hesitation. All our honors of today were sown on the ground of BIMS, with the friendships made from having lived together, and where the sweat of the belief that we can do it was born! In the raging wind, the burning land on which hot heat is poured, in the glorious silvery moon, our war was won.

With no remorse, with a dry throat, and a fighting spirit, we must attain our goal and integrate into a greater whole of our beliefs!"

Pretty intense, huh? Interesting reflections on the sort of work ethic and community spirit that BIMS apparently cultivates! It came off as a bit much to me, but the students didn't seem to mind one bit.

A F T E R   T H E  school, we stopped by a temple of a rival Buddhist order on our way back home. As this was just a fleeting external visit (and a rival temple, no less), we didn't get a comprehensive tour or much explanation of anything. I made a mad dash around the premises, trying to record all of the awesomeness that I could before our departure, but still managed to hold everyone up. OOPS. The pictures I snagged follow:

A delicious sprite/ginger-ale-type drink-- a special Korean treat!

This temple went ALL OUT for Buddha's birthday!

There were lanterns EVERYWHERE

They even buried their courtyard under a sea of of lanterns, just in case anyone doubted their Buddhist commitment

Some strangely Hindu-looking elephants (which remind me of the Psychic Tandem War Elephant from Adventure Time)

A view from the sea of lanterns

A shrine on the other side of the sea

Papier-mache altars for all the zodiac signs

A view of the temple...

...and another shot of the sea of lanterns!

 I highly doubt that this temple hand-made their lanterns like we did at Hongbeopsa, but they certainly had us beat in terms of sheer numbers. All the colors and shapes made for quite an impression, but in terms of context and significance, good 'ole Hongbeopsa couldn't be beat!

I I I .   S i n g i n g

Busan at night!

D E S P I T E   O U R  long day of travels, we ended up hitting the town-- it was to be our only free evening for quite some time due to the approach of Buddha's birthday and the ceremonies that entailed, so we made the most of it. A bus, a train, and some walking brought us to the city center, where we idled about, bought some cheep Korean beer, and headed to a Noraebang (노래방), a Korean Karaoke shop!

Awesome graffiti near the Noraebang

Another shot of the city

See Busan, South Korea from the train! Hear us discuss 9/11 conspiracy theories and sing bad Karaoke! See the city at night! Watch the video below!