Finally, a Real Vacation

After almost a year and a half of studies, I finally get a full on vacation. Also my first chance to leave Korea after all this time.

It's a chance to finally relax and reflect on my experiences during this time. I remember my first days here, I wondered how it would feel like to be here as compared to then, when it was all new and shiny and confusing to me. Well the confusing part has faded... partially... but there are still so many things I don't get. Call it culture clash, but in the open-minded setting I was raised in I never thought I could disagree so much with a culture.

As a disclaimer, I'm not saying Korean culture is anything bad, I'd say it has very many positive points we all could learn from, but I was much more naive when I first came here thinking that everything would be awesome, especially since it was Asia.

I'll note a few things I've observed...

I guess first would be their drinking culture. Yes, people from all over the world, especially the young, like to party and drink a lot. Some people frown upon it, others don't give a crap, but here, not only is excessive drinking not severely disapproved of, it is totally acceptable in an academic environment too.

What exactly do I mean?

First of all, it is very common for young (and not so young) groups of Koreans to gather, eat meat, and drink soju or beer. They also like to make this a mobile activity, as small portable gas stoves are common so people can eat and drink out doors. Hey I got nothing against that, seems fun, but when it is done inside of a school campus, doesn't that seem a bit off? I thought it was a standard that academic institutions would absolutely forbid alcohol on premises, especially during daylight hours. It's common to see this on campus on Thursdays, Fridays and the weekend starting from 3pm. Even though that could still be passed off with open mindedness, as they are technically adults now and can probably handle themselves, what topped absurdity levels with me was being offered alcohol by a teacher, during class time, at 10am in the morning. It was the last class and desks were strewn with chips and other junk as we watched our classmates present their final projects in photography class, and the teacher decides it would be appropriate to celebrate with some soju.

Well... at least most students declined and only about 10 of the more party-hard looking students had a drink.

Now this may be my overly-mature-self talking, as most young people would probably be going "Yeah your teacher rocks!" and perhaps it really is no big deal to have such a drinking culture, due to the safety of the country. I remember the Korean ambassador in Guatemala asking me if I like do drink. He told me that in Korea, you could get so drunk you'd pass out in the streets and spend the night there, without worrying about having your belongings stolen or getting hurt at all. He told me he knows this from personal experience... and it's not far from the truth. Weekends are not lacking in drunks and you will probably spot a poor passed out idiot here and there who had no friends decent enough to lend them a hand or get them a cab. Fat wallets still in their pockets, phones too, and shoes still on. No harm done then, right?

Well on a weekend late at night its also not surprising to have to dodge one or two puddles of kimchi-red vomit, and what's nastier is when this stuff freezes over because its -15C outside during winter, leaving the ice-cream textured slime there for days.

Moving on, in one of my older photos from my photography blog called "The Pursuit of Knowledge" is a photograph of a doctor I used to tutor here. Our sessions mostly consisted of us conversing in English, me correcting his grammar along the way, so we hit many topics and I learned much about the way Koreans think from him. We once touched up on stereotypes, and I asked him what was the typical stereotype for a Korean that sees a white foreigner. I explained to him that we see Koreans and Asians in general as very intelligent, well-educated people and I was surprised to hear him say they think the same about us. (Yes I am including myself in the "white people" category for this.) Koreans, with their rigorous ways and rigid education systems view white people as educated, smart people eh? With time I realized this is not because one education system and culture is better than another, but because they are different.

Korean highschoolers don't seem to have much of a life. Go to school all day and study, and when that is done they get sent to hagwons or extra education academies to spend the rest of the day, and you will very often see students walking home at 11 at night, where they will have dinner, do some more studying and sleep. They also have lots of specialized studies for specific tests like SAT and TOEIC (like TOEFL but without a speaking test I believe) and their knowledge revolves around what you need to know to nail these tests. They memorize memorize and memorize. How could a person from this educational  background see the partying highschoolers of the US as educated?

Well a slow and shocking realization showed me that Koreans are not taught to think for themselves. They are taught equations, by-the-book quotes and specific vocabulary; all of these things can me mastered by simply committing to mind, but when it comes to using logic and simple non-mathematical problem-solving  skills, they really start to fall behind the Caucasians. I have often hesitated to answer questions with seemingly too-obvious answers thinking that it couldn't be that, only to find out that it is. Sometimes a problem needs a solution and whatever group of Koreans I'm stuck with seem to get very worked up over finding the solution, making me think the simple (apparently obvious) one isn't feasible for some reason, later to find out that they simply didn't think of it. This is not me egotistically thinking I'm smarter either, as many of my foreign friends have expressed similar feelings.

Now a white kid might not do math as well, or know as many scientific terms as a Korean, but they sure as hell can think for themselves. This leads most Koreans to be very simple people, which isn't totally a bad thing, but I find myself unable to bond with most of them beyond a superficial, casual level. I cannot have a deep conversation with a Korean for reasons more than language barriers, as they usually seem to not have many thoughts on world issues like pollution or racism, barely going beyond comments like "oh that's good" and "oh that's bad". Nahhhhhhhhh really? Thus I've found that the best friendships I've formed here have been with foreigners, and to be honest I can not yet mention 1 relationship with a Korean here that I believe will last me long after my stay (excepting my original Korean friends).

Perhaps I'm going too long with my rant, so I'll stop here. I've just run into many disappointments in the last year but I must point out that overall, I am still happy where I am. Korea still offers me way more than what Guatemala did and has allowed me to grow a lot. My dad mentioned I'd change a lot during this time, but I never thought it would be so much in so little time. I'm a very different person now... kinda.

Ever notice that Chang with an e at the end spells Change?

Oh... maybe I haven't changed that much.

There's a loooot more I'd like to write about, stored in my mind all of this time I wasn't able to write on my blog because I was so busy, but I don't want to overcrowd this. Moving on to news about my life, in less than a week I should be in the Philippines! I get to eat fruit again, and other exotic stuff.

Oh... and I also get to meet the parents... that's not nerve-racking at all! ehem...

Will be spending almost a month there, then I have to go straight back to the World Expo for another job. After that it should be free time to work on personal projects. Gotta finish that music video I mentioned in an earlier blog. I'm still thinking about what I'll do with the daily photo blog... I don't think it will be possible to keep it up in the Philippines because I plan to move around a lot and don't think I will always have a computer at my disposal. Don't worry though, I will post as much as I can on this blog, but perhaps I'll save the food for last, as a special blog.

Oh and in case you're curious I've included the photos from my final project. The concept was supposed to be childhood dreams. It was a headache to work with my classmates but at least I got to work with a pair of professional flashes and my classmates nicer camera. (I bet you in 20 mins I knew more about his camera than he did.)

I suffered a lot of stress and anger to get this done that I don't want to bother explaining more.

Oh this photo was taken on the fly with a borrowed camera because it was one of the few days we got a sky that somewhat fit the theme we needed. It wasn't a very good camera...

I took all of the photos but honestly I'm only proud of the first one (though the focus is a tad bit off). The rest I simply don't like, they're boring but it was the best middle ground I could get with what I wanted and what my classmates wanted.

Oh I guess I should also include my finished painting for drawing class.

An acrylic on canvas, my first time. I'm not very good at painting buy I worked very hard on this! (It looks much better in real life, I swear.)

And that's that! Hopefully I'll be writing here a lot more in the next couple months!

Bye!