All We Need is One Pin, Rodney.
I have said it before; if it's not happening TO a Korean, it isn't happening. At least in their realities. I remember back in Seosan on the few occasions the administrator forgot to pay me. My co-teacher said, "We don't pay people late in Korea." I explained that it was indeed happening to me at that very moment. He still couldn't grasp the idea. When I explained to him that I would be in on that Monday to work because that was the soonest they said they'd pay me, (it was Thursday and I was already 2 days behind payday), they worked it out quickly.
There are currently many incidents happening in the news where people of color are being passed over for jobs due to their color, receiving text messages from jobs or recruiters stating exactly that. Of course after the fact, they claim it was a error in communication. Either way, if it's not happening TO them, they can not empathize.
Perhaps the best illustration of all, was the head of my English department in Seosan a few years ago had stayed in L.A. for 6 months working on and English certification. When he finally returned, he said how happy he was to be home because he missed the food, his family, friends, etc; everything you'd miss after 6 months or more being gone from home. I related that I too was excited to go home on vacation in 6 or 8 weeks time, to which he asked, "Why would you want to leave Korea?"
Either way, I just spent the better part of the afternoon freezing my ass off while I worked here in the classroom. I finished two more assignments all while students and the teacher moved around me sweeping, throwing the garbage out, dusting, laughing, being generally disruptive...all because she has an open class in 2 days.
As it is, the school is cold, because that's just how Korean schools are in the winter: cold. They don't heat buildings the way we do in the west. In fact, they don't really do *anything to buildings the way we do in the west. Bless their hearts, it's a cultural thing. But, had I gone into the teacher's room and begun ordering students around, opened up all the windows, slammed stuff around, turned off what heat there was, and disrupted her / the other teachers, I think they would have run me out of town like a common pygmy.
I really love Korea for so many reasons, but there seems to be a mounting number of incidents that are weighing against those reasons. I am looking to the future, and certainly don't want to make any rash decisions, but there are certain things that just cannot continue.
That being said, I'll post some photos here later...of general crap. Or you can find it on my flickr account. I don't have the link, currently, because the schools don't allow access to flickr...who knows why...
There are currently many incidents happening in the news where people of color are being passed over for jobs due to their color, receiving text messages from jobs or recruiters stating exactly that. Of course after the fact, they claim it was a error in communication. Either way, if it's not happening TO them, they can not empathize.
Perhaps the best illustration of all, was the head of my English department in Seosan a few years ago had stayed in L.A. for 6 months working on and English certification. When he finally returned, he said how happy he was to be home because he missed the food, his family, friends, etc; everything you'd miss after 6 months or more being gone from home. I related that I too was excited to go home on vacation in 6 or 8 weeks time, to which he asked, "Why would you want to leave Korea?"
Either way, I just spent the better part of the afternoon freezing my ass off while I worked here in the classroom. I finished two more assignments all while students and the teacher moved around me sweeping, throwing the garbage out, dusting, laughing, being generally disruptive...all because she has an open class in 2 days.
As it is, the school is cold, because that's just how Korean schools are in the winter: cold. They don't heat buildings the way we do in the west. In fact, they don't really do *anything to buildings the way we do in the west. Bless their hearts, it's a cultural thing. But, had I gone into the teacher's room and begun ordering students around, opened up all the windows, slammed stuff around, turned off what heat there was, and disrupted her / the other teachers, I think they would have run me out of town like a common pygmy.
I really love Korea for so many reasons, but there seems to be a mounting number of incidents that are weighing against those reasons. I am looking to the future, and certainly don't want to make any rash decisions, but there are certain things that just cannot continue.
That being said, I'll post some photos here later...of general crap. Or you can find it on my flickr account. I don't have the link, currently, because the schools don't allow access to flickr...who knows why...
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