Spring Has Come!

Hi, all. You've got Katy this week, and I'm super excited to say that spring FINALLY arrived in Goheung. It happened about as fast as the settling in of winter did. Within a week suddenly the temperatures jumped up about 10 degrees (Celsius), the flowers started blooming and the sun started waking up at a reasonable hour. Obviously, this thrills me! So I ran around all week outside, taking pictures and apologizing to my legs for keeping them cooped up so long.

My first outing was with Song Mi, one of my girlfriends in town. She took me on a drive in place of our usual language exchange one morning to see the flowers. This time of year, the first tree to bloom is what they call the Japanese apricot tree in Korean, or in English, the plum tree. They come in pink and white varieties, just like a dogwood tree and are relatively short little things. Our drive ended at a reservoir that was the most beautiful shade of teal I've ever seen in non-Caribbean water. We sat, chatted, skipped stones, enjoyed the sun, and made plans to come back for a picnic with another girlfriend of ours until it was time to head into town again and open up shop.

 



 

The second outing was with Jamie, and another foreign couple that we have befriended. There is a mountain in Goheung with 8 jagged rocky peaks called Palyeongsan (pal meaning 8 in Korean and san meaning mountain). It is a 550m climb (1,800ft) over the course of just under 3km (1.9miles). Getting up and back down the mountain took about 4 hours, with several breaks. Once at the top you have the option of hiking the ridge, but we had a dinner to keep, so we just called it a day and headed back down. Many parts of the trail were more like a bouldering climb, and the lovely local government had been kind enough to lay down large mats of what looked like a loose hemp weave rug to add traction in particularly dangerous areas. The view from the top was stunning with the ocean around us on three sides. We also had clear views of the islands that J's travel schools are on, as well as the bays and rice fields (or where the rice will be once it is planted in about a month).

A note on our friend's shirt-less-ness in this video... going shirtless is pretty taboo here. It was a gamble that we wouldn't run into anyone else on this hike, because we know how uncomfortable Korean's are with bare skin. You may remember me mentioning before that shoulders are not appropriate to have uncovered for females here, and that rule more or less extends to males as well. And even where it is more okay to have shoulders exposed, certainly no one takes their shirt off completely.

In addition to the flowers, it has been nice to see the fields with color again. Garlic and onions are coming in, and rice will pick up soon. We all know the heat comes next, and then the monsoons, but for now everything is lovely so we're soaking it in. More on this, I'm sure, as the area gets more and more lovely. I've been told the cherry blossoms are coming!

Have a great spring week, everyone!
-K

Politics and (ex)President Park

Hi. there! Katy here!

The big news of the week, as I'm sure many of you saw in the news, was that Korea's president 박근혜 has been officially impeached following a scandal involving conflicts of interest. 박근혜 is pronounced Pahk Geun Hyay, was Korea's first female president, and the daughter of the 3rd president (also the last dictator) of South Korea.

 

The process of demonstrations, protests, the trial, and eventual impeachment of 박근혜 has been really interesting to watch as it all unfolded shortly after we arrived and culminated just last Friday. Korea has a very interesting style of protesting including candles and concerts for protesters. People go to protests as families, and to me, it really looks a bit more like a makeshift festival than any protest I've ever seen. Korea is a very proud, nationalistic, and homogenous country and I believe this has something to do with the general agreement on most political issues. When it came to their president, for example, I didn't meet a soul who didn't agree with the masses that she had to go. Just yesterday, on a trip to Gwangju, we accidentally ran into a "protest" that was more of a celebration of the successful impeachment. Everyone who gathered to demonstrate originally, came together again to celebrate their success. It was neat to see that people not only came together when they were upset, but also when they were proud or excited. I'm sure it adds to the social cohesion and interconnectedness....

(K takes a break to play Overwatch...)

Hey everyone, Jamie here with just a couple thoughts. I'm basing pretty much everything I say here on conversations I've had with my co-teachers, so I won't be citing any sources and it should be read with a grain of salt. The president belonged to Korea's conservative party, and before the scandals support for her fell sharply along generational lines. She had something like 90% approval among seniors, and worse than 20% (if I remember right) among voters younger than 35. Enough older people still supported her after the scandal to mount a small protest when her impeachment was announced, but it really seemed like the vast majority of Koreans agreed that she had to go. I've seen signs around pushing for aggressive prosecution of industry leaders that were caught up in the scandal, and even for reevaluating the system of close government cooperation with the family owned corporations, also called chaebol.

To add a little bit of intrigue, Park Geun Hye's dad is the one who is often credited for South Korea's economic success. He also (kind of sort of) created the chaebol by giving politically allied families juicy roles in industrialization, and they're all still with us today. So the fact that his daughter is caught up in a scandal involving some of them is kind of interesting.

People have been concerned about the influence of the chaebol for a long time, but the scandal has cast a spotlight on it. It's also been a creeping problem, since Korea relies on exports and their biggest trading partner is China. With China's development, they've become a bigger market for Korean cultural exports (I think Katy did a post before about the hallyu) but they've started producing a lot of industrial products domestically that they used to buy from Korea. That's led to some concern about the structure of the economy and the chaebol's role in it.

The relationship with China is also a contentious political issue right now. Conservatives favor a strong alliance with America against China and North Korea, while liberals want more room to negotiate with China. Some also have problems with the U.S. military presence in Korea because of incidents like an American tank accidentally killing a young student. If you've been following the news about the impeachment, one of the big things American sources are talking about is the fact that the former president was working with the U.S. to deploy new missile defense systems in response to North Korea's expanded nuclear program. China sees this as an attempt to encircle it, and they're promoting boycotts against South Korean products, which is apparently already hurting. The liberal party, being the party the former president is NOT from, is expected to win the upcoming election, so the U.S. and the interim government are trying to push through the deployment of the defense system before a government more conciliatory towards China gets elected.

I hope that wasn't too dry!...

(And J takes a break to play Overwatch...)

Okay I'm (Katy) back. J just about covered everything else about the former president. We'll have a two month stint here without a president, before a special election is held in May for a new one. I'm pretty excited to see what an election looks like here. Given the little political observations we've made so far, it'll be fun to see how candidates are selected, promoted, and elected. This is Korea, so my best guess to that effect is that it'll all be electronic. The rest will be a learning experience.

Have a good week!
-J&K

Hallyu 한류: The K Wave

Hi there! Katy here. First of all, apologies for taking an unannounced break last week. I've completed the first class in an ABA program that I am attending online, and the final papers were all due at once. However, now that I have a bit of a break before the next course, I've been enjoying the warmer weather an catching up on a new favorite Korean drama show. And it made me realize, I haven't blogged yet on the Kwave.

The Kwave (the Korean wave, or 한류/Hallyu in Korean) refers to the "wave" of Korean culture through the world in recent years. Beginning in the 90's, Korea started being a major cultural exporter, and increasing it's tourism economy. This started as aspects of Korean culture spread across Asia, but has expanded to western world more recently. It was apparent, while J and I were in Southeast Asia, just how much more influential Korean culture has been there, than it is still in the US. Big billboards promoting TV shows and skin care products from Korea were pretty common. The Kwave began with Kpop and Kdramas, but now includes the influence and export of everything from media to food and traditions. So I thought I'd share a few of these categories, the ones I have personal experience and recommendations on, so you'll know what you're getting into if the Kwave hits you.

Kpop music is one of the first and biggest aspects of the Kwave, so we'll start there. Be warned, it's strange. Kpop doesn't just refer to music, it includes the dances, music videos, and costumes that go with it. Typical Kpop tends to break down by either girl bands or boy bands with very little gender mixing in the composition of the groups. Girl bands can typically be described as aiming for "cute" while boy bands are looking for the "cool" image. Music videos often have girls hair in ponytails, pink and blue color schemes, mini-skirts, and overlays of emotes or speech bubbles like in a comic strip. On the other hand, boys will often be dressed in slashed pants, have their hair greased into place, grey-scale color schemes, and spend a lot of time glaring into the camera. Despite the segregation by gender within the groups, both categories are enjoyed by all gender audiences, generally between the ages of 10 and 20. I believe I've mentioned before just how youth-oriented Korea's culture is, and with a heavily weighted aging population, Kpop definitely demonstrates that. If you are interested in current Korean music charts, you can't go wrong with the band Twice, a current Kpop top 40 girl band. Twice has produced so many of the top Kpop songs that it's hard to walk by a schoolyard in town without hearing the students singing one of their songs during recess or see them practicing the dance routines from the videos. As for myself, when I listen to Korean music, it's not as pop-y as the Kwave would make you think all Korean music is. It's definitely still mainstream Korean music, but it's not classic Kpop. Personal recommendations include Zion T and HyukOh.

Oh that was fun! Okay, now let's do dramas. Kdramas take drama to a whole new level, with long scenes focused on people's faces while they stare longingly into the distance or react to something. The dramas also tend to exaggerate realistic situations (those that are even trying to depict reality) with schoolyard bullying shown as all out brawls or a crush depicted as undying love. It sounds silly, but that extra step removed from reality makes them more fun to watch in my opinion. They are easy and enjoyable because you aren't tempted to take them too seriously, but they are acted well enough that you still enjoy the emotions they are trying to elicit. I still cry when their sad and find them genuinely hilarious when they joke around. It's just a fun, easy watch. Definitely not for everyone though, don't go into them with too many expectations. Just enjoy the cute Korean-ness and try to keep up with the subtitles. I'd recommend Coffee Prince (a story about a girl who pretends to be a boy for work), It's Okay That's Love (About a Psychiatrist, her lovelife, and mental illness), or Goblin (a just released, humorous fantasy story about a goblin, his bride, and a grim reaper).

It's Okay That's Love - yes, those are tomatoes they are about to throw at each
other as an anger management practice.



Coffee Prince - the shop employees... spot the girl!

Goblin - The grim reaper threatens his immortal Goblin housemate with
floating table settings.

A third aspect of the Kwave that I thoroughly enjoy is Korean skin care products. Koreans, as you know, value youth, but they also value pale-ness and this slightly shiny skin tone that I really thought looked odd when I moved here. If you read my post on Jimjilbangs, you know that public bath houses are popular here, and I'm telling you now that other beauty and health routines are just as common. The Korean skin care routine has become something of a fad around the world, with 10 or 12 step systems for flawless skin that revolves around small pores and moisture. I can't quite bring myself to commit to such a routine for time and financial reasons, but it can be an incredibly amount of fun to play with the products and enjoy a self care day once a month or so. Some things are very cheap, effective, and fun, like the sheet-mask. A sheet mask is as it sounds, a mask for your face that is a cloth soaked in moisturizer and nutrients that you leave on your face for 10-20 minutes. It makes you look like a terrifying movie psycho-killer in the meantime, but you'll never feel softer skin... after the excess goo soaks in (which can take quite a while after you remove the mask). I'd suggest using it after exfoliating and a cleanser so that all you're trapping under the mask is goodness, no crud. Another product that comes highly recommended are oils. These concentrated moisturizers come in a tiny bottle with a dropper. You only use 2 or three droplets each time, and it doesn't feel slick like a lotion or the mask moisture, but rather it feels more like a clean version of the oil your body produces naturally. It soaks in quick and goes far. Mine is a flower extract from a plant that blooms in the winter and is local to Korea, specifically Jeju-island. Korea is very proud of it!

So those are three of the big Kwave components. There is of course, also foods and other traditions, but I talk about those in other posts, so no need to elaborate here. It's simply worth noting that Korea, for such a tiny country, has a disproportionate influence over world pop-culture, and it's worth giving a try. Korean pop-culture certainly isn't for everyone, but if you can simply enjoy the energy and fun that the Kwave has to offer, you won't be disappointed.

Have a great week!
-K