News in Korea

It's been an emotional two weeks of news stories here in South Korea. While I'm sure the rest of the world heard about the Korean summit, as it is relevant to most major powers, somewhat less globally interesting is the second anniversary of the Sewol incident which was just  as significant to local Koreans. Since that happened first, I'll start there.

Sewol was the name of a ferry which capsized on it's way to Jeju Island (often called the Hawaii of Korea), killing over 300 of the 475 people on board, most of whom were middle school children on a school trip. The event is still highly emotional as it was only two years ago, and has resulted in all sorts of speculation about what really happened. This includes the kind of scary conspiracy theories that come of such a horrific tragedy and such a justifiably angry reaction to the negligent disaster response and a poor showing from the Korean Coastguard. The day is marked each year in schools with public mourning and some rather strange temporary memorials, including toilets and toy ships. I've never seen it myself, but several of the foreign teachers have relayed confusing stories of trying to keep a strait face while being shown, most sincerely, a demonstration by their students of a flushing toilet with little plastic toys around the rim. Apparently it's a common way to remember the event, as strange as it sounds to us as outsiders. I have been told that it is also now mandatory to take emergency swimming lessons in Korean schools now, which seems a reasonable response. Interestingly, this particular incident was one of the nails in the coffin of the ex-president Park's presidential run (a story which I believe did make international news).

Then, just a week later, the Korean Summit! This one brings mixed feelings, though overwhelmingly positive from the Korean public. The meeting of the two leaders is the first in about 11 years, and seemed to bring more hope for a lot of locals than previous attempts at civility between the nations, largely due to the fact that it is the first time since the war that the North Korean leader has set foot on South Korean soil. A point of interest, and something I didn't know before this happened, is that technically the Koreas are still at war, since the 1950-53 war only ended with an armistice agreement. It was part of the meeting agenda to discuss formally ending the war with a full peace treaty later this year. The meeting was full of symbolism and ceremony with tree plantings, bigger chairs of equal size for the two leaders at the table (which was supposedly of a size representative of the year 2018 somehow), and traditional foods. The north supplied it's famous 넹면 (neng-myeon), an iced noodle dish that I absolutely love, while the south provided fish and rice from the president's hometown. A point of controversy, not for the Koreas, but internationally, is that the two leaders shared a desert in the shape of a unified Korea which included the small island of Dokdo. Now I believe I've covered Dokdo in a previous post, but just in case I'll tell you. It is a small speck of rocky land between South Korean and Japan which both seem to think is theirs (think the Falkland Islands dispute between Argentina and Brittan). There are some suspiciously brain-washy videos on public transportation in Korea regarding it's claim, and every school child will insist on years of history and paperwork that document it as Korea's. Why is this island important? Well because it is just big enough to serve as a military base when Japan invaded, and has strategic value. Currently, I believe, a handful Korean soldiers are its only inhabitants. Anyway, so they split some dessert which included this island, and Japan threw a bit of an fit. I'm not sure what came of it, but apparently some official international grievance documents were filed. Personally, I think it was a bit petty in the light of the historic event, providing hope for peace that was occurring, but like I said, this is a pretty important piece of lingering conflict between the Koreas and Japan.

So it's been an exciting week to watch the morning news on your bus commute to work this week here in Goheung. I'm never sure how much Korean events make it to the news around the world so I thought it was worth mentioning here. Hope you found it as interesting as we do!

Cheers
-K

Student Art

Hello, everyone! K, here. In putting together a scrapbook of art J has brought home from his kiddos this last weekend, and some pictures I've been drawn, I thought it might make the perfect post to end the week. So this entry will be photo heavy and text light, but I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

This picture was taken of the white board after a class where the kindergartners decided to practice the alphabet of their own volition. Keep in mind these kiddos barely have the fine motor skills to write in their own language. Why half of the letters are backward I have no idea, but that and the extra lines on the F's just melt my heart!

With love from some of J's students after English camp last summer, after he won their affection by learning a Kpop dance that ended in this pose.

This one more or less speaks for itself. I love how house-wifey they think I look, and that apparently I rank up there with ice cream.

This one is from a girl we call J's daughter. She adores him and likes to leave him cute little post-its like this one. Apparently the kids like how he says the words "interesting" and "amazing."

And finally, this was a year end letter from a handful of J's biggest fans... I mean students. The are a bit hard to read so I'll transcribe here. The top says "I love you Jamie. I'll miss you. Your so handsome. You're best teacher in my life. I love you." Then there's "teacher, your so kind and cute always smile of me and looks so tired. I'm worried about please cheer up and I love you thanks Jamie <3" on the bottom left. Finally we have "Teacher, you are my best native teacher. I can't forget you forever" on the bottom right. this is just half of one side of a paper covered in such notes from his 3rd graders as they graduated middle school last year.

As you can tell, and as I am reminded by the screaming students when they pass J on the street, he is a very well loved teacher! It's a lot of fun for me to comb over their work, and I hope you enjoyed this little sampling too.

Cheers!
-K

Springtime Take Two

Hi, all! We're here enjoying our second spring in southern South Korea, and if you remember last year's post, spring here is all about the cherry blossoms. Unlike last year however, we didn't go far to enjoy them. We stayed right here in sleepy little Goheung and took a stroll down every Gohoug-ers favorite springtime street.

Cherry blossoms only bloom for about ten days, so when they do it is quite the event. Schools take their employees on staff trips in the middle of the day to go see the flowers, young girls walk farther than they ever have in high heels to get a good picture all dolled up against a backdrop of pink, and new parents can be seen sprinkling petals over their babies for family photos. It also brings out an amusing (or annoying depending on who you ask) habit that is the pet peeve of many foreigners in rural Korea. That is, the tendency to drive slowly in the blind spots of windy street corners with heads out the window to get a glimpse, or even stop completely in the middle of the road to get out and admire. This can make driving especially hazardous, but most locals are aware to be careful of pedestrians where pedestrians really maybe shouldn't be for about a week.

It's a bit hard to see (sorry, phone photo) but you can make out the cherry blossom street winding down the hillside to the bay as it's lined with pink. This spot happens to be the only 100 meters or so of the road that has a sidewalk and photo-zone, but that doesn't stop people (including J&I from walking it's entirety right down the center lane.

So J and I participated, like you do, and got off the bus on the side of the road where there are no sidewalks and just walked. We walked for about three hours down the one windy street in Goheung that everyone knows has the best flower viewing. Completely lined on both sides with cherry blossom trees, it leads around a mountain and down to the bay where there are parks and pop-up food tents more suitable to foot traffic.

The day was clear and relatively polution-free for the spring. Hooray!

Other than the cherry blossoms, there's not much to say. It's been a typical, windy, temperamentally-temperatured, slightly smoggy (thanks, China) springtime. It has, of course, been nice to hang our laundry without wearing gloves, and not have the clothing freeze on the line. So in that respect, thank you spring... But really, I'm just waiting for summer.

Cheers!
-K