The Embassy Conference happened today; I'd like to report back in detail, but that will probably be over several posts that discuss different aspects of the topics. If the video taken by the Canadian Embassy turns out well, I'll be posting video as well.
The turnout was very, very good for such a beautiful day, the presentations were awesome - I felt a bit out of my league, sitting next to Popular Gusts, Metropolitician, and Prof. Ben Wagner, but I got a lot of positive feedback, and best of all, the three organizations I discussed: ATEK, KOTESOL, and AFEK, all showed up in style, to represent their groups.
Great day, thanks to everyone who came, and especially thanks to the Canadian Embassy for putting on the event. I hope there will be many more like it.
More later.
one expat's life in Korea
Monday, February 21, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Itaewon Hannam Seoul Global Center Living in Korea Info Session
Just got this e-mail from ATEK, and thought I'd share it with you:
Seoul's Itaewon-Hannam Global Village Center was established to help foreigners living in Seoul with any difficulties they may face and to facilitate cultural understanding between foreigners and Koreans. This month, they will be holding a Living in Seoul Orientation for anyone interested in learning more about the city and some tips for living there. Though this is not an ATEK function, it may be beneficial to our members living in the area. Below is a description of the event from the Global Village Center, as well as information on how to RSVP.
On Friday February 25th at 10:30am the Itaewon-Hannam Global Village Center in Seoul will be having a Living in Seoul Orientation Session. At this session you will be able to learn about the services and opportunities that are out there for foreigners living in this city. Seoul is an exciting place with lots of great things to see and do. Whether you are new to Seoul or even if you have lived here for years, you will be able to get some useful tips and learn more about what Seoul has to offer.
The session will consist of an informative presentation, a Q&A session, and finally refreshments and a chance to mingle with the other guests at the end. All those who attend will also receive a package of brochures, maps, and guides that will help make your life in Seoul a lot easier and more enjoyable. This event is free of charge and anyone is welcome to attend.
Please RSVP by phone or email:
Tel: 02-2199-8884
Email: itaewon at sba.seoul.kr
For more information and to find directions to the center please visit the website:
http://global.seoul.go.kr/itaewon/
Monday, February 14, 2011
Things I've Learned about Korea by doing the Radio Show
Soundtrack: Press play and start reading.
Haven't done a bliss-out in a while, and you don't know this one is going to be one, until the last minute of the song, when it keeps celebrating, and then ends with about fifteen seconds on an entirely different plane... but like other good bliss-outs, you have to listen to the whole song, or those last fifteen seconds don't have the support to actually launch you into that other place.
I've always liked Stevie Wonder, but those ten seconds at the end of this song made me love him.
So yeah, I've been doing a section of The Evening Show for TBS eFM: the show's hosted by a fella named Mike, whom you can find here @MikeOnTBS. You can also keep up with what The Evening Show's doing at @TheEveningShow. Or follow me on twitter @Roboseyo (didn't see that coming, did you?) or friend me on facebook (facebook.com/roboseyo). I'm a facebook friend whore: I'll totally accept.
The show's been hella fun so far, mostly due to the awesome callers we've had call into the show. (and you can be one of those callers, readers!)
Anyway, before I turn into a pure pimp, one of the fun things about the show, to me, is this:
Every day I get a new Korea-related topic, and I have to become a fifteen-minute expert in it. Fifteen-minute expert means not that I spend fifteen minutes researching, and bluff, but that I have to learn enough about a topic to talk about it in an informed way for fifteen minutes. Every day the topic's different, which means I've learned about all sorts of things since I started the show three weeks ago.
So, here are ten things I've learned about Korea by doing The Evening Show's call-in segment:
1. Korea's actually doing quite well in trying to improve its environmental standing.
Given that Korea has very few energy resources of its own, it's important for Korea to use the oil it imports, or the nuclear energy it generates, as efficiently as possible; Korea's currently the world's fifth largest oil importer. That's bad news. The good news: Korea's actually put a LOT of energy and money into environmental initiatives. Natural gas buses, public transit, bus lanes, Samsung's lithium batteries, smart, efficient buildings (which, I learned, burn more fuel than cars): Korea's working hard.
Now if only the country also took care of its wetlands...
The four rivers' project has become too politically embroiled to get a straight story about it from either side.
2. Korea's traditions of gift-giving for marriage are really interesting... and the richer you were back in the day, the more ridiculously extravagant the gift-giving became.
Chests full of silk, carried by the bride's family, bribed into the groom's house, watches, clothes, three keys (car, office and house) and more: the gift-giving expectations for Korean weddings are mad lengthy, and the higher your position you'd attained, the more your family demanded from your spouse-to-be's family.
3. In recent years, the largest demographic decline in Korea's smoking rate was in middle-aged men. Young men (20s and 30s) has remained about the same. Meanwhile, the smoking rate for women is probably waaay under-reported.
4. The secretary general of the Korea smokers' association doesn't like people using the term "smokers" - he prefers "cigarette consumers" because it's less stigmatized.
5. The experts we spoke to think the black market (where food is traded and distributed in North Korea, when the centralized food-distribution system falls short) is good for North Korea, for two different reasons: one because that's where North Koreans learn about how life is in the South - that's where Korean wave illegal DVDs are bought and traded - and the other because a mini-free enterprise system will help North Koreans adjust to living in a free market system, in the event of reunification.
6. North Korea has its own international economic zone, called Rajin-Sonbong. So far, the main investor there is China.
7. There's a movie called Bangga Bangga about a Korean who pretends to be from Bhutan in order to get a job in a factory. Sounds super-interesting: I heard about it from Paul Ajosshi, and I hope he has a chance to write about it sometime on his blog. On that same topic, another reader commented that a farmer he knows started hiring migrant workers not because they were cheaper, but because the Koreans she employed kept stealing from her.
8. I already kind of knew this, but covering it from different angles really brought it home: long working hours, women's workplace rights, the low birthrate, lack of government support for parents, the aging population and the approaching welfare crisis, and the need to give migrant workers a more recognized place in Korean society, all connect to each other in a big, ugly bundle.
9. Pay day loan companies in Korea are very, badly under-regulated, and though it's illegal, some of them charge interest as high as 3000% per annum on their loans. Yep. All those zeros are supposed to be there. The payday loan companies are supposed to be regulated by their gu office, but those offices are too under-staffed to be properly vigilant.
10. Standard versions of language are a kind of expression of cultural hegemony, and the degree of connection between language, culture, identity, and power, are quite inextricable.
More later, readers.
And all the best...
Roboseyo
Haven't done a bliss-out in a while, and you don't know this one is going to be one, until the last minute of the song, when it keeps celebrating, and then ends with about fifteen seconds on an entirely different plane... but like other good bliss-outs, you have to listen to the whole song, or those last fifteen seconds don't have the support to actually launch you into that other place.
I've always liked Stevie Wonder, but those ten seconds at the end of this song made me love him.
So yeah, I've been doing a section of The Evening Show for TBS eFM: the show's hosted by a fella named Mike, whom you can find here @MikeOnTBS. You can also keep up with what The Evening Show's doing at @TheEveningShow. Or follow me on twitter @Roboseyo (didn't see that coming, did you?) or friend me on facebook (facebook.com/roboseyo). I'm a facebook friend whore: I'll totally accept.
The show's been hella fun so far, mostly due to the awesome callers we've had call into the show. (and you can be one of those callers, readers!)
Anyway, before I turn into a pure pimp, one of the fun things about the show, to me, is this:
Every day I get a new Korea-related topic, and I have to become a fifteen-minute expert in it. Fifteen-minute expert means not that I spend fifteen minutes researching, and bluff, but that I have to learn enough about a topic to talk about it in an informed way for fifteen minutes. Every day the topic's different, which means I've learned about all sorts of things since I started the show three weeks ago.
So, here are ten things I've learned about Korea by doing The Evening Show's call-in segment:
1. Korea's actually doing quite well in trying to improve its environmental standing.
Given that Korea has very few energy resources of its own, it's important for Korea to use the oil it imports, or the nuclear energy it generates, as efficiently as possible; Korea's currently the world's fifth largest oil importer. That's bad news. The good news: Korea's actually put a LOT of energy and money into environmental initiatives. Natural gas buses, public transit, bus lanes, Samsung's lithium batteries, smart, efficient buildings (which, I learned, burn more fuel than cars): Korea's working hard.
Now if only the country also took care of its wetlands...
The four rivers' project has become too politically embroiled to get a straight story about it from either side.
2. Korea's traditions of gift-giving for marriage are really interesting... and the richer you were back in the day, the more ridiculously extravagant the gift-giving became.
Chests full of silk, carried by the bride's family, bribed into the groom's house, watches, clothes, three keys (car, office and house) and more: the gift-giving expectations for Korean weddings are mad lengthy, and the higher your position you'd attained, the more your family demanded from your spouse-to-be's family.
3. In recent years, the largest demographic decline in Korea's smoking rate was in middle-aged men. Young men (20s and 30s) has remained about the same. Meanwhile, the smoking rate for women is probably waaay under-reported.
4. The secretary general of the Korea smokers' association doesn't like people using the term "smokers" - he prefers "cigarette consumers" because it's less stigmatized.
5. The experts we spoke to think the black market (where food is traded and distributed in North Korea, when the centralized food-distribution system falls short) is good for North Korea, for two different reasons: one because that's where North Koreans learn about how life is in the South - that's where Korean wave illegal DVDs are bought and traded - and the other because a mini-free enterprise system will help North Koreans adjust to living in a free market system, in the event of reunification.
6. North Korea has its own international economic zone, called Rajin-Sonbong. So far, the main investor there is China.
7. There's a movie called Bangga Bangga about a Korean who pretends to be from Bhutan in order to get a job in a factory. Sounds super-interesting: I heard about it from Paul Ajosshi, and I hope he has a chance to write about it sometime on his blog. On that same topic, another reader commented that a farmer he knows started hiring migrant workers not because they were cheaper, but because the Koreans she employed kept stealing from her.
8. I already kind of knew this, but covering it from different angles really brought it home: long working hours, women's workplace rights, the low birthrate, lack of government support for parents, the aging population and the approaching welfare crisis, and the need to give migrant workers a more recognized place in Korean society, all connect to each other in a big, ugly bundle.
9. Pay day loan companies in Korea are very, badly under-regulated, and though it's illegal, some of them charge interest as high as 3000% per annum on their loans. Yep. All those zeros are supposed to be there. The payday loan companies are supposed to be regulated by their gu office, but those offices are too under-staffed to be properly vigilant.
10. Standard versions of language are a kind of expression of cultural hegemony, and the degree of connection between language, culture, identity, and power, are quite inextricable.
More later, readers.
And all the best...
Roboseyo
Winter 2011 so far, in two-second bursts...
I think two seconds is a perfect amount of time to make an impression, and then move on. You get to know what's happening (unlike with those MTV videos), but even if it's boring, it's only two seconds.
Here are some of the clips I couldn't fit into full videos, but wanted to share.
Here are some of the clips I couldn't fit into full videos, but wanted to share.
Memo to The Korea Times
I'm willing to let the alien graveyards slide for a little while...
Just make these maddening little text-obscuring popup ads go away...
and once you've done that, we'll talk about putting ads on the side of your paper that include spankable anime ass, or gross dental clinic ads featuring pictures of the insides of mouths, as well as what it says about your newspaper site, that the hotlinks for the "First in the Nation" English newspaper are in Korean.
Just make these maddening little text-obscuring popup ads go away...
and once you've done that, we'll talk about putting ads on the side of your paper that include spankable anime ass, or gross dental clinic ads featuring pictures of the insides of mouths, as well as what it says about your newspaper site, that the hotlinks for the "First in the Nation" English newspaper are in Korean.
first things first, though.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
How the Internet Gets Inside Your Head
Great article from the New Yorker about how the internet changes the way we think.
Go read it. "How the Internet Gets Inside Your Head" by Adam Gopnik
Best line - from talking about anonymous commenting:
Go read it. "How the Internet Gets Inside Your Head" by Adam Gopnik
Best line - from talking about anonymous commenting:
Thus the limitless malice of Internet commenting: it’s not newly unleashed anger but what we all think in the first order, and have always in the past socially restrained if only thanks to the look on the listener’s face—the monstrous music that runs through our minds is now played out loud.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Royal Asiatic Society Event, Canadian Embassy Event
Tomorrow night, the Royal Asiatic Society of Koreais hosting a "Badaksori" performance.
This is Pansori.
Badaksori a group of artists who are producing Changjak Pansori. Pansori is the traditional Korean singing/speaking storytelling performance art; Changjak Pansori are new compositions of Pansori (the Pansori version of modern classical music) - since Pansori became a Korean cultural property in the '60s, it got sort of standardized, with a recognized canon of Pansori songs. But that's not how Pansori originally worked: it used to be a free-flowing storytelling form that the singer could adapt to the audience's responses.
Badaksori are trying to present THAT version of pansori: the one that still has life and spontaneity. They make social commentary and such, and compose pansori about modern events that are still happening in Korea; songs are also a lot shorter than the old, classical ones, which have been called "Korean Opera"... in part because they're really, really long, and maybe also because they're primarily enjoyed by old people.
Anyway, if you want to attend this performance, it's in the Resident's lounge, on the second floor of the Somerset Palace hotel, near the north end of Insadong, at 7:30pm on Tuesday Feb. 8th.
More info at the Royal Asiatic Society website (www.raskb.com/)
If you're a long-termer in Korea, and if you have a long-standing interest in the culture, etc., the Royal Asiatic Society is a good group to get connected with. Some of Korea's longest-term scholars, residents, embassy workers, and business owners are frequent attendees, and after each event, there's a little beer time when people sit, chat, and network. They have regular lectures, as well as tours around the country, some of which are family friendly.
For most lectures, admission is 5000 won for non-members, and free if you sign up and pay the annual membership fee. Tours are also cheaper if you pay the membership fee.
Second... and I figure into this one...
Members of the English teaching community are invited to an event on Sunday, February 20th. There will be two sessions, one about Education in Canada, to help arm you with answers to your students' parents' questions about sending their kids to study in Canada, and the second one, to discuss issues affecting foreign English teachers in Korea.
Matt, from Popular Gusts, Mike Hurt, from Metropolitician, Ben Wagner, who's working on the HIV testing challenge in Korea's courts, and I, will be speaking about media scapegoating, foreign crime, and building the English teaching community, and you're invited to come.
The full text of the invitation poster (and the image above) are at Popular Gusts.
This is Pansori.
Badaksori a group of artists who are producing Changjak Pansori. Pansori is the traditional Korean singing/speaking storytelling performance art; Changjak Pansori are new compositions of Pansori (the Pansori version of modern classical music) - since Pansori became a Korean cultural property in the '60s, it got sort of standardized, with a recognized canon of Pansori songs. But that's not how Pansori originally worked: it used to be a free-flowing storytelling form that the singer could adapt to the audience's responses.
Badaksori are trying to present THAT version of pansori: the one that still has life and spontaneity. They make social commentary and such, and compose pansori about modern events that are still happening in Korea; songs are also a lot shorter than the old, classical ones, which have been called "Korean Opera"... in part because they're really, really long, and maybe also because they're primarily enjoyed by old people.
Anyway, if you want to attend this performance, it's in the Resident's lounge, on the second floor of the Somerset Palace hotel, near the north end of Insadong, at 7:30pm on Tuesday Feb. 8th.
More info at the Royal Asiatic Society website (www.raskb.com/)
If you're a long-termer in Korea, and if you have a long-standing interest in the culture, etc., the Royal Asiatic Society is a good group to get connected with. Some of Korea's longest-term scholars, residents, embassy workers, and business owners are frequent attendees, and after each event, there's a little beer time when people sit, chat, and network. They have regular lectures, as well as tours around the country, some of which are family friendly.
For most lectures, admission is 5000 won for non-members, and free if you sign up and pay the annual membership fee. Tours are also cheaper if you pay the membership fee.
Second... and I figure into this one...
Matt, from Popular Gusts, Mike Hurt, from Metropolitician, Ben Wagner, who's working on the HIV testing challenge in Korea's courts, and I, will be speaking about media scapegoating, foreign crime, and building the English teaching community, and you're invited to come.
The full text of the invitation poster (and the image above) are at Popular Gusts.
Friday, February 04, 2011
Ten Facts about Driving in Seoul
So a little while ago, Grrrl Traveler rented a car for a five hour road trip, and came back with these ten observations about driving in Korea.
The most relevant one:
You need either an international driver's license, or a Korean driver's license, to drive in Korea.
Fortunately, getting a Korean driver's license isn't too difficult, actually. Simon and Martina from Eat Your Kimchi (and aren't their early videos cute, compared to the polished stuff they make now) go through how to get one from a driver's examination center. The Constant Crafter also describes that process.
Fortunately for you if you're Seoul based, the Seoul Global Center makes it even easier than it was before: the one in Itaewon, or the one by City Hall, will take you through it pretty easily.
You'll need a little cash, your alien registration card, your passport, a few passport size photos, and your driver's license from your home country.
The other thing Grrrl Traveler got right, is that GPS is hella useful here. Seoul has TONS of roads. Apparently you can pay a lot more for a GPS that speaks to you in English... but to save the dough, it just takes a while to get used to reading the GPS visually, and tuning out the Korean until your listening is good enough to make sense of it.
Well, readers, after getting married, Wifeoseyo and I got a car, and after getting it, I drove to work, about a thirty-five minute drive (if traffic is light), for ten weeks. We've also driven out of town, to various places in the nearby provinces, and as far as Gyeongju, in the six months or so we've owned the car.
So here are my own observations about driving in Seoul:
1. Driving in cities is just batshit, period: if you lived in a small or medium-sized Canadian town, and moved to NYC or LA, you'd say "Americans can't drive" just as surely as you would say "Koreans can't drive" if you moved to Seoul instead. If you move to Seoul from a small or medium sized town, never forget that some of the things that are culture-shocking you are not about Korean culture, but about urban culture. City driving is nuts, compared to driving in the towns and countryside, and the number of cars you come across inevitably increases the chance you'll meet some dumbass drivers, or some jerk-ass drivers. Don't go saying "Koreans can't drive" without figuring that in.
2. Like dating, driving follows different logic in different countries. For people who always drove, or dated, in one driving/dating climate, the way it's done makes sense, for that context. Take someone from one context and put them in another, and things get sketchy. It's not that aegyo doesn't make sense in the context of Korean dating, but it doesn't make sense to this Canadian. Same with driving: put a Korean who learned to drive in Korea on Vancouver's streets, and that stereotype that Asians can't drive makes sense, not because Asians can't drive, but because they're driving by a different set of rules.
I've spent a little time in other countries, and they follow different logics in different places, too: in Canada, honking the horn most often means "I really don't like what you did." (not for kinda: only for really) in the parts of China I visited, they usually meant, "I see you there, but I can't, or won't slow down for you." In Vietnam the horn just meant, "Aay, buddy! I'm here." In Korea, honking the horn means either "I don't like what you did" or "Move along, buddy: let's go."
So while I have almost ten years of driving experience in Canada, I had to learn how to drive in Korea. If I drove the same way I did in Canada, I'd hesitate and shoulder-check myself right off the road. Once again: it's easy to say "Koreans can't drive" it takes a bit more effort to figure out how Koreans do drive, and roll with it. And you have to. If you follow the rules from back home, YOU'LL be the one who's making the mistakes, because you don't fit in.
3. Lines on the road: One of the biggest difference between the way Korean drivers handle themselves on the road, and the way Canadians do, is how we abide by the lines painted on the road. See, Canadians are sticklers for the road signs and the lines on the road much more than Korean drivers in the city, who straddle lanes more often. On the other hand, Canadians expect all drivers to follow those painted lines and signs so carefully that they don't pay as much attention to what the other drivers on the road are doing. People on Korean roads, for the most part, are much more aware of what the other cars on the road are doing, because one of them might weave into their lane at any time. Anticipation here is much better.
Plus: Koreans know the dimensions of their cars way better, and can park their cars in mad tiny spaces.
4. Buses are scary: Not just because they're so darn big, but because they move in and out of lanes. The right lane is always a wildcard, because there are taxis, scooters, and buses dodging in and out. Pick the middle or left lane.
Anybody who's lived here for a while knows that bus drivers in Seoul (I can't speak for out of the city) are way better than they used to be, as are bus lanes. It's much less often I have to do that bus-driver drunk-walk to the back of the bus, where it looks like I'm off my gourd because I'm compensating for so many changes in speed and direction from the bus driver.
However, when a bus wants into your lane, it's still scary. Every time.
5. Bikers are even scarier: See, the bus drivers? They've been trained to drive their buses, and they drive all day, every day, and many of them have been bus drivers for years. Bikers? Many buy their bikes because that's all they can afford, often it's the first road vehicle they've ever owned.
So you get these bikes, which can weave in and out between cars, driven by drivers who aren't as experienced at reading the road and anticipating traffic. When they're bobbing to the front of the line up at a red light, that's alright. When they're on the sidewalk, that sucks for pedestrians, but in my car, it doesn't affect me. But when we're all in motion, and they're still popping in and out of lanes, it's scary as hell, because they appear out of nowhere, and when it's car vs. bike, the biker loses, and I really don't want a careless biker plastering himself across MY hood.
6. People in expensive cars with dark tinted windows are the biggest assholes: Yep. People in small cars are more likely to be driving the first vehicle they've owned, and thus less attentive/aware, because of that inexperience, so you've got to be careful around them, but people in expensive cars - the Ssangyong "I'm A Big Deal," the Daewoo "Freud," the Hyundai "Long Car Important Driver," and all the imports with dark tinted windows know that, because of the way car insurance works here, people REALLY don't want to have even a tiny finder-bender with a really expensive car. A lot of owners of those cars drive with the sense of entitlement that comes of knowing other drivers don't want to touch them, because they'll get the short end of any kind of accident. You are likely to get cut off, or have your lane invaded by an inattentive driver of a cheap car, but you're more likely to be intentionally, brazenly cut off or around, or nearly hit by the yellow-light-running, impatient daring of an expensive car.
7. There's really, really no need to drive a car into town. None. Parking, traffic, traffic, parking, parking, traffic, traffic, parking, parking, traffic, parking, and gas prices. Only if you really need to. Given that Seoul has one of the best subway and bus systems in the world, you almost never do.
8. The farther you are from subway stations, the more fun, varied and interesting the city becomes. But because driving in Seoul is such a pain, I recommend bicycles. Folding bicycles fit nicely on subways, there are a few shops near Hongdae, and a few near Apgujeong, where you can get a folding bicycle for less than 500 000 won. It's worth paying the extra for being able to carry it more easily on a bus or a subway.
9. You've got to assert yourself... but take some time getting used to how that's done. What do I mean? People don't give you space on the road: you have to take your space. This is done by indicating with your car - nosing in, or drifting partway into the lane - so that people know where you're going to go, before moving all the way into your space. It's similar to how you can help people not bump into you when you're walking in a crowd, by setting your shoulders in the direction you're walking. The turn signal helps, but you've got to take your space, and indicate that you want it. Nobody gives it to you. Spend some time driving more cautiously on the roads, to see how other drivers do this, before getting too assertive.
10. I think I know why the Car on Pedestrian Death Rate is so High - There are countries that have more traffic accidents per 100 cars or 1000 drivers than Korea, but Korea's usually first or second in car-pedestrian fatalities. And it's because people tackle side-roads and lanes near apartment blocks and pedestrian areas, where kids play, with the same "Look at my big car" entitlement, aggressiveness, and impatience, as they tackle big thoroughfares where nary a pedestrian steps.
So that's what I have to say after half a year of driving in Seoul. It's been fun so far, it can be stressful, but for the most part, Seoul's infrastructure is pretty good. Driving here will improve your awareness and anticipation, by necessity, because anything can happen, and will. And sometimes, you just have a "stupid driver day" when every dumb driver on the road seems to come across your path. Whee!
The most relevant one:
You need either an international driver's license, or a Korean driver's license, to drive in Korea.
Fortunately, getting a Korean driver's license isn't too difficult, actually. Simon and Martina from Eat Your Kimchi (and aren't their early videos cute, compared to the polished stuff they make now) go through how to get one from a driver's examination center. The Constant Crafter also describes that process.
Fortunately for you if you're Seoul based, the Seoul Global Center makes it even easier than it was before: the one in Itaewon, or the one by City Hall, will take you through it pretty easily.
You'll need a little cash, your alien registration card, your passport, a few passport size photos, and your driver's license from your home country.
The other thing Grrrl Traveler got right, is that GPS is hella useful here. Seoul has TONS of roads. Apparently you can pay a lot more for a GPS that speaks to you in English... but to save the dough, it just takes a while to get used to reading the GPS visually, and tuning out the Korean until your listening is good enough to make sense of it.
Well, readers, after getting married, Wifeoseyo and I got a car, and after getting it, I drove to work, about a thirty-five minute drive (if traffic is light), for ten weeks. We've also driven out of town, to various places in the nearby provinces, and as far as Gyeongju, in the six months or so we've owned the car.
So here are my own observations about driving in Seoul:
1. Driving in cities is just batshit, period: if you lived in a small or medium-sized Canadian town, and moved to NYC or LA, you'd say "Americans can't drive" just as surely as you would say "Koreans can't drive" if you moved to Seoul instead. If you move to Seoul from a small or medium sized town, never forget that some of the things that are culture-shocking you are not about Korean culture, but about urban culture. City driving is nuts, compared to driving in the towns and countryside, and the number of cars you come across inevitably increases the chance you'll meet some dumbass drivers, or some jerk-ass drivers. Don't go saying "Koreans can't drive" without figuring that in.
2. Like dating, driving follows different logic in different countries. For people who always drove, or dated, in one driving/dating climate, the way it's done makes sense, for that context. Take someone from one context and put them in another, and things get sketchy. It's not that aegyo doesn't make sense in the context of Korean dating, but it doesn't make sense to this Canadian. Same with driving: put a Korean who learned to drive in Korea on Vancouver's streets, and that stereotype that Asians can't drive makes sense, not because Asians can't drive, but because they're driving by a different set of rules.
I've spent a little time in other countries, and they follow different logics in different places, too: in Canada, honking the horn most often means "I really don't like what you did." (not for kinda: only for really) in the parts of China I visited, they usually meant, "I see you there, but I can't, or won't slow down for you." In Vietnam the horn just meant, "Aay, buddy! I'm here." In Korea, honking the horn means either "I don't like what you did" or "Move along, buddy: let's go."
So while I have almost ten years of driving experience in Canada, I had to learn how to drive in Korea. If I drove the same way I did in Canada, I'd hesitate and shoulder-check myself right off the road. Once again: it's easy to say "Koreans can't drive" it takes a bit more effort to figure out how Koreans do drive, and roll with it. And you have to. If you follow the rules from back home, YOU'LL be the one who's making the mistakes, because you don't fit in.
3. Lines on the road: One of the biggest difference between the way Korean drivers handle themselves on the road, and the way Canadians do, is how we abide by the lines painted on the road. See, Canadians are sticklers for the road signs and the lines on the road much more than Korean drivers in the city, who straddle lanes more often. On the other hand, Canadians expect all drivers to follow those painted lines and signs so carefully that they don't pay as much attention to what the other drivers on the road are doing. People on Korean roads, for the most part, are much more aware of what the other cars on the road are doing, because one of them might weave into their lane at any time. Anticipation here is much better.
Plus: Koreans know the dimensions of their cars way better, and can park their cars in mad tiny spaces.
4. Buses are scary: Not just because they're so darn big, but because they move in and out of lanes. The right lane is always a wildcard, because there are taxis, scooters, and buses dodging in and out. Pick the middle or left lane.
Anybody who's lived here for a while knows that bus drivers in Seoul (I can't speak for out of the city) are way better than they used to be, as are bus lanes. It's much less often I have to do that bus-driver drunk-walk to the back of the bus, where it looks like I'm off my gourd because I'm compensating for so many changes in speed and direction from the bus driver.
However, when a bus wants into your lane, it's still scary. Every time.
5. Bikers are even scarier: See, the bus drivers? They've been trained to drive their buses, and they drive all day, every day, and many of them have been bus drivers for years. Bikers? Many buy their bikes because that's all they can afford, often it's the first road vehicle they've ever owned.
So you get these bikes, which can weave in and out between cars, driven by drivers who aren't as experienced at reading the road and anticipating traffic. When they're bobbing to the front of the line up at a red light, that's alright. When they're on the sidewalk, that sucks for pedestrians, but in my car, it doesn't affect me. But when we're all in motion, and they're still popping in and out of lanes, it's scary as hell, because they appear out of nowhere, and when it's car vs. bike, the biker loses, and I really don't want a careless biker plastering himself across MY hood.
6. People in expensive cars with dark tinted windows are the biggest assholes: Yep. People in small cars are more likely to be driving the first vehicle they've owned, and thus less attentive/aware, because of that inexperience, so you've got to be careful around them, but people in expensive cars - the Ssangyong "I'm A Big Deal," the Daewoo "Freud," the Hyundai "Long Car Important Driver," and all the imports with dark tinted windows know that, because of the way car insurance works here, people REALLY don't want to have even a tiny finder-bender with a really expensive car. A lot of owners of those cars drive with the sense of entitlement that comes of knowing other drivers don't want to touch them, because they'll get the short end of any kind of accident. You are likely to get cut off, or have your lane invaded by an inattentive driver of a cheap car, but you're more likely to be intentionally, brazenly cut off or around, or nearly hit by the yellow-light-running, impatient daring of an expensive car.
7. There's really, really no need to drive a car into town. None. Parking, traffic, traffic, parking, parking, traffic, traffic, parking, parking, traffic, parking, and gas prices. Only if you really need to. Given that Seoul has one of the best subway and bus systems in the world, you almost never do.
8. The farther you are from subway stations, the more fun, varied and interesting the city becomes. But because driving in Seoul is such a pain, I recommend bicycles. Folding bicycles fit nicely on subways, there are a few shops near Hongdae, and a few near Apgujeong, where you can get a folding bicycle for less than 500 000 won. It's worth paying the extra for being able to carry it more easily on a bus or a subway.
9. You've got to assert yourself... but take some time getting used to how that's done. What do I mean? People don't give you space on the road: you have to take your space. This is done by indicating with your car - nosing in, or drifting partway into the lane - so that people know where you're going to go, before moving all the way into your space. It's similar to how you can help people not bump into you when you're walking in a crowd, by setting your shoulders in the direction you're walking. The turn signal helps, but you've got to take your space, and indicate that you want it. Nobody gives it to you. Spend some time driving more cautiously on the roads, to see how other drivers do this, before getting too assertive.
10. I think I know why the Car on Pedestrian Death Rate is so High - There are countries that have more traffic accidents per 100 cars or 1000 drivers than Korea, but Korea's usually first or second in car-pedestrian fatalities. And it's because people tackle side-roads and lanes near apartment blocks and pedestrian areas, where kids play, with the same "Look at my big car" entitlement, aggressiveness, and impatience, as they tackle big thoroughfares where nary a pedestrian steps.
So that's what I have to say after half a year of driving in Seoul. It's been fun so far, it can be stressful, but for the most part, Seoul's infrastructure is pretty good. Driving here will improve your awareness and anticipation, by necessity, because anything can happen, and will. And sometimes, you just have a "stupid driver day" when every dumb driver on the road seems to come across your path. Whee!
I Lost My Talk: Poem
After that post last week about Jeju Island's dialect disappearing, here's a lovely, touching poem that my sister sent to me, about Canadian first nations groups losing their languages.
I think the writer is correct that power is inextricably linked to language: the language I choose to speak with you sets the terms for our interaction, especially when one of us speaks the language better than the other.
Put simply: If I argue with my wife in Korean, she wins.
I lost my talk
The talk you took away.
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
I think the writer is correct that power is inextricably linked to language: the language I choose to speak with you sets the terms for our interaction, especially when one of us speaks the language better than the other.
Put simply: If I argue with my wife in Korean, she wins.
Writ large: the language people speak, or study in school is one of the clearest expressions of which group in a mixed society/world holds (or is believed to hold) the keys to opportunity.
Lost My Talk by Rita Joe
I lost my talk
The talk you took away.
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my world.
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my world.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.
Canadian Museum of Civilization
First Peoples of Canada Online Exhibit
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Happy New Year! Is Korean Seollal Changing?
Happy new year, readers.
It's a good day, the weather's finally not so bone-chilling, and the wife is away on vacation.
Not that I'm up to any mischief... I wouldn't be here blogging if I were, now, would I?
Since I've come to Korea, one of the things I've noticed is a big change in how the Korean traditional holidays (that is, Seollal/Lunar New Year) and Chuseok (Harvest festival) are practiced.
The typical/normative Korean Traditional Holiday(tm) experience remains that of going to the grandparents' house, having a ritual for the ancestors that involves big tables full of traditional foods that take a long time to prepare and clean up, the women spending hours in the kitchen, the men playing cards or games in the other room, and the consuming of chapchae, ddeokkuk (new year) and songpyeon (chuseok). Grandparents give money to the children, and the children bow to the living ancestors (parents, uncles, especially grandparents) and some or all of the family goes up the mountain to trim the grass and perform maintenance on the family gravesite. And the children wear really cute Hanbok.
Frankly, I'm not the guy to describe all those ceremonies. The Korean does an admirable job of it.
I'm interested in the way the holiday's changed: my first year in Korea, Seoul was a ghost town during the new year celebration. The usual complaints were raised: traffic is a pain, it's impossible to get tickets, the women do all the work, it's boring sitting around at your grandparents' house all day.
Meanwhile, this year Seoul's museums are staying open, and a lot of the palaces and plazas are featuring cultural events, displays and performances this Seollal. People are traveling overseas instead of visiting the family. Meanwhile, a recent survey reports that only one in five Koreans consider their grandparents part of their family.
Tonight's topic on TBS eFM is the ways we celebrate Seollal/Lunar New Year: what do you do, and is it different than it used to be? It's a holiday, so we're picking a happy topic, and I'd love to hear from readers, how do YOU celebrate the new year? Have travel concerns changed the way you celebrate? Have you spent holidays away from family? Why? Have you ever attended the cultural events instead?Whether you're Korean or not, we'd love to hear what you get up to on Korea's traditional holidays.
Meanwhile, this year Seoul's museums are staying open, and a lot of the palaces and plazas are featuring cultural events, displays and performances this Seollal. People are traveling overseas instead of visiting the family. Meanwhile, a recent survey reports that only one in five Koreans consider their grandparents part of their family.
Tonight's topic on TBS eFM is the ways we celebrate Seollal/Lunar New Year: what do you do, and is it different than it used to be? It's a holiday, so we're picking a happy topic, and I'd love to hear from readers, how do YOU celebrate the new year? Have travel concerns changed the way you celebrate? Have you spent holidays away from family? Why? Have you ever attended the cultural events instead?Whether you're Korean or not, we'd love to hear what you get up to on Korea's traditional holidays.
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