Misuda, Isaac Durst, and the Cosbyfication of Foreigners in the Korean Media

We've talked about this a lot on the blogs, and Girlfriendoseyo and I have had some interesting conversations about it, too: bald-face fact - Korea's media portrayal of foreigners and foreign cultures emphatically reveals that when it comes to trying to portray and understand foreigners living in Korea, and foreigners in general, Korea just really, really doesn't get it, expects us to be things we aren't, imposes stereotypes on us that are far removed from how most of us really are, and so forth. I've seen black people once on a Korean TV show... now, granted I don't watch a lot of Korean television... but in fifteen seconds of screen time, they first frightened the protagonist, then walked by her as if she'd been worried for nothing, and then ran up behind her and stole her purse.

A lot more ink/pixels have been spilled on this topic than I've dug up here (go ahead and put the link to your blog on the topic in my comments), but for a sampler: the Misuda girls prattle on about their cellphones and Korean boyfriends, sometimes taking breaks to bad-mouth foreign men. Ms. Parker in Korea has written about Korean television programming that makes foreigners look like fools, and that French guy from Tamna is the prettiest, most harmless white person the cute oyster-diving girl with big eyes could ever meet, but not typical of white people. (photo source)

(then again, I suppose this...)

is better than this:)

Is there another way to look at it, where we're not just snorting with disdain? I think so. There might be a way of recognizing that Misuda is a good thing, even if we sometimes think it's ridiculous. Maybe we can even forgive Isaac Durst.

Here's my crack at it. I think it's helpful to compare Korea's uneasy movement towards a diverse society, and that same cultural quantum shift, as it occured in American race relations a generation or two ago.

(Parenthetical statement) Now that I've put my neck out: a disclosure/disclaimer:

1. I haven't studied race and media in America in detail; excuse me, or correct me, if I miss the nuances. I also know the Korean and American experiences of race relations and media don't line up exactly. We could rattle off the ways they're different, but that's about a 500 word rabbit trail that'll derail my argument. I'm not an idiot, and I know it's not a clean analogy, and there are a lot of factors - particularly power dynamics - that make this a different case.

2. I'm engaged to a Korean lady, and will probably live in Korea for much of my adult life, so I have a vested interest in looking as optimistically as possible at these issues. Because this is the bed I'm going to lie in, while I try to be honest, I also try to be hopeful and generous. Call me an apologist, a sellout or (substitute ruder word for same) if you like; you're welcome to go drink the haterade at Dave's instead.

3. Foreigners living in Korea, and our response/reaction to how we're portrayed in Korea's media, and the way it affects Koreans' perception of us, is only one small subset of a whole barrel of issues and influences and factors that comprise a rapidly changing Korea interacting with a rapidly changing, globalizing world. The issues are much bigger, and more complex, than just how Isaac Durst influences Korean students' (and parents' and hogwan owners') expectations of their Kindergarten teacher.

When I see foreigners portrayed in the Korean media, two things come to mind. Sammy Davis Jr., and The Cosby Show.

Soundtrack: Sammy Davis Jr.: Mr. Bojangles

Sammy Davis Jr. was criticized, even during his time, as a sellout. The act he played for Sinatra and the Rat Pack boys was kind of insulting - he was a token, and the smiling, eager-to-please butt of racist jokes. If an equivalent act went onstage today, there's be a rightful outrage, and Davis knew that was the role he played -- just listen to the words to the song Mr. Bojangles (which you should be listening to, right now)... but frankly, White America needed those pioneers: we COULDN'T have skipped Sammy Davis Jr. and gone straight to Marvin Gaye singing, "Let's Get it On" - it would have been too much to see Marvin Gaye expressing a bold, confident sexuality, if they hadn't gotten their feet wet first with Sammy Davis Jr's Bojangles song and dance. And maybe Sammy Davis Jr.'s persona didn't resemble the actual lives or characters of the African-American people of his time, and maybe they didn't feel that he represented them, but then, at least it wasn't a white guy painting his face black anymore. When we project current sensitivities into the past, we miss what Sammy Davis Jr. meant to his audience at the time, and get upset that he was taking the racist jokes on the chin, rather than, like the people of his time, appreciating that he was the first black performer ever to appear on many of those stages, sometimes in clubs and venues that wouldn't have allowed him to enter the building as an audience member.

(Western Media, let's not forget, isn't innocent of stereotyping)

sorry, Mr Miyagi

The Cosby Show was the same thing, in a different context. It was a little farther along than Sammy Davis, and it's been criticized lately for something that one scholar calls "Enlightened Racism" - basically that by portraying an upwardly mobile African-American family that never dealt with actual race-based issues that existed in America at the time, The Cosby Show presented a post-racial America that didn't actually exist, and allowed white viewers to feel that "If the Cosbys can be successful and respectable, that shows that any African-American family can do the same; if the black family down the street isn't as successful or respectable as the Huxtables, it must be their own fault" - this kind of attitude may have led to complacency in rooting out remaining vestiges or racism and discrimination in America. That was a long sentence.

image source

But there we go projecting modern sensibilities on past times again: I've been accused of being way to optimistic for holding this opinion, but I think that America (and here I mean US and Canada, as we all watched The Cosby Show as loyally) DID still need the Cosby Show, despite, or maybe because of the way it basically took a sitcom about an affluent white American family, and cast it with black actors. No, it wasn't an accurate reflection of how most African American families lived, talked, thought, or acted, but it DID humanize the African-American family that lived down the street, it made them less "other" - heck, it invited them into our living rooms. As inaccurately as it may have portrayed the typical African-American experience, it also said "Not all black families are like the ones you see on the evening news". There was still a long ways to go (still is) but it was another step.

Now, we can watch a show like The Wire, that deal directly with the ugly, institutionalized racism and despair that still afflicts a lot of poor communities, but just like we wouldn't have accepted Marvin Gaye without first getting our feet wet with Sammy Davis Jr., we wouldn't have accepted The Wire without getting our feet wet on The Cosby Show.

Footnote: more about The Huxtable Effect on American culture:Before Obama, there was Bill Cosby
Obama IS Cosby - must-read interview with Sut Jhally, author of "Enlightened Racism"

So back to Isaac Durst, the silly-acting white guy from Korean "edutainment" shows like The Morning Special and EZ English:

(from James: Awesome remix of the Girls' Generation's new song Oh)

(image source: Pai Mei)

You know what? Right now, in the Korean media, we still have one foot planted firmly in Sammy Davis Jr. territory. (Dancing black monkey puts on a cartoonish show/Dancing white monkey puts on a cartoonish show) When Girls Generation dresses like cheerleaders and dyes their hair blonde, and tosses mangled English phrases into their songs, well that isn't as insulting as blackface, and the power dynamic's WAY different (I'm not an idiot, remember?) but it's just as superficial a reading of American culture.

Next thing about Isaac Durst and Misuda: frankly speaking (see what I did there?), Koreans don't look much better on Korean television. Living overseas, we sometimes make the mistake of comparing Korean popular media with the very best our home cultures produce -- after all, THAT'S what we consume while we're overseas. While I'm here, I spend my time looking for the very best our home countries can produce: I'm downloading, or watching online, episodes of The Sopranos, or old seasons of The Simpsons in its prime, or whatever well-written TV Series my friend in Canada liked enough to mention to me in an e-mail, not TYPICAL shows, like Real World, Steaming Pile of Reality, or Two And A Half Men. It's hardly a fair comparison: we've got to compare SNSD with Miley Ray Cyrus, not with freaking Radiohead, and we've got to compare Misuda with Maury, not with 60 Minutes or even Oprah, or we're missing the point.

(image)

Meanwhile, there ARE some signs that Korea's media is moving from Sammy Davis Jr. towards The Cosby Show: James Turnbull writes about Bandhobi, a movie about a Bangladeshi guy who befriends a Korean girl. Compared to the century-plus that passed between the Emancipation Proclamation and the civil rights movement, and finally The Cosby Show in America, Korea's way ahead of pace. As far as I know, early American television sure didn't feature a show like Misuda, that asked African-Americans what they thought about the day's topics. It's one of the things that makes Korea a fascinating place to live in, the way it goes so quickly through all the changes that took our home cultures centuries to navigate, and yeah, it's messy - Korean feminism is trying to negotiate second wave feminism and third wave feminism simultaneously, rather than one at a time, the way we did, which leads to a fascinating muddle of labor complaints and sexy dances and birthrate/maternity leave controversies and music videos laden with the question "have they or haven't they been re-claimed?" -- women are dressing like the girl-power symbols of America, without yet fully having claimed the power those women are expressing in their own cultures.

Lee Hyori: U-Go-Gull: is she a symbol of Korean feminism, or is her play at empowerment a sales-boost?

Miley Cyrus got in trouble for this picture. Image source.

So can we be patient, for the time being, with how foreigners are portrayed on Korean television, and be glad that, while some of the portrayals are stereotyped and negative, some are stereotyped and positive, and every once in a while, we DO get a foreigner in the Korean media who ISN'T a caricature (see Bandobhi and the foreign bride in "Thirst" if you don't believe me) We're still waiting for the Korean equivalent to the Cosby Show - one where the foreign family acts out situations similar enough to Korean families that, while it might not resemble our actual lives, it helps Koreans see the mixed-race family down the street as essentially the same as them, which will make it possible, after that, for truer portrayal of foreigners' lives in Korea. And until that happens, we should be vocal when our image is politically-tinged, or aimed at scaremongering, but we should probably also be patient with the dancing monkeys, as long as everybody involved realizes that's what they are, and take the time to let our Hogwan bosses, and our students, and our students parents, know that Isaac Durst is a TV person, and TV people are different than real people.

Maybe one day we'll be able to celebrate a post-racial Korea, where it really doesn't matter what color you are. Maybe we won't, but most of the foreigners here would be happy if things changed enough here that, even if we don't have any special rights, we could buy our I-phones, take out bank loans, get the job we want, the fair price we deserve, and date whomever we like, without catching any grief above and beyond what Koreans give their own people about those things. Those of us who are marrying Koreans especially want those things for our kids. Whatever kind of media portrayal, or progression of inaccurate portrayals, it takes to reach that point will be worth it, if that's where we arrive. It'll probably take longer than we want it to... but I bet it'll also take shorter than it took for North America to pull its head out of its ass and start treating visible minorities as real people.

More Haiti Relief

Hands for Haiti is another Haiti relief fundraiser happening in Hongdae, on February 12th.

Read more about it at 2S2 Community

Read more about it at the Facebook Page

Read about other ways to help out here.

As before: if you know about other Haiti fundraisers in or outside of Seoul, send an email to roboseyo at gmail dot com.

Why Do Expats Complain About Korea? How About This

(ht brian's twitter account)

Hey Korea! If you want your qualified, well-trained, excellent native English teachers to stay in Korea, instead of having them all leave...

Hey Brand Korea! If you want English teachers to go back to their home countries singing all the wonderful virtues of Korea...

Why don't you brief the principals and administrators of your schools that this, to people from most English speaking countries, is absolutely, totally unacceptable treatment of an employee.

For myself as well, I can definitely say that the one thing I hate most, as a teacher, is surprises - preparation is a key to a teacher's success, and springing this kind of last-minute "Why are you late for the class you didn't know you had?" garbage is the kind of stuff that prevents me from delivering a good product to my students. You want qualified teachers doing good work in your classrooms? You want the good ones to like the situation enough to stay on longer and longer? Give them the tools to do so, which means, above anything else, the materials they need, and the time to prepare them.

Some quotes from the ESL Cafe page:

So I was practically on vacation for the past month. I still had to come into work from 9am-5pm every day and I had camps for two hours a day...

Most of the people I asked either didn't know or they told me there definitely weren't classes until the end of February. Or they just told me not to worry.

I got a phone call from my boss, who I asked on Friday, who told me that there were no classes this week, that I need to come in immediately.

I've been here for nearly three years... I've been trying to get them to tell me for the entire time that I want to know when I have class because I like to PREPARE. Why is it so hard to tell me what everyone else already knows?

If I was back home and people acted like this I'd know they were just screwing with me. Since this happens to a lot of people here, I know its not that. Just why? WHY?!

I'm really not going to miss this job when I leave Korea this month.

Another person, same comment thread:

I am leaving. Twenty-seven days. Thank god.

Now, we've all heard before the Dave's ESL Cafe is a little black-hole of Anti-Korean Haterade... but when stuff like this happens, there's nothing to do but deny that it takes two to tango, and if Korea wants to improve the way foreigners talk about Korea, the first thing they need to do is look at the people who deal with foreigners in Korea directly.

Haiti Benefits in Seoul

Three ways to help out in Haiti. 2S2 Community has the details. If you know of other events or ways people can help out, send me an e-mail and I'll add your event to the list.

Traveling Korea: Will I Get Bugged? Plus, Blatant, Crass Self-Promotion

Got this question... usually answering questions is the realm of Ask the Expat, Ask A Korean, and sometimes Chris in SK does them, too, but this one came to me. I've made some changes, for brevity, privacy, and to make myself seem more awesome:

Hi Roboseyo the awesome

My name is Kyoposeyo - I'm such a fan of yours that I legally changed it, and your blog gives meaning to my life. As a second generation Korean/Canadian, I want to thank you on behalf of my race for being so awesome. Awesome. I'll say it twice. That's how awesome you are. Having been raised by first generation Korean parents (grew up in a Canadian city), I know a thing or two about Koreans, despite not having lived there, nor being as awesome as you.

I want to throw a question your way: hopefully this complete stranger's question will pierce your near-indestructible shell of awesome. It would help me a lot if it did, and you answered.

I am planning a trip to Japan and Korea in May; I'm going with my caucasian boyfriend. He wants to see Korea's natural beauty, and bask in the awesomeness of the place that inspired your awesome blog. Awesome. There's that word again.

I have been to Korea with my family before, but NEVER with my boyfriend. I speak Korean, but am wondering how Koreans will react to us being together. I thought I'd ask you since you are a foreigner, and I am assuming your girlfriend is Korean?

Your thoughts on this would really help me in planning my trip. I haven't booked a ticket yet, as I am figuring out how many days I want to spend there with my boyfriend.

Sincerely,
Kyoposeyo

p.s.: Awesome!

Hi, Kyoposeyo.

Thanks for the sweet letter. It's actually my policy only to answer letters that use the word "awesome" the exact number of times you did (ten, or twice per paragraph for longer letters), so you lucked out, I guess.

To answer your question:

First, a qualifier: I can't speak for how your family will react. Because family's closer, things are just different; your parents will be more useful in briefing you on introducing him to the family. If he's meeting your uncles, I bet they'll try to get him drunk, as my best friend's uncles-in-law did. For family, their impression will depend a lot on how they've been prepared for meeting him, but that's all I can really say about that.

Next, for people in Korea, once it's clear that you're not Korean born-and-raised, you often get a kind of a free pass here. Therefore, one thing you could do is simply pack clothes that are clearly Canadian, and noticeably different from the fashions Korean women wear. Wear very little make-up, which will set you apart from most Korean women, even in the summer. If you're going to Japan first, pick a few distinctively Japanese accessories you can wear, that'll set you apart for passersby looking from a distance. Then people will size you up as a tourist and the "rules" won't apply to you. You could even speak in more laboured Korean, as if you don't know it well, to make your disguise complete. Of course, if it doesn't sit well with you to deny your Korean background, don't do it; I sure wouldn't hold that against you.

Third: I think the reactions your boyfriend will get, being seen with a visibly Korean woman, really depend a lot on your boyfriend's appearance. Some people have a lot of trouble with negative attention from Koreans when they're out with their Korean girlfriends, but I never have, and I think it's because I do what I can to keep a well-groomed appearance, and try to make a positive first impression on the Koreans around me, especially when I'm with Girlfriendoseyo (who is Korean: you were right about that). I might be totally wrong here, but I bet you'd get more attention in general, if he looks like a bedraggled hippie with long hair, a grizzly adams beard, and torn clothes - just because NOBODY dresses or looks that way in Korea; once he's attracted all that attention, there's a greater chance some of the attention he attracts will turn negative, and that some individual will peg him into the stereotype of the ugly English teacher stealing "our" women or whatever. But if he dresses in a way that keeps a low profile, and fits in with the locals, there's a much much lower chance that he'll elicit that reaction. When in Rome, wear a toga. Those viking furs might be the heighth of fashion in Denmark, but they won't get you far at the Coliseum.

If he's groomed, smiling and polite, if you teach him a few Korean phrases and he says them with a friendly air, all those same people who'd otherwise mutter, will smile and tell you he's a handsome guy, and maybe offer him a shot of makkeolli or some extra side dishes. If you're out climbing mountains and in nature, which it sounds like you want to do, you're very likely to encounter the nicest side of Koreans, rather than the unsavory side: many of the most positive experiences I've had with Koreans, especially older Koreans, have been on the mountain. The same old lady who, in the city, would shove you to get onto the subway car before you, will share her lunch with you on the mountain-- the climbing culture is one of the friendliest aspects of Korea I've come across, personally, so you're probably in for a treat if you're heading for the hiking trails.

Of course, you can also just tell everybody you're married, too. These days, international marriages are nothing out of the ordinary in the countryside.

see also this post: Tips to Avoid Being Assaulted in Korea

So, dear readers... agree? Disagree? Am I totally out to lunch? What other advice should I give Kyoposeyo and her Caucasian boyfriend about having the best experience possible in Korea?

Do Stuff: Events and Ways to be a Good Person

I got a letter from a guy named Abhishek Joshi, an expat living in Suwon; he wanted to spread word about a program expats in Suwon have organized, to volunteer at a local orphanage there. He's looking for people who will join him and the others who are already part of the crew, and volunteer in Suwon - give back to the community where we live. Here's his site. I'm also writing about this at the 2S2 Community blog.

Hermit Hideaways, steadily winning more and more "hey, buddy: sweet blog!" points, has some upcoming concerts you can attend.

This is another live show you can attend. Carsick Cars - Chinese Post-Punk.

I have a ton of listings of events and things in my facebook inbox:

Guest speaker Lee Kyung Sook, from the Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK), will be speaking at Amnesty International's meeting on Saturday, 06 February 2010, from 16:00 - 18:00. The facebook event page is here.

KISS - Korean International Salsa Social, has regular Thursday night events now. This one includes a salsa lesson. The Facebook event page has more info. Dancing is fun.

And Ka-Brew Korea is having a Beer River Cruise on Saturday, 06 February 2010, starting at 7pm at the Yeoinaru Docks and finishing in RMT Itaewon. You can read up on it here. The theme is pirates.

I heard from the Wild Women's Performing Arts Festival (WWPAF), is a bi-annual fundraising event that uses visual and aural performances in order to address the issue of gender equality in Korea as well throughout the world.

Proceeds from the Festival are given to the KWAU (Korea Women's Association United), an organization that advocates for women's issues in Korea, including the Korean Women’s Hotline, the Dashi Hamkke Anti-Trafficking Organization and agencies for disabled women.

The Festival will be at the Mong Hwan in Sinchon (Sinchon Station, Exit 2). The event will be held on Saturday, February 27 from 8pm-5am.

(all photos on this post are from last year's WWPAF festival) Yet again, there's more information about the event on Facebook.

Weekend Notes: Moving Day, and Movie Quote of the Decade

1. Korean moving companies, seriously, rock. Girlfriendoseyo moved to a new place: the place where we'll live together after the wedding in July (did I mention there are nuptials in my near future? I did. And the post where I announced it, and said:

I got engaged this year! If I don't get at least twenty comments of congratulations on this post, I'm shutting down the blog forever.

is squatting at 12 comments, and Roboseyo remains in danger. Come on, readers. It's not like I asked you to send money or something. Is it that only twelve of you read to the end of the post? Cripes.

Eight more congratulations and you can get back to lurking.

But Korean moving companies, comments or none, still rock. A swarm of people comes into your house, loads everything into baskets boxes and things, trucks them to your next place, and unloads them. The guy who did the bookshelves even had a system whereby he returned all the books in the same order on the shelves as they were when he boxed them. All Girlfriendoseyo had to do was point and say "put it in this room" or "that room" and all I had to do was stand around looking handsome (and that takes effort for me), and be tall once or twice.

2. Girlfriendoseyo's mom, Omonim, is cute, and I like her more and more. Today, we discovered that she likes bubble wrap: I grabbed some from the dishes box, and she, Girlfriendoseyo and I had a little moment together, popping bubble wrap. It was brilliant. She even stored some away for later.

3. OK, I was thinking about this, and I'd like to open the question for comments. What was the movie quote of the decade? I mean, a really memorable movie quote has to be usable, it has to be instantly recognizable as "from that movie" - "Frankly, dear, I don't give a damn" "make him an offer he can't refuse" and stuff. (AFI's 100 best movie quotes)... it also has to immediately evoke the movie in question - Saw's "I want to play a game" doesn't evoke the movies quite clearly enough. In fact, if I have to name the movie it's from, it doesn't belong on the list.

The '90s had some good quotes:

"FREEEDOOOOMMM"

"Does that make you horny, baby?"

"I know kung-fu"

"I see dead people"

"My momma always told me life is like a box of chocolates."

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti. FUPFUPFUPFUPFUP"

like, ALL of The Big Lebowski

and so forth... but what about the naughty oughties? This writer can't come up with anything, and when I tried to think of some good ones, I kept thinking of quotes from '90s movies. So, readers, what IS the quote of the oughties?

Here are the ones that come to mind; a few might have come from an article on this topic that I read a while ago... and I want to know what YOU think might be the movie quote of the decade.

Here are the ones that I think qualify: Immediately identifiable, evocative of important moments, and quotable - you know how to deliver the line:

"I drink your milkshake"

"This is sparta"

"My precioussss" and "YOU SHALL NOT PASS"

"I wish I knew how to quit you"

"Why so serious?"

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth."

What am I missing?

On the second tier: a lot of will ferrell

"Hey Honey! We're streaking!"

"I'm kind of a big deal" or "Stay classy, San Diego"

"He only has one face!... I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" or "What is this? A school for ants?"

"Rock stars have kidnapped my son!"

Help me out here, readers. What are the other most memorable quotes from the '00s?

Back-blogged: last few pictures

1. why I'd rather go to Seoul's indoor skating rinks.

Look at that awful ice.


What self-respecting Canadian would choose to skate on that... except on a first-to-third date, with a legitimate shot at some smooching?



2. Girlfriendoseyo took this sweet picture of me at Morning Calm Garden: I like the question-mark shape I'm making. My fiance has a really good eye for photography.

Back-Blogged: Daegu

So I went to Daegu on December 30 and 31. That was nifty. I had two weeks off before winter sessions started, and I had to get out of town. I met up with a few pals, had the worst Guinness beer I ever tasted. I think it was some of that swill where they mix one part guinness with one part hite, but it was awful. Seriously, I just don't get the mixed drink thing. Cranberry vodka? Rum coke? Yeah, I get that. But pouring soju and coke into a pitcher of beer? What the yuck!

Had a nice long talk with a pal, and then slept in a jimjilbang for the night.

Then next morning, I met up again with my pal and Dann Gaymer, ATEK's public relations manager, and had a nice breakfast, and a little walk around the famous Korean traditional medicine market near Dongseongno, and then wandered almost all the way to Dongdaegu Station, the KTX terminal. I like the Daegu Downtown: because it's more centralized, it's a little less bewildering than Seoul, which has at least five legitimate, frantically busy downtown shopping/hangout areas, and a bunch more almost-there's - Hongdae, Jongno, Hyehwa, Kangnam, Apgujeiong, plush Shincheon, Konguk Univ., Yongsan, Itaewon and let's not forget the sweet downtown spots in some of the satellite cities.

Downtown Daegu.

Daegu's slogan is "Colorful Daegu" = which could be seen all over. I especially liked this shot, because of the colorful spill-stain on the tree-grate.


It was colorful, though.


The main road had no crosswalks, and underpasses instead. Nice for traffic. Bad for chronic knee pain.


Cars weren't allowed in the downtown area. This was another thing I really liked. I suggested to Girlfriendoseyo that Seoul should also ban cars in the downtown shopping areas. She replied "But there are too many assholes who like to show off their cars, who would stop it from happening in Seoul" ... and Girlfriendoseyo is so sweet and well-mannered, that her use of the word asshole really has meaning - I hear her say it less than once a month. But... well said.


The car-free downtown was also people-free, because it was a bloody cold day.








Shiny at night.


Daegu is up with the cheesy, stylish food crazes: don't be calling daegu-ites a bunch of rubes!


They got brand-name chains, too.


I crossed the Geumho river.




Along the way, I hit up some markets in Daegu. You can find this stuff in Seoul, too, but it was fun walking around the ones in there.




This market had some especially nifty stuff:



Coolest thing: I saw the rice poppers. You know those crunchy, rice-puffy things that you eat at a bar? Well this is how they make them.

I saw them making it. It was sweet. Then, while they were waiting for the rice to get hot enough to pop (it takes quite a while), the ajumma started doing one of those sweet bbong-chak dances that are the glory of old age in Korea. Her husband joined in, and it was one of those little moments when the world is awesome... and I got it on video. Sweet! Usually I can't get my camera out in time.


This was funny, too: this plastic surgery clinic was right in the middle of downtown Daegu - Daegu's aiming to be a medical tourism hub... or was that mecca? -- and it made me laugh that Korea's first playboy model, Lee Pani, was all over this clinic, promoting it. That a nude model was promoting a plastic surgery clinic was intriguing, and kind of funny: nude poses and lingerie promotions are one of the things "respectable" Korean female stars avoid like the plague, while vociferously denying that they had plastic surgery... so it seemed both appropriate and funny to see a nude model on a cosmetic surgery clinic.







And when I got back to Seoul Station (yay, KTX!) this was happening.

Back-Blogged: Christmas trip to Suncheon Bay and Boseong Lights Festival

So... my nemesis Dan Gray of Seoul Eats and I got together and planned a nemesis-themed Christmas party. It was great.

We got turkey from the army base near Itaewon.

There was way too much food for the size of the group (as Christmas dinners should be), so I got to take home a pumpkin pie. The world is a wonderful, wonderful place.

Joy was there with a hat she got from one of those places (Baskin Robbins, Paris Baguette, and I forget which others) that always have a dumb awesome hat contest.

Chris in SK was there, with his hilarious girlfriend, as were a bunch of Dan Grey's friends from the Seoul Eats meetups, and Kelly NameChangedForPrivacy made an appearance as well, as did an old coworker whom it was great to see.

Then, Girlfriendoseyo and I hopped in a car and started driving: we were heading down to Boseong, for the Tea Fields there, where every Christmas they string the tree plants up and put on a light show. We drove all day, stopping for an early dinner in Jeonju, home of the world's best bibimbap, where they threw more food at us than we could comprehend, and had the best yukhoe (raw, minced beef - traditionally not a favorite of mine, but I'll make exceptions) I've eaten in a long, long time.

The lights were nice. Strangely, the closer we got to the lights, the nicer they looked, and the were definitely the prettiest when we were right out there, walking around in the middle of the field.

Thanks to a botched reservation, courtesy of Roboseyo the dumb, whose Korean (lack of) skill still leads to the occasional snafu, and sometimes makes him feel like a noob, we got stuck out in Boseong with, literally (she checked) not a single room for hire within a forty kilometer drive. We drove to Suncheon, where there was one hotel room open in the entire town, and that thanks only to a cancellation (this is what happens when you travel inside Korea on holidays... especially on years when all the red letter days fall on Saturdays and Sundays)

(Here's a video of the lovely lights of Boseong, and Suncheon bay. Keep reading for more on Suncheon.)

But we found a place to crash. And you know how food tastes way better when you're starving, and there's a chance you won't eat the next day? Well dear readers, when you're worried that you'll have to spend the night in a skeezy 24 hour jimjilbang near Suncheon Bus Terminal, or crammed into reclined bucket seats in the car, waking up once an hour to run the engine and warm up the car... then even a simple room in a business hotel seems like a luxury suite. Oh, yes it does. And yeah. The irony was not lost on me, that we were driving around Jeollanamdo, and there was no room at the inns, on CHRISTMAS night. I'm also sad to report that we didn't see any shepherds, and no angels appeared.

On Saturday morning (the 26th), we woke up early enough to check the weather reports: it called for snow on Sunday, so we decided to drive as far as we could on Saturday, rather than do the lion's share of the driving in bad weather. Thanks to some sweet sleuthing, some good luck, and another cancellation, Girlfriendoseyo once again found us a place, one town over from Boryeong, and this one was pretty sweet. It was a beach condo, and it was an amazing, gorgeous place to say... except that whole below freezing thing. (it was cold and windy. Pretty, but bad beach weather).

However, before we headed out, we got a chance to meet up in Suncheon with Brian in Jeollanam-do, in Jeollanam-do. We had a nice hanjeongshik meal with Brian and his fiance, who's just wonderful, and I'm happy to report that Brian's a wonderful guy, and the in-Jeollanamdo's, as a couple, are adorable. Girlfriendoseyo liked them the first time she met them, last Christmas, and this year again, we had a grand old time. We'll look forward to the next opportunity to hang out with them.

After lunch, Girlfriendoseyo and I headed out to Suncheon Bay, which Girlfriendoseyo told me is spectacularly beautiful.

I concur.

It was crowded, crowded crowded (cf: famous places in Korea, Korean holidays)

And this poor girl was there. She'd dressed appropriately... give or take twenty degrees celsius.

I nearly froze my camera and my fingers taking pictures at first (it was beautiful bobbing in the breeze... but cold), and then, climbing the hill to the Suncheon Bay observatory, I was sweating in my winter gear....

but the photos were worth it. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, worth it.

from the observatory

The water reflected the amazing blue sky.

Kopi Luwak: The World's Rarest Coffee. Yep. roboseyo drank cat poo coffee

Kopi Luwak: it's not a myth.

it's a real coffee, made from beans that have passed through a civet cat who has a knack for picking only the best coffee beans on the entire plantation, to eat.

It's a really rare delicacy, but my buddy Bryan (you can see him in the video) knew a place in Hongdae where we could get some. So, of course, we had to get some. Bryan explains more. And hang on for the reactions after we make the coffee and try it.

And of course, we made a Youtube video about it.

If you want to try the amazing cat poo coffee for yourself, you can go to Kaldi Coffee Club, up and around the corner from exit 4 of Hongik University Subway station. Here's their website, and their phone number. 02 335 7770, and here's a map of how to find them.

Canadian Embassy Wants to hear from you, Canuckers

[Update]: The guest list is now full, but you're still welcome to contact Ms. Kim by e-mail (see below)

I got a message from Nicola Kim, a political officer working for Mr. Ted Lipman, the Canadian Ambassador to Korea himself. After a year of discussion about the English teaching experience in Korea, as well as Korean media representation of them, not only here on the blogs, but in Korean courts, and even in the international press (not to mention CBC Radio), the embassy is interested to hear feedback about life in Korea directly from Canadian English teachers.

The meeting will be at the Canadian Embassy in Seoul, from 2:30-4pm on Thursday, January 28th, and Nicola's looking for a one or two more voices to round out the discussion. They're especially looking for long-time teachers, who have been around the block a few times, and have a longer perspective, and even more, at this point, females are underrepresented on the guest list. If any of my readers, especially the female ones, are long-term English teachers in Korea, who hail from Canada, and you have a thing or two to tell, or ask the Canadian Embassy about life in Korea, here's your chance to put in your two bits.

If you aren't free at that time, but you can think of something you'd like to tell the Canadian Embassy, either a complaint or a request, or a "is there anything you can do about ___" or "you could help new incoming Canadian English teachers if you ___" kind of tidbit (or should I say timbit), you are invited to either leave your comments at the bottom of this post, at which point I'll be happy to relay them on to the Canadian Embassy when I go, or you're also invited to contact Nicola Kim directly by sending an e-mail to nicola.kim at gmail dot com

image source

I'm glad the Canadian embassy is doing this; it's a great gesture, and while it makes sense insofar as it will reduce the number of anguished calls they have to field from distraught English teachers, it is also a opportunity to open more communication between the community and the embassy.

So fire off that e-mail, if you can come to the meeting, or let Nicola know what you'd like to say, whether you can come to the meeting or not.

Periodic Table of Canada

I'm not a tech blogger, but memo to Korea: Germany thinks your browser sucks

The country of Germany has encouraged the whole country to stop using Internet Explorer, as it was the browser that made the hacker attacks on Google China possible. Microsoft itself has said that Internet Explorer might have been the weak link in those attacks.

Meanwhile, Internet Explorer six remains the most popular browser in Korea. Imagine building the greatest highway infrastructure in the world - a country full of Autobahns - and then allowing only horse and buggies on it. That's Korea's internet right now.

I really like that google's finally taking a stand against China's web censorship. The information age is making the great firewall of china more porous: it seems that it can be circumvented if people know how, easily enough. Meanwhile, it makes me nervous that the google accounts being attacked were those of Human Rights agitators living in China. I like that Youtube/Google Korea preferred to block uploads and comments from Youtube Korea, rather than require real names.

This is reminiscent of a little while ago, when hackers based in China took over a bunch of zombie computers, including that of the Dalai Lama, hacking into the computers and stealing access to their files, and even being able to take control of their webcams to snap photos ... later the Chinese government seemed to tip its hand, communicating to people who were scheduled to meet the Dalai Lama that such meetings would be ill-advised. (see here)

Ladies and gentlemen: the battlefield of the future, where ones and zeros will be more important than munitions and laser targeting systems.

The internet's an interesting place these days.

Tough Love, Cupcake: How to learn Korean or English

The Korean has an excellent article about how to learn a foreign language as an adult. The summary: suck it up and work hard, you wuss. Who ever told you learning a language well was going to be easy? Go read it.

In Which Roboseyo Exhorts Seoul City Not To Get in A Snit About Lonely Planet

So Lonely Planet says that Seoul is the third most hated city. Similar statements have been made before, and then as well, Seoul city got all worked up...

Now, first of all, the idea that an institution is within its rights to "correct" people for their opinion, getting upset and responding with "are not, either!" the way Seoul City has, especially when it comes to something like travel preferences, is just silly... yet it happens. And then it happens again. And a similar pattern occurs in other areas. . . not least Korea Times' infamous "Setting The Record Straight" (ps: note the absence of comments below said article)- which is basically the same attitude in a totally different arena. (speaking of which... since publishing that correction (of its readers), The Korea Times has demonstrated an admirable change of direction.... not. yep. I made a 'not' joke.)

For the record, Seoul City's response makes more sense, and more valid points, than the KT's.

Now, as far as the deeper, cultural-level workings of this kind of reaction, I'm probably out of my depth, but we've seen this "let's correct his/her opinion" attitude before: KT's unapology, Brian in JND's 2008 cyber-bullying incident, Seoul City's previous head-buttings with Lonely Planet, and, uh, VANK. Korea's hyper-polarized political scene demonstrate that there IS a healthy bit of disagreement allowed in Korean society... but then this "Let's correct" thing pops up, too... often enough for me to want to start investigating it, looking for a sociological source. So, if anyone wants to give me a grant, I'll get on it.

A few guesses, though: this "let's correct his opinion" thing might simply be traces of Korea's quite recent authoritarian history, in which the people in power right now grew up in a time when those in power COULD say "are not, either" and quash their critics' dissent... but that doesn't work anymore, and the sooner they figure that out, the sooner they will stop appearing arrogant and snippy and hypersensitive, the sooner they will stop taking outdated approaches to modern challenges. I wrote at very great length on the way Koreans get defensive about criticism way back in 2008, and might recommend you read that.

But here's what I want to focus on right now:

Getting all worked up because Lonely Planet says that Seoul Sucks is just not what a world class city does. Sorry, dude. If somebody in a major magazine, or a travel guide, says "Paris has dog crap all over the sidewalks, and the citizens are rude" (commonly-known stereotypes), Paris city hall doesn't go to the press nitpicking those claims, questioning the methods of the survey which discovered tourists don't like stepping in dog crap or getting shite service at a cafe. Why not? Because they're motherf***ing PARIS, that's why. And because they're motherf***ing PARIS, they either figure the travel writers can say what they like, because all press is good press, or they try to improve the complaints they can, if they care to, but I'm SURE they don't write 160 pages of promotional material and send it to the publishing company that called their city... whatever they called it. When Seoul announces itself as a world design capital or a mecca of whatever or a business hub or whatever else, but then feels the need to strike back at a travel guide that said something they don't like, they undermine their attempt to be taken seriously. They'd do better combing the criticisms for ways to improve, and then moving on... or ignoring it, because it's just the internet. Better still: say nothing, and let other people jump to their defense, which makes it look like Seoul is taking the high road, while still further increasing the amount of Seoul-related discussion that's occurring here and there.

Defensiveness. There are myriad reasons Korean companies, netizens, or individuals might get defensive, possibly stemming individually from the frustration of being crapped on by the level above them in a deeply hierarchical culture, in organizations that are frustrated that many people in the world still think Samsung is Japanese, nationally from the frustration of being sandwiched between China and Japan, two richer neighbors which have left a larger imprint in the consciousness of the world... and we end up with people who can't abide someone who whispers that D-wars sucked (that's changed... even the kimcheerleaders who originally supported it smile with embarrassment, or feign amnesia, like the Beef Mamas who are buying American beef, and can't quite remember where they brought their kids in strollers last spring.

And you know, sometimes, singling something out to say it sucks, is a higher form of praise than anything else. There are thousands of dumber songs written than Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, but the people writing these top ten and top five lists know that tagging the Beatles will get them more viral headlines, and a stronger reaction. But saying the beatles suck, or one of their songs suck, or their name sucks, is just a tribute to what a deep impact the band has made... if people are taking cheap shots at Seoul, maybe that means Seoul has officially entered the pantheon of world-class cities! It's been validated as a big, easy, well-known target. Don't you get it, Seoul City? That's GOOD! The New York Times put Seoul on ITS list of places to visit this year (though it didn't clarify whether this year means 2010 or 2010 to 2012) --

If Korea wants to actually have the place in world culture it claims to aspire toward, it's gonna have to get used to these kinds of cheap shots. People aren't going to see Ninja Assassin because Rain is Korean. They'll either see it because it's a good movie, or ignore it because it's a bad movie. Right now, Korea's trying to have its cake and eat it too- it wants to be a world media force, but it also ONLY wants people to use approved phrases when talking about it. That just ain't gonna happen.

Korean video parody
Uploaded by MeowHouse. - Family events, birthdays and parenting videos.

When Korea figures out that if Wonder Girls gets a bad review in a rock magazine, that's better than being ignored, I'll get to stop writing blog posts like this. If Rain gets mocked on the Colbert report, that's GOOD - he's becoming more famous! Anybody who doesn't get that, well, it seems to me that they're concerned less with whether Korean culture is actually rising to prominence, and more with... something else (possibly what Gord Sellar once wonderfully described as the standard, near-universal conviction among Koreans that a positive image of Korea must be presented to the world). Eventually Korea will have to let go -- it'll have to realize that the country's big enough, and significant enough a presence, that they will no longer be able to strictly control its perception and its promotion. Creating an authenticity badge for Korean restaurants abroad will accomplish nothing, because people will eat the food if it's good, and they don't care if some stuffed shirt from Seoul approves of it. Eventually, if a teenager from Des Moines blogs that The Wondergirls Suck, Korea will be confident enough in its position that thousands of fourteen year olds WON'T feel compelled to tell that teenager to kill herself. Until then, this all-fired defensiveness just screams "Inferiority Complex" to everyone but the kimcheerleaders who are too red-in-the-face to notice.