I have a serious problem when people say “see you,” when saying goodbye. Perhaps I’m paranoid, or just on edge, but I always find myself turning around and looking for the person I am talking to. Stalker creeper. I just don’t think “see you” is a sufficient goodbye as it makes some people feel uncomfortable, a bit weirded out at the prospect that the person you are chatting to has been staring at you for the duration of the conversation.
I was thinking about my strongly held opinion on the “see you salut” as I drifted in and out of daydreams. Wheeling around my desk I peered over my computer monitor and stared out at the three students who looked half dead in their seats as they scribbled in their notebooks.
I had volunteered to teach Summer Intensive classes this July and August during the Korean school vacation. I now found myself forced to wake up at 9am three days a week to teach a course on Literature Appreciation. I don’t know how any ten year old child is supposed to appreciate literature at ten in the morning during their holidays, let alone a teacher.
During the weeks leading up to summer vacation I asked my students what fun they get up to during their five week summer break. A shockingly overwhelming majority of them spend their summer days sitting in English, Science, Math or Music private academies. They spend their evenings doing homework and generally being nerdy.
One of my students told me that she has more school during the summer vacation as her parents have her enrolled in a Math academy, English school and Science camp. I almost vomited on the floor. I then proceeded to tell all of these disadvantaged youth what a typical summer for a Canadian student is like. I spoke of a two month vacation (the entire room sighed). I then went on to explain what “summer camp” exactly is. Unfortunately students here don’t really grasp the true concept of camp. In Korea many kids will be sent to English Camp, where they spend over a week studying grammar and phonics. They never see the light of day, and certainly never portage, hike in the forest or tell ghost stories.
I spent thirty minutes telling one of my livelier classes about what my typical summer vacation was like. Living in cottage country, swimming and water skiing every day, movie theater adventures, two weeks of camp and a lot of unstructured relaxation. Every student stared at me in disbelief. Jaws flapping in the wind. The entire room groaned.
I don’t want to paint a morbid picture. It is a pretty disturbing picture for people who don’t fully understand the Korean culture and psyche. It’s not all bad. Many of my classes are smaller as I have students on vacation in Czech Republic, Japan, Borneo, France, Egypt, Turkey, America, Canada and England. So some students whose parents are actually able to take time off from work for vacation do indeed partake in a wanderlust global retreat.
As I have reiterated before, education is the most important aspect of any Koreans upbringing. It seems, from the day they are born, the importance of their education is engrained in their minds. Korea isn’t the fourth largest Asian economy for no reason. South Korea has shown the world how a country racked by war can pick itself off its feet and make a success of itself. Just fifty years ago the entire Korean Peninsula was in ruins.
Korea has very little natural resources. Space is precious and most foodstuffs are imported (the percentage of imported rice is a shocking figure). This past spring everyone in Korea was freaking out over the cost of oil. Korea is the fifth largest importer of oil in the world. If the cost of oil increases so does everything else. Inflationary pressures were their highest these last few months since the 1980’s oil shocks.
The Korean Peninsula may not be full of gold, diamonds, iron ore or oil fields but it is a mecca for technological innovation and scientific research. Korea has one of the highest university per capita ratios in the world. In Seoul alone there are literally hundreds. Every Korean knows they rely entirely on their know-how and intelligence to succeed in the global economy. Home of Hyundai Motors, Kia Motors, Samsung Electronics and the scientific research powerhouse, Seoul National University, this country is brainy. Competition for university entrance is incredibly harsh as millions of nerds compete for a finite number of classrooms.
Even though I’m glad I didn’t have to grow up in the Korean education system. I have also grown to understand and appreciate what the parents are doing. A Koreans entire life is mapped out based on their academic successes. I have heard from a few of my older Korean friends that when they apply for jobs their employers still check their high school entrance marks. Fluency in English is a necessity to shine in the domestic economy and more lucrative global job markets.
Children in Korea are much more mature and organized than their Western counterparts. I often joke that I am teaching thirty year olds living in the bodies of little people. Students who have access to these private schools are incredibly lucky. Their parents take out loans, and mortgage their houses so their children can have the best education possible in order to solidify the success of their adult careers. Children who don’t go to private schools are bound to live a difficult life as they scrape by in the countries many unglamorous service jobs
I can reflect on a few things. Firstly, I do wish these kids could have a bit more everyday fun in their lives. But it is impossible and unfair for me to judge them as the conditions are widespread and their way of life (they don’t know what they are missing). More than anything it makes me want to reflect on the stability of my own country and the preciousness of a place where children are able to have free time and dabble in social loafing.
On the other hand, I realize that Canadian and American children are lazy, spoiled and often their parents discourage their intellectual development. I recall several duds during my school years and I feel many of them could have really blossomed if they were challenged differently. I’ve also decided if I am ever a manager or owner of a company and find a Korean or Japanese prospective employee sitting in a seat in front of my desk during an interview I will automatically hire them before anyone else. I know they are reliable, respectful, incredibly intelligent and organized. The same cannot be said for the Western workforce.
During my first few intensive classes my body was in pain. I hadn’t been forced to wake up at such an ungodly hour in months. Then the whole schedule change grew on me. I now love waking up early and enjoying the sun as it shines through my classroom windows. I get to bed earlier and feel much more productive.
On my first day of intensives I felt as though I was hung over simply from lack of decent sleep. I stared out at my three students and welcomed them to Literature Appreciation 101. I had to give each of them English names and my mind drew a blank for a few seconds until a light bulb went off above my head. I pointed to each student as they scribbled down their new names: Mary, Tyler and Moore. I promised that if I had a new student join the class later in the semester I would name him or her Show.
My hands were shaking. At 7pm on Friday I had already consumed seven cups of coffee and I was desperately trying to stay awake. After nine hours of teaching I was trying to pull through as I had out-on-the-town plans for the evening. After my first three hour class I had consumed a ridiculous amount of caffeine and my eyes were bulging out of my forehead as I ran through the attendance list for my last group of students. I simply could not sit in my seat. I was that wired! I paced up and down the classroom, prancing and jumping around as my students stared at me in disbelief laughing their faces off. At the end of class when we present our summaries for the day I insisted that each student try their best to present in a foreign accent. I gave a fine example by reading the summary in a My Fair Lady cockney accent. I had students who attempted to read their summaries with confusing Russian, French, Texan and British accents.
While drinking myself into a caffeine headache my bladder was about to burst as I nervously paced the room and waited for my class to end. I literally pushed my students out of the room, shut the lights off, slammed the door and ran to the bathroom. I then ran down four flights of stairs and threw open my apartment door. I ripped off my cloths and dressed myself for four hours of dancing at Club Answer, the most posh of Seoul’s night clubs. I played the delicious Justice Cross album as I gobbled a plate of Inari Sushi and sipped on a Browns Brothers Moscato.
I sat back on my couch as I jammed the last bit of sushi into my mouth and closed my eyes. I had been waiting two months for this evening and I wasn’t going to let an exhausting work day slow me down. It was back in June when my heart stopped as I read on the Korean Herald that Justice was coming to perform in Seoul. I instantly got out of my seat and hustled to the front desk and got the secretary to buy me a ticket to the performance.
Justice is a French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay. Their debut album Cross, was released to critical acclaim in June 2007. It was later nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. The duo is famous for its mainstream remixes such as Britney Spears, NERD, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake. Today, Justice is one of the frontrunners of a genre of electronic music known as elecktro-funk and combines cut up bass lines with a strong acid sound. They are known for incorporating a strong rock influence into their music and image. For many club kids, the Cross album was their 2007 anthem.
In an ode to 2007 I sprayed a generous amount of Jean Paul Gaultier cologne over my shoulder and ran out the door. I arrived at Cheongdam Station, the wealthiest neighborhood in Seoul, and passed by Rolls Royce, BMW, Hummer, Lamborghini and Ferrari store fronts before I arrived at people packed street in front of Club Answer.
It took me about thirty minutes to get into the club as the line slowly inched through the main entrance hall. I enjoyed the wait as I was able to chat up a few smashingly dressed Korean girls. The crystal chandeliers above cast glowing orbs across the red carpet bellow. I stopped first at the main bar for a drink and ran into several of my foreign friends (who I always seem to run into at these sorts of events).
I caught up with my friend Hunter who just got back from a vacation in Malaysia. We tried to inch as closely onto the main dance floor as possible but it seemed anything but possible. Little old me was getting shaken to and fro. I was a bit paranoid about ruining my new camera so I tried to get up the winding staircase to the VIP balcony. I tried to “blend in” but the massive Korean guard in a black and white tux grabbed my arm and indicated that I was not cordially invited.
Seoul’s nightlife starts very late. Justice didn’t even start their DJ set until one in the morning (finishing just after four in the morning). I ran into my friend Sarah Kate who is a celebrated DJ from California / London who calls Seoul home. We met through model friends and I have been to her Club night, Spektra a few times. I also saw her back in March at Seoul Collection’s most acclaimed runway show by Ha Sang Beg.
I found her at the bottom of the stairs wearing a cute pink dress with pointy white heels. She grabbed my arm and we headed up the stairs to the VIP balcony. I was so excited to finally get a chance to overlook the massive ocean of people bellow. I was fortunate as VIP table reservations on the balcony cost around $2000 USD for the night. We walked to the far end of the balcony, past what seemed like hundreds of models before finding our nook beside the renaissance banister overlooking the main stage.
Around the corner stood Ha Sang Beg. A 32 year old Korean fashion icon who is the most celebrated designer in the country today. He has his own fashion television show and is currently writing a book for Random House about the years he lived in London and Amsterdam teaching fashion design. After watching his spectacular show in March I never thought I would one day call him my friend. Alas, the world is a crazy and exciting place. He introduced me to his friends at the table. Two gorgeous models, the CEO of Korea’s largest PR firm, the head of sales for Prada East Asia and a few of his design friends.
Justice performed an amazing set that night. Due to the unfortunate monsoon weather here, the thousands of bodies dancing were more like sweating sauna enthusiasts. Everyone’s chins dripped with sweat from the hot humid air. Several times throughout the night I felt the need to ring out my shirt.
The duo stepped up onto their turntables and bowed in front of the screaming crowd just after four in the morning. I rushed down the stairs and bolted for the door. Everyone was trying to get out onto the street where the heat was more tolerable. I hopped in a cab and wondered when my ears would stop ringing.
I hopped on my computer to watch the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony which took place earlier in the evening. My jaw dropped and my eyes filled with tears as the powerful ceremony unfolded before my eyes. Simply marvelous! My eyes bulged as I read the following headlines on Yahoo! News: “Russia invades Georgia killing Hundreds,” and “South Koreans Ousted from North Korean Tourism Zone.” I wondered if I was perhaps a bit delirious from exhaustion and over excitement. I slapped myself across the face and realized I was indeed living in a crazy world. To bed, to bed.
The following evening I headed with friends to Yeouido Island in southwestern Seoul for the 6th Annual Hi Seoul Summer Festival. We had come halfway across the city in the pouring rain to watch a incredibly odd outdoor modern theater performance entitled Monster Ballet.
Monster Ballet, involving ten dancers and four excavators – otherwise known as backhoes – is the first work to be choreographed by Kim Young-gul, one of Korea’s most prominent ballet dancers. Kim, who until now has focused solely on dancing, said that his desire to choreograph came to him gradually as he took in many performances during his time in Paris. The four backhoes are run by a team of operators led by Lee Jung-dal, who is known as the “master of excavators” because of his work on various TV shows. Being the only authorized backhoe demonstrator in the country, Lee has become famous for his delicate skill in operating these steel construction vehicles. He can actually move and cut small things like eggs and vegetables with it.
The idea of having construction equipment and humans on stage came from Roger Rynd, the Australian artistic director of the summer fest. His regular job is as artistic director of Theater REM; in that capacity, he brought machines onto the stage for the commemorative ceremony for the 22nd anniversary of the Sydney Opera House in 1995.
Monster ballet was bizarre to say the least. From our interpretation, the performance was about machines which represent convenience, coldness, and potentially deadly power gradually assimilating to the dance of the goddess of beauty, and later cooperating with people to express a harmony of love.
Four painted backhoes moved in a sort of monstrous jerk towards the center of the stage where a giant robotic puppet stood hovering in the sky. The backhoes really did come to life and had an organic real life believability on the stage. The orchestra bellowed across the audience and mist shot across the stage. Moments later the giant aquatic monster robots eyes lit up and the entire puppet glowed in the night sky.
I now jokingly tell my friends that the performance was “the classic tale of the ballerina/goddess of beauty who is torn between her love for an aquatic robot monster and a green painted backhoe construction vehicle.” After the show we hopped back on the subway and zoomed back to our neighborhood of Gwangjin where we unloaded at Ttukseom Resort Station.
We walked down the subway steps and under what seemed like hundreds of expressway ramps that glowed above us. Past hundreds of bicycles, shiny mopeds and Honda motorcycles. The resort is located on the Han river adjacent to one of the cities many bridges. The resort consists of a riverside boardwalk and enclosed water park (with slides, wave pool and Olympic pool). We walked to the Han and sat with hundreds of locals on the many steps that lead down to the river. We spent the next two hours staring out over the calm river as tourist ferries decorated in multi coloured neon lights puttered by. I stared out over the glowing metropolis and closed my eyes in order to remember this moment forever. The quintessential Seoul summer moment. We had clearly happened upon an excellent local hangout. To our left sat a Tall Ship Restaurant called “Wedding and Food” which blasted out Korean pop music. Hundreds of swan shaped paddle boats bobbed across the river.
We hopped in a taxi and headed for Technomart where we watched the much anticipated Korean release of The Dark Knight. The only tickets we were able to get were for the show starting at 1am. The film was enthralling and we argued about the history of the Batman films as we all slowly walked home half asleep just after 4am.
On Sunday morning I headed to a little Mom and Pop Korean restaurant where I sat slurping down a plate of Beef Bulgogi. Everyone in the restaurant was staring up at the television where Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan won the men’s 400 meters freestyle swimming final.
The Korean newscasters are so high energy here. They replayed a clip showing the reaction of the swimmers mother as she realizes her son has won the gold. Typical Korean response, she flails her hands in the air and cries. The three medalists walk to their podiums and the flags are lowered. The Korean national anthem plays and all of a sudden I realize that everyone in the restaurant is standing with their hands over their hearts on the verge of tears (but beaming with pride). I quickly stood up from behind my table and joined in the patriotic moment. A grandmother across the restaurant winked at me (I was the only foreigner in this little place).
In a tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, on August 10th 2008, I had officially been recognized as an honorary Korean.
