Koreans are racist

I came to this conclusion a LONG time ago... my first year here.
They are nice to most people, yes, but for most of them, in their minds, they are better than everyone else. Koreans base a lot on race, nationality and looks. When foreign language schools are looking for teachers, they look for good looking white foreigners. My first year, when my school was hiring another teacher, they handed me two pictures and asked me which one I thought they should hire. I look at them with a bit of a WHAT? look and asked to see the resumes if they really wanted my opinion. Many schools advertise that they want North American's only (and imply white North American). I do know several African Americans that are working here, but many schools won't even consider hiring one. Also, at many schools, North Americans will be paid more than other westerners, because of where they are from and having nothing to do with experience or credentials.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that ALL Koreans are like this, but many are. I do have some Korean friends that are not and many that are generally not.

Koreans often think that all westerners are rude, overbearing and fat. Even the polite, quiet and thin ones. If you don't fall into what they expect you to be, they are quite surprised.

I remember the boss of one of my previous schools saying something along the lines of just because we can speak English doesn't mean we can teach it. He followed that by saying that he (and other Koreans that studied English) make much better teachers because they had to study the ins and outs of the language. Well, while giving this lecture, I don't think he spoke a single sentence that was without grammatical errors. He told us that if it were up to him, there would be no foreign teachers in Korea. I think that he chose the wrong career. Through others, I heard that he made a couple of other comments as well that were racist and prejudice. He said that any Korean woman that would date a foreigner was a hooker or a slut. And, one of the other foreign teachers at the time was a plus sized girl. He said something to her along the lines of because of her size, she had to work twice as hard to do as well as the others. How rude. He is not the norm, but neither is he an exception.

With the recent events in Afghanistan, the racism came out again. Koreans were storming the mosques and demanding that the hostages be released. Non-Korean Muslims here were harrassed elsewhere about the issue too, or at the very least given very unwelcoming looks. What do the Muslims her have to do with the Taliban?

If one foreign teacher does something wrong, they blame all foreign teachers and think that they are all doing or going to do something wrong. If one American soldier does something wrong, all of them are to be blamed and punished. A few months ago, a soldier raped a 50 some year old woman. Because of that, all American GIs and their familys are banned from certain areas (again - it had only recently been opened up after being closed to them from an incident long ago) such as Hongdae. Well, I suppose I do agree with it somewhat. Most times that I have been in any bar that GIs were in, there was some sort of fight going on between GIs or GIs and other foreigners or Koreans. They sort of have a reputation for things like that.

Because Koreans are racist, they also have the mindset that all others are as well. When the Korean student went on a shooting rampage at an American university, almost all Koreans were worried that the Americans were going to take it out on all Koreans in the US. (Well, to be fair, if it had been an Arab Muslim that had done the shooting the results would have been VERY different, I think.)

Anyway... this post seems to have no organization what-so-ever. Just me rambling.
Here a couple of articles that I had saved a while back but had never really gotten around to getting to until now (the reason for this post).

It's About Time Korea Became Colorblind
"The Korean word 'minjok' (race) doesn't include ethnic minorities such as white or black people who were born in Korea and have lived all their lives in Korean culture. Korean people indulge in black-or-white thinking. The idea that if you're not of 'our minjok' then you're a foreigner is racial discrimination," said a U.S. soldier in a Korean speech contest last month. "As long as Korea is an advanced nation, you can't excuse racial discrimination by blaming it on the ignorance of a few people."
▶The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in March interviewed immigrants who had married Koreans and settled down in Korea. The survey found that these people resent expressions like "mixed blood," "Kosian" (a child born to a Korean and another Asian), and "half-Korean." A Philippines-born woman said, "My child speaks Korean fluently, so he's not half Korean but full Korean." A Japanese woman said, "The term 'mixed blood,' a derogatory expression that disparages and discriminates against children of international marriages, is already a dead term in Japan." Some 11.5 percent of children from such marriages said it was hard for them to go to school because they faced ostracism from their classmates.
▶One in eight marriages in Korea last year was international. There are some 720,000 foreign residents in the country, accounting for 1.5 percent of our entire population and up by 35 percent from last year. Of those, most were foreign workers (36 percent), followed by married immigrants (12 percent) and naturalized Koreans (7.5 percent). Foreign residents will likely exceed 9 percent of the population by 2050. Our society will soon turn into a multicultural one with one non-ethnic Korean for every 10 citizens.
▶A nationwide attitude survey was conducted in April. Asked what it means to be Korean, respondents said that simply believing oneself to be Korean is more important than nationality or blood. They said they could be on intimate terms with Southeast Asians as close neighbors (40 percent) or close friends (36 percent). This suggested that most people are fairly open-minded. But only seven percent said they would accept a foreigner as a spouse, and a mere three percent said they would accept a foreigner marrying their child. In reality, most Koreans are still narrow-minded.
▶Last weekend, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination urged Korea to end racial discrimination. "There was a genuine fear that overemphasis on and excessive pride in the ethnic homogeneity of the Republic of Korea might be an obstacle to the realization of equal treatment and respect for foreigners and people belonging to different races and cultures," UNCERD said in a report. The common concepts of "pure bloodedness" and "impure" blood came "very close to ideas of racial superiority." Ethnic homogeneity for many years gave us a strong identity which helped us to defend ourselves against outside forces. But this idea no longer holds water. Korea has achieved great prosperity in the global market and now must face up to its responsibilities as a member of the global community. Our eyes should be open not to the color of people's skin, but to their minds and hearts.

UN Concern at 'Ethnocentric' Korea
August 20, 2007 Chosun Ilbo
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has expressed concern at persistent ethnocentric thinking in South Korea. "There was a genuine fear that overemphasis on and excessive pride in the ethnic homogeneity of Korea might be an obstacle to the realization of equal treatment and respect for foreigners and people belonging to different races and cultures,” it said. It urged the country to include a human rights awareness program “that stressed understanding of societies with multiple ethnic/cultural backgrounds” in the official education curriculum.
Meeting in Geneva from July 30 until Aug. 17, the 71st UNCERD reviewed national reports on Costa Rica, New Zealand, Mozambique, Indonesia, and South Korea and released recommendations for them. On Aug. 9-10, it looked into reports submitted by the South Korean government. In the recommendations, UNCERD expressed discomfort about a prevalent notion in Korean culture of "pure-bloodedness," saying, "The whole concept came very close to ideas of racial superiority."
The committee praised the Korean government for the National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and the Basic Act on the Treatment of Foreigners adopted in May and establishing an Interpretation Support Centre for Foreign Migrant Workers last year. But it urged Korea work out better systematic devices and suggested the country legally guarantee equal rights for foreign workers and children born from international marriages in employment, marriage, residence, education, and interpersonal relations. It called for information about the history and culture of various ethnic groups and peoples to be included in elementary and secondary school textbooks.
UNCERD also expressed concern that foreign women are improperly protected from potential harassment from either their Korean husbands or international matchmaking agencies. It highlighted cases of abuse -- some international marriage agencies demand exorbitant fees for their services or confiscate passports and travel papers from foreign wives-to-be without giving them sufficient information about their future husbands. Foreign workers, it noted, “were allowed to change their place of employment four times during the course of their three-year stay. They gravitated to relatively low-paying jobs that were deemed difficult, dangerous or dirty by the Korean population.”

Number of Foreign Residents Surges 35%
August 2, 2007 Chosun Ilbo
The number of foreign residents in Korea has surged by 34.7 percent compared to last year. Some 722,686 foreigners lived in Korea as of the end of May, up 186,059 from 536,627 in 2006, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said Wednesday. The number of foreigners in Korea accounts for 1.5 percent of the 49.09 million population.
The ministry attributed the surge to increase in international marriages supported by local administrations and influx of foreign students and businesspeople. The ministry and local government tallied the number of foreigners who have been staying in Korea more than 90 days to help them settle in Korea. It comprises both legal expatriates and illegal aliens.
Some 35.9 percent or 259,805 were foreign workers, followed by 12.2 percent or 87,964 who married Koreans. By nationality, Chinese accounted for 52.4 percent of foreign residents, Southeast Asians for 23.7 percent, Americans for 3.4 percent, Japanese for 3.3 percent and Taiwanese for 2.9 percent. Some 64.4 percent lived in the metropolitan area including Gyeonggi Province, where 29.7 percent of foreigners were living. Seoul was home to 28.7 percent and Incheon to 6 percent.

Foreigners Have a Hard Time in Korea -- Report
January 30, 2007 Chosun Ilbo
Last April, "K", a 30-year-old Japanese graduate student in Korea, had an unpleasant experience trying to subscribe to a mobile phone service.
Because K is a foreigner, a clerk at the mobile phone company demanded that he either subscribe to the service under the name of a Korean national or pay a W200,000 (US$1=W941) deposit. He had a similar experience trying to subscribe to an Internet service. In the end, K paid the W200,000 deposit to the phone company and he found a Korean friend willing to sign him up for the Internet. But the episodes soured life in Korea for K. "There seem to be too many complicated procedures that foreigners have to go through to live here," he said.
Even the most basic of daily interactions can be stressful for foreigners. Some non-Koreans have reported food shop owners who browbeat them into buying dishes after they sampled a free snack. A visit to a Korean hospital can be a terrifying experience for foreigners who fear for their safety when medical staff don't understand their language.
Currently there are more than 530,000 foreign residents in Korea, more than three times the number in 2000. But many Koreans are still inconsiderate of their foreign guests.
According to a study on the daily lives of foreign consumers from the Korea Consumer Protection Board, 41.7 percent of 545 respondents said that they're "dissatisfied" with their life as consumers in Korea. When asked what the biggest problem is, 35.9 percent pointed to communication difficulties. Other reasons for unhappiness include a lack of consideration for foreigners on the part of Koreans, financial difficulties, a lack of public information, and cultural differences.
When it comes to consumer goods, 48.7 percent of those foreigners expressed dissatisfaction with their mobile phone companies. Other sources of frustration were credit cards, the Internet, and real estate transactions.
"D", a 36-year-old English teacher from Canada, recounted his difficulties in signing a lease for a residential officetel in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul. The landlord demanded an advance of W9 million, a full year's rent, claiming that he might have a hard time tracking down D if he skipped out on his rent. D decided to try a boarding house in the neighborhood instead. But even some boarding houses don't accept foreigners, and it took D several tries before he found one willing to take him in.
A 34-year-old American expat called "J" said that credit cards presented undue stress in Korea. "I have never had a problem using my credit card in any other country. But here in Korea, merchants rarely accept it. And just because I'm a foreigner, it's impossible to apply for a cash card to withdraw my deposits."
Kim Hyun-joo, a senior researcher at the Korea Consumer Protection Board, said that with the number of foreigners visiting Korea on the rise as a result of globalization and the open-door policy, how the Korean people treat them is becoming an important criterion for national competitiveness. "We need to work out a variety of support programs that assist foreigners in their daily life as consumers," Kim said. For more information or counseling, foreigners are advised to call (02) 3460-3393.

This article gives some hope, but from a combination of my own experience, friends' experiences and what I've read, they still have a long way to go: What Koreans Really Think About Ethnic Homogeneity.

Tuesday afternoon cocktails

Sergeja and I finish early on Tuesdays and decided to go for some cocktails. We first went for some pizza near work (couldn't decide on anything else) and then wandered around looking for a place that was open. No such luck in that area. Too early. Even at 5:00, everything was still closed. We decided to go to the area we live in to check. Our regular bus wasn't coming, so we hopped on another one that takes the long way home. We accidentally got of a stop too soon, but ended up right where we wanted to be. Right above us was a little bar. It was completely empty but interesting. Sort of fancy grungy (and with a Christmas tree still set up beside the stairs).
The first round of drinks was great. I had a peach crush and she had a jun bug. Our second round of drinks weren't so great. We ordered Daquiris, but got the martini form of it, which was VERY bitter and not very nice. They were nice enough to let us get something else instead (another jun bug for her and a black russian for me). The little kwaja (snack) that they provided was a mix of coffee peanuts and banana chips. addictive.
It turned out that it wasn't just a normal bar. It was a bar where girls went to find out about their fortunes to do with future husbands and such. As we were the only ones there at the time (apparently they don't usually get busy until after 11pm), the guy sat and talked with us and attempted to do some fortune telling. The little Chinese birthday fortune telling book, Sergeja will be a rich but celibate spinster. He said many times, in a very funny way, that she should never or will never marry. He would think for a minute, look through his little Chinese fortune telling book, look at her and make a little 'X' with his fingers and say "no". According to the book and the Tarot cards, I'll get married probably September of 2008 to a boyfriend that I meet in 2007, but I'll get divorced some time. And then I'll marry again some time. Also, I'll have a lot of money around age 31. Almost every time I have had my fortune told, divorce has been mentioned. Not that I really believe in any of it. Something to laugh about.
Koreans base a lot on such fortune telling. There are all sorts of places were they can get it done. Even at the IPark Mall, around the CGV movie theater, there are tables set up for fortune telling, tarot card reading, palm reading and such.
LOL
a rich celibate spinster

makes me cringe...

This makes me very sad. I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to go through anything like this.
Female Genital Mutilation Persists in Egypt

Baduk

Baduk is more commonly known as Go. It is a board game that is considered to be the most complex game in the world (more challenging than chess). It originated in China but is very popular in China, Korea, and Japan, as well as around the world. The game is played by two players (black and white) on a 19 by 19 board (grid). The players take turns placing their stones on vacant points/intersections (there are 361 intersections!).

What Is Go?

You can find online games of baduk, downloadable games, and there are even tv channels here that are strictly baduk (showing games and strategies and such).

Anyway, I found this article and found it very interesting. It is sort of related to my last post about hagwons (private schools/academies that the kids go to after school). I'm posting the whole article because I think it is worth reading.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before or not, but when Koreans do things, they go all out. They always play the part/dress the part/live the part/etc. (I'll save explaining that for another post.)

Becoming a Professional Player in Korea
During 60 years of professional baduk history in Korea, there have only been about 210 professional players. Only 35 of them were female. As in other sports, becoming a professional baduk player means taking a long and difficult road.
In Korea, a certified student who studies baduk at Hankuk Kiwon (Korea baduk Association) seeking to become a professional player is called a yongusaeng. At any time in the yongusaeng league, there are 120 boys divided into 10 classes and 48 girls divided into four classes, class 1 being the strongest (for both the boys and girls) and 10 the weakest (4 for girls).
A tournament among the yongusaeng takes place every month, and classes are reorganized each time according to the results. The top four players of each class will move up to the next class, while the worst four will be demoted to a lower class. When a new yongusaeng joins the league, he or she will get the lowest position in the weakest class to start with, regardless of his/her strength.
A qualification tournament to select new yongusaeng takes place every four months. To be selected, an applicant must be under the age of 18 and be in the top 12 of the hundreds of players participating in the qualification tournament.
Every month, four of these newcomers have the honor of joining the weakest yongusaeng class in place of the students cut in the monthly yongusaeng tournament. All 12 new students are incorporated into the yongusaeng classes, four at a time, over three months.
The competition among all the yongusaeng _ including the lowest ranked newcomers _ to join a higher class and not to be kicked out of the league, is incredibly intense. During week, when there are no league games, the yongusaeng spend most of their time studying baduk. They replay the professional games, review their own games from the yongusaeng league, study new joseki variations, solve life and death problems and play other yongusaeng.
Some of the yongusaeng, whose ages range from eight to 18, even give up regular education to have more time to study the game. They study baduk from morning to night, except for a little exercise during the day to keep their health.
There are about 15 private baduk academies in Korea (otherwise known as baduk tojang), with between 10 to 20 yongusaeng. Most of the teachers at these private academies are professional players, and they play teaching games and review them with their students.
Each academy also has other students who aspire to join their ranks of the yongusaeng. Their number ranges from 50 to 150. That means there are more than 1,000 students at any given time who want to become yongusaeng.
However, the number of players who are able to go professional is very small. The number of newly made professional players differs each year according to the situation of the Korean baduk scene, but it is always less than ten.
In recent years, new professional players were born in the following manner.
The three players with the highest scores in the yongusaeng tournament, and five who qualified in the annual professional qualification tournament become professional players. Since a student older than 18 cannot stay a yongusaeng, a player over that age is technically barred from becoming a professional player.
The fiercer the competition, the more miserable the students who do not succeed by the time they turn 18. Most of them develop future careers that have something to do with baduk because they love the game so much.
However, even for those few students who are able to go professional, there is still a long and difficult way to go, for the competition becomes even more cutthroat once they enter the professional baduk world.
The writer is a baduk professor at Myongji University and a professional player of the game.
[The Korea Times]

hagwons and school in general in Korea

Most of the English schools that foreigners teach at in Korea are actually hagwons (private academies). Many have an English kindergarten in the mornings and then have other students in the afternoons. It seems to be a rule that Korean kids have to spend their afternoons and evenings studying either at a hagwon or at home studying with a teacher/instructor.
All of my students go to at least one other hagwon, and most also have teachers or instructors going to their homes for other things. There are hagwons for almost anything here. The most common are the English hagwons, but you can find hagwons for everything from math, to piano, to Tae-Kwon-Do to ping pong/table tennis (yes, they even have hagwons for that). After the students finish their regular school, their entire evening is filled with hagwons and private lessons. I know that some hagwons are open quite late. Some English hagwons are open until after 10 pm. A math etc. hagwon across the street from where I used to live was open until 1 AM. I think it was mostly middle school students going there. They all then get up very early to be at school at around 7:30 or so. I cannot imagine.
One of my students is going to hagwons for English, Math and Baduk (Korean chess), and has an English teacher and a piano teacher going to her home to give lessons.
Another student, Lia, is my student at both the kindy (Korean kindy, not English hagwon kindy) and at LCC (English hagwon). She is 6 years old and carries 2 bags that combined weigh more than my university backpack weighed (I carried several text books with me). She has English books, piano books, and I'm not even sure what else, but she carries them all every day. She is such a sweet girl and one of the smartest in the class (and she is at least a year younger than the others in the class).
In addition to their school homework, many students also get homework from their hagwons. For the younger kids it isn't so bad, as they aren't loaded with homework yet, but every year, their load gets bigger. When they get to middle school is when the pressure really starts to build. Then they reach high school. I have been told by many Koreans that high school is harder than university. High school is where you have to have the top marks in order to get into the top universities. Which university you go to is VERY important. Those that graduated from the better universities are the ones that get the jobs. And, or some reason, a doctor graduating from a lower university is not as important (makes less? or ... or I'm not really sure exactly what it is) as a nurse graduating from one of the best universities (or so I've been told).
One student told me that some high schools have mandatory study hall after school, sometimes until quite late. Then they have to go to hagwons to study some more. High school is all study, sometimes eat and sometimes sleep.
Oh, and they also go to school on Saturdays (starting in elementary). I am starting to hear now that some schools only require them to go every other Saturday, and some don't have Saturday classes. I think they are starting to get out of the Saturday classes. I hope so.
I always make a point to tell my students that I've never gone to school on a Saturday in my life... and I didn't take any lessons after regular school. Usually I just went home and watched TV. I love seeing their eyes pop out and their jaws hit the floor. :P
Poor kids.

The Year of the Pig

This is the 12th of the zodiac animals. The zodiac animals, in order, are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

Year of Pig Ushers in Hopeful Year
A pig ironically has a dual image _ both positive and negative.
Since it began living as a domestic animal in Korea some 2,000 years ago, pigs have brought a lot of myths and superstitions closely associated with wealth, good luck and sometimes a mythical supernatural power in sacrificial rituals.
However, pigs are also synonymous with greed, laziness, stupidity and dirtiness.
Pigs found in Korean history carry these mixed blessings long grafted onto folk culture and handed down to current times.
This year will find many people fussing a lot more than usual over all kinds of myths and rumors as the year of 2007 ushers in the year of a pig, hopefully an abundant year.
Year of the Golden Pig?
The belief about pigs is expected to be exaggerated more than ever this year.
The lunar calendar designates each year as one of the 12 zodiac animals; the pig is the 12th zodiac animal.
The lunar year follows the sequence of the 12 zodiac animals _ rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and lastly, pig.
But this pig year, called the year of "chonghae," which means a red pig, returns every 60 years. Among other pig years circling in a lunar cyclic numeral system, the red pig year is believed to be the most auspicious pig year, according to a research of the National Folk Museum of Korea. The red pig year is considered a year of booming businesses and family.
More interestingly, this year is strongly believed to be the "Year of the Golden Pig," which only comes around every 600 years, according to fortunetellers, a rumor that emerged in Korea and China.
People believe children born this year will be blessed with good luck and financial wealth. As wedding halls were crowded in 2006, maternity hospitals are expected to be in 2007.
Regardless of whether it's just superstition or not, the impact on society has been quite enormous. The nation predicts that birthrate is expected to rise 10 percent from the previous average because of the myths of the Year of the Golden Pig, helping maternity and baby related industries enjoy a boom much like the effects of the millennium baby boom in 2000.
However, many say that this will be debunked just as 2006, which was dubbed the year of ``two springs’’ (lunar calendar) and also a lucky year for couples to get married, was just feeding wedding-related businesses.
Folklorists say that the year of the golden pig is groundless as it is hardly mentioned in Korean history, except for the mythical story about Choi Chi-won, a literati during the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 935).
According to the museum’s research, the myth says that Choi was the son of a golden pig with magical powers that kidnapped a county magistrate’s wife. The magistrate rescued his wife from the pig by using leather from a deer, which the pig feared, based on the mythical belief. Later, the wife gave birth to Choi, who was believed to be the pig’s baby.
A Mythical Animal with Supernatural Power
Although Korean historical records do not buttress the myths about the year of the golden pig, some attribute mythical meanings to pigs such as in the "Samguksagi," a history of the Three Kingdoms _ Paekje (18 B.C.-A.D. 660), Koguryo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668) and Silla (57 B.C.-A.D. 935) _ written during the Koryo Kingdom by Kim Bu-sik and "Koryosa," a history of the Koryo Kingdom (918-1392).
According to the museum, the two history annals include a story where a pig helped the kingdoms designate the capitals of Koguryo and Koryo in Kungnaesong and Songak respectively.
In Samguksagi, one day, King Sansang, who had no son, was given a supernatural instruction from a god to have a baby. During a ritual, a pig that was to be sacrificed ran away and a woman helped to catch the pig. The king had sexual relations with her and she bore him a son.
Like this, pigs played prophetic roles for many rulers and sometimes as a messenger connecting them to god.
Sacrificial Animal in Rituals
From ancient times to the present day, it is easy to see heads of pigs on tables as sacrificial offerings during shamanistic rituals, and sold in traditional markets due to consistent demand.
The folk custom to use a pig’s head as an object of worship and symbol of abundance dates back to the Koguryo Kingdom. Pigs were sacrificed in Samguksagi, when people prayed to the gods of heaven and earth.
People pray for success to the heads of pigs when they start on a venture such as opening a business or even before filming of a movie.
Symbols of Wealth, Good Luck
Pigs are omnivorous animals that survive well under any climate and circumstances.
They also are fertile giving birth to 6 to 12 piglets on average, and grow faster than any other animal. For that reason, a shop owner hangs a picture on his wall of a pig feeding a lot of piglets, symbolizing fertility and abundance.
Also, dreams about pigs are thought of as auspicious, foretelling the gain of wealth. When people dream of a pig at night, they often buy lottery tickets or make an investment.
Also, the dream considered as a sign of conception as a pig symbolizes fertility.

Dinner Cruise on the Nile

[Bryn, Kate and I at the helm][dancers and drummers][belly dancer][dancing with/twirling poles][belly dancer again][whirling dervish][whirling dervish and Kate]