I’m heading up north tomorrow morning spending some time in the Seoul/Incheon area before catching a flight home to Sydney for two weeks over the Christmas/New Year’s period. Since I won’t be taking my laptop, I’ll probably be busy seeing friends and family and traveling, and seeing as Australia Internet connection speeds are at least five years behind Korean Internet connection speeds (and that’s being generous to Australia), I probably won’t be blogging between now and the new year.
So, I hope everyone out there has a happy, safe and enjoyable festive season. I’m glad to have finished off my work year this afternoon and am looking forward to some downtime back home with my friends and family in the Australian sun.
I always try to get back home once a year if I can – preferably at this time of year – as deep down I’m family person who loves spending time with my family and people I know best and have known all my life. It’s always good to get away back home and recharge the batteries, get some space to reflect on the past year and see things though a clearer perception away from all the pressures and stresses you sometimes experience in a vastly different culture to your own.
I often face the trip back home with a bit of anxiety and trepiditon. It’s nothing to do with my family or Australia, it’s mainly to do with the symptoms of reverse cultural shock. I always find it difficult to adjust back to the sheer casualness and laidback approach to life in Australia – even in big city Sydney – compared with the high tension, hustle-bustle, uber-competitiveness of Korea. These days when I get back home for the first few days at least I walk different, sound different, dress different and act different than the average Australian. People often think I’m either a tourist, a foreigner, or a freak and give me a wide berth. Then, they get to know me and realise that I am indeed a freak! Once I get adjusted back to Australian life I calm down again and everything is sweet, just that by then it’s time to head back to Korea!
Anyways, I’m looking to some sun, sand, surf, real sandwiches, cheese, meat pies, roast lamb, real steak, real beer and no kimchi. Hope you all have a good festive season wherever you are and I’ll be back in 2010, if not sooner!
I’ve spent the last two evenings working on touching up some of the more interesting, colourful or artistic photographs I’ve taken of my travels in the Asia-Pacific region over the past six and a half years. Usually I don’t retouch, process or manipulate my photos in any way after taking them, uploading onto the computer and eventually online. Though, since I have Photoshop and it cost a fortune to buy I’ve decided to work some of my old photos taking advantage of some of the nifty features the computer program offers. I’m still a beginner at digital manipulation as previously the only time I’ve ever re-edited photos was to manipulate my crooked teeth into something more appealing!
Working on these photos has brought back memories of all the places I’ve been to over the past few years. It’s a blessing to live in the modern world and be freely able to travel extensively and see new places, and experience new cultures. I hope I can do so for many more years to come.
Here are some samples of the album below, the full collection can be found on my Facebook album.
It’s been pretty busy news-wise the last few days, we’ve had:
The ongoing trials and tribulations of the Tiger Woods infidelity scandal have continued as sponsor Accenture terminates partnership with the golf champ after six years but other sponsors such as Tag Heuer and Gillette decide to stand by their man, Tag Heuer releasing the statement that Woods is ‘the best in his domain’. Meanwhile, it looks like his wife, Elin Nordegren, has possibly bought a $2 million secluded house in Sweden, perhaps where the couple will sit out for the next few months and escape the media spotlight. No doubt of some comfort to Tiger is that Playgirl magazine has decided not to publish nude photographs allegedly of the golf star, as they can not verify 100% whether the photos are indeed of him.
Silvio Berlusconi was attacked by a projectile whilst signing autographs during a rally in Milan. The attack left the Italian Prime Minister with a bloody face and in considerable pain with a broken nose and two broken teeth. He will remain in hospital for the next thirty-six hours. His attacker allegedly has a history of mental illness.
Last month it was revealed that North Korea had been building bunkers under the DMZ from 2004 until 2008 during the leadership of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, whilst the two nations had a relatively closer relationship than now under the failed ‘Sunshine Policy’, which aimed to bring closer ties and trade with the view towards eventual reunification between the two Koreas. North Korea was found to have built 800 bunkers between 2004 and 2008, and had planned 1,000 bunkers all in all. Despite the Sunshine Policy, North Korea had plans and made war preparations with a look towards possible invasion by ground troops.
Meanwhile, just one week after US envoy Stephen Bosworth’s trip to Pyongyang, Thai authorities in Bangkok, following on a US intelligence tip, have seized a plane from North Korea piloted by a Belarussian and with four Kazahk crew members which contained a large amount of powerful weapons, in clear violation of UN-imposed sanctions on North Korea. The planned final destination of the plane is thus far undetermined.
And last, but definitely not least, straight off the press and Twitter. The Copenhagen Climate Summit has been suspended and is in chaos as member nations of the G77,which represents 130 developing nations, have decided to walk out of the Conference due to what they believe is Western reluctance to discuss a legally binding emissions treaty. This is coming after last week’s leak of a document supposedly delivered to developed nations in which they would sign a secret deal amongst themselves between the scenes of the Copenhagen Climate summit. No doubt more news on this to come…
My girlfriend and I took a weekend trip over to Busan, one week before I head back for a two week vacation home to Sydney to take in Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
It was a busy but enjoyable weekend. We left Suncheon mid-afternoon and first went to Seomyeon (서면 – the newer, main downtown district) for dinner with her friend followed by a trip over to Gwangalli Beach to look at Gwangan Bridge (광안대교) and a seafood supper with another friend of hers.
The next morning we traveled to Daebyeon Port (대변항) for a look at the local seafood market, which even sells whale meat – something I definitely wasn’t keen on partaking in! We then went onto nearby Haedong Yonggungsa Buddhist temple (해동 용궁사), the highlight of the trip and where the bulk of the pictures are taken, followed by a delicious Indian meal at Haeundae (해운대) and Christmas shopping at Gukje Markets in Nampo-dong (남포동 – Old downtown). All in all, a great little weekend!
There’s been a lot of buzz lately in the Korean press, expat discussion boards, blogosphere, and now Western media over the Anti-English Spectrum group who have actively since 2005 been campaigning to protect Korean children and citizens from ‘rouge’ native English teachers. While on the surface this may sound like a noble enough quest, a quick look under the surface discovers their true modus operandi.
The group was set up largely as a result of a former ex-pat English teacher discussion board, English Spectrum, which by all accounts was very loosely moderated – to their detriment – and included a mock post on how to molest students, posts on sexual encounters with Korean women, and pictures of young ex-pats drinking and fondling consenting young Korean women at parties. These individuals posted enough highly provocative posts and pictures that it eventually (and inevitably) caught the attention of concerned Korean citizens and Anti-English Spectrum was born. The group’s profile and activities grew exponentially following the arrest of convicted pedophile, Christopher Paul Neil, in 2008 who had taught in Korea though had not committed any offences there.
Rundown on what the 'friendly' folks at Anti-English Spectrum believe lies within a Western English teacher's brain
From that point on, Anti-English Spectrum under its devoted leader, Lee Eun-ung, went into overdrive ‘protecting’ the Korean masses, in particular Korean children and women, from heavy drinking, sex offending, drug abusing, Korean women fondling, no-good Western dropouts who couldn’t find a job elsewhere – apparently the vast majority of native English teachers fit that bill according to the folks at Anti-English Spectrum. Their activities have including stalking native English teachers for months at a time until ‘finding’ an offense to take to the police, posting malicious, false and discriminating posts, having an audience with Government officials on one occasion, and having one member(/s) post death threats to a prominent expat union. Many ex-pats argue that Anti-English Spectrum have largely influenced public opinion of and laws pertaining to native English teachers through their efforts in liaison with the media, police and Government officials. Whereby they have often cited either misleading, incorrect, incomplete or downright false and inflammatory accounts of native English teachers to further their agenda feeding on age-old latent xenophobia still existing in modern South Korean society.
Korean women who hang out with Western males are also targets of Anti-English Spectrum
A more complete coverage and rundown of Anti-English Spectrum, their history, actions and motives can be found at Andrea Vandom’s excellent, detailed study of the group along with; The Marmot’s Hole, Brian in Jeollanam-do, Gusts of Popular Feeling, three Korea-based ex-pat blogs along with that have extensively followed the Anti-English Spectrum group, their history and activities.
I arrived in Jeonju, South Korea in April 2003, less than one year after the fateful tank accident involving a US military tank and two Korean teenage girls and around the same time as the beginning of the Iraq War. There still was latent anger present at that time towards individuals appearing to be American – pretty much any Westerner - though these feelings were largely dissipated once people found out your nationality, provided of course you weren’t American, it was a tough time to be American in South Korea.
At the time being wide-eyed and open to new experiences although I felt some tension, even animosity, at my presence from time to time and although many locals were extremely nervous and anxious around my presence during these times as sometimes you truly were the first foreigner locals had ever interacted with, the vast majority of the time I was treated with goodwill, kindness, sincerity and an eagerness to show me the best face Korea had to offer.
Since this time, I have inevitably gone through the peaks and troughs of living abroad in a culture that is vastly different to my home country and the resultant anxiety, alienation, isolation and anger that can result from such, particularly when the host culture is one of the most ethnically homogeneous on Earth with a documented history of xenophobia and mistrust of foreigners – often for purely valid reasons. Most foreigners who landed on Korean shores before mid-last century were not friendly neighbours but more conquerors, mercenaries and invaders.
As time has gone on I have changed and Korea has changed alongside with me. The change and development within Korea in the short time I have been here has been truly remarkable though some thing take longer to change than others. Korea, in my mind, is now more familiar with Westerners and while many may be more comfortable with our presence, this is not entirely true for all individuals. Whereas, when I first came to Korea I was often the source of constant astonishment, curiosity and interest this is not so much the case these days as most people have seen plenty of people who look similar to me for a number of years now.
Unfortunately, what has sometimes followed in its place is a feeling of jadedness, insecurity and in some individuals, even animosity and hate, to what I am and what I appear to stand for and represent. Whilst, by no means most individuals feel threatened, uncomfortable or even angry at my presence, it is there and has been something that hasn’t – nor probably will – leave Korean society, though the same is true of every society on Earth, there will always be those who dislike the different, the ‘outsiders’, the foreigners.
Learning a bit of the language and being able to understand a reasonable amount of what is being said in my presence – as any Korean learner in Korea can attest – can be a blessing and a curse for often locals with use their language as a cloak of fraternity and partnership among each other – essentially closing in the wagons and will often freely express their true feelings under this cloak – believing the foreigner does not understand – whilst often saying or appearing to say something different.
Whilst, Korea’s experiences are by no means unique and a clearly sign of a once homogeneous country coming to terms with a sudden, rapid influx of foreign nationals on its shores – something which all Western nations themselves have gone through to one degree or another. I often likened Korea to 1950s Australia, when all of a sudden the majority Anglo-Celtic population – who in 1947 comprised a whooping 90% of the Australian population – had to come to terms with the rapid influx of thousands and thousands of displaced Europeans (and in later waves from the 70s onwards Asians, people from the Middle East, Oceania and Africa) seeking a new life and more often than not coming with a different appearance, different tongue, different palate, different customs and different culture. In many ways, Australia itself – despite being one of the most multicultural Western democracies – still has a long way yet to go until there is true equality amongst all ethnic groups living in the country.
I believe Korea will grow from these growing pains of being a newly open, modern society and will move on to become more inclusive and accepting of individuals who may not look, act or speak like the local populace. Though, it will take time and it will take honest discussions and discourse on just what direction Korea wants to take, otherwise there’s the potential of a growing disenfranchised, maligned or disadvantaged subset of the local population creating problems for social harmony and integration of ethnically non-Koreans in Korean society.
Time will tell and sometimes I wonder I have the patience to stick around and see whether Korea can become the truly great, integrated society it has the potential to become. It does have a lot going for it.
I’m interested in your thoughts on modern Korean society and its race relations and xenophobia. What it was like in the past, what is it like now and what do you believe it will be like in the future?
Posted by elcanguro76 
Posted by elcanguro76 
Posted by elcanguro76 
