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mr.bojangles
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
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 Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 5:17 am Post subject: p.s |
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P.S.
did anyone else have to find out for themselves about this "yellow storm" business? ...none of the teachers at my school said a word until I asked them... |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 9:46 am Post subject: Re: p.s |
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| mr.bojangles wrote: |
| incidentally, did anyone know about the holiday today (mar.1st) ? i think it is the day that korea got independence from japan...think this would be a big thing, right? but none of the teachers at my school even bothered to tell me. |
I have a series of 1-on-1 classes. 14 students total on Friday. I asked every one of them what Holiday was Monday. Almost no one could answer. Of course a lot is the difficulty to translate.. 'Liberation Day from Japan'.
I don't know if they just aren't interested themselves.. or my other guess is they just assume we know almost nothing whatosoever about Korea, that they don't find it worthy to talk about. Hard to day. I asked a few of my students how long ago the actual liberation happened (for conversation purposes). The ones I asked didn't know. Granted they were kids however. Probably weren't all that interested in it.
| mr.bojangles wrote: |
P.S.
did anyone else have to find out for themselves about this "yellow storm" business? ...none of the teachers at my school said a word until I asked them... |
One of my students told me about this.
I think a lot of times they're just lazy to bring up topics (since you're discussing teachers at your school). Easier to just discuss in Korean for them, and too much effort or something.
What I find most interesting about pretty much all of my workplaces in Korea is how major changes happen and you don't know it until it happens. One day you come in and find out your immediate Korean manager gave his notice two weeks ago and a new guy, Mr.Kim just replaced him that day. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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Mr. Bojangles,
March 1 was the day in 1919 that the Koreans had a major demonstration in Seoul protesting the Japanese take-over of 10 years before. A bunch of people signed a document.
Then the Japanese gov't came down hard.
So the holiday is a memorial for those killed and for the movement that kept the hope of independence alive during the occupation. It's usually translated as Independence Movement Day.
(I think most people just consider it a day off work.) |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
So the holiday is a memorial for those killed and for the movement that kept the hope of independence alive during the occupation. It's usually translated as Independence Movement Day.
(I think most people just consider it a day off work.) |
I get the impression that that's how Koreans consider most holidays. If it's a national one, they hang up a flag outside the window and treat it as a day off. |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| I get the impression that that's how Koreans consider most holidays. If it's a national one, they hang up a flag outside the window and treat it as a day off. |
Not just in Korea...That's about all we do in the US for Labor day, Memorial day, and sadly (but very true, especially for white folk:) Martin Luther King day... oh yeah, and Columbus Day. Show me a guy who gives 2 flips about the meaning of Columbus Day, and I'll show you an eager historian or jaded/bitter Native American... |
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Squid
Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Location: Sunny Anyang
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds like you've got a severe case of culture shock. It may hit you immediately, or as it seems in your case, sneak up on you and suddenly, wham! it bashes you on the head big time.
I've been here only (almost) 2 years and still occasionally find myself in a stupor of disbelief at some cultural practises... horking and gobbing next to me, and high levels of public drunkenness near my house to just pull out a couple of my pet peeves.
But overall I know that because I'm not spending forever here I'm quite comfortable with the differences...
Trying to explain to the folks back home is a bit easier since my olds visited for my wedding last year. For the hell of it, invite a couple of your mates over for a vacation and take them out to party!
Later... |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| djsmnc wrote: |
| Show me a guy who gives 2 flips about the meaning of Columbus Day, and I'll show you an eager historian or jaded/bitter Native American... |
I'm Canadian, and I doubt there are very many people who either know or care about why we have Victoria day holiday on May 24th ( It was Queen Vicky's birthday, and is supposed to honour the currently reigning monarch in Britain, but I had to do a little research for that  ).
We do however know that it's the first long weekend with decent weather, so everyone I know goes camping, or to the cottage. |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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| djsmnc wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I get the impression that that's how Koreans consider most holidays. If it's a national one, they hang up a flag outside the window and treat it as a day off. |
Not just in Korea...That's about all we do in the US for Labor day, Memorial day, and sadly (but very true, especially for white folk:) Martin Luther King day... |
That's Robert E. Lee Day in the South... |
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tsgarp
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| OiGirl wrote: |
| djsmnc wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I get the impression that that's how Koreans consider most holidays. If it's a national one, they hang up a flag outside the window and treat it as a day off. |
Not just in Korea...That's about all we do in the US for Labor day, Memorial day, and sadly (but very true, especially for white folk:) Martin Luther King day... |
That's Robert E. Lee Day in the South... |
That's Lee Jackson King Day in most of the southern states to be precise (unless you're in places like Arizona, oddly enough, where they refused to add the King part). Southerners have bitterly mixed feelings about Lee. He is venerated for his duty to Virginia and the Confederacy but simultaneously regretted for his surrender to Grant. Jackson is the true Southern hero. His monument in Richmond is smaller than Lee's but it gets an honor guard every month in full Confederate military dress. I lived two blocks from there and it was pretty odd to see these guys on the first of every month doing their 24 hour vigil.
Jackson and A. P. Hill both have their statues facing North while Lee's faces South. A Richmond native explained to me that Lee's "cowardice", as he put it, meant that he could never face North.
Getting back to American holidays:
Memorial Day = Mattress Sale Day
President's Day = Carpet Sale Day aka Free Underpadding Day
Labor Day = Barbecue/Beach Day
4th of July = Drunk Picnic Beerfest
Columbus Day = Celebrate Brutal Native Genocide Day plus We still have to go to school/work
Thanksgiving = Football Drink Beer Passout Fest |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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| djsmnc wrote: |
In my hip and modern hometown, full of people who consider themselves to be all-knowing gurus on every facet of life, I've heard all types of intelligent questions from adults...
Let's see,
"How can you live there without any Western food? I'd need a hamburger every once in awhile..."
"Do they even drink alcohol there?"
"They all speak Chinese there, right?"
"They don't have phones and tv's there yet, do they? How will you call home?
I even had a girl, a UNIVERSITY SENIOR (this one's the kicker), upon finding out I could speak a few words in Korean, say:
"Man, he's talented! He can speak other languages! He even speaks Hong Kong!!" |
I've heard worse questions from UNIVERSITY GRADUATES (on this board).  |
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mr.bojangles
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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yeah, i'm from canada too, and it's true, we don't really celebrate anything except going to the cottage and the end of a damn long winter... but still. i think it's a case of apples and oranges, a bit..
apples: i don't really claim to know a great deal of the intimate history of my country (I mean, i know the basics, but not the precise details). when i express any great pride in it, it's because of any good things which are currently happening. i'm not afraid to admit the sketchier things from our past as well as present.
oranges: koreans, on the other hand, are perpetually spouting off the marvels of hangul, the many dynasties, the development of the country, the 6.25 war, the various kings and great scholars throughout history and so on. so my point is, if i don't know about a national holiday in canada, it's not great, but it's understandable. but for a group of people who will lecture you on the "what they learned in school version" of their own history for an hour if they discover you don't know the 4th emperor of the joseon dynasty, i think it's just a little hypocritical.
...but that, too, i'm getting used to.. |
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