Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gwangjuboy]

Koreans think deeply too. It's just not always easy for foreigners to recognise it. It doesn't help if one doesn't have close relationships with Korean friends. Remember, because of the language barrier, and cultural differences relationships between foreigners and Koreans (friendships) often seem superficial. Once you experience a very close friendship with a Korean (it takes a lot of time, and effort on your part) you might be able to see more depth.

[JongnoGuru]

You will be assimilated – resistance is futile.

[VanIslander]

[JongnoGuru]

[Lunar Groove Gardener]

Why I only wish I had bek-won for every Gayageum wielding, Sadomasochistic Korean friend...but that's another thread, or tether.
Really though, of the students, I think many here observe the difficulty with free-flowing creative thought...and what we've been taught of it we can surely aim to pass along, here and elsewheres, in our classes and attitudes. Of music and art types that I have gotten to know, just like home...some are practicing Lynard Skynard in their basements (and feeling free..) while others are writing atrocious blather and skewering it in dissonance. Some are training in droves at the paint like Picasso by the book academy, while others throw the book away and throw up on the canvas.
Amidst all the shades of grey and antithetical, aesthetic intellectual self abuse, there are people dancing with magic in them. Sometimes it is throught ascetic adherence to traditional means and form, meditation and
expressiveness. Our luck that they revere this tie to the ancients. Life well examined indeed. Some are pushing the envelope of materials and ideas, examining and questioning the possibilities with a free and open palette. You don't have to look hard to find these aspects of heart felt inquiry, and as elsewhere, you'll find evidence of their counterparts in equal measure. Korea is full of these things, but YOU must look. And when you don't see , it may be that you are blinded in that instant, and not everyone else. At that point I paint a funny face on a home-made kite, and fly it high above the pig-parts, rotting cabbage, and six-pack a day bus fume habit.

[coolsage]

[coolsage]

You are correct, sir. There is magic to be found in this land, though it's necessary to dig deeper, to get beyond the imitative and superficial pop culture. I sometimes seem to be preoccupied with where my next supply of cheese will come from, or, now that Camp Page has shut down, when I'll ever view US network TV again. (Hey, life is tough up here in the hinterlands.) Cheers.

[wild sphere]

KOREA! i thought this was Japan!

that's why nobody will talk to me, goddam it!

[schwa]

I dont see any lack of introspection or philosophical pondering among the Korean adults I interact with regularly.

Educated Koreans are well-read across a spectrum of western thinkers, from Plato onwards, as well as eastern classics. Better-read, I'd venture, than some of the posters on this thread.

In recent months we've had classroom discussions about the ideas of Krishnamurti, Camus, & Hesse (among others). Hesse is particularly popular in Korea -- a museum recently opened (sorry, forget which city) featuring the world's largest collection of his manuscripts & memorabilia. Last weekend our local culture center held a lecture by a noted expert on the I Ching (�ֿ�) & other old texts & the auditorium was full.

The propensity of many Koreans to investigate Christian doctrine I also interpret as a search for meaning in life (despite my own misgivings).

No lack of soul-searching here I'd say. Koreans are grounded in Confucianism but are increasingly dissatisfied with it. Bring up the notions of a purposeful life, predestination, eschatology, etc, & you'll find a lot of Koreans have given these questions a lot of thought.

[Lunar Groove Gardener]

Daily life is a demanding , sometimes dastardly business. Back here in the U.S. as well as afield in foreign lands. There is plentiful cause to question the presence of ardent self-examination on either shore. I do recall the reasons why I was so glad to leave Korea 2 months ago, and remembered while there how little I agreed with many aspects of the philosophical sacrifice which has become the"American Dream". Nonetheless I find the proof in the individuals, the exceptions to the norm, in both places. The hope and illumination transcends the buttoned-up bottom liners in any society, or so I choose to see it. Necessity, inertia, and petty fears can keep my efforts firmly glued to the inane tasks of self-preservation. Like an ace in a pair of twos, the cards urge us on, but we alone choose what and when to bet. I found the Seoul Theater for the Traditional Performing Arts and the art museums thereabouts, as well as the surrounding hills to be extraordinary, and inspiring. (Nambu Bus Terminal) There are collective exhibits and concerts that showcase untold numbers of works by Korean artists, as well as international exhibits. They will also help you learn how to play trad. K-musical instruments, rhythms etc. And when you hear Korean trad. instrumentation fused in more modern contexts it's a fun, dynamic mix! When I found these and other places I relinquished my suppositions and found that missing component. One which had somehow eluded me for months amidst marauding herds of pin-striped, soju infected adjoshis hawking phlegm and flaying their Seoul.

[Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]

[peppermint]

There's a certain segment of society that could be called "sheep" in every culture.. They're not bad people, juat absorbed in the day to day minuitae of life. In the west they often live in the suburbs and send the kids to soccer practice. Here they live in apartment complexes and send the kids to English Hagwons.

I'd suspect that group seems over represented here because they're the ones we come into contact with the most.

[coolsage]

[JongnoGuru]

[Len8]

The sheep segment of Korea's population is bigger than the equivalent in every other country on this planet

On a similar note: Cho Se Yon that columnist in the Korean Herald quoted someone as saying "that Korea is a like a nation of lemmings"

They embrace a fad, a cause or what someone sees as important in mass, and sometimes they seem to do it just because everybody else is doing it. They embraced foreigeners during the world cup, they hated foreigeners when the two girls were unfortunately killed in an accident, they all aquired a renewed hatred for Japan when it seemed appropriate, and so on.

You could say that their behaviour comes from a deep sense of insecurity. If they could let the past go and and not harp on it so much they might become a nation that's 3 generations off the farm instead of the one generation off the farm that it is.