Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

This is the same old thread, but with a new, sexier title. If you've read "Please Stop Teaching..." and found it boring and irrelevant, you won't find the new post any better. SOS. If you did like the old thread, skip down to the bottom for the new post. There's some sex, but no violence, in it.

One of you out there has been messing with Korean minds about the meaning of 'countryside' and it has had me thoroughly confused.

I was offered and accepted a job in a high school in the countryside. Having grown up in Iowa, I am used to seeing schools in the middle of a corn field with the nearest town being miles away. So I was expecting a rice field--hey, I'm culturally aware enough for that.

But no. I arrived here yesterday. Imagine my consternation to discover that my school is smack dab in downtown Youngsan, home of Korea's largest and oldest swamp. My sources tell me there are 7,000 people in town. That is not country where I'm from. I'm suffering from a bit of culture shock over this.

So please, the next time it comes up in class, tell your students that a town of 7,000 may be somewhat small, but it is not 'country'. You need a barn and a silo, or something along those lines, to qualify.

PS: What do Korean high school kids in a town this size do on a Friday night? They power walk around the swamp. At least that is what several dozen were doing tonight on my first tour of the burg. Oh yes, Korea's biggest swamp is about 50 yards on a side...it looks pretty much square to me. I didn't know swamps came in that shape.

[Bulsajo]

Sorry, that would have been me.
As far as I'm concerned, pop. 7000 might as well be a barn and a silo.

So, got any pics of the swamp? Maybe you could set up a side business- "Tours of Korea's Largest and Oldest Swamp! In ENGLISH!"
If you market it right you would have a huge business in corporate MT trips.

[whatthefunk]

i think that all asians have a warped concept of country side. in korea, pohang, where i used to live (god bless the Chicken Man), was considered "country side" even though it had a population of 200,000. in japan, i have been told by many people that certain cities with populations of around 10,000 are country side. in the states, i consider country side to be cities of like 200 population with one store and a gas station that closes at 5 pm....

[pet lover]

I remember some Koreans telling me that Ulsan was "countryside". They also said this about Kyung-Ju, Gwang-Ju, and Daejon. A lot of Koreans regard anything out of Seoul as being somewhat country....and some will even include Busan in that assessment.

[jinglejangle]

Sounds pretty country to me.

Does it take you more than 30 minutes to walk to someplace where there are no other people? Are there streams nearby? Untended trees?

Maybe after 2 years in Yongsan Seoul I no longer remember what country is exactly, but if you're NOT in the country, I bet you don't have far to go to find some.

But anyway, aside from the dissapointment, how is it?

[JongnoGuru]

[Hollywoodaction]

Considering the fact that there are villages with less than 200 people in Korea, I still don't get that. Maybe it's because they don't question old perceptions--it was countryside in Grandpa's time, so it must be countryside now. In any case, thinking a town with 7000 residents is countryside certainly makes living in this overpopulated country more bearable for them.

[joe_doufu]

I come from a village of 1200 in Maine, which I consider countryside (it's actually about ten miles long, with maybe 500 people in one downtown and 200 people on the other side of the lake, and everybody else spread throughout the forest). I used to call it a "town". Now my parents have moved to a town with 3000-5000 people, a McDonalds *and* a Burger King, and even a few traffic lights. I used to call that a city. A metropolis might be Portland, population 60,000. Boston was beyond my comprehension.

My friend from the central valley of California, informed me that her "village" of 30,000 people is such a small town she feels like a total redneck. We met in LA while attending USC, naturally.

[kermo]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Up-date on Swampville aka The Real Korea:

First, I have found out that the 7,000 don't all live in town. That's the population of the myeon. I'm guessing that is like a township. Not sure if it is bigger or smaller than a dong. I've always had 'dong' in my address, but not this time.

I'm already famous. I dropped by BBQ (the Chicken Family Restaurant) for lunch and the guy behind the counter asked if I was the one riding around town on a scooter. Since I'd only bought it an hour and a half before, I think I learned how fast news travels around here--and how desperate some people are for something new and exciting to talk about.

I think I may have exaggerated the urban (urbanity?) nature of Youngsan: on the north end of town is a veritable cattle ranch. That is if you can consider 4 or 5 cattle sheds a ranch. The air is somewhat less than 'fresh' in the vacinity. It smelled a lot like home.

On my initial scooter tour, I discovered several very small lakes or large ponds (I'm not sure where the cut off point is between those two). And yes, they are all square, just like the swamp. Apparently Nature builds square bodies of water in this area. There is also a pretty reservoir just outside of town, in another valley and it is not square. I rode up the side of a mountain on a one lane road, looking for the Seated Buddha. I didn't find the Buddha. Possibly he was on lunch break at the time. But there are people living up there! Some of the houses are pretty old and traditional looking, but there are also a few really nice ones. I have no idea why or how someone could live up the side of a mountain on that road. Very narrow, very steep drop-off. As far as I could tell, the road I was on was the only one in or out. I went around a corner and the road ended in a rice paddy.

I thank Bulsajo for the idea and yes, Ya-ta Boy's Swamp Tour is open for business by appointment. (I'll need some time to get the hayseeds out of my hair.) It takes about 10 minutes to walk all the way around. A scum-covered swamp in downtown Youngsan is something to write home about. By the way, there are 3 artificial looking islands in the swamp, if that matters. A drive-by of the cattle sheds is extra. If you are the sort of person willing to travel half-way across the country just to take a hot bath, Bugok Hawaii is just down the road. I hear it's over-priced and over-rated. If that's a surprise, you are a newbie for sure.

I do have one question about terminology. Cities have rotaries. We have a triangle-shaped one. Would that be a triangary? It does have one of the two sets of flashing yellow lights in town.

I will post again later when I find out what time the sidewalks are rolled up.

Oh, yes! Youngsanites do not stare. They do look out of the corner of their eyes though. One girl in the PC bhang was looking, but when I noticed her, she had the manners to look away, then looked back and was startled that I was still staring at her. She stopped.

PS: I wasn't disappointed the school isn't out in the country. Just surprised. And frustrated the two people I talked to by e-mail couldn't tell me this school is in a small town. I specifically asked one of them if there were any restaurants and apartments anywhere near the school. She didn't know! She just drives in off the express way directly to the school which is on the edge of town nearest the expressway, teaches and turns around and drives back home.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

We went to your swampland for a field trip yesterday. 100 screaming girls is not conducive to wildlife observation, though I did see some birds fleeing away. There's a lovely gravel road along a dike separating two of the rather rectangular Udo swamps along which you can hike. I'm sure it's just as fun as a field trip down a dirt road in Iowa.

[jinglejangle]

[Kwangjuchicken]

The college that I taught in before coming to Kwangju was always referred to as a small town. Well, you see, they go by land area more than population.

The small town I was in was about the size of my farm in Ohio as far as land area. But the population of our farm was 3. But the population of that "small town" was 200,000.

Remember, about 99.99% of Koreans live in skyscraper appartment buildings. In 7 years I have never seen a real house with a yard and garden. That is, except on TV. For example, the laundry detergent commercial where thay lady if hanging up clothes on her clothes line in a huge yard in front of a huge house and there was a mail box at the end of their lane. I heard that one was filmed in Australia.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Bulsajo]