Korean Job Discussion Forums

[charlieDD]

In the college town I am staying in for a few months right now, I have been enjoying encounters with nature I miss so much while in Korea. And before we go any further: I've lived in small towns in Korea and what I am saying holds true for them, not just the big ones like Seoul.

Several times I have seen wild turkeys around the apartment complex I am staying in. The kids gather to look at them and the parents teach them not to bother them and leave them to go about their feeding.

This is in a town of 120,000 people just outside a major city of over 600,000. It isn't countryside.

I'm reminded of this incident in Korea: In a small town in the center of the peninsula, on a university campus where I taught, I noticed some large and beautiful birds had taken up residence in the hillside behind one of the dormitories. I mentioned this to my students. I found out that these birds were rare, almost extinct in Korea. The conversation then turned to how tasty they are and how much they sell for in the market.

A few days later, a student is bragging that his uncle came over and bagged the two birds and they were going to eat them right away, but would save some meat for him for when he returned on the weekend. Rather than shock or condemnation, he got the long "ooooooh" of envy and lighthearted congratulations. And I spent the rest of the day feeling low, regretting that I ever mentioned the birds.