Culture

SOTW

Listen to the music while you read. It makes it sound better.

"Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes."
"Well, there's no mistakes in it yet."

That is a refreshing thought. It does not matter what kind of mistakes we have made behind us; tomorrow will be a new day. A new day to learn from our past mistakes, to strive to live a life worth living, and, yes, even a new day to make more mistakes. "For his compassions never fail. They are new every morning."


I would like to quickly talk about a few of the major cultural differences between Korea and America that have really become apparent to me these first couple of months I have been here.

Work comes first for most Koreans. People in Korea will work for long hours and, of course, the weekends too. Many times, Americans will come to work in Korea and complain that their work conditions are harsh. For American standards this may be true, but for Koreans this is normal. That is one thing to understand when working here; the Korean workers get the same or worse conditions you have. Thankfully, my school is very understanding to the foreign teachers, and we are treated well.

This same pressure is put on children in school. Not only do they have regular school hours, but students will then go to an after school academy to study (usually) English for three to four more hours. Students will also have classes on Saturdays (head explodes). As an after school academy teacher, I try to keep that in mind. The government of South Korea recognizes that children here study too much. They have pushed to get rid of Hagwons (after school academies) to make students' work loads lighter, but the parents will not allow it so far. They want their children to study as much as possible.

Honor and respect are a big part of Korean culture. It is seen in many small gestures: bowing when you greet someone, giving and receiving things with two hands, reserving seats for elders. Again, small gestures, but they are important to Koreans. Korea has advanced technologically very quickly over the past few decades and is continuing to do so. More foreigners come to live here every year. The more foreigners, ignorant of these customs, come, the more Koreans have to let go of their culture to accommodate for them. Especially for the older generations, this is hard to watch happen. Koreans appreciate it when a foreigner takes the effort learn their customs.

No new and interesting pictures for this blog. My bad.