Cultural Difference -- Collectivism vs. Individualism (Korea vs. America)

Every couple of weeks, I have some type of cultural lesson for my students. It's just a little 5-minute bit about some difference between their culture and mine, and it ranges from how to greet someone (shaking hands, not bowing) to national sports around the word to elementary school life for Americans.

Last week, we had a very interesting culture lesson...and it's not just useful for Korean students...I think it's useful for anyone that comes to Korea, any Korean that visits the US, and anyone trying to understand Koreans around them. 

The topic was (as the title states) collectivism versus individualism. Along with my co-teacher, we explained to the students many different points about this major cultural difference.

Firstly, we talked about 'our' vs. 'my'. In Korea, people refer to people/things as 'our'...'our mother', 'our friend', 'our food', etc. In America, we refer to those things as 'my'...'my mother', 'my sister', etc. 

In the same way, a major community item is food. If you see a Korean meal, you can see that they all eat collectively and together. Each person doesn't have their own plate and eat their own meal like back home. It's all in the middle and shared together. Even at Western restaurants in Korea, Koreans order together and share together. Along the same lines, when you're eating a bag of chips or a snack, Korean culture is that you share with the people around you. When I was at the hagwon a few years ago, I literally saw a student bring in a bag of chips, share with everyone around him, and have just a couple to eat for himself...but that's normal. Korean culture is about sharing and give and take. I usually like this idea...except for when I'm really hungry and just want to eat my whole snack on my own! 

Secondly, we discussed personal space. Contrary to what I was taught back in elementary school myself, Koreans have little or no personal space. Whereas in America, we are all about our personal bubble and keeping a safe distance, these things don't seem to be a concern here. Koreans claim it's because there are so many people in such a small area, so it's impossible to have personal bubbles. 

Along with that point, we talked about public space. Koreans, with their 'our' thinking, feel that space is everyone's. Any foreigner that visits/lives in Korea can tell you of a situation whereas people in public spaces (subways, busses, sidewalks, stores, etc) have bumped into them without saying sorry or cut in front of them in line. Those are little things that drive foreigners in Korea nuts, but I think by understanding that the intentions of the Korean people are not negative ones, it can help foreigners in Korea to keep their cool a little better. My co-teacher explained to the students that in American (Western) cultures, when we bump into someone or need to closely pass through a crowd, we would say to each person 'excuse me' or 'I'm sorry'. The students all gasped...seriously! They couldn't believe it. They kind of started giggling...and saying 'I'm sorry' and 'excuse me' to their friends. It was so interesting to see their reaction...as if they had never heard of that concept. But the truth is...they hadn't! Whereas we (as Westerns) do it without a thought, my students had never even thought about doing it! 

After we were finished with the culture tips, we let the students ask questions. Some students were very curious about the topic, which made me really happy as a teacher. I was glad to get their minds thinking about other cultures in a new way.

So after this lesson, every day, I notice some part of this culture difference and it makes me even more aware of how it is a true cultural difference that we (as foreigners in this land) must know about. We shouldn't get angry, we should try to understand. 

**Editor's Note: These thoughts are mine...they are not fact. And of course, they aren't applicable to every single Korean or every single Westerner. They are a general overview of the culture from my experience here.

Spring Has Sprung!

Finally!!! My favorite time of year!! The heater is off, the heated blanket is put away, and I'm down to just one jacket instead of three!! Whoo-hoo!! Spring is here!

I've take a few pictures of what I've seen so far! Here they are in no particular order:

More to come...I hope! :)

Korean School Year

Today is an important day for teachers at my school. Why, you ask? It's because it's the day they find out what they'll be teaching for the next year.

Ok, let me pause and explain the Korean public school year to you. It's quite different than the one back in the States. Here's a little rundown of the year:

March - New school year starts
March to June - First semester
July to August - Summer break (~5 weeks)
September to December - Second semester
January - Winter Vacation (~6 weeks...including last week of December)
First two weeks of February - Weird time of the school year (Students must come but it's not really part of the semester)
Last two weeks of February - Spring Break

Side note: Before you say, 'Wow, they have lots of vacation,' please know that students in Korea never actually have vacation like students in America. Students still go to their hagwons (academies) and lots of them come to school for extra classes. So they're pretty much learning all year round.

Ok, back to the point. Today is an important day. This morning the teachers found out their new assignments for the next year and now they're all busy shuffling things around. But, if you do the math, it means that yes, the teachers find out their teaching assignments three days (Thursday is a national holiday) before the students come to start school on Friday. THREE DAYS!! This includes moving classrooms for a lot of teachers, settling in for new teachers, and getting everything ready to see a classroom full of 30+ students on Friday.

Honestly, I don't know how they do it. The way the Korean education system is set up (I'll explain at the bottom of this blog) means that a teacher could go from teaching 6th grade to 2nd grade and have 3 days to prep for all of that. Or a teacher could go from being an English teacher to being a science teacher and have 3 days to prepare. Either way, it seems like a stressful situation all the way around. There's kind of a feeling of 'Trial by Fire' around here, and it just seems to me that it's not the most effective way to do things...but maybe that's because I'm a planner and an organizer and I like to know what I'm doing more than three days ahead of time. But, it seems to work for them, and I guess if that's what you're used to, then you don't know any differently.

As for me, I'm still waiting for word of what classes I'll be teaching exactly and with whom I'll be teaching. My fingers are crossed for an awesome last 8 months in the Korean public school system!


(For Korean teachers in Korea, it's a bit different than in the States. Each school doesn't do it's own hiring, but instead is controlled by the Department of Education. So pretty much, once you're in the system, you're set. You don't have to go interview at different jobs around the city. Instead, you apply through the DoE and request certain cities and schools that you want. You might get what you want, you might not. Also, they aren't applying for certain positions, they're just applying to move. They won't find out what they're actually teaching until the week of the new school year...i.e. today!

But Korea has an interesting policy. Teachers cannot stay at the same school for more than five years. Whereas at home, teachers might start and finish their careers at the same schools, this is not the case in Korea public schools. Usually after the third year of teaching, teachers will start applying to their preferred cities and/or schools.

As for how teachers are given preference over other teachers in this process, it goes on a point system. For each year you teach, you receive a certain amount of points. You can earn extra points by doing extra things, like coaching a sport or winning a contest, etc. The teachers with the highest amount of points is given their preference first, then it works down the list. So with hundreds and hundreds of teachers wanting/having to move around each year, it makes me curious to see how they organize all of that!)

Riley!

It had been building up. And after I returned from my trip to the States in October, I just knew it was time! Time for me to get a dog!! I love dogs but I've always been a bit of a commitment-phobe. I like having my freedom and going and doing as I please. But finally I just knew it was time.

So I searched the web for a while, until I found an ad for a 2-year-old Miniature Schnazuer on Craigslist. The ad said the owner was leaving Seoul in January and needed someone to adopt his dog. Perfect! I thought! It gave me time to go home for vacation in December and get back and get the dog. Well, after email the guy, he let me know that the date had been moved up a month...mid-December. I automatically thought there was no way. I was about to leave the country for two weeks and I would only have the dog for a couple of weeks before that. But with some encouraging from my friend, Liz, and a perfectly (already) planned trip to Seoul, I met the little man and knew I couldn't possibly say no!

And so began my journey with Riley. Liz and I brought him back from Seoul on a cold December day and I welcomed him into my home. It's been amazing so far! I've had him about 2.5 months, and now, I don't know what I did without him! He's so much fun and add so much joy to my life! We've been adjusting to each other and forming our bond that will hopefully last many years to come!

Here are some pictures of my precious little man:

A couple of weeks ago, Riley got a little haircut! You can imagine my shock with I saw him for the first time! I didn't even recognize him! I kind of saw it has him going from a little boy cut to a man cut! It's so different!

Here's to many more years of precious time with my companion, Riley!

Lessons Learned

As I've grown older, I've learned that every person you come across should teach you something about life. Whether it be absolutely known at that moment or maybe realized 10 years down the road, each person we come in contact with has some way of impacting our lives and teaching us something useful.

Here's my story...Today, with the Korean school year ending, I said a sorrowful good-bye to a teacher that I've worked with for the past year at my country school. It's weird, right?! You can be around someone only once a week for a year and for a limited amount of time in those meetings, but they can still become someone that you desire to see and talk with. But as I reflect back on the year of working with him, I can immediately know what lesson he has taught me that will carry with me forward. Let me explain:

A year ago, when the new school year started and I met Mr. Kim for the first time, I was a bit hesitant...as I usually am about working with new people. He didn't seem overly friendly or happy about speaking English with me. Our time was brief on that first meeting. The second week when I saw him, it was for about a minute before he left me with his class full of rambunctious 6th graders. I was a bit flushered, since I always had a Korean teacher in the room at this school for translating and controlling the students. So there I was...standing there...thinking what a jerk this guy was for leaving me there....not even asking if he needed to do anything during our class. I was distraut. I didn't want to teach with him anymore. I didn't want to see him. I thought he was a major jerkface!

Well, if you read the beginning of this blog, you obviously know the story takes a turn for the better. As the weeks went on, I figured out it was fully 'my' classroom, and he started to stay to help with translating. Along with that, because of the schedule, I got about 20 minutes to sit and chat with him everyday before my class started with his students. We started forming a respect for each other and a friendship. I started really looking forward to seeing him every week and to getting our weekly conversation.

So the whole point of this blog, and what I'll take away from my time with his, is not to dismiss someone completely just because you get a bad first impression from them. I'm sure this is common sense to most people, but having it so clearly lived it in recent days, I just wanted to share it with you!