On schools in Korea

Written by Taeyon Kim:

I have always regarded Korean schools with at best unease, at worst outright horror. It may be the stories I heard from my cousin ("I had no life, all I did was study study study, every waking moment"), or the descriptions of mind-numbing rote memorization, or soul-crushing conformity that seem to permeate the national imagination of school.

I envisioned hives of worker bees toiling in individual cells called koshiwon, memorizing all manner of minutiae in preparation for some exam or other (though this happens later, in college or afterwards). I shuddered at the images of macho bullies ganging up on isolated kids, boys who are new, boys who are quiet and shy and wear glasses and don't speak Korean.

So you can imagine the apprehension with which I tottered forward and offered up my children to this beast of an institution, certain that they would be devoured instantly and mercilessly. I entered the school grounds with dread, one foot in and one foot ready to hightail it out of there. I had backup plans ready and in place in case it didn't work out. So it has been one of the most delightful surprises and greatest reliefs that Rémi and Tristan's schools have been such wonderful experiences so far.

Let me begin first with Rémi. My first impression was not good. Office staff weren't particularly helpful or encouraging, and there was no playground, just a big dusty soccer field. But the first day of school changed everything. You already know how it went from the previous dispatch, and it was a good indicator of things to come. Rémi goes to school not just willingly but cheerfully. The kids are friendly and nice, and one of the girls in his class has taken Remi under her wing. She is so sweet and yamjeonhae, kind and gentle, and she really looks out for him and helps him whenever she can. Rémi told me today that she is his best friend.

Rémi is shy, so it's really up to the other kids to make friends with him, and they do their best to draw him out. Every time I pick him up or drop him off, kids are saying "Hi Rémi" in Korean, and Rémi shyly waves his hand or says hi quietly under his breath.

I don't know how true it is, but I'm told that it's different in Seoul. The kids are more competitive, not as nice, big city kids. If that's the case, then for that alone I'm glad we came to Chuncheon. The difficulty of being a single parent during the week is worth it if it means Rémi and Tristan have a good experience at school. If they were unhappy, then single parenting would be a lot harder. Their happiness is mine.

Tristan's preschool I loved immediately. The first impression was great. The warm, wooden interior practically glowed with good feeling, and the administrator who helped me was SO helpful and friendly I wanted to cry. She had even translated their registration documents into English, just for me! Their philosophy is very child-centered and reminds me of Tristan's preschool at home. So, in contrast to Rémi's school, I couldn't wait for Tristan to start.

He's been going now for four days, and tomorrow will be his first full day from 9-1pm. His only complaint is that it's long, but he loves the snacks and singing, and he reported to me today that he made 8 friends and they played superheroes and he was the captain of the superheroes. He also sang a song for us that he learned at the preschool. I couldn't recognize any of the words, though they sounded vaguely Korean. So aside from the long bus ride in the morning (1 hour), he seems to be enjoying it.

One of the best things at the schools is the food. Rémi loves it, and Tristan will also get a hot lunch in addition to snack every day. All the lunches are cooked on the premises, nothing is packaged, and all of it is Korean, of course. Which means it usually consists of rice, soup, side dishes, and sometimes a main dish like bulgogi. When I visited once they were serving curry over rice, with side dishes and soup. It's just a very full, well-rounded, home-cooked meal. And yummy, according to Rémi. He scarfs it all down. The teacher is impressed with how well he eats, and he's proud that he even eats the spicy kimchi.

What's more, everything is stainless steel. The trays, the utensils, the cups. The food is served on stainless steel trays that have individual compartments for each side dish, the kids can help themselves to water with stainless steel cups, and everything is put away and washed up, nothing is thrown away, except perhaps the milk cartons, which are recycled.

I have to say, while littering may still be more evident here, there is a lot less waste in Korea. I guess coming from North America, the most wasteful place in the world, I could make this observation about any country. But I'm impressed by how much stainless steel is in evidence everywhere. It's like they had a heads up about the problems with plastic that we're now coming to see, and skipped the whole plastic craze and went straight to stainless.

So now, in this, my fifth visit to Korea, I'm finding that there is a lot I can learn from Korea. A lot of my earlier visits were occupied with how "wrong" things were. Now I'm finding that actually, there is a lot that Koreans do better than us. Don't get me started on the medical system...actually, do. That will be another dispatch.

Hmmm... street food in Korea

Korea is a street food paradise: sweet potatoes, sweet rice cakes, roasted chestnuts, hodokwaja (some sort of walnut cakes), ttokpokki (spicy rice cakes with meat, eggs, etc.), dumplings, and many other yummy things.

Good thing I've got a goatee

I gotta break a leg or carry Lucien while wearing a dress if I want to sit in the special seats on the subway in Seoul.  Some feminists are not gonna like this.

Was Mercator Korean?

Yonsei graduation
Uploaded by walhain. - Discover videos of people, family and friends.

Garbage and recycling

Not unusual in Seoul ~

I'm not sure what would work better in terms of waste removal in Seoul.  Residents don't generally throw their garbage on the side of the street as shown in the above picture.  They are required to place it in valid garbage bags (which can be purchased in any convenience store).  But considering the amount of traffic in Seoul, it's actually surprising that there aren't more bags ripped open.  I don't think that bins would work well since streets are narrow, and there aren't any alleyways to store them.

I haven't quite figured out how the system works, but I know that there are different bags for different wastes.  Recyclables must be separated from food waste, and the non-recyclable must also be bagged separately.

Note the cute little food bags on the left-hand side.

Anyways, I don't know how the garbage/recycling is collected.  So far, I haven't seen trucks.  But I have evidence that shows that some of it disappears on two wheels.

Noksaek means "green" in Korean

There have been numerous and visible efforts to make living in Korean cities more comfortable.  I'll write about some of these projects - completed, under construction, and planned - in the coming weeks, but in this posting, I'll address certain environmental improvements made in Seoul since I last visited.

Although the number of cars continues to increase here, I've noticed that the exposed parts of my socks no longer turn to a dark brown after spending the day walking in the streets of Seoul as it used to in the early 1990s.  Also, I would have to wash up dirt and pebbles off my umbrella in my bathroom after a short promenade in the rain.  It was scary to think about what I was breathing in.

Twenty years later, all public buses and taxis in Seoul run on LPG.  Perhaps later studies will show that LPG is actually more dangerous than diesel because it facilitates the spreading of mad cow disease, but I am certainly spending less money on socks this time around.

Another incentive to use public transportation is the price of gasoline.  It obviously is difficult to set a price that is high enough to deter without generating a popular uprising.  Even though one litre costs around $1.50 (that's roughly $5.50/gallon), there are still far too many motorists in Seoul.  The car is such a powerful social status symbol.  Indeed, foreign car manufacturers have started to establish themselves in Korea, including Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and some American automakers which may or may not be alive at time of posting.

The two-wheels have also gone more green.  Until just a few years ago, you had to be nearly suicidal to brave Seoul traffic on a motorbike, so I am quite surprised to see that there is a growing number of cyclists here.  I haven't checked recent Korean hospital statistics, but I would think that the government wouldn't waste its money building bicycle lanes if it were just for a few nutcases.  Granted that these lanes are not common, but there are bike shops and bike racks here and there, e.g. subway stations or on university campuses, such as Yonsei University (see picture below).

Furthermore, Yonsei University has adopted the policy of restricting access to its campus to licence plates starting or ending with determined numbers on certain days of the week.

Of course, there is plenty of room for improvement.  I am delighted that buses, subways and taxis are convenient, quick and generally affordable.  No doubt this protects the right to freedom of movement more effectively than the private car, while minimising the environmental impact.

But as I type this, I am feeling a cold draft coming from the sealed window of my apartment.  Many of the windows I have seen in Korea still only have one glass pane, and/or can't be closed properly.  I wonder if global warming doesn't originate from the heat coming out of Korean windows.