The Difference

I figured after two fairly "light" posts, I might change things up a bit and describe to you all the more gritty side of living in Korea. Many times since arriving here many different people(i.e. American professors, pastors, co-teachers at school, other foreigners that I've met, etc.) have spoken with me about the phrase, culture shock. This is one of the buzz words within the international community, mainly because it affects us all way more than we thought it would before coming here.

In the States, all you really hear about is how similar S. Korea is to America, in comparison to say, China, Thailand, or Japan. I believe this perception exists mainly because of things like the Korean War, the billions of dollars we pour into their economy, and the fact that we have had troops stationed in the country for 30+ years. We presuppose that our long-term presence here has magically transformed Korea into the American mini-me. Well, haha, let me tell you, this is not the case. Far from it actually.

In many ways, places like China and Japan are more like America than S. Korea. That may sound surprising, I'm sure you're thinking, "China, a Communist country is closer to us than S. Korea, a democracy, surely you jest Hal, I call shenanigans!" Here is the thing. China, for all its corruption, has let go of much of its Confucian heritage and adopted many Western ideologies. Japan has its own background (of which I am no expert, I'll ask my friend Beth), but from what I hear they have also dispatched with many of their ancient traditions. Koreans on the other hand, still follow most of the tenets of Confucian philosophy/religion in their daily lives. This ideological difference separates us more than any political divide ever could. It's like comparing a canyon to a deep sea trench, sure the former is way more apparent, but the latter runs so much deeper.

This cultural break is found in everything, it is ubiquitous. From how people greet, to table etiquette, to commerce/business, family relations, education, government, leisure, etc. Nothing is left unaffected. Writing about this makes me think of how we Americans often talk about worldview. "Everyone has a worldview", we say. Living in another country for only 3 weeks has taught me how far off we are...or rather how much further we need to go. When we describe someone as having a different worldview than us, we are trying to communicate that they act toward, see, or approach situations/people/the world different from us. However, that is like trying to describe the differences between two people and only talking about their eyes. They don't just see things differently because their lenses are shaded red and ours are blue, we are looking at completely seperate pictures here. Their world is different.

I guess I'm just trying to get across how contrary life here is, and I don't have the words to describe it accurately enough. After only 3 weeks....3 weeks...such a short time, one can easily see the Earth is a much bigger place than we give it credit for; than I ever gave it (and I felt I had given it a very wide berth).

Going from the most diverse country in the world to the least (Korea is literally the most homogenous nation on Earth) is such a trip. It is so wildly disparate here. With all that said, I know, and try to constantly remember, that we are all made by God, we are all human. Thus, at our most basic levels, we are all very much the same.

That's it, all I got. I am writing this while I have no class at school, so I can't put pictures up right now. I will add some later.

With much love,

Hal