Third Day

So much to process today. I do not know where to begin. So I will just throw out this little tid bit about the Confucian rules for marriage. One of the seven reasons I man can divorce his wife is for talkativeness.

This morning, we had a lecture by the Venerable Jongmae Park about the different religions in Korea. He is a Zen Buddhist bishop who teaches at Loyola Marymount, and he will be our guide at the Buddhist temple tomorrow.

Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity have been fighting it out in Korea for centuries. Currently, South Korea is 50% Christian. There are more Protestants than Catholics, but more are converting to Catholicism every year because as a traditional country, Koreans like the tradition and ceremony of the Catholic Church.

The Venerable Park also confirmed my theory of why Korea is the most Christian east Asian country. Korea suffered great losses and poverty during the 20th century so a gospel of hope appealed to them. Also, Christian missionaries helped to rebuild their country after the war, and Koreans associate western Christianity with prosperity.

This lecture was followed by a brief lecture on the role of women in Korean society. They have more equality than just 30 years ago, but traditional Confucian values are hard to overcome.

We also had a brief introduction to the idea of Hallyu, or the Korean Wave. This is the rise in populatiry of Koean Pop Culture. Look out for Girls Generation, a teenager will be dancing to them near you one day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbwL8kSpEk&list=ALHTd1VmZQRNowvLpZPWHE4tXx-5_bZfOR&index=1&feature=plcp


For lunch, I got to "roll my own":

Then we viewed clips of famous Korean movies. I will tell you about those later. And, we learned about a type of Korean poetry called Sijo. There is a national contest for these poems, and I am definitely making my students enter.

Finally, we toured the Korean art wing of LACMA (LA County Museum of Art), which has the distinction fo being right next door to the Lebrea Tar Pits.

Ah, the juxtaposition!

Second Day

Time to get down to serious study. We had a morning lecture from a very dynmaic speaker, Dr. David Kang of USC. Why does Korea matter to America? An interesting question with many answers. South Korea is the 13th largest economy in the world. We are still fighing the cold war there with about 30,000 American troops stationed near the DMZ, including our own graduate Dan Hall. Plus, more and more Koreans are coming to America every year. Korean Americans have the

highest percentage of small business of any group in US.  Hyundai is the largest ship builder in the world. The list could go on and on. I will share more fun facts when I get back to school.

Anyway, our sessions will take place at the Korean Culture Center:

Did you know they were hosting the 2018 winter Olympics? Me neither.

We had a Korean "sampler" lunch. The kimchi was a little too spicy today, but the tempura and short ribs hit the spot.

Our lunch time entertainment of Korean drumming and dancing was spectacular.

After lunch, it was my turn to practice:

Bring the funk, bring the noise. Actually, syncopated Korean rhythms are difficult to master.

Much to digest today, but I have plenty of books, and a good handful to give to Nancy and the LMC when I return.

Speaking of digesting, I need to find a good Korean restaurant for my evening meal. Wish me luck.

First Day

Today is Sunday, July 29, and after a very long plane ride and a circuitous journey in an airport shuttle ride down Sunset Blvd and the corner of Hollywood and Vine, I reached my hotel, which sits in the heart of Koreatown.

The Garden Suite is a Korean owned hotel, and we teachers seem to be the only non-Koreans staying here. I heard more Korean than English spoken in the lobby this afternoon. I may be in the U.S., but I am definitely in a different cultre. Almost every sign for a restaurant or a store has both English letters and Korean characters. However, just across the street is an old theatre that clearly tells me I am in LA.

This Tuesday night I could go see Jack Black and that other guy do their blend of rock/comedy.

But I digress, the main point of this evening was for everyone to gather and share a meal together. The thirty or so teachers at this conference met at the house of Helie Lee, our host and one of the founders of KAFE. We had a home cooked meal of Bi Bim Bap at Lee's swanky home in West LA, near UCLA someone said. Check out her back yard.

The front of her house is quite posh as well.

The highlight of the night, though, was the "Korean punch" made by Daniel, a board member of KAFE. He blended rice wine with watermelon juice. Smooth, but it "snuck up on you" after about half a glass.

Some much for fun and games. Tomorrow we are up early and off to the conference at 7:45. Korean drumming is on the schedule.

Where to Begin?

Does the extent of your knowledge about 20th century Korea come from MASH reruns? Did you minor in east Asian history in college? Or, does your exposure lie somewhere in between? In any case, I would recommend two books that will help you and your students know more about modern Korea.

The first is Lost Names:Scenes from a Korean Boyhood by Richard Kim.

This novel fictionalizes the period of the Japanese occupation of Korea unitl the end of World War II. I have used this book the past few years in my junior AP English class. The students really identify with this book because it is told through the eyes of a young Korean boy. It is a great starting point for reading about Korea.


The second book is by one of my hosts in LA, Helie Lee. She helped to found the Korea Academy for Educators (KAFE).  Her book is called Still Life with Rice.

Through the voice of her grandmother, Lee basically tells the history of 20th century Korea. Her grandmother was born about the turn of the century and had an arranged marriage. She survived the Japanese occupation, World War II, and the violent split of the two Koreas. Eventually, she immigrated to America with the rest of her family. It is a very engaging and often times horrific story.

I am scheduled to meet Miss Lee and her parents my first night in LA and eat a home cooked Korean meal with them. I will also receive a copy of her second book about how her family rescued nine relatives from North Korea. I am sure I will write more about that in the future.

For reference, here is Helie Lee's website: http://www.helielee.com/

Finally, I am going to include a link to an NPR article that aired about two weeks ago. It talks about the recent increase in Korean students in California. I see some parallels between those students and our own Koreans. Many good points for thought and discussion.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/11/156377938/korean-families-chase-their-dreams-in-the-u-s

See you in LA!

Welcome to my Koreatown blog. This is to be a record of my trip to Koreatown in Los Angeles. Outisde of Korea, this neighborhood is apparently the largest concentration of Koreans in the world. My trip is being sponsored by the Korean Academy for Educators (KAFE), which is located in Koreatown. For six days and seven nights I will stay in a Korean owned hotel and attend daily seminar classes led by professors and experts on Korean culture and history. At night, I will be turned loose to explore the Korean restaurants and shops in the area, bring on the tea, the kimchee, and the bbq.

I am taking this trip to learn more about Korean culture so that my school can find ways to deal more effectively deal with our Korean students. I will try to post daily so that I can review the things that I have learned and to hopefully make a list of resources that everyone at school can use.

(Please note that I am not in Koreatown yet. I will arrive July 29 and start blogging then. I found the above pictures on the internet, oddly enough from others who have blogged about spending time in Koreatown.)