From: Peter
Wynne-Willson <pwynne@nuri.net>
Subject:
Excellent Korea Move.
Date: Sunday
14 November 1999 09:53
Dear public
I know I've
said this before, and it's turned out not to happen, but this might be a shorter
dispatch than some, because this weekend I am heading out of Seoul, out of
range of my precious notebook. Actually, though I'd love to get away with a
picture of myself venturing beyond the edge of the explored world, I think they
do have phones elsewhere in Korea, but I'm travelling light.. .so I'm planning
an early night, and will catch up with things next week.
In the
meantime the highlights of the last week:
I have moved,
and instead of 3-4 hours of travel each day, I now have about fifteen minutes
brisk walk. It's also a much lighter, quieter and friendlier place, with far
more families in evidence. The area where I was before is in fact ironically
quite sought-after, with modern blocks and plenty of branches of 'Dunkin
Donuts' - too sophisticated for me, obviously. This is actually more run-down,
I suppose, but much nicer feeling. There is also much more curiosity value in
being western, and even less English spoken.
I'm getting on
very slowly indeed with my Korean. It just has no familiar elements in it at
all, it is unlike any other language I've ever tried to learn. It is simply a
code. I can spell out words letter by letter OK, but then they are meaningless.
Most of the ex-pats here don't learn it. One British woman I met said, 'Well
it's a pointless language really isn't it? They don't speak it anywhere except
Korea, you see'. Right. I think this is about 80 million more speakers than
Latin and Greek put together, for a start! I don't think I've ever felt quite
so helpless as I have at some points here, trying to communicate. I've found
myself coming out with other foreign languages, elaborate miming, writing
things down...the way they learn english leans heavily on written english [or
has until fairly recently] so many older Koreans understand written english
pretty well. When it comes to speaking it though, the teaching has been done by
Americans, and by Korean-Americans, and so it is itself another language. So
quite often in the course of trying to communicate, I find myself doing bad imitations
from films, to try and summon up the right American pronunciation for a word
which many many times the person I'm talking to does turn out to know.
The other half
of this problem is that where I do know a Korean word, my pronunciation seems
to have to be absolutely spot on to be understood. I think this is because the
number of sounds is relatively limited, and so a mispronounced word may well be
a well pronounced something completely different. Even where a word they use is
an english one, I wouldn't be understood if I just said it. So for example
'Handphone' which is what they call mobile phones has to be said something like
'Hunty-phun', which you feel silly doing, but does the trick.
Where I pick
up most is in the classes, because every time I say something Yumi then says it
in Korean, obviously.
The way the
work is going is really fascinating. Both courses that I am taking - the one I
have said less about is called 'Young People's Theatre' and has 15
undergraduate students on it - are heading towards performing work they have
created in the final week of the semester. So this means the process involves a
great deal of discussion of issues, and I am finding out so much from these. As
with everything else, it is the mixture of similarities and differences that is
so gripping. You are just feeling that everything is exactly as it would be
with a group in England when something totally alien crops up. And vice versa.
The subjects that obsess them are computers, Japanese fashion and sex. Bullying
and exam pressure come up a lot as the problems of the young. They have a
special system of ritual exclusion here, called 'wang-dda', which is the main
form of bullying, and it is a good example of what I mean, at the same time
entirely different from and exactly the same as a school issue in Birmingham.
Issues like racism are interesting because there are essentially no ethnic
minorities in Korea, which of course doesn't mean it isn't a problem, just that
it isn't an issue. The role of women, the behaviour of older men getting drunk
all the time, corruption, American influences - we have had fascinating
discussions around all these. They are some of them very quick to make
judgements about the young people they will be working with. We had quite a
tricky session last week when Chi-Yong wanted the TIE piece to focus on how
young people didn't give up their places on the tube for older people like they
should! In the end they are focusing on what is called the 'N Generation'. The
N stands for Network. We have been researching the impact on youth culture of
new technology...very very interesting all of it. Getting into schools to do it
is proving a real struggle. There is no precedent. Anything like this is for
outside school time. Even outside school, the pressure for activities to be of
value is awesome. There are seven year olds who have private english lessons
until after 10.00 at night here. Makes what Eddie calls 'lectricity' hour seem
postively gentle.
I wrote my
piece for the Korea Herald, after going for a meal with Dina Emerson, who is
the other American I think I mentioned - very earnestly helpful person,
completely doesn't get any of my attempts to be funny. She had been the vocal
specialist for the performance, and so arranged for her interpreter to talk me
through the deeper meanings of the text - well all the meanings, in fact. I
tried to steer a balance between simply writing that I knew nothing and gross
pretentiousness, and e-mailed it off. I think it will be in the culture section
early next week, so I expect you all to get copies.
I went to pub
night at the British Embassy, which was uninspiring. Felt a new kind of
culture-shock. No-one really very nice. Full of business people impressing
Korean clients with english beer, and some rather jaded long-term ex-pats.
There was one couple with children, but they were just visiting from Taiwan.
The funniest man was a completely ridiculously chinless embassy employee who
organises the Cricket team. I am so sad that it is the wrong season, because I
could definitely have played, and that I think would have been some kind of
experience. They play 'test matches' against other countries. Apparently they
lost very heavily to the West Indies this season - so just like the real
thing..... 'Trouble is, damned ground adjoins some sort of desperate detention
place. Terrible noises off at times....if the ball goes over we just have to
leave it' I seem to be being followed
round by places that are or were scenes of torture...
I met a big
American who turned out to be one of the men on the Harley-Davidsons I saw the
first week I was here. Oh you are a Biker? 'Rider', he corrected me. 'Sure.
Hell, we have a blast. Only goddamned country in the world where if you're on a
Harley you can jump a red light and the cops will salute you' I expect this is
true. Motorbikes are allowed on the pavements, which is very alarming.
Jay-walking is very sternly punished though. Another of those strange
anomalies.
Another trip
this week was to a place on the edge of the city with a zoo, a contemporary art
gallery and a theme park - fun for all the family. Very nice place actually. I
guiltily watched and enjoyed the performing dolphins, and took a tiny tape
recorder on the trip, so as to send a little documentary of Seoul to Eddie.
'This is what the tube train sounds like. This is the people trying to sell me
things.....'
Just a quick
addition to my cultural analysis. The
last of the summer rice wine.....
I'm sure there
are a lot of creation myths in Korea, but if I were making one up for them it
would involve a man with the already described shed complex. Mine is bigger
than yours, and I'm going to sit here all day in it. He painted his shed, all
day long, and admired the row on row of vegetables for which he was
responsible. The Eve to his Adam, meanwhile, was obviously equally obsessed,
but the main target was dog mess. She would send her man to round up any dogs
she could find, and as a precaution against the spread of dog mess, she would
kill them, cook them and eat them. Then because of the risk of stray
individuals evading capture, she would insist that all shoes be removed at the
door. And if her man ever came in onto her frequently scrubbed ondol, he would
get short shrift. The whole of the future development of Korean culture has
been set in motion by these two obsessives. Do you think this is evidence of
some kind of link with Yorkshire?
Weird little
sights. Rows and rows of bright yellow pooh bears. A girl with a Wallace and
Gromit hunty-phun. Jeans for sale in a shop, on mannequins which were sawn off
just above the waist, and moulded bending over - fantastic, you decide to buy
the ones which look best on this row of bottoms. Policeman and older man
sitting holding hands. Absolutely no dog mess anywhere.
I tracked down
some fresh basil, and bought some of the tomatoes they have here, big, slightly
pale ones. Set about making salad, only to find out these particular tomatoes
are in fact persimmons.....
England Scotland
match was not broadcast here. BBC Radio Five had to go dead because Sky had
done a deal which gave them the 'web-cast' rights. Then sky's web-cast turned
out to be only available in the UK. I stayed up specially, and so was very
angry with Rupert Murdoch - that should do the trick. In the end I found a site
which reported in writing every two minutes. Good game.
Guess what. It
was quite long after all. The next episode should include 'Peter goes to the
countryside and therefore becomes an expert on Rural Korea'. Watch this space.
Lots of love
Pete