I've got pretty much nothing else to write about today, but I did want to share this old gem. I've been cooking up a massive post on the recently-popular themes of "why do expats complain so much" and "why are Koreans so sensitive to outside criticism," but with vacation coming up I have no idea when I'll get around to finishing it. For the time being I've been reading through the starter posts (by Ask a Korean and Roboseyo) and the various responses including this interesting one from Gusts of Popular Feeling that looks at what foreigners in Korea were complaining about in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Regarding that post let me just say that I was about to quote my favorite line, but realized that pretty much any quotation I imported from those early accounts would immediately become the most negative thing to ever appear on this blog, and I don't need that kind of heat.
Samedi brought up a point in a comment to another Roboseyo post, a point that has probably been made elsewhere: that too many foreign English teachers don't do their homework before coming to Korea, and so it's not surprising that teachers seem a maladjusted lot. I said foreign English teachers because I don't know how things are in other lines of work, but I do know that assessment is true of a lot of folks who come to Jeollanam-do. It's true that there's not a whole lot of information on this area easily available in English (I've been working on that), but that doesn't excuse the folks who don't even try to look for it.
His comment reminded me of a hilarous post on Dave's ESL Cafe from last September. Kid65 writes:
Basically, I thought I was working in Incheon. I was really looking forward to living in a large city, where there would be a good foreigner community and plenty of bars
After a rather confusing 2 and a half hour jouney I end up in rural, very small, I-cheon. If I wanted rural i'd have stayed at home.
I realise it's been my mistake all along, but I guess i thought I-cheon was just a typo for Incheon.
So I was really looking foward to living in a city, and i'm in the sticks. I don't know what to do. I'm their first foreign teacher so all the staff and students have been super excited to meet me, and my flat is full of new furniture and equipment.
Basically, i'm not happy with the situation at all, but everyone is so nice and i've just arrived, and feel I can't leave (never mind the contract!). I just don't know what to do...
LOL, and a month before he posted a question about Icheon and was told it's fifty minutes south of Seoul. Hell, the first two lines on the Wikipedia entry are:
Icheon is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It should not be confused with the much larger Incheon Metropolitan City.
6 comments:
I love living in IIII-cheon. It is quiet with everything you need. We even have a Holly's now. Wow! I still prefer the other sit down coffee shops though, and they are NOT in short supply.
As for the foreign community, it is quite large. Sure, 50 or so doesn't seem that large, but do you know much more than that if you live in, say Seoul, and remember this is a "city" of only 200k people.
More on topic, it took me a week or two to figure out it was not a typo, but after that I did my research and now I know "Icheon is famous for rice and pottery. Icheon rice was served to the king. Korea's national dish is Kimchi!"
When I would meet hogwan workers in Suncheon who would try to somehow make me feel bad for my cushy public school work conditions, I used to look at them with a perplexed look on my face and say, "Why didn't you research the foreign country that you were committing to for a year?".
That's why God invented Google, people... so you can look this stuff up!
Icheon is indeed famous for pottery. The annual pottery festival held in early fall is definitely worth a visit if you're interested in ceramics. One of my great treasures from the Orient is a large celadon vase covered with swans. I bought it directly from the potter, who put swans on nearly everything he made.
The Incheon vs. I-cheon story reminds me of the lyrics to the Sam Cooke song "Wonderful World": "Don't know much about geography...."
The Incheon vs. Icheon post on Dave's also came to mind as I wrote that comment.
That, and the guy who seemed really surprised our hagwon is in Uijeongbu and not Seoul. (It said that in the job listing.) Turns out he wanted to live close to his friend in Seoul -- except he had no idea where in Seoul his friend lived. I kind of wonder whatever happened to him ...
Got a nice laugh out the i cheon won photo. Thanks.
Thanks, samedi, I didn't think anyone appreciated the 2000 won. I myself was quite pleased with it.
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