Barb Waldern report from Korea: Masan City Part 1

Barb Waldern is a beloved member of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  She is currently teaching  English in South Korea. 

Barb joined the Gung Haggis team last summer and paddled with us at Cultus Lake and Vancouver Taiwanese dragon boat races.  This year she paddled in the ADBF regatta, Lotus Sports Club regatta in Burnaby and the Alcan Dragon Boat Races.  We gave her a send off party at the end of June.


August update from Barb Waldern in South Korea
 
Masan City
Part 1
 
Masan City is located on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula in a subtropical zone. It is a 4 to 5-hour drive to the capitol from here.
 
All of Korea is mountainous. Masan is an industrial harbour town of 1/2 million people nestled against the hillsides with their terraced farms and lush mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous trees. Most industry is not located right in the boundaries of the city proper.
 
Date, fig, pomegranate, ginko trees and the occasional palm are scattered in and around the city, their fruits about halfway to ripening now. Grapes, tomatoes, white peaches, and many other fruits are ripening and on sale in the markets.
 
The severe heat is lingering beyond seasonal norms and the monsoons continue. While cicadaes still roar in waves upon waves, a strange bug can now be heard over the: the big brown thing with long rear legs that flies makes amazing noise. It sounds like a Jews harp playing frog-sparrow. It begins by buzzing like a group of cicadaes, then twanging to an accelerating rhythm, exciting itself into a fit of loud chirping.
 
At night or early in the evening, the cuckoo calls. It really does cuckoo every hour! One in my area begins at 7:15 and repeats at every quarter of the hour. Magpies and other birds unknown to me besides the sparrows are numerous and make enchanting calls all day long.
 
Koreans appear to take pride in nature and there are many parks/conservation areas and outdoor activities. There is a large national park west of Masan. The nearest such place to Masan is Muhak Mountain. Koreans consider that mountains have spiritual value. For one thing, graves are located on mountains. Pairs of perfectly round grassy mounds, often with stone markers, can be spotted here and there.
 
Hiking Muhak mountain is one way Masan residents get regular exercize. Elderly and mid-aged men and women often head up Muhak in the early morning, wearing protective clothing and carrying backpacks, to return before noon.
 
School yards are also popular places for power walks  or  jogging as well as socializing in the evening air. Groups of old women often congregate under a tree on benches near a track. Public spaces are few and far between, and what exist are small patches.
 
Elderly people group themselves in dry and shady areas during the day, gossiping and playing games. Some squat together on street curbs, a rendez-vous point for the frail to wait for friends to emerge and spread the news.
 
Most of the elders have been raised on traditional farms in peasant life. They have seen fantastic changes, the good and bad, over the past 35 years since monopoly capitalism was systematically planted and S. Korea rose as a "Tiger" state.
 
When they are not in school or some kind of training, boys meet in PC stores to play computer games for hours at a time. Some 30 to 50-something men join them. (That makes me an oddity here.) The girls are likely having visitors or going shopping if they are not helping their mothers and grannies with housework.
 
The youth? As I said before, young people study a lot and adults spend long days working hard. The people have known severe poverty through decades of occupation and war, and they invest a lot in education and work while they can. There is a university here. Teens and university students hang out in the two fashion/shopping districts, one on the eastside and the other on the westside (both are affluent areas). There are sports, from martial arts to golf, swimming to soccer, happening...somewhere. There are gyms and bowling allies in Masan.
 
Koreans today are attracted to the cosmopolitan while they retain a strong sense of national pride. The are eager to explore and benefit from the world's riches, tangible and intangible, while protective of their country and ways.
 
I hear of a lot of cultural events taking place in Pusan, where theatre and music and visual arts are quite active. There is not much happening in that regard in Masan. I hear of public events such as laser shows, sandcastle exhibits and others taking place around the province (Kyong-nam) from the children. Hollywood and international moves are shown in cinemas in most cities. Masan has one.
 
Dating is generally a slow process wherein couples usually spend a long time getting to know each other as friends before engaging in a more intimate and serious relationship. Here, one shouldn't assume that a "boy/girlfriend" is a lover. Couples are generally in for the long haul. Marriages are performed by neither state or religious officials--teachers are often selected to officiate. I imagine that there must be some sort of state registration, but I understand that divorce is a simple process here, though the divorce rate is still lower than that in, say, Canada.
 
Foreign men may be interested in having relationships with Korean girls, but I would say that their chances are not good. It is expected that the man make an effort at an elaborate romance and make most of the moves. When they make a move they must be very cautious because a woman could easily take offense. I know an anglophone foreigner guy who's been dating a young woman for four months. He and the woman have never kissed.
 
Men from Europe, UK, Canada or the US would likely lose patience. They generally approach sex and relationships more casually and tend to be fast. Not that there aren't sluts and fast women here too, and some of them seek out foreigners for flings. Foreign guys often wait for the woman to initiate things, make most of the moves. If a woman calls a man in Korea, it's taken as a big sign of romantic interest by the man. Of course, one ought to be skeptical about the boasts of another, for they may wish to impress. Also, people will often prefer to give misleading information when they do not know an answer to a question, rather than expose their ignorance.
 
The girls ought to be cautious with foreign men. After all, foreigners are largely here on a temporary basis. Even if the relationship got serious, there is a lot involved in making a decision to have a life with a foreigner, such as the prospect of emigration. There is also the question of national pride, among many others. There is also reaction to ethnically mixed couples and certain kinds of foreigners (see the news article I'm forwarding along with this one that gives an international rating of racism in SK). For example, a viewer will notice the occasional "white" face on TV, but no Asian other than Korean.
 
Koreans travel for work, business, pleasure or family, frequently between cities in Korea, and the middle class goes to neighbouring countries often. However, the price of gasoline and oil is very high, because Korea does not have its own petroleum sources. Korea imports oil and gas to power motor vehicles, and produce electricity, as well as plastics I suppose. Electricity prices are also relatively high. There is a VAT (value added tax) on gasoline and a lot of merchandise, a source of state revenue for state expenses. Yet numerous taxis roam the city streets 24/7, and flatbed trucks laden with fresh farm or wharf products cruise day and evening constantly, megaphones blaring, especially in this season. The system of diesel buses is thorough and very accessible. (I've seen one experimental natural gas bus so far.) And, Koreans, always in a hurry, love their Korea made cars and "camions" (SUVs).
 
Korea has a limited welfare state system. I wonder how it will fare given the recent signing of the US-Kor FTA and Eur-Kor FTA. I do not think it will play out the way it has in North America. For one thing the progressive labour movement is well warned and prepared. Already laws such as the new one regarding part-time and temp workers are in place. For another, Korean nationalism is inspiring regional trade negotiations (N-S Korea, SK-China, etc). Thirdly, traditions die hard.
 
Work days in non-unionized environments are long, often up to 12 hours with just a one-hour break. A Korean office worker that we know, who used to work at our school, says she works those hours.
 
Service in Korea is great. I think retail service in the Korean context is reinforced by the norms and traditions of hospitality and courtesy just as much as it is by the motive to promote and sell store products. Many men and women work in retail service. If you want help, you'll get it. And someone will always be there to acknowledge you with a nice smile.
 
As an example of the effects of resistance to free trade, take the E-Land group of big box stores. It is Walmart in disguise. (The "E" is actually an upended "W".) In disguise because of Walmart's bad rap internationally. Nevertheless, the progressive unions main focus of attack is the E-Land store chains. 
 
Business leaders hope for a North Korea-South Korea FTA, but I expect there to be a particular regional trade agreement instead, eventually. There are state health insurance and state supported health care, with clients and employers each being obliged to pay half of the insurance premiums for basic medical and dental coverage. In parts of Masan, there is a city garbage collection service with recycling program in many (precincts??), the latter being paid for through the consumers' purchases of official plastic bags. There is a government postal service. Government workers maintain road, sewers and other aspects of the infrastructure.
 
I'm surprised at the number of taxis in this town. Transportation is largely privately owned. The taxi drivers (all men) are often quite pleasant and courteous, but not so the bus drivers. The bus system is extensive and while city and suburban buses may be few and far between in some areas and at some times, intercity buses are frequent and rapid. I have not been on a train in Korea yet.
 
General education through secondary school is government paid and run. Private schools are supplementary and not an option as opposed to regular public school Teachers never flunk or expel students, whatever the case, because the state believes that rejected students will become hostile to society and fall into a life of crime or addiction. Teachers get a year-round full-time salary, with a month of paid vacation in the summer. It is illegal for many kinds of employees to take a second job.
 
Most jobs are full-time. If an employee agrees to perform some other service for someone else, they may be paid a stipend or remuneration in kind, or at least have expenses covered. The Union movement is expanding because of the surgence of a progressive federation of labour that was legalized only a few years ago and that is countering the yellow confederation supported by employers and big corporations. There are labour standards, though I don't know much about them.
 
Telephone service is private, with many available firms providing it. SK Telecom is one such firm. It has been suffering a major scandal; all I can figure out from Korean language (Hangukaw) news media is that SK Telecom executives were caught on a recording device hatching up some sort of scheme and dumpsters full of discarded client records were discovered.
 
New and old converge, sometimes meshing sometimes jarring. For example, haggling is the normal practice anywhere except department stores. I'm not good at it, but vendors and merchants are usually very kind. I think they appreciate foreigners attempting to shop in regular Korean places. I think they are concerned about strangers managing and adjusting in the new country.
 
END OF PART ONE
 
Barbara