August 2020- "I'm me, you're you... what do we need identities for?"

Updates on Korea's COVID Situation

It got better; so much better that Korea was down to 9 transmissions a day and I became bolder going out. Buuuut then it got worse again and we're up to 200-400 transmissions a day. With most cases located in Seoul I've had to forgo planned get-togethers and am currently preparing for another isolating couple of weeks. (Let's not talk about why the numbers rose again; just know that the virus issue has been mixed with political and religious issues in more places than the US.)

The government raised the physical distancing level to 2.5, which means 1) everyone must wear a mask in public places, 2) after 9 PM restaurants can only offer takeout, 3) franchise cafes can't offer seating, 4) churches, academies, and gyms MUST close, and 5) all my classes will, once again, meet online until midterms. (Please get better by then! 😖)

From the KCDC Website. As you can see the number of confirmed cases (blue) was pretty low for a couple months. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

These measures are only meant to last until September 6th. As I understand it, the government hopes a week of intense physical distancing will stop the spread enough to lower the distancing level, but even so I predict I'll be spending just as much time in my room this semester as I did the last one. Facing another few months of isolation I've decided to move ONCE AGAIN from my goshiwon to a one-room apartment. (One rooms are studio apartments, but in Korean they use the English word one room (원룸) to describe them, so I do too.) Before this third wave of cases arose, I'd accepted this small room as my home until graduation, but with the virus spreading now more than ever I think it'd be wise to have my own bathroom and kitchen.

I don't move until September 10th, so I'll post pictures of my new place when I'm settled. At the moment I spend too many hours browsing online shopping malls for kitchenware and maybe even an oven????? (Baking's still viewed as a special rich people hobby in Korea so apartments don't automatically come with ovens. But maybe I should wait before spending all my money in one go. 😅)

Korean Housing

A screenshot from 집의 시간들 (chip-hui shi-gan-deul) a documentary about a condemned apartment complex and the people who grew up there.

While looking for a new place I became more acquainted with Korea's unique rent system and thought I'd share!

If you want to rent a place, you'll likely need to hand over a hefty deposit. Not just 2 months rent, like what I was used to in the US, but a deposit worth at least 11x the monthly fee. This might be a reason Seoul's considered the 4th most expensive city to live in Asia. A $5,000 deposit's one of the cheaper options, and that provides only a one room not much larger than my current goshiwon. Since my area's populated by universities, college students fill many of the $5,000 deposit one rooms. Students don't usually need an extra fancy space as their stay is temporary, and they ideally spend most of their time on campus or visiting their parents anyway.

For those seeking a more permanent or spacious option, there're nicer apartments available for larger deposits. Some go for $10,000, then $70,000, $100,000, $200,000, and MORE. No, I'm not kidding. A friend of mine's currently living in an apartment with a $100,000 deposit. However, these outrageous deposits often require NO monthly rent, so tenets only pay utilities. The landlord instead earns money through whatever investments they make or interest they earn with their tenet's deposit.

Of course the system has downsides. It requires trust and strong contractual agreements. Once the rental period ends there's a possibility the landlord can't or won't refund the deposit right away. When that happens, the contract guarantees free residency until the landlord can repay their deposit, however long that takes. Another drawback of this system is those who have few savings can't afford even a one room apartment. There are other living options, such as my goshiwon or share houses, but often these places don't allow residents over a certain age and certainly don't provide enough room for families. Some frugal tenets prefer semi-basements (반지하 bahn-ji-ha) because they offer low rent and little to no deposit. (The poor Kim family from Parasite lived in a semi-basement.) But to many both goshiwons and semi-basements represent poverty, and admitting you live in one can trigger gasps of sympathy. To be honest receiving others' pity can be the hardest part of living in a cheap environment, more so than the environment itself.

(If you're interested in semi-basements, here's a good article from the BBC that discusses their origin and introduces some people who choose to live there.→Parasite: The real people living in Seoul's basement apartments)

For more information on the rent system and other housing options besides apartments, check out seoulistic.com.

What I'm reading

Poetry from a collection of works by Ko Un called First Person Sorrowful, translated by Br. Anthony of Taize and Lee Sang-Wha.

Excerpt I liked from the poem 24 Little Songs, found in Poetry Left Behind (2002)

Scarlet rhododendrons are in blossom.

The crape myrtle trees beyond have no thought of blossoming.

So everything in the world has its own way of living. Glad of that, I

wander on.

Peace 7 from the book Full of Shame (2006)

Three-thousand-year village.

Son's

son's

son's, son's village.

Village with its triennial entertainment

of quarrelling over water-rights for upper and lower paddies.

Village where people drink bowls of reconciling makkeolli

in the tavern on the outskirts.

In such a village

everyone

anyone

was uncle, younger brother, aunt, sister.

Sun-cheol who got stung by a bee was an elder brother.

Nowhere else

have I experienced any peace.

I have long been a dried-up well of peace.

Ah, the peace of that day when my well will be full to the brim!

This poem gives a good sense for the tradition and familiarity Korean society had not too long ago. To many, modern Korea only seems focused on new new new new next next next next. I often wonder what the older generations think about how their country's changed, and I wonder what they see when they look at me. Having a young Western girl occupy the same space where once only aunts and sons and brothers and daughters lived must be strange. It's still hard for me to grasp how old some countries are. The US is so new. My family can't draw our ancestry back very far, and because we moved to the state where I grew up when I was young, that sense of tradition and continuance has never existed for me. Maybe that's why it was so easy to pick up my bags and fly away.

My Family’s Shrouded History Is Also a National One for Korea (article link)

In the same vain the above New York Times article by Alexander Chee discusses why his grandfather and Korean relatives always wanted to introduce Korean culture to him, though he often already knew what they described. His family lived through a time when their traditions and even language were repressed by Japanese colonizers, so after liberation they had to relearn and reteach their own culture. Even with how popular Korean culture's become overseas, they still feel the need to make sure no one forgets.

I often get frustrated with Koreans who try to introduce what I consider even the most basic aspects of their culture, such as using chopsticks or saying hello in Korean, but after reading this article it makes sense that they're so eager. Less than a century ago the Japanese told Koreans they were dirty and culturally backwards, and tried to eradicate their lifestyle. Now foreigners from the powerful West are coming to explore their palaces and listen to their music. It's a complete 180, so no wonder some people still get a bit overexcited when I tell them I like kimchi. 😅

Random Thoughts

1.) A small coffee shop
One thousand cameras aimed at
A pained barista

( I wrote this after watching a café vlog where the barista said the hardest thing about his work were all the customers who recorded him making latte art.)

2.) “Samako, what’s your identity? Japanese or Korean?”

“Ah, my identity? Well, my identity is that I am me.”

“Surely you know what the word identity means, Samako?”

“Aaah, I don’t care to know about identity. It’s too political and serious. I’m me, you’re you . . . what do we need identities for?”

(An excerpt from a story by Kim Soom and translated by Emily Yae Won, which I found in this article on Korean Literature Now. I have a new class that deconstructs Korean identity, and by extension other national identities. Living overseas and loving a culture other my own have me thinking a lot about how I should define myself. I'm American by passport, but often I don't feel I fit what others expect an American to be, or even what I expect an American to be. "My identity is that I am me."

Found on a blog post from rockyreentry.com, written for those returning to their home countries and churches after years on the mission field. This doesn't quite apply to me as I'm still abroad and was never here for mission work, but the way the author writes about the difficulties of navigating church as someone who's experienced Christianity in other cultures struck a chord with me.

What I'm Watching

The Classic (클래식)

A love story that spans two generations. It'll make you cry and also give you some insight into Korean life during the 1960s-70s, when dictator Park Chung Hee was in power. It features the conflicts of a changing society where young people rebel against military leadership and parental control.

New Narratives in Korea: Manhwa with Creators of 'Banned Book Club' by The Korea Society

An interview with the creators of a comic (comic books are called만화 -manhwa in Korean) about a time not too long ago when dictators banned works that contained ideas contrary to government agenda. Through this video I learned about the terrible ordeals those who read banned books or fought against corrupt forces experienced. I also learned a lot about the difference between Korean and American comic books. For example, in Korea there's not a lot of superhero comics, and in line with Korea's room culture rather than buy comics to read at home Koreans pay by the hour to sit in manhwa cafes and read as much as they like.
I use Webtoons.com to read manhwa from all sorts of creators for free. Many of these, like the popular True Beauty, get turned into K-dramas. Since anybody can make them, I find manhwa a great source for understanding the kinds of stories people who aren't professional writers want to tell.

Also a paint commercial in Bob Ross style. Even if you don't understand Korean this commercial's still pretty ridiculous. 😂

It talks about all the wonderful, easy ways customers can use the paint it advertises, such as on a dog house, a concrete wall, or yourself to create a green screen that'll help materialize those coveted abs. Isn't it so easy? (cham schip-jo?) Or maybe you'll watch this feeling like the shirtless man who can't understand why this Bob Ross impersonator keeps going on about how easy using his paint is.

What I'm Listening to

Impressive College Students

1st, how about some musically talented students from Seoul Institute of the Arts?
I was randomly watching videos of Korean high school and college students (I'll explain next month) and came across these guys messing around in their free time. I actually gasped when I heard the second guy begin to sing, and then got up and danced. It was that good.

Two Harsh Carls-Brown Tigger and Gwangil Jo

Two Harsh Carls comes from Brown Tigger's summer project in which he introduces a new song each month. I first discovered this artist through reggae, and though his voice still has that level tone I associate with the genre, it works well in this rock song too. His voice really shines around 2:24.
Fun fact: Brown Tigger's name comes from his resemblance to the Winnie the Pooh character.

Beach Again-SSAK3

Three of Korea's beloved entertainers came together for their debut song Beach Again (다시 여기바닷가 ta-shi yeo-gi baa-daht-ga). Two members (Rain and Lee Hyori) were at the top of the kpop totem poll in the early 2000s, and are still extremely popular today. The third member (glasses-wearing Yoo Jae Suk) has been the country's number one MC for years.
This new single's nostalgic sound, clothing, hair styles, and dance moves made me think this was a 90s-song remake, and I discovered a group named Deux first came out with the song in 1994, then called In Summer (여름 안에서). You can find the original and new remake below!

Photos

Delicious foods from August! The best was the risotto on the bottom left. 😋

Pretty coffees and sweets. Yup, that's a corn scone.

My friend teaches an English language class, and asked me to come and speak for an hour. Her kids were quiet but I loved them so much! And it was interesting to be inside a public school for the first time. One girl sang pansori for us (remember from last week?) and they asked me who my favorite pop singer was. No one knew ATEEZ, so I quickly changed my answer to BTS and they immediately burst out in agreement.