8.22.2017 South Korea

Sydney
Sydney
Aug 22, 2017 · 8 min read

Arriving last Thursday, I am all settled into my dorm room in Seoul! My classes do not begin for another two weeks, so this time is being spent adjusting to my new surroundings and gaining as much insight as I can into the unique culture of the Republic of Korea. Each week I am asked to write a formal memorandum report on my state of well-being and I am asked to include a few details of my experience. I will take the exciting parts out of these memos as well as any reflections I have and put them here! I hope you enjoy, please feel free to share!

Outside of a Buddhist temple in downtown Seoul.

I am so so grateful for the opportunity to observe this beautiful and unique culture. The following is my interesting experience of the week:

On Saturday, our group met to compete in a scavenger hunt based all around Seoul. It was incredible. We had to take pictures at each of our stops and we ventured all over Seoul.

We began by racing to the bus stop to catch a bus to the Seoul Central Station. None of the signs were in English, so this was a little difficult but we were in large groups of 5 or 6 and in almost every group there was a Korean speaker. At the Central Station we found the Pyeongchang Olympic mascots, Soohorang, a white tiger, and Bandabi, a black bear. We then visited a Sky Park, a beautiful park that is suspended above the city and has a large variety of labeled trees and flowers. After that, we took a subway across town to visit a Buddhist temple.

To me, the most impactful stop was the Comfort Women’s Memorial. Intentionally placed across the street from the Japanese Embassy, the Japanese military rule over Korea was brutal, and as part of the atrocities committed against the Korean people, they forced many Korean women into sexual slavery. These women became known as ‘Comfort Women’ and some of them are still alive today. At last month’s celebration of the anniversary of Korean independence, some of the survivors sat in the front row as President Moon spoke. It sent shivers down my spine watching a newsreel later. Though the Japanese government has given Korea some reparations, they have not formally apologized for the crimes they committed against the Korean people, particularly those of the ‘comfort women’. And so this statue of a young girl sits, eerily facing the Japanese Embassy as if perpetually in waiting of an apology that is not coming.

We visited the tomb of King Sejong and the US Embassy, where a festival was being held to honor the upcoming Winter Olympics. There was a massive water slide, picture attached below. King Sejong is a lionized ruler in the history of the Korean people. During his rule many scientific advancements were made. He also embodied the idea of servant leadership. During a famine, he punished local governors if any of their peasants died of starvation. King Sejong is celebrated in Korean history as a leader who always did what was best for his people, no matter the cost.

The scavenger hunt concluded at a stream in downtown Seoul where a massive statue shaped like a unicorn horn stood. After returning to campus, a group of us went out for Vietnamese Pho which was delicious. The following is a bit of a reflection.


For one of my classes, I was tasked to read Edward Said’s, Orientialism over the summer.

In this novel, Said begins by defining the term ‘Orientalism’ and explaining how it is innately tied to the imperialistic societies that originally defined it. Said describes the bigoted view of European and Western scholars’ of ‘the East’, referring specifically to the peoples and societies of Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. He prefaces the book, including

There has been so massive and calculated aggressive an attack on the contemporary societies of the Arab and Muslim for their backwardness, lack of democracy, and abrogation of women’s rights that we simply forget that such notions as modernity, enlightenment, and democracy are by no means simple and agreed-upon concepts that one does or does not find, like Easter eggs in the living room.” (15)

I found this quote incredibly intriguing. Last semester I took a course called War and Conflict in the International System. In it, we discussed the metrics of conflict, as well as the items that had historically lead nation-states, or other actors to either concede or act aggressively. We read documents and excerpts like Sam Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations” and Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History”, two lionized documents in political science. Looking back though, with Said’s ideas in mind, I see more clearly that both of these documents clearly presuppose the superiority of Western civilization and values as they discuss the obstacles that Western domination and democracy will face in the future.

Said brought my own naivety to my attention. As an American, how easy it is to fall under the spell that such values as democracy and free markets are either universal or self-evident truths? Perhaps even more easily at an institution whose goal is to produce officers that swear to defend and support a document written in the blood of these values. Critics of Said argue his thesis in Orientalism is ‘anti-Western’ and there is certainly some merit to such an argument, though the entire idea of Orientalism suggests the nearly universal assumption of the East as inferior.

The novel was written in 1978 and many of its broader principles can still be applied with ease to modern views of Islam as well as many Asian cultures. But in a broader sense, I think it is interesting to consider how we, both consciously and subconsciously, view the world around us.

Think about how we spatially orient the things around us. We see things that are closest to us as the biggest and in the most detail . We literally see the world relative to us. We are innately ego-centric, it is not something to be ashamed of, it is simply a fact. It is our nature to believe that we are superior to those around us, for if we are not then we must believe the alternative: and who wants to believe that they are living wrong?! How difficult it often is then to change our perspective of the world and to truly open our eyes and ears to other points of view?

When someone tells us that we are wrong about something that we fundamentally believe, or offers that we may be biased, or even simply offers an alternative perspective, I like to think of the following metaphor: imagine having the rug pulled out beneath you, when you thought you were standing on the bare floor. How do you reorient your entire self to realize that there was something between you and the ground all along? How do you truly allow yourself to change your mind?

One of my closest friends loves to call me out when I change my mind about things. And to be honest, it makes me less willing to change my mind in the future. Knowing I may be teased for or reminded of the way I used to think is a disincentive for being willing to try believing or even just imagining something new. The same could be said for any politician who has publicly flip flopped on an issue. Public dissent is brutal, and yet we are both quick to criticize people who change their minds on issues and those who refuse to hear both sides. What good is listening if at the end of the day we are truly unwilling to change our perspectives, opinions, or views? The question becomes, how do we distinguish what is a matter of principle and what is simply an execution of that principle?

It is so hard for people to stay open minded these days; for people to really listen to another’s point of view. In the digital world, this is especially true. It is a healthy part of life for teens and young adults alike to try on new personalities and beliefs as a part of growing up. But with social media and the new permanence of our posting histories, this becomes far more difficult. There is physical evidence (often in the form of photos) of everything and it can be difficult for us to experiment and try out new perspectives knowing how publicly documented our every moves are.

So how do we fix this? The truth is, I don’t know.

Maybe by taking a longer breath before judging those whose posts or digital profiles seem inconsistent. Maybe by allowing ourselves to be more open minded and willing to really listen to others’ sides without simply writing them off (whether that be as a racist, a homo-phobe, a feminist, etc). Perhaps if we remain cognizant of the world around us, and remember that everyone has firm beliefs, as well as reasonable grounds for holding these beliefs, then we will be more able to empathize with others when they take the time to explain how they feel or how they think. I know I will continue to work on this as I spend more and more time in a culture so different from the one in which I was raised. If you made it this far, you are a trooper. Enjoy the pics. More to come.


‘Comfort Women’s Memorial Statue’, a young girl sits with her fists balled in her lap across the street from the Seoul Japanese Embassy.

Known as the greatest King of Korea, a statue of King Sejong. | Fresh Beef Pho at a local Vietnamese restaurant. | A caricature of President Trump and Supreme Leader KJU.
Posing in traditional hanbok, the purple used to stand for royalty. | A popular dessert, Patbingsu in Red Bean and Oreo variations. | Smiles in an Insadong market place.
A festival erected in honor of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games! Check out the water slide.

-SF

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Sydney

Written by

Sydney

Then one day, she had no more excuses. What a day to be alive?

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