Reflections on Korea

We’ve been back in Toronto for over a month now, and I’ve almost gotten over missing Seoul. It took me about a week to get over the jet lag, but much longer to get used to being back. There’s just something about South Korea that really resonated with me, and I know I’m not the only ASI400 student who wants to go back.

Looking back, it’s amazing how much we did in such a short period. And though I lament not getting out and doing even more things, I realize we sacrificed free time and touristy activities for academic lectures and meetings with NGOs. Had I just gone to Korea by myself, I would never have been able to meet such intelligent and interesting people. We owe so much to the Asian Institute, its director Joseph Wong, the Dr. Chu program director Ito Peng, and our instructors Steve Trott and Kunhee Park, for reaching out to their contacts and helping to organize these meetings. One of the most memorable was Byung Kook Kim of the East Asia Institute and Korea University, not only for his name-dropping from his Harvard days (Samuel Huntington, Robert Putnam, and Larry Diamond), but also for his frank and open opinions about the reality of reunification, leadership on the world stage, and the current financial crisis.

Our meetings with the NGOs were both eye-opening and inspiring. Shalom House in particular was fascinating, as it deals with something not really in the forefront of Korean studies, which are illegal migrant workers. One of the most amazing experiences of the whole trip was being invited into the home on one such worker, who was dubbed “the mayor” of the Filipino migrant community in this town. In his relatively small home which he shares with his wife (though it apparently used to house dozens of Bangladeshi workers), he not only invited our class in for spaghetti and cupcakes (both delicious), but there were also a number of local Korean youth hanging out in another room. The shoes were piled on top of each other in the little entranceway. The generosity and kindness of these people who have had such difficult lives was astounding.

We had such an incredible mix of experiences in Korea, which I’m sure many are not able to claim. We visited both food and clothing markets, took in two palaces, a Buddhist temple, and bought ceramics. We ate barbeque, interesting traditional food whose names I don’t know, incredibly spicy hotpot, and pizza from an American chain which made almost everyone sick. We heard lectures at three different universities, as well as Seoul National University Hospital, and the East Asia Institute. We had meetings at the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (who gave us stickers!), the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, and Shalom House. No wonder we didn’t blog very often.

To sum up my experience in Korea in one word, I often use "amazing," though it really doesn't do it justice. I hope that the David Chu program can continue both the Internationalized Course Module and our contact with the various institutions that welcomed us in Korea.

Thanks for reading!