Chasing Corea

This is the movie my 4th through 6th grade students made as part...

conscious-irongirl — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:05:51 +0900

This is the movie my 4th through 6th grade students made as part of the 2012-13 Winter English camp I held as a Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK) scholar. It was almost entirely created by them and I edited it using the free trial of Wondershare Video Editor. All music was obtained/used freely and legally through jamendo.com. Some parts may not make a whole lot of sense and they hilariously read the script during some parts of the film (I didn’t realize this until I was editing), but I think they did a fantastic job anyway.

Here is the brief lesson plan:

1. Talk about what makes “good” and “bad” characters, including colors, expressions, clothing, etc.

2. Show example short animations and other movies made by Korean EFL students.

3. Brainstorm plot ideas and draw out the basic story outline.

4. Write the script.

5. Film the movie.

6. Work overtime editing -_-

7. Turn off the lights, close the shades, and enjoy the movie with hot chocolate and popcorn!

Some cultural notes:

-Korean students play ALOT of computer/phone games. Whenever I ask my students what they did during the weekend or after school they frequently say they played games

-Anipang is a very popular cell phone game in Korea

-Many Korean children hate rice with beans in it

-Gangnam Style…enough said

Classic Korean films with English subtitles on YouTube

conscious-irongirl — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 08:41:48 +0900

Classic Korean films with English subtitles on YouTube

We are all structure

conscious-irongirl — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 10:01:29 +0900

I have about a month left in Korea and am hoping to check out the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art before I leave. I was checking out the permanent exhibition of Korean modern art and stumbled upon sculptor Kwan Jin-Kyu (1922-1973).

Photo of Kwan’s self sculpture from the Leeum, Samsung Museum

Although I’m no art historian, or anywhere near that expertise, I’ve come to appreciate art after a university-sponsored trip to Florence a couple of years ago. After having works of art explained to me, I realized I found museums boring because I didn’t understand what they held. I find the most interesting of pieces are those that convey social commentary, that expose the reality around us.

After some cursory internet research into Kwan, I found his lens ironically unique.

Here’s an excerpt from a biographical piece on Kwan:

Kwon took note of the ancient arts of Mesopotamia and Egypt, as well as the Cycladic, Etruscan, Greek, Romanesque, and Renaissance arts, in addition to the artistic principles associated with Cezanne, Rodin, Antoine Bourdelle, Shimizu Takashi, Aristide Maillol, Giacomo Manzu, Marino Marini, and Giacometti. While integrating such a wide range of art traditions, he sought to highlight the fundamental and basic structure of objects. He would say: “Every object has a structure, but Korean sculpture lacks a deep search for that structure.” This statement should be understood from a context of his own deep, personal introspection. Ultimately, his artistic pursuits were focused less on national consciousness or ideology, and more on the pure spirit of art and its universal nature.

Indeed, the various pieces I saw by him blurred the differences between each figure in a way that is different from any one artist having a certain style. The article goes on to say that Kwan focused on conveying a “basic structure” rather than an “external appearance”.

The following photos were taken from Kwan’s 2009 exhibition at the MOMAT

Chi-Won 1967 The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Nun Shunyo 1967-68
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

portrait

Knight 1953
private collection, Korea

Horse 1960
private collection, Korea

Self-Portrait Wearing a Robe
1970s
Korea University Museum

I find his commentary sobering and hopeful at the same time. He didn’t focus on the beauty of man or the particularities of objects, people. Rather, he expressed how mundane it all is. His busts are all of a triangular, drooping shape, lacking a particular expression. Mindless even.

Yet, they are beautiful, especially in what they reveal and in the fact that Kwan chose that theme as his niche. If only others recognized his significance.

A social misfit, Kwon suffered greatly from the cold reception of his work from the community of sculptors in Korea. In 1973, he made a plaster self-portrait in a red robe of clergy and upon completing it, committed suicide in his studio.

I look forward to seeing his work up close.

Excellent Article: Who Do You Love?: Korean Ethnocentrism, International Couples and the Dating Dilemma

conscious-irongirl — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:57:38 +0900

Excellent Article: Who Do You Love?: Korean Ethnocentrism, International Couples and the Dating Dilemma:

Apparently it’s written by a high school senior! Great insight into the three topics stated in the article title. It also touches on gender roles and the scale of social liberalism and conservatism in Korea, which I would add, is much more conservative in general than those of the U.S. or “the West”.

I have my Wednesday 5th and 6th graders take turns acting as the...

conscious-irongirl — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:47:58 +0900

I have my Wednesday 5th and 6th graders take turns acting as the teacher to begin the class. They have to ask about the date, weather, and each of their peers’ as well as their teacher’s moods and depict them. Guess which one is the teacher.

View from my classroom of the first day of snow for the 2012...

conscious-irongirl — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:42:33 +0900

View from my classroom of the first day of snow for the 2012 winter season…not looking forward to this, especially when it’s coupled with lightning…ridiculous! At least it makes everything look nice.

Creating a calendar with my 1st graders with the depiction of...

conscious-irongirl — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:05:43 +0900

Creating a calendar with my 1st graders with the depiction of every month done by fingerpainting. This is a boy swimming in the sea during the month of June with abnormally large lips but a happy mood.

Called my Grandpa on His 84th Birthday

conscious-irongirl — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:58:11 +0900

I was a day late, but I guess he didn’t care. When I called him, he said, “Oh! Suejin-ah!* My granddaughter!” I was in between classes so I had to keep it brief, but we talked about some upcoming plans—my cousin’s graduation from law school, when I was returning to Oregon, etc. He asked how my cousin in Seoul was doing. I said her stomach was growing from pregnancy, but she was healthy and happy.

He told me he couldn’t fully express how happy he was that I had learned Korean and could now speak with him. He said that I was his favorite granddaughter. He may have been drinking a bit and I’ve heard him say that to all of his grandchildren, but nonetheless, it made me all giddy to hear that. I had to hang up because my first graders had paraded into the classroom, and I told my grandpa that I would see him in January. He told me, “I lub-ah youuuu”, and I gave him some lub as well.

A couple days later, my dad sent me this e-mail:

Hi Jessica,

Grandpa was very pleased to receive your phone call. He called me to say that he was very proud of you. I think he was even more excited because you can converse with him in Korean.

I hope all is going well with you, and perhaps you need to think about a exit plan from Korea. Take care!

love,

dad

*-ah is commonly added to the end of names as a diminutive suffix. More info here.

When Hitting is Permissible

conscious-irongirl — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:33:42 +0900

In the middle of teaching kinders when I see a kid smack another kid in the back of the head. The hitter had an expression of bitterness and clearly meant to cause pain.

The kinder teacher noticed my alarm and quickly explained the situation. The first kid had thrown the first punch and the kinder teacher was merely letting the initial victim exact revenge. Thus goes the kindergarten retributive justice system.

Cycling Solo in Jeju-do: The Flight

conscious-irongirl — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:46:27 +0900

Had some time in between the end of summer English camp and the start of the second semester and fate took me to Jeju woooo.

I knew some people that cycled around the whole island (roughly 200km) in four or five days and it sounded like an awesome way to check out Jeju. I missed the feeling of propelling oneself with nothing but some metal, rubber, and the lower extremities. I ended up having to do my first solo trip cause I couldn’t find anyone to go with me for various reasons (*sniff* I have no friends…this blog post from a female solo-traveler brought some motivation)

I purchased the ticket through Eastar Jet (eastarjet.com) following advice from this brief article on visiting Jeju Island. I spent 170,000 won (~$160) for a round-trip ticket during the peak summer season, the other being in the winter, and bought the ticket about three weeks in advance.

Packed, finished with summer camp, and off I go!

MISTAKE 1

I wanted to maxmize my time on the island and booked a ticket for 6:30am, but this ended up causing me more stress than it was worth. I contacted my aunt who lives an hour south east of Seoul proper by subway to see if I could stay the night at her apartment and take the first bus to Gimpo airport. This would have worked out, but as my aunt quickly informed me, the first bus to Gimpo is at 5:30am and it takes at least an hour to get there. I wouldn’t get there in time. Aaaaand cue vacation stress.

MISTAKE 2

I wrack my brain about what to do and eventually Googled my way to the Lazy Bird Guesthouse (hostels are frequently called guesthouses in Korea) near Incheon Airport. I give them a call two days before my flight asking for the cheapest room and shuttle to the airport. 20,000 for a bed in a 6 person bunk-bed room, 5,000 for drop-off and another 5,000 because the flight is early-morning (I suspect the manager’s English is decent, but the conversation was in awkward full-on Konglish). I go to an ATM and transfer the 30,000 to his bank account. Aaaaand end vacation stress…temporarily.

Relieved, I hop on a three-hour bus ride to the Incheon bus terminal, ride the subway about another hour to the guesthouse near ICN, and think I’m all set for Jeju until the house manager asks what time my flight is from ICN. I kindly correct him saying that I’m leaving from Gimpo, not Incheon, to which he responds that he thought I said I was flying from Incheon and that transport to Gimpo would cost 50,000 even by taxi. I begrudgingly think I have no other choice until he asks his wife what time the first subway is in the morning and she quickly concludes that I’ll just enough time to board my flight because its domestic…I’ll just have to walk quickly, or run.

Relieved once again, I take a shower and settle in a bit. I din on some oatmeal and a hard-boiled egg I packed for dinner.

In the kitchen

I meet a middle-aged Russian man and slightly younger French woman. The man had apparently been travelling throughout Korea for the past few weeks (I don’t know what he does for a living) and told me about going to the Yeosu expo to only forgo the lines to drink vodka and eat caviar in a Russian restaurant near the Russian pavilion.

The woman was adopted from Korea and came to Seoul for a 6-month Korean language program. She’s unemployed, divorced, and has two children. We made a quick connection sharing experiences having to preface any interaction with new Koreans that we were foreigners and despite our native appearance, not so great at Korean. Both were heading to their respective native countries the following morning.

I finish my dinner, bid “nice to meet you…safe travels, etc.” to Russia and France, take a shower, and sleep about four hours because the one fan oscillating in the bedroom isn’t enough to stave off the Korean summer heat. I unsatisfyingly wake up while its still dark, collect my things, eat some more oatmeal, and am shuttled to the subway station by the kind manager to ride the 5:25am subway 30 minutes to Gimpo.

This eery subway ride

made me nervous and special. I just had to add top and bottom black borders to make it look like a suspense film. Everyone else must be at work or something…man, I’m a lucky duck!

Just kidding, I got on the wrong subway line and hopped on a train at the end of its line and wasted 5 precious minutes while the conductors changed shifts and headed back to same stop I had just come from…

I find the right train, rush off and proceed to jog to “Domestic Departures”. I get on the moving sidewalk to speed myself up and get yelled at by an old Korean man with a cane who shouts very, very loudly “Don’t run!” I keep on jogging.

Lessons learned. Now on to more.

Unexpectations

conscious-irongirl — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:07:35 +0900

Start of the weekend and already miss my kids; how they play with my name while coloring—jajjika, jetika, and the standard teecha jeshika. Half of them don’t have their two front teeth and can’t properly pronounce the letter F (add the absence of an F sound in Korean). When asked by their homeroom teacher if my lessons were hard they said yes, but it’s fun. They don’t realize the class functions as it does because they approach it with eagerness. Yet when they grow older they’ll find themselves working towards the simple goal of ‘comfort’. I pray they look beyond security cause it’s a binding temptation. In the meantime, I’m so thankful for the opportunity to help mold their view of challenges as approachable. I’m gonna miss these rock-paper-scissor-loving kiddies.

Supper good girl

conscious-irongirl — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 07:09:40 +0900

Received this e-mail from my maternal grandpa living back in Portland, OR after he saw my “My TaLK Life” video. Blushed a bit, chuckled a bit—it’s a must read:

[sic]

Jessica -

I read your talking moive. You did so wonderful job. I saw the your activities with little group of childs. Harmuni & I are very proud of you that you are my grandchild.

I am so happy, when you speaking about me and Korean war. It is 62 years aniversery of Korean war by tomorrow. I was only 19. The K. war was started 6/25/1950. It was Sunday. The communist invaited south korea at intire 38th pareller on early morning of Gods day.
The K. war tooks over 5 millions life and distroyed intire country.
I served as combat civil affairs Interpreter both US army & S.K. Army. 할머니 was born Pyungyang (capitor city of N. Korea, refugee to south in January 1951, by foot walk from Pyungyang to Seoul and all the way to Taegu. It was approximately 500 miles. The country was covered by snow and bit cold. with her six brothers & sisters & mom and dad. She was only 16 years old girl. During her refugee movement, lost 2 of her brother. The K. war distroyed hall country and left nothing. Hall nation was refugees and beggar. Many people said there is no hope.

As you see, hopeless country is standup and changed an amazing progress
.
We all have painful difficult time during K.war and post war. But I am proud of my childs and family. I have a lot of story behind.
If you need any help about story of those difficult time, you just let me know. I will give all my support to you.
Jessica, this is the best chance to learn about korea, which is our mothers country & I am proud I am a Korean. Your momm was born and raised until we moved to US. 1983.

well, Jessica, you always careful about safety and health.
Supper good girl, Jessica

love,
6/24/2012 외할머니 & 외할아버지

My entry for this semester’s Chungnam Provincial Office of...

conscious-irongirl — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:46:00 +0900

My entry for this semester’s Chungnam Provincial Office of Education TaLK Movie Contest. Topic was “My TaLK Life”, which basically gives alot of freedom, but could include why you applied and how your experience has been so far as a TaLK scholar. had to fit within the 5 min. time limit (although I went a bit over) and be able to be used for promotional purposes (which is why it’s a bit propaganda-ish). Worked on it for several hours everyday for about two weeks.

6 prizes total:

1st: 1 prize—300,000won for cutural money; 1.5million won for the scholar’s school to go toward an English experience program (not sure what that entails exactly)

2nd: 2 prizes—200,000 cultural money; same as above

3rd: 3 prizes—100,000 cultural money

Obviously, hoping this baby wins me that top prize!

Edited using VideoPad Video Editor

Music (in order of play): Chris Tomlin “Let Your Mercy Rain”, U2 “Where the Streets Have No Name”, Kim Gun Mo “Show Your Smile”

———edit 8/24/2012———-

Got 2nd place for the video contest and received 200,000won worth of booknlife.com coupons for use at movie theaters, some cafes, restaurants, etc. Goin for gold (for reals this time) during next semester’s contest. wooooo

Made for this semester’s Chungnam Province Office of...

conscious-irongirl — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:33:00 +0900

Made for this semester’s Chungnam Province Office of Education TaLK movie contest, but since I could only submit one movie, I chose to submit the “My TaLK Life” video I made instead. I’ll be submitting this demo class video for next semester’s competition. Had to include an Introduction, Development, and Closing, as well as fit within the 10 minute time limit. TaLK also must be able to use it for promotional purposes.

Edited using VideoPad Video Editor

Music by Bedouin Soundclash, “When the Night Feels my Song”

**Note**

The video is a bit misleading since it needs to be promotional as well as win me this contest! The actual class took a double period 80 min. time span, and although my 1st graders are very well-behaved, they’re not as much as is portrayed in the video. Lastly, it takes a much longer time to introduce the vocabulary than a 40min. period.

Racism or ethnic pride? Interracial marriages, ethnic origin, etc.

conscious-irongirl — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 18:26:00 +0900

I had to leave school right after I finished my last class to catch a bus to Seoul. Given the rural location of my elementary school, sometimes I’m the only one on the bus, which was the case this time.

I got on the bus, sat in the front row, and picked up a call from a friend I was supposed to meet that evening. Of course, the bus driver was intrigued by the fact that I was speaking English and inquired about it. “Where do you live?”…”How did you learn English?”…”Are you married?”

That last question may alarm those unfamiliar with typical Korean conversation, but to the latter, asking a stranger about their marital status is pretty typical early in a starting conversation, especially if you look under thirty-five.

I chuckled and told the bus driver, “no, I don’t have any plans to get married anytime soon. I’m quite comfortable being single for a while.” Ah, then here it comes…the speech that perhaps all “overseas Koreans” receive at one point or another when visiting Korea:

You must marry a Korean to keep the blood pure

So he went on about how interracial marriages in Korea are causing problems due to children who are neither Korean nor any non-Korean ethnicity—children who are confused about their ethnic origin and have trouble in school. If a black person or a white person marries a Korean, their hair comes out all strange, huh? That’s why Koreans have to marry Koreans.

I told him I didn’t care, but that my grandpa has told me that I must marry a Korean-American, not a Korean born and raised in Korea. He told me that that was all well and good as long as my future husband’s blood was purely Korean.

And then he moved on to the other speech on Korean elitism. But this was a little different. “I’ve been all over the world—I’ve seen it, and I know that Korea is the best”. But I was skeptical. “Really? Where have you been?”

“I fought in Vietnam during the war and then I spent four years in Libya during the Qaddafi regime” I wasn’t expecting that last one. “I speak Arabic nearly fluently”

“Wow! Really? Can you say something”

“Of course! What should I say?”

“Hello, my name is…”

“Hello?” «Busts something out in Arabic» Really wasn’t expecting that one. Then he gets really excited.

“You know the Lord’s prayer? Our father who art in Heaven hallowed be thy name blah blah blah?” «busts out some more Arabic»

Who would’ve thought that a random bus driver in the countryside of Korea would speak Arabic fluently.

In any case, I think I can objectively say that he’s somewhat close-minded and slightly racist. However, some may just call it ethnic pride.

What an interesting bus ride.

—EDIT 6/3/2012—

An interesting article about multicultural sentiments in S. Korea: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/04/19/2012041900821.html

The First Hwe-sheek (회식)

conscious-irongirl — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:22:20 +0900

Date: 3/5/2012

Here’s the breakdown:

3pm Get word of hweshik in last-minute Korean fashion

5pm Arrive at Korean bbq restaurant in the Cheongyang town center area. Take off shoes, sit on the ground, observe four tables pushed together with about 40 staff members (teachers, administration, kitchen, maintenance) already placing meat on the table-top grill amidst a plethora of Korean side dishes. Of course, there are 3 varieties of kimchi.

5:30pm Dumfounded by the three full shot glasses of Soju in front of me and correctly assume that this 회식 is to welcome the new teachers (me and the 2nd grade teacher)

5:35pm Ask the Kindergarten teacher next to me what I should do. She tells me to pour the Soju out in the water cup underneath the table. I promptly thank her.

6:30pm Full. Other teacher’s still going. The men at the end of the communal table get louder. Start singing songs. Soju continues to flow.

7:30pm “Main course” arrives, meaning some sort of noodle or rice dish.

7:45pm Experience acid reflux.

8pm Leave for the 노래방 [no-rae-bahng] or private karaoke room. Most of the staff go home. About 10 people left, mostly teachers.

8:15pm Amazed at the vice-principals dancing skills and how similar his style is to running in place.

8:30pm Sing “Beautiful” by Xtina. Booyah.

8:45pm The English/Science teacher expresses his high level of intoxication by dancing like there ain’t no tomorrow

9pm Sing my signature “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. Other teacher’s go crazy.

9:02pm Can’t see the screen because the teacher’s are dancing wildly in front of me and trying to sing along, but can only manage rah rah rah ah ah.

10pm Final teacher sings a song and everyone sits down to chat.

10:30pm Get kicked out by the manager to make space for other customers. Teachers get pissed off.

10:45pm Arrive at Tous le Jours cafe. Order peppermint tea. Chat about some sort of administrative issue—election of the head administrator?

11:15pm My mentor teacher drives me home.

On Not Missin' Out

conscious-irongirl — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:27:03 +0900

First…YES I am very bad at “blogging” and it’s been about a month and a half since my last post …hehe. I’m going to try and gradually complete some very belated posts in the coming weeks. In the meantime…

________________________________________________________

How to express agreement in Korean:

»»Standard “yes” = [neh] Nationally-accepted; you’ll never fail with this one.

Do you want to try 번데기 [beon-dae-gi]? 네! (2.18.2012)

What’s that? It’s boiled silkworm pupae and they sell it on the streets of Seoul? Yes, a large steaming cauldron is periodically stirred amidst other street-food regulars such as skewered fish-cake and boiled hot-dog-wieners-on-a-stick. 2,000 won gets you a small one-time use water cup full of very hot 번데기. Good luck finishing the whole thing.

It smells like a heavy-set park ranger’s foot after a day of mucking around in the woods on a rainy day. IMHO food tends to taste like it smells, and this was no exception.

»» The slightly more formal version of 네 = 예 [yeh]. Also a fail-safe.

We have a 회식 [hwe-sheek] (communal dinner) tonight with the entire school staff. Are you going? 예! (3.5.2012)

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of my very first 회식, but I do have a picture of a much mellower dinner a few days later:

However, the picture above doesn’t give the first one justice at all. I will dedicate a separate post to the initial dinner. In any case, they’re an awesome time, and a definite pro of Korean culture.

»»An informal variation of “OK” or “alright” or maybe even “sounds good” = 좋아 [joh-ah]

You down for traveling three hours to Geumsan for your friend’s 22nd birthday, and then spontaneously spending the night in a motel in Daejeon with her? 좋아! (3.11.2012)

I’ll dedicate a separate post to this event as well.

{excuse the The Ring-esque blurring}

We had “Chicken and Yogurt” in Daejeon: roasted chicken glazed in a classic Korean fried chicken sauce alongside cabbage topped with generous scoops of frozen yogurt. Pickled sweet radish on the side of course. The chicken was awesome: perfectly cooked, tender, just enough sauce.

»»Informal 어 [eo] or 응 [eung]. Great among friends or to one’s junior peers. Should be avoided towards most other groups.

Do you want to go to a kimchi factory with the owner of a delivery company on a Monday night? 어! (3.19.2012)

Loads of kimchi with 택배 오빠 [taek-bae oh-bba] (literally translated: delivery older brother)

Same loads of kimchi with Fernando! Also referred to as Nando and Fergie.

Afterwards, we went to an allegedly “authentically classic American style fried chicken place” called Mexican Chicken all decked out in nursery pink and purple private booths with swinging, stereotypical Texas saloon style doors. I’m not too into fried food, but Korean style fried chicken is booommmb.

»»According to my cousin, OK is commonly used in Korea: 오케이 [oh-kae-ee].

Would you like to go teach English in a rural elementary school in Korea for a year? 오케이! (2.3.2012-1.31.2013)

Two of my 1st graders. Seo Hyun and Eun Ji. Absolutely adorable.

**My advice: exercise these words as frequently as possible. With discretion of course ;-)

Tour of my dorm room during the 3 week orientation for the TaLK...

conscious-irongirl — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:07:36 +0900

Tour of my dorm room during the 3 week orientation for the TaLK program at the Korea University’s Sejong Campus in Jochiwon. This is my first video blog, so please excuse the awkward narration!

Goodbye, USA

conscious-irongirl — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:48:14 +0900

Awaiting my flight from SEATAC to Incheon on Korean Air with an estimated total travel time of 50 billion hours (a.k.a 14ish hours). I’m just being a baby though, with a reimbursement from the TaLK program of up to $1000USD each way, I can fly flashy Korean Air. For lunch…Bibimbap! Yes. While leaving home in a rush, my mom looked at my outfit and said, “I’m not sure you can wear that on Korean Air”. I’m in track pants, a sweatshirt, and running shoes :-D I like to use the excuse, “I want to travel comfortably” to dress scrub. I told my mom, “I don’t care—are they going to kick me off?”

The Goodbye
I’ve been having non-stop free meals with lots of family and friends graciously wanting to see me off. I know I’ll miss Portland and I already miss NYC.

One of my parents’ workers said that I should be stuffing my face with “American” food like burgers and pizza, but I probably won’t miss it (except I always miss NY-style thin-crust pizza). I LOVE Korean food and expect to enjoy every meal!

In the meantime, here’s my tribute to my home country as I say farewell for one year:

Fusion food galore

More white people than any other kind of people

Despite the previous—Ethnic diversity

English

Sandwiches

Burgers (with sustainably-raised meat of course :-D)

Brunch

New York

Oregon

Visa (사증 Sah Jeung) and Gender Inequality (?)

conscious-irongirl — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:06:57 +0900

After nearly two months and two three-hour trips up to Seattle, I finally have my Visa! My one-year E2 Visa is securely stuck in my US passport with less than a week before my flight (phew!).

The Visa situation was frustrating. To be sure, this sentiment may be unique to my American standards of individualism, which compared to Korea are much more pervasive. With that said, I called the Korean consulate in New York who told me that my father must submit proper citizenship documentation for me to obtain a Visa to work in Korea.

I’m 21 years old and figured my parent’s citizenship would have no bearing on my Visa. What’s more, my mom has all of her citizenship documents, but the mother’s documents don’t matter, only the father’s. To which my mom responded: “In Korea, women have no rights!”

Here’s some random advice:

-If you can, avoid the NYC Korean consulate. The lady both I and my mom spoke with was curt and unfriendly. Given we’re from Portland, I told my mom to contact the Seattle consulate, correctly assuming that people living on the West Coast are generally easier to work with (more polite, friendly, etc.) :-D

-If any one of your parents was at any point a Korean citizen and you are even remotely thinking of working or studying in Korea, make sure they are clear about their citizenship status. Even though my Dad has been a U.S. citizen since he was 12 years old, he has still remained a dual citizen all of these years and we had to “quickly” obtain proof of his citizenship (by quickly I mean as soon as we could, which amounted to almost two months). He had to expedite the processing request from the U.S. immigration office in Nebraska.

-As always, do everything as early as possible

Links:

Korean work Visa options: http://www.gone2korea.com/korean-work-visas.html

U.S. State Department info on traveling to S. Korea: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1018.html

U.S. State Department info on Visas in general: http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html

Seoul U.S. Embassy: http://seoul.usembassy.gov/

Busan U.S. Embassy: http://busan.usconsulate.gov/