Another weekend and another train trip back to Seoul. Sitting at the bench on the platform of Chuncheon Station, waiting for the next train to the metropolis, I am becoming more and more anxious to whether these trips are becoming some sort of emotional escapist behaviors out of the real Korea that I was so excited to see and live within. Chuncheon, for me and as well as all students and teachers, has become a place we are forced to be during the weekends.
To be perfectly honest, I, among all people, have been struggling to find my social place within the enclosed environment that is our camp. As Korean continues to entrench its position as the official language of the camp, those who are struggling with understanding of the language, whether it be the foreign teachers or some students who grew up outside Korea, have been feeling the continued spiral toward social isolation.
And what the most irritating in the situation is just how little effort the Korean staff, who, supposedly being the bridges that connect the teachers with the students, have been expending to communicate with the teachers. Being shy when speaking English is one thing, but often times, the teachers who do not speak Korean at all can literally feel themselves being completely ignored by the staff unless the teachers make the effort to communicate by sign or body language.
Unfortunately, the more I try to imply such irritation in public, the more the staff attempts to isolate the teachers. As they stoop down to the levels of the students and make every effort to become “part” of the them, they inadvertently have let the teachers, somewhat hated for strictness, known that they, the staff, no matter what they say superficially to “push” the students, are actually on the students’ side if and when conflicts between the teachers and the students arise.
To buck such a trend, I have tried, have REALLY tried, to connect with the Korean staff at a deeper level, beyond that superficial relationship as coworkers. Every weekend, I participated in their habit of end-of-the-week alcohol imbibing, hoping that the drinks will somehow open them up for more communication. Was I so wrong! The alcohol only served to make them more talkative, in Korean, isolating me further as the others laugh up a storm about something that they do not even bother to try interpreting.
At the same time, the “real” characters and the “real” cliques of the students are really beginning to display themselves on the surface, threatening to destroy whatever that is left of the emotional unity we have at the camp. As the students participate in more outside-the-classroom activities, they have become more of the real people that they are rather than the studying machines that the camp administrators are forcing them to become.
And nothing would be more expressive of the difference in personalities than a night of singing at the karaoke box. Those who are too shy to sing felt uneasy the whole night being pushed by the thoughtless staff to sing, furthering destroying their self-confidence. And those who are boisterous grabbed whatever opportunities they can to show off their... well...boisterousness, selfishly pushing aside the song requests of the others in the process. And those whose cliques broke apart as their close associates went home for the weekend, well, just sat there feeling out of place.
Starting next week, the second half of the classes begin, and the classmates reshuffle. But unfortunately, with the exception of a couple of new entries and early leaves, the roster of the camp does not at all change. In a way, I do feel sorry for the new students who have to start out in the new environment already full of underlying social groupings and conflicts, but at the same time, I just hope certain irritations do not boil over and push certain conflicts to the surface...
To be perfectly honest, I, among all people, have been struggling to find my social place within the enclosed environment that is our camp. As Korean continues to entrench its position as the official language of the camp, those who are struggling with understanding of the language, whether it be the foreign teachers or some students who grew up outside Korea, have been feeling the continued spiral toward social isolation.
And what the most irritating in the situation is just how little effort the Korean staff, who, supposedly being the bridges that connect the teachers with the students, have been expending to communicate with the teachers. Being shy when speaking English is one thing, but often times, the teachers who do not speak Korean at all can literally feel themselves being completely ignored by the staff unless the teachers make the effort to communicate by sign or body language.
Unfortunately, the more I try to imply such irritation in public, the more the staff attempts to isolate the teachers. As they stoop down to the levels of the students and make every effort to become “part” of the them, they inadvertently have let the teachers, somewhat hated for strictness, known that they, the staff, no matter what they say superficially to “push” the students, are actually on the students’ side if and when conflicts between the teachers and the students arise.
To buck such a trend, I have tried, have REALLY tried, to connect with the Korean staff at a deeper level, beyond that superficial relationship as coworkers. Every weekend, I participated in their habit of end-of-the-week alcohol imbibing, hoping that the drinks will somehow open them up for more communication. Was I so wrong! The alcohol only served to make them more talkative, in Korean, isolating me further as the others laugh up a storm about something that they do not even bother to try interpreting.
At the same time, the “real” characters and the “real” cliques of the students are really beginning to display themselves on the surface, threatening to destroy whatever that is left of the emotional unity we have at the camp. As the students participate in more outside-the-classroom activities, they have become more of the real people that they are rather than the studying machines that the camp administrators are forcing them to become.
And nothing would be more expressive of the difference in personalities than a night of singing at the karaoke box. Those who are too shy to sing felt uneasy the whole night being pushed by the thoughtless staff to sing, furthering destroying their self-confidence. And those who are boisterous grabbed whatever opportunities they can to show off their... well...boisterousness, selfishly pushing aside the song requests of the others in the process. And those whose cliques broke apart as their close associates went home for the weekend, well, just sat there feeling out of place.
Starting next week, the second half of the classes begin, and the classmates reshuffle. But unfortunately, with the exception of a couple of new entries and early leaves, the roster of the camp does not at all change. In a way, I do feel sorry for the new students who have to start out in the new environment already full of underlying social groupings and conflicts, but at the same time, I just hope certain irritations do not boil over and push certain conflicts to the surface...
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