Beef and Leaf

Hi all,



Been an interesting week. We're into week two of teaching, remember, so we're getting used to it. Where once it took me all of 3 or 4 hours to prep, I'm down to being able to prep a class in about 20 minutes or less, so it's coming along (we normally have about 2 hours before class to do our prep work, so this is definitely an improvement).



One of our co-workers, Sarah, decided to set up a "Beef and Leaf" night, meaning a night out for Galbi at a Korean BBQ. Normally, you would eat food with chopsticks or a spoon, here, but at a BBQ restaurant, you cook your own, raw, meat over coals set into the table, then place the meat and assorted vegetables into a piece of lettuce, wrap it all up, and eat the resulting tasty treat. It's really a neat way to eat, healthier by far than the deep-fried/potato-or-bread combo you normally get in Canada or the US. And it's a lot of fun, since it's communal--everybody's cooking, eating from, and sitting around, the same fire, as it were.



Later that night, and after a couple of bottles of soju were purchased and consumed, we went to a noraebang (singing-room), which is the Korean equivalent to Karaoke. Except better. Whereas the standard image one might have of Karaoke is the Western bar where one goes and has to sing, embarrasingly, in front of dozens if not hundreds of complete strangers, a noraebang is rented out for however long you want by you and your group of friends. You sing, drink, dance, and enjoy yourselves in a rather-well-appointed little room (ours had comfy couches, a good table, solid dance floor, and a rather gigantic TV screen). Of course, finding English songs is a challenge, but that's half the fun, especially when half the English songs are rather obscure--I still don't know how or why that many Slipknot songs wound up on the list.



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People



It's interesting, I think, to note that there's a distinct similarity in the people who come to Korea to teach. Now, granted, this is just first impressions, here, and I may be stereotyping a bit, for which I will apologize beforehand. I must ask, in effect, for the reader's indulgence in my venturing into a little bit of political theory here:



In short, while the people who come to Korea to teach are all of different backgrounds and identities, have different interests and goals, the one thing that is similar is that we appear to have hit a certain "sticking point" or rut in our professional lives back home. Now, there may be one or two individuals for whom this is not the case, and indeed, this is meant as a general observation, and not a blanket statement about "everybody."



Still, though, most of the ESL teachers here are young, 20-35 (and in some cases, 20-40) years of age, well-educated, often with a penchance for or a willingness to do something different, and I would readily comment that almost all of them are dedicated individuals with a good head on their shoulders. After all, one doesn't commit to something as nerve-wracking as moving halfway around the world, with all the potential problems and pitfalls that entails, without being able to not only think quite clearly but also to be daring enough to try something as different as this.



But notice the similarity: we are young, 20 and 30 somethings, well-educated... and we are stuck in low-end jobs with no upward mobility, decent jobs that bore us, or some combination of the two. There's a wonderful book out there called Boom, Bust, and Echo (http://www.footwork.com/book.asp), which, while its statistics are out of date, indicates the primary reason for this. From a demographic standpoint, the generation of those who become ESL teachers here in Korea are a smaller (relatively) generation of people who are entering into a job market that is already glutted with previous generations--the boom generation is still occupying the top of the ladder, no matter what the field it is you look at, while their children (the bust/echo generations) are struggling to find good jobs that their elders are still occupying and which their own children (us) are already beginning to fight for.



In short, we're not a "Lost Generation," or anything like that, but we certainly are a generation stuck in limbo, waiting for our turn to run the world--which will probably not happen until we're in our 50s or even our 60s. And I suspect that while most people of my generation find this, at the least, an irritant, and at most, distasteful, there's nothing we can do about it for now. The current set-up of most corporations and similar organizations remains strictly hierarchical, where better jobs and better pay requires you to "move up the ladder." I can think of only a few companies which have adopted what foot calls a spiral system or a more freelance-oriented corporate structure--meaning one in which one may, if not move up the ladder, can at least switch into a new role horizontally within the company for equal or better pay. Many people of my generation are already catching on to the fact that we are not going to be able, as so many of our parents and grandparents have done, work for one company all our lives. Not only is this difficult with the demographic issues I mentioned above, but it's becoming increasingly clear that our generation has many members who want nothing to do with that kind of shell game.



Whether it's because we're a post-modern generation or an integral generation (as Ken Wilber calls it) or whatever, many of the teachers I've met here were stuck in these kinds of ruts, or were looking for some way to explore other options while "waiting" for things to open up a bit in the West.



Again, this is not meant to paint everybody with the same colour, but an observation. The interesting part for me, as a political scientist, is this: the ESL boom notwithstanding, there is an increasing mechanization (meaning more machines doing more of the work that humans used to do) in most jobs in the West as well as a diminishing number of good positions available for the younger generations to occupy--and most companies haven't recognized it yet. The danger here is that you can quite easily wind up with a rather large group of under-employed and angry young people in a society, who might otherwise have been rather supportive and active members of the economy. While I would rather not become a yuppie, myself, that option now appears closed to me anyway, and I suspect, to many others in Canada, the US, and Europe. While I can escape to Korea for a year to give the demographics time to shift a bit in my favour, this is not a permanent solution: the job numbers are going to decrease further as jobs move to countries where wages are lower, and as technology continues to advance.



While I dislike some of what he said, in this, Karl Marx was right: there comes a point in any economic system wherein the means by which we produce our goods and which provide the population of jobs cannot be sustained in its current state. He believed that this was inevitable, although history thus far has not been kind to his hypothesis. But corporate capitalism, as it is presently configured, is entering into this kind of crisis period because of the combination of demographics and the level of technology which we have achieved--a level, by the way, that is going to keep increasing and further decreasing the number of people needed to do the old jobs, regardless of demographics. So while the boomer generation all retiring en masse may relieve some of the stress we're seeing in Western (and indeed, also, in Korean and Asian) society, there's still the issue of how we've got our economic system set up (hierarchy and vertical power structures) and the fact that it's not going to jive with the economic realities we're entering into (horizontal movement among workers in order to and in addition to decreasing numbers of available, decent jobs).



Something to think on, and one for which I've no easy solutions. Again, just an observation.



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Small world



Speaking of people, Jen and I bumped into an old friend of mine: Chris Joseph, who was one of my fellow graduate students at the University of Waterloo in Political Science. A great guy, he started teaching here about 6-7 months ahead of us, and was one of my inspirations for coming here in addition to our mutual friend Cesia Green, who had, like Chris, also taught in Seoul and really enjoyed it.



He's just been accepted into a University in New Zealand to do his PhD, so he'll be leaving soon, but it's still nice to see how small the world is sometimes. We literally dropped into Itaewon for an hour or two to shop in the "American district," and to go visit Yangan Electronic mart, where we picked up some cheap DVDs, and then ran into him crossing the street. Nifty how that happens sometimes.



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Politics



Last, we're watching this bit of furor over Kim Jong-il's health with a mixture of concern, modest apprehension, and something that might be considered hope even this cold, cynical little heart of mine. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/09/116_30984.html



While specualtion abounds as to the "Dear Leader's" health, as he is called in our neighbours to the North, I'm just as interested in what appears to be a rather royal power struggle in this so-called House of Marx. His children, apparently, are not quite ready to take the reigns of power, although it's possible, while various factions are supposedly vying for power behind the scenes and behind the throne. While which way the North will dodge is always anyone's guess, the possibility that some of the technocratic, reasonably-moderate members of the leadership will take over power (who are apparently somewhat more kindly disposed towards liberalization and the South), instead of the hardliners among the military (who are pro-Beijing and pro-status quo) or one of Kim's sons, gives me a small sense of hope that maybe something might change.



As always, though, the cynic warns me that where power is up for grabs, it's usually the ruthless and the dangerous who seize it, not the just, the righteous, or the wise.



More on that as it comes, I suppose.




For now, I simply conclude with wishing everyone my best regards, as usual,



Chris



-----Postscript: While it is only a very small gesture, and not nearly sufficient to alleviate the grief of those close to and who knew him, I'd like to use this space to wish Dan Lungo rest and peace, and healing to his friends and his family. Dan was a friend and colleague of mine from Graduate School at the University of Waterloo, and while I can only wish, in hindsight, that I knew him better, I can say that he was a good man, and one of the strongest I've ever met. Dan Lungo recently passed away from cancer, and I regret not being able to attend his funeral.



Chris Joseph, whom I mentioned earlier, commented that Dan never gave up, even though he knew what was going wrong and what was happening to him--he still pursued his education, up to and including into his PhD program. He was a smart and dedicated young man, and his death is a loss to all who knew him. I always enjoyed talking with him, and I will miss his intelligence, dry sense of humour, and his friendship.

May peace be with you, my friend.