The class is conducted in English, and rather than simply lecture the students, I used the opportunity to ask them questions and then to discuss several topics with them. It was fun, for me at least. We covered a wide range of issues, including gender dynamics in Korea (why is it that Korean men don’t cook? One student said that he certainly does, and expects to cook for his wife; several of the women students immediately offered to marry him); reunification with the North (which students generally agreed was inevitable, difficult, and maybe not such a good idea); and the global economic crisis, which concerns them greatly (with some difficulty I convinced them that it was not entirely the fault of the US, although Ronald Reagan does bear a major share of the blame.) Three of the students were from Malaysia and one from China, which made the discussions even more interesting. They all seemed bright, thoughtful, and well informed.
The rest of my time this week has been spent with Mike and Donna James, two very fun and highly professional videographers from Seattle who are creating a half hour video about Daejeon to be shown on Seattle television. I have been accompanying them on their schedule of sight-seeing and interviews, which has been educational for me and maybe somewhat helpful for them. In the first few days of their visit, they have interviewed students and faculty at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (known as the Korean MIT and a very impressive place); explored cancer research at the Korean Research Institute of Biology and Biotechnology, which has a joint project going with the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle; talked with high school students at a public school specializing in foreign languages; and of course, checked out the fans, ballplayers, cheerleaders, and food at a Hanwha Eagles baseball game.
Probably the most dramatic contrast came on Sunday. We started the day at an evangelical mega-church (7,000 members, 3,000 of them children) here in Daejeon, interviewing the head pastor in his plush office and then attending the service. It was rollicking and intense in the same highly choreographed way many fundamentalist services are conducted in the US—the loud music, the videos, the charismatic calls.
The rest of my time this week has been spent with Mike and Donna James, two very fun and highly professional videographers from Seattle who are creating a half hour video about Daejeon to be shown on Seattle television. I have been accompanying them on their schedule of sight-seeing and interviews, which has been educational for me and maybe somewhat helpful for them. In the first few days of their visit, they have interviewed students and faculty at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (known as the Korean MIT and a very impressive place); explored cancer research at the Korean Research Institute of Biology and Biotechnology, which has a joint project going with the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle; talked with high school students at a public school specializing in foreign languages; and of course, checked out the fans, ballplayers, cheerleaders, and food at a Hanwha Eagles baseball game.
Probably the most dramatic contrast came on Sunday. We started the day at an evangelical mega-church (7,000 members, 3,000 of them children) here in Daejeon, interviewing the head pastor in his plush office and then attending the service. It was rollicking and intense in the same highly choreographed way many fundamentalist services are conducted in the US—the loud music, the videos, the charismatic calls.
From there we went to Dong hak sa Temple, where the head priest (a woman) made tea for us while she sat crosslegged on the floor and patiently explained the Four Noble Truths.
In the main temple, worshipers meditated in silence. In the courtyard outside, throngs of tourists like me snapped photos of the red and pink lanterns that had been hung in celebration of the Buddha’s birthday on May 2.
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