Korea Saranghae

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend - mine was pretty low key, which was just what I needed to wind down a busy week. Today I'd like to educate you all a little bit on Korean teenage culture via YouTube videos. Are you ready?

So, this weekend I hung out with some friends, volunteered at the orphanage, studied, and did some reading. I also found myself spending a lot of time watching, of all things, YouTube. Why? If you know me well, you would know that I'm not generally a YouTube video kind of person - while I like to utilize it for lessons and a few clips here and there, I'm not like some of my friends who spend hours and hours just clicking randomly on interestingly titled videos (you know who you are.) So, how is it that I found myself spending a total of four or five hours on YouTube this weekend? One word: K-Pop. K-Pop, or Korean Pop music, is Korea's contribution to world pop culture. K-Pop is a fairly recent (the last fifteen years or so) generational wave of pop music, which really didn't have much of a history in Korea prior to the 21st century. Solo artists are usually less common, so K-Pop is concentrated on a select number of pop groups - either boy or girl bands, usually with three to six (sometimes more) members. From there, some choose do make solo singles, but they usually stay loyal to their group as well.

They are young, good looking, and talented in dance, music, and acting, but life isn't all fun and games for these groups. They typically have to sign strict contracts with their agencies, which basically signs over their lives - in many they aren't allowed to have relationships, especially with other K-Pop stars, and the contracts keep them on extremely strict schedules. Read more about these so-called 'slave contracts' here. Like the rest of Korea, K-Pop bands are extremely hardworking, but it pays off. K-Pop has been embraced in Korea, Japan, parts of China, and all over SE Asia. Recently some of the groups have become more popular on the international pop culture circuit - Big Bang just recently hit the top 10 album list in the United States. What's interesting about K-Pop is the image these groups present. To be honest, to me, the girls are a bit scandalous, due to their sweet and innocent looks coupled with fairly suggestive dance moves (complete with very very short skirts.) Of course, compared to some of the American pop artists they would seem quite conservative, but because Korean culture is naturally fairly conservative it seems even more shocking to see these girls dancing provocatively. The guys, however, have it all: the looks, the dance moves, and the songs. Their moves usually aren't too inappropriate, and they have a great stage presence. However, most guys or girls in America definitely wouldn't find themselves liking the K-Pop guys due to their lack of... let's say masculine appearance. They are usually pretty skinny, though very fit, but what's most noticeable is that the male singers typically dress in more cutting edge fashion than singers in the States, giving them more of a feminine...persona? Oh, and they usually wear eye makeup and have their hair spiked, dyed, or gelled in every which way. But let's move on.

Throughout my stay in Korea, I've become increasingly aware of K-Pop, as the songs (most with catchy choruses that have a few English words in them which allows us foreigners to recognize the songs and start singing along) blast in most stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. Also, my students manage to know just about every K-Pop song 

ever made, including the accompanying music video dance. The music videos are widespread on the Internet and on TV - at my school festival last fall every single song performance was a K-Pop song (lip synched) and dance. Hilarious. You know how people learn the dances to the Macarena or the Electric Slide, then they only do them at weddings? Well, here you learn the music video dance, then you find every opportunity you can to do the dance with all your friends who obviously know it also. Like, at school, randomly in the street, or, my personal favorite, at the bars (not when you're my students though - those are only the older kids who do it at the bars.)

Then there are the lyrics. I've found myself victim to K-Pop lyrics that I'm not aware of, so much so that I'm caught off guard when I say some key phrase that is part of a song, and 

then I have ten kids in unison singing the next line back to me. Example: if I say "you don't know?" I will hear "Shut up, Boy!" thanks to the girl group Miss A's song "Good Girl, Bad Girl." Yes, during class. We try to keep it fun. And if I want to talk about daily schedules, such as "In America on Thanksgiving we usually eat Thanksgiving lunch around 2 PM..." I hear "2PM? 2AM!" thanks to having two different pop groups called, respectively, 2PM and 2AM.

I've caught on to what not to say at this point, and sometime I like to surprise them by saying a lyric in response to something they just said...this gives me big points for keeping up with pop culture. Nevertheless, I didn't really know the difference (nor cared to) between ShinEE or Girls Generation or 2NE1 (get it - twenty one? Of course, there are only six members.) Wondergirls or B2ST (pronounced "beast," because the

 Korean pronunciation for the number 2 is "ee") until just a couple of weeks ago. The first day I met my new group of seventh grade students this year, as soon as I announced my name was Gina, I received lots of giggles, and had at least three or four kids per class say something about "black and white." I thought it was some weird commentary on my clothes, but I was wrong. It wasn't until I had some random kid start singing a song to me at my desk that I got clued in - it turns out while I was in India there was a breakout song called "Black and White" by the new singer artist G-NA. Yes, our names sound the same. That's when I decided I should do a little research to shield myself against unbeknownst lyric jokes, or to gather some ammo to surprise my kids with. I didn't need to look too far on Wikipedia - I discovered one of her songs is called "I Miss You Already." I call my co-teacher Miss Yoo. We are Gina and Miss Yoo. 

Anyways, this led to me paying more attention to the radio playing at the gym over the past few weeks - to either listen for G-NA's songs or just to listen to the songs in general so I could catch the English. Lucky for me, my friend Sokhom was into K-Pop even before she came to Korea, so she helped educate me on some of the basic groups and their songs. One night at the gym I heard a really catchy song, and when I asked Sokhom what it was or who performed it she didn't have an answer for me. Always the investigator, when I was at her place last weekend

 we decided to research them, based on the only three English words I knew from the song. After a couple of failed attempts on YouTube, I finally found the song. We watched it. Then we watched it again. And again. And again. We were hooked. Here's their picture. I know it's weird, especially if you haven't been surrounded by K-Pop culture for the past six months like I have. All furs, skinny jeans, fringe, spiky hair, and eye makeup aside, those boys are a good looking bunch. 

After watching the music video, I discovered there were more videos to click on that showed the boys in reality tv settings, much like some of our shows in the States. Luckily, there were quite a few with English subtitles, so I was able to follow along on most of them and realize that these boys were also really, really funny, in their own Korean way. 

Anyways, as you can see, one video link led to another...and before I knew it I had spent almost two hours on YouTube - shameful, I know. However, it has reaped its benefits this past week - if I mention to my students that I like MBLAQ they either A. start singing one of their songs, B. start doing the dance to one of their songs, C. a combination of both (my favorite), or D. smile and say, MBLAQ? They're thrilled that they can relate to me with this connection, and it's common ground for them (and me) to start a conversation, which is the ultimate objective for me being here in the first place. In this sense I like to think I've justified my YouTube time by calling it 'research' for school.

So there's your insight to Korean pop culture. Now I'm going to jump to the other end of the spectrum and talk a little more about my students, or more specifically, my students after they leave middle school. I've been corresponding with Yeong Ju, one of my former students who graduated last semester and is now attending ChangPyeong High School. Her e-mails, though they are wonderful to receive, sadden me because they are genuine proof of what a typical Korean high school student goes through in terms of a rigorous study schedule. Here is an excerpt from her last e-mail: "high school is so busy and tired...i must be wake up at 6:30 a.m. and go to bed at 2 a.m. i study at school until 10:30 p.m. and go to academy [private tutoring school] until 2.a.m.so , i'm very very tired..." Lack of sleep is the most common problem among Korean teenagers, and rightly so. If students ever get time off (they also go to school and academies on Saturday, and sometimes academy on Sundays) they are so tired that they would rather play computer games, watch tv, or just sleep.

The majority of Korea knows that it isn't right to keep putting these students through such a demanding schedule, so people are trying to change the system, but for now it's a sad reality - their lives are centered around studying, rote memorization, and focusing on whatever test comes next, be it the high school entrance exam, university entrance exam, or even just the unit test. The pressure for good grades is heavy on the students, put on them by their superiors, their parents, and especially themselves. I have one more video to show you (it's a little longer, just to warn you) that a friend of mine found on YouTube - it explains the situation better than I can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpS2JJYfbZ8.

Now, I've talked about high schoolers - let's move to middle school, as I have direct experience with these little guys. Middle schoolers don't usually feel the heavy pressure until the end of their second year, but they typically attend one to two hours of Academy a few days a week - typically in English, math, and science - beginning in elementary school. As a result, my English classes usually have extreme ranges of first year students from those who can barely read the alphabet to those who can tell me they saw me on the bus reading a book last week (true story - I always read on my bus rides, and she did indeed see me on the bus.) The reason I bring this knowledge gap up is that my school recently started a program (quite recently - yesterday) called "Dream School," which is an extra after school (5 to 7 PM) program that consists of extra tutoring in Korean, math, and English. This means that some of my students spend 11 hours a day at school. However, my coworkers and I don't have to teach until then - other teachers from the area come to our school for those extra two hours a day. Dream School (by the way - this isn't a translation...they quite literally say 'dream school' with a Korean accent, so it sounds like 'duhleemuh suhkooluh') is a school board initiative to try and balance out the students who can't afford to attend Academies with those who do. I teach out in the country, and many of my students' families simply can't afford to send them into the city, where the best Academies are. Though Dream School may sound like a better solution for parents, I still think keeping kids at school until 7 PM is way too extreme. My kids, needless to say, are tired. I feel sorry for them, and try to make my lessons as fun as possible to give them a bit of a break from their studies. I know I've mentioned the school system before, but the beginning of a new semester has really put into perspective just how hard these kids have to work.

I've noticed the Korean drive for education and success plays out in every aspect of their culture, even into their adult lives. I see dozens of adults taking swimming lessons at the pool I lap swim at, all working on improving their strokes, (especially the butterfly - why anyone would want to swim that up and down the pool if they didn't have a coach telling them to is beyond me) in the streets people are always coming up to me to ask to practice their English with me, and every time I walk into the city library study room no one even acknowledges my presence by staring and/or giggling because they are so into their studies. This drive for constant improvement is even evident in their celebrities - the K-Pop groups I talked about work extremely hard under severe contract conditions. They practice, work out, perform at concerts, have recording and performance sessions, and are constantly on some sort of reality tv show or game show, plus, you don't really hear of them in trouble with drugs or alcohol, at least as far as I know.

In short, Korea isn't lazy. They have a lot of good things going for them - a fast growing economy, high educational statistics in test scores and results, and they even have their own little subculture of celebrity pop singers and rappers. It's an exciting time right now to live in Korea, and though I hate to always see my kids sleep deprived and suffering from their rigorous academic schedule, I'm constantly amazed at their intelligence, talent, and especially their ability to keep up a positive attitude. I appreciate every minute of attention they give me in class, even if they can't understand half of the words I say - that's not easy to do even when you do get enough sleep. Though I'm constantly learning about Korea and its culture, these past two weeks I have felt especially connected (through K-Pop, of all things) to my students, the most important people here to me. As I keep learning more about the academic pressure my students have to face, I'm glad I've found such an entertaining (and slightly obsessive) way to relate to them, and hopefully keep dreaded subjects like English fun - who knows, maybe next I'll learn how to play Starcraft. Just kidding. Hope you had some fun learning about K-Pop...I'll accept any confession e-mails from those of you who spent three hours watching K-Pop videos after reading this.

Take care everyone, have a wonderful rest of your week! Oh, and if you were wondering about the title - Korea Saranghae translates to I love Korea, and in 98% of every K-Pop song you will hear some variation of the word "Sarang," or love. It's even in the MBLAQ video - can you catch it?