The Absurdity: Part 2

Last time I wrote about the daily minutiae of my life in Korea, I was primarily concerned with taxis and bananas.  I want to update you on those two issues which have driven me bananas for so long along with a couple of new issues which as an outsider on the margins of Korean society, drive me bananas.

First of all, I must thank E-Mart for starting to sell two bananas at a time for 990 won.  It beats the single bananas at Starbucks for 1,500 and is much better than having to buy 10 bananas at once knowing I will throw half of them out.  I would like to think my hard hitting article caused this recent development but I don’t think I can take credit for that.  

However, I wish the geniuses at E-mart would stop wrapping the bananas in plastic bags.  I understand the desire to protect the bananas but I just wish there was some natural skin that could protect bananas in lieu of the plastic?  If only there was a tough natural skin that covered bananas which was biodegradable and wouldn’t pollute the oceans.  

On the taxi front, I recently tried to grab a taxi home from Itaewon to HBC.  The taxi driver initially welcomed me as my friend had a suitcase, but as soon as HBC was mentioned, he told us to get out.  I politely refused and referenced the law which doesn’t allow him to refuse service.  

We proceeded to the police station, where the police, admitted that he was breaking the law but insisted I get out so he could go sit and wait along the main road of Itaewon for a long haul ride as my destination was to close.  

Last time I suggested arming elderly people with smartphones in order to ticket the numerous illegally parked cars in HBC.  Thankfully this issue has largely been eliminated due to increased parking enforcement but I would like to see the Itaewon Police patrolling the main road along which Itaewon taxis park.  

Too often taxis just sit along the main road of Itaewon refusing service to customers causing congestion and slower service from those taxi drivers who are willing to pick up and drop off customers anywhere.  If they refuse to take customers, they should not be allowed to sit idly by on the mainroad of Itaewon.  

The newest issue I found myself thinking about arose as I make plans to leave Korea; namely the issue of my E-2 VISA.  Thank god The Korea Times doesn’t pay me or else I might be in violation of the E-2 which only permits me to teach conversational English.  I may be mistaken but as I understand, I can’t pursue business or other money making opportunities.

Many expats, such as myself have ended up loving our time in Korea and stayed long behind our initial expectation of a year or two.  However, E-2 Visas preclude myself from pursuing other money making opportunities in my spare time.  If Korea is truly serious about improving its economy and making it more dynamic, then a natural step would be to unleash the creative energies of its expat population instead of limiting opportunities.   

As long as E-2 visa holders are able to fulfill their main job duties, then they should be free to pursue other ventures.  Many people who would consider staying in Korea decide to leave because of the limited opportunities imposed by the E-2 Visa.  If they can turn their hobby into a business, then why limit them?  

This should be allowed, especially to those who have lived in Korea for an extended period of time.  Instead, many foreigners refuse to start a registered business or operate in a gray area, robbing the Korean government of tax revenue.  

My other gripe with the E-2 visa is its limitations to ‘conversational english.’  I recently finished my masters in TESL and many times in class, discussions would veer back to the absurdity of this stipulation.  I don’t remember a single professor who was not horrified by this.  Korean kids are being done a disservice by being limited to conversational english.   

Although the ‘conversational english’ seems pretty broad with a certain amount of leeway, it isn’t necessarily a limb I would care to venture out on as I really do enjoy living in Korea.  Kids need to have more than the ability for playground communication, or conversational English.  What is also needed is academic English; specifically 

“the genre of English used in the world of research, study, teaching and universities” or as another put it  ‘Academic English refers to words and practice that are not necessarily common or frequently encountered in informal conversation and circumstances.”  

Granted, such concerns don’t arise for younger children as the focus is building a strong foundation to build on in the future.  However, for older students, I find myself hampered by the limitations of ‘conversational english.’  Their minds are ready to be debating, writing, creating arguments and academic terms which fall beyond the pale of ‘conversational english.’

After living in Korea for nine years, bananas, taxis and the E-2 VISA have been driving me bananas. I just had to get all of this off my chest.  However, my experiences with Korea aren’t strictly negative as there are many things about this country which I love and are the reasons I have stayed in Korea for as long as I have.

One thing which struck me very early in my stay in Korea was the periodic cleaning up of trash on school grounds and neighboring areas.  I think it is great as this fosters a sense of community and responsibility amongst the children for their neighborhoods.  It also gives them the ability to empathize with janitors and other people on the lower stratum of society who must clean up daily.  Having to pick up the trash and litter generated by other students I would imagine quickly turns littering into an action which will bring about peer pressure to prevent.  

I can’t help but compare the action of Korean kids with my experience in the American school system.  I would be periodically punished with having to walk around school picking up trash but it was never a school wide effort.  The act of picking up trash was used as a punishment instead of as a moment to teach empathy and responsibility.  

Furthermore, you have people like the White House Advisor, Stephen Miller who would intentionally create a mess in High School and leave his trash for others to clean up.  Instead of empathizing with people who have lower status jobs, he justified his actions as being necessary to create jobs and work for the janitors at his high school.  He is truly a little shit with no empathy or understanding of those outside of his bubble of privilege.  For that, I do admire what Korea is teaching their youths.  I wish America would imitate some aspects of the many wonderful things I have seen in Korea.