Miriam Reed

Tag: Korea

  • 1 November 2018 Korea

    Thursday, 1 November 2018

    Perhaps the shame of Teddy’s Roosevelt’s handover of Korea to Japan in 1905, for which ironically he received the Nobel Peace Prize, can be somewhat expiated by the great contribution of the American Christian missionaries, who were active in Korea during the same period.

    Christian missionaries are often given a bad rap for their imposition of Western values on the “native people.” The Christian work of such as Oliver R. Avison, who laid the basis for what is now the world famous Severance Hospital in Seoul, and the founding of Ewha College, the largest educational institution for women in the world, by Mary Scranton, American Methodist missionary, certainly imposed Western values, values that encouraged the Koreans to demand for themselves the values of freedom, dignity, and gender equality. The search for the best in health care continues today at Severance Hospital, and the ongoing demand for gender equality is sustained and inspired by the work of earlier generations of Korean Christian women, who devoted their lives to developing an emerging women’s consciousness in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, who sacrificed for Korean independence even while the Korean men scoffed at their participation.

    While American women knew friendship and interaction with other women and men within their communities, Korean women were historically forbidden contact with persons outside the home of their father, husband, or son. When Christian missionaries offered the message of equality, accompanied by a basic education, Korean women, living much as slaves, eagerly embraced it, and early on after the arrival of Christianity in Korea, women outnumbered the men in the churches.

    Aside from these deep matters now occupying my mind, it was another beautiful day in Seoul. Again, clear blue skies and crisp autumn weather.

                      

    But something else was going on today. I noticed, on the corner, silent serious men holding a banner.

    Apparently, conservative Christians are militant in Korea. Cordons of police were gathered on the sidewalk.

    I walked under this golden canopy of entwined branches, just across the street from the watching policemen.

    Another banner.  

    In the courtyard between these two impressive high rise buildings. what must have been a political rally was being held: a Hitler-type harangue, shrill in its fervor, punctuated with programmed roars.of approval, spilled out over the orderly well-policed streets. Whatever the movement, it was not being supported by the strolling consumers. Girls and families were again in costume.

                       

    In one busy store, rows of plastic bowls rioted with their colors in the sunlit window. Maybe there is a good use for plastic.

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    Women were buying facial masques for brightening and lightening.

            

    And flowers in their flower pots were for sale on the sidewalk.

  • 31 October 2018 Korea

    Wednesday 31 October 2018
    Wandering in Seoul

    It is a great day to wander around Seoul, cool but not cold, an autumn day with bright blue skies. This area is of Gyeongbokgung is the heart of commercial Seoul, government and corporate centers located here in their highly spectacular glass and steel, coldly chilling, monolithic structures. Everywhere you look, it is much the same, vast crosswalks among shiny light-gray blocks that make their statement of overwhelming indifference to the human soul.

                     

    But if you got into the small alleys that feed off of the freeway streets, variety abounds and Seoul becomes interesting. Custom prevails in some of these older shops. Meat was being grilled outside of a small older looking restaurant, but when I tried to eat there, the owner told me that he did not serve single customers; there had to be two at the table. I had heard that that was a custom here, but it worked well for me. A block away was a new smart looking sushi restaurant. I am still having troubles converting currencies, so it is just as well that I do not know how much I spent on that delicious lunch.

                
    Chicken feet are available as are French pastries at a typical Paris-type bakery.

    It must have been some kind of festival day because many young women were in the street wearing the traditional Korean court costume, and many shops featured the costumes for both adults and children. I had the good luck to see a young man dressed up, for usually one sees only the girls in costume.  People were friendly.

             

  • 29 October 2018 Korea

    Monday  29 October 2018
    Monday or maybe Tuesday

    Have we crossed the date line? I do not recommend taking a 5am flight to Korea or a 5am flight to anywhere. It means waking up at 2am to be at the airport at 3am, the required two hours before departure time. Fortunately, the Medford, Oregon, airport is small, and one can arrive at 3:30 or maybe even 4am and make it through Security and still be on time. Regardless, on the night before travel I am up at 2am, unable to go to sleep for fear of failing to wake up on time and/or dealing with the Surprise.

    An unwritten law assures that no matter how long preparations for a long trip have been made, just prior to the last hours or the last day of leaving, there will be a Surprise. Surprises can be good, but good or bad, they assuredly obliterate the time required for planned preparations and ensure that one will not have the luxury of sleep prior to the hour of departure.

    I also do not recommend sleeping or trying to sleep on the floor of the Seattle Airport during the very long six-hour layover between arriving at Seattle and departing for Seoul. But once loaded up and on board, I certainly can recommend Asiana Airlines. What an experience it is to fly in a beautiful airplane, with wide seats that really recline, the soft cushions a lovely tan, accented with soft rust colored pillows and darker tan blankets, a lovely palette of color, and this in economy class! No full figured stewardess here, but perfectly coiffed black haired young women dressed in elegant form-fitting suits, just a splash of color with the small scarf at the neck. When the women added the soft red aprons sprinkled with a flower splash design on the front – there were two types of aprons, one red and the others tan – I presume this didn’t indicate status but merely variation for the sake of elegant variety.

                        

    Lots of children on board, and against a bulkhead just in front of the parents were two bassinets for sleeping babies.

    And then we had dinner, a choice of beef steak and mashed potatoes or Korean Bibimbap. My Japanese seat-mate asked for chopsticks with which to eat her beefsteak, but she was told chop sticks were not offered with beefsteak. In fact, chopsticks were not offered with Bibimbap either, but directions were. I was too excited to realize I should should take a photo of the vegetables before I mixed them with the rice and hot sauce. The steward recommended that I add only half the tube of the hot sauce. I added a soupçon, and that was more than enough. You can see how the mixed rice and vegetable look, and it was quite good. The pickles were daikon pickles similar to those my Japanese friend Tsutae San makes with rice vinegar, and they were delicious. The seaweed soup was so good, but just looks like clear water in life and also in the photo. Dessert was a universal KitKat bar, a bow no doubt to American taste – though the Koreans apparently love sweet things and put sugar on a grilled cheese sandwich.

              

    Breakfast this morning was a chicken sandwich with a bit of onion and more fat roll than chicken, so good enough, and the lights have not been turned on, perhaps we are coming close to Incheon.

    And so off to Korea, rather unprepared. The Surprise comes, Living things must be taken care of always. The plants must be watered and the dog must be fed. This means shopping and then there is sleeping and paying taxes and the Other that knocks out the rest of the time to be devoted to preparations for a trip to Korea. At least I know how to say “thank you” and “excuse me”. During the next ten days, surely I will learn more, maybe even catch up with all I had planned to do earlier. Somehow, it all works out.

    Best wishes,
    Miriam

  • 28 October 2018 Korea November 2018

    Sunday  28 October 2018
    Preparing for Korea In Ashland, Oregon

    This begins the account of my upcoming  ten days in Korea during November 2018.

    Why would I want to leave Ashland at this beautiful time the year? The fall colors have never been more beautiful, and when I return, the trees will all be bare. But I hope I will return better able to discuss the culture and activities of Korea in 1908 – which is the purpose of this trip: to research the history of Korea and perhaps catch a glimpse of what the Gambles saw when they were making their visit there over a century ago.

    Thank you for reading. Send any questions you may have. Enjoy the fall colors that I am missing.

    Best wishes,
    Miriam

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