Working in Korea 1: Why?

Okay, this seems totally unrelated to my regular blog. But people sometimes ask me about this and I decided it was time to write something up that I can refer them to. I'll work on this in series, since it's a lot of information.

Before you start asking about where to work or how to find a good job, you need to ask some foundational questions. Today, I'll write about the first question.

What's your purpose in Korea? Why would you relocate to a foreign country? Why Korea?

There's no right answer here. But having a sense of purpose will guide your choices after this. Here are some common reasons:

• Financial - "I want to make money. I hear Korea's the best place to do it." Maybe it's student loans, or not finding a decent job back home. That's fine. I'm not going to knock you for this at all. Just be honest if this is your reason.
• Travel - "I want to see the world." No problem, you can see Asia from here. If you have enough vacation time. And if you make friends who want to travel with you. 
• Experience - "I've just finished college and want to try something different before grad school / working life." No problem. It'll be different alright. It could be the best - or worst - experience of your life. 
• Korean culture - You're in to K-pop. Or Korean dramas. You think Korean guys are kinda cute or the girls are easy. Good luck with that...
• Korean language - I do NOT put this under culture, where it should go. If you want to learn Korean - maybe you're Korean by heritage and are embarrassed when Grandma visits, or maybe you've caught "Korean fever" - Korea's the place to do it. But keep in mind that you WON'T learn it just by being here.

Alright, you might even have different answers. That's fine, I'm not saying any of them are right or wrong. Just be honest with yourself. And be clear. Be very, very clear on why you want to work in Korea. And write that down - because sometimes, that'll be the only thing that will get you through the day. 

Besides, if you can't answer this question, you're definitely not ready to make such a  big life decision.

On a Scale of 1 to 10...

That's how paramedics ask you to describe the pain. Doesn't matter the injury, just give me some vague idea of how much it hurts.

There's a problem with that question: The scale is relative. My 8 might be your 3. Okay, well, actually, paramedics consider this as well. That's why medical professionals tend to be a bit jaded - you say 8 and they take it down a few notches based on their experience. Don't knock them for this - trust me, you'd be jaded too at everyone overestimating their condition.

Two days ago, I sprained my ankle. It's pretty bad, but definitely not broken. The pain was about a 6 or 7 on my personal scale, down to a 2 on the second day. Not bad at all. But I had a similar injury 10 yrs ago, and at that time I would have said it was a 10, and stayed around 5 for more than a week.

So what changed?

Experience. In between the two sprains, I suffered a lower back injury at work. It immobilized me for 2 weeks and took 3 months to heal. Also, it's recurred a few times, though not as bad as the first. Still, if it hits, I clear my schedule for a week.

Compared to the back pain, a sprained ankle doesn't seem so terrible any more. When the first sprain happened, it topped my scale of experience. But the back injury eventually topped that. All in all, I haven't had many accidents, so I'm sure a broken bone or childbirth would re-define my scale yet again.

So maybe the purpose of the question isn't to find out how much pain someone is feeling, but to find out how much pain they've experienced. And maybe, we should have more sympathy for a person claiming a 5... because if they're calling it a 5, they've been through much worse. But there is an upside - experience generally teaches us how to cope.

I'm pretty sure this includes psychological, emotional, and spiritual pain as well. One more reason to be careful of judging others - we have no idea where they've been or what they've experienced. 

A City of Books

Not having work for the month, I find it important to fill my schedule. Today, I had plans for most of the day. Until everyone called to cancel in the first hour of the day. I sat down to breakfast wondering what I should do with the day. And knowing I was likely to waste it without some sort of plan.

Then I knew: Paju Book City.  It's a small town not far from Seoul where all the publishers are located. They have unique buildings that line up along a river - looking very much like books on a shelf. I went, took photos, and drove around the buildings. Maybe I wasn't as "spiritual" as if I had stayed home... but neither was I wasting time.

Relaxing in a publishing town is rather symbolic for me. I love to read - to the point of distraction. There's a very fine line when a "good thing" becomes "too much of a good thing". Reading a book - excellent. Reading while at a social event - rude. And yet, that's what I want to do. When I'm interested in a book (and the genre doesn't matter in the least), I tune out the rest of my life until I finish it.

On the other hand, in moderation, a book is an excellent way to relax. Reading enlarges the mind and introduces new ideas. At the very least, fiction stimulates the imagination. So, I will read, but occasionally I have to drag myself away from the books. And I will wander around a publishing town, but eventually I have to head back to the big city.

I'm glad I got out of the house today - winter will be over soon and I should freeze while I have the chance. 

Motivated Yet?

Not For Sale

David Batstone

Half the Sky

Nicolas Kristof

Been reading. Been thinking. The books.... it's advertising that we pay for. Advertising for good causes. We like stories, so they give us stories. Sprinkle a few numbers, put those in perspective to our daily lives, but emphasize the tragedies and courageous acts .... And our hearts are torn.

As they should be. Our hearts should be broken and our tears flowing every day for these issues. So why aren't they?

Maybe we're just numb. Numbed by the overwhelming need, the unimaginable atrocities, and the sheer distance between our lives and theirs. 

Here's a prayer for a little less numbness and a little more action.

A little post-script: Check out Charity Navigator to see how your favorite charity measures up on its fiscal responsibility.

Swagger Wagon Meet Country Squire

I first have to say, this video cracks me up!



Advertising is about selling a story - and their story is loud and clear: Yeah, you're a parent, but you're not.... your parents. You're cool. You're hip. They start off with the dad "rolling hard through the streets" (:30) and the mom "used to party as a college chick"  but now she's "cruising to their playdates looking all slick" (:50).

Advertising is about knowing your target audience and knowing what they really want. Then tell them that you've got it... and what they really want isn't a car - it's a lifestyle, an image.

So, I googled and found a comparison for you:



Wow, we can debate racism in the Sienna, but how does that Ford strike our modern feminist sensibilities? Notice they're only speaking to "the American man [who] is many things" (:08). Compare that to the Sienna wife who handles the money (1:26).

Also, to target their audience of the do-it-yourself breadwinner, they list the load space and engine features (:45, 1:00). Because, you know, men have to care about that stuff, even when they're looking for status at a low price.

Their story? It's about having a vehicle that is versatile - beautiful and practical (:19). But if you notice, there's a subtle message of wealth to go along with it. Just look at the names for the different wagons: the Country Squire and the Park Lane.

Anyway, back to the story being told by Toyota. They're telling it loud and clear with a whole series of videos that aren't commercials. Well, they are, they're just not paying big money to put them on TV. Another example of how times are changing - the best advertising now is viral.

Oh, so you wanted some Christian take on this. Okay: What story are we telling? Is it clear or are we confused ourselves? And also, Christians could learn something about evangelism from marketers.... know what people want / need first, and then tell them about the gospel.

Pursuing Holiness in the Minutiae

Just a few posts ago, I wrote about how the prophets are incredibly sensitive to the presence of evil and a period of time in which I felt the same. I've been praying about returning to that intimacy, but today I remember why it's so hard: It's the little things.

I've been doing a kind of spiritual cleansing - taking a week to pray through and repent of evil / sin in my life. It feels incredibly good - in the evening, after an hour of prayer and making some necessary phone calls or emails, I am surrounded by peace. But at those times, I'm intentional: I sit down, I pray for the right attitude, and I'm ready to face it all.

But it's the slap in the face that is so hard to deal with. It's the sudden and unexpected.

Situation: there's been a person that's hard to deal with. He has a good heart and means well, but we've been working together on something and he doesn't always "get" what we're supposed to do. He's got ideas - often great ones, but often beyond the scope of our project (too time-intensive or unnecessary, for example). So, sometimes he gets shot down (usually by the boss, sometimes I try to warn him that it won't fly). Anyway, I wanted to work on our relationship, so that the "shooting down of ideas" was in no way a reflection of who he is as a person. In other words, spend some time with him to develop a friendship to make our work relationship better.  I thought it was working.

Until today he sent me an angry email, criticizing me and trying to "push my buttons". Everything about the email was designed to get a response out of me. Even his word choices were purely accusatory and character-oriented (Any basic communications class / conflict discussion will tell you never to attack someone's character, but to focus on the actions and how you feel. For example, "I felt disappointed when you forgot to call me." instead of "You're so irresponsible!")

Okay, so here's the real point: I got angry. The button-pushing worked. I hit "reply" and started to (1) justify myself and (2) return with my own accusations. Well, I quickly knew that I shouldn't write a response while angry, so I stopped. But then I was just reading and re-reading the email. And getting more angry. The sort of thoughts going through my head:

You have no right to say these things!

And I was trying to be nice to you!

I don't have to work with you. I can be done with this. That's it. I'm done! I'm going to email back saying I won't work with you any more. Then see how you like it - I won't be your buffer. I don't have to take this!

Well, you get the point. And I'm sure we've all been there. I was really starting to get worked up (this all lasted about 2 minutes...)

Then I heard the smallest prompting from the Spirit. Just last night, I made promises about seeking to be holy, pursuing unity and compassion and grace and forgiveness. The memory of those promises tugged at my soul. The Spirit was telling me to stop. To let go of the anger and pray about how to build up this relationship - even apologize for the things the person criticized if needed.

But I didn't want to. And here is the crux of all of our choices - in that moment, I knew what God wanted and I knew what I felt. And they didn't line up. And because I knew that so clearly, I also knew I had a choice to make - the knowledge of the difference between God's will and mine at that moment made me eminently more responsible than if I'd sent an angry email in the first few moments. Because once you know something, you can't "un-know" it. At that moment, I knew I was wrong with certainty and clarity. Any action I take after that is nothing but clear, direct rebellion.

Still, even as that all became clear, I hesitated. Then I remembered - I loudly commanded the enemy to be silent, and put myself at the mercy of God. I knew the difference between right and wrong, but had no strength to choose the right in that moment. So I told God that he'd better take over.

He did. And now I've written this post. And in a moment, I will pray about how to respond - whether to send out an apology, an explanation, to send nothing, or to make a direct call / arrange a time to get together and talk about it. Ultimately, done with the right spirit, any of these could be the right action. Conversely, with the wrong spirit, any of them could just make it worse. That's why it comes down to guidance. And in the perspective of the prophets, it's about "Sensitivity to Evil" and "The Importance of Trivialities".

What Manner of Man is the Prophet? (Part 2)

So, continuing with the characteristics of a prophet. . .

3. Uses Luminous and Explosive Language

A prophet writes in a style both "poetic . . . [and] charged with agitation, anguish, and a spirit of nonacceptance". His words are "designed to shock rather than to edify" and his "images much not shine, they must burn." The prophet speaks out boldly and loudly to get attention to the issue, disregarding social conventions or matters of style. He's not an eloquent public speaker trying to convince the audience of his side of the issue - he stands out and condemns the wrong and call people to repent and change what's wrong in this world.

The reason he speaks with such conviction and power: "his life and soul are at stake in what he says and in what is going to happen to what he says." God holds Ezekiel responsible for delivering God's word, however unpopular it might be. God says that if Ezekiel doesn't deliver the message, the person's / nation's sin is on Ezekiel's head. But if he delivers it, their sin is on their own heads for not listening to him. That's a huge responsibility. And, as the prophet is a member of the society to which he speaks, the prophet equally shares in their fate.

"Authentic utterance derives from a moment of identification of a person [prophet] and a word [that he's delivering]... He is one not only with what he says; he is involved with his people in what his words foreshadow." The prophet cannot speak prophetically until he identifies himself with(a) the message and (b) the subject to whom he will speak. This is similar to Christ becoming human - he doesn't have the right to speak to us until he is one of us - and in so doing, he becomes the message. This isn't so strange as it may seem - a person speaks most passionately when they truly believe what they say, and even more convincingly when they've experienced what they say. In this way, the best messenger must identify himself with the message (although we must not confuse the two).