03 October 2009

I've been "Mobile"-lized!


In many ways, Korea is a "Next Generation" country. The latest advances in technology are quickly incorporated into the daily lives of Koreans. One of the most prominent evidences of this fact is the ubiquitous mobile phone. Everyone has one. Its the primary means of communication in very dimension of life.

Without a mobile, I've been virtually isolated for my first six weeks here. So, when Mr. Mok assisted me in setting up my pre-paid mobile phone service (They don't let foreigners enter into long-term contracts with their discounts and benefits) Thursday afternoon, I felt like I had truly made a significant step toward Korean enculturation.

Its a little slider manufactured by Samsung. (What did you think I would buy a Nokia?) Its no longer than the width of my palm and yet is quite easy to operate for both voice calls and texting. Oh yes, my number (from the States) is 8210-7214-1481. No charge to me for incoming calls or texts.

If you're feeling a bit adventurous, I invite you to enter the next generation by sending me an international text. I'll post the most interesting ones for everyone to enjoy!

01 October 2009

Six Degrees of Separation or is it Just Two?


Some years back an idea was popularized by a party game called something like "Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon." [That's him pictured to the left]. The idea is that all of us are connected to everyone else in the world by no more than six paths of life experiences with other people.

In short, this theory holds that any two people in the world may be connected to each other by learning that the first person (A) knows someone (1) who knows someone(2) who knows someone (3) who knows someone (4) who knows someone (5) who, in turn, knows the second person (6).

In sociological terms, the idea is called "the small world phenomenon." The notion was explored through several experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram examining the average path length for social networks of people in the United States. The research was groundbreaking in that it suggested that human society is a small world type network characterized by short path lengths.

While these experiments are often associated with the phrase "six degrees of separation", Milgram did not use that term himself. (Read more) The notion that we live in a small world is illustrated in this diagram that demonstrates the lines of connections.

I've actually thought that the better focal point for the small world phenomenon would if fact be Rich Cartier, not Kevin Bacon. In my experience, at least, nearly every time I've been with Cartier, and he has met some stranger, Cartier quickly discovered that he knew someone who the stranger also knew. Not six degrees, but only two! Well now, even in Korea I am discovering that it is indeed a small world even if you don't know Cartier! :-)

Here's how this truth has been coming home to me at Handong. A few days ago, I started a small study group that meets in my office on Monday evenings each week. As I was speaking with one of the students named Esther, I learned that although she was Korean, she had grown up in the Philippines where her parents serve as missionaries.


I thought that was interesting and mentioned to Esther that I knew some people who taught at a school in the Philippines called "Faith Academy." A smile came over Esther's face. She said she had graduated from Faith in Manilla. I asked her if she knew Steve and Dottie St. Clair, and while she did not know the St. Clairs personally, she was aware of Faith Academy's Davao campus where Steve teaches.

I had come to know the St. Clairs through a local church (Grace Bible Chapel) in St. Louis where my family and I were in fellowship for a number of years. Steve and Dottie visited the church when they were in the States and during those visits I learned of their work at Faith. So, I think that qualifies as two degrees of separation or maybe, if we must be technical, three. I am getting closer though, Cartier!

Then the next day, I noticed a Westerner (that's usually how I initially describe non-Asians until I get to know them better) walking around campus who I had not yet met. When I crossed paths with her a second time in the same day, I introduced myself and asked Jean where she was from. She replied, "You mean originally?" I said, "How ever you would like to answer the question." She told me that she had been born and grew up in Northern Ireland, but spent 18 years living in a number of countries in Africa where she served with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

She was here at Handong teaching a linguistics class for three weeks. She now lived in the Philippines. The Philippines, you say -- I bet you think I then asked her if she knew the St. Clairs. I wish I had, but Jean's mention of Wycliffe brought to mind another couple that my family and I had also met during our years at Grace. So instead, I asked her if she knew Reg and Barb Naylor who serve with Wycliffe (Read more) in Kathmandu, Nepal.


Once again, that familiar smile came over her face. It was a smile quite similar to the smile on Esther's face when I mentioned that I knew of her high school, Faith Academy. Jean knew of the Naylor's work in Nepal and it was evident that she considered them as outstanding fellow-workers in the mission to translate the Bible into the languages of the many still unreached people groups throughout the world.

That's a definite demonstration of "two degrees"! So, I'm becoming more and more convinced that it truly is a small world; especially as we meet people with whom we are connected, first and foremost, through Christ our Savior and then with others through our service in and for the one, holy catholic (with a lower case "c") church and the world, both of which are growing smaller through diminishing degrees of separation.

28 September 2009

Do Looks or Books Make the Man???


C.S. Lewis wrote in his essay "On the Reading of Old Books" that for every new book one reads, one should read an old book, or if that is too difficult, at least one old book for every three new. From Lewis' perspective the old books help us to see what our contemporary eyes are blinded to. We need the insights of the earlier days, or what others have called "the wisdom of the ages," to give us broader views and deeper understandings of the challenges of life and what it means to be truly human. Lewis, I believe we may say, would strongly argue for the proposition that books make the man.

There is within Korean culture, however, a strong predilection (I'm beginning to find) that looks are what make the man. The Korean man views himself as "the Italian of East Asia" - suave, debonair, passionate. (No kidding! That is actually a quote I've heard from more than one Korean man who has tried to explain to me just how Koreans are distinct from other East Asians).

As you might imagine, such a view has more than a little tendency to clash with Lewis' notion of the making of a man. While Christians in Korea attempt to balance the two views by stressing the importance of learning, there is yet a strong inclination towards what Billy Crystal's character "Fernando Mahvelous" embodied in his memorable turn of phrase: "It is better to look good than to feel good." Really, could there be two more polar opposites that C.S. Lewis and Fernando?

So what does this have to do with an American trying to teach in Korea? Well, when students and some fellow faculty, for that matter, are as much or more concerned about "looking good" as they are about "learning good" you come face-to-face with a definite challenge. I don't know that I can say that this challenge to one's personal formation is peculiar to Asian culture -- there are, I would venture to say, plenty of Americans consumed with "looking good" as the highest good -- but emphasis upon the external appears to have an Asian twist that I feel I have not even yet begun to understand.

I'm hoping, though, that tomorrow will bring more opportunities to seek first to understand those into whose culture I've come before I start evaluating them from my perspective. Tomorrow, I expecting, will bring more occasions to read some old books when my cargo of 9 boxes are finally delivered. I've been anxiously awaiting their arrival for several weeks. I had received a call from the custom agent's office in Seoul about 10 days ago and requested a copy of my passport. I assumed that they wanted to verify that I had been issued an E-1 visa (granted only to professors).

Upon receipt of my fax, they assured me that the shipment was due in port on 27 Sep and that they expected it to clear customs easily since the cargo was not for commercial (books that would be sold) but was intended for educational purposes. I even got the impression that the lady at the custom agent's office knew about Handong and was trying to help me get my books as soon as possible. Then came the second call.

They now needed a letter from me explaining that the books would not be sold, but would be used in my teaching at Handong. Thankfully, my teaching assistant, Mr. Mok, was able to draft up a quick letter in Korean that set forth the requisite affirmations of use. I had no idea what I was signing since the letter was written in Korean, but I have come to trust Mr. Mok implicitly for all my needs. I knew he understood how much I have been looking forward to getting my books, and more than that, I think he, though being very much a young Korean man, is persuaded that books rather than looks truly make the man.

And with those 500 pounds of books I trusting will come the means that I need to sharpen my sensitivity, to hone my hearing, to refine my reflections on life and on learning in this new land. At this stage of life, I don't have much hope in "looks" but I do have a great expectation in "books" and in particular "the Book" making the man.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)