Today I met up with another past student of Trinity college in Bristol who is now a pastor in Incheon (city near the airport). Pastor Han spent time in both Bristol and London. We were to meet at a central place in Seoul next to a bus stop. My host had written down the bus stop name for me, and told me where it was, but I got a bit confused and ended up having to ask someone. There was only two others on the bus and they didn't speak English but pointed to me that I had missed the stop, and to go back. The problem was I wasn't sure by how many stops I had missed. So I got off and phoned Pastor Han. I tried to explain where I was and tried pronouncing the name of the bus stop but he didn't understand. So I made the suggestion that I text the name to him. He then phoned back and knew where I was and found me. What a relief when we finally met!
I realised how difficult it is for me to pronounce the names properly not knowing where to put the emphasis in the words. How my accent might be preventing good communication, and also how traffic and other surrounding noises distract. All these things are out of my control, and it made me feel a little stressed and confused. I also realised how much easier things are when we write them down. It has made me realise how much do I assume I'm communicating well, especially to others when English is their second language, but really we are miscommunicating. How it is easier when we try to keep it simple. It was when we met that I explained it all to him and he understood what happened. I need to try and remember this lesson and to reassure people when they feel stressed and confused that we can sort it out.
Pastor Han showed me around the city. We went to the Anglican Church (it was built in 1920's), we went to a large bookshop called Kyobo, and then walked to Insadong. Insadong has a number of craft shops, and souvenirs, and is very popular with tourists. We had lunch there, and I had various types of dumplings, and it was really good food. It was also good to get his perspective on the differences
between Korea and England. So far people have said the generation gap is bigger in Korea then in
Britain; but he didn't seem to agree, and thought both countries have a generation gap. He felt Korean culture was quite Americanised and could learn lessons from British society as well. Lots more to think about and assimilate.
Edit- one other interesting observation is how English speaking nations have the upper hand when they visit other places around the world. Most people's second language is English, but that isn't the
case for other countries like Korea. Of course I can only travel here because enough people and signs are in English. This has only been made possible because of a Western influence. Does that mean the West has the upper hand?
Another interesting observation. When our mutual friend put us in touch with each other we didn't recognise each other's name but when we saw each other we remembered. When we were recalling students from our time at college it was people from our own culture we remembered. Was that because we kept mostly in our own cultural groups, and so we didn't have as much exposure to each other and therefore we were unable to remember? Or was it our names were so familiar in our culture that we remembered them but couldn't remember them from a different culture because they were so different from our own. Is that why some people take on biblical names in church life when they are from different cultural so help find a common language? Yet I remember some Korean names, and is that only through constant rehearsal that we remember? Lots to think about!
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