[Terry's Tale] Keys to Korea's Bright Future

Shortly after my arrival in Korea one of the first things I began to do was to reconnect with Koreans who, like Han, Wan-hui, I had become acquainted with in the US or else on previous trips to Korea.  For the most part, I had not seen them in almost a decade, and some longer ago than that.  Reconnecting like that really brings home the impact of ‘time change’.  Life is so very dynamic, yet in our day to day lives we generally do not notice it (except for the inevitable grey hair, and the addition of a paunch, of course). 

Yet, when I got a chance to become reacquainted with retired Major General Choi, Seung Woo he appeared at least as vibrant - if not more so – than when I last saw him in 2007.  He was then, and still is the Executive of Yesan County, a comfortable and prosperous community – then and now, and I wish him well in his retirement after this current election cycle.  He will probably be even busier in retirement than most people are during their work.  I haven’t as yet had the opportunity to meet again with his son, Choi, Dong-uk, but that is because he is so busy between new job and family that like so many others here, time has become an incredibly valuable commodity.

In fact, far more so here than in the US the pace of life seems extremely frenetic and contains a special air of vibrancy.  Not just in those whose focus is on family and in work, but especially in those who have a special vision for their futures.  People such as Han, Wan-hui, or Kim, Kukkiyan, and others like them, who manifest an entrepreneurial spirit to a high degree are the people who often have major impacts on society.  The impact on this energetic society of such people cannot be underestimated.  They admire the feats of people such as Steve Jobs or Richard Feynman, yet ask if you were to approach 10 people on the street in the US and ask if they knew these names, how many correct answers would you receive?

 Major General (retired) Choi, Seung-Woo, poses with me, Han, Wan-hui, and Kim, Tae-wan prior to our lucnheon as we reconnect.

Choi, Dong-uk, at the martial arts school around the year 2000 poses with a group of students.

Han, Wan-hui, at the US martial arts school helping a child to learn to break cinder blocks circa 1999.

The US is still a world leader in business or technology, but for how long?  Education, especially good public education supplemented by academies such as is situation here in Korea, is likely the key.  I cannot stress enough that Korea has no real natural resources to utilize for the creation of wealth.  Therefore, its’ wealth is derived entirely by the work and achievements of its people.  Korea, as the US once had, has a great system of public education (in fact, the US gave Korea its’ public educational system).  To enhance this, they have developed a ‘supplementary’ system of academies or ‘hagwans’ which are designed to help students improve their skills beyond the training of the public schools.  The current path in the US of demeaning and diminishing public school education and public school teachers combined with a push for increasing the number of charter schools – which statistics indicate the majority of which attain poorer educational results than those attained by public schools – will probably result in an outcome such as is now experienced by the people in Chile.  The Chilean model of which I speak, established under the rule of the dictator Pinochet, seems to be the model conservatives in the US seem to be trying to embrace.  Judging by the current situation, it is instead a model they, and everyone else, should try desperately to avoid at all costs.  Check it out for yourself.

[Terry's Tale] Adapting to Live

On my entry into Korea there were three things that struck me.  The first is the incredibly large number of high rise apartment buildings.  These buildings are required because the population of South Korea cannot spread out due to the limitations of land space, so they reach for the sky.  Often, these buildings serve not as rental apartments, but instead, as condominiums.  They are comfortable, I am sure some are luxurious, but they are designed as cubicles purposefully established for offering efficient living space.  Probably, not unlike anywhere else in the world, but for someone who has never before lived in one, an interesting experience.  And the buildings seem to be everywhere, with multitudes of new ones popping up all around.

During my years in the states, I lived, as do many people, primarily in single family houses or in low rise apartments.  I suppose that I should probably have spent some real time in a large city where living accommodations such as these would have been more common.  Still, to find these structures as such a ubiquitous part of the landscape, not simply restricted to large cities, points out what happens when limitations are reached on available land.

Secondly, and again related to the lack of landspace, is the efficient use of any available land in and around cities for agriculture.  I recently read a piece on the internet about this phenomenon beginning in the US, but here it has been practiced for some time.  Unfortunately for Korea, as in the US, people working in agriculture are an ageing population (though in Korea, many are female) and this may cause serious future problems if the issue is not addressed.

Finally, the third thing by which I was struck is the incredibly large number of small restaurants that offer chicken as either their primary dish, or as perhaps, their only menu item.  They are far more prevalent, at least around here, than burger joints in the US – far more.  This lead me to wonder if this fascination for chicken may also be an unintended consequence of limited land space since sixteen acres are required each year to feed a single cow.  Anyway, you probably would not want to be a chicken in Korea for as the song said “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide . . .”

Don't come to Korea expecting to see houses like these except as part of museums, even if some are in living museums.

[Terry's Tale] An Out of the World Adventure

On Monday, April 7, I became involved in an interesting situation.  I was sought out and approached by a gentleman who had materials that he thought might be from a meteorite.  He asked me to make contact with US meteor researchers because he speaks no English.  That night he came to my place of stay and provided me with the following narrative.

On March 22, 2007 at 4:28am local time, he Mr. Kim, was driving in his car and he heard a loud roar overhead which he took to be the sound of a low flying jet aircraft.  Upon looking up he observed a whitish object rapidly falling towards earth.  When the object appeared to be approximately 100 meters up it suddenly exploded apart with a concomitant flash of a bright pinkish light at which time he also noticed smoke.

Thinking this to be a meteor, but knowing little about meteors at the time, he went to look for a crater that he thought may have been created.  Though he found no crater he returned many times over the next few years to find what he could.  In the meantime he began to do some research into meteors, asteroids, and the like as he searched for possible meteor remnants. 

In 2010, as he was searching the landfall area, he came upon a rock that had an odd green-speckled appearance.  Having taken this curious rock home he revisited it many times due to its curious appearance and its possible association with the meteor he had observed.  He would later split the rock and take pictures of the rock immediately after it was split.  Sometime after this he found a rock that not only had an interesting appearance, but it exhibited some interesting magnetic properties as well.

After examining the materials he brought I had to agree that the rocks Mr. Kim had supplied demonstrated some characteristics that seemed a bit odd for earth material so I then contacted Dr. Douglas Duncan, even though this was not his field, because I had heard him to be a scientist who has worked to try to popularize science (think Dr. Carl Sagan or Dr. Richard Feynman; or if you are not aware of them because they both died over 20 years ago – Aaaak! MORE than a generation ago!  Then think Neil DeGrasse Tyson who is of today’s generation of people involved in science).

Examining an interesting piece of rock.

 (This picture as well as the next).
Many materials lain out before me.

The upstart of all of this is that some of the material will soon be on its way to the US to be examined by Dr. Stern, so while I seriously doubt than any of the materials are eggs from some space creatures, there remains more to come in this story.

[Terry's Tale] How I Came to be in Korea

Among the many things I have done in my life one that had great influence on me was my involvement in martial arts.  Yet, understand, that the martial arts I became involved in were far different than the US martial arts of today.  Today the US the martial arts ‘industry’ as it is now referred to is a dirty little secret.  Few schools are now run by people who are actually knowledgeable in martial arts though they often make claims to such knowledge; and many who have undergone very little, if any, real training make piles of money.  I know because I was involved in Asian martial arts in the US for almost 35 years.  I was one of the lucky few who learned not only from a true, acknowledged master – as mentioned in my previous blogs he came from South Korea having not only trained in the arts of Taekwondo, Judo, and Hapkido, but had been during his days of training a world-class Judo competitor – and from him I not only learned about martial arts, but I learned much more.

I learned that with correct training while you must train your body long and hard, training of the mind is even more important. Ultimately, while under a true master you are learning how to create great harm you are paradoxically learning to think in terms of nonviolence.  Train for Yin (Eum in Korean) and simultaneously learn Yang (The ever popular symbol of the Yin/Yang is the circle that is half black and half white).  And, when the school in Greeneville, Tennessee was opened up, I brought that thinking with me.  That thinking allowed me to continue running the school through both good times and hard times.  That thinking, passed on to my students allowed all who earned at least a first level black belt before going on to attend a college or university to achieve membership in the academic National Honor Society – 100% (I would hope there might be some martial arts or karate schools out there that can make the same claim, and I would be happy if there were, but I am doubtful).  It allowed them to learn how to keep flexible minds when facing challenges.  It allowed them to understand the best way to deal with a possible confrontational situation is not necessarily through confrontation, especially since confrontation never creates winners, only losers, but instead, by working through the situation and having an understanding of the person who is acting adversarial. For example, if the person is a bully they often are acting out of their own insecurities. 

Further, my students learned to reach beyond themselves allowing some of them to run straight up walls and then perform back flips from some point on the wall.  Students learned to accomplish things few Americans will ever learn such as how to kick apples off the ends of real swords.  In fact, in a video on YouTube under "Greeneville TTJC Karate Demonstration Pioneer Park 2010" and you will have a chance to observe a fifteen year old student of mine (I am even holding one of the swords) perform two different kicks off from a single jump to kick two apples off from two different swords.  I even had four students who, unbidden by me, performed

backflips and/or back handsprings the entire two mile length of the Greeneville Christmas Parade in December of 2012.


Right: You would expect special ceremonies for Black Belt recipients, and they did receive those.  Yet, even those receiving colored belts were awarded the belts in a special, though shorter, ceremony held in proper decorum.





Left:  Running up a 14 foot wall - here to perform a backflip from the eight foot level.

Left:  A Taekwondo competiton event. Even though competition was not the primary reason for training, competition was a means of enhancing the building of a knowledge and skills base.

   

Yet the school remained part-time because the things I taught were not the kinds of things many people wanted from “martial arts training”.  I came away from that school having proven that Americans are capable of learning real martial arts  But, for many that is not what they seek either for themselves or their children.  So, while I never earned any money in the almost twenty years I ran the school, I believe that I did change for the better the lives of those who came and spent any significant amount of time. Its legacy on me was the desire to follow the path towards the people and the culture at the origin of two of the arts I had learned – Taekwondo and Hapkido.

[Terry's Tale] Get a Doggie Bag, Your Dog Will Smile

Have you ever seen the eccentric, bittersweet movie “Everything is Illuminated” that stars Elijah Wood in the title role.  The theme of the movie is from a book that I understand is loosely based upon the life of its author (who, by the way, provides a brief cameo in the film). Wood portrays a young man who, upon the death of his adored grandfather goes to the Ukraine from where his grandfather had emigrated in 1941 in search of a better understanding of the life of his grandfather. During the course of his search for his grandfather’s roots, Wood’s character along with his guides spend a night in rural Ukrainian lodgings that offer both food and bed accommodations.

During the course of ordering their dinners, Wood’s character, a vegetarian, is hit by questions about his diet.  I do not remember exactly what the questions were, but as this experience seems to be ubiquitous in countries where meat is considered a staple, the questions generally run, “Is anything wrong with you?” (no), “Are you ok?” (yes), “Are you a Buddhist?” (whether I am or not is not important here, just the food to be eaten).  Out of concern some people even will say “You should eat meat”, and/or “try it you might like it”.  The questions and comments came as often from people I little knew as well as from people with whom I had some longer association.

This happened to me in the US with reasonable frequency and I would not get bothered or unhappy because I knew that the people asking the questions or making the comments were well meaning people, and in more than a few instances they were curious wanted to simply know more about the matter.

And, interestingly, this is one of the first situations I encountered here in Korea as well.  Are Koreans significantly different than Americans . . . in some ways not at all.  Anyway, the consequences that befell Wood’s character due to his vegetarianism were quite humorous and this reminds me of an amusing incident that happened to me in the US.

The situation occurred several years ago after my former martial arts instructor, Master Eun, had been instrumental in successfully arranging a sister cities agreement between the city of Yesan, South Korea, and Knoxville, Tennessee.  On this occasion in Knoxville, the visiting dignitaries from Yesan, Master Eun, and myself were invited to a special dinner at a local eatery known for its ‘ribs’ meals.  Sitting there across from Master Eun as the plate was set before me, I looked up at Master Eun and he replied, “Get a doggie bag.  Your dog will smile.”  And, smile my dog did that day, all afternoon.

​​Here is a wonderful family meal prepared at the Min Deul Le Restaurant.

Here I am preparing to eat a wonderful vegetarian fare at the Nirvana restaurant.  Such restaurants do exist!

[Terry's Tale]A New Day

With my arrival in Korea in February I was reconnecting with a friend, Han, Wan-hui, who I had not seen in many years.  I first met him just a little over a year before "Y2K", for those too young to remember or even know, the moniker applied to the year 2000.  He had been attending Walter's State Community College as a foreign student and, needing money, despite the strong limitations of my ability to compensate him (the other options he had were much worse), he agreed to assist me in the running of a very special martial arts program in east Tennessee.

​​Myself in my late 40's in uniform, having earned multiple Black Belt levels in Taekwondo, Judo, and Hapkido from a very special Korean Master, and graduate of Korea Judo College (now known as Yong-In University), Grandmaster Eun, Byong Kon.


In the US with, from left, former student Todd Ottinger, Jung, Mi-hyan, 1997 Korean National Taekwondo Champion, Wan-hui, and myself.


 

​​Wan-hui's graduation from Walters State displaying some of the honors he earned. 

In the time we were together I witnessed this young man maturing to become the kind of man he has become.  One dedicated to family - he not only has a wife and three daughters, but, in a time when traditions are becoming loosened by the demands of earning a living, has kept with the Korean tradition of helping his parents who also live with him - and friends (he provided me the ability to come to Korea now rather than me having to await certain financial arrangements).

After his return to Korea he found himself having to reinvent himself three times.  At first, he taught English, that is until competition caused some reduction in his income (Korea is an incredibly competitive society; but only by this means were its people able to rise from years of Japanese domination only to be followed by the destruction of war, to become one of the large economic tigers of Asia.  While many would have been satisfied by the level of income he was still receiving from the teaching of English, he saw the future and was concerned so he used his knowledge of the ocarina, a beautiful sounding, traditional wind instrument,to recreate himself as a teacher, craftsman, and author, and wound up becoming a 'National Treasure'.  Even today, his book on the ocarina which he wrote several years ago is very highly regarded.  Yet, competition infringed even on that market so he began trading through the internet and made considerable money there until that market died.  He is currently working towards a fourth reincarnation and I expect that this will prove at least as successful, if not more so, than his previous efforts.  He is a mover and a shaker, not a follower; and he has the brains,the flexibility of mind, and the same relentless pursuit of goals as a tiger following its prey to be a person of significance.  To truly understand Wan-hui, try to create in your mind the image of somebody imbued with a traditional understanding of how life should be managed in combination with an absolute determination and drive for success.  So, with my working to pass from cloud shadow into the light of the sun for my final life's journey, into this household I landed upon entering Korea.

[Terry's Tale] American in Cheonan, South Korea

Young people, many who work for multinational corporations, and frequently journalists following stories often travel beyond their countries borders pursuing the trail of 'earning a living'.  Many older people travel to get to know the more about the world. At the age of 60, I decided to leave behind the life I led in the country of my birth to seek 'the path of enlightenment', something that was much more common among people my age when we were in our late teens and early twenties.  From my current perspective I knew that had I done this years ago when I was younger many of my current challenges would not have posed a challenge me, but more importantly, I would have gotten far less from the adventure than I am now getting or will gain in the future.

 Here I am at a special Korean restaurant.

My path on this adventure began by taking me from Knoxville, Tennessee on February 10 (this year), to Cheonan, South Korea - The Land of the Morning Calm - at the invitation of a friend, Wan-hui Han, whom I had met more than a decade earlier when he assisted me in the running of a martial arts school in the US (about which I will discuss in greater detail at a later time).  Though it has only been three and one half months since the inception of the journey I have already learned much, about myself (both good and bad), about Korea and about its people that I had not known or realized before (despite my 35 year long associations with Korean peoples both in the US as well as in Korea).

 

Kim, Tae-wan and Han, Wan-hui with me during a tour of the Korean Folk Village in Assan, South Korea.

In future pages of this blog I will talk more about what from my background led me to seek this unusual journey as well as some insight as to the day to day life I am experiencing.  

Before ending this post I would first like to express my sincere thanks to my friend, Wan-hui. It is only due to his assistance that not only am I able to be here to speak from Korea, but his efforts to drag me out from the world of Luddites back to the world of technology is the motivating force behind this blog.  Basically, he put a computer in front of me and told me I should blog because others will have interest in my story.  So, I agreed to try.  Further, I would like to offer special thanks to his family for taking me in and putting up with me during my time here. If any would like to offer any specific comments or have any questions about information offered in this blog my e-mail address is hesinspirer@gmail.com.