2003-2004Alex Kim

Alex Kim

ETA :: 2003-2004

Dongdo Middle School

As any alumnus will tell you, the ETA experience can be one of the purest forms of cultural exchange a fresh college graduate could ever hope to achieve at such a young an age. An added bonus for me personally was the pleasure of working in my birthplace, Daegu. The fast-paced, lilting intonations of my faculty and student’s southern Gyeongsang dialect recalled summer vacations with relatives and immediately put me at ease.

I was fortunate to have amazing co-teachers who guided me every step of the way. These hard working women led double-shift days by virtue of teaching students and raising children of their own. Despite their hectic schedules, I was treated with an unexpected level of love and care, as if they had suddenly been reunited with a long-lost younger brother. Our working relationship relied on mutual trust, allowing me a great deal of latitude for creative lesson plans, while I was awestruck everyday by their unending energy and daily diligence to consummate professionalism.

Often after school, they would whisk me away on impromptu day trips to provincial Shilla relic sites, or to enjoy a farm fresh meal in some mountain suburb. The guilt vanished on the second trip when I realized they were joking about leaving their kids to starve back home. Another teacher invited me to go fishing on Geoje Island where we ate our catch right there on the dock with spicy head stew to wash it down. After-work discussions were stimulating and engaging; it was refreshing to know that the conservative stereotype of the Daegu people wasn’t true. We debated topics ranging from

the news of the day to cultural politics with open minds, in a genuine spirit of learning something new from the everyday act of conversing with one another.

Of course the year wasn’t always rosy and I thank my “big sis” co-teachers for putting my social missteps and the misunderstood nuances in perspective. Towards the end of my year, I realized I had begun to grasp the concept of jeong—a type of love and respect that has no equivalent in English. These relationships not only enhanced my understanding of the Korean people, it affirmed a new conviction in humanity. When the students of one of my final classes sang Boowhal’s “Never Ending Story” as a farewell, I had to hold the tears back. For a moment, this rugged individual was a part of the collective.

A past ETA once told me that even long after completing the program, “Korea never leaves you.” It sounded sappy at the time, but seeing me back here for graduate school nearly a decade on, I admit it’s true. I would not have had the personal fortitude to do so were it not for my co-teachers in the ETA program, and I am forever grateful to Fulbright Korea for continuing and expanding this truly beautiful exchange of people. Congratulations for an outstanding 20 years of service and may it endure for many decades to come!