Anything you can do, I can do better...

People compliment me on my Korean pronunciation all the time. They say that Korean seems easier to me than to other missionaries. My secret? When I say something in Korean, I say it in Spanish. This is why my Korean turns out so good. I relate to the Koreans through my Spanish or Arabic culture, which I find helps me grow closer to them. There are other missionaries here, and they seem to have come to spread their culture and knowledge of the world. However, other than to teach them English and show them hope, I came more to learn from them. I want to know the inside of the Korean culture, the things you don't learn from a book. This why I pick up more Korean expressions and traditions than other missionaries. This is why they like to include me in their more intimate gatherings. If I've learned one thing about Koreans, it's that they're incredibly hard-workers, and unafraid of personal sacrifice to please, to impress, or to get ahead. This is why Korean women wear impossibly high heels, that may look beautiful but are painful. Once I saw a Korean woman's feet when she took off her heels. Her feet were red and calloused, and bruised. However, she will probably put her expensive heels back on and continue walking because it will give others a high opinion of her. This is why Koreans drink too much. They feel like they need to impress their boss, their friends, their family. Personal sacrifice is little to pay to gain the approval and admiration of everyone around them. This also plays in with the conformity of the Korean mind. They all have to strive to be better at the same thing. They would not dare to step out of the socially acceptable norm. To excel in something rare would be unthinkable. It is better to beat someone at the same thing everyone is doing. If a Korean man is going to get married to a beautiful woman, it has to be a beautiful Korean women. This is why foreigners rarely marry Koreans.

I've never been an extremely competitive person. Sometimes, being second or third or even last gets you to the same place as the first, just a bit later. Therefore, this cultural mindset is a bit strange to me. I keep encouraging my students that sometimes, it's ok to lose, or to be different if in the end, the prize is bigger. Even if they don't accept my words, I know they listen and one day will have to face a decision in their lives. I hope that on that day, they might remember me... The girl who couldn't conform to win.