[JRC 학생기자] We Want to See You in Hanbok

We Want to See You in Hanbok
Yeseul Im

Celebrating the superior beauty of Korean historic dress, Hanbok Day was held on October 4th in the town in Hanok, Jean-ju. Blending the historic and the modern, the festivities included singing, dancing, games, and even a Hanbok flash mob. For those who wanted to hear traditional music, there was a Pungmul band, playing the Daegeum flute and percussions. Fair-goers also got to play Tuho, an ancient game of accuracy, and Jegichagi, a game where players try to hit a small object called a jegi with their feet. There was also hoop-rolling, archery, and traditional folding fan making.
A 10%-30% discounts at the restaurant and café was offered to Hanbok wearers, and, for those who did not own their own, Hanbok costumes were available to rent for 10,000 won. The Hanbok Shop made an extra 3,000 garments for the occasion.
The festival was hosted by the Traditional Contents Laboratory and the Hanbok Advancement Center. Presiding at the festivities, Park-sesang, commented, “We have to find Korea in Korea. My ultimate goal is that the Hanbok Day will be a national festival with all of Koreans, including overseas Koreans.” The festival began in 2012, when the planning committee conceived of a simple goal: ‘Let’s fill up a town of Hanok with our clothes for one day.’ The celebration of traditional Korean culture and dress is now celebrated in Busan, Ulsan, Daegu, and Daejeon. This is the third year of Hanbok day, and it is now held in five cities at the same time.

Are You Happy?
Sarah Hahm

Yes, we are privileged. Students that attend international schools are indeed privileged and have access to numerous opportunities that other students do not.
Yes, we appreciate our education. Although we may complain from time to time about our teachers or the homework or the assessments, we know that our parents are working extremely hard to pay for our unique and top-notch education.
Yes, we are stressed. We are, in fact, so stressed that during finals week every single stall in the girl’s bathroom is filled, each stall containing a sobbing teenager, breaking down from the overwhelming pressure that has accumulated since the first day of the semester. Yes, we love our friends and our families, but we have forgotten how to love ourselves.
This is the trouble with highly competitive international schools.
When prospective students and parents peer into a classroom of an international school, particularly East Asian schools, they see the bare surface level of the institution.
They see a classroom with a very small student to teacher ratio. They see students engaged in conversation. They see the most advanced teaching technology in these well facilitated rooms.
What they do not see is the all-nighter a student has just pulled to finish his essay, the rings of fatigue that circle the students’ eyes from late nights of studying worrying, the anxiety that trickles down these students’ fingers as they try to gain confidence in their work and in themselves.
The trouble with international schools is that while the opportunities and possibilities are endless, the competitive, diverse nature of the schools have the tendency to make students overly stressed. In these schools, the culture is for the majority of students to achieve their absolute best.
The most valorized students of the school are the ones who can juggle three varsity sports, lead a school charity club, get perfect SAT scores, and all while maintaining a near perfect GPA. Because the culture of most international East Asian schools is a mix between the host country’s culture and the students’ cultures, students find themselves in a huge melting pot, trying to figure out what goes where.
The hard-hitting questions about identity and “who am I” hit close to home for many of these Third-Culture-Kids attending these schools. If you ask the question, “are you happy?” to a student at an international school in South Korea, their answer may trouble you.
But never forget that these students are strong, well-built, well-trained, and well-equipped for their futures.
We know that high school is another passing period and that we have full lives ahead of us. We love what our schools are able to offer us and we enjoy our friends and the close relationships we have with teachers. We appreciate the way that many teachers go out of their way to help a student in need.
All we ask for is a decrease in the pressure to be absolutely perfect from parents, teacher, and peers.