Greetings from Myeong-dong, Seoul

Well, I am here on my first full day working for the Korean Debate Association and the International Studies Department of Ewha Womans University. Today we are just kind of getting oriented to the time change and recovering from the long flight (mine was 11 hours, which isn't too bad, although I was too excited to sleep). Tonight we will have several meetings and then our sponsors are taking us out to dinner. I am still somewhat disoriented, and yesterday I was extremely so.

There are eleven American staff here. Most are PhD candidates at Emory University, but there are also two grads from U of Louisville and I am the lone "westerner" (the only American faculty member from west of the Mississippi). Melissa Wade of Emory is heading up the curriculum; as the "godmother" of contemporary American debate, she's a perfect person for the job. In addition to the American staff, there are two professors coming from Malaysia whom we haven't met yet.

We'll be teaching middle school and high school students from around Seoul. Debate is VERY new here; it's about four years old at the most. Everything we do and say will have a huge impression, since the kids we're teaching are really part of the first widespread generation of Korean students debating. They practice a style known as "All Asian Parliamentary" which isn't too different from American parliamentary debate. The Korean debate instructors and college debaters here are very familiar not only with U.S. debate practices, but even with the powerful schools and leagues. They ask questions about who's going to be good next season, etc., as if we were a sports franchise.

Although it's obviously the only way I ever could have taken this trip, I find it disturbing that English is assumed to be the "universal language" of debate. I might write more about that later. It just seems antithetical to the deliberative and democratizing purpose of debating. There does seem to be an unspoken "teach them to debate so they can learn English and be good workers in the new global economy." Yuck. I am hoping to teach them a little more than that while I'm here. We'll see.

Seoul is simply incredible. I know that many of you have been here, but for those who haven't, it's really impossible to describe. This picture is of Myeong-dong, which is exactly where we are.

There are people on the streets all hours of the day and night--it's like a 24 hour party, and the subway stations are really underground cities with tons of stores and business. One could live underground and really not know the difference. Food and everything else is really cheap. I ate a huge dinner last night for five bucks. There are internet cafes and karaeoke rooms everywhere too. And there are as many signs in English as in Korean.

I'll be getting back to the U.S. on August 7 and then heading immediately back to Laramie for the second half of the Wyoming Debate Cooperative, our two-week college debate workshop. Besides my family (whom I already miss very much) missing part of the cooperative is the only regret I have about taking this trip. So far, my time here has been almost surreal, and I am anxious to work with the students.