The heat. The humidity. I have repeated so many times that I am never coming back to Korea in July and I mean it! I truly could not imagine how oppressive heat could feel until I came here in the Summer. I’m actually glad to have experienced it once, but would not like to again! Thankfully, this week is bringing some well needed weather in the 70s and low 80s, and regardless of what the humidity will be, I feel I can never complain about weather ever again unless it’s over 90 degrees and 80% humidity.

Moving on from the complaining– although it would be hard not to acknowledge the weather– as week six comes to an end, I feel the end of this program sneaking up on me. This opportunity has been really unique, and particularly special to me as I now have both educational and professional experience in this country. I’m not sure when I will return to Korea, so it is starting to feel like a bittersweet goodbye. I have learned so much and met so many wonderful people in this country, and now that this experience is almost over, I’m not sure when I’ll have a reason to be back. I am starting to feel nostalgic about something that isn’t even over yet, because I know how important my experiences in Korea have been in shaping me into the person I am now, and also that this period of my life is passing– as all things do– so it’s a bit sad.

Last weekend I spent my Saturday peacefully walking through the district of Mapo, eating at cute cafes, and enjoying the spot of nature I stumbled upon here in Seoul. One thing about Seoul that I really enjoy is that there are a few different options for surrounding yourself with trees even within the city. Concrete and metal can get suffocating, but this city does a wonderful job at creating natural spaces for people to enjoy. On Sunday, I went to another– albeit much larger– natural space in Seoul: Seoul forest! The weather was nicely overcast so it was not too hot or bright, just a nice calm day. I walked around, ate a snack, went into a butterfly garden enclosure, and then got matcha at a very good cafe in the neighborhood of Seongsu. This weekend was a bit calmer than past weekends have been, and it was great to be around trees for a while.

As far as low versus high context communication in the US and Korea, I can totally see the difference. Here in Korea, high-context communication is broadly utilized which strongly opposes the US’s extreme preference for low-context. In the US, my supervisors always tell me exactly what to do, where to get the materials for it, and give me a time frame. I almost always receive clear and concise directions with no nuance and little room for interpretation. In Korea on the other hand, my supervisor takes a few minutes to explain the situation as far as what I can do and the multiple ways I can approach the task, and the explanations are often repetitive in that the same thing is said in at least three different ways, none of which are direct. To my American ears, it can feel belittling or just outright strange to not be told just once directly to do something. However, when I let my skills of cultural humility take over, I understand that this way of communication is actually more respectful and mature in this culture.

While I have not experienced specific instances of miscommunication, I often feel that my directness is just as startling to my supervisor as his indirectness is to me. In that sense, communication often feels quite uncomfortable to me, not to mention the fact that half of our communication is in Korean which already has different communicative nuances included in the language. To make up for my American style of communication, I try to speak gently with a kind tone of voice, because I am hyper aware of our differences and I do not want to offend my supervisor because of them.

While I certainly notice the difference in our communication styles, I am finding it hard to put into words what exactly is different. When giving instructions, I suppose it feels more like a creative conversation, whereas in the US communication is cut and dry. I get the information I need, but it is surrounded by different words and phrases, kind of like the difference between one freshly picked flower and a prepared bouquet of flowers and other pretty plants. While I can respect and see the benefit of high-context communication, I quite like the US’s cultural preference to get to the point as soon as possible. Since the work I do is not fast-paced or complicated, the high-context communication style does not bother me too much, but I’d imagine that if my work was more stressful and confusing I would despise the lack of clarity and straight-forwardness.