News that “festival-goers have been struck with a nasty skin disease after getting down and dirty in a massive mud bath” — Muddy revellers hit by itchy bug.
I’ve always found the Boryeong Mud Festival, or at least its depiction in the media, embarrassing. I’ve never had the desire to attend, but from media reports, the “revellers” seem to be almost exclusively foreign. Getting drunk and nearly naked and then frolicking in mud is about as un-Korean and un-Confucian as it gets, and I suspect many of the Koreans attendees go there just to gawk at the silly foreigners.
Before complaining about the negative image Koreans have of foreigners we should reflect on the image we present to them. Perhaps this “nasty skin disease” will have more of us thinking twice about “getting down and dirty” in front of our Korean hosts.
12/07/2009 at 9:07 am Permalink
For God’s sake!
When people are going to stop talking about what foreigners do or don’t do!
Is it illegal? No? Then, there is nothing to talk about.
Teachers fooling around, cute foreigners in swimsuits having fun in Boryeong (some of them, I guess, paid by the organizers of the event), etc.
Who cares!
Sometimes, foreigners are worse than Koreans when talking about… well, foreigners.
12/07/2009 at 12:17 pm Permalink
Don’t be down on the festival man, it’s often the fondest memory foreigners have of this country when they go home.
Also, I’ve been to the mud festival a few times in the past, and there has always been as many if not more Korean people mudded up as there are Westerners. And you can’t blame the photographers for snapping the foreigners, as they are not something they see every day.
Yes many foreigners and Koreans get drunk. It’s a festival. Right wing conservative types will always look down on it. What did they say about Woodstock at the time? But not all Koreans feel that way. Their society is changing. Not everybody reads the right-wing Chuson Ilbo (or Westerners, the tabloid Sun).
I’d like to know what the Chuson Ilbo’s circulation has been doing the past few years, and how many unique views its website gets. We should take this stuff with a sigh, make sure our own arses are covered and know that what has a greater effect than a trashy newspaper are the smiles and interactions we have with Koreans every day.
12/07/2009 at 12:32 pm Permalink
Waa and let’s be clear that this is shitty Sun reporting. It’s strewing together the idea that foreigners were getting hit with skin disease, when it is old news about the schoolkids a few days ago. One bad batch of mud, perhaps.
12/07/2009 at 4:52 pm Permalink
I have to agree with Jose, the foreigners are adults and can choose to do what they want to do. I don’t see this as degrading at all, I would expect the exact same news coverage here in the states.
That being said, you wouldn’t get me anywhere near the mud for multiple reasons …
12/07/2009 at 10:42 pm Permalink
Regardless of how low quality they think foreigners are, you can bet your ass the Chosun will send their photographers to get plenty of photos of tits^H^H^H^Hgirls in bikinis.
13/07/2009 at 10:38 am Permalink
Just got back from the Mud Festival – I’ll be posting about it in a little bit…
Perhaps the media coverage is embarrassing because it shows people getting dirty, drunk, and otherwise at a huge party. A philosophical discussion on the meaning of life it is not, and thus isn’t treated like one. The La Tomatina Valencia Tomato Festival in Spain is certainly just as messy and likely to show people getting dirty / drunk at a huge party.
To say something is “un-Korean and un-Confucian” continues the stereotype that Koreans are all alike. While foreigners do make up a large part of the crowd, the Korean crowd is much larger – perhaps 5-10 times as many Koreans. Just get off the main street towards the alley with all the Korean restaurants, away from the ad hoc restaurant tent set up just for foreigners. We all enjoy different events – and more than a few Koreans were getting their fun on in the various Mud Wrestling arenas.
13/07/2009 at 9:44 pm Permalink
I think most of you missed the point that was made about the festival….
Going there and rolling around in mud in your bathing suit while drunk is indeed your choice. But this choice does not negate the fact that you are still foreign teachers in Korea. It also does not dismiss the fact that as foreigners you are more visible and hence what you do gets noticed.
It is indeed up to you to participate in the festival but it may come with a price in image for the foreign community at large. You may disagree about this reaction but it exists nevertheless.
Personally, I would think people choosing to get hammered and then to roll around in the mud while wearing bathing suits would understand the image it projects as these same people are afterall teachers.
The spain tomato festival is not a good comparable either because there spaniards participate in droves….it is part of the local culture and a celebration of sorts. The people in the tomato festival are for the most part tourists and they merge with the mixed crowd…not so in a small local mud festival in Korea…
14/07/2009 at 11:27 am Permalink
Let Boryeong have it’s day in the mud! That is the only time people ever flock to that town- Korean or foreign. let them make more money in 2 weeks than they do the rest of the year combined.
People will be people, and people will do whatever they want. If it was really so awful and embarrassing for Koreans or waeguks, don’t you think someone would have put a stop to it years ago?
14/07/2009 at 8:45 pm Permalink
I have to agree with the last comment there made my Chris. I am sure the festival pictures are making their way on Naver and Koreans are getting sight of foreigner activities. It does project us as non-professionals.
But in some ways it is not entirely the foreigners fault, due to that the festival promotes it as an event for foreigners.
Even back home in America I would detest an event where adults gather to roll around in mud and get drunk. Sure I had my skinny dipping days but that was out far down the river with just a few friends.
Thinking about this makes me remember how most expat teachers here think that it is just one big party. While the rest of us try to take our jobs seriously and really teach, instead of coming in the next day hung over.
Ahhh … sigh
15/07/2009 at 11:23 am Permalink
A co-worker of mine was there. She says the skin rash thing was an outbreak among some small kids who weren’t even participating in the festival itself.
Who knows.
17/07/2009 at 10:01 pm Permalink
Seems the rash has affected adults too…but its not serious.