Category: Lessons from the Field

The global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has inspired a wide range of reactions.

• Some seem quite unconcerned, not wearing a face mask in public but at least practicing good hygiene
• Some take moderate precautions – wearing a mask in public, washing hands more frequently, carrying a small bottle of hand sanitizer, avoiding physical contact such as shaking hands with others
• Some take massive action – enhancing the filtering capability of their mask, completely avoiding public spaces, carrying large bottles of hand sanitizer

I actually fall in the middle group, though I wear a mask in public primarily as a courtesy for those in the last group. However, as a side note, my area of Korea has had the lowest rate of infection in the country, partially due to the prevalence of this “massive action” group here.

These responses have brought sudden and big changes to how we operate on a day to day basis. Navigating the evolving and complex environment can be challenging, even more so if you consider yourself as an influential person. I know that my attitude and my reactions have an affect on the people around me, in particular the other faculty, who find themselves in the same position I’m in.

I am careful – most of the time! – to keep a positive and helpful attitude. This is the greatest way I can help my students and colleagues through this trying time. However, being a morning person, my current challenge is to maintain that positive attitude through the afternoon, which is when most of my interpersonal contact happens.

I have come to recognize a greater need for self care throughout the day in order to maintain my positivity. What do you do to keep yourself charged up throughout the day?

I love Korea – the country, the culture, the people, the food, all of it. I didn’t realize how much until I returned to Korea three weeks ago after being gone for 10 years. In many ways, Korea will always be “home” to me.

I love teaching – interacting with hungry minds, creating a learning community, helping individuals reach for their potential. This has been and will continue to be my life’s work, my passion.

COVID-19 has disrupted my relationship with both of these loves!

As of this writing, there are over 3,500 coronavirus cases reported in South Korea. When I arrived three weeks ago, there were fewer than 30.

This dramatic increase has inspired a strong reaction from the Koreans I love so much.

• My university has required that all class be taught online for the first two weeks (but I expect that to be extended). Many universities have postponed the start of classes by op to 3 weeks.
• The majority people are wearing surgical face masks whenever they are in public. This includes the Korean staff and many of the international faculty in my office. In fact, in order to enter my housing facility, I must wear a mask.
• The population has been encouraged by the government to avoid gathering together, including Sunday services.

All of these restrictions have made building and maintaining relationships more challenging – especially with my new students. I have done what I can to help them get to know me by creating and sending out videos, but I feel I’m having a harder time getting to know them.

In the past, I’ve taught lessons online, but it’s always been later in the semester, after I’ve had the chance to get to know the students and build some rapport. I’m finding this situation a true challenge to my teaching style.

I’m already making a list of things “not to do,” and I’m still looking for the best practices that will be most effective in these circumstances.

This past week, I met my new colleagues for the first time.

Korean culture is community-oriented, which is one of the things I love about it. What I forgot about was how community-oriented the expat community can be, too.

I’ve taught at George Mason University for five years now, and in that time, I’ve gotten to know very few faculty outside my own department. Sadly, this is the norm, not just in higher education but also business settings and government. We tend to keep ourselves “siloed” away from people in other departments or business units.

In the past week, I’ve spent time with faculty from five different departments and from four different countries – people whose paths I might never have crossed in Fairfax, VA – on the main campus where we all teach! We are shopping together, getting lunch and coffee together, and taking walks together.

These are interesting people who I really like, with whom I have a number of things in common. Why couldn’t we meet in Virginia? Why did we have to come all the way to the other side of the world to get to know each other?

I remember when I first moved to the Washington, DC, area, fresh from living in S. Korea for eight years. I was hungry to find this kind of community, but everyone I met had their own established networks, their own agenda of how they wanted to spend their time. I was fairly lonely those first two or three years until I got connected with a community that was open to me.

Now I’m thinking about how to bring this collegial “un-siloed” sense of community back with me when I return home. I don’t have the answer yet; I’m open to suggestions!

As I’ve been settling into my new life here in Korea, I’ve been struck by how little I need to use precise language to communicate.

Albert Einstein is reputed to have said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” This past week, my ability to explain things simply has been tested!

While my everyday Korean skills are coming back quickly, I’ve had to visit a couple of financial institutions to reinstate accounts from when I was here ten years ago. This has required a more complex level of Korean language, a higher level than I am currently able to use.

In each interaction, we found ways to communicate, whether it was using simplified language to explain complex situations, using a combination of Korean and English vocabulary, or even writing down what needed to be communicated. (I’ve only had to resort to using my Google Translate app once!)

In the end, I found that our determination to communicate with each other made that communication possible.

 George Bernard Shaw said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

How determined are you to truly communicate with the people around you? It seems that we take it for granted that communication is happening when we all speak the same language, but I find that’s when most misunderstandings arise.

I challenge you this week to put more effort into truly understanding those you communicate with regularly and see what it does to improve your relationships!