Wednesday, February 25, 2009 – Hannam University then on to Daegu and Pohan

The day began when I awakened at 3:18 am. I guess because I “gave in” to my fatigue after dinner and was actually FREE to go to bed, I DID. Since I didn’t have internet access in my room, and since my cell phone does not work in Korea, I couldn’t “reach out” and touch anyone! Turns out that if I had had a CAT-5 cable apparently I could have plugged into the wall and used it without any password….but it gave me permission to sleep. I lay in bed for another 3 hours and then got up and ready. The shower was just a hose off the bathroom sink…and all electrical fixtures were protected so the whole bathroom became the shower. It worked just fine… I worked on my blog entry for yesterday and updating the contacts in Outlook with the most recent accumulation of business cards. I haven’t QUITE run out of my CCCU cards but will probably run out before I leave Korea. I DO have the generic cards I printed up in….well who knows where that airport was!
Nam brought me some breakfast food at 8:30….amazing strawberries….I ate the whole container…must have been a whole quart…at least 15 giant berries. Very tasty! He also brought another 15 tiny bananas, at least 2 quarts of large grapes, 3 mini-sandwiches, and a quart of delicious organic OJ. Whew! He gave me a brief tour of campus by car….the new students (3000 arriving today!) were lined up in groups by department…each department has distinctive colors. There must have been 50 large buses…all brand new bringing them….or perhaps those buses are TAKING them onward today to their orientation retreat place…like Everland for KNU. It’s surprising how many smoke.

Next I met with Won Bae Lee and Chaplain Dal, as well as with the two PCUSA missionary representatives that work with the chaplain’s office. Simon Park and his wife Haejung. Simon studied at U of Illinois in Champaign and they have been missionaries in Congo and Nepal. He was an accountancy prof for at least a few years. We talked mostly about faith learning integration. Apparently even tho all the faculty are Christian, that really only means they were baptized, and they often change their views after coming to Hannam. We talked about the bifurcation between academics and the chaplaincy despite their efforts to work on it. Dal felt that having workshops on this would be helpful, especially if the speakers from outside had solid academic credentials. A listing of F/L SWAT teams seems a good idea. While Hannam is large, there could still be good use made of the information that would allow bi-lateral arrangements to be made. Simon thought that was much better than attempting to create new programs. Ultimately he said he felt agreements had to be bilateral in order to work out the details. CCCU CAN help reduce the barriers for these.
I urged them all, especially Dal, as I did President Kim to bring a team to Atlanta.
After meeting, Nam took me on a walking tour of campujs….Saw the soccer stadium and the library made of white granite….huge…and beautifully equipped. Enjoyed a few minutes in the original Presbyterian Mission station, now home to the historical research center. The place reminded me of Mairipora in Brasil where the missionaries first went and built their institution. My dad moved it to downtown Sao Paulo in 1964…but in this case, the city came to them! The original buildings, low and roofed in traditional Korean tile were beautiful…inside the original tile floors and kerosene heaters, with sofas and library and cozy home feelings reminded me what can be accomplished by devout people with the energy to invest themselves in a place. They could probably never have imagined their simple dwelling and original school and dorm now standing amidst a city of a million and a school of 17,000. God is good.
Dal, Won Bae, Simon, Haejung, and Nam took me to a traditional Korean restaurant. We sat with fee in a well at low tables and ate thinly sliced beef boiled on the table in front of us. Delicious! We talked more about the challenges of getting students genuinely involved in the chapel program, and getting faculty involved at all. I urged them to use faculty as speakers not just for their “Faculty Week” but throughout the year. And I urged them to enlist the support of academic leaders to overcome the bifurcation. It seems that perhaps the board of trustees and perhaps top admin make academic success and jobs a higher priority than the integration of faith and learning. But President Kim did say his first challenge was to reaffirm the schools core values and founding principles, so I hope and pray these who ARE concerned about the faith distinctive can get the support they need. As Korean universities face the serious challenge of declining enrollment, (some same half will go out of business by 2045) becoming distinctive will be all the more important. And education for character can be that distinctive.
Nam rushed me to the KTX train…we made it with 4 minutes to spare. Did I mention that my cell phone does not work in Korea…..here they use CDMA (Sprint uses this system….so I wonder if Sprint phones work here? ) I also didn’t have internet at Hannam so I fell behind in posting.
The train ride was about 50 minutes, then in Daegu I followed instructions relayed from Yohan Park at Handong to Nam at Hannam….walked out gate 7, down the stairs, to the ticket kiosk, and bought my bus ticket with money Nam had given me….boy talk about service! The bus left 3 minutes early! With every seat filled, a young man standing in the aisle, and a solder sitting on a folding chair next to the driver…..don’t even ask about what would have happened in an accident. It was a very comfortable seat….one on one side and two on the other side of the aisle. The bus trip was 1:10 and Yohan was waiting…it was nice of him to detour through the famous Pohang fish market…….one of the biggest in the world. I love the location of Handong….in a valley among the hills not far from the sea….in fact we drove along the coast from Pohang to get to campus. The business CEO who founded it went bankrupt before it was finished so President Kim had his work cut out. They call it God’s University….$80m raised in its 14 year existence. I was amazed again at the number and size of the apartment buildings that literally dominate the skylines in these towns…..thousands of people live this way….in fact I have yet to see a single family dwelling besides the original missionary homes on the campus. Abraham Lee whom I had met with George Kim in D.C. was waiting my arrival….and lives in the small apartment below me. We had a delicious dinner in “Mom’s Kitchen” …..mom of a student. We talked a bit since President Young-Gil Kim has an appointment in Seoul tomorrow. Handgong is obviously well loved and excited about HU. He described his goals to become for globalized….but never really made clear what that meant. He did seem to day that they want English speaking students and faculty on campus, and would welcome the “pages” we discussed.
We stopped into the freshman orientation long enough for Pres. Kim to introduce me to his incoming class…maybe 1000? What energy they have. He even invited me to give a few words…..and he SANG to theme! A real person this President Lee! We parted wih their AVP Youngsup Kim indicating that while there is little need for general pedagogical teams, there would be need for hiring of faculty and for English speaking students to come and study at HU. The preoccupation with English is almost an obsession.
Did I mention an interesting feature of most cities…that all churches mount a tall cross and illuminate it in RED. It’s a hugely visible presence for the church. It’s only 9:30 but I’m bushed…..