By Sr. Angela Battung RGS

Sr. Mary Angela Battung was born in Tuguegarao, Cagayan where he parents are form. She has two brothers and a sister, who is also an RGS Missionary. She has spent twenty years in Korea. The Korean culture and sub-cultures brought her face to face with herself.

People were kind and friendly. There were invitations to picnics, to village festivities, and to famous historical places. In Seoul there were museums, art galleries, art exhibits, and operas to enjoy. There were parks and palaces of royalty; even the local markets and the department stores were part of the tour, as I did the “tourist thing”.

In the Franciscan School where I enrolled, I found missionaries from all over. There were priests, religious sister and brothers (members of international congregations), and Protestant ministers.

Chaos and Confusion

After a few weeks into the first term in Language School, the novelty wore off! Stress took over; the food which was too spicy, the climate with its below freezing temperature during winter, the language which is considered to be the second most difficult in English signs or sounds anywhere. There were the crowds – people all packed tight, squeezed together like sardines – wherever we went. They were all pushing, pulling, screaming at each other. My experience with transportation was death-defying. My classmates and friend at Language School were quieting, marrying and getting married to there cooks, housekeepers, instructors, old widows and young cleaning girls. All this began to take its toll on me. I was experiencing culture shock.

U.S. Military

The food made me sick. So I was in and out of hospitals. I quit school and went back to my community in the village at the “world’s edge”. I studied with a tutor and helped around the convent and school. I entered into the sub-culture of the American Military as there was a big U.S. Air Base nearby. I ministered to the lonely and grumpy GI’s and C.O.’s (conscientious objectors) who complained and criticized all the time. Welcome to the Club! I joined the chorus of complainers and began to imagine that we were in an “uncivilized world”. I went to Mass at the U.S. Air Base, helped the chaplain, used there library and other available facilities, ate American food and watched movies, I was in a developing country enjoying FIRST WORLD amenities courtesy o the might American military.

World of the Military

I also started to work in another sub-culture, the world of the willows. I spent time in red light district trying to help women, who were sold and who were selling themselves” to the Americans, I was also trying to help there missed blood offspring get out of their “hell- holes”. I worked mainly through the Chaplain’s office, helping out with marriage preparation. Most of the women were prostitutes, while the men were teenage G.I.’s. My Korean language was limited, my English accented, and my knowledge of both cultures was peripheral.
Koreans seemed to do the exact opposite of what those who are not Koreans do. for example in language structure or even in architecture – the way their doors opened and closed. What is normal and acceptable in one culture can be judged rude, weird, or even stupid in another. As an example the Koreans and the Chinese smack the lips and make a lot of noise to show appreciation and enjoyment of food while for us this is not good table manners. Koreans have a strong sense of community while Americans are individualists. Koreans, like almost all other Asians, do not value privacy as much as the Americans do.

I came to realize that awkward and negative experiences lead to:

* Prejudice- when one makes judgment a bout others on the basis of a very brief or limited experience.

* “The one and only right way” of doing things- which makes one want to fix, solve, change, convert, and heal others, and can lead to a need to manipulate and control.

* Emotional ‘upheavals’. These arise when our human feelings are not accepted: confusion and doubt, fear and anxiety, depression and despair, anger and resentment, grief and loneliness, criticism and rejection, weariness, boredom, isolation and alienation, loss of self-esteem and confidence in one’s self.

* One then tries to neutralize one’s fears and insecurities by resistance, by getting defensive or by withdrawal. Homesickness makes one look at every Filipino as one’s relative or neighbor, creating an instant intimacy that has its plus and minus side. One learns eventually that it is human to have feelings of anxiety, powerless, and the whole gamut of emotions. This learning takes time, and prayer and fidelity to one’s vocation.