Meghan은 간다, Meghan ya no esta aqui

Korean Things

I've talked a lot about what I've been doing, which is admittedly a bit boring, but I thought I'd take an entry to talk about some cultural things, and life in Korea.

I think I've said these first couple things before, but I guess I'll say them again. They drive on the right side of the street here, but walk on the left side, for some reason. So when you go down stairs (like to the subway) or up stairs (in the subway) you are supposed to go on the left. It's not just custom, it's written on the floors. Also, when you use an escalator, the one you go up (or down) is on the left. Interesting. So, a couple of times, in a crowded place, I've had to go "oh yeah!" and switch to the other side.

People are very friendly, and often times want to know where you're from. A few times we have run into kids at touristy places and they run up and say hi, or yell hi from a distance. Since we are white it is automatically assumed that we speak English. Most often we get asked "Where from?" A little family talked to us at the Folk Museum last weekend. The mom had two younger kids both by the hand and was encouraging them to talk to us. They asked where we were from, and we said America, then Stephanie jokingly asked "Where are YOU from?" and the mom told them to say "I am Korean!" It was quite cute. I suppose we look friendly enough to talk to.

This also results in some funny situations. We sometimes also get approached by elderly, and often drunk, Korean men who liked to speak English. At a group dinner a few weeks ago, we had a man come up and start talking broken English. He was severely drunk and so it was quite awkward. He actually ended up bowing and smashing his nose on a chair. The proprietor soon ushered him out. Just now, on the way home from a work, another guy came up beside us on the subway and wanted to know where we were from.

Because we are white, there are some advantages. We have quite a few coworkers and friends from church who are Korean ethnically, but were born and raised in, or adopted to, America. Some of them are good with Korean, some are mediocre, and some hardly know any. We also have some friends who are Chinese, and people assume they are Korean. All of these people get approached on the street to buy things, people talk to them in Korean, and for those who don't speak very good Korean, you can imagine it's quite weird to have to say "I don't speak Korean very well".

Well, Stephanie and I have realized that our white skin repels street vendors, wheelers and dealers, and nightclub recruiters. This is a major plus.

We also can drive away question askers. One night in the subway station a lady came up to Stephanie, beside her, and began to ask a question. Stephanie looked at her, the woman looked startled, said something in Korean, and then walked away quickly. One day I stood on the subway train, by a map, and had my headphones on. A lady came up beside me, looking at the map, and I could tell she was asking a question to me, although she never looked at me. I just stood there, waiting for her to turn and look at me. She finally did, I smiled, and she just started laughing so hard. It was hilarious.

As for Korean food, I really like it. I'm not a huge fan of Chinese, or really any other Asian food, but Korean is really very different. Although I like a lot of the food I've tried, the bbq is the best. People share a grill at their table, you place pieces of meat and garlic cloves on it, and then serve yourself. You use a lettuce leaf, place in meat, bean paste, maybe kimchi (?? I don't know, I don't do it), garlic, onions, whatever of the sides you want, then roll it up in a ball and stick the whole thing in your mouth. Yum. It's very good. And as for Kimchi - I'm actually growing fond of it. I always need a glass of water nearby, but I do like it, at least I've liked many of the kinds I've had.

Obviously (I think it's obvious) respect is very large here. I have some students who greet me with a small bow, or hand in papers with a small bow. People give and receive with both hands. You take your shoes off in a house. You should refill your fellow diners' glasses. The national symbol for "no" is to make an x with your arms in front of your chest.

People here usually have enough English skills to help us when it comes to retail, though sometimes they might have to grab another worker. Our area is not touristy at all, so we hardly ever seen other white people when we are in our neighborhood. Elderly Korean people are super cute.

The North Korea issue is really a non-issue at this point, I think, although when it was first talked about it scared us. Everyone's holding a lot of "talks" so it seems to be something governments are working on. I won't deny, though, that sometimes I do feel a little scared, which right now seems unfounded. We have some thunderstorms every now and then, which always seem to happen at night. Last night we had one and Stephanie and I both woke up very quickly and I said "WHAT WAS THAT?" The first thing I think of is "bomb", but it was just the thunderstorm.

That's all I can think of for right now. Last night we used our free passes (Thanks KT!!) to see "The Prestige", a newer movie about magicians. It was very, very good, and I highly recommend it to anybody. A plot that makes you think, a cool period, good acting, all very good. I left the theater and couldn't stop thinking about it. A must see.

Yesterday morning Stephanie and I went down to the river and rented bikes, which was really fun. It was nice and cool outside and we just pedaled our way long the river, back toward town. It was quite nice and carefree. I was going to take pictures and videos, but my batteries died after the first picture. I'm sure we'll do it again. I'll try to get the same rusty, peeling, funny, red cruiser with the cool bell.

posted by Meghan @ 5:43 AM