Sasha and I as real Koreans
Friday, April 16, 2010
The End
Let's face it. I can write forever. I would love to share the vast number of American franchises in Korea. Or the fact that all stores are stocked to perfection and yet I can't get my head around their distribution systems. Or even maybe write a paper just to analyze the use of colors in Korean advertising as opposed to Japan. But it is time to stop. Thus, if you would like to hear a few more stories, hit me up, I'll spill. Otherwise, thanks for reading and I'll let you know the next time I travel.
Hockey and Church
For those of you who don't know, Vitalik plays in a Canadian hockey league and yes, they know he's Ukrainian-American. Sasha and I came out to watch one of his games and Sasha was even asked to be one of the goal refs. Vitalik won, by the way.
In action!
After the game, we went to church. Clarification, the world's largest church (in terms of members: roughly 830,000 people). Located in Seoul's financial district, it suprisingly took us a while to find the building. We assumed, like many bilingual chruches and given the sheer size and fame of this church, that we could waltz in and grab some sort of head set, plop down and listen to an English translation of the service. Not so. While there were many very nice people ready to help at the info center there...no one spoke English. We waited over twenty minutes to find someone who spoke English to tell us that they do not offer Sunday English options. Oh well. The church does though, offer seven Korean services each Sunday and plenty of other ministries. We caught the end of the 6th service and the beginning of the 7th. And no, we had no idea what was being said. However, we did recognize a few hymns they sang, as they were traditional English ones.
Built in the 70's, the architecture showed....
The choir. There is a new one at each service.
The main sanctuary
The worship team in matching outfits
Suwon, Happy City
Happy City: Suwon’s official tag line. Nestled right outside of Seoul, this “Village” was a great day trip. Its population buzzes somewhere around a million. Suwon’s main attraction is the Hwaseong Fortress. 3.57 miles (5.74 km), enclosing roughly half a square mile of land, the wall’s height varies between 13-20 ft (4-6 meters). Within the fortress lay the remains of Prince Sado and King Jeongjo’s (Sado’s son) palace. Prince Sado was killed by his father by being locked up in a rice chest since Sado wouldn’t commit suicide upon his father’s request/command.
Walking around the wall
Columbia ad? Maybe...
Archery is HUGE in Korea. They often medal in the Olympics. We decided to give it a shot and while we didn't fair as well as our teachers, we didn't bring shame on our family :)
Sasha and I in action.
Sooooooo, feel free to say no to me. Really, feel free to say no. For example, if I see something way up high, zoom in with my camera and say, "Hey! Let's go there!!!" Feel free to say, "No Anna. Let's not."
We hiked up to the city tip top view. It was incredible and awesome, and took our breath away. We'll need to run a little more now.
Sasha after the hike up
Zoomed in view from the top
Soldiers practing
Sasha standing next to a giant Buddha
Suwon
I loved Suwon's little fire hydrants
Confusing Thought
Confucianism permeates the Korean way of life, most notably through sexism, authoritarianism and its educational system. Upon arrival, I was very impressed by Seoul’s landscape and financial power. Confucius promoted a strong work ethic and a “for the greater good” philosophy, obvious in the modern and very successful Korea. Confucius also taught harmony and thus, the Korean people we encountered were severely nice and agreeable. I say severely since their overtly pleasant demeanor creeped me out a tad. It reminded me of Pleasantville or Stepford Wives. After a little bit of research and interaction, I realized that the Koreans were actually, sincerely sweet. It was and yet wasn’t just a façade.
Korean culture books hammer in the importance of Confucius thought in daily life. Superficial harmony trumpets solving a deeper issue. Vitaliy explained that extramarital affairs are quite common—extremely evident by the large numbers of love hotels found about the city—but no one talks about it. The husband and wife pretend that nothing is wrong with their marriage. It keeps the peace. The same idea is applied to other relationships. Respect for all. Show kindness to a stranger. Be courteous. If one is brought up in such of culture, politeness is second nature and expected. We interpret a person’s politeness as if they hold a selfish motive or that they, indeed, are sincerely nice to us becuase they like us. For Koreans, the “niceness” falls under a category of cultural pressure to always be nice. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but it was still very unbecoming.
You may research Confucius if you would like, yet I’ll give you a super quick bio:
He was born to a de-throned noble family and grew up in poverty around 550 BC in China. During his life he very unsuccessfully pursued power by trying to overthrow a few ruling families, rise up the ranks of province ministry and finally tour Chinese provinces and promote his philosophy. His teachings are collected in a book we call the Analects, written after his death by his students. He lived during a very chaotic time in China (power vaccum) and formed a school of thought advocating a peaceful and structured society where everyone knows their place. Confucius highlighted five basic relationships: husband-wife; father-son; elder-young; king-subject; and one between friends. Only the latter relationship was one of equals.
During all of our Korean tours, our guides would point out how the palace architecture was influenced by Confucius principles, the gardens, the…well, everything. I point this out since when we got to the king’s living quarters we saw that he had one house and his wife had another house. Confucius taught that men and women must live separately. The man may enter the woman’s house, but the woman may not enter the man’s house. This thought grew over the through the years. At one time, women were not even allowed to leave their homes at all because it would upset the balance of things (Chosun Dynasty). Women were not even allowed to work until the turn of the 20th century. Korea claims to be equal in all things now, but from my anecdotal experience and handy dandy culture guides—that’s far from truth. (I should note, that with Korean’s hard work ethic and deep desire to become a “world class” country, this gender divide may/will most likely change within the next 50 years).
Lastly, Confucianism in the education system. Confucius believed in memorization, but he also encouraged interpretation. Take what you have learned and apply it in a new method. Create a new idea. The Korean education system bought into the memorization part of Confucius, but stopped there. NPR recently did a story about how Korean high school students have one day to take an exam to determine the rest of their lives. That one test will determine if they go to college and where. One test. One time. All based on memorization. During Confucius’ time, memorization in order to promote education, gave power to the majority—the poor and illiterate. Information = power. Remember the Finish girl from Tokyo? From her half year in Japan, she noted something that I feel would be appropriate to apply to the Koreans (in this one particular case): the Japanese students study. They study A LOT. What their studies yield, on the other hand, is quite reverse to their efforts. An easy example would be their mastery of English. Somehow, despite years of English classes, an American, with two years of a high school foreign language (not saying much here) can read, write and speak better [enter language of your choice here] than the Japanese students can English. Blew me away. Theory—they’ve got that down to a science. Application? Not so much.
Yet snafus such as these may be the reason the Korean government is so desperately trying to change its education system. And given Confucian belief in authority, the government will most likely win this battle, revamp education and make it a better system for the entire population.
Last note:
Superficial harmony, while making for a lovely and very civil lifestyle, but avoids actual issues that cannot be ignored without horrible results:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/17/AR2010041702781.html
Korean culture books hammer in the importance of Confucius thought in daily life. Superficial harmony trumpets solving a deeper issue. Vitaliy explained that extramarital affairs are quite common—extremely evident by the large numbers of love hotels found about the city—but no one talks about it. The husband and wife pretend that nothing is wrong with their marriage. It keeps the peace. The same idea is applied to other relationships. Respect for all. Show kindness to a stranger. Be courteous. If one is brought up in such of culture, politeness is second nature and expected. We interpret a person’s politeness as if they hold a selfish motive or that they, indeed, are sincerely nice to us becuase they like us. For Koreans, the “niceness” falls under a category of cultural pressure to always be nice. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but it was still very unbecoming.
You may research Confucius if you would like, yet I’ll give you a super quick bio:
He was born to a de-throned noble family and grew up in poverty around 550 BC in China. During his life he very unsuccessfully pursued power by trying to overthrow a few ruling families, rise up the ranks of province ministry and finally tour Chinese provinces and promote his philosophy. His teachings are collected in a book we call the Analects, written after his death by his students. He lived during a very chaotic time in China (power vaccum) and formed a school of thought advocating a peaceful and structured society where everyone knows their place. Confucius highlighted five basic relationships: husband-wife; father-son; elder-young; king-subject; and one between friends. Only the latter relationship was one of equals.
During all of our Korean tours, our guides would point out how the palace architecture was influenced by Confucius principles, the gardens, the…well, everything. I point this out since when we got to the king’s living quarters we saw that he had one house and his wife had another house. Confucius taught that men and women must live separately. The man may enter the woman’s house, but the woman may not enter the man’s house. This thought grew over the through the years. At one time, women were not even allowed to leave their homes at all because it would upset the balance of things (Chosun Dynasty). Women were not even allowed to work until the turn of the 20th century. Korea claims to be equal in all things now, but from my anecdotal experience and handy dandy culture guides—that’s far from truth. (I should note, that with Korean’s hard work ethic and deep desire to become a “world class” country, this gender divide may/will most likely change within the next 50 years).
Lastly, Confucianism in the education system. Confucius believed in memorization, but he also encouraged interpretation. Take what you have learned and apply it in a new method. Create a new idea. The Korean education system bought into the memorization part of Confucius, but stopped there. NPR recently did a story about how Korean high school students have one day to take an exam to determine the rest of their lives. That one test will determine if they go to college and where. One test. One time. All based on memorization. During Confucius’ time, memorization in order to promote education, gave power to the majority—the poor and illiterate. Information = power. Remember the Finish girl from Tokyo? From her half year in Japan, she noted something that I feel would be appropriate to apply to the Koreans (in this one particular case): the Japanese students study. They study A LOT. What their studies yield, on the other hand, is quite reverse to their efforts. An easy example would be their mastery of English. Somehow, despite years of English classes, an American, with two years of a high school foreign language (not saying much here) can read, write and speak better [enter language of your choice here] than the Japanese students can English. Blew me away. Theory—they’ve got that down to a science. Application? Not so much.
Yet snafus such as these may be the reason the Korean government is so desperately trying to change its education system. And given Confucian belief in authority, the government will most likely win this battle, revamp education and make it a better system for the entire population.
Last note:
Superficial harmony, while making for a lovely and very civil lifestyle, but avoids actual issues that cannot be ignored without horrible results:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/17/AR2010041702781.html
Monday, April 12, 2010
America
And They Say WE Have Image Issues?
Girls in the US are constantly bombarded with unrealistic idealized images of women. Barbie proportions in real life? It’s just not going to happen, although that hasn’t stopped Beverly Hills from trying. My first teen-beauty magazine reported the “epidemic” of plastic surgery with US teens. That was ten years ago and the “epidemic” continues. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that 5% of college-age women (17-24) have had plastic surgery—and that includes non-surgical procedures such as chemical peels and Botox.
Korean statistics for the same group? Conservative BBC estimates are at 50% for surgical procedures alone!!! 30% of a woman’s income goes to support her plastic surgery. Most women have their first procedure at the age of 16. Add to that the bombardment of whitening cream ads I saw walking around Seoul, in fashion magazines and read about in Vitaliy’s culture shock books— compared, the US has little to worry about the influence of unrealistic images on young girls. We aren’t even close. Not even.
Who knew I was such a Grinch
Our second day in Seoul, Vitaliy took us on a bus tour around the city—a great introduction to the city. Yet within that snapshot I noticed one very large sore thumb. Christmas adverts speckled store fronts, high rises, buses, and later I would find out, Christmas decorations lingered inside as well. More obnoxious than your neighbor’s Christmas lights in July, the green and red color schemed “buy, buy, buy!” ads only annoyed me instead of promoting the holiday spirit. Roughly 25% of Koreans are Christians; another fourth is Buddhist with the last half of the population identifying as neither/other. Christianity is deeply integrated into our Western cultures so even if you do not practice Christianity in the US or Europe, due to our history and culture, Christian holidays are part of our lives. Everyone has Christmas Day off. Stores advertise pretty spring dresses right before Easter and spring breaks somehow always “coincide” with the holiday. It’s part of our culture, not the Koreans.
I remember Vitaliy’s stories during Christmas and how most of the children in his Christian school had little to no grasp on the concept of Christmas. Wait, no, they had a grasp of the consumerism concept. Five year-olds needed the latest Samsung phone or LG TV in their room. That they understood. From everything I saw, read and heard—South Korea wants to be a “World Class” country (you have no idea how many times I saw that phrase) with Seoul as its “Best Class” city. While such aspirations are commendable and Korean progress is nothing short of astonishing, it appears that Koreans are latching on to any and all Western, primarily American traditions which can yield some ugly results.
I adore American Christmas, but abhor the ridiculous amounts of money people spend to keep up with the Joneses and buy 36 gifts with their six-year-old son Charlie. And it appeared that Korea adopted that whole consumer Christmas tradition and neglected its true meaning and roots in Western culture. Like an a la carte menu, cultural traditions have been chosen and embraced…another example…
Dogs…
Koreans are infamous for eating dog. A colleague of mine mentioned how a friend taught English years ago in Korea to wealthy Korean wives. It was quite “in” to go to English class, not actually learn English, but all the same to go to class. The teacher decided to write down a few idioms, cut them up and have the women put them back in order. The two idioms were:
Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
The women stood there trying to piece the words together. Finally, they got it. “Teacher! Teacher! We have it!” they exclaimed. “Look! You can’t have your dog and eat it too!” They were quite confused and disappointed when the teacher said that was incorrect and completely inappropriate.
Good news for some dogs—dog restaurants are not slowing down—but Koreans have found a new puppy hero: Paris Hilton!
No? Not the hero you were looking for? Sorry, but Koreans love buying tiny pups and dressing them up in the cutest little outfits ever. I’m talking about slick rain jackets and matching boots; furry collars and caps; bedazzled sweaters…they have it all. Walk around the block for five minutes and you are bound to run into a dressed up dog or two. Thanks Paris Hilton for passing on that American tradition.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Take Me Out to the Crowd…
Another perplexing American tradition the Koreans adopted is baseball. That classic American pastime (that hasn’t made it far in the rest of the globe) is the thing to do in Korea. Vitaliy mentioned fan intensity for the sport, so we decided to catch the Korean baseball season opener: Doosan Bears vs. Kia Tigers.
First off, every team is sponsored by a corporation. No Seattle Mariners, instead it’s [Enter Corporation Name Here] followed by a team name, like Lions. Teams are not their own corporations like they are in the US. Further, there are also only six teams in the entire Korean league. We chose to root for the Doosan Bears, the home team, last year’s champion and that day’s winner. The baseball stadium is part of the Sports Park in Seoul. Coincidently, the sports park, a bouquet of six or so sports facilities, was home to the 1988 Summer Olympics.
The Korean baseball experience is nothing like the American version. Before entering the stadium, one can be overwhelmed by the various vendors peddling kimbap (Korean sushi), cans of warm Korean beer, containers of fried chicken; noise makers, dried seafood and trinkets of all kinds. Small food shops litter the outer orbit of the stadium: KFC (Koreans LOVE their fried chicken), coffee shops, convenient marts, and Burger Kings. Surprisingly, the prices of these food places inside the stadium are the same as any other location!!! Americans always take advantage of location. Location is value added; one must pay extra for that lukewarm hotdog bought inside a stadium as opposed to ten feet outside it. Not in Korea! Another pleasant surprise—you can bring in your own food. No one tells you to throw it out. I saw people bring in their own hot water and cup a noodles to have during the game. People would pack coolers of soup, kimchi and other foods stuff. During American sports events, and a few Ukrainian ones as well, walking stadium vendors sell food like hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, sunflower seeds in Ukraine, etc. To meet Korean preferences, vendors walked around with dried squid. I didn’t fare so well watching the squid vendor try to push this product.
Platform cheerleader was a male cheer leader, decked out in team colors (the Doosan Bears cheerleader came out with spectacular fanfare, wearing a large cape which he threw to the ground to the delight of the crowd), and holding the all powerful whistle. Whenever his team was up to bat, the cheer leader would toot his whistle, somersault, jump, wave his arms like windmills and lead the crowd in these thrilling coordinated dances and chants. Almost everyone in the crowd held onto their inflated noise sticks and would dance along. Right above the platform, a troop of scantily clad girl cheerleaders were non-stop dancing. They would only stop for a costume change, of which there were at least six.
The experience was completely enthralling—the crowd’s energy always high, calm, proper-looking people screaming and dancing like there was no tomorrow. And the game? Oh, yeah, we won.
Girls in the US are constantly bombarded with unrealistic idealized images of women. Barbie proportions in real life? It’s just not going to happen, although that hasn’t stopped Beverly Hills from trying. My first teen-beauty magazine reported the “epidemic” of plastic surgery with US teens. That was ten years ago and the “epidemic” continues. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that 5% of college-age women (17-24) have had plastic surgery—and that includes non-surgical procedures such as chemical peels and Botox.
Korean statistics for the same group? Conservative BBC estimates are at 50% for surgical procedures alone!!! 30% of a woman’s income goes to support her plastic surgery. Most women have their first procedure at the age of 16. Add to that the bombardment of whitening cream ads I saw walking around Seoul, in fashion magazines and read about in Vitaliy’s culture shock books— compared, the US has little to worry about the influence of unrealistic images on young girls. We aren’t even close. Not even.
Who knew I was such a Grinch
Our second day in Seoul, Vitaliy took us on a bus tour around the city—a great introduction to the city. Yet within that snapshot I noticed one very large sore thumb. Christmas adverts speckled store fronts, high rises, buses, and later I would find out, Christmas decorations lingered inside as well. More obnoxious than your neighbor’s Christmas lights in July, the green and red color schemed “buy, buy, buy!” ads only annoyed me instead of promoting the holiday spirit. Roughly 25% of Koreans are Christians; another fourth is Buddhist with the last half of the population identifying as neither/other. Christianity is deeply integrated into our Western cultures so even if you do not practice Christianity in the US or Europe, due to our history and culture, Christian holidays are part of our lives. Everyone has Christmas Day off. Stores advertise pretty spring dresses right before Easter and spring breaks somehow always “coincide” with the holiday. It’s part of our culture, not the Koreans.
I remember Vitaliy’s stories during Christmas and how most of the children in his Christian school had little to no grasp on the concept of Christmas. Wait, no, they had a grasp of the consumerism concept. Five year-olds needed the latest Samsung phone or LG TV in their room. That they understood. From everything I saw, read and heard—South Korea wants to be a “World Class” country (you have no idea how many times I saw that phrase) with Seoul as its “Best Class” city. While such aspirations are commendable and Korean progress is nothing short of astonishing, it appears that Koreans are latching on to any and all Western, primarily American traditions which can yield some ugly results.
I adore American Christmas, but abhor the ridiculous amounts of money people spend to keep up with the Joneses and buy 36 gifts with their six-year-old son Charlie. And it appeared that Korea adopted that whole consumer Christmas tradition and neglected its true meaning and roots in Western culture. Like an a la carte menu, cultural traditions have been chosen and embraced…another example…
Dogs…
Koreans are infamous for eating dog. A colleague of mine mentioned how a friend taught English years ago in Korea to wealthy Korean wives. It was quite “in” to go to English class, not actually learn English, but all the same to go to class. The teacher decided to write down a few idioms, cut them up and have the women put them back in order. The two idioms were:
Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
The women stood there trying to piece the words together. Finally, they got it. “Teacher! Teacher! We have it!” they exclaimed. “Look! You can’t have your dog and eat it too!” They were quite confused and disappointed when the teacher said that was incorrect and completely inappropriate.
Good news for some dogs—dog restaurants are not slowing down—but Koreans have found a new puppy hero: Paris Hilton!
No? Not the hero you were looking for? Sorry, but Koreans love buying tiny pups and dressing them up in the cutest little outfits ever. I’m talking about slick rain jackets and matching boots; furry collars and caps; bedazzled sweaters…they have it all. Walk around the block for five minutes and you are bound to run into a dressed up dog or two. Thanks Paris Hilton for passing on that American tradition.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Take Me Out to the Crowd…
Another perplexing American tradition the Koreans adopted is baseball. That classic American pastime (that hasn’t made it far in the rest of the globe) is the thing to do in Korea. Vitaliy mentioned fan intensity for the sport, so we decided to catch the Korean baseball season opener: Doosan Bears vs. Kia Tigers.
First off, every team is sponsored by a corporation. No Seattle Mariners, instead it’s [Enter Corporation Name Here] followed by a team name, like Lions. Teams are not their own corporations like they are in the US. Further, there are also only six teams in the entire Korean league. We chose to root for the Doosan Bears, the home team, last year’s champion and that day’s winner. The baseball stadium is part of the Sports Park in Seoul. Coincidently, the sports park, a bouquet of six or so sports facilities, was home to the 1988 Summer Olympics.
The Korean baseball experience is nothing like the American version. Before entering the stadium, one can be overwhelmed by the various vendors peddling kimbap (Korean sushi), cans of warm Korean beer, containers of fried chicken; noise makers, dried seafood and trinkets of all kinds. Small food shops litter the outer orbit of the stadium: KFC (Koreans LOVE their fried chicken), coffee shops, convenient marts, and Burger Kings. Surprisingly, the prices of these food places inside the stadium are the same as any other location!!! Americans always take advantage of location. Location is value added; one must pay extra for that lukewarm hotdog bought inside a stadium as opposed to ten feet outside it. Not in Korea! Another pleasant surprise—you can bring in your own food. No one tells you to throw it out. I saw people bring in their own hot water and cup a noodles to have during the game. People would pack coolers of soup, kimchi and other foods stuff. During American sports events, and a few Ukrainian ones as well, walking stadium vendors sell food like hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, sunflower seeds in Ukraine, etc. To meet Korean preferences, vendors walked around with dried squid. I didn’t fare so well watching the squid vendor try to push this product.
Squid Anyone?
The baseball game itself was…wait, actually I didn’t really pay attention to the game that much, primarily due to the crowd. Korean crowd culture blew me away. The stadium was divided in two, not physically divided in two, but an imaginary line divided the crowd. If you were a Doosan Bears fan, you sat on the left side. KIA Tigers’ fans sat on the right side. You just knew where to sit. Fans were decked out in appropriate colors: white and blue for the Bears, yellow and red for the Tigers. Toward the middle of each team’s stadium half, stood a large platform. This platform held the key for crowd spirit: the cheer leader.
The Cheer LEADER
The Band...
Platform cheerleader was a male cheer leader, decked out in team colors (the Doosan Bears cheerleader came out with spectacular fanfare, wearing a large cape which he threw to the ground to the delight of the crowd), and holding the all powerful whistle. Whenever his team was up to bat, the cheer leader would toot his whistle, somersault, jump, wave his arms like windmills and lead the crowd in these thrilling coordinated dances and chants. Almost everyone in the crowd held onto their inflated noise sticks and would dance along. Right above the platform, a troop of scantily clad girl cheerleaders were non-stop dancing. They would only stop for a costume change, of which there were at least six.
Tiger Fans
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Eat, Drink & be Merry
Drinks Galore
*Note that yes that is a Costco brand water bottle.
Also the paper cup underneath it is a flat paper cup you pop apart to fill with water
Sweet Stuff
clockwise from Sasha:
Ice cream, pastry with red bean paste fill, petit macarons, chocolate filled cracker, sweet bread walnuts with rice paste (super good) and lastly a gumi sushi roll
It's food. And not even a dent of what we ate
a. These two would stop at every vendor to eat because they were hungry
b. I couldn't get a picture where both of them focused at the same time
I See the Sign
Here's a collection of signs that made me smile:
...because the grass is so green and walking on it will damage it
(Tokyo)
You would think there would be nicer ways to ask someone to leave a park
(Tokyo)
Completely agree!
(Tokyo)
Mmmmm, nothing sounds more refreshing than drinking some sweat
(Tokyo)
Why are we not allowed to go home?
(Tokyo)
People with hats, please do not cross here
(Tokyo)
I've always wanted to bottle the "aroma" I produce after a hard workout.
(Seoul)
No fat = all Koreans are skinny
(Seoul)
Does this even need a caption? It's a museum entirely devoted to CHICKEN ART!
Because writing at least one sign in one language all the way through is too difficult
(Seoul)
We now know why the Japanese women have dipped further down the BMI scale
(Tokyo)
Koreans really liked to point out the foreigners...
(Seoul)
(Seoul)
Stare, but Please Don’t Touch
I’m white. Yes, I’m Caucasian, but to clarify, I tip the scale on the extremely fair side. Many protest my skin tone is not that pale and their skin is in fact much lighter (thank you make-up & build-a-tan lotions for hiding my true tone). Still, I will always swing out my arm and compare, watching their jaws drop ever so slightly, eye widened, “You are white,” is almost always muttered in dismay. I also have saucer blue eyes. I tell you this because as a 5’9’’ blonde girl skipping around Seoul, 6’3’’ boy in tow, we got looks. Plenty of them.
While hiking the Suwon wall, locals constantly would stop and gawk. We actually stopped traffic.
No, seriously.
When we walked through the town, cars stopped and people actually craned their necks and unabashedly stared at us. Example: Sasha and I are hiking up on the wall and I spot a family coming our way. I look down and scoot to the left to let them pass and right below my nose pops up a young girl (personal space—not a familiar concept to Koreans). “You, picture?” she says. I look at her clutching a camera. “Oh, you would like me to take your picture?” I stutter while simultaneously pantomiming me clicking a camera. She nods, hands the camera to a girl behind her, the family lines up next to the wall and the girl slips in between Sasha and me. I’m confused. The sister happily chirps “Smile,” as it finally hits me she wants to take a picture with us. Sasha and I exchange bewildered looks and smile. Snap. The girls quickly change spots to snap another shot. The girl smiles at me at her right, I smile back. She turns to her left and gives out a small yelp and jumps back. Sasha’s height induced an unexpected reaction and I can’t hold back my laugh.
The photo ops were strange, yet harmless. People are curious and understandably so. And in order to entertain someone’s genuine curiosity, I’m fairly open to answering questions, taking pictures and the like, with one exceedingly serious caveat: one must at least attempt to seek permission to invade my space. If you are going to touch me and we don’t know each other, please ask.
My pre-travel research strongly recommended I include hand sanitizer in my purse. And boy did I love my hand sanitizer during this trip. My baby wipes came in handing too (There might have been a bus chase at one point of our trip and Sasha may have tripped and ripped off the skin of his palms, knee and side and baby wipes may have helped clean up/stop all the blood and such before we could get to a pharmacy, but you’ll have to ask Sasha to hear the details about that story). Point is: baby wipes and hand sanitizer = good.
Hand sanitizer is especially wonderful when two of your destinations top the world’s largest, densest cities list and your preferred mode of transportation is public. I’m not a germaphobe by almost any standard—rub some dirt in that wound—nevertheless, given the US’s H1V1 scare, Tokyo’s obsession with facial masks and my Seoul research telling me that Koreans are extremely hygienic folk and perceive Americans as very foul creatures—I hoped my hand sanitizer mania would promote a “sanitary” American image. Travel books and blogs explained that Koreans strongly believe their peoples to be the cleanest on this here planet we call Earth. Basically, Koreans are clean, everyone else is not. And I interpreted such a bold statement as truth. The travel blogs said so.
Blogs and Koreans lied.
Vitaliy clarified the statement: Koreans perceive themselves as clean. Perception and reality do not always align.
Bad habits:
Koreans like to spit.
Koreans like to spit everywhere. Huge, disgusting loogies. Man wearing a nice suit: spits one while walking the street. Girl next to the street vendor, spits away; child at school; people on the subway; wherever, whenever, they spit.
Koreans cough.
Everyone coughs, but Westerners have been instructed to either cover one’s mouth with your hand or cough into your elbow, maybe a nice hankie. Not the Koreans. Just cough it out. You know, on anyone. No big deal. Cough all your germs on me. Yeah. That’s great.
Koreans do not believe in blowing one’s nose.
They just don’t. It’s considered rude. Yes, trapping one’s germs into a disposable tissue is rude.
Koreans touch white people without asking.
To top off bad habits, Koreans do not prescribe to the American (and city Ukrainian) belief in personal space: This is my bubble, please leave it alone. One of Vitaliy’s American colleagues has gorgeous milky skin and beautiful blonde hair. She shared one of her biggest culture shocks with me. Whenever she boards a subway, out of the corner of her eye, she often sees an elderly woman eyeing her. The woman will slowly start to scoot her way near Hannah. Like a small child, if Hannah looks at the women, the woman will briskly look away as if she is not up to anything bad. Once Hannah looks back, the scooting begins once more until the woman is centimeters away from Hannah and grabs her face. Korean woman apparently love touching Hannah’s face. They take their hands and circle her face, releasing Hannah with a final word, “Beautiful,” and begin to scoot away as if nothing happened.
Hannah says she has now gotten used to this ritual. Freaks me out. Subways are not very, um…clean, and someone touching my face after holding onto metro surfaces raises the hairs on the back of my neck. So when I was standing on the subway and someone began to pet my hair—I flipped out a little. Understandably, Koreans do not have blonde hair, but petting my head while in a metro car and maybe assuming I would not notice underestimated my hair sensitivity.
What’s with all the Richard Simmons?
Older women in Korea have a uniform. A clearly defined and strictly followed uniform. Women of a certain age don white or black shape-up shoes [http://www.skechers.com/shoes-and-clothing/styles/trends/skechers_fitness/list], polyester tan or black leisure pants, a light jacket, and top off their outfit with a glitter infected 18-inch brimmed visor on their Richard Simmons permed hair. And the beady eyes. They all have beady-eyes. These women reminded me of sneaky weasels.
In Korea, age dictates your place in society. The older one is the more authority one holds. So my best friend from elementary school who was one week older than me would have the power to boss me around because she is one week older than me. Business conversations can begin with age clarifications so that everyone can understand their “place.” Obviously, Westerns struggle with this cultural structure—especially in business situations. Consequently, older women, because of their age hold more power in society. The gender ratio of men to women older than 65 is .63 men/women.
Korean subway cars designate the six seats at the end of the each car for the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women and people with children. (Not once did I see a pregnant woman or parent with children be allowed to sit there though, read on). These three burgundy seats across from each other cap off each car. When waiting on the metro platform, arrows indicate where one should stand to enter a car. An arrow with the car number in the middle is bookend with two sets of green footprints to each side. Most people stand next to the footprints, calmly waiting for the subway. The elderly do not. (Vitaliy’s written about this on his blog, but it’s worth another mention.) These women narrow their eyes as they see the subway approaching, ball up their hands into fists, pull their elbows to their ribs, jut their heads down and out so as to eliminate their necks and begin to dig their way through the crowd like gophers to get to the front of the line. Once they have elbowed their way to the front (innocent bystander bruised rib cage to prove it!) they begin to wind themselves up like Sonic the Hedgehog. The subway pulls up and before allowing the car to empty; these women lower their heads and burrow their way through to their designated seats like vicious moles. Yet almost every single time they find the seats taken by other elderly women. Then the women would let out exacerbated sighs upon the discovery of their taken seats. Every time. They would shake their heads in discontent and narrow their eyes some more, staring at the woman sitting in “their” seat.
They were like vultures when it came to seats. Circling someone who would break and give up their seat. It’s not as if there was a shortage of young folk offering their seats either! If someone young saw an elder standing near them, seats were always offered—it’s just that for some reason, these women would stick to their designated section and glare at the other older women sitting down. They wanted their seats.
It was hilarious fun watching this game played at each and every stop. Always the same, yet always entertaining.
While hiking the Suwon wall, locals constantly would stop and gawk. We actually stopped traffic.
No, seriously.
When we walked through the town, cars stopped and people actually craned their necks and unabashedly stared at us. Example: Sasha and I are hiking up on the wall and I spot a family coming our way. I look down and scoot to the left to let them pass and right below my nose pops up a young girl (personal space—not a familiar concept to Koreans). “You, picture?” she says. I look at her clutching a camera. “Oh, you would like me to take your picture?” I stutter while simultaneously pantomiming me clicking a camera. She nods, hands the camera to a girl behind her, the family lines up next to the wall and the girl slips in between Sasha and me. I’m confused. The sister happily chirps “Smile,” as it finally hits me she wants to take a picture with us. Sasha and I exchange bewildered looks and smile. Snap. The girls quickly change spots to snap another shot. The girl smiles at me at her right, I smile back. She turns to her left and gives out a small yelp and jumps back. Sasha’s height induced an unexpected reaction and I can’t hold back my laugh.
The photo ops were strange, yet harmless. People are curious and understandably so. And in order to entertain someone’s genuine curiosity, I’m fairly open to answering questions, taking pictures and the like, with one exceedingly serious caveat: one must at least attempt to seek permission to invade my space. If you are going to touch me and we don’t know each other, please ask.
My pre-travel research strongly recommended I include hand sanitizer in my purse. And boy did I love my hand sanitizer during this trip. My baby wipes came in handing too (There might have been a bus chase at one point of our trip and Sasha may have tripped and ripped off the skin of his palms, knee and side and baby wipes may have helped clean up/stop all the blood and such before we could get to a pharmacy, but you’ll have to ask Sasha to hear the details about that story). Point is: baby wipes and hand sanitizer = good.
Hand sanitizer is especially wonderful when two of your destinations top the world’s largest, densest cities list and your preferred mode of transportation is public. I’m not a germaphobe by almost any standard—rub some dirt in that wound—nevertheless, given the US’s H1V1 scare, Tokyo’s obsession with facial masks and my Seoul research telling me that Koreans are extremely hygienic folk and perceive Americans as very foul creatures—I hoped my hand sanitizer mania would promote a “sanitary” American image. Travel books and blogs explained that Koreans strongly believe their peoples to be the cleanest on this here planet we call Earth. Basically, Koreans are clean, everyone else is not. And I interpreted such a bold statement as truth. The travel blogs said so.
Blogs and Koreans lied.
Vitaliy clarified the statement: Koreans perceive themselves as clean. Perception and reality do not always align.
Bad habits:
Koreans like to spit.
Koreans like to spit everywhere. Huge, disgusting loogies. Man wearing a nice suit: spits one while walking the street. Girl next to the street vendor, spits away; child at school; people on the subway; wherever, whenever, they spit.
Koreans cough.
Everyone coughs, but Westerners have been instructed to either cover one’s mouth with your hand or cough into your elbow, maybe a nice hankie. Not the Koreans. Just cough it out. You know, on anyone. No big deal. Cough all your germs on me. Yeah. That’s great.
Koreans do not believe in blowing one’s nose.
They just don’t. It’s considered rude. Yes, trapping one’s germs into a disposable tissue is rude.
Koreans touch white people without asking.
To top off bad habits, Koreans do not prescribe to the American (and city Ukrainian) belief in personal space: This is my bubble, please leave it alone. One of Vitaliy’s American colleagues has gorgeous milky skin and beautiful blonde hair. She shared one of her biggest culture shocks with me. Whenever she boards a subway, out of the corner of her eye, she often sees an elderly woman eyeing her. The woman will slowly start to scoot her way near Hannah. Like a small child, if Hannah looks at the women, the woman will briskly look away as if she is not up to anything bad. Once Hannah looks back, the scooting begins once more until the woman is centimeters away from Hannah and grabs her face. Korean woman apparently love touching Hannah’s face. They take their hands and circle her face, releasing Hannah with a final word, “Beautiful,” and begin to scoot away as if nothing happened.
Hannah says she has now gotten used to this ritual. Freaks me out. Subways are not very, um…clean, and someone touching my face after holding onto metro surfaces raises the hairs on the back of my neck. So when I was standing on the subway and someone began to pet my hair—I flipped out a little. Understandably, Koreans do not have blonde hair, but petting my head while in a metro car and maybe assuming I would not notice underestimated my hair sensitivity.
What’s with all the Richard Simmons?
Vitaliy hanging with the Simmons ladies
Older women in Korea have a uniform. A clearly defined and strictly followed uniform. Women of a certain age don white or black shape-up shoes [http://www.skechers.com/shoes-and-clothing/styles/trends/skechers_fitness/list], polyester tan or black leisure pants, a light jacket, and top off their outfit with a glitter infected 18-inch brimmed visor on their Richard Simmons permed hair. And the beady eyes. They all have beady-eyes. These women reminded me of sneaky weasels.
Women REALLY liked these visor caps
Korean subway cars designate the six seats at the end of the each car for the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women and people with children. (Not once did I see a pregnant woman or parent with children be allowed to sit there though, read on). These three burgundy seats across from each other cap off each car. When waiting on the metro platform, arrows indicate where one should stand to enter a car. An arrow with the car number in the middle is bookend with two sets of green footprints to each side. Most people stand next to the footprints, calmly waiting for the subway. The elderly do not. (Vitaliy’s written about this on his blog, but it’s worth another mention.) These women narrow their eyes as they see the subway approaching, ball up their hands into fists, pull their elbows to their ribs, jut their heads down and out so as to eliminate their necks and begin to dig their way through the crowd like gophers to get to the front of the line. Once they have elbowed their way to the front (innocent bystander bruised rib cage to prove it!) they begin to wind themselves up like Sonic the Hedgehog. The subway pulls up and before allowing the car to empty; these women lower their heads and burrow their way through to their designated seats like vicious moles. Yet almost every single time they find the seats taken by other elderly women. Then the women would let out exacerbated sighs upon the discovery of their taken seats. Every time. They would shake their heads in discontent and narrow their eyes some more, staring at the woman sitting in “their” seat.
They were like vultures when it came to seats. Circling someone who would break and give up their seat. It’s not as if there was a shortage of young folk offering their seats either! If someone young saw an elder standing near them, seats were always offered—it’s just that for some reason, these women would stick to their designated section and glare at the other older women sitting down. They wanted their seats.
It was hilarious fun watching this game played at each and every stop. Always the same, yet always entertaining.
Sasha fit right in with the Koreans
Friday, April 2, 2010
Mick Jagger vs. the Little Sister
Sasha and I left sunny, mid-70s (F) Tokyo and took our 3 hour flight to Seoul, South Korea. Those 3 hours gave the two of us a much needed break from all our walking (I’m talking a solid 12 hour day of walking). We land and Sasha says, “It’s snowing.” I brush him off saying it’s most likely just really foggy. “No,” he counters, “It’s actually snowing. There’s snow on the ground. Look!”
Ah, yes indeed. Everything is white outside and more of it was falling from the sky. Men stood with defroster ready to spray the planes, and I thought really? Really? The day we come to Seoul, it decides to snow!?!
Becuz Ima 2 Kool Four Skool
I don’t speak Korean, thus I expected communication would be a little difficult. No biggie.
In our Japanese hostel, a group of French and Norwegians were furiously discussing, with quite of bit of disgust, about how few Japanese spoke English. I’ve heard this conversation before, and each time, I laugh. Non-native English speakers get very angry when citizens of the country they visit don’t speak English. Hmmm…maybe everyone assumes all these irritated English speakers are Americans and the resulting bad rep ensues.
However, despite my tangent, point being, the English spoken and written in Tokyo towered over English in Seoul. Sasha, Vitalik and I toured museums; sites of significance, national pride, etc. If we were fortunate to find captions explaining a certain statue or Korean War plane in English, it might have been better that the government left more to the imagination.
It was painful reading to say the least.
The never ending well of spelling and grammar mistakes just pained my heart. This wasn’t just one or two mistakes across town. (I completely understand a slip-up here or there, so let’s not start overanalyzing my blog…you’re friends and family here so let’s be nice). We’re talking about constant and agonizingly barefaced blunders. Excruciating. For a culture vehemently influenced by pride and shame—these faux pas hurt all that more. I asked Vitaliy’s friends and colleagues if maybe I was nitpicking and they exploded with fury sharing in my distress. They noted huge billboards and other ads that only induced cringes once read. “Couldn’t these agencies pay some expat $15/hour to at least proof read this stuff?!” One guy quipped, “It’s ridiculous.”
Don’t believe me? I have examples. I only took a few pictures. It was much too common and too much effort to take pictures of all the mistakes.
*One last thing, on the plane, they usually give you a customs form to fill out. I found two in my seat pocket one Japanese, one Korean. I, unfortunately, do not speak either. I asked a flight attendant to help me fill at least one out. I had been warned, thank you business school, that many Asian cultures, will not say no to you, but, ummm…avoid you instead. That’s what happened to me. I asked for a guide (most airlines include several translated options in their magazines, not mine) and was brushed aside. It took a while but I found an English customs form once we landed and a Korean official showed me the form through a successful game of charades. When we came back to the US, not only did United provide 10 different customs forms and guides, officials of various languages were ready to help. Just pointing it out.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside…
My rant leads me to the story of how we arrived to Seoul. You know about the snow. Part two: The bus ride over.
Vitaliy instructed me to go to the bus counter and purchase a ticket to Jeonjong Station. I walked up to the counter and requested a ticket to Jeonjong Station, then pointed to the station written down in my notebook. The woman behind the counter nodded and said, “Ah. Yes.” She printed out the tickets and said, “You take 5400. It come…oh! It there!” She pointed to a burgundy bus in right outside. I asked her, “We take that bus? And it takes us to this station?” pecking my notebook with my finger once more. “Yes! Yes! Hurry!”
Sasha and I rushed out the door and into the line of people ready to board the bus. We chuck our bags underneath, jump on board and settle for the expected hour long ride into Seoul. It didn’t take an hour. It took a little over two. I’m getting anxious. I like to know things, things like my location in a foreign country as I’m trying to find my brother. You know, the little things.
A Japanese business man in front of me gets restless as well. He asks a woman near him our location. She doesn’t speak English. He calls a Korean colleague and has him translate via phone. We’re near the city now. We stop. Sasha goes up front to the bus driver, inquiring if we are at Jeonjong Station. The bus driver nods his head like a humming bird. I get outside, it’s bitter cold and there’s wet brown slush mixed in with the fresh snow. My winter jacket is somewhere in my bag. The bus speeds off. I look around. This doesn’t look like a metro/bus station. A gigantic mall looms in front of me.
Call Vitaliy. Ok. Wait that means I have to find some who either knows English or is quick at charades. We walk under an overpass, I make eye contact with a girl and ask her a. Do you speak English and b. may I make a local call on your phone? Response: a. A little b. Yes.
I call Vitaliy to tell him we’re here (he was at school) and Sasha asks the girl for our exact location. Turns out we aren’t at Jeonjung Station, but we can take a subway there and there is a station inside the mall. Vitaliy is still a school, he’ll be on his way home soon. Thus, Sasha and I scale the underpass (ok, walk up the stairs) and squish squash our way over to the other side of street and into the mall. People stare when two befuddled giant, Caucasians wearing huge backpacks enter a mall and stand right next to the Louis Vuitton trying to figure where to go next.
Half an hour later Vitaliy found us in the Dunkin’ Doughnuts near Jeonjung Station. Yay! We could settle in now. Oh, and Dunkin’ Doughnuts in Korea are fiercely plentiful and delicious.
Mick Jagger
Koreans are heavy on first impressions. Second chances? Not really. Therefore, my first impression of Seoul:
Seoul, and South Korea for that matter, has made the most radical of leaps during these past 50 years. From farm land to being the 8th largest city and 2nd largest metropolitan in the world! It’s one of ten top financial centers, has hosted the Olympics, World Cup, and is home to Kia, Samsung and LG—it’s kind of a big deal. The sky scrapers in Seoul are as abundant as sand in the Sahara. 20,000 American-Canadian expats teach English in South Korea. Everything is very impressive.
The catch…Seoul’s impressive, but not really.
We all have that one cool friend. You know, that one friend who is just so darn cool without even trying. That’s Mick Jagger. He takes no effort to exist. There is this aurora around him, that extra something that just draws everyone to him. He’s just that cool. Mick Jagger is Japan. Seoul, on the other hand, is Mick Jagger’s little annoying overachieving sister. She’s sweet, she’s trying, she’s smart—nevertheless no one really cares. It’s as if she is jumping up and down, flailing her arms about, hoping everyone notices and appreciates the extreme coolness of her neuro-bio-adaptor reader that turns human sweat into car fuel or whatever…and no one does. Ok, they do, but quickly realize that it’s just theory paper and no actual product, and the potential is there and great…but it’s not worthy of the Nobel Prize just yet. She so desperately wants to be the cool kid that everyone adores, it’s just too painful.
Calm down little girl. You will be great. You’re almost there already. Stop trying so hard. Enjoy the ride maybe. And in the process, clean yourself up a little. Stop spitting all the time and cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, wipe your nose too, and don’t pretend you’re better than everyone else and perhaps you’ll gain a friend or two in the process. We’ll get to hygiene issues later, but right now, it’s Mick Jagger vs. his annoying little sister.
Ah, yes indeed. Everything is white outside and more of it was falling from the sky. Men stood with defroster ready to spray the planes, and I thought really? Really? The day we come to Seoul, it decides to snow!?!
Bus ride from the airport
Becuz Ima 2 Kool Four Skool
I don’t speak Korean, thus I expected communication would be a little difficult. No biggie.
In our Japanese hostel, a group of French and Norwegians were furiously discussing, with quite of bit of disgust, about how few Japanese spoke English. I’ve heard this conversation before, and each time, I laugh. Non-native English speakers get very angry when citizens of the country they visit don’t speak English. Hmmm…maybe everyone assumes all these irritated English speakers are Americans and the resulting bad rep ensues.
However, despite my tangent, point being, the English spoken and written in Tokyo towered over English in Seoul. Sasha, Vitalik and I toured museums; sites of significance, national pride, etc. If we were fortunate to find captions explaining a certain statue or Korean War plane in English, it might have been better that the government left more to the imagination.
It was painful reading to say the least.
The never ending well of spelling and grammar mistakes just pained my heart. This wasn’t just one or two mistakes across town. (I completely understand a slip-up here or there, so let’s not start overanalyzing my blog…you’re friends and family here so let’s be nice). We’re talking about constant and agonizingly barefaced blunders. Excruciating. For a culture vehemently influenced by pride and shame—these faux pas hurt all that more. I asked Vitaliy’s friends and colleagues if maybe I was nitpicking and they exploded with fury sharing in my distress. They noted huge billboards and other ads that only induced cringes once read. “Couldn’t these agencies pay some expat $15/hour to at least proof read this stuff?!” One guy quipped, “It’s ridiculous.”
Don’t believe me? I have examples. I only took a few pictures. It was much too common and too much effort to take pictures of all the mistakes.
*One last thing, on the plane, they usually give you a customs form to fill out. I found two in my seat pocket one Japanese, one Korean. I, unfortunately, do not speak either. I asked a flight attendant to help me fill at least one out. I had been warned, thank you business school, that many Asian cultures, will not say no to you, but, ummm…avoid you instead. That’s what happened to me. I asked for a guide (most airlines include several translated options in their magazines, not mine) and was brushed aside. It took a while but I found an English customs form once we landed and a Korean official showed me the form through a successful game of charades. When we came back to the US, not only did United provide 10 different customs forms and guides, officials of various languages were ready to help. Just pointing it out.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside…
My rant leads me to the story of how we arrived to Seoul. You know about the snow. Part two: The bus ride over.
Vitaliy instructed me to go to the bus counter and purchase a ticket to Jeonjong Station. I walked up to the counter and requested a ticket to Jeonjong Station, then pointed to the station written down in my notebook. The woman behind the counter nodded and said, “Ah. Yes.” She printed out the tickets and said, “You take 5400. It come…oh! It there!” She pointed to a burgundy bus in right outside. I asked her, “We take that bus? And it takes us to this station?” pecking my notebook with my finger once more. “Yes! Yes! Hurry!”
Sasha and I rushed out the door and into the line of people ready to board the bus. We chuck our bags underneath, jump on board and settle for the expected hour long ride into Seoul. It didn’t take an hour. It took a little over two. I’m getting anxious. I like to know things, things like my location in a foreign country as I’m trying to find my brother. You know, the little things.
A Japanese business man in front of me gets restless as well. He asks a woman near him our location. She doesn’t speak English. He calls a Korean colleague and has him translate via phone. We’re near the city now. We stop. Sasha goes up front to the bus driver, inquiring if we are at Jeonjong Station. The bus driver nods his head like a humming bird. I get outside, it’s bitter cold and there’s wet brown slush mixed in with the fresh snow. My winter jacket is somewhere in my bag. The bus speeds off. I look around. This doesn’t look like a metro/bus station. A gigantic mall looms in front of me.
Call Vitaliy. Ok. Wait that means I have to find some who either knows English or is quick at charades. We walk under an overpass, I make eye contact with a girl and ask her a. Do you speak English and b. may I make a local call on your phone? Response: a. A little b. Yes.
I call Vitaliy to tell him we’re here (he was at school) and Sasha asks the girl for our exact location. Turns out we aren’t at Jeonjung Station, but we can take a subway there and there is a station inside the mall. Vitaliy is still a school, he’ll be on his way home soon. Thus, Sasha and I scale the underpass (ok, walk up the stairs) and squish squash our way over to the other side of street and into the mall. People stare when two befuddled giant, Caucasians wearing huge backpacks enter a mall and stand right next to the Louis Vuitton trying to figure where to go next.
Half an hour later Vitaliy found us in the Dunkin’ Doughnuts near Jeonjung Station. Yay! We could settle in now. Oh, and Dunkin’ Doughnuts in Korea are fiercely plentiful and delicious.
Mick Jagger
Koreans are heavy on first impressions. Second chances? Not really. Therefore, my first impression of Seoul:
Seoul, and South Korea for that matter, has made the most radical of leaps during these past 50 years. From farm land to being the 8th largest city and 2nd largest metropolitan in the world! It’s one of ten top financial centers, has hosted the Olympics, World Cup, and is home to Kia, Samsung and LG—it’s kind of a big deal. The sky scrapers in Seoul are as abundant as sand in the Sahara. 20,000 American-Canadian expats teach English in South Korea. Everything is very impressive.
The catch…Seoul’s impressive, but not really.
We all have that one cool friend. You know, that one friend who is just so darn cool without even trying. That’s Mick Jagger. He takes no effort to exist. There is this aurora around him, that extra something that just draws everyone to him. He’s just that cool. Mick Jagger is Japan. Seoul, on the other hand, is Mick Jagger’s little annoying overachieving sister. She’s sweet, she’s trying, she’s smart—nevertheless no one really cares. It’s as if she is jumping up and down, flailing her arms about, hoping everyone notices and appreciates the extreme coolness of her neuro-bio-adaptor reader that turns human sweat into car fuel or whatever…and no one does. Ok, they do, but quickly realize that it’s just theory paper and no actual product, and the potential is there and great…but it’s not worthy of the Nobel Prize just yet. She so desperately wants to be the cool kid that everyone adores, it’s just too painful.
Calm down little girl. You will be great. You’re almost there already. Stop trying so hard. Enjoy the ride maybe. And in the process, clean yourself up a little. Stop spitting all the time and cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, wipe your nose too, and don’t pretend you’re better than everyone else and perhaps you’ll gain a friend or two in the process. We’ll get to hygiene issues later, but right now, it’s Mick Jagger vs. his annoying little sister.
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