Why Koreans Like Me

So today my boss informed me that I have the typical look that Koreans like. I have blues eyes, white skin and I am not too tall! I think this is the first time in my life that people are impressed by that shiny whiteness that is my skin and are not making fun of me for being short but rather quite enjoy that I do not tower over them!

Also I was told by a random girl while out last weekend that I am beautiful... the reason I am beautiful? because I have a small face. So boys if you ever want to pick up a Korean girl one huge compliment you can give her is that she has a small face. She will think you are amazing.

So I write this blog and people say they are reading it but it feels very one-sided and weird to me so please comment on my post if you read it! Otherwise I feel uber lame writing this... and this is especially aimed at Catherine as she made this blog for me and told me I had to blog!!!

Crazy Crazy Koreans!

So I have been here for about a month now and I have decided that Korean's have very little common sense.... maybe I just don't understand but to me a lot of things here seem ridiculous.

SEATBELTS
One problem I have noticed is that taxis never have functional seatbelts.... So you get in the cab and maybe you will find a strap but then there is no buckle to put the strap in. Another day you might get into a cab to find that there is a buckle but no strap! Now back home I always wear a seatbelt but here in Korea I feel as though a seatbelt is even more of a necessity and they aren't around which brings us to my next concern...

ROAD RULES
Korean's do not seem to understand the laws of the road. A red light does not mean don't drive it means you probably shouldn't drive... but if you don't want to wait you can go ahead... I am like "What???" Many cabbies have just chosen to ignore the red light and okay maybe if there is no traffic around it kind of makes sense but still a car could come and kill us and well I am not wearing a seatbelt!

FAN DEATH
My coworker Jon has been here for three years and he has told many stories. The most recent being about fan death. Basically many Koreans believe that if they are in a room with all the windows shut and they turn on a fan, then they will die! What? What is this blasphemy? Check out this link! http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2009/01/fan-death-is-real.html

NO SHOES PLEASE
Now this one I think is kind of cool... Many restuarants require you to remove your shoes when you enter. This stems from the fact that many Korean's sit on the floor while eating! Which is kind of cool.... but also can be painful. Some restaurants have tables and chairs and shoes are not taken off for most of these places but on occasion they are.

MAGICAL FOOD
Many Korean's believe that the food they eat has special powers and I would even go as far to descrbe them as magical powers. When you have any problems with your throat, you should eat pork. Yes pork cures all! Anything phallic shaped is good for male stamina as anything round shaped is good for female stamina. This is why Korean men eat and drink soooooo much ginseng! Many Korean's believe that Koreans do not get as sick as people from other countries because the food they eat cures all. Kimchi (fermented cabage that actually tastes quite good) is supposed to be a cure all for everything and it is what causes Koreans to live such long lives. Well if you look at world life expectancies, a Korean life spans average is shorter than a Canadian....

YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND
People can not be friends with someone of a different age. Even students who are only one year apart cannot be friends. My students were shocked that I have friends who are significantly older than me and laughed at the idea of calling each other friends when they are different ages.... Seems weird to me. It stems from the fact that you have to show respect for someone who is older than you. A very important question to ask someone when you first meet them is to ask there age because the language you use is different depending on if you are older or younger!

DRINK YOURSELF STUPID
Almost everyone drinks here and there is always one person in the group who can't walk home. Korean's get stupid drunk to the point where a man wearing a nice suit will be passed out in the gutter of a main street. I have seen sleeping men in suits many times. I have also seen friends carrying a friend who is completely passed out. There is vomit everywhere on Thursday and Friday night!

So I have decided that Korean's have limited common sense and something else must be ruling their brains!

Scary Events!

So last Saturday I went out to a Canadian bar and had some delicious pepperoni pizza. This bar had a Canadian flag attached to a hockey stick hanging outside. The bar was called Beer-O'Clock and they had advertisements for their bar on a TV Screen. It included photoshopped pictures of Snoop Dog

and Don Cherry and Ron McClain.

Later we went to a Nor - e - bong (Karaoke room) and sang and laughed. Arriving home at 4 am I went to bed.

You must be thinking why is this post titled scary events? These events don't seem scary! Well you are right. Scary event number one occured when I got home.

So I had been asleep for about 30 minutes (making it 4:30am) when I heard a strange sound. At first I thought I was just crazy and there was nothing to worry about. The sound did not go away. It sounded like someone was pulling and fiddling with my neighbors front door and then my front door. It was a menacing sound and I began to shake with fear. I decided someone must be trying to break into my apartment! I began to freak out. I have no phone here to call for help since I have not recieved my Alien Registration Card yet which you need to get a cell phone. There is also no other way to escape my apartment as the windows are barred to prevent people from breaking in. Trembling I made my way to the door in the dark. I decided not to turn any lights on so that I would not alert my intruder that I was aware of his presence. I looked out my peephole and I could see the outline of a man standing in the dark. Panic begins to set in as my only escape would be right by him. I decided to try and hold my door knob tight so he could not turn it. He kept pacing and it looked as though he was on the phone. I couldn't figure out how he knew the code to get into my apartment building. I could hear a phone ringing somewhere over and over again. Just when I thought I was going to throw up I hear a girl yell in the room next to mine. She ran to the door, opened it and pulled in the man. Turns out the guy simply forgot his keys and was trying to get into his shared apartment!

I felt kinda stupid but I was still shaking when I crawled back into my bed!

Scary event number two involves my parents and a phone call. While I was at work Monday morning, the secretary Rose comes running into my office to inform me that I have a phone call. I was really confused as I didn't even know the phone number of my office and had not given it to anyone. She says that it is my dad. I answer and sure enough my dad is on the other line and he sounds so relieved to hear my voice. Turns out that night someone called our home in Ottawa. A girl called and when my dad asked who it was the girl told him "you know." He replied with "Olivia?" to which she responded "yes." My dad said she sounded really funny but it did sound a bit like me. He asked her if everything was okay because she didn't sound right. She says ya. He asks where she is and she responds "at home." My dad asks why she is calling and she says to introduce her new boyfriend. Then a man with an Asian accent comes on the phone and says, "I like pills!" The girl gets back on the line to assure my dad it is fine he just has tourettes. She says she should go and hangs up. My dad panicked because he believed that I had been drugged by some Korean man and I was in danger in my apartment as this man was probably going to rape me. My dad frantically called my recruiter, then my school director and then the school owner to track me down. Remember I still don't have a phone here. He gets a hold of the owner and she gives him the number to my school and he finally finds out I am okay and that it was a prank call. While they were trying to reach me my dad and my mom decided that the would be coming to Korea the next day to save me...

So that was scary!

As promised here is me eating street meat. Each sausage tasted different from the last and two of them had this chewy rice thing that looks like a really thick noodle.... as in like 100 times bigger than a regular noodle. They are soft and chewy and quite nice.

Here is a picture of me in the street somewhere nearby the Canadian bar.

Second weekend

So the new girl from Canada is awesome. It is so nice to have a girl around to go shopping and dancing with. Her sister came with her and will be here until October. They live right around the corner from me so we have been cooking dinners together almost every night.

Last Friday we went to Beomgye mind you it is pronounced Bumgay... not even kidding! So first we went to Happiness bar but the sign was spelt Happiduness. I love Asian english typos! We met the owner, played with his dog, had some drinks and then moved on to "Clubby Bar Slang" which was in a basement and had a stripper poll on the dance floor. Now both of these places contained foreigners.. mostly unattractive foreigners to be exact but there were still some Koreans floating around. One guy grabbed my arm as I walked by him, kissed my face and told me he loved me... It was repulsive! All the Korean boys want to chat with all the foreign girls and it was sooooo loud and they were yelling in my ear trying to talk to me... and then the lingering cigarette smoke everywhere. It grossed me out. But I am going to try again tomorrow as it will be Friday and time for another night out.

We have made a Korean friend and he has been taking us around and translating for us. It has been wonderful having him around!

More to come soon and some pictures of me eating street meat!