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Week 23- Y3(Aug 12th to Aug 18th) |
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Monday:I had a long lunch with Su Bok today. It's great tohear a Korean girl about my age speaking very candidlyabout topics such as weight, clothing, relationships,sex, so on. Korea is still an incredibly conservativecountry, and there are a lot of topics that are quitetaboo (for instance, I suspect that Su Bok wouldn'thave even brought up some of the things we talkedabout today if she had been with her Korean friends),but when you really talk to the younger generation,you can really get a sense of the way things arechanging . . . |
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Tuesday:Tomorrow is a national holiday (although these days,every day is like a holiday for me!), so I met upwith Joe and some of his friends in Hongdae. First wewent to a Japanese restaurant for a late dinner-- I'dforgotten how good sake is in comparison to soju! Afterwards, we were walking a little bit, trying tothink of somewhere to go when we came across aninteresting-looking place-- an ice bar! Ie, a barmade entirely of ice. They give you parkas andmittens (and little booties if you're wearing sandals)and serve you drinks in actual ice blocks. There'salso games spread out all over the place, plushopscotch and so on. Now sure, this sounds like agood idea when it's blazing hot outside (which it is),but I fricking hate hate hate being cold. Call meun-Canadian, but I wanted out after about 5 minutes. We only lasted one round of drinks before we moved tosomewhere non-frostbite-inducing. |
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Thursday:There have been loads of Korean flags up this week(the holiday yesterday was something to do with Koreanindependance, I think?), which got me thinking aboutKorea's recent patriotic fad. Along with this, therealso seems to be a whole lot of anti-Americanism goingaround. Part of this, I'm sure, has to do with thehostage situation with the Taliban, but I think theissue is much more deep-rooted than that. I've beenfeeling the build-up for several months. When I firstgot to Korea, people treated me like I was a rock staror something. Most people were genuinely happy to seea foreigner. Now, I get stared at as much as ever,but it's almost with anger or bitterness. Thegovernment has also just installed new polices thatmake it much more difficult for foreigners to openbank accounts here (as if it isn't hard enoughalready, not to mention that EVERYTHING I have in thiscountry is in someone else's name); plus a lot of theEnglish signage in the subways have been taken down,thus making it more difficult for foreigners who don'tread Korean to get around Seoul. I will never everunderstand this country's love/hate relationship withthe Western world. O the one hand, they practicallybeg Westerners to come over to teach English, offeringgood money, apartments, plus people asking for privatelessons anywhere you go (right now I've got a girl whoworks at the grocery store who emails me every singleday! Annoying, but I suppose she means well . . .) But then when they finally get you to their country,they make it extremely difficult to do basic day today things, like take the subway, or get a cell phone,or open a bank account. And they glare at you and tryto rip you off in the taxis and generally make youfeel unwelcome. Is it any wonder that the term "pulla runner" is in every ESL teacher's vocabulary? Everyone I know has a horror story about their hagwon,and getting ripped off, overworked, screwed out of ajob, etc. Yeah, I know that there are some crappyforeigners here, but why does that mean that we allget treated like we're evil? I resent being treatedlike a second-class citizen just because I'm not acitizen of Korea. |
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Friday:Tonight there was a big salsa concert by Oscar DLeon,a very legendary salsa singer/bass player fromVenezuela. Annabelle and I met Joey and Helen (oursalsa teachers) there. The concert was in a theatreway in East Seoul, but it actually worked really well,cause the floor was all open for standing and dancing,with seating upstairs on the balcony.The band was great, and while not too many people didany serious dancing (it was much too crowded), it wasreally fun. Annabelle and I were standing next to agroup of Venezuelans who got called up onstage whenOscar DLeon saw them waving the Venezuelan flag. Alsoamusing was the Korean girls who jumped up onstage todance-- if that happened in TO, there would besecurity guards all over it! The funniest part,however was the trumpet player trying to pick up aKorean girl standing in the front row while he was inbetween songs; and actually even when he was supposedto be playing-- all kinds of hand gestures, assslapping gestures, and "meet me backstage after theshow" gestures! Only a South American band in Korea .. . There was also a jazz festival going on in Incheon, acity really close to Seoul (you can get there on thesubway), but once again, I was frustrated to learnthat there was no English information available on thefestival, and no way for foreigners to book tickets. I hate that I have to go through this everytime I wantto see a show. I was so disappointed about this onetoo, because one of my favourite Brazilian guitarplayers, Egberto Gismonti was playing, and it wouldhave been incredible to see him live. |
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