Korea Korea

• I am sure I have mentioned that couples wear matching clothes… and ridiculous clothes… but I posted a picture to prove it
• Hospitals, as I have mentioned, allow their patients to walk freely in the streets, it is not uncommon to see someone in hospital pants/shirts walking around, or smoking on the corner… here there is a picture of two people taking in the Korean B-Boys (break dancing boys) street show. “Ohhh Korea Korea”
• The way Korea treats animals is somewhat of a mystery to me. Of course there are the similarities to back home… people fuss a lot over their pets. I have seen many dressed up dogs complete with booties and dyed neon pink hair but then there are other things on TV. On the subway TV, I watched them tie a pig to a bungee jump and throw him over for a laugh. A cow at the Suwon folk village was tied to a pole all day on a small two meter by three meter concrete square with no water. Finally, we all know that they do farm and eat dog. Fine, this is not a shocker anymore but the way they kill the dogs is. I guess they hang them and then beat them to death. This is supposed to make the meat ‘more tender.’ Hmmm some things I will never get.
• The subway is always an interesting people watching experience. Amongst the Agimas (old woman) with cell phones, are teenage boys snuggling, and strangers sleeping on one another, occasionally bumping a young couple who may or may not be dressed the same but the boy/man in the relationship is definitely always carrying her purse. ☺
• Here as my friend Andres put it, “I am spoiled with culture.” One rainy Sunday Roberta, Andres, and I were running through the rainy streets of down town Seoul. We heard pipe music so we ran in that direction and grabbed some shelter under a small tent with plastic chairs set up. What was going on? Only an ancient Buddha reading by monks in the heart of the city! As the monk’s song like chant floated up through the metallic skyscrapers I could only think how lucky I was to experience something so ancient in such a buzzing modern metropolitan.
• Public Transportation is a dream in Korea. Subway’s work by swiping your card and cost around 80 cents per ride. Then the bus system I am just learning but is equally as easy and costs about a dollar to a dollar fifty. I can ride the bus for just 20 minutes to my neighbouring large city, Suwon, and it leaves from the main street exiting my apartment and takes only 25 minutes!!
• There are of course a lack of yards, and parks, so where does one enjoy a barbeque? Well on the roof of course!… Now that summer is here we are frequenting the neighbouring roof tops (which are open to all tenants).
• (As a memory – Joey’s Birthday was on the roof, with multiple people from all different schools/areas, and Bert went out dancing in Gagnam)
• I stayed with the three other social wieners, Jacob and Andy (South Africans) and Will… we decided to be somewhat adventurous… note they wanted to be somewhat adventurous and I felt 11:00 pm was possibly too early for me to head to bed on a Saturday ☺ So we all headed to a “Sexy Bar.” This is a common type of bar in Korea where woman dress not too skanky (compared to our at times sex obsessed North American culture) in mini skirts and regular pretty tops. They stand behind the bar and their job is to flirt with the men. They do not sit down unless invited by the men they stand in front of. I tried to ask if they made good money but apparently they really don’t and do not get the national holidays off (or 'time and a half'). It sounds like a brutal job all around that in a lot of places could lead into prostitution. One of the bartenders did tell me that she had breast implants… or was possibly asking me if I had had work done ☺ but I am assuming the latter as many more wealthy woman here in Korea do get work done because it is fairly cheap. The most common thing I imagine is the enlargening of the eyes. Korean people (especially the females) really judge beauty by how big the eyeball looks… Interesting eh? I think rather sad… but I am so torn between being disgusted and thinking that this is some horrible western influence and another simpler idea that Beauty really is in the ‘eye’ of the beholder and well people like different things… take it as you will I suppose.
• I made it to the National Museum the other weekend. It was an amazing three hours of exploring different pottery, old tools, some statues, and old Buddhist relics (including a ‘wall hanging almost two stories high). The most interesting thing that stuck with me was that in the past Korean people were enforced to carry around a little pendant (usually wood but sometimes metal) that stated their name and their job/rank. So there were particular pendants for farmers, police officers, nobility etc. This culture, as most Confusion cultures are, is very concerned with social position/heiarchy.