Thoughts from Asia

In my thus far brief time in Korea I've realized many things about the Asian culture in the United States versus the culture over here. I will say that although I've only been around native Koreans, I've seen very many similarities amongst the cultures that have had much Chinese, Confucian, influence.

The men in Korea, I should say married men, have total freedom it seems. They stay out late and drink with friends and co workers, they have fun and leave the child rearing to the wife at home. Dads would get home late at night, say hi to the kids and go to bed. Sound familiar? I always wondered why my own father did it and it seems is simply part of the culture.

I've always been very critical of the Asian propensity for loving anything brand name. Everything has to have a brand name, everything has to be good. I've thought about why and I wonder why can't we just like normal, functional stuff. Then I came to Korea. There are A LOT of merchandise, clothes, watches, shoes, anything to buy. Because there is such a vast quantity of goods there are also a high volume of lower end merchandise that won't last long. I bought some shoes from a no name store earlier today only to return them five minutes later when I found better name brand shoes for a little bit more money but a lot better quality. Brand name simply means that it has a much, much higher chance of being of good quality rather than taking a stab at some random shop somewhere.

Chicks also love designer brands here so guys have to keep up.

Another thing that bothered me was how Asian people gossip like CRAaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I hated telling anything to any one of my family members because soon enough family who I've never met will know all the little intricate details of my life. At work people also talk. Many of the teachers at my school that I work with know a lot about me, where's I'm from, what I like, things I eat, how I'm single and how everyone wants to set me up. It seems as though the work place is more like a family than a business, as far as teachers are concerned and what we see as gossip they simply see as information to be freely distributed amongst family members. For some reason it doesn't bother me as much as my own family doing it.

Also the sharing information thing also is to keep kids in line. One of my teacher friends at the school, a male teacher, found out about how one of his kids started smoking from one of his teacher friends at another school. You already know what happened to the son.

Every time I would go anywhere to buy anything with my parents from a non mainstream place, like the mall, they would haggle like crazy. As a kid, I wondered why they would talk so much and only get like two bucks off the sticker price. Now I realize that over here you're able to get massive crazy discounts if you can work it and if you're not a foreigner. I always get better deals when I'm with a Korean friend.

Eating out has to be the Asian national past time. It seems as though people rarely eat at home because things are just so cheap around here. Many places offer a full meal for about five bucks.

Korea-isms

Korea is like Disneyland -
It's really crowded around Seoul. And the rail way system, to me, feels a lot like the mono rail system at Disney for some reason.

There are "lands" to go to for the things you need or want. If you want to party you go to Hongdae, if you want to shop you go to Myoungdong or Dongdaemun, if you want foreigners you can go to Itaewon.

Also often times, there are a lot of things to take pictures of. Just like Disneyland!

Korea is a big game of hide and seek -
When I'm waiting for people or chilling on the subway. I like to play "Local or Foreigner?" I like to look around at the crowd and see if there are other Asians that aren't native Korean but are foreigners. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't. Heck, there are some of my Korean American friends who totally blend in some times when they dress like the locals.

Korea is like the Drew Carey Show -
People will randomly break out in coordinated dance.

Everyone here knows every dance move to every popular Korean song. Sometimes before or after class I'll put on some youtube music vids of some songs, like Wonder Girls or Girls Generation, and AUTOMATICALLY many of my students will bust out in the dance steps of the music video...step for step.

Just the other day I was shopping in Dongdaemun and I randomly came across this stage where the host were simply calling up random people from the crowd to come up and dance to these songs, like that one G Dragon song, and they'd come up and dance PERFECTLY to the music.
Korea is a learning experience -
I've learned to look over my shoulder to change lanes...while walking. No joke. There often would be times where I'd just kinda drift over to get around people and people would bump into me and give me the stare of death. Or vice versa. Actually, old Korean ladies push me out of the way to get somewhere all the time.

Korea will set you up -
You're not allowed to be single in Korea. Generally the first thing locals ask one another when they get acquainted is "Where are you from?" The next thing is "Do you have a girlfriend?" The follow up would usually be something like, "You need to find yourself a Korean girlfriend." or "I'll find you a nice Korean girl, she'll be pretty!" Heck, even my friends back home are telling me to do it.

Actually, couples in Korea are quite funny. They have this Konglish term, "couple tees", in which both couples would wear the same outfit. Now I understand how couples match and all but over here they take it to another level with same outfits. It's like same pink polos (for guy and girl) jeans, matching chucks, the works.

Finding comfort in the familiar

Being displaced from the familiar, I feel, results in feelings of excitement, nervousness, astonishment, and maybe a little bit of anxiety and insecurity thrown in there for good measure. It's not unlike that of a child, where everyday feels brand new for him because he's so young. That's why children watching the same thing over and over again and that's why they make you read the same story over and over again, it's to comfort them. Since everything is always so new, they need to seek comfort in the familiar.

I also find myself trying to find things that put me at ease. To try to find that familiarity in such a different culture and area. Even though the Vietnamese food here isn't that good, sometimes I just indulge into that nostalgic craving. The other thing that brings me back is the simple act of going to the gym. Such a simple thing but it helps put me in an area where I'm very familiar and comfortable.

Remarking off of what a colleague said her in her blog, every time I see someone who I don't is Korean I want to just run up and greet him or her.

Stuff that I've been doing -
Today my main co teacher and another co teacher went to Daebang Middle School near Daerim for a class observation thing. I thought it was pretty cool. I'm always down for things where I can learn a bit more. We saw how a Korean English Teacher conducted class and then we had a little discussion of it afterward. I saw my homie Matt from orientation there, he actually teaches at that school.

After work a fellow anteater invited me over to her area to work on our lesson plans. Unfortunately I was unable to find her due to miscommunication. Instead, I did some shopping and got some food.

On the way back, in the subway near home, I noticed this random Caucasian girl near me. I looked up and simply asked, "Excuse me, are you from SMOE?" just to make some conversation. Turns out she was but she had already been here for a year. We discussed our positions, how she likes teaching high school and how I feel about middle school. We exchanged contact info, turns out she lives in Guro Digital Complex, which is about four stops away from me.

I've also have been trying to reconnect with friends from the states that are in Korea for one reason or another. I managed to hang out with Esther the other night, I met her in Writing 39B my freshman year. I think I'm going to hang out with some APHIO people in Gangnam on Friday. They were Korean international students studying at UCI. Also, there is a girl, also an international student, that was a part of my APO family whom I never met that I contacted. I sent her an e-mail and I might meet up with her soon. Oh, and last but not least, one of my spoppers goes to a university here. Hopefully I can hang out with her too.

Random experiment of the day -
When I went to the pho place I left some tip. As I went up to the cashier to pay, the waiter brought me the money back.

Social Observation of the day -
I notice sales people treat me differently depending upon my dress when I go shopping. Sometimes I'll go right after work so I'll look all fancy schmancy. Sometimes I'll wear some flip flops and shorts. The days wear I'm all dressed up I have to beat them away with a stick; the days where I'm just casual I can't get any attention. However, I think this is something that happens everywhere.

Things that cross my mind -
I remember this lady would always come into Guppys at night on either Mondays or Tuesday, almost every week. She'd come with her friends. She was a little bit older and it was pretty obvious she wasn't married. I remember her trying to say hi to me one day when I came in to pick up my schedule but I was in a hurry and it didn't register until later. I remember overhearing that she has/had a boyfriend or something when she was talking to her friends. Yet, every so often when I'd look at her direction I'd catch her looking at me and she'd quickly turn away. I mean, the food at Guppys isn't THAT good. I wonder if she realizes that I'm gone.

I wonder how my family is.

I wonder how Chewie is. I miss that little fuzzy guy. To be honest, I almost cried the other day when I saw a dog that resembled him.

I wonder how my best friend and his family is doing. On that note, I wonder how all my friends are doing. There are a lot of people I wanted to be wasn't able t properly say good bye to.

I hope my brother remembered to pick up my last paycheck from Guppys.

I seem to eat about the same amount now that I did back at home but I'm losing a lot more weight now. My best friend and I discussed how, because of the excess of corn in American farms, there are corn by-products everywhere. You can find it in anything from soda to beef. Ground beef, actually, is mostly corn and stuff, not meat. That's why it's so cheap. Maybe that's the difference.

The First Week and Half of Work

I don't think anything couldn't really prepared me for my first day. Sure I have a piece of paper that says I'm certified to teach English as a foreign language. Sure I've taught before. But that first class where the students looked at me and where I just looked back at them...that was something that nothing could really prepare me for.

Sure, people have told me about it but I feel that unless you actually experience it for yourself, you can't really describe it. I was, to borrow a term from norcal homies, HELLLLLLLLLAA nervous. My first period co teacher asked me. "Have you taught before? You seemed okay." I told her, "I was really nervous but I couldn't show the kids." So many things didn't go according to plan but I just had to play it off like it did.

I progressively gained a bit more confidence with each passing class period and day. Toward the end of the week I felt pretty good from a teaching stand point and I realized, for me at least, the best way for me to teach is to yell. It helps me slow down my speech and get the point across. I think I got it half from a certain AP US History teacher in high school, and half from being in military school in 8th grade. And maybe a little bit from R. Lee Ermy from Full Metal Jacket.

My students' reading ability is actually pretty good. I don't know whether they understand it or not but they can read it aloud. Speaking ranges from below average to actually pretty good. Listening is pretty good too. Writing, however, is below average to average in most of the students. It's something I should work on.

Friday night, my friends and I went to Myoungdong for some dinner. Went shopping for a bit after the food. I tried to get a cell phone but it was such a hassle. I didn't get the cell phone until Saturday and it didn't work until Monday. Such a hassle. It started raining later in the evening so we quickly made our way home. Rain in Korea is supposedly acid rain. Not like in the movies or anything but it's not that clean so it's best not to be in it.

Saturday night, a bunch of homies and I hit up Gangnam. First we went to an apartment to meet up and then made our way to Club Eden, a house music club. It was the most expensive cover I've paid - 30,000 won. Now, the exchange rate is roughly 1200 won to a dollar but I just equate 1000 = 1 dollar just to make things easier. The club started off slow but became pretty exciting. Now, I absolutely hate clubbing but the past few times that I've been out here in Korea has been really, really fun. This time a bunch of us foreigners made our way up to the front of the club and danced all night in front of the DJ steps. It was crazzzzzzzzzy. Afterward, a couple of us hit up Itawon, the "foreigner" district. We had some fun there and got lost. While lost, we went down some alleyways. I noticed some cute girls wearing bikinis in small shops. They made the motion for us to come...then we realized we weren't in the right part of town and high tailed it outta there. Oh, on the way out of there we also got our first look of transgendered men....woman? Anyhow we quickly made our way back to the main area of Itawon.

I have to say, it was a pretty crazy night.

Things that are more expensive than soju here -

Water, any juice, food, snacks. Actually, almost everything is more expensive than soju here.

Things that I have noticed here -

I've yet to come across any sort of big dog. I've seen a few medium sized ones here and there but for the most part it's all been really small toy poodle dogs. Actually, even Chewie would be a bit bigger than the average dog over here.

Clothes ARE cheap...for girls. I've seen a few sales here and there for guy but for the most part the good stuff is a bit more expensive.

In the states, we walk on the right, drive on the right, and all that good stuff. Over here, they drive to the right...but walk to the left. Like for instance, we walking pass people on the left when we walk toward someone, not the right.

Traffic signals are merely a suggestion.

With my glasses, I blend in. I kinda feel like a spy. Without it, I look a lot less Korean apparently. In fact today while in the elevator going to the gym, this little 2 year old Korean girl just stared at me. So I waved at her. I remember this one chick once telling me that I look more Chinese and evil without my glasses.

Korea does not believe in paper towels. You don't find any in public bathrooms. On that note, you generally find soap on a stick, not the liquid or soapy kind.

Korea also does not believe in having actual showers. I have a bathroom, standard toilet and sink...and the shower head is attached to the sink!

Korean girls wear heels everywhere. It's just amazing.

Somehow, people still recognize me at the randomest places. I was at this random ass bookstore in Gangnam. This dude comes up to me and asks "Hey, did you go to UCI?"

If you're single in Korea, people will set you up. Case closed. My hyun neem, one of the PE teachers, asked me what kind of girls I liked today.

Dude, people will stare at you.

Also, when I'm with a group of non-Asian foreigners, locals always look at me and speak to me in Korean.

My students don't understand non-Korean Asians for some reason. They try to speak to me in Korean...and I just kinda look at them. And they go "wait, but..you LOOK Korean...why don't you speak Korean, Mr. Thai?" "uhhh I'm not Korean kids." "Oh wait, are you adopted?" "No kids, I'm not Korean."

I learned not to hug people in public and not to ask what university that person is from.

In Korean culture, they say that a good indicator of character is one's choosiness over food. If one is less choosy, that person is considered to be of good character. At least, that's what my co teacher told me after I devoured plate after plate of Korean food. Well, since I've been here almost everyone has asked me if I like Korean food.

I've walked more in my first three weeks of Korea than probably all of summer ...and maybe spring too.