A Culture of Convenience

When deciding upon coming to Korea and upon arrival, I wondered how I'd get around without a car. Sure, I heard of something called a "subway" or "bus" but in California, these things are myths, heard of but never seen, like the fabled black albino. I was sad, not only because I'd be gone from my car, but because I'd actually have to carry things, like in a back pack (or goodness gracious, some sort of bag). I wouldn't be able to use my car as a massive storage locker that I could hoard things with. I'd leave water in there just in case I needed some, I'd leave a snack or two, an umbrella perhaps, and a lot of other things one might need in a day to day venture.

Little did I know that I wouldn't NEED to hoard because in Korea, things are EVERYWHERE. I used to think it was a little ridiculous to have two Starbucks in close proximity to each other but over here, there are some places that have three or four in a block! Not only will there be Starbucks but there would also be Dunkin Donuts, Coffee Bean, and an assortment of smaller coffee places and the strangest thing of all is that they'd all be full!

And that's just coffee.

Seoul is abounded with large quantities of almost everything. I could be walking down the street to my friend's apartment and if I just so happened to be a little be parched, I could just walk and a few meters (because Korea uses the metric system) later, I'd be able to walk into a Family Mart (or Seven-Eleven if you prefer) and buy myself a nice refreshing drink.

Instead of being just a bit thirsty, suppose that you're HUNGRY and fiending for some KOREAN BBQ! (just called BBQ here in Korea) Those places are very abundant in Seoul. One would probably stumble upon at least three traveling to any given location. Also, these places typically would also be filled with older, drunk Korean men. You don't really get the Korean experience without the loud, old men in the restaurant.

What's also nice is how quickly delivery comes. One would be able to call almost any sort of food service (McDonald's delivers here, Chinese, Korean food, pizza, it's all good) and it'll come rather expediently

Now let's suppose you're a girl, because that's key for this next example, and you need a scarf to complete your outfit. Fear not! There are PLENTY of shopping areas pretty much everywhere. Subways are filled with inexpensive shops and booths that sell all these random accessories and outfits. A female friend of mine once remarked, "Shopping should be illegal here. It's so cheap and it's everywhere. That's why I'm always late to things! And OMG the shoes! SO MANY STYLES!"

Now only if I can find some clothes that actually fit, then I'd be in business.

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What do you think is the most rewarding thing about your job right now?

A while ago I was walking to school and a student was late and saw me and run up to catch up to me. He walked with me the rest of the way to school (knowing he'd be punished by being late) and we talked about life. He talked about how his friend was feeling a little suicidal (as a teacher we'd say this is higher level thinking and communication) and how he was sad for her and wanted to help her out.

Later that week his regular English teacher told me how he felt awesome just being able to talk to me about that kind of stuff. That's when I knew I was going in the right direction in life.

Ask me anything

What was your first paying job?

I worked at Disneyland, believe it or not.

Ask me anything

How's Seoul? :)

It's good! The weather has some getting used to at first but once one's able to handle the humidity and the crazy non-Californian cold, it's rather nice.

It's funny because one of my friends asked me, "Hey, do they all dress like in Korean dramas?" First I said, "They just call them 'dramas' here. And yes, many people do dress as if it were a drama."

Foods really good, I've always been a foodie. The one thing I don't like is how good non-Korean food is super expensive. That's one thing I know I took for granted back home.

Ask me anything

If you had only ONE day left to live, how would you spend it?

I mostly likely would steal a pair of binoculars somewhere and get to the highest point I could find and just people watch.

And then go have an adventure myself!

Ask me anything

Don't Panic, make sure you have a towel

It's nice being busy. Work, class, gym, hang out. You really can't ask for much more than that. Personally, I like being busy because if I'm not, I end up doing a whole lot of nothing. Like in college where you get a day off from work, have nothing planned, just wanting to relax and you end up...doing nothing the entire day. A few of those days here and there are nice but too many makes me feel like a waste.

Quite recently, South Korea had announced that it had determined that North Korea was the cause of the destruction of the South Korean naval ship, Cheonan. Right after the incident was reported I immediately registered with the embassy and took a look see at some evacuation procedures just in case. I live south of the Han River and the closest evacuation point for me would be the Mok Dong Ice Rink. Talking to some of my military buddies, looks like we'd be evac'd to Japan if anything happens. I'm always hoping nothing will but just in case it's nice to know where to go.

I never understood how good we had it back at home. How VERY good we had it. My parents flew a war torn country to get to a place where all you needed to do was to go to school, get good grades, get a nice job, and be happy. Many of the people who grew up in Orange County often remark on how it's "the bubble" because we're so sheltered from the "rest" of the world.

But it is.

I've never had to think about war or military action. Stuff like that was always a world away. These days I've been reading articles and posts on forums on people's opinion on what's happening with this North Korea situation. The articles would talk about Kim Jong-Il, nuclear weapons, what would happen to Seoul, this that and the other thing and I realized something - it's just a game for them. A game of analysis, a game of debate. They have nothing in stake because hey, they're a world away. It's a whole 'nother ball game when it's right at your doorstep. All of my friends who I've talked aren't trying to analyze anything, they're not trying to see the financial ramifications or the political movements in all of it, they're just trying to stay calm and collected because like me, they've never had to worry about stuff like this before.

As always, random stuff -

- The Korean accent is funny to me. my female companion once remarked that she liked "chomby" movies. I looked at her and asked her what that meant in English. She said, "No no, chomby, you know, scary."

"Huh?"

"They eat your brains?"

"OH zombie movies!"

Koreans don't have the "z" so they have a difficult time pronouncing it. Oftentimes it comes out sounding like a "ch".

- On that note, some of my teacher friends are devious. My friend told me a story about how one lesson was about presidents and such and how one of the vocabulary words was "election.'

Hilarity ensued.

You can tell our level of maturity with that one.

- Recently I've been trying out that P90x thing. I really like it, it's super useful. Unfortunately, it's not for me. After doing it (sort of) for about a month, I've lost a lot of muscle mass.

- At the gym tonight I put my cheerleading training to good use. I was sitting at the bench press resting when I saw two of the female gym staff members carrying this unconscious girl to the front. I BURST into action and helped carry her to the front of the gym where she woke up. She's fine now. One of the staff members gave me an energy drink for that. It was nice.

- I've come to realize why we watched so many movies in hs and college. Damn teachers are lazy. How do I know? There are just some days where I look at my kids and go, "Man, I wish I could just put on Mr. Bean right now, dang kids."

- How to Train Your Dragon was bad ass.

- Apparently Koreans don't really like milk tea. It explains the lack of boba shops around. I travel far and wide in search of boba. I've been calling it bubble tea recently because for some reason, the rest of the US calls it bubble tea. My friends and I have found one place in Sinchon and one place in Myeongdong.

- My Vietnamese and Chinese is so bad now. I called my mom the other day and it was the funniest thing you'd ever seen. Granted, my Vietnamese was never great or even decent but man, seeing as how only speak it about once every month or so it's hard to maintain it.

- For the longest time back home I didn't like bibimbap. I know it's good. But shoot, I can't justify spending eight bucks on rice, veggies, and gochujang (which is this Korean sauce thing, very similar to Vietnamese hoisin sauce in how it's in EVERYTHING in Korea). But now that I'm in Korea, for 4000 won (roughly 4 bucks), it's delicious!

- I'm convinced that when Star Craft II comes out, nothing will get done in Korea for at least a month.

Sticking Out like a Sore Thumb

It's official. I can't shop at Dongdaemun. It's the local clothing flea market-type thing in Seoul. You go around, do some eye shopping (that's what window shopping is in Konglish), haggle a bit, buy some stuff, go home. Thing is, they tend to mark the price up for Westerners so haggling's a bitch.

So the other day, my buddy Matt and I came up with this devious plan - instead of speaking English, we'll speak broken ass Chinese (because that's how good our Chinese is -_-). We were excited, finally I could haggle with the rest of the Asians. It was the best plan ever! Anyhow, we get there, walk around, comment on things in Chinese, talk about the weather and stuff (again because it's one of the few things ALL language classes teach). We stop by one shop as I spot something I like. Before I could spout any sort of Chinese commenting on the shirt the shop keeper looks at me and says "Hi, American? I give you good deal."

Frack. I'm the worst spy ever.

So alas, our cover was blown so we switched to our native English and continue on shopping and looking around. I was wearing a jacket at the time, thinking that somehow a jacket will add to my disguise of not being American, and we approached a vendor. I asked in Korean, "Do you have any extra large sizes?" He said, "Ha, you're not extra large, take off your jacket." So I promptly oblige. He just kinda looked at me and just said, "No clothes." I guess wearing a jacket really does hide your figure.

However, it seems that only people in Dongdaemun (and taxi drivers) are adept at spotting Asian foreigners. When I go to restaurants and such, the waiters/waitresses automatically assume I'm Korean. Hell, since I'm learning Korean right now I'm able to order the basic stuff here and there. The funny thing is if I'm given options with my order or if they say something about the order, I'm effed and I just end up looking like a fool trying to say "Oh, I don't speak Korean" when I just spoke Korean.

What happens sometimes is when I'm waiting for the subway to come and an ajumma (old lady) comes and speaks to me in Korean. I'm assuming she's asking about the train arrival or if it goes somewhere specific. I would immediately tell her that I don't speak Korean. More often than not, said ajumma would then get all mad and start screaming at me telling me to go to hell and what not because I'm a no good Korean because I don't speak Korean. Before I can say anything else off she storms off to find the nearest real Korean to ask directions from.

And of course, quick hits -

Apparently I'm super Californian. Many of the people I meet over here often remark how Californian I am with all the polo wearing, hair spiking, chuck shoe lace tying, and of course, cold weather complaining.

Speaking of cold weather, now I know why my parents moved to California. Thank you mom and dad.

A Quickly, the boba place, just opened in Myeongdong. Even though it's about an hour away, I go there often enough now that the employees already know me by remarking, "Oh hey Wesley, he's here again!"

Speaking which, Korea has really altered my perception of time. Back at home, I would absolutely hate driving more than 30 minutes to get anywhere, heck, 25 minutes is really pushing it. But over here if someone invites me to let's say Sinchon for something that's like 45 minutes away? No problem!