Drunk Koreans

I have a little story to tell you.

Today I went to town and was getting back later than I had planned.  Made it to Jain around 8pm, got off the bus, grabbed some water and a strawberry yogurt at the bus stop store, then walked into the taxi office to wait for a taxi to return.

While I am sitting there musing about how it took 5 hours to go to town, pick one thing up, and get back... low and behold a friendly Korean man walks in.  He reeks of Soju and I recognize it instantly from an earlier encounter an hour before.  This guy though doesn't speak English, which is a good thing for once.

He sat down beside me and started trying to talk to me.   I at first tried to understand.  He pulled out his phone and tried to get someone to translate for me but the fellow he called didn't speak English either.  A good thing in this situation.

So he tried to communicate the old fashioned way.  Hand gestures.  I am not dumb.  I figured out between his repeated slapping of my knee and the gestures he was making that he wanted me to come hang out for one something.  One drink?  One night?  In this case the same thing.  I played dumb, shook my head no, and kept saying, "English?".

Never been so glad to see a taxi drive up in my life.  I said, "Taxi" and walked outside with my things.  Much to my increasing nervousness, he followed.  He talked with the taxi driver.  Sadly the taxi driver was familiar with me and knew exactly where I wanted to go... because he told the drunk "SahmYook."  I cringed inside and watched him get into the front seat.  Hesitantly I took the back.

Something about Korea that I like is how nice everyone is.  That includes, evidently, drunks.

The taxi driver started driving and the Korean drunk kept trying to talk to me.  I kept confusion evident in my voice and face hoping that the taxi driver would save me.  Then I prayed that quite "help me" prayer.  Suddenly an idea came to mind.  Keith!  I pulled out my phone and called him, planning to ask him to meet me when I got there in the taxi.  He answered, and I shakily asked for a favor.  Right as he said sure, we stopped at a place by the road.  I told him not to worry, I didn't need help anymore, and would tell him later.

Then came more gesturing and me just waving goodbye as the drunk opened my door and invited me to come with him.  I pretended uncertain confusion and waved goodbye.  The taxi driver drove me away, then gestured that the drunk wanted me to drink there with him.  I shook my head no to that with no confusion whatsoever.  The driver kindly helped me get my stuff out and I ran to my apartment to calm down.

Calmed down now.  My hands no longer are shaking.  And so it is more amusing than anything else ^_^

Between Worlds

I got onto an Asiana plane in LA today and flew back to Seoul.  Uneventful trip really.  That is once you get past the frazzled me at the LA airport.  (Remembers dropping her wallet that wasn't closed yet on the ground in front of a large group of police officers.)  I'm literally stuck between two worlds right now.  A part of me is struggling not to cry at leaving my beloved country and loved ones.  Another part of me is slipping into the way I act in Korea.  Movements or motions or words or ways of speaking that I used in South Korea before but tried to suppress while in the United States of America are struggling to come back.  Yet now that I am finally used to not saying "thank you" all the time in Korean or handing/accepting things with one hand under the elbow, the environment I'm surrounded by demands that I return to it.  Finding the rhythm that I had before leaving will take some time.

Stateside and Yahoo Email

Hey everyone... I love being stateside.  America is a wonderful country and there are so many blessings here.

I want to apologize.  I have received emails from some of you and can't respond.  It isn't because I don't want to.  Rather instead my laptop and yahoo have not been getting along for awhile now.  Since I am not at school, I can't use the school's computer to reply.  So for those of you worried at my lack of response, that is why.  I'll keep reopening the mail page and trying to respond as best as I can.  It just freezes on that site so badly.

Culture Shock in the USA

It is normally assumed that you will experience culture shock when you go to another country.  This is normally true as many foreigners to South Korea can testify to.  However, very few seem to be aware of much less ready for the culture shock that occurs when returning to one's home country.  As is happening for me.

There is the normal jetlag that tires me later in the day.  However beyond that I am finding that simply interacting with people is different.  Among my close friends and family it hasn't been a problem.  I know they care about me so I don't worry too much if I don't understand all the facial expressions or body language that I normally could in South Korea.  However going into a store or restaurant is another experience altogether.  The first feelings among so many non-Koreans I had were of my soul being barred before strangers.  Like I couldn't hide my inner most thoughts from them.  Why?  Who knows where such a feeling came from.

In the end, I realized that the very way Americans walk with their legs and how they shift from foot to foot is different.  The way they swing their arms and gesture with their hands as they talk.  And yes, Americans use their hands a lot more than I realized.  No wonder my students mimic me in the classroom.  The facial expressions and the way someone composes their body while sitting at a table by themselves are all different.  While being in the same room, I can hear and understand people two tables away.  The diversity among Americans: haircuts, make-up, hair color, eye structure and color, skin tone, clothing fashions... it is a lot of new data that my senses try to take in but fail at after a few wide-eyed moments.

That is just the people.  Interacting with them in the sense of space is also different.  Americans have huge space bubbles around them.  Going through a store with a shopping cart, they skirt around each other and apologize if they come within a foot or foot and a half of you.  Driving down the street, they wait until all cars are far away before turning and keep a lot of space between their car and the car in front of them.  Thankfully, giving hugs isn't the same.  I try to reciprocate the type of hugs people give me such as those who prefer side hugs.  Still, a few don't mind the full hug that I missed so desperately in South Korea.

Beyond this is the blessed topic of food.  The one thing I had the hardest time adjusting to while in South Korea.  Yes, all my beloved foods are here and I love not having rice products in every meal I eat.  But I never realized how incredibly greasy the food is here.  My beloved pizza hut among many others.  My view has changed there and I don't know what to do with myself for it.

Politics has also changed for me.  I have lived in a country with no guns and wonderful healthcare.  Yet I return to a country with lots of guns and rather primitive healthcare.  I wish I could take the healthcare of South Korea and transplant it here where our gun rights still exist.  There are mixed blessings of living in both countries and every blessing comes with it's own curse.

Oh, did I mention how loud Americans are?  I thought Koreans could not be topped for loudness.  They scream in the classroom, in the hallways, outside, at meals, at parties, at concerts, and so forth.  They live hard.  Then I come to America where there is no screaming only to find that Americans talk louder, laugh louder, and somehow ever are quiet in a louder way.  It is so hard to explain.  Everything about an American stands out in comparison to a Korean, even if the Korean is wearing a lot of yellow and pink.