Howdy
It has been so long since I last wrote that I almost forgot what I wrote about.
The Thursday after I posted I went to the Early Print Museum with a friend, Yun Jong. It is a very interesting places, but I found out after snapping a picture that you are not supposed to take pictures inside. Dunno why, it is just museum policy. The world's first moveable type printing press was actually invented in Korea a couple of hundred years before Guttenberg's press. The type they used was very tiny and intricate. I imagine the monks went blind carving them by hand. A nice museum to visit.
Yun Jong said she had a place she wanted to take me for lunch, a surprise place. It was about 20 minutes outside of town. When she said the name in Korean I said Angel and the Woodcutter, right? Heh, I was right. We had a nice drive along the Museoncheon River, then out of the city. Lunch was great Muk Bap and Hamul Pajeon. Muk is a sort of jelly like thing made from chestnuts. Very tasy, especially with other stuff. Basically it is the same as BibimBap but with Muk. Hamul pajeon is sort of a seafood pizza. We had a great meal, then spent a while walking around the place. Unlike last time I had my camera with me, because of going to the museum. So, we took finished up a roll of film. Since most people were studying for midterms it was a pretty quiet weekend.
Last weekend was another story. It was very busy. Friday night I treated one of my students to dinner. Then we met up with Yun Jong and another student. (Her name eludes me.) We went to a naribang and did karaoke for a couple of hours. Yun Jong is a pretty good singer. We had a great times. :)
Saturday night I went out with another student, and a friend of his. DungChim has been a student of mine for about 3 months, and his English is pretty good. His friend, Ju Young, is about 5' and looks like she is 16, when she is actually 30. She is married, which was a little strange because most married Korean men do NOT let their wives have male friends. And yes I mean LET. DungChim and her husband, and her, have been friends for a long time though so it is different. We went and saw Spiderman. Good movie.
After the movie we met some other friends of his. Two bars and many hours later it was around 3:30Am and time to go home. I didn't get in until around 4AM. It was a great night though.
I had planned on going to Cheonan, but didn't get up until noon. So, I did some cleaning and cooking, then took in a movie. We Were Soldiers is a pretty good movie.
Sunday was another Holiday too. Children's Day, which is when parents celebrate having their kids. The kids get presents and treated. Of course it fell on a Sunday, which ticked off a lot of kids because it meant no day off of school.
Today I had lunch with two of the women who work as receptionists at the front desk. Sun Young and Eun Jin. They treated me. We had Italian food. VERY good Italian food. :)
Next weekend I am going out of town with some friends. Yun Jong, Choon Seob, and maybe a couple of others, to a place called Everland. Picture disney world in Korea. It should be a great time.
June 1st I will be in a city called Ulsan to watch a World Cup game!!! My boss gave me the saturday off and a buddy in Seoul picked us up a couple of tickets. We will be seeing Uruguay versus Denmark. Uruguay is where the 1st ever World Cup of FOotball was held, and Uruguay won it. Denmark beat Germany for the Euro Cup in 1997 (I think 97). Stat wise both teams are fairly equal so it should be a good game. I will definitely be bringing my camera with me! I never thought I would ever get a chance to see a World Cup game, now I am going to one. :)
May looks to be an interesting month. Hopefully only in a good way. ;)
Take care,
Flint
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Never did get to Everland and I am not upset about that. ;)
DungChim's "friend". Well, she was really his "partner". Which means she was cheating on her husband with him. Something that seems to be fairly common here. As I have been told on several occaissions by Korean women. They marry for financial security not love. Then find passion elsewhere.
And DungChim wasn't friends with her husband.
Flint,
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be "going out" with gazillions of Korean women in the first year. Ah....why am I getting jealous?
It's sad to know that men and women cheat, surreptitiously of course, in a conservative land and are eager to take a moral high ground in blaming "decadent West" when it comes to relationships.
I have always felt that people in West, who are generally blamed for lax morals, put a great deal of an effort to make relationships work and try to stay "more" committed in a relationship. Call me naive but I've had several such encounters back home.
Ajay
ReplyDeleteWell, I was and I wasn't. It wasn't anything romantic. It was for fun only. :) As I have said from Day 1, I didn't come here for a wife or gf. I came here for a change in life, a job, and the chance to experience Asia.
Many of them were students too. Something I was going to address later was students like YunJong. I found with many students as long as you are their teacher they are your "friend". As soon as they take a class with another teacher you are nothing.
YunJong was like that. The months I was her teacher we went out a lot. With others and alone. The day she took a class with a different teacher she stopped talking to me. We had plans to meet and she didn't show.
I don't understand the mentality. She went to the school I taught at. Of course I would see her in the hallway and ask what the fuck was up. She actually didn't think I would. That is when she "explained" to me that I must understand Korean culture. She isn't my student now so she can't spend any time with me. She has to spend it with the new teacher. I don't think she understood why I started laughing at her and walked out of the room laughing. Her "explanation" was just so ludicrous and shallow. What else could you do other than call her a ricetard?
Since then I have encountered more than a few adult students like that.
I still have NO FUCKING IDEA how Korea is a Conservative country. I will have to write a post about it one day but I would love for someone to explain to me in what way Korea is conservative. Unless xenophobia and racism make you conservative.
Flint,
ReplyDeleteCome on! I was just kidding on "going out".
Korea, a conservative land as said by Koreans is what I was referring to. We all know the truth. :)
I wonder what are the rules of "friendship" between two Koreans. I guess the other teacher that you were talking about was also an expatriate. Will that girl do the same to her Korean teacher(s)?
"You should understand Korean culture" excuse - I love it. I think expats know more about Korean culture than the Koreans do. I hope one day we expats collaborate to produce "The Real Culture of Korea".
Ajay
ReplyDeleteAwwww ... I never made anyone almost jealous before. It felt good. Now you burst my bubble. ;)
She pulled the same stuff with the next teacher, yes an expat. And as soon as she stopped coming to our school the other teacher never heard from her again. Talk about fickle.
When it comes to friends when single and when in a relationship or married we actually get treated the same as Koreans or better.
I can't count the number of Koreans who were my "friend" but as soon as they got into a relationship you never heard from them again. Koreans complained about their friends doing it too. (Mind you some of those did the same thing later.) Then when they are getting married you suddenly hear from them to come to the wedding. Fickle.
Sometimes because we are foreigners they will actually keep in touch with us but not their Korean friends. I found this was mainly for the English or bragging rights. "I have a foreign friend." Very fickle.