"Kiss Me"

I had a rather uneventful Chuseok this year. I spent most of my time relaxing and attending a couple events which I will post about later.

There was one incident that has ingrained itself in my mind these last few days.

On Thursday, my girlfriend and I decided to relax in the park nearby her apartment. We spent the day lying in the shade and enjoying the amazing autumn weather. I urged her to play badminton later on - something we love to do, but haven't found the time. Unable to find an empty badminton court,  we hiked to the top of the nearby hill which has two, less frequented, badminton courts at the top.

They too, were occupied and we sat on a picnic bench awaiting our turn to play. While chit-chatting, my girlfriend hugged me and gave me a peck on the cheek, which was immediately followed by a 30-something year old Korean man yelling to us. He approached and started talking loudly to which I just kept replying "I don't know what you're saying" and looked at my girlfriend for some advice. She just stared at the man, and whispered to me "I think he's drunk and crazy..."

The man asked if I was from England, Canada, or the US, and when I replied "U.S.A." he kept babbling on in more Korean.

It turns out he was angry at my girlfriend for kissing me in public, and said  "even though I am drunk, and I know your boyfriend is American and doesn't understand, you should behave better, should have more respect, and be more proper." He yelled at the teenagers playing nearby that they should have told us to behave properly and that they were stupid for not speaking up.  (Read this to know more about Korea and PDA)

An older man tried to calm the drunk man down, apologized to us and tried to walk him away, but he came back and yelled at us some more. He told us if we wanted to behave like that we should go get a motel room, and basically called my girlfriend a whore.

Next came the scary part. He stumbled over to the nearby chain-link fence and picked up an aluminum baseball bat. He started swinging it in anger against the fence, yelling at us some more. Another adult took the bat from him, and the older man told us to walk away - which we did.

As we walked away my girlfriend finally spoke up and told him "You're pathetic and miserable because you don't have a girlfriend!" and "fine! you want us to go to a motel room, that's where we're going now!" (great, I thought, now he's going to get mad and come after us!)

But he didn't and we walked away unharmed but a little angry and shaken.

A little while later as we were leaving the park, we saw a police car leaving and passerby's saying that a drunk man was being taken away. Hopefully it was the same guy - but finding a drunk man in Korea is as easy as finding sand on a beach.

A million thoughts ran through my head afterward. "Why was he so angry?" "What could I have done if he started swinging at us?" "Why didn't anyone speak up against him?"

First, in Korea you really shouldn't kiss in some public places. People do, but especially not in front of the elderly. This man wasn't elderly, he was just drunk - and a peck on the cheek isn't cause for alarm.

Secondly, why is he so upset? I think it's because I'm a foreigner and he is jealous that I'm dating a Korean. Korea has plenty of prostitute areas, kissing rooms, "special massage" parlors where men and women go all the time. Many Korean men cheat on their girlfriends and wives - yet we're the ones "in the wrong"? Hypocritical if you ask me.

Lastly, what could I do? If I get into an altercation with the man I'm liable to loose my job. Basically, Koreans are right, and foreigners are wrong. It doesn't really matter who starts what, others will generally NOT come to you defense, and the police will probably take YOU away. If it was his word against mine, I would probably lose. In this case, if something did happen, at least there were witnesses. Sometimes I just have to suck it up, hold back my emotions, and just take whatever abuse. But in a case of self-defense, or defense of my girlfriend - I wouldn't stand by without taking action if push came to shove. If I lose my job because I'm protecting myself or her, I would fight it to the end, and if I lost - I wouldn't want to stay in a country where I'm at wrong for doing what is right without just cause.

What would you do?

"Full Moon"

Korean Thanksgiving - aka "Chuseok" (추석) is approaching quickly. The holiday starts Tuesday-Thursday this year, and is probably the most popular holiday in the country.

"Chuseok is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Like many other harvest festivals, it is held around the Autumn Equinox. As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food." - Wikipedia

5 Things to Expect During Chuseok:

1. Traffic: If you are planning on traveling during Chuseok - don't! It's super busy and you are bound to be stuck in traffic jams between the major cities as everyone is going to their families homes - just like in the U.S.

2. High Costs: Transportation books up really quickly, and if you are planning on flying, flights will be ridiculously expensive as many people travel internationally during the free time as well. Also, the major stores seems to increase their prices - specifically food. I have seen all food prices jump over the past week due to the holiday.

Thanks to Simon and Martina over at eatyourkimchi.com you can view their latest video about going to the local supermarket.

Please take the time to read their post as well about what to expect.

Here are some highlights:

Yelling Men: Yep. Men yelling loudly. Not at each other. Not argumentatively. They’re all yelling for your attention. COME OVER HERE! THIS THING HERE IS ON SALE AND IT’S DELICIOUS AND CHEAP! Forget about store signs to tell you their sales. With these guys, you’ll know about the sale before you even enter the place.

Big Crowds: Don’t go to a Korean Supermarket on the weekend unless you’re desperate. The crowds can get huge. You’ll wait in line just to be able to put something in your cart, then wait in a bigger line to pay for it.

Women with Cool Outfits: Sure, each Supermarket has its own uniform, but there are a bunch of women not wearing that uniform. Some of the women who give samples have something that can only be described as baggy socks that start at your shoes and tie up under the knee. Can’t describe it any other way. And that goes with their miniskirts. Other women, especially during the holidays, wear hanboks next to the gift sets the store is selling. Awesome.

Spam as a Gift Set: No joke here. During the holidays, you’ll find lots of food gift sets in the stores. They can be full of apples, or seaweed, or beef, or even Spam. 

 Yes - it's true.

3. Closed Shops: On Chuseok, many stores - (and especially smaller restaurants) will be closed or have different hours. If this is your first Chuseok in Korea you should plan on stocking up your pantry for a few days - although you should be fine, and able to find something if you live in a downtown area.

4. More Vacation!: Depending on your school, you may be entitled to more vacation based on the good will of your principal and/or the education department of your city. (I can only speak for public schools). This year, due to the holiday following on a Tues-Thurs, our school gave us Monday and Friday off as well - meaning, thanks to weekends - 10 days vacation! I wish I had known much earlier as I could have made some major traveling plans in advance and gotten some good deals.

5. Awesome Festivals: I recommend getting out of your apartment and attending some of the local events - specifically in Seoul. Namsan Hanok Folk Village was pretty cool, walking around Insadong has it's perks too. I recommend looking at iTourSeoul and looking at some events.

If you want to see how I spent Chuseok last year - check out the post here.

"I'll Make a Man Out of You"

It's been a couple months since I've posted some North Korea news. Some of you will remember the posts about the sinking of the Cheonan and the reactions between North and South, as well as the flexing of power between the U.S. and China holding naval exercises.

The recent news pertaining to North Korea has been largely focused on Kim Jong il's latest trip to China. He had met with Chinese leaders a few months ago after the sinking of the Cheonan, a trip in which some theorize that Kim was trying to get support from China due to the US/ROK's blaming the North for torpedoing the ship, and then imposing new sanctions on the DPRK.

Kim met again with Chinese delagates a few days ago, this time it seems that he is seeking China's approval to hand over power to his youngest son - twenty-something-year-old Kim Jong Un. Apparently, Jong il has been grooming his youngest son for power over the last year after he suffered a mild stroke. Jong il is reported to have 3 sons - the eldest is seen as spoiled, studied in Switzerland, and likes to travel with fake passports - as he did in Japan trying to go to Toyko's Disney World (and was caught). As an embarrassment to the DPRK he was not a likely candidate. Neither is the middle son who no one really knows of.

 

CNN's story:

Grooming Jong Un for power needs the support of China as well as the Workers' Party of Korea, so his father has been spreading stories of his greatness to the people of the North. Some reports said that shrines were being made to honor him in small villages.

There has also been some posturing due to financial issues on the side of the North. Recently, an American activist (and religious whack job) named Aijalon Gomes crossed into the North to bring attention to the human rights violations and starving children in the DPRK - which he was quickly captured and sentenced to hard labor (seemingly trying to copy Robert Park - another idiot). Former President Jimmy Carter flew to the North to gain his release - who knows what the U.S. actually ended up doing to achieve this - money or aid I'm sure.

The DPRK also captured a South Korean fishing vessel recently, and around the same time suffered some severe flooding. It is reported that the South would be giving the North over 8 million dollars in aid - and all of a sudden, the fishermen were returned to the South.

The game is still being played. The chess pieces of North and South are being moved about by the US and China, and is being bet on by the international community in form of coroporations who want to get cash in their pockets in the long run.

When will we humans ever learn....?

"Blowin' in the Wind"

I woke up early this morning -- well, that is pretty common for me, so let me rephrase that.

I awoke this morning EXTRA early due to a strange sound bellowing from the corner of my apartment. It sounded like a large truck was parked outside my window on the 13th floor - a feat that is near impossible, even with the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the Korean people.

I looked out the window to see what the fuss was all about, and I noticed that my view of Gunpo looked eerily dark. Not only dark, but the wind was blowing fiercely - so fiercely in fact, that it was swirling around the vent of my air conditioner "closet" creating a vibration so strong that it shook the floor and window.

Yes, I was in the middle of my first typhoon.

Typhoon Kompasu, as it is named - and I refer to it in the present tense as it is still going on as I am typing this - as been in full swing. On my way to the school this morning, I passed onlookers gawking at a tiny branch that fell near the street and was being whisked away by a work crew. You'd think people have never seen a typhoon - they are not that uncommon this time of year from what I am told.

The storm is fairly slow moving, and is expected to cause damage to the coastal areas, but isn't that bad inland as the abundant mountains break up the wind in some areas - and causes it to funnel into others.

On the bright side, I arrived at school and noticed there were only a handful of students. Apparently, the students have a 2 hour delay (something I wasn't informed of) but it didn't matter anyways because teachers still have to be on time.

It stands to be a rainy, windy, gloomy day....

More good news: the new iPod touch is out! I can't wait to get it because it's going to be great here in a country where you can connect to wi-fi almost everywhere. I'll soon be able to use Skype on it, among other things. (which you can do on the older ones anyways, but the new one has a camera for photos and HD Video!) They also revamped the Nano and shuffle, along with an iTunes update and Apple TV.