Still don't really have time to post about all the recent adventures, but I thought I'd throw in a couple small updates and rebut my previous blog.
I recently visited the Peace Museum which documents Japan's brutal occupation of the island with some very graphic photos, a movie with AMAZING English commentary from a native speaker, some artifacts and an unguided tour through some of the dugout cave system. It was a pretty powerful museum and very interesting. It was just unfortunate that when they're showing videos of bodies being dumped into a mass grave, the commentator is making comments like 'Killings all over, there and here', or "Peace good everywhere, end of war Pacific good for all'. You probably had to be there, but it was tough to not crack a smile, but when we did, we all felt like asses. But seriously, if you are doing a voice-over for a movie, don't you at least read the script in correct English instead of Kenglish?
So after the museum, we hit up the cliffs at Hwasun and did some serious jumping off a cliff that was probably over 30 feet. It's a rough guess, but you can check out the pictures for yourself and judge.
Lauran was supposed to leave last Sunday, but she ended up getting a nasty flu and is stuck here till Saturday. It's a mixed blessing. I enjoy having her here, but it sucks that she's in such bad shape.
As for Korean culture:
- Koreans can be some of the most generous people you've ever met. I just mentioned Halla-bongs (big-delicious oranges) to my wonderful co-teacher Candy, and she actually went to her relatives' orchard, picked up a bag, and drove all the way to Homeplus (where I was shopping) to drop them off for me. She could have waited till the next day and given them to me at work, but she made the trip to give me basically $30 worth of Halla-bongs. Candy has also sponsored a few trips to the Norebang (private Karaoke booth with food and booze) and our other coteachers have taken us all out for some very expensive dinners.
- Korean kids do way too much work, but know how to have fun, even if it a slightly homo-erotic manor. Kids here will be in different schools from 8am till 8-10pm here. It's crazy. And they even go to school on Saturdays. (Suckers) But when the teenagers go to the beach, they have no problem tackling each other in the sand, and then throwing somebody into the ocean. And they aren't embarassed to get down in the their see-through plaid silk underwear to play their wrestling games. Even our female co-teachers which have kids and fulltime jobs can get a little crazy and sing their hearts out at the Norebang.
- Koreans can be really helpful. Lauran has a nasty flu right now, and my co-teacher Christina took time out of her Saturday morning to take her to the hospital and help with translations and make sure we didn't get ripped off. Obviously Christina probably had something better to do, but she didn't seem to think twice about helping us out.
- Random Koreans have no qualms with telling you you are nice, handsome, sexy or complimenting your body out of the blue. Sometimes it can be awkward, other times it can be a nice pick-me-up. I can honestly say that Lauran has had more comments than I have, but I've had a few. Unfortunately one of them was that I had 'Evil Eyes' because you could see through them. Millions of people here with brown/black eyes, and just a few hundred/thousand with green/blue eyes.
- You don't have to tip in Korea, and your bartender friends love to give you free shots. Definitely helps when you're low on money. Also, you often get free 'service'. Just one example, after one late night surf session, we got out of the ocean and were lucky enough to still have a halla-bong vendor milling around at the top of the cliff. I went to purchase 4 halla-bongs which should have cost me 10,000, and I ended up getting 6, just because the lady was nice. Sometimes cabs won't charge you fullfare, and I've even gotten discounts at photoshops for printing a multitude of pictures.
So, I hope I didn't turn too many people off of Korean culture, because the people here can be some of the nicest you'll ever meet, but typically you just need to get to know them. I guess it's like anywhere else.
Hopefully another new blog and pics within the week!
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MuggsJust a little journal about my life. Click 'Comments' or the Titles if you'd like to add anything. The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
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