Humble Observations

Though I've now been here six months, I'm certainly not oblivious to the cultural contrasts all around me. Granted, they don't affect me the way they used to, but they continue on and I continue to watch in quiet wonder. Here's a brief list of my favorite cultural quirks that friends and I have noted over the last 1/2 year.

A) Lunchtime sans drink: Everyday, without fail, our cafeteria prepares rice, soup, vegetables (in various sauces), and a main dish that can be anything from meat to omelets. I absolutely love lunch almost everyday, but I've certainly heard from people who feel differently. Quite frankly I will miss Korean lunch a lot when I return stateside. But I won't miss not having a drink handy to wash down my food. Apparently it is common for Koreans to wait until after lunch for their midday thirst quencher. The reasoning is that liquid consumed during the meal can weaken the stomach's ability to digest the food. While this is a sound argument, not having a drink with my meal is one custom I'll probably never get used to.

B) Arm hair pulling: Many Koreans enjoy pulling on my arm hair. It's almost as if they don't believe it's real. This doesn't just happen to me in school. I actually had a grown man touch my arm hair on a subway in Seoul. Granted, I'm sure he didn't remember when he woke up in the morning, nor did he probably remember taking said subway ride. I understand that Korean men are not hirsute. I understand that something occurs in their genes that keeps hair on their respective poles. But, even though it has happened countless times now, I'm still startled when I feel a small tugg on forearm while grading someone's spelling. What can I say, it's disconcerting.

C) Female scampering: Barring one bizarre sighting of a women's soccer team, I have never seen a Korean woman run; not once in six months! Don't get me wrong, it's not like Korea is a society that frowns upon physical excercise. I would actually say it's completely the opposite. Koreans are obsessed with health and its cultivation. Men jog often, and clearly women excercise. I've seen many of them fast walking, hiking, and I've at least heard that women of all ages partake in a good swim from time to time. However, I have never seen a Korean woman out for a good jog. Then there's the scamper. My school is almost entirely female. Thus I'm surrounded by a lot of oft-stressed women who need to get places quickly. But they don't run. Instead they do this choppy scamper - or shuffle - that is painful to watch. I've discussed this with several of my friends and they've all seen the same thing. I have my theories as to why they 'keep the horses in the pen,' but those are not for this blog... (I literally just finished the last sentence when my co-teacher scampered out of the classroom. Grumble.)

D) Weapons in the classroom: Korean boys bring all manner of destructive objects with them into school. For one, almost every student carries an exacto knife. These tools go completely unchecked. In fact, I've seen many stab attempts go down with little fanfare. I've also seen boys cut (scrape, really) themselves in a futile effort to be sent home or to the clinic. What?! Then yesterday a boy topped it all by bringing his pellet gun to school. So I'm sitting at this very computer after a good day when this boy presents his firearm to me. It's just him and I in the classroom at this point, but I'm still just as shocked. Even though I assumed it was a toy, I just had never seen a gun in school. I did grow up in a Colombine America after all. He hands me the gun and I do what any person would with a "toy" gun: I pulled the trigger. There is now a pellet lodged in the ceiling right above my head, and thank god because this was halfway through the day and I expended his last round. He ended up brandishing it in our class on another day. My co teacher did take it from him, but dutifully returned it at the end of class. What a country.