It's About Time

Hi. Welcome. I'm glad you are checking out my blog. It is about time that I started one of these things, because my friends and family are not around me and are unable to keep up with what's going on in my zany, frustrating, fun, and often surprising life. I have been here for a year and three months and have been procrastinating because I don't have a camera. I just got paid and I'm going shopping for one this weekend. This photo was taken by my friend Jen in the coffee shop at Juan Church. I am wearing new clothes and sporting a new haircut which everyone, including me, seems to like. I look pretty tired from shopping in Seoul and spending two nights in a jimjilbang(spa/sauna/sleeping room).

This blog is also about my time in what we fondly call SoKo. Korea is so different that even a mundane trip to grocery store is interesting because everyone wants to stare into your cart to see what the foreigners buy. We get stared at everywhere we go, but we get used to it, and it really only bothers us on our most grumpy days. I, like a lot of my friends, have started to dress a bit eccentrically because I figure that if I'm getting stared at anyway, I may as well give them something to look at.

Here are some things that one cannot forget while living in Korea.

1. Contracts don't mean diddly, unless your employer thinks that you are trying to violate it.

2. Usually, Koreans won't talk to you in public places because they don't know your age or social status. The language is set up with different ways to speak to people according to "rank." Once they figure you out they are pretty friendly and helpful.

3. The first questions Koreans ask you is "How old are you?" then "What is your occupation?" then "Where do you work?" then "Are you married" then "Where are you from?" This seems like the third degree, but they're automaticaly programed to do it and they consider it just small talk.

4. Koreans like westerners because once they learn how to speak some English, they are happy to relax and not worry about status so much. But they are still worried about how good their English is and whether or not you might tell someone else that their English is bad. They critisize one another's English all the time. Like we even care.

5. A Korean who is younger than you will not tell you when you have screwed something up. It's just improper for them to do so, even if you've done something which insults everyone in the room.

6. Koreans like to have goofy fun. If you do something goofy in front of Koreans, they will get a good laugh from it. Laugh with them, it's all in fun.

7. Koreans refer to themselves as Korean, not South Korean or North Korean. They consider themselves to be one people with two governments. They still have family north of the border, but the young people are quickly forgetting them.

Hopefully, soon, I will have pictures of my kids and school.