Religion is very important here. Sure, it is considered important in the states as well, but it feels like the Koreans are more religious than we Americans. You see churches everywhere here. They are often times VERY big, and have huge crosses on them. That's right. They are Christian. I actually didn't expect that coming to Korea. Unfortunately for me, Koreans are not at all shy about talking religion with people. I get asked to go to church (or "Churchy as it sounds in Konglish) on a weekly basis. For the first few weeks I was here I would simply deflect the question and try to move on. A few of them started getting persistent, so I finally decided to let them know I was agnostic. I am unsure if they quite understand what I was talking about, but here is a direct quote from one of my students after class, "Religious people are better than not religious people".
In my beginner class, we work from a book called "American Headway 2". The book has all these lessons and topics and things that we go over, and one of the topics was chewing gum. So I started to talk about how much I like gum because I dislike tasting my food after I eat it, so I asked the class if they themselves chewed gum. A few of the students did, (one even chewed a whole pack a day) but then one of my students chimed in with "girls don't chew gum because it makes them less beautiful". So here I am sitting there shocked, and I ask "what does chewing gum have to do with being beautiful?". I was then treated with a nice story about how "being beautiful is the most important thing for a girl" and than "chewing gum causes your face to get bigger". I understand the theory behind this...chewing causes the muscles in your face to be worked, thus they get bigger, but let's be serious here. Your face is not going to get any bigger because of chewing gum. If repeated motion was enough to cause muscles to grow...then why don't teenage boys have one arm bigger than the other? When I informed the girl of my opinion she replied with "it has been proved by scientists".
I was out to dinner with a student tonight and she asked if V-day was a big holiday in America. I told her it was "viewed as a hallmark holiday, like boss's day" to which she replied with a puzzled look on her face "You hate gays?"
I was teaching my students conditional statements (specifically, if I had a billion dollars I'd...) so I asked how to say "billion" in Korean. Apparently my pronunciation of the word closely resembled the Korean word for "fuck you" because they whole class thought it was hilarious.
Random quote heard in class: "The Japanese are very very very very polite....but no one knows what is in their mind!"
Spencer and I went to E-mart...which is like their Walmart...only the place is PACKED constantly. Imagine Walmart or Best Buy on black Friday...and that is what E-Mart looked like. The place has 2 levels on it, and the there is a steep escalator that will take you and your cart from one level to the next. It's actually quite cool because when you put the card on the escalator somehow the wheels get locked in to place and it's doesn't move...which is a good thing because I just imagined this cart of TVs bowling over Koreans. It would be hilarious, but not very practical.
The thing about E-Mart that gets really frustrating though...is the sheer number of people there. I get stared at EVERYWHERE I go in this country, which normally I can handle. I have become quite adept at internalizing, so when I go out I usually can tune everyone out. Sometimes though...the staring gets on my nerves and I end up getting annoyed by it. It's one thing when someone stares at you, but tries to be convert about it (imagine a guy checking out a cute woman on a bus) but when it is blatant staring...and it is a lot of people, you really start to want to do some throat punching. If I am in a bad mood, I will just stare right back at them and give the people the good 'ol dagger eyes. If it particularly annoying though, I will say things to them. I know they have no idea what I am saying, but it is kind of satisfying to at least get it out there.
Finally for this update...I have found a few places now where other foreigners hang out. They aren't always American, but at least I can go there to see some other white people (and the occasional non-white/non-asian). What's weird though is most of the time people don't say anything to you. I king of feel like since there are only about 300 total of us in this whole city, when we see each other there should be some kind of secret handshake or something. Most times, I don't even get a nod. I realize it is just as easy for me to say hello to them as they do to me, but when they are sitting there with a group of friends and I am standing there alone, it can be a bit intimidating! When I am out with friends, if I see a loner, I will usually at least invite them over to the table. My social network at least has been expanding, though. I think I sometimes come off as a bit of a dick sometimes because I usually turn down requests to hang out during the week...always citing a "need to study" which is true...but since I am probably the only person in this city (or country) who is not only working full time but pulling 18 college credits...most people don't quite understand why I would spend a Tuesday night at home doing coursework instead of drinking until 2am with them.
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