Just livin Korea style

Hey all! Just thought I'd post something here about my general observations on the country and some of their stranger customs.

One thing that I am not quite used to yet is bowing. It isn't like japan out here where everyone seems to bow to everyone, the rules are a little more complicated. Generally you are supposed to bow only to someone who commands respect, like your grandparents or your boss. For instance there are two people at my school I am supposed to bow to when I am greeting them, I usually forget and I think they understand, but sometimes they give me strange looks so I'm trying to remember more. I also bow at strangers who when I want them to understand that I respect them, like at a store or something. It is very strange for me to be bowed at, and it happens a lot at school. The students I teach usually won't, they just say 'Hello Robert teacher!' and try to get away before I can ask them any sort of question. But the students I don't teach, especially the middle schoolers will always make a quick bow and mutter 'annyeong ha say yo' (which means hello) as they walk by. I'm not saying I don't like it, but it is rather strange to me.

Meal time is another time I am finding some different customs. Korea went through some pretty difficult times in the past hundred years, and in those times there was usually not a lot to eat. The thing everyone says before a meal here is 'jal meokkesseumnida' which means 'eat as much as you can.' They really stick by this too, and will keep shoving food at you long after you think you're full. It is also very impolite to refuse a drink from your elder, so if I ever go out drinking with someone of high status than me it's basically up to them how drunk I get.

It is extremely hard to gauge ages out here too. These people are very healthy in shape and age very gracefully, especially the girls. The elementary teachers I work with, who are all girls, look like they are all twenty five years old, but they are actually between twenty eight and thirty five. It is even harder to tell age out here because it is the cultural norm to lie about how old you are. In Korea everyone wants to be older and will always add one or two years to their age when you ask them, and I do mean everyone. If you want to know their real age you have to ask 'what's you age... ok... what's your American age?' This is even true for little kids. Once when I was at a restaurant with some friends we sat next to a couple with a little kid, so little he could barely talk. He was super cute and kept running up to us so we started talking to the parents, we asked them how old he was and they said three years old, then they said 'American age two years old.' It is so important to be older here that even two year olds get boosted up.

I had thought for about two seconds of trying to get a motor scooter here, but on second thought it would probably be the death of me, seriously. The Korean people are usually very reserved and polite, they seem to let out all of their pent up feelings and aggressions on the road. Even as a pedestrian on the sidewalk I sometimes feel unsafe. These are the most aggressive and impatient driver ever. Motorcycles and scooters weave through traffic and never, ever stop at red lights. The cars are a little better and some of them will stop at red lights (but the buses and taxis never do). Intersections without lights are the worst of all because there are literally no stop signs in this country, it's a yield system and basically the biggest car always wins. There isn't really a structure for street parking either. Anyone can park going any direction on any street it seems. Two way streets quickly become one ways as the day begins and cars squeeze into non-existent spots. Anyone meeting head on in a street like this follows the general rules out here: the biggest car wins.

Well I guess that's about all I've got for the moment. If anyone has a question about life out here or wants to know if something is different feel free to post a comment. In the mean time I'll just be keeping on out here. The other foreign teacher Sarah is getting ready to go home for two weeks starting on Friday because she is renewing her contract and taking a vacation. This means I'll be teaching her classes as well as mine so it will be very very busy for me in the next few weeks.

Take care everyone, lots of love from Korea!!