Stuck in Korea

Thanks for the note Terri. Your pearls of wisdom have downgraded my mood from apoplectic wobbly to quietly seething. Plus I'm glad to say I haven't been sexually harassed thus far!

I'm putting my frustrations down to the fact that I go out and try to get to know Korea and find out about the people, language and culture. The downside is that sometimes you discover things you really didn't want to know about. I knew about all the shit stuff that happens here but never let it bother me before. It's just that I've taken it all to heart the last few days. Still, two years before I cracked is pretty good. In India it only took five weeks.

The only other option is to do what the majority of westerners do in Korea, it seems. That is to hang out exclusively with each other, occasionally enjoy the local cuisine, but other than that, try to block out the fact that you're far from home. Far too many people have been here almost as long as I have (and some even longer) and know bugger all about Korea, much less care. They're probably less likely to get randomly assaulted, or understand when they're being insulted or snubbed, but the difference is that I'm making an effort. So many people seem to put so much effort into recreating their homes here, and then hiding in their little protective bubbles (mini-Canada, mini-America, mini-Britain, mini-Oz).

If you're so desperate to talk English, eat McDonalds and drink Molson/Budweiser/Newcastle Brown/VB/Steinlager etc., then why the hell did you leave your country in the first place??? And please don't say it's because the money's good - you could get a good few thousand dollars selling your body parts on the black market. They'll send shady surgeons to your house and do it, you'd never even have to come anywhere near Korea! Which means that someone who actually is interested in finding out about other nations and cultures can come and work here instead. Between you lot and the Yank soldiers, is it any wonder the locals think we're a bunch of arrogant wankers?

I'm a bit worried that I'm starting to fall out of love with Korea. It's been a Road to Damascus experience of sorts over the last week or so.

The whole thing began last Thursday night, where an evening of drinking was nicely rounded off by a random race attack from a drunk Korean guy. I spent the next few days wearing sunglasses - the school doesn't care too much about my appearance, but sporting a huge black eye was crossing the line. This got me a little pissed off as you might expect, and it was compounded by the fact that two days later some other random Korean guy tried to pick a fight with Matt.

All of a sudden I'm noticing things that I previously ignored, brushed off or just plain couldn't understand. The way some taxi drivers slow down to pick you up and then speed off again when they see that your a foreigner, or when they pick you up then drop you off halfway to your destination saying they've got an "appointment" (happened twice, although one time the guy did seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere), the way people try to barge in front of you in a line but never try it with Koreans (as if somehow you don't exist). It doesn't help that I understand Korean better than I did before. Now I hear what they say about us as soon as we enter a place. Sometimes they whisper, sometimes they talk out loud, assuming we don't understand a word they're saying. But I notice that more often than not they aren't exactly being complimentary. Oh, and God forbid you should talk to the women here. You could meet a table full of outwardly friendly Koreans in a bar and chat away and drink with them, but talk to any non-males and a lot of the time the whole group will be herded out the door before you've finished saying "annyeong haseyo". I exaggerate of course, but very rarely will a mixed group of Koreans hang around for longer than half an hour once you start talking to any ladies present.

I'm trying to understand where a lot of this all comes from. Maybe a couple of thousand years of invasion and oppression, polished off by being turned into a superpowers' playground has made people a little wary of outsiders. Also, English teachers have only really been here in force for 15 years or so. Before that, the only Westerners that Koreans met were predominantly American GI's - the worst representatives of Western culture that you can think of. By the time all us teachers arrived, I'm sure the Koreans had us all made out to be drunken, semi-literate thugs who when they aren't fighting or whoring are simply gang-raping 14 year old girls. It doesn't help that their antics are what gets onto the news in Korea. It reinforces a very negative stereotype. And that's a stereotype that the previous two generations have been raised on.

I get the feeling, especially out in the countryside as I am, that unless we stay quiet, smile politely, and try our best to blend into the background and not draw attention to ourselves then we automatically become "bad" foreigners, who should be ignored, slighted and avoided. And almost always all of these attitudes are hidden behind a smile.

I've had enough of it. I don't mean all Koreans by any measure - I have some awesome Korean friends that I think the world of. But all these Korean people who have a problem with foreigners need to think about who exactly they have a problem with and why. It's just not fair to tar us with the same brush just because we're Westerners. Yes, I know it's ironic - white British man realises he's on the receiving end of racism for the first time in his life and starts whinging, while people from ethnic minorities in the west have been putting up with this kind of shit all their life.

I hope this is just a little phase - I'd hate to think that this is me starting to tire of life here. I still love Sokcho and Korea, it's just that realising that there's an unpleasant side to life here (and also that even Korea has rednecks) has upset me.

Bloody yokels.

So it's been a relatively quiet week. No-one's really been up for anything. I went out on Tuesday night to Gump because I was bored (I get cabin fever in my flat a lot). Helpfully Jun-Seon was able to fill in a few details of my Saturday night. Apparently I fell asleep on a few people's shoulders. The fact that I'd passed out at all was surprising (I'm usually throwing up and going home long before this point is reached). And thankfully I behaved myself. Apparently I always behave myself, but you always worry when there's a gap in your memory that you may have stabbed a dwarf and attempted to molest a stray animal or something along those lines.

Anyhow Jun-Seon was saying that people are coming in to Gump all the time these days saying they'd heard about some cool parties that have started to happen and when's the next one? That cheered me up as when I first got to know Jun-Seon a few months ago he was always saying how he wasn't getting enough business. Plus our get-togethers there have been getting bigger and bigger. So I congratulated him on the fact that Gump was picking up when he said "I told them I don't know. When's the next party, Stuart?" Apparently I'm the man who says when the party is. He wants me to tell him when I'm organising the next party as half of Sokcho wants him to call and let them know.

It feels weird to have a whole bunch of people (some of whom I've never met) waiting for me to announce a party. Why am I in charge?

I own this town.

I rule.

So a pretty huge weekend has been had. Friday involved a hefty sesion at Gump with Lloyd (the only other Brit in town and a bloody good bloke). Saturday there were multiple bookings as a new bar opened in town, which wouldn't normally be of any interest to me but for the fact that Kevin is the new manager (I added a link to his website a couple of days ago - check it out even if you don't speak Korean as he's got some good photos). Anyhow, soju was had in abundance, followed by noraebang and more soju, and then to Gump. Jun-Seon had demanded a party and we all did our best to drum up some business for the man. And how. The only problem was that everyone was too drunk to remember anything. I've phoned around to find out what happened at Gump and no-one can rightly recall anything about Gump. I'm assuming that a good time was had by all, though. I fell asleep so I couldn't tell anyone what happened.

And then to Sunday, which should have been about recuperating. Alas it was not to be. I called around to check that people were okay from the night before and ended up booking myself in for dinner at Shave Your Balls with Heather, Debbie and Yeong-Geun. Yeong-Geun is an angel, by the way.


Angel 

So dinner progressed, alcohol flowed, Gump was visited, noraebang and soju followed. And I'd planned on a quiet night in. Oops. Tipsy at 6am once again. I really ought to stop doing things like this, but it's just too much fun.

So this weekend just gone was the second anniversary of my arrival in Korea. And I really feel I've improved as a person over these last two years. Nah, not really. I've just been spending most of that time drinking, so it's only fitting that I should mark the two years by going on a pretty big bender. Wahey!!

On another note, Naksan Temple just down the road got burned down yesterday. It made BBC News and everything. It's a shame as it was awesome to walk around. Weird because this time last year there was a big fire up in the mountains and one of our favourite bars got burned down. Well, we all managed to cope with that blow by simply finding another bar (Gump currently rules the roost for us party people in town - Jun-Seon and Kevin, you're the best!). Thankfully I'm not a Buddhist and hence not a regular temple-goer, so I think coping with the loss of Naksansa will be relatively easy.


Child prodigies?

This is my new class of rugrats. Disturbingly small, I think you'll agree. Their hand-eye coordination is pretty poor, but their hand-nose coordination is second to none. Adam, the one in the middle, has all the makings of a sociopath as well.

By the way Terri, are you in France at the moment? Nice to receive a little hello from JC and Sara, and no, I did not drag your cousin to a sex shop. I was not the ringleader. Just want to be clear about that.