- If you cannot handle listening to someone hack up pleghm, snort up whatever is in their sinus, or generally make disgusting nasal and throat sounds, DO NOT LIVE IN KOREA. It is not considered foul, rude or abnormal to make whatever hacking sounds you want, no matter who, or how many people, are in your vicinity. No situation, no matter how formal, informal, appropriate or inappropriate is spared. Apparently people are alergic to tissues over here. You may wonder how people dispose of whatever they are hacking up (c'mon, i KNOW you are), well the answer is (at least if they are on the street) they just spit it out. Walking down any street you can look at the ground and see people where people have left their marks. Its absolutely everywhere. After you get over the initial disgust, you become so accustomed to seeing it, and so adept at reading it, that you can actually tell what illnesses people have. Good times.
- Something that would never fly back home that occurs over here is physical student punishment. When I first started, I noticed one of my co-teachers carrying a large, thick stick, wherever he went. It was about 30 cm long, hollow, and similar dimensions to a batton you would carry in a relay race, but tapered along it, similar to a length of bamboo. It also had a large split in it. I was going to ask him jokingly what that was and do you use it on naughty kids. I never did ask him it, mainly because i wouldnt know how my reaction be if he said yes (do I laugh outrageously like im a child whacker from way back, or do i go all quiet and serious and he becomes confused why i wouldnt be into hitting kids). Turns out that this thing is in fact for hitting misbehaving kids. Well not just misbehaving, but under performing. About 8 1st graders (year 7) got publicly flogged (well in front of class and on the top of their hands) 3 times for recieving poor scores in an English test. Again, I didnt know how to react. Many of the kids watching were smiling as discreetly as they could and making comments to the flogged students but i just didnt want to show any emotion either way because i dont know what i should show my stance to be. Ive also seen my female co-teacher backhand a few students on their shoulders/arms for misbehaving and a random male teacher one handed push a few students semi gently (including female) or sort of half headlock them. Its quite bizzare to see happen. Honestly the kids dont seem to care, and in fact the ones getting flogged in front of class tried to show as much as possible that what was happening wasnt effecting them. Id probably do the same thing if a d-bag teacher was trying to embarrass or humiliate me. And i think that the main point in the end; the pain isnt so bad, its more to do with shaming and humiliating, which is a big deal over here.
Everything is going great guns over here. Work continues to be easy and fun. Meeting lots of good people from all over the world. Making and saving money. Hardest thing I do is try and learn the language. Im learning words at a rate of about 1 per day so by the end of the year I should be able to introduce my self and ask for some chocolate ice cream at baskin and robbins.
I will leave you with a few pictures of town from a mountain that overlooks the place as well as a temple that is on the way up....
The "Nazi" symbol is the symbol for temple and is actually backwards - pointing the other way
This is looking East towards my suburb, chil-am-dong. My appartment would be in pretty much the dead centre of this photo. Also, calling suburbs "dongs" lends itself to humour of the highest order. For example, I have a friend who lives in have-abig-dong, and the university is located in gotta-clever-dong.
This is taken far higher up than the last photo and is looking west, towards the lake from previous posts. The River is called the Nam. The suburb is pyoeng-a-dong, which im certain is a term used in rap songs... for example, "Shake your pyoeng-a-dong girllllllllll"
This one looks North. Downtown is obscured but is to the right of the picture
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