Loose Feet

If you know him, chances are maybe you love him. If you don't know him, well...he's pretty hot.

This is Rain...Infamous for his album Rainism whose complete destruction of all forms of music I am not ashamed to admit. He is also well-known, however, for being that really beautiful Korean star who turned down Meghan Fox, the star of Transformers. No biggie, you know.



I know him better as the star of the notoriously overemotionally driven Korean drama Full House, which my dear friend Lisa got into in her pre-Korea departure phase, and which I fell in love with during the 3 week vacation (where I still had to be at work) while the students took final exams.



But most importantly, he should be known for defining what we today can proudly refer to as 'the washboard abs', and creating a fever amongst women of a diverse range of ages.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful 비. Enjoy.

A great discovery has just been made and published in the New York Times, and it's enlightening, and yet even exciting news for the growing population of foreigners that lives day to day here in Korea. One step at a time...afterall, that ishow we got to the moon, isn't it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/world/asia/02race.html?_r=2

After a wonderful time in Japan with my brother -- which I should explain later, but probably won't due to pure and utter laziness -- I came back to Korea and was a little disappointed with all the monotony of the people around me. I know it happens everywhere, but for some reason it seemed a lot more in my face after my visit.

BUT THEN.

Today, I was walking back to the subway in Gangnam after a morning of classes and right before walking down the stairs, I looked to my left and saw this old Korean guy. He had really long grey hair and was wearing a a wide brimmed hat with a pirate bandana wrapped around it and a wicked brown suit. Looked so out of place amongst all the richie richs running around him, but so awesome. I couldn't stop staring at him. He was smoking Marlboro Red's. And he knew I was staring at me. So he looked up and gave me this big toothy grin (but missing a few of the teeth). And I couldn't stop smiling -- he made my day.

So good. Doubt I'll ever see that guy again, but I hope he's having a great day.

Watching the Daily Show and was hard-pressed to stop laughing when they showed the Republicans cheering on Chicago's loss of the 2016 Olympics bid. Now I'm not one to care about the Olympics -- really, I had no idea who was even up for the Olympics until I was in a small Ryoken in Kyoto where the woman was dishing out free 'Tokyo 2016 Olympics' pins. But still, what Jon Stewart had to say was all too true. Man...the Republicans love America. But they love to hate Obama more than they love to love America. It's quite sad, when you get right down to it.

And the line between love and hate gets a little bit smaller with every passing American day...

One thing I just can't seem to get over...despite the year of practicing my patience and slowing things down and letting an uncountable amount of shit that involves me go down behind the curtains...I just can't seem to get over the fact that more often than not Koreans will just do things without asking your permission, mainly because they don't speak your language.

What is so hard about just asking, may I turn off the aircon? I don't see the problem.

I'm lonely today and I think that's crawled under my skin and died. I can't wait to be off work already.

A rainy, blustry day finally came today in Seoul, and it was well needed. It's been about 31 degrees here for the last 3 or 4 days. Hot, hot weather where it feels hard to breathe. I don't mind summertime, but I hate such thick humidity, where the cold sweat on your forehead is even colder than the bottle of water in your head. Makes me feel like I'm in a womb of flu bacteria.

I was relaxing in my apartment this morning, enjoying the peacefulness that comes with the sound of rain, watching the movie Battle Royale (otherwise known as Batoru Rowaiaru for the Japanese cult flick fans). Must make a note on this film before digressing into the issue at the heart of this writing. I recently finished reading the original novel Battle Royale, written by Koushun Takami. Fantastic book. What with living in Asia and learning more and more everyday about the different cultures here, I really enjoyed the cynical portrayal the author took on life as a student in Japan, and the farce that is the 'dog-eat-dog' nature of the world we are all supposed to enter into. I was addicted to it, nonetheless and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. That being said, the movie was a disappointment. I felt as though the movie tried to play into the emotional connections made between students, while simultaneously trying to push some sort of political platform that was never really fleshed out. I can see why it's a 90's cult classic...but I guess I can also see why I'm not really a big follower of this train. Ah well.


To the heart of the matter. I went into the shower, and was getting clean, when I heard some noise outside the door. I looked out and the room was full of Korean business men...I think. I'm not sure, because I didn't have clothes on so I didn't stay too long.

So here's the background. In Korea, there is not a landlord for one apartment building. Each apartment is owned by a different landlord -- at least in my apartment. So at this time, my apartment is up for sale. This does not mean that I have to move. Rather, it means that there will be a new owner of the apartment. Over the last few weeks, then, many different couples and businessmen have been coming to look at the apartment. They don't stay long, just walk in, look out the window, check out the bathroom and then leave. There's some conversations in Korean, which I never really understand despite my studies, and then they bow and walk out. Okay, fine. It's a bit annoying that these visits come at all times of the day -- I've had visitors at 8:00 am, 10:30 am, 1:30 pm, even 7:00 at night on a Saturday. But it's been copasthetic so far.

Until today. I was in the shower, my door was locked, and they still entered in to my apartment. While I was in the shower, they came in, looked around, and left. That means that they have my passcode in to my apartment. And to walk a step further, they can (and may have already) enter my apartment at any time, even if I am not in the premises. And I am NOT comfortable with that. I am not comfortable with people coming in and out of my apartment whenever they feel like it. When talking to one of my Korean friends, Kate, she said that normally they would call the person in the apartment and forewarn them of their arrival. However, in this case, as they could not speak English, they decided to wave this step and just come to my apartment without notice.

This is the reality of the language barrier that foreigners are too often forced to face when living in Korea. I have found that, in most situations, I can make do with what little language I do know, or carve an exit strategy for myself. But this was too far. It is one thing to have miscommunication, or in reality, a complete lack of communication at your hagwon, in your teaching environment. But to choose silence over struggle when it comes to my home is in another ballpark. A park where I am pissed. There is no reason why anyone should ever come barging into my home without warning. It would take no more than 3 minutes to call my phone and let me know that someone was coming. To have the security guard give me a note to let me know someone was coming. To warn me. But now my house has been invaded. I feel uncomfortable in an already foreign city.

I don't know why. Maybe it is my fault. But it just seems to get more and more frustrating with every day that passes.

This was so well put, and such a honest description of Koreans that I thought I should share it with you. It is a reflection on the country life of Koreans, as he walks along Route 1 from the small village of Naju to Gwangju (the fifth biggest city in Korea).

"The life of the urban Korean was changing with unprecedented rapidity, without a doubt; but out here, far from the influences of city life, the ancient, Confucian rhythms were being preserved - and the economic simplicities that went with them. Poor villages - no one ever hungry but no one with a compact-disc player, either - are strung along the length and breadth of Korea, and within them are hundreds of thousands of ordinary Koreans for whom the goal of middle-class British life is not only unattainable but also profoundly undesirable. It would be condescending to say that the Koreans are a people who admire what some writers about India call the 'dignity of poverty'. Quite the reverse: the Koreans are an ambitious, hardworking people, perhaps more hardworking than any I have ever encountered and ever will. They want to improve their lot. They want, desperately, to improve their children's lot. They will work all the hours God gives them to provide a good education for their offspring - no sacrifice is too much for a Korean father to make, no hours too long for a Korean mother to work, if only the child is well educated, is given a better chance, a better series of opportunities.

But at the same time there are those Koreans, both old and young - and the fact that young Koreans are included is important - who have as a conscious ambition a desire to preserve the essence of their lives and are thoughtful enough to care to resist the seductive charms of change....The Koreans - not all of them, by a long chalk, but many - seem to feel the same way. They know that Seoul is only a few hours away and there is chromium and glass and glitter and money and power there, and they appreciate the magnetism of it all. but they know also that what they have in these small villages - and yes, they also have electricity and direct-dial telephones, and I know one man in a thatched cottage who keeps a facsimile machine next to his kimchi pots - is as worth preserving as the modern world is worth exploring. Perhaps, I thought, I would meet someone along the road who would explain it more succinctly."

-- Simon Winchester Korea; A Walk Through the Land of Miracles