Here is a list of things I have seen in Korea that wouldn't or rarely happen back home. I mean there are exceptions to every situation but this is what I've come up with.
1. A 8 year old kid brought a toy gun to school and was running down the hallway pointing it at his class mates. At first, I really freaked out but I had to take a step back and remind myself I'm not in America.
2. Children walking by themselves. By children, I mean first and second graders walking home from school without an adult. There are days I can barely manage to not get hit by a car. I can't imagine being that young and navigating the city by yourself.
3. Children out until all hours of the night. See picture above of a young child who was out for a walk with his parents around 11:30 pm. Here's another example. It was around 10:30 on a school night and we were playing poker at the park near our house and two girls came up to us and started talking to us in Korean. We managed to hear the term "Waygook" which means foreigner and "Migook" which means America, so we told them where we were all from. Around 12:30, they appeared again and tried to talk to us some more. We finally saw one of them go home with her dad around 1:00 am.
3. Having a probation office located within a 1/2 mile of 5 elementary and middle schools. The Seoul Probation office is literally a 5-10 minute walk from my school.
4. Always knowing who the foreigners are. In America, you can hardly ever tell if someone if a foreigner until they speak. Here you can tell instantly since Korea is one of the homogeneous countries in the world. This leads to a lot of stares. The other extreme is people talking to you to practice their English. The other night I was out with my Korean friends and a group of other Koreans started yelling, "Hello!" "Where are you from?"...All the typical questions. I responded and my Korean friend told me that it's not fair that I'm treated like a celebrity in Korea and when she studied in America no one cared that she was a foreigner. My response was that's kind of the beauty of America. You can't tell the difference between natives and foreigners. Anyway, I digress.
5. Crazy superstitions and rules... a) don't fall asleep with a fan on. It will suck all of the air out the room and you will die. All of the fans in this country have timers on them to prevent an unfortunate "fan death." b) Using vinegar to take the sting out of a sunburn will cause worse burning. One of my fellow co-workers got sunburned on the beach last weekend. He was asking for advice on how to cure it from the rest of us pasty, fair headed foreigners. A few of us suggested vinegar and one of our Korean co-workers freaked and told us it would make his burn even worse.
6. Kids going to school or private lessons until 11 pm. I know that the US's education system leaves a lot to be desired but having kids stay in school that late can't be good for them either. If you ask my students what they did on the weekend, they all say something to the effect of, "I went to science academy, math academy, piano academy, Chinese lessons, and another English school. When do these kids get to have fun? They asked me how many academies I went to when I was a kid and I blew their minds by telling them zero!
7) South Koreans don't seem to be the least bit phased by North Korea. Granted, I grew up in America and have been told that North Korea is evil and blah, blah, blah. The first few times my not-so-friendly northern neighbor threatened to set of missiles most of the westerners in the office started freaking out. The Korean co-teachers assured us that there is nothing to worry about and that good old Kim Jong is just trying to test America and specifically our new President Obama but he's not really going to do anything. The threat is always in the back of my mind but I've kind of started to accept their mentality. After all, if something happens, they don't have a place to run. I can at least go back to America. I've talked to my Korean friends and quite a few of them have told me that they don't really think about North Korea and don't really care. Fair enough, I suppose.
This is my list I've compiled so far. I'm sure there will be more to come after I've been here a while longer.
1. A 8 year old kid brought a toy gun to school and was running down the hallway pointing it at his class mates. At first, I really freaked out but I had to take a step back and remind myself I'm not in America.
2. Children walking by themselves. By children, I mean first and second graders walking home from school without an adult. There are days I can barely manage to not get hit by a car. I can't imagine being that young and navigating the city by yourself.
3. Children out until all hours of the night. See picture above of a young child who was out for a walk with his parents around 11:30 pm. Here's another example. It was around 10:30 on a school night and we were playing poker at the park near our house and two girls came up to us and started talking to us in Korean. We managed to hear the term "Waygook" which means foreigner and "Migook" which means America, so we told them where we were all from. Around 12:30, they appeared again and tried to talk to us some more. We finally saw one of them go home with her dad around 1:00 am.
3. Having a probation office located within a 1/2 mile of 5 elementary and middle schools. The Seoul Probation office is literally a 5-10 minute walk from my school.
4. Always knowing who the foreigners are. In America, you can hardly ever tell if someone if a foreigner until they speak. Here you can tell instantly since Korea is one of the homogeneous countries in the world. This leads to a lot of stares. The other extreme is people talking to you to practice their English. The other night I was out with my Korean friends and a group of other Koreans started yelling, "Hello!" "Where are you from?"...All the typical questions. I responded and my Korean friend told me that it's not fair that I'm treated like a celebrity in Korea and when she studied in America no one cared that she was a foreigner. My response was that's kind of the beauty of America. You can't tell the difference between natives and foreigners. Anyway, I digress.
5. Crazy superstitions and rules... a) don't fall asleep with a fan on. It will suck all of the air out the room and you will die. All of the fans in this country have timers on them to prevent an unfortunate "fan death." b) Using vinegar to take the sting out of a sunburn will cause worse burning. One of my fellow co-workers got sunburned on the beach last weekend. He was asking for advice on how to cure it from the rest of us pasty, fair headed foreigners. A few of us suggested vinegar and one of our Korean co-workers freaked and told us it would make his burn even worse.
6. Kids going to school or private lessons until 11 pm. I know that the US's education system leaves a lot to be desired but having kids stay in school that late can't be good for them either. If you ask my students what they did on the weekend, they all say something to the effect of, "I went to science academy, math academy, piano academy, Chinese lessons, and another English school. When do these kids get to have fun? They asked me how many academies I went to when I was a kid and I blew their minds by telling them zero!
7) South Koreans don't seem to be the least bit phased by North Korea. Granted, I grew up in America and have been told that North Korea is evil and blah, blah, blah. The first few times my not-so-friendly northern neighbor threatened to set of missiles most of the westerners in the office started freaking out. The Korean co-teachers assured us that there is nothing to worry about and that good old Kim Jong is just trying to test America and specifically our new President Obama but he's not really going to do anything. The threat is always in the back of my mind but I've kind of started to accept their mentality. After all, if something happens, they don't have a place to run. I can at least go back to America. I've talked to my Korean friends and quite a few of them have told me that they don't really think about North Korea and don't really care. Fair enough, I suppose.
This is my list I've compiled so far. I'm sure there will be more to come after I've been here a while longer.
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