The Pretzel Drop

I'm thinking that Koreans must have a skewed sense of what being a foreigner is like. Namely that we all know each other. And, honestly, they aren't that far off, at least in a town as small as Suji. I am extraordinarily anti-social at times and still I know about every other foreigner I see.

We have already discussed the Secret Suji Foreigner Smile that is exchanged when two Sujians passing on the street, so that just reinforces the notion to all viewers.

The other day an ajashi (old man) stopped me on the street and asked me if I knew his English teacher, Ivan. I didn't really but I had met a guy around my neighborhood that kind of fit the description and there really isn't that many foreigners so I told the ajashi I probably had met him. He then proceeded to try and set us up on a date because we were both foreigners and obviously it was meant to be.

But yesterday, the Secret Suji Foriegner Smile went to a whole new level when I was walking back home from buying k-pop socks. I saw my friend, Jeremy, on the other side of the crosswalk as we were both waiting for the light to turn. He had a lot of things in his hands so he couldn't wave back to me. But when we met in the middle of the street and I saw that he was in fact carrying three large bags of pretzels, the likes of which I haven't seen since leaving America, I had to wonder what he was up to.

All he said was 'Do you want some pretzels?" and when I nodded he handed me the bag and he went on his way being Foreigner Santa and I went on my way with my k-pop socks and lifetime supply of pretzels. I can't imagine what the Koreans watching must have thought. It must have looked like a pre-arranged meeting that we cooked up on our Super Seceret Foreigner Phones.

Of All the Gin Joints In All the World...

Leslie and I went out tonight, as is our usual on Friday, to eat at a restaurant and decompress from the week. We found an amazing resturaunt that served the best food I've had in a while. The place was so small that you could probably walk from one end of the kitchen and out the door in ten steps. The kitchen looked like someone's kitchen in their house and you could watch them prepare your food from your seat.

After the meal, which was ridiculously cheap ($6, no tip - in Korea its considered rude) we went for a stroll where we met up with three other people (Roza, Mia, and Jeremy) we knew from various places. It got me thinking about how small the world is in general, not just Korea or the ex-pat world. Its as if, if you are a world traveler, you meet the same people over and over again. And I am not refering to some personality type that you meet often in different people, I'm talking about literally the same people.

For instance, Roza is an Azerbaijani who moved to America in her teens and spent the rest of her student years there. She, some crazy how, knows this girl - Fidan - I went to high school with. The only justification I can wring out of Roza as to how they know each other, is a non-committal shrug and "She's Azeri". Which I suppose is enough explanation for her - she tried to explain how small the country is - but to me, it is not in the least bit enlightening. I mean, she can't know everyone in the country - no country is that small.

Further proof that the world really has less than six degrees of separation is the fact that Stephanie and I learned to ski at the same resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen; and that my first and second grade Music teacher (from Kenya) goes to Leslie's church. Here in Suji. Dare is say it? It's a small world after all.

We ended the night looking into a Kpop dance class for Roza. Roza loves Kpop even more than Leslie does - and Leslie will sometimes stop a conversation mid sentence to listen to a song on a loud speaker. And even though Leslie and Roza have discovered in each other their long-lost Kpop soul mates (Seoul mates?), Leslie doesn't have the energy for Kpop dance class on top of her ridiculous work schedule. She did, however, know of a class that was nearby so we decided to check it out.

What followed was a tri-lingual conversation between the dance instructor, Roza and Roza's friend Mia who is Russian-Korean (born to Korean parents in Uzbekistan when it was still part of the Soviet Union). The Instructor would attempt to start a sentence in English, end up in Korean, at which point Mia would translate it into Russian, and Roza would respond again in English or broken Korean. Leslie and I watched the exchange feeling very monolingual. Wait, scratch that, Leslie speaks Hawai'ian. So, really, I was the only mono-linguist in the conversation. Bleh, I need to get on that.

Dorm Room Tactics and the World Cup

The conflict with North Korea has pretty much deteriorated into a dorm room squabble of epic proportions.

It started when North Korea broke South Korea's spiffy battleship and South Korea went to the R.A. - in this case, the U.N. or maybe the U.S.A. depending on how you look at things. The R.A. wouldn't do anything except right them up (that goes in your permanent record, folks) which never has any effect anyway. Thus, South Korea has resorted to full on psychological warfare. They are - I kid you not - blasting Korean girl band music across the DMZ in an effort to undermine North Korea's control on their people. Or make them all go insane. I'm not really clear on which.

This is a tactic I am very familiar with and have used several times in my stay in Delta Berkley - the only dorm ever busted for coke dealing. Campus ministries even drew us a mural on our sidewalk in the middle of the night to encourage us to turn to Jesus.

But I digress.

The latest news is that Kim Jong-il is threatening to break South Korea's speakers which they are using to broadcast K-pop and other propaganda.

Despite the fact that I was woken up by thunder yesterday and convinced for a good ten minutes of sleep addled confusion that Seoul had just been bombed, I am no longer terribly worried about it. Every Korean I've spoken to on the matter seems to think that North Korea just wants money. Basically, they get into dire straits and display to the world what an unstable country they are and the fund start pouring in. It seems to be a regular occurrence.

I can't imagine what kind of petty shenanigans would go down if South Korea had to play the North in the World Cup. I think that would be just about the only thing that would bring them to war.

K-pop

I've been finding more and more resources on living in Korea and one of my favorite by far is eatyoukimchi.com

(Kimchi is Korea's national dish - basically fermented or pickled cabbage - and I don't know how many times a day I have to yell and my kindergarteners to eat their kimchi at lunch.)

Its run by a Canadian couple (Simon and Matina, I think) who have lived here a while and have taken on the role of internet welcome wagon (a lot more inviting then some internet welcome wagons I've seen). They do videos and stuff about how to survive certain situations and about Korean culture.

a friend of mine was told in a training seminar (uhhh, where was MY training seminar?) to learn K-pop songs so that she could more easily bond with her kids. Luckily eatyourkimchi.com has a solution for that problem.

I give you 'how to dance K-pop' videos. click on where is says "watch on youtube". Watch and enjoy.

Also, at the end, there is a part of video of a Korean comedy Duo thats called Choco Boy. You need to watch the whole thing. I don't know why this is funny even if its not in English but it really is.