There are some really interesting cultural things I have noticed here that must only exist in the smaller cities in newly industrialized countries. Seoul is a metropolitan city in every sense of the word. Up all night, offering any country's notible cuisine, inhabited by no two people that are much alike.
Tongyeong, on the other hand, is a clash of generations. My apartment, for instance is, is marked by water on the east, a driving range on the west, more apartments & stores to the north, and rice patties worked by old men and women (in large wicker hats) to the south. The other day, I was headed home early to meet the cable guy. Some female teachers at my school around my age told me they would come home with me because it would be inappropriate for a woman and a man to be alone in a house together. This story is paired with the newest job creation in Korea: Go-Go dancers outside store fronts, dancing and singing customers into stores, all the while wearing close to nothing. Flashy, neon nothing.
Normally this wouldn't really catch my attention (kind of sad) but in a place that has such strict cultural norms, I found it quite amazing.
Okay, since beginning this post, I went to Busan for the 3 day weekend... Names and pertinant information have been changed to protect the innocent:
So my korean techer friend Yujin and I head to Busan thursday night (no school friday). We hadn't found a place to stay yet because it was the weekend of the Pusan International Film Festival. Well, we arrived and headed straight to dinner, drank, ate, drank some more. Then proceeded right to her favorite bar. We meet some other foreign english teachers, decided to follow them to a different bar, celebrate one of their birthdays, etc etc. By this time it is close to 12:30, 1:00am .. actually, I'm not sure what time it was. It was late. So what did Lauren do? asked one of the nice english teacher girls if we could crash on her floor..
and a friendship was born.
Yujin headed home the next morning, and I stayed with Natalie and Kathleen for the rest of the weekend. We went out again the next night, met some Korean guys that showed us around town and acted as our free translator.
Kathleen, Natalie, and I headed up to Beomosa Temple saturday morning (1pm) which was amazing. There were Buddhist Monks praying, woman in traditional Korean dresses, and of course food stands for all the hungry tourists. Nothing says meditation and prayer like green onion pancakes and soju.
We then ran home lickity split to meet up with our Korean tour guides in time for dinner and random fun. The night eventually ended up at a Norae Bong (Karaoke "room" - each group gets their own room with food and drink. one word: awesome.) We sang Madonna and munched on french fries. I wonder if Korea calls them freedom fries too..
And of course, to end the night off, one of the korean boys asks how I feel about a korean boyfriend... I wonder if there is a polite korean translation for "I'm not looking for a relationship".
The weekend ends with me hovering around Hae-undae beach where there is supposedly ultimate being played all the time.. bit of a let down, although I did get to throw with some nice girls from Ohio.
And the whole way home the bus played Big Bang - Korea's hottest pop boy band.
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