I find more similarities than differences the longer I'm here. As was the same in Italy. For example Italy has its stereotypical men who are much more forward to women than Americans. And for those that have been there you can vouch for that to be true (same goes for America, just like white trash can be found in places other than the South, you can find dirt bags all over the world). But here in Korea I was expecting to find a more refined, conservative man that would not do such things. Wrong. As I walked into work today, donned with heels as an attempt to fit in with every Korean woman that wears heels in every situation. (We were swapping stories about this last night. They wear heels all day, to work, around town, shopping, hiking, at the beach, with wet suits, in the water... no joke. There are apparently signs on hiking trails warning against wearing heels. And these aren't casual wedges either, these are blinged out, prom attire, bedazzled things ranging from kitten to three inches in height. They are fabulous but I can't fit my huge American feet into any of them.) So today I wear heels with a dress, nothing too much or revealing. Hell, I work in an elementary school, no need to out do myself. It's 8 am and I'm walking to the subway when a middle aged Korean man walks toward me, smiles and says hello. Like I've said before I love these interactions. However, the conversation turns. He blurts out, in a thick S. Korean accent, "I want sex". I would have been offended if it wasn't for the fact that one, I was totally caught of guard (8 AM) and two, he had the widest most innocent grin on his face. I'm not really sure if he understood what he was saying. (I know what you're thinking Mom, Dad and others... he knew exactly what he was saying and I should have slapped him and run to the nearest police station.) I like to think that someone taught him only three phases in English that you should always say to women you see walking alone on the street. "Hello", "I want sex" and "Where are you going?".
Yesterday I was excited to teach my kids about music. Vocabulary words: rock, classical, techno, pop, rap, reggae, salsa, and country. I am proud to say that there are eight S. Korean children that have heard of 50 Cent, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Daft Punk from a lesson planned ten minutes before class on YouTube, I'm so good at this. I made a fool out of myself by attempting to line dance and salsa in front of the class, but still wasn't able to crack a smile in one of my intermediate classes. They won't crack, although they did speak at one point to call a violinist fat. In return they taught me that salsa, not sure of the spelling but something that sounds like it, means diarrhea in Korean. Fascinating.
This one reminded me of Fa's paintings
Scroll room 1 of 6
And another, look- owls
Metal sculpture, always the least refined...I was able to talk to a lot of you on Skype last weekend! Which was really great, it always makes my day. I did some sight seeing starting with the Busan Museum of Modern Art. There were a lot of people there, mostly teenagers. It is only 4,000 won, not the nicest museum I've seen, maybe about the size of the Georgia Museum of Art but not as well kept. Koreans, from what I gather, have a great appreciation for the arts and the amount of people at the museum showed this greatly. There was a contest of some sort going on because the best were marked with ribbons. I couldn't read anything of course, so I was lost in terms of that. Never the less, I felt right at home. The process of making art is consistant, it seems, everywhere and I knew it well enough to not need the discriptions. The prints and sculpture were of greatest interest since I know them best. The paintings were amazing, although I don't know how to judge, they were purdy. Then there was a whole floor devoted to scrolls a more traditional side dealing closer to book arts, which I loved as well. I'll be back. This has been my only real encounter with the art world since I've been here. I hope to find much more.
Haedong Yonggung Temple
They look alike, rub the belly for good luck.
Check out the offerings to the Gods, money, little dog statues and some kid even gave up his action figure. Every statue, no matter the size, had something like this around it.During the long weekend I also went to a temple built on the sea (pictures coming, my camera isn't working at the moment), the red light district - Texas Street, and a beautiful park with a trail along rocky shore that is within walking distance of my house. I met many great Westerners and a Danish (maybe) man named Alfred. But they'll have have to wait, the bell just rang for class.
**I forgot to wish Buda a happy birthday last Friday! Sorry girl, I hope Mom, Dad and Dutch treated you well. And yes, they do eat black lab here, you would probably make me a pretty penny in the markets. Then again you are also considered a God, you would put them in quite the conflict here. Don't worry, I wouldn't dare think of eating dog.
The Canadians were just talking about how the dollar is coming back up. Mwahaha.
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