Growing Pains

As with anything new or different, I have had a few growing pains…..

One thing I doubt I will ever get used to is the culture on the streets. In the states, and many other places I have been there are general rules for crowded areas, sidewalks, etc. In Seoul however, it seems that anything goes-No one watches where they are going, people walk on whichever side they please, people bump into you regularly without ever apologizing, and the elderly rule the road-they will do anything just because they can!! So just a normal walk down a crowded street or a walk through the subway can be VERY frustrating!! I know this isn’t just me-many other foreigners complain about it as well!!

I feel bad that I don’t speak much Korean, but I do know how to ask a taxi driver to take me home-normally you can simply say, “Gyo Dae” and they take off. One evening not too long ago, I hopped into a taxi and said, “Gyo Dae” to which he replied, “Gyo Dae?”, to which I replied, “Ne Gyo Dae!” and he said, “Gyo Dae??” and it went on like this for a while before he finally said, “ahhhhhh Gyo dae!” – even if my pronunciation was off he should have known where to take me!! I’m sure anyone who has attempted to speak another language has experienced this!!

Ajummas!! These are the Korean elderly. Korea was based on and still operates on many Confucian ideas and traditions. One of these ideas is extreme and sincere respect for the elderly. Everyone who knows me, should know that I agree with this completely!! I do not however agree with elderly people doing whatever the hell they want just because they can!! I think the Ajummas here know that they can get away with murder and so they purposely go out of their way to pester youth to see if they will respect them or not-they will plow into you, push you out of the way, set their bags in the middle of the walkway, extend their feet in the subway so that people have to go around them….it horrible!!! I have done my best to adhere to tradition, but one of these days, when an old man trips me with his cane, I just might flip!!

In another recent incident, Ria and I were waiting for a taxi when we saw a Korean girl get knock down by a Korean man-the girl began to scream. Quickly deciding that three girls are better than 1…Ria and I decided to help this poor girl whom we thought was being robbed. After even more confrontation, being tackled into a taxi, and a horrible experience-we found out the two were a couple. This type of behavior is normal and accepted in Korea. It is the general belief that men are still superior and that if a woman is “misbehaving” a husband has the right to beat her. This is changing, but this is one societal difference that I will never be able to accept or understand.

I’m not blaming Koreans at all for these things-for them it is normal and a part of everyday life. For me because it is not normal it works on my nerves-I can understand it though because many foreigners have told me about the same kind of annoyances they experience upon arrival to the states. Working with these differences is what everyone should try to do. Laughing at them and dealing with them is all that I can do.