Some Musings on Korea, people, and life....

Well it's been exactly 9 1/2 months that I've been in Korea now; away from home, friends, family, my girlfriend, my yoga, Landmark, meditation, and Men's communities. I miss them ALL SO MUCH!!! I never really thought I would actually miss home as much as I do, but what can I say?? I miss many many things abouts about home; especially my mom & dad, my girlfriend (if I had a pet I would insert name here), the men on my Men's team, Bikram Yoga class in Hoboken, and of course I miss good Italian food, esp. pizza from Benny Tudino's (Home of the LARGEST Slice). How much do they charge for a slice of pizza there nowadays? I believe it was $2.25 when I left. You can buy an entire pie for six dollars here in Korea. Granted it's run through an oven on a conveyor belt, and the cheese tastes like plastic, but hey, you get what you pay for right? Plus they put corn, pickles and sweet potatoes on their pizza here. I actually like the sweet potatoes, but can do without the corn and pickles. Those crazy & wild Koreans, I tell ya....

So now for some more musings on Korea:

During our weekly culture club meeting here in Miryang, we were talking about the differences between weddings in Korea vs. weddings in America. My buddy Rich & I were talking about how fancy, elaborate and expensive weddings are nowadays in America. It can cost anywhere from $10,000-$50,000 for a wedding these days in America. As I've said previously, weddings in Korea are very low key, boring, and not very expensive. The customary amount to give as a gift is $50 ($30) if you are not very close with the person. I learned of this info. for a Korean friend of mine from Seoul. So as soon as our Korean friends heard how much us Americans spend on weddings, our one friend, Sunnie, "My goodness, for that price, you can't have many weddings then!" I kid you not, that's EXACTLY what she said!!! I responded by saying, "Well I would sure hope that people don't have "many" weddings. She really said it with the understanding that because weddings are so much cheaper in Korea (consists of a basic wedding hall & going out to a regular restaurant for an inexpensive dinner), that it's reasonable to "have a few weddings". I don't know if this reflects the typical opinions of most Korean women these days, but after reading some statistics of marriage and divorce in Korea, I think marriage might not be the sacred institution it once was once. A lot has changed for Korea over the past 20 years. For example, in 1983, only 5% of Korean marriages ended in divorce, but by 2003 the rate had risen to a whooping 47%. Korea's divorce rate had doubled between 1995 and 2006. In the early 1980s Korea's divorce rate was one of the lowest in the world, but by 2003, it was 3rd highest behind the US and Sweden. Times are definitely changing around the world and especially in Korea. One reason that contributes to this factor is the fact that Korean parent-arranged marriage became obsolete. No longer obligated to respect their parents' wishes, modern Korean couples are less willing to stay in marriages that turn sour.

One other Korean English teacher here, who hasn't traveled much outside of Korea, is going to Australia for 4 weeks during the summer to improve her English communication skills. When asked what she wants to while there, one answer was, "one thing I really want to do is smoke mariwuana". Marijuana is no where to be found in Korea along any other other illegal drugs, unless of course you go to certain sections of Seoul. I found it interesting and rather funny for her to blatantly say something like this at our Miryang Culture Club (MCC) mtg. I was impressed by her and admired her self-expression.

Speaking of self-expression, (that is one thing I definitely miss about being away from NY) I was so happy to see two little Korean boys (brothers) beating each other up on the subway when I was up in Seoul last time. The reason why I enjoyed seeing these two kids wrestling, grabbing, hitting, and carrying on with each other is because this does not the type of behavior that is typically demonstrated by Koreans. Most (all) of the time when I've been on the bus, subway, train, etc. there is this extreme reticent atmosphere as people sit patiently, very still, calm, subdued. There is almost this orderly aire of conformity and subordinate behavior that all Koreans adhere to while commuting via public transportation. So to actually see these 2 little boys fighting, being loud,and causing a raucous, it was so exciting, enlivening & refreshing for me to see. The parents didn't do or say anything. It kind of reminded me of how some parents handle (are oblivious (hands-off) to their children's behavior). Either way you look at it, it was good to witness and see some "realness" being expressed by these young children. That's the way life should be when your four, five, or six years old, right?? I think so at least. I' d welcome and appreciate any and all comments.

Thanks,

Darren