Noteworthy Incidents in Korea

We’ve just spent a couple relaxing days in Korea. To those of you who, for the past several months, have told me to slow down and stop working and playing so hard, you’ll be glad to know that I’ve done absolutely nothing for the last two days, and it feels great. I’ve slept, read, walked, watched movies, and gotten addicted to “Lost.” Slovenly behavior is wonderful in small doses. That’s what vacation is all about, right?

We head to Beijing tomorrow for more adventures, but there are a few noteworthy incidents that have happened in Korea.

Noteworthy Incident #1:
Committing a Korean Faux Pas

I was yelled at in Korean by my cab driver. Twice. And I wasn’t impressed, so I snipped back at him, in English of course. What a sight we must have been to passersby- a foreigner and local heatedly arguing in different languages.

You see, he drove up the side of the curb to let us out. I was on the side where traffic was whizzing by, and I cracked open my door. I didn’t flail it open to get the door decapitated by traffic- I just cracked it open so that when there was a pause in traffic I could calmly get out (the road was not that busy).

But my cab driver had a minor fit. He started gibbering at me in heated Korean, combined with excessive hand gestures.

“Don’t ever get out of a cab on the side of traffic,” Meaghan said, slightly rolling her eyes. “It’s really frowned upon here.” She apologized to the cab driver in Korean, and I apologized in English.

He backed the cab into their apartment complex driveway, and I got out. He got out. He started yelling at me again! I am only slightly embellishing here. Lynae will testify that he was giving me a piece of his mind in a loud voice. I can only imagine what he was saying: “You dumb blonde foreigner! You don’t do that in Korea! I’ll get sued from your side of the world when you get smoked by a car! You stupid white girl, go back to your own country!”

I was tired and in no mood to be yelled at in a language I didn’t understand, for an innocent mistake, so I replied in heated tones, “Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t know! It was a mistake. Mistake! I won’t do it again! We already apologized, anyway, so get over it.”

Finally we stopped gibbering at each other in unintelligible languages and moved on with our day.

I am becoming increasingly wary of foreign cab drivers.

Noteworthy Incident #2:
Staring at White Girls With No Shame

White girls are all around on TV and even in ads, but not so much on the streets of Busan, South Korea. So when we go out in public- especially the three of us together- it’s a peculiar sensation to be regarded with such interest and curiosity. There are those that openly stare, following us with their heads until they get neck strain. There are those that are subtle about it; when caught they quickly drop their eyes. Naïve children wave and yell, “hello!” from a distance. Men come up to us and shake our hands. Teenage girls giggle and make comments from the streets. It’s strange to think that we’re so foreign here, especially since in Canada we see all nationalities on a regular basis (ok, maybe not in Sarnia, but I digress).

Noteworthy Incident #3:
Walking Backwards

Busan is on the sea, and it’s gorgeous. There’s a nice waterfront that is very close to the apartment, and I enjoy walking it. The weather here is about 16 degrees. Yesterday I was walking and I noticed a man up ahead facing my way, but moving away from me. As I crept closer I realized he was walking backwards. He was in a suit, mid 30’s, and very deliberately walking the concrete line backwards to stay on course. Peculiar. Even more so when ½ hour later on my way back, I passed him again and he was still walking backwards. I won’t even try to analyze that one.

Noteworthy Incident #4
Language Barriers

You cannot imagine the issues of language barriers until you experience it. Try deviating from any norm when ordering anything simple, like a coffee (no skim milk lattes for me). Ordering takeout takes as much energy as running a marathon, and there’s a good chance it will still be screwed up. Wondering if a particular item in a store is available in a different color. A wrong number on the cell phone. Getting directions. Answering the door. Correcting a mistake on a restaurant tab. Meaghan trying to explain to a dermatologist what ails her. Communication is something we take for granted until it’s snatched away. It’s a curious sensation of being lost and segregated from a great deal of people. I tend to say less, put up with more, and have lower expectations. I’m sure it’s just as frustrating for them as us. I have a new appreciation for immigrants, specifically my grandparents who came from Holland in their 20’s.

The blog has been a trifle boring and I’m sure you’re tired of pictures of us, but Beijing should spruce things up a bit.