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working owt…

… just seems like a dumb thing to do

2010-04-04 1270392660341

so much weight... such little sense

don’t get me wrong; i work owt often. 3-5 times a week for at least an hour. so that is roughly 300 hours a year that i spend inside of a building lifting massive amounts of weights that always end up back in the same place or running hundreds of miles, only to stay in the same place. oh, did i mention that i pay to do this type of pointless work. [continue reading…]

Too Close For Comfort: A True Story

First-Hand Experience On The Cultural Differences Regarding Personal Space In Korea

 

So I go to the the gym today straight from work. It is common for gyms in S. Korea to issue clothing to patrons to work out. Very convenient for those that stop by the gym on the go. I normally go home first. Eat something, relax, perhaps squeeze one out, then I hit the iron. Today I switched it up.

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a little bit of seoul

this past weekend i was feeling a little down because two people that are very close to me were both having their (separate) weddings that weekend. since, i’m in s. korea at the moment, i wasn’t able to attend either one.

to cheer myself up, i decided to take a quick train ride to seoul. i left busan at around 7:30 and arrived in seoul around 10:ish.

first stop, itaewon

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so, the red light means…

… do whatever the fuck you want. oh, i see.

seriously, traffic in s. korea (busan in particular) is fuckin’ crazy. i don’t see how i don’t spot more accidents or deaths here. red lights seem to serve as merely a suggestion in this place.

the only people that obey the traffic signals are the pedestrians. if the man is red at a cross walk, no one will cross, even with no traffic in sight, even on the smallest of roads, even in the still of night. i find it pretty hilarious, but not really, and quite frankly, i don’t comply.

as they say: when in rome, do as the americans.

another thing about traffic here is the excessive use of the vehicular horn. everyone uses it for even the smallest of  inconvenience. here are some examples:

car slows down to read a street sign – HONK!

car eases up on the gas to make a turn – HONK!

car has a flat tire – HONK! HONK! HONK! … (from every car that passes)

i have actually seen someone, clearly experiencing car trouble, and every one that passed by just had to let the poor fella know: “hey, i don’t give a shit about your misfortunes. i just want you to know that i am upset at you now.” HONK!

hilarious, but not really.

just yesterday i witnessed a fire truck, lights-a-blazin’ and sirens-a-wailin’,  wait on traffic before it could make a u-turn. yes, the oncoming traffic completely disregarded the big red truck trying to make a u-turn on its way to possibly save some one’s life.

hilarious, but not really.

oh, to top it off. once the truck reached its destination, the bus driver of the bus that i was on while examining this whole ordeal, honked at the fire truck for stopping in front of him. at the scene of a burning building, mind you.

it was pretty obvious that the fire engine had reached its destination, but the bus driver just had to make it clear how he felt. and i’m sure his thoughts went a little something like this: “oh, i see that you are stopping to go put out that fire over there. i respect your job and everything that you do for us. you are all very brave and bold individuals. but, since you just had to stop right  in front of me, i must let you know that i am slightly upset now.” HONK!

hilarious… but not really.

nothin’ much goin’ on over here

this friday was teachers day here in s. korea. the school had a ceremony honoring and thanking the teachers as we were showered with small gifts, flowers, and treats. as an added bonus we also were given the rest of the day off after lunch. cool beans.

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what can johnnie do for you?

not much, my friend

before i came here a friend of mine, who has lived in korea, told me to bring a couple of bottles of johhnie walker red label, specifically (i prefer the black label, myself). “what’s so great about red label?”, i ask him. “i don’t know, but they just love it. bring some with you!” so i copped a couple of bottles when i was at the airport in a duty free shop. apparently it is the thing to offer guests that come over your house or it can also be used to, according to this dude,  “get anything you want over there (korea)”.

well, it doesn’t work. he lied.

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fukin’ right!

man, one thing i quickly realized once i met some other foreigners, is that these guys and gals do not play when it comes to partying and drinking. korea itself seems to have a very strong drinking culture so i guess they’re just trying to fit in, right?

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where i work

i teach at dong pyung girls’ middle school, in busan. the school is relatively small with only 600 students. i am the only native english speaking teacher and i have 3 korean co-teachers that speak english.

here are some pictures of my room:

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