Koreans Are So Generous

As I spoke of before, Koreans like to touch each other. It's okay! They're pretty tough with each other too. You can think a serious fight is going on with hard hits. Next thing you see is the boys nuzzling with his head on his friends shoulder. Hard love.

Don't really make them angry though. They do know the national sport, Taekwondo. They have been know to put each other in the hospital. The police have to come to our school at least once a week for fights. The police come into our office, take their shoes off, and give the teachers a full bow. I think Denver Cops should do this, don't you?

Saturday, October 3^rd was Chusok, Korean Thanksgiving. It’s like Christmas here around that time. The malls are packed with people buying gifts for each other. You see people stressed out over the holidays just like back home. I got Friday and Monday off for the holiday. It was a much needed break. I got ginseng, onion juice, three loafs of bread, some pineapple, cake, and a laser pointer from teachers. I also got a few peanuts from a drunk guy in the subway for the holiday. Some old ladies by my house gave me some uncooked nuts too. It was gross.

Ginseng is huge here. A common gift to a boss is a bottle of ginseng extract. They run anywhere from 20 bucks to 100 bucks a bottle and more. The rare kinds are like gold.

It’s amazing how big health fads are in a country filled with drinking and smoking. I guess they counteract each other. I slammed my glass of onion juice with some teachers the other day for our health. Wow! Rather eat an onion, or slam cheap whiskey. Tasted pretty nasty.

In Colorado, when we think of raw fish, we think of little slices of sushi on a ball of rice. You don’t want to get too full unless you’re willing to spend over a hundred bucks. That’s not the case here! We had, “sliced fishy,” as they call it. All the English teachers went for some “sliced fishy.” We had an awesome view of the ocean. Plate after plate of raw fish sliced and piled high came out. We drank and ate for many hours. There was no need to even have rice. A sushi lovers’ heaven.

After a couple of hours of drinking, there was a big shouting match between some of the teachers. It sounded like a very passionate screaming match. It was okay I guess. We were eating in a private room at the restaurant. One teacher told me that this was needed as a way to get things out about work.

I think they were arguing over how they should go about punishing kids. There’s the old and new ways of doing things. To beat, or not to beat kids, that is the question. At one point, my boss told me, “Coming Monday, new responsibility for you. You will be in charge of punishment. Ok?” I agreed, but I’m sure glad that he forgot. A couple of students just went to the main office of education the other day to complain about the beatings. Now my school is in trouble, the English Department especially. Things are changing quickly here.

On a brighter note, I had a great celebration of my German heritage recently! Surprisingly to me, the Koreans have a great fascination with the German people. My boss told me that Germans are strong. I am German, so he believes I will do well at the school. Ok…

I recently met some German girls at Korean class. They were teaching me how to say my last name, Nebel, correctly. I still can’t say it like them. Pusan University actually holds classes in German. There are not too many Germans in South Korea, but there are a few Koreans looking to learn German. You can take a chemistry class in German here.

The girls informed me of a Korean Oktoberfest that they were invited to. The owner of the place found them at the university and asked them to join. I guess to make the whole Oktoberfest more authentic you need at least a few Germans.

We went to a huge German brewery bar. The place was packed with hundreds of Koreans on a Thursday night. We were seated up at the front for we were the only Westerners at the place. There was live music and lots of beer and German food. The place was not cheap. The owner let us eat and drink for free!

All of a sudden I felt a new sense of pride for my German heritage. Who would have thought it would bring me free food and drink! Many Koreans wanted to dance with us and get their pictures taken with us. They not only wanted pictures taken on their cameras, they wanted us to take pictures with them on our cameras. I was happy to do so.

Koreans like to provide entertainment while you drink. This night, we were only part of the festivities. There were dancing beer bottles as well as Koreans dressed like Germans. The band wasn’t that bad either.

I have had the chance to really get to know my new German friends in the last week. Last night was one of their friends’ birthdays. Here we are in South Korea, enjoying many beers with Russians, Germans, an Irishman, a Brit, some Americans, and of coarse some Koreans. After the bar, we headed to the norybong. This is Korean karaoke. We ended up singing the night away.

My Korean friend Jyoung is quite a character. A good man. I had class to teach at 7 in the morning, and he had to start his first day of Korean military boot camp at the same time. This is something that every Korean man has to do at a certain point in their lives. Like most Koreans, Jyoung has trouble knowing when it is time to go to bed. I myself am having trouble with this cultural problem. At 4:45 a.m. we realized that we could not try to go to bed. We would be in trouble if we did that. Here we are, German and English teachers and one Korean soldier, singing till the sun was up.

A Korean hangover potion is the only thing keeping me up long enough to write this right now. It’s called Morning Cure. I don’t believe there is any caffeine in this small drink. Actually I have no idea what is in it, but it works.

This morning I woke myself up to the sound of my own snoring at my desk. My co-teacher asked me to come with her. Of coarse my Western thought was that I was in trouble for sleeping. That was not the case. She showed me the sleeping room for the male teachers! It’s okay as a male to sleep at work if you need to. The room has a nice couch with comfortable pillows to take the edge off that morning hangover. I love Korea! They might not know when to sleep, but they do know how to take care of a hangover.

I can’t wait to sleep. Today I have no class, so I have lucked out. The students have tests to take. I have the whole day to prepare for classes. Of coarse, with this much free time there is always room for a nap or a little blogging.

Good times here in South Korea. I only hope I can go back to what is “normal” and not find life a bore. Every corner I turn is a new experience that I will never forget. Cheers from South Korea. Until next time, thanks for reading!