...and all you can do is shake it off and walk away...
Yesterday, I spent a glorious evening with my good friend Victoria. We went for a jog, played some hackey-sack, danced around my apartment listening to some good ol mowtown. The evening was only briefly marred by an episode that I can only imagine would happen in this country.
Post-jog, Victoria and I were enjoying a rousing round of hackey-sack at the university near my apartment. The air was cool and many people were out and about either exercising or just hanging out. We wanted to inspire people to join our game, so our enthusiam kept us from noticing this suspect character as he approached. In true drunken old Korean man form, he came up to us with a friendly look. Then he said some words that were so slurred by alcohol, it didn't even sound Korean. Then he came closer and closer, and suddenly he had my arm firmly in his disgusting drunken grasp. What was even more disturbing was the fact that he was beckoning Victoria and I to join him by offering various amounts of money, up to and including 2-3 million won. ($2000-3000) Ew. I tried being polite (why? I don't know) I offered a "Hajimaseyo" Which is the politest form of saying "Don't do that." I yanked my arm away, but that did not deter him.
Grossed out and pissed off, we tried to walk away but he followed. Victoria yelled "Hajima!" which is very rude, and even spit down at his feet as he followed. Deterrent? nope. After a few more "yah!"s, and our quick departure from the track area, he got the picture.
Not only were we angry that this man would offer us money for our "company" in such an obvious, demeaning way, but we were right pissed off that our joyous game of hackey sack had to end thusly.
Things like this happen - thankfully not very often to me. After a few minutes dedicated to anger, all one can do to move on is just let it go. I can't change these old drunk men, and it's my hope that behaviour like that will slowly peter out here. It's a scar on this culture, but hopefully it's one that will fade.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
in brief
it seems as though i've lost my will to blog. i suppose it's because my life hear no longer feels like an adventure (it's a lifestyle), and this blog was meant to capture adventurous happenings of yours truly. Anyway, I've found a bit of time here between classes, so I thought I'd at least catch everyone up with what I've been up to:
1. Two weekends ago I went to Jeju Island (sub tropical island province of Korea), with three of my girlfriends to eat good food and run in the international jeju marathon. There was no 5K race option, so I sucked it up and did the 10K. As one would expect, it took my twice as long. I finished in 1h11minutes and I'm damn proud of it!
2. I confirmed my return date to Canada as August 21st. It's can't come soon enough!
3. I've watched the following movies: Indiana Jones, Sex and the City, Fung Fu Panda, Narnia: Prance Caspian. Here are my thoughts:
Indiana Jones: Good adventure flick, if completely formulaic. Go to any of the other adventure movies (national treasure, and the like) and you'll see this happen: Bad guy is established. Good guy is always one step ahead of bad guy when finding a hidden *fill in the blank* until near the end when the bad guy mysteriously catches up be it through deception, mutiny, dumb luck, or wiles. Together, everyone finds the hidden whatever. Bad guy is destroyed, being buried in the inevitable destruction of said uncovered treasure, while the heroes make it out of the destruction by the skin of their teeth. That being said, the action scenes in Indiana Jones are really cool, and I have a significant girl-crush on Cate Blanchet.
Sex and the City: Like an episode of the show that is 2h20minutes long. too long. And this is coming from a fan of the show. If you've never watched the show - don't see it. If you watched the show but have no great attachment to it - don't see it. The only reason you should see the movie is if you are obsessed with couture fashion and/or are in any way invested in the lives of the 4 main characters. It was entertaining, but often gave off a feeling of depression and desperation. Oh yeah, and watch out for completely off-putting lines like Miranda, who is looking for a new apartment saying "Oh! White guy with a baby! Follow him!" Classy.
Kung Fu Panda - everyone on the face of the planet should see this movie. sewiousy. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time and even if laughter isn't your thing, anyone can appreciate the AWESOME animation of this movie. jack black - hilarious. the other characters - it doesn't really matter because it's all about jack black...as it should be.
Narnia (Prince Caspian) - After the movie, Hang Bin said to me "it seemed like a kids movie" to which i replied "it's based off a kid's book". If you don't like loosely veiled references to Jesus and christianity, this movie isn't for you. neither is the book. Naturally, the book is better, but I found the movie entertaining and a decent representation.
Apparently I've just been spending my time at the movies, so there isn't much else to report. On the other hand, I've got some things coming up!
wait a sec, no I don't! I'm basically playing the waiting game for the end of the semester. classes are fine. students are pretty good. this biggest thing I'm planning now is a possible trip to Japan in the summer. i'll keep you posted! (but probably very infrequently :P)
1. Two weekends ago I went to Jeju Island (sub tropical island province of Korea), with three of my girlfriends to eat good food and run in the international jeju marathon. There was no 5K race option, so I sucked it up and did the 10K. As one would expect, it took my twice as long. I finished in 1h11minutes and I'm damn proud of it!
2. I confirmed my return date to Canada as August 21st. It's can't come soon enough!
3. I've watched the following movies: Indiana Jones, Sex and the City, Fung Fu Panda, Narnia: Prance Caspian. Here are my thoughts:
Indiana Jones: Good adventure flick, if completely formulaic. Go to any of the other adventure movies (national treasure, and the like) and you'll see this happen: Bad guy is established. Good guy is always one step ahead of bad guy when finding a hidden *fill in the blank* until near the end when the bad guy mysteriously catches up be it through deception, mutiny, dumb luck, or wiles. Together, everyone finds the hidden whatever. Bad guy is destroyed, being buried in the inevitable destruction of said uncovered treasure, while the heroes make it out of the destruction by the skin of their teeth. That being said, the action scenes in Indiana Jones are really cool, and I have a significant girl-crush on Cate Blanchet.
Sex and the City: Like an episode of the show that is 2h20minutes long. too long. And this is coming from a fan of the show. If you've never watched the show - don't see it. If you watched the show but have no great attachment to it - don't see it. The only reason you should see the movie is if you are obsessed with couture fashion and/or are in any way invested in the lives of the 4 main characters. It was entertaining, but often gave off a feeling of depression and desperation. Oh yeah, and watch out for completely off-putting lines like Miranda, who is looking for a new apartment saying "Oh! White guy with a baby! Follow him!" Classy.
Kung Fu Panda - everyone on the face of the planet should see this movie. sewiousy. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time and even if laughter isn't your thing, anyone can appreciate the AWESOME animation of this movie. jack black - hilarious. the other characters - it doesn't really matter because it's all about jack black...as it should be.
Narnia (Prince Caspian) - After the movie, Hang Bin said to me "it seemed like a kids movie" to which i replied "it's based off a kid's book". If you don't like loosely veiled references to Jesus and christianity, this movie isn't for you. neither is the book. Naturally, the book is better, but I found the movie entertaining and a decent representation.
Apparently I've just been spending my time at the movies, so there isn't much else to report. On the other hand, I've got some things coming up!
wait a sec, no I don't! I'm basically playing the waiting game for the end of the semester. classes are fine. students are pretty good. this biggest thing I'm planning now is a possible trip to Japan in the summer. i'll keep you posted! (but probably very infrequently :P)
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