culture notes

ha, i have to share this. i was standing in the subway car, waiting for my stop, and i was near the end of the car where the disabled/elderly seats are located. a mother had her two children sitting in those seats, and an older man sitting across in the other set of seats started to scold her about letting her children sit there. the mother just retorted back, and a loud argument ensued, with the mother ordering her children to stay where they were when they attempted to move. i didn't actually get to hear the end of the argument since i reached my stop in the middle of the woman's harangue, but it was semi-amusing. why? cuz it's really funny sometimes to experience parts of korean culture that rings a familiar note in my bones. i'll have to add some more...

light and loving abuse is common here. i remember my mother expressing her slight exasperated amusement at some antic of mine by doing a very korean thing: saying "oh, you idiot" and pushing my head with her knuckles. all korean children experience this at some point and usually pretty often. it's expected.

i also quite understand why it took me some time to train myself in tactful speech. i used to just say what i thought...got me in trouble, so i learned to keep my mouth shut for a bit and reword before i said anything. i still slip now and again, but there it is. it's certainly interesting to puzzle out the pieces of my mixed cultural identity. i should add that it's not like tact isn't present in korean culture, but the situations are different.

such a small country with so many little people. there's such a sense of one big family here that's irritatingly delightful. it's also like being in a little bubble though since there isn't a lot of different cultures and ideas and such actively mixing in regular life. in short, something that i'll miss and yet it's something that i'll run from. one of the reasons that i know i want to keep coming back but not actually settle down here. :-)

time for me to sleep...i'll try to update more often, but i often space out on what to write about. i'll be sure to buckle down soon and write some more about the korean experience since my schedooly is calming down some.

*pook*