Just another way of saying that some of the things here piss me off!!!!!!!!
Well, one of them is the way taxi drivers chew gum. When I first heard this sound, I had no idea what it was. I then figured out what it was. This noise was like a small piece of glass being either crushed or broken. It really is a high pitched sound and it is REALLY aggravating. I try to tune it out most of the time, but other times it just drives me batty.
I then also discovered that not only do the taxi drivers do it, but all the older men chew gum like that! When I say older men, I mean anyone above about 30 or so. Combine that chewing with the 'Korean stare,' sometimes you just want to bust a valve....... not really, but it sounds expressive enough......
Almost all of the taxis here now have the "GPS" systems. They often have dvd players in them as well. Pretty well about 99 percent of the taxi here are very clean and very well looked after. The driving however is 110 percent 'shite.' They pump the brakes all the time and hit the accelerator up and down all the time. I have often got out of taxis and believe it or not buses and had motion sickness.
The bus drivers are unbelievable here too. They don't wait for anyone to sit down after getting on the bus and gun it from stop to stop and I mean 'gun ' it! They are so hard on the breaks and I don't think they have ever heard of smooth breaking.They would be fired in an instant ,driving the way they do here, in the Western world. I saw a woman with a baby in her arms lose the baby into the seat on one of the buses that I was taking from Kyoungju. Nobody ever reports the drivers or says anything to them. Again, another cultural phenomenon.
One of the things I was told before I came to Korea was that age plays an important role with reference to respect. I found out that it is somewhat true, but more relative to Koreans dealing with Koreans and not foreigners. All of the rules that they follow with each other generally go out the window when it comes to dealing with the 'waegukeen,' which means foreigner by the way in Korean.
A young single girl is supposed to be addressed as 'agachi.' A married woman is supposed to be addressed as 'ajuma.' There is no way to address a young single man, but a married man is addressed as 'adeshee.'
I get called 'adashee' all the time by my students because I am 'old! It is quite funny as the kids consider anything over 30 as old, especially me at 42! Even when you wear something or style your hair a certain way, the kids will often say, "Teacher, adeshee style!"
One of the other things that happens a lot here usually occurs when you are walking on the street. Young kids mostly, but adults sometimes, will shout across the street to you or just talk to you as you are walking. They will yell things like, 'hello, nice to meet you and who are you, are you from America, have a good time, oh handsome, oh 'waegukeen.'
Most of the time, they are quite cute and funny, but the odd time, they are quite annoying and keep repeating the same thing over and over again. There are a lot of drunks that walk on the street after about 10pm and I mean rotten drunk sometimes. You see mostly men sleeping on benches, on the sides of buildings and etc. Just last night at Samsung Plaza, Dave and I saw two men passed out on benches inside. There was also another guy passed out on a cement flower stand. Both were completely passed out. It is part of their culture here and the police never get involved unless there is trouble starting or something.
I have seen puke on the street and side of the road, in the urinals, in the sinks and in toilets so many times, I can't begin to count! It was a little disturbing years ago when I first got here, but now it is the norm. I just hold my breathe as soon as I see one of the vomit 'pools!'
I think that is enough info for now. Don't worry, there will be more to come for sure. This is not all negative by the way. I think some of the things are quite acceptable, but not the spitting and puking everywhere!!!
Not everybody does this by the way, but it is quite normal for the working man and business men especially, as they have to drink all the time to keep harmony in the company and to be one of the boys, which is a big phenomenon here in Asia.
4 comments:
All I can say is "Giz a chewy!!"
Post a Comment