dating

How does a young (and modern) Korean find a girlfriend? Very quick, fast and straightforward: Your friends set up a blind date for you. You meet with the girl and your friends or without them in a cafe and chat a little. Because both know what is all about, questions are exchanged directly, about age, heritage, etc. Such a date can take half an hour, then everything is over and both can go home to think about if they'd like to call back and continue the contact. Without trying to judge here too much, it seems hasty as there is not much room to get to know each other deeply - the first impression is often the last one. On the other hand, European couples who were friends before the relationship for years might find out that it's not "it" after a few days. ;-)

Outward appearance is very important, not just for dating but also for finding a job. There's a real boom in Korea, many people are carving for a little plastic surgery.

first class

Today I had the first teaching lesson in my life in German class at Chonbuk university. Well, not completely the first real one, but the first one that counts officially in some way. The students don't expect much they said, so o.k., no pressure there, but I was nervous all by myself. Korean students of course differ from European ones, for example there no direct criticism in class, usually the teacher is informed from third persons. European students are better in communication, but Koreans (or Asians) are better academics, as they can study a lot harder. This is a stereotype, but generally (as stereotypes do) it fits to the big picture, and there are always exceptions.

national holiday

"Plant-A-Tree" Holiday has been celebrated yesterday! Again I met with students, we talked a little bit, went to a restaurant and took a walk in a near by park. I didn't see anybody plating a tree, but I guess someone did. ;-)

traffic

Getting from one place to the other in Korea is quite inexpensive. Busses in Jeonju cost only 600 Won, the orange, more comfortable ones cost 1000 Won. I know teachers who always use taxis because it's so cheap. I need about 30 minutes from my home to the university, if I take a taxi, I would cost about 3200 Won. Compared to Germany, this is cheap, so in Japan, where I might pay for the same distance 1600 Yen, it's prohibitedly expensive. If you want to travel far, like from Pusan to Seoul, you can take the Semaul, a comfortable train, or a bus - if you take the bus, don't be afraid of the speeding, you won't feel any pains on impact it it's fast enough.

The cab drivers are usually driving like crazy, so better buckle up. I pity those few people who take a bike to get around, because it's so dangerous on the street. It looks like that drivers here used to drive around by bike, and when they bought themselves a car, they took their habits how they drove their bikes with them. Park whereever, drive as fast as they want, cut into other people's lines, etc. At least they honk when they Fortunately the law requires passengers to use the seat belt, so the drivers take care you use it. They are curious, too. I heard a story when I cab driver suddenly grabbed an American customers crotch, just to compare the size. ;-)

the egg-shaped restaurant

Tonight I have been out with a few students, Matin, Go and Sun. The restaurant looked from the inside like some kind of cave, Technomusic was playing, as in any place which is frequented by young people. The service when you go out and eat is unbelievable - beside much bigger portions than in Japan you get a plate full with snacks or fruits - in some cafes it's completely free, elsewhere you pay a little, but as long as the Won is not worth much on the markets I could care less. What surprised me was one of the waiters, because of two things:

First, we got Snacks for free because I'm a foreigner. You look like you come from somewhere else, you have privilidges, although sometimes you are also the victim of racism or a general feeling of distrust towards foreigners. Anyway, being persistently looked at because my eyes are bigger, because I'm taller and so on is not a real novelty, as it is the same in Japan.

Second, the waiter had a small necklace with a small swastika. There were many of those Buddhistic symbols in Japan, but I never got really used to it. I didn't expect it in Korea, though, maybe because here I don't see that many Chinese characters. I can imagine that some westerners who don't have too much knowledge about Korea and Buddhism might misunderstand such things like a swastika and interpret it wrongly. There are even cafe's in Korea named "Hitler" or "Goebbels", but as long as it is not run by some old Nazis (brown interieur ;-) usually it is not meant as a political statement - the name just sounds foreign and is supposed to attract customers.

Drinking with the students was fun. I noticed that some drinking habits are same in Korea and Japan. For instance people don't refill their own glass, when a glass is empty, the person you are drinking it is supposed to fill it up. When holding your glass, you use both hands, and the person filling it up is holding the hand with the bottle. This is the posite way, in more casual situations it is not that important, especially if everybody is dead drunk anyway. Be careful if you are slower with drinking because you might get their glass in front of you. Fill it up, but give the other (your) glass back, you are supposed to drink the one you filled up.

religion

If you associated a red cross with the organisation bearing the same name red cross then you will be suprised when you travel through Korea. As a country in proximity of China, in history it has been strongly influenced by Shamanism, Confucianism and Buddhism. However, since a few decades a new religion has entered Korean society and increased it's popularity much more then the established religions. In 1991 it has been found out in a population survey that a majority in Korean history are professing to a specific religious orientation - compared to 1945, when the Japanese invaders received survey results like that for less than a million Koreans!

Evangelistic churches are spreading like mushrooms all over the country. Some numbers are as high as "30% of the population", which sounds high, but in regard of all those crosses everywhere it seems plausible. Tonight I joined a meeting of a few teachers, scholars and a professor, somebody mentioned that nobody really knows exactly why this move towards christianity took place, one of the theories was that in the second half of the 20th century the strong upswing of the economy and then the Asia crisis pushed many people towards Evangelism, even more, because of the relative high self-consciousity of Christianity compared to Shamanism or Buddhism. On the other side, Japan experienced the same developement in economic terms, but Japanese are secular as ever.

Religious groups don't pay taxes, which is one of those strange ideas, obviously influenced by America - and it seems like everybody can open a church. Anyway, if you drive through Seoul at night or any other big city in Korea with a dense downtown area, you will notice that the horizon is full with red crosses. When I look out of my window, I see one directly in front of my eyes on the other side of the building. If I step out of the apartment building, one's right there, too. Walking down the street for two or three minutes, I'm counting seven churches in eyesight just in my neighborhood. Call me a paranoid, I even saw that the Soka gakkai - a lay Buddhist organization from Japan that could easily outshine Scientology - is present in Korea.

D.D.R.

Today and yesterday evening I saw how young people spend their Won: D.D.R. This unusual way of playing involves feet, feeling for rhythm, a healthy heart and sometimes the hands, too, depending on the D.D.R. box. It's like a huge Jukebox with pads in front of it, the screen shows when to step on the pads, and you jump. Some people dance for real on it, some have a more mechanical style, moving so quick I couldn't follow with my eyes. To show you what I mean I publish two short movies with about two and three megabytes (you might need Quicktime): Movie one and two are both about a highschool student with a more mechanical style, dancing to Beethovens 6th Symphonie, or more exactly, a Korean Techno version of it. Impressive.

superstition

Tonight during dinner I talked with Matin about superstition. He told me about a few interesting variations in Korea: Nose-bleeding is connected to hard work. Sometimes, when a man looks at a women, in case his nose starts bleeding, it has a sexualized context - his body is aroused or something. In Japan, they believe the same. If a women is the first customer of a cab-driver on a day, it means bad luck for the whole day. This is especially interesting, because it must be a rather modern superstition - cabs are not that old. ;-) If a certain bird, a "gachi" is heard singing in the morning, it means that guests are coming. A last example: If a customer in a shop is not buying anything, but looking at everything, touching the food and just being annoying, the shop owners use to throw salt on the ground on front of the door.

While I can see the connection between cause and effect, or result, in some cases, in others it's a complete miracle to me - but the same is valid for European superstition.

food and problems

As a vegetarian, it's not easy for me in Asia, it was a problem in Japan, and it is certainly one in Korea. Although I started to eat fish here, I have some mayor problems with the hot food. Most Korean foods so spicy that it is hard to eat without getting a red head. The next symptom is crying, and if your ears are hurting, kiss your stomach goodbye. Well, my stomach doesn't seem to digest anymore, and I can't resent it - I'm just not used to so much red pepper. One idea I had to soften things up is using a dish with water and dip everything into it to get rid of some of the spices.

Here at home I get great food, anytime I feel like it. Even in the mornings, breakfast consists of so many dishes that I can't impossibly eat everything up. One day I have been asked what Germans usually eat, so I answered, "potatoes, bread and meat", adding that I leave out the latter. The next morning the Korean breakfast was replaced by toasted slices of white bread. I didn't really ask for it, but the family is so hospitable that they try to please me in every possible way. Sometimes it is hard to answer a question because I'm not sure about the consequences. The funny thing with the bread was that we ate just it. No butter, no jam, no cheese, nothing.

children and handsome foreigners

When I walked through the streets of Kyoto, I had the same feeling as I have it in Jeonju right know: People watch me. They watch me closely, sometimes from the corner of the eye, curious, trying to hide it. Children are the big exception! Everytime I walk through a group of children (if a child is alone it is looking openly, but usually they don't say much), they shout enthusiastically "Hello!", "Hi!" and other greetings, laughing and obviously having fun with the strange guy in their neighborhood. You're the attraction here, smile, greet back, wave.

What strikes me here is that I often here "handsome". Do I look so good? I don't think so, check it out yourself, here. People often refer to me as good-looking around here, I first started to think it's a joke, but they were honest. When I introduced myself to one of the classes I'm going to teach, one of the guys said I look like an american actor, like Steven Segal (copyright: pictureview.com). I see a big difference, maybe the hair is similar, and he is much fatter than me, but that's about it, right? I tried to find an explanation for that. One thing that came up was lack of experience:

In Germany, when I didn't know very many Asians, the few Asian women I knew seemed beautiful to me. Now, after a year in Japan I see a lot more women then in Duesseldorf, so there are beautiful women, good-looking women, average looking ones and so on. I guess it's the same for them. ;-)