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Published: October 27th 2006
Visit from the Devils!
The Beijing Devils' (hence the horns)men rugby team came to town a few weeks ago to play the Seoul Survivors, Colin Brown, an old SFU player, came along.Hey, ok, I have to write before things come out of my head!!
TRAFFIC RULES (or lack thereof)
There is no such thing as yielding here, it's more like a giant game of chicken, the last one who pulls out before getting hit wins the first spot in the line. Red lights do not mean stop, they mean slow down, look both ways and if it's clear, keep going! Scooters are not motor vehicles, they behave like pedestrians. They swerve through cars, on the sidewalk, almost run people over...oh and helmets must only be present, not worn. You see countless people riding with their helmets on the back of their bikes! One more thing I noticed, hitting the car next to you seems like a normal things, I was sitting in a car, with our American manager who learned how to drive here (scary thing!!!) and our mirror hit another car's mirror, everybody laughed and waved. No wonder all cars are scratched and bumped. As for buses, they are very cheap and extremely frequent but one has to wave at them frantically or throw oneself in front of them to get them to pick you up. So basically, I have
SFU connection
Here I am getting ready to go out in Natalie's room... another SFU rugby alumni. closed my eyes and hoped for the best many times since I've been here!
Ah, I had so many more odd things I wanted to write about and now I am blank! When in doubt, let's talk about food. Korean food is very good so far, quite spicy. It involves a lot of vegetables and seafood (everything is cooked in fish something). Beef is rare as there is no grazing land but pork is very popular. Every meal involves many dishes and is usually shared. It makes for limited options though when you go eat by yourself. It's very cheap to eat out so it's almost not worth it to cook. My school feeds us lunch, that's awsome and they sure are not making money with me! They also make everything out of rice, of course, and it is a staple of all meals, even traditional breakfast which is rice and kimchi (spicy marinated cabbage and other vegetables). I have been paying outrageous amounts of money for my cereal and fake peanut butter. They also make everything with green tea like green tea cereal, bread, rice cakes....
One more thing, it is considered impolite to blow your nose
Pub golf team
I am never golfing again!!! Hilary's first weekend in town, we were the Biker Chix and we did not win, but we sure tried. in public here but they have no problem with sniffing all the snot up, hacking, and spitting it everywhere, including the side of the pool or my building's elevator! Disgusting! I have now learned to not put anything down on the floor and to watch where I step at all times. It also makes for very annoying classes when all the kids have runny noses and continuously say "teacher, tissue" (in a whiny voice of course).
There is no concept of personal space here either. People will touch you constantly, sit really close to you, fall asleep on your shoulder in public transportation... Ah and some people really don't like foreigners, they'll cut me off in the line at the grocery store, steal my cab, sit on the bench to do abs when I would clearly be using it...
Of course, it is not all bad, even if it may sound that way! I have met a great bunch of people, through work and through rugby mostly. Tommorrow, there's a rugby tournament in Osan, on the military base. We are playing 10s, they split the one women's team and we are playing each other.
I just wanted to give you a few details about Korea, to allow you to understand what life is here. Soon, I should figure out how to add some pictures to this thing, sorry about the delay.
Cheers, thanks for all the comments, love you guys,
Marie-Eve
PS> I will reply to you individually when I get a chance.
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mots pour mots.
Te lire m'évade, Comme le prisonier, Comme ça t'es en rade Je suis le Boucanier.