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Published: March 4th 2010
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Busan 033
Fire and dancers.. The Westerner's Gang: Striking fear into the hearts of all sweet Koreans, afraid we are going to try to talk to them in English....or worse! We might try to talk to them in butchered Korean!
In my experience so far, Koreans are absolutley lovely people. On my second day in the city I was supposed to meet some friends at a subway station and I was having a little trouble getting my ticket, so this adorable, young couple behind me tried to help by putting in their own money. It was so sweet.
People on the street sometimes bow or smile at me and say hello in Korean, and then giggle when I reply in Korean. Old men on subways insist that I sit in the seats that are designated for the elderly or handicap. This has happened twice now. I feel terrible sitting there, but they are very insistent. They try to talk to me in Konglish (korean/english) but I understand very little. They can always say, English Teacher, because I say it to them in Korean and they say it in English, which makes me feel stupid for saying it in my terrible Korean. A thing they
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I'm not sure how I feel about this being down my street. Did I miss something? always ask me, which I am always afraid is creepy is "Where you live? What stop?" Keep in mind this is on the subway. I always say I live at Bujeon-dong stop, which I do, but that I can't remember how to get home unless I walk, which isn't true. I discovered the reason they ask is not so that they can get off and follow me home, but rather to make sure I get off at the right stop to keep me from getting lost. It has a bit of an "aww" factor I think.
On Saturday night I was supposed to meet up with a group, but half of us got lost, and as we wandered around together we asked for directions a few times. Koreans are so painfully nice. One guy realized he told us to go one stop to few and RAN back to tell us the right way.
One guy couldn't explain in English how to get somewhere so he just took us there.
While we were waiting a guy ran up to us and said, "Hello!" very excitedly and then ran away.
A street food vendor gave me a
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A random very western looking bakery near my house. free mandu because my friends had ordered food. Then she said I had a baby face and asked if my friend John was my father. "I'm not sure which of us should be insulted?"- John. I think probably both.
On Sunday night we went to the Moon festival on Haeundae beach to watch the crazy bonfire. It was great, except that there was a lot of burning ash flying at us. I caught of fire for a second, but only a second. Only a little hair got burned off. You can't even tell when you look at me. But that's not the point, this group of Asian men came up to us and took turns taking pictures with us. Which was funny. Kind of like we were at a zoo, lol.
Some people I can tell just really want to talk to me. They don't speak English, they've got to know that I most likely don't speak Korean, and yet they'll ask me thing's like, "Is it still raining outside?" I know this because of my miming gift. I can manage to answer back as well, but it's not the easiest thing in the world to have a
Busan 036
This is where I do my shopping. I've seen other foreigners here, but they didn't smile. Not a good sign. conversation like that.
I had a lady knock on my door last night (my friend Gavin was there so I wasn't too scared to answer, though I'd have answered even if he wasn't there) and it was a lady trying to sell me a water filter system. It took a long time to figure it out and tell her that I'd have to think about it, and that I'd call her. A long time! But it ended with her telling me in English, "You beautiful." So all is well 😊
And this morning this sweet lady walked me to the subway station under her umbrella (I hate umbrellas, but I didn't want to say anything because it was nice!) and come to find out she's an elementary school teacher who lives in the same building. She said she hoped we met again. Aw
Other good news, apart from all the random Korean's who are sweet, I think I'm making a lot of new friends! I've had people over my apartment several times and am having a movie/pizza night on Saturday so we can all relax and debrief from the craziness that is our new lives 😊
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Kayla's favorite :) Though....we have yet to figure out how to order a pizza in Korean. It should be interesting to say the least. 😊
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michelle
non-member comment
Wow! looks like you're having soo much fun and i'm glad everyone's being nice and helpful. um... the teletubbies bar??? yikes. love ya, michelle