I'm not sure if I should be offended, but almost every time I go out on a run there is some older gentleman who ends up clapping for me as I run past him. I have come up with six reasons for why this might happen:
1. They genuinely think it's great that I'm running and just want to encourage me. They must do this to all other runners, including Koreans.
2. They genuinely think it's great that I'm running and just want to encourage me, but only clap for foreign women (I highly doubt they clap when Korean men run past them).
3. They are impressed that someone is actually running, as opposed to 99% of the Koreans who are walking on the trail.
4. They think it's great that an American is exercising, especially running, since so many Americans are overweight.
5. They think I am trying to lose weight so I can be as frail as the other Korean women.
6. They just want to be supportive and enjoy cheering me on (even though it's excruciatingly awkward and embarrassing for me).
I'm guessing it's probably a combination of many of these reasons. I found it very rude at first. C'mon, who actually cheers for you when you are exercising?? Could you imagine if someone came over while you were on the treadmill or elliptical and started clapping for you....creepy! However, because I'm not living in the States anymore, I've decided to adopt an attitude about this that I've had to do with so many other things - "Only in Korea." Yep, that's been my answer to many questions I've had about this strange country. Only in Korea does a pack of Starbucks decaf coffee cost $18; only in Korea does it an hour and a half to travel 10 miles on the bus; only in Korea does the description on a packaged Hostess-like cake say, "You know that sweet things make smile. We love to see you smile with your people. So just taste this cake." Things make smile...I'm assuming they mean me smile. What exactly do they mean when they say "We love to see you smile with your people." Who are my people?? My friends? Other Americans? I just don't know. So as I said before, only in Korea...
Another interesting thing happened to me on the running trails last week. I had only been running for about five minutes and I can see out of the corner of my eye that there's someone on a bike who is going the exact same speed as me. Most Koreans tend to put their bikes on really low gears and then peddle as fast as they can - I'm not quite sure what the logic is but it looks hilarious because all their bikes are too small, they're pedaling like madmen, but you look up and realize they are barely moving - so I thought maybe this person was dealing with the same issue - working very hard with very small results. I figured he'd pass by me eventually, right? Wrong! He, I came to find out that yes, of course, this was a man, stayed with me for about 30 seconds before I eventually turned to look at him. He smiled and said hi so I said hello back. Then he said something else, but I had my headphones in and I'm pretty sure it was in Korean so I had no idea what he was trying to tell me. I took out my left headphone and smiled. He didn't say anything, so I just waved and said, "Have a nice day." He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Ok." Then very slowly, so slowly that it was actually painful for me to watch, he eventually inched himself away from me. I mean, what was I supposed to do in that situation. I didn't want him to ride next to me my entire run! I hope he didn't think I was rude, but it's not like we would have been able to carry on a conversation considering the extent of my Korean up to that point was only "hello" and "thank you." Oh Korea....
Anyways, to fix my lack of Korean knowledge, I decided to venture into the neighboring town of Suwon for some free Korean lessons on Saturday. I had been to Suwon a couple times with my boss, but of course she always drove so I was feeling a little nervous about how I was going to get there. I called the Korean Help Line for foreigners and they told me the two buses that I needed to take. I was going to have to change buses at some town that I attempted to write down the name of, but obviously it was the English version of what the town sounded like, not the actual Korean spelling. Reason #1 why I need to learn Korean. So I make it onto the bus at 9 a.m. Perfect, I have an hour and a half to get there. Well anyways, I decided to get off at some random stop because I thought I had seen a sign for the university I needed to get to. But, of course, the spelling of the University I had on my info sheet and the spelling of the University on the street sign were different. To my defense, though, they were both spelled so similarly that the pronunciations, I thought, were identical. But, after walking around this one small street section, a Korean lady working at a gas station came over and asked if I needed help. Thank God! Because yes I did. Anyways, she told me that the original bus I had been on, the 7, would take me all the way to the stop I needed to get to. Thanks a lot Korea Help Line, you failed at your one job - to help foreigners. No I did not need to transfer buses, I could have stayed on my nice little bus the whole time. So, I got back on the bus and ended up getting to where I needed to be at exactly 10:30 a.m.
When I got to the cafe where the lessons were being held (just one block from the University where I needed to get off at), the guy who was in charge, Peter, asked me how much Korean I knew. I told him I could say "hello" and "thank you." Well, this was a problem. I didn't know the Korean alphabet, and all the people in these classes had been going for atleast a month or more and were way ahead of me. So, he sat down with me and taught me the alphabet (the vowels are really hard because a lot of them sound very similar). After he had worked with me, he passed me onto a gentleman in his 40s to help me some more. But, I don't think he understood just how much of a beginner I was because he kept saying all these phrases to me and I was so embarrassed because I had to keep asking him what it meant. I know he was trying to be helpful but it was way too much information. Peter came back over and told the guy to just practice say the letters and combining some of the vowels and consonants together. Since I am so far behind, Peter asked me if I could come during the week at 9 p.m. to catch up. I told him I could because of my work schedule, so he offered to meet with me during the weekdays to help out. So, we're meeting on Tuesday and Friday. He was so nice and doing this all for free! The only pitfall to this whole situation is that it takes me 3 hours roundtrip, which is a heck of a lot longer than I'm actually at the lesson for. I guess it'll give me good time to practice, but still, quite a drag. I'm going to start looking for a program that's a little closer to me. But I feel bad ditching Peter because he was so willing to help me.
On Saturday night, I spent the night at Kelly's place. She made a yummy veggie stir-fry with barley and then we watched Sister Act. I hadn't seen that movie in forever and I forgot how funny it is. Then, our friend Anna came over and brought this oatmeal bread and maple butter she made from scratch. I basically died and went to Heaven! It was such a nice little treat. On Sunday I went to church in the morning. On my way out, Mike, the head of volunteers, asked if I could help out more at Mass because, "The people like hearing a native English speaker." So I told him I would. After that, I went back to Yatap where Kelly lives to have the yummy breakfast that her roommate Charissa was making - Pumpkin Pancakes and Apple Cinnamon syrup round 2!! So yummy. After that we did the Myers-Briggs personality test. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. It was so interesting and 100% accurate about me. I'm an ISFJ (Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) and the title of that personality is "A High Sense of Duty." Everyone did it and we were all different, so it was really cool to see/hear about others and then talk about how accurate they were - which was almost spot on for everyone. After that, I went home, cleaned, and attempted to re-arrange my apartment. The only problem, though, is that I have to space to rearrange with, so everything basically stayed right where it was. Sunday night was House Church. All the people I've met here are Christians and they haven't found a church they like going to so they have their own worship service at someone's apartment. It was really nice to be around so many people who have similar beliefs and values as myself.
Today, I woke up and went on a run - 1 hour and 45 min. Hopefully that 1/2 marathon won't be too bad! I definitely should have worn a long sleeved shirt because it was chilly this morning and pretty windy. The temperature definitely dropped from yesterday. I'm also in the Martha Stewart, holiday obsession mode that I get into at this time of year. It's killing me that I can't bake anything (first thing on my to-do list once I get paid is to buy a toaster oven for some serious holiday baking), so I've been looking up hundreds of recipes online that I wish I could bake. Also, for those of you who know me really well and who know my obsession with Christmas, don't worry, the Christmas music has been the only sound coming from my apartment for at least a week now! To make myself feel a little better about my inability to bake, I decided to make soup. I couldn't find canned tomatoes so I bought a can of tomato sauce, the stuff you usually put on top of pasta, some corn, peas, boiled a couple sweet potatoes, chopped up some onions, added in water to reduce the thickness and threw in some pepper and VOILA!! It's actually really yummy. I'm definitely getting a little sad that I won't be home for Christmas, but I'm probably going to go to Vietnam and then possible Cambodia or the Philippines for my 10-day break. If you have any suggestion, let me know! Have a great week everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment