“If you can’t say somethin’ nice then don’t say nuttin’!”

January 3, 2008
I made a recent trip back to the States. I went home for the Holidays and it was just as sweet as it was short. It was nice catching up with family and friends. I didn’t do much, really, but I think that’s what I liked so much about it. I was back in my own realm and was able to just sit back and enjoy it.
Sort of.
Much of the time, it was difficult to full-fledge appreciate being home ‘cause I knew how quickly time would go, and I didn’t want to get sucked too deeply into the comfort of familiarity only to be ripped right back out of it. I certainly don’t like disappointment, so I try to not set myself up for it.
So here are some of my thoughts from when I was en route to Minneapolis from Dallas, then on to Tokyo, then back to the city of Seoul. (Convenient flight schedule? Um, no! Oh well…)
As the plane fiercely ascends, I glance down at the world below. This is it… “Goodbye, Texas. Goodbye US soil. Goodbye baseball and football fields. Goodbye perpendicular and parallel streets. Goodbye people who say “Excuse me,” when they bump into you. Goodbye to those who have consequences for running red lights and driving motor vehicles on sidewalks. Goodbye to food on your plate that doesn’t have eyes looking up at you , begging to tell their story of capture and then being boiled or beaten and even eaten alive.... See you in about 7 months!”
Being sarcastic is what “gets me through,” whether I’m in Korea or the US or wherever. Especially when life throws me a fastball of b.s., if only I can smack it with a corked rod of cynicism, that’s when it’s time to take me out to the ballgame, baby: “Home Run” for the home team.
I’ll be honest, here: I haven’t blogged in a while for a reason.
I’d read back over my blog, as well as all my hand-written journal entries, and I was like, “Whoa. No more blogging till you have something positive to say, Negative Nancy.”
If you recall that I had mentioned in a previous post that “the next stage of culture shock hasn’t hit me yet,” well, it did hit, at least I think I can attribute my recent frame of mind to that. That next stage of culture shock whirled me into a funnel of negativity for a little while.
I say this with a light-heart right now; I just spent 11 days back home, and that breath of fresh US air was just what I needed to feel rejuvenated. We’ll see how long I can hold that breath before turning blue again. ;) I joked to Rod that maybe living in Seoul for a year would make me end up liking living in Texas, afterall. J
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still glad I came, and I’m learning a lot. I just have to remind myself sometimes what my reasons for coming here were; and those reasons didn’t have anything to do with wanting things to be similar to my own culture. “Be careful what you ask for,” right? Haha.
I told myself that each time I blog, from now on, I will have to state at least one positive aspect of this experience. So, here’s a piece of positive pie for ya:
Many Koreans are so helpful and would go completely out of their way to help you. For instance…
Back in early November, Katie and I were heading to the closing ceremony of Seoul’s First International Film Festival, and although we knew what exit to take out of the subway terminal, we were clueless beyond that. So, I asked a guy if he knew where the Westin Hotel was. I merely expected him to point and nod in the general direction, and I would’ve been quite happy with that. But, he said, “Follow me.” Naturally, I was thinking, “Oh, good, we must be close.” After a couple of minutes of his leading us, Katie and I exchanged a look of, “Oh, no, he’s totally going out of his way and we’re being such an inconvenience right now – what do we do?!” So I said, “Oh, that’s ok, we can find it from here; you don’t have to take us there…” In choppy English, he replied, “That’s OK; I’m going that way, anyway.” Clearly, he was NOT going ‘that way, anyway,’ so a smidge of paranoia kicked in, and part of me was thinking “Oh my gosh, he’s going to pull a fast one on us. I just HAD to go and ask a killer of innocent young women for directions, didn’t I?!” ;) But, before Fight-or-Flight kicked in, we rounded a corner, he smiled a friendly smile, pointed at the big WESTIN sign on that giant building that we probably never would have otherwise found, bowed to us, and was on his way. He was happy to go out of his way to help out. That’s one of the best things about Koreans, I tell ya.
“A country of extremes,” indeed.
Either pushing their way in front of you to leave their nose print on the glass of the subway door, or basically taking you by the hand to make sure you get to where you need to be.
Either a toothless man at the flea market snatching from your grasp a 5000-won-would-have-been-a-pretty-cool-Christmas-present-for-your-nephew whilst spatting icky words at you and shooting you a nasty look for touching something before buying, or a sweet, pleasant woman at a little side shop offering to hold your shopping bag for you while you browse, proposing, “Discount, discount,” all the while, handing you things to further examine.
Either walking through a door and allowing it to slam shut on the person following behind, or offering to help carry a big load of Costco goods that that scrawny chick is apparently struggling with.
Extremes…
But then again, maybe that’s not “Korea.”
Maybe that’s just “people.”