Old and New, Yum and Yuck...

Thanks Jack, now I know how to spell this:  뻥튀기  (bbeong tui gi).  Happily, I had the first part almost right!  

I've been sick again--having a hard time adjusting to teaching full-time, with all it's built in germs, and living in a foreign country.  Plus I'm not exactly a health nut, so keeping a positive attitude isn't coming easily right now.

But, while I'm in Korea I want to really experience this area and culture. Going to places like Seoul, or travelling around a lot doesn't really hold any appeal.  The old stone walls and gnarled trees...

...winding alleyways, ancient canals and unexpected passages, like this stone-covered walk way,

watching the season's change and vendors come and go, tasting everything that "calls" out to be tried right here appeals to me.  I love how Sacheon's old village homes, farms and tiny gardens

are tucked around and amidst high rise apartments and businesses, 

always, always flanked by those awesome mountains!

Many newer homes and Buddhist temples are built after the same, or similar, patterns of old, so it's difficult to discern the old from the new, sometimes, preserving classic architectural patterns, as found in this detail from Jinju's ancient castle.

It's all so delightfully eclectic!  

A friend asked me recently what I really think of Korea and I told him.  I'd had some annoying experiences teaching and, like the title of this blog, not everything about life in Korea is sweet.  

As I think I mentioned in an earlier blog, after years and years of being torn apart by wars, there appears to be a struggle going on for a strong, Korean cultural identity and presence in the world.  How that is achieved varies.  At work, my co-workers and employer are generous, classy, respectful, and hold all the best qualities Americans have come to expect from Asian cultures; plus they can be really, really fun and funny!  Many of the students are being raised with, and exhibit those same qualities.  

But, out in the streets trash is thrown everywhere; and one has to dodge traffic, as well as most fellow pedestrians who seem oblivious to your presence.  I've learned to capitalize on being tall and have adopted the habit of looking directly at oncoming motorists w/an "I'm an American and I will sue you," look when I got into the intersection first, or a car drives straight toward me as it pulls over.  Further, and this really surprised me at first, if someone can possibly cut in front of you in the market, or even while waiting for a bathroom stall, they will.  Once I picked up the equivalent of a $1 bill on the parking lot, and looked around to see if someone had dropped it.  3-4 middle-aged men, held out their hands with big grins. I gave it to the one who came up to me.  They all laughed like they'd really pulled one over on me and I just walked away, throwing up my hands.  While visiting Busan and waiting for a lighted fountain show in an expensive mall to begin, I pulled out a new-to-me chocolate candy to try.  I'd planned on sharing with my friend, Erin; but an old woman stared, so I offered her a piece.  She accepted with alacrity, and then all the other elderly women turned toward me--I ended up eating only one piece.  

There are students at school who exhibit these behaviors as well.  I'm trying to explain that holding out your hands and saying "Give me candy," isn't going to win friends or make a positive impression on anyone.  They're attending a private school.  They are not starving.

This behavior, I believe, stems back to when just surviving meant doing whatever it took to get the necessary means of survival. It was explained to me that it's common in Korea to be asked not only if you've eaten that day, but what you've eaten, because not so long ago, many, if not most, were starving.  So if you had food, you asked and then shared.  

But everyplace and every group of people have less-than-desirable qualities.  Every American knows there are things about Americans that each of us hates, along with all that we love.  

Both candy corn and spiders are part of one of my favorite holidays--Halloween. 

I avoid the spiders (except when photographing this beasty, late last summer), but love candy, and that's what I share with friends and family--not spiders.  So, I'll continue to blog about what I love, 
because there's plenty of "spiders" on line already.