Saturday, December 20, 2008

Youtube Nowhere (Sorry)

Hello all,

I'm in the process of becoming a Youtube Superstar although my computer knowledge is dredging me down. Or it's just luck. I don't know. Bry needs to step up and help me out with this. I have a great song waiting for everyone; the technology is wearing me down. Anyway, Chip and Andrea, it is great to hear from you and I hope you are having a wonderful holiday with those beautiful girls. You are truly blessed and I had a great time seeing you guys over the Summer. Chip, I understand, finally, what it is like to leave you're family to do something far away to become who you need to become. I respect it, and I'm coming to a realization that I never had. I miss you, and we will all be together sometime soon.

Anyways: I'm back online. Thank God for the "vein" that the internet truly is. I have broken the communication barrier. It was not easy to get a Korean to come to my apartment and get this thing back online. The guy actually had the wrong address to my shoebox and wanted to come back tomorrow because he was getting off. I sternly said "anio" you need to do this right now, I've been waiting all day for you. It only took him an hour and a half to get my net on, and he's going to have to come by tomorrow to fix something. I felt bad for this guy; he was complaining about being so tired and was frustrated. Long hours in Korea (to the Korean and not American English teacher) are very long indeed. Poor bastard. I tipped him well and made sure he was infact coming back. I'ts really good to have this opportunity once again to write. I've missed it. Here is a little something I wrote a while back but couldn't post:


The Korean People

The Korean people. The Korean people are a beautiful race. I am overwhelmed and very happy that I chose to come to Korea for this life-changing and epic journey. Where do I begin? Well, first off, I had always hoped that the Korean people would be nice, or somewhat tolerable. They are very complex, yet easily understandable. They are a homogeneous mix; meaning that the whole country pretty much is black-haired, dark-eyed, and not as tall as westerners. The physicality’s of the men and women are pretty much the same for both genders. Five-foot something, skinny, and absolutely mild tempered. When I decided to come here I hoped that they would be accommodating and easygoing. I was wrong in my thinking. They are very accommodating and easygoing. Always smiling. And forever trying to make me happy. From the President of the school I work at picking me up at the airport on a Saturday night and taking me out to a very cultural Korean meal, to my female co-worker going out of her way to pick me up medicine when I was sick. On her twenty-minute break. Unbelievable. How sweet.

As far as aesthetics go, the attitude of happiness at all times blends itself so easily into the white skin of this race. These people are happy and beautiful and always polite. Anyonghaseyo (the Korean word for hello) is basically yelled at me from every employee at every place I’ve gone to every single time I’ve entered. They bow. They receive your money with two hands. They give you something with the left hand tucked into their right elbow pit. They say goodbye the same way you’ve entered. Loud. Without self-awareness or pride. I like that.

Men- Men in Korea are very cool. Cooler than I thought. Somewhat Westernized, and welcoming to a foreigner. I’ve heard a lot of stereotypes before I came here about Korean men thinking that you’ve come here to take their women, land and jobs. I have been happily bowed to and said “hello” to by male children, teens, adults, and old men. I am frequently encountered by men that ask me where I’m from, or try to speak English to me. I love it, and return the politeness absolutely, as I am a stranger in a strange land that is not my own. Do unto others.

The dress style for men has actually grown on me. The younger men in school wear a lot of school uniform type things with the logo of their school on the left chest area. They wear their hear long, and I can understand why one of my students said, “Chris teacher, you are bald, why don’t you wear a wig?” I can’t make this shit up. It’s so entertaining and so innocent at the same time. I call it innocent ignorance. I feel it everywhere I go and it doesn’t bother me. I smile.

Women- I got it bad for these Korean women. Beautiful from the inside out. No phoniness. No bullshit. No games (yet). The real deal. Accommodating in every way. Sweet. They ask you questions that they want to know the answer to. When you walk into a room that they are walking out of they let you go before them at all times. I’m not a misogynist (Paul, careful where you use that word buddy…lol). I have been raised by my parents to respect women, and everyone for that matter. I take no first-class-citizen-as a-male-approach to life. But it is very nice. Especially when I’ve seen my share of American “bitches.”(sorry ladies and bitches from my former past) After all, “When in Rome.”

To add it up: Korean women know how to take care of men, and find it as what seems to be their duty. Once again, I like that. I think women in general are God’s gift to men. Korean women just have a nice bow on top of the package, and it’s the gift you’ve prayed for Santa to bring you from August to December 25th. Anyongheekaseyo and Hallelujah (yeah, I’ve finally spelled it correctly.) Love and peace from Seoul.

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