Recent Thoughts

As much as I am tempted to write about hair color (I saw four young Korean women with blond hair in the trendy Hongdae area on Saturday afternoon! Not one or two rebels-but FOUR Korean fashionistas! Wow!) since I myself went brunette (er, um, again) on Sunday...
Or I could write about the delicious eggplant I savored at Greek Joy, a wonderful Greek eatery (worth the higher W20-30,000 per 5 course set meal prices) we discovered with hiking friends this weekend, located right near the station and the park in the same Hongdae area. The happy chef visited Greece several times and even screens travel DVDs that make you want to pack a backpack and go tomorrow...Greek Joy restaurant-Can you say YUM?
But, I digress. Again. :)
Today I have decided to write about a more serious topic. Isolation.Why am I thinking about isolation? Let me explain. When one travels to a foreign country-it is hard to gage the friendliness of one's colleagues and the attitude of one's neighbors at first. At first, most people are friendly. And if they want something from you-people are definitely friendly. But if you need them, will they be there?
I feel very blessed that I have met a few people here in Korea upon whom I know I can depend. Not everyone does. I was lucky! :)A sad story came up in the news last week about an American teacher who died alone at the young age of 31. Scary. Then a friend of mine moved to another country to work for a school that seemed wonderful-until the boss revealed her true colors. That's when one separates the party friends from the true friends.
Consider this news item: 31 year old foreign teacher (31!) dies alone in his one bedroom apartment. The newspaper story of the (just) 31 year old teacher who passed away has spawned some gallows humor among single ex-pats...in my opinion, this is because it hits a nerve. A single ex-pat in a small (sometimes tiny) apartment can really feel all on their own. Unless they start dating a Korean, at the end of the day, when trouble hits, they are often alone. A-L-O-N-E. Why? Some Korean people feel shy or intimidated living near foreigners who seem so different. Some foreigners are also used to living in Western style homes, apartments, or (among the just arrived "newbie" crowd) university dorms. These Western-style buildings are sometimes less crowded and have thicker walls. So, some Western teachers may behave in a way that seems appropriate to them, playing music and having friends/lovers over, but their behavior seems "too loud" or inappropriate to Korean neighbors. Then, of course there is the language gap. So the two groups sometimes stay apart from each other.
I am reprinting a website summation of the sad news story here. In my opinion, this young guy dying alone so suddenly deserves at least five minutes of our attention. Poor guy. ***************************************************************************************
"Via the Chosun Ilbo newspaper comes news that an American English teacher has died in (under?) somewhat mysterious circumstances... At approximately 9 am on the 20Th, 31-year old American English instructor "T" was found dead in the teacher’s one-room apartment in Eoyang-dong, Iksan City, in Jeollabuk-do. Police are investigating.The neighbor who alerted police said, “there had been a strange smell coming out for several days and finally I called the police.” Korean Police announced, “at the time of the discovery of the body the front door was locked, and the body was lying on the floor with no external injuries,” and are attempting to ascertain the circumstances of death by interviewing the employees of the hagwon (English academy)where T was working."
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On a much happier note, I am busy making travel plans for my vacation time. Yay! Since my school administrator won't let me leave early, I have some plans brewing for an interesting trip... :)