ten more things you really wanted to know

The same caveat applies to this posting as my last one:

1) Jackassery knows no cultural, political, or geographic bounds.

2) The swastika symbol is used with its original (peaceful) meaning in Korea; small villages with such symbols emblazoned on road signs are not Korean Nazis, but rather a peaceful enclave. Still, creepy to see.

3) Koreans suck the grape out of its skin and discard it, but eat the seeds.

4) Korean girls are not afraid to hit Korean boys and they are not afraid to hit back. Actually, there is a whole lot of hitting among children, even to the point of giving bloody noses. In his defense, she was a tough girl and she kicked first.

5) No one, not even our Korean co-teachers, can determine or agree on the ferry schedule between the mainland and the island of Jeju-do.

6) Eating two year old fermented, pickled cabbage will not actually kill me.

7) Still, I am perhaps never going to eat cabbage again, even raw, but especially not the aged kind.

8) Pink Martini songs are played in the background of Korean evening television dramas. So is Bobby McFerrin. Also, soap operas are pretty much the same everywhere. I don't have to know the language to understand what is going on. This makes it difficult to ignore when it's on in the background.

(9) Korean men, when they are good looking, are really, really good looking. There isn't really a lot of middle ground, it would seem. Totally hot, or really not. I didn't mean for that to rhyme. Shallow observation, I know, but there it is.

10) I take direction well. Eat. Shower. Leave. I know it's really just the limited English and the trouble with translation, but I like to think I have finally learned to do as I am told. That's a bunch of crap and I know it; I only do as I'm told when I want to (it's always been this way) but I'm pretending that for once, even in a relative stranger's house, I am the good daughter.