Observations and Venting

Let's start with my observations of the Korean people....

1.) Korean men (mostly young men) seem to LOVE to wear their hair kind of shaggy and long. I don't understand this look because it looks, well, shaggy. Maybe it's because they want to show off how luscious, shiny, and thick their hair is.

2.) Korean people seem to prefer to baby their children. I don't mean that they spoil them, because they expect a lot out of academically. But when I was at the restaurant today, I noticed a few Korean children getting their food fed to them by their parents or grandparents. Some as old as about nine. In contrast, American parents seem to always encourage their children to grow up and be independent. Like in a restaurant, they might say, "Joey, why don't you tell the waiter what you want like a big boy?" or "Good job, Jenny! You used your form and knife to cut your chicken like a big girl!"

3.) Koreans, while in America are known to have good skin in general, seem to have skin problems here. There is a LOT of acne around Seoul. A coworker of mine said that since being here, her complexion has become horrible because of all the stuff in the air. I fear for my skin when Spring comes and, with it, the Yellow Dust. If you don't know about yellow dust, look it up on wikipedia.

4.) They seem to be more "okay" with picking their noses. I haven't really seen them dig in a nostril but good....but I have seen more than my fair share swipe at the inside of their nostril with their fingertip. They don't try to hide it, though, which is why it makes me think this is acceptable. Ew.

Okay, next we'll move on to venting.

Teaching has improved. At first my classes were incredibly shy and it annoyed me. Even when I called on them, they looked at me with dead expressions and remained silent. A couple are "troublemakers," but at least they don't threaten to beat me like the students in the Columbus Public school system. Korean children definitely have more respect for their elders. And they think I'm SUPER old. I'm starting to believe them.

But the loneliness has yet to improve. And, as I may have mentioned before, the more suffocated I feel by my birth family, the more isolated I feel. For instance, this morning I was "summoned" to the restaurant. What happens is that they feed me WAY TOO MUCH food, and then ask me to just sit in a chair by Grandmother while they work. Just sit. For hours at a time. At one point, my birth mother came up to me and said that she knows this is boring for me, but she loves it. I had a slight urge to pinch her (as Unkyung frequently does). And because my birth father stays in the kitchen and can't always see over the divider, he sometimes can't see where I am and asks, "Where is Laura? I can't see her!" Actually, they all call me by my Korean name, Sunkyung.

Unkyung seems sympathetic, although I don't think she truly understands how I feel. She assured me that they would ease up after a while. When we got ready to leave and Birth Mother asked if I would come again tomorrow, she spoke to her sharply. "Unkyung angry!" Birth Mother told me. I know Unkyung is trying to help. And her English is pretty good. Unfortunately, it's not good enough to allow me to really tell her how I feel about this situation. I love that they care for me so much and I appreciate everything they try to do for me (they want to buy me a couch/bed combo for when I have visitors at my apartment). But this constant need to just look at me is wearing on me to the point where it feels inconsiderate and, well, selfish.

How can they possibly feel it's okay to expect me to just sit at the restaurant for hours doing nothing as if I'm their personal Korean-American statue? And their insistence on seeing me isolates me more from the rest of the English teachers because, while they're out having dinner and going to bars, I'm at the restaurant staring at Korean people.

I know I said I wanted to spend a lot of time with my birth family so I can learn how to speak Korean better, but I didn't mean ONLY them. And it's quickly turning into that. I find myself lying to them about my plans in order to escape. I have been trying to find a free interpreter because, curiously, none of them are giving up information for me to contact the woman who was with them at the airport.

That's all for now. I took more pics and video that I'll post later.