and now the negative ...

I wanted to share a couple of experiences I had that weren't exactly pleasant ... I realize that most of posts I have usually have something positive and unique that happen to me over here. Well I want to take a more balanced approach to this blog-writing thing so I figure I'll share a couple of instances, however brief, that have helped to define my experience here as one that has been "interesting."

Let me say this first, this has only happened twice and I've almost been here 3 months so I don't want my family to worry or think twice about my safety here. For my countless hours here a grand total of about 30 minutes have been unpleasant but nonetheless I will share those 30 akward moments with you all.

After leaving taekwondo, on both occasions, I had the luck of running into a few intoxicated older Korean men who felt either bold or just arrogant enough to try their English speaking skills on unsuspecting-John. For me, this is at the end of a long and trying day of teaching and then working out. I'm usually in a fairly friendly mood so I'll say "hello" in Korean if they say hello to me. At any rate, the first encounter wasn't bad other than the smell of alcohol and the rough and broken English and several akward moments in the elevator. The second however is another story. This guy stops me in the street as I'm walking to my bike and wants to shake my hand. So I say "hello" and he grabs my hand hardily and shakes it and then proceeds to hold on to it for the next 20 minutes or so. This was a bit strange but I know the Korean culture is all about touching and being close so I thought a little hand holding was a bit strange but I was close to my bike and knew if things got out of hand I could easily do something about it. All this guy knew in English was "nice to meet you," "you are handsome," and "you are friend." In truth I knew about as much Korean ... I told him I was an American and teaching English in Daejeon and that it was nice to meet him too. After about 10 minutes of the going-no-where conversation I wanted to leave and this guy wouldn't have it ... I could decipher if he wanted me to have a drink with him or if he wanted me to hang out with him back at his place or to go meet his sister ... I had no idea what he was getting at. Then he seemed to get pissed because I was giving him the cold-shoulder and walking away, keep in mind we are still in contact or he is still holding on to some part of me like my arm or my jacket. Then he proceeds to pull his finger out in a gun-type position and act like he wants to shoot me. In hindsight, at this point I should have just broke his arm and walked away but regardless lesson learned right? In the end, a Korean who was standing near enough to see what was going on just told me to leave and I complied. As I'm leaving he yells something like "little brother" or maybe another curse at me and I go off into the night without his and releaved.

So ... what did I learn from this? Obviously not everyone is friendly to foriegners, espeically when they are drunk and that I shouldn't be afraid to walk away, forcefully if necessary, when I come across someone who wants to "talk" to me and carry on about nothing at all. So a good lesson for sure! But not to worry, I'm a white belt in taekwondo! haha.

peace and grace to you!

John