In which I translate a foster family-adoptee reunion.
The adoptee came with his parents from Denmark, and was quite lean and tall for a high school student. I would have described his face as plain on a good day, but he dressed very well and carried himself with a mature, graceful air that made him quite charming overall. I wish I could learn how to do that.
Miss Yoonjoo (the not-me) called me over and said, "Younjoo (me), could you take them to the baby room downstairs and give them a tour, maybe play with the babies?"
Babies?
Oh god, I don't know what to do with babies; I never baby-sat (read: watch DVDs and occupy their attention span until dad's company function came back from grown-up socializing) anyone younger than walking, talking kids. I know I'm not going to take care of them or anything, but what do I do with them? I'm not particularly crazy about babies oh god-
As usual, I was worrying too much, and I just ended up translating and answering the familiy's questions, and we stayed there for a while d'awwing at the babies wobbling, playing, drinking milk and crawling. The guy would also have spent some time being taken care of by his foster mother like that, before he went to Denmark. Fortunately, he seemed to take it okay and even played with some of the babies.
The reunion with the foster family also went without much hassle. I translated their conversations back and forth and added some light chitchat in an attempt to make things not awkward. I realize I am really bad at trying to lighten up the mood and be all cheerful in any sort of social situation; my brain knows what to do but my mouth is too scared to act it out.
Later, they had dinner at a nearby restaurant, where we ate mandu, jeolgol, and makgeolli, a traditional rice wine.
Something like this, except it had beef instead of seafood.
It was the very first time that I tried makgeolli - and I liked it quite a bit. The consistency seems thick at first sight, but it's actually quite smooth, like soy milk or almond milk. The fermentation made it have a fizzy sensation like soda, and it tasted tangy and vaguely rice-like. The alcohol content wasn't all that high - I'm guessing it's probably similar to that of hard cider or light beer. I could see myself drinking more of this in the future.
Verdict: Delicious rice wine.
Day 9
No translation, but we still had to do minor office work while everyone else was at the opening for Summer Camp. Paperwork and more paperwork ahoy.
Because nothing much worth of interesting blogging happened today, I decided that this would be a good opportunity to write down the impressions of Korea thus far.
The Positives:
1. MMM FOOD.
2. The overall atmosphere of Korea is 'exciting' - the urban areas, especially, seems to be constantly in anticipation of something exciting waiting to happen round the corner. This may only be me, though.
3. Relatives, and having no language barrier.
4. Public transit is actually decent and accessible, even with the occasional bus and subway hell.
5. TV is a lot of fun.
6. Things are cute and shiny and very distracting.
7. Everything is very modern and computerized.
8. I never realized this before, but Korean people seem to like to have things sweet as much as they like things spicy (not at the same time, though). I am fine with this.
The Negatives
1. You can see all the shortcomings of your own country very clearly when you haven't lived there in a while and see things from an objective POV.
2. The economy isn't doing well, and prices have hiked up on everything. It wasn't as if Korea's overall price rate was cheap to begin with. Sigh.
3. The overall mood - while it is exciting and energetic, too much energy can be tiring when all you want is to relax and chill. Again, this may only be me.
4. The requisite small-scale dramalings that comes with meeting relatives.
5. Everything is very modern and computerized - but at the same time, it shows no patience for "outdated" things - be it cell phones, subway tickets, or fashion trends. It basically forces everyone to follow "the hot new thing" and leaves basically no options for the old-fashioned people, both figuratively and literally.
6. Bus and subway hell is kind of unpleasant when it's hot out. Eww sticky people sandwich.
7. Sometimes the sugar level on some food is a bit much, especially on things like bread or coffee.
This is all for now; if there are more things I feel writing about, I shall add them in the future.
Meanwhile, having a sort of dual-culture brain made me see the things I considered normal to be potentially jarring and even shocking for others. Sometimes even I stopped to think, "wait, but why is this so?" at things that is taken as very normal and natural in Korea, no questions asked. From the trivial to the serious, here is a brief summary of such thoughts. (Yes, this is an abridged version.):
1. Some restaurants require you to take off your shoes at the entrance, and you leave your shoes there. The restaurant is not responsible for any potential shoe loss. No worries: everyone knows that wearing other people's shoes are icky. So unless you were wearing designer shoes worth someone's monthly salary or somebody who has the same shoes as you made a mistake, you do not need to worry about your shoes.
2. The bus drivers drive like crazy. I wish there was some effective way that it could get less crazy, but right now all I can think is, "deal with it".
3. Foreigners in Korea are still something you end up staring quite a bit at. Even I was staring at the occasional foreigners who were walking down the street. Yeah, yeah, globalization, whatever, but this is a largely monoethnic country and anyone not East Asian really stands out. Believe me, I feel like a gigantic hypocrite for thinking, "Foreigner!" - I've been on the receiving end of the "foreigner!" reaction most of my life. And yet I still do a double take when a non-Korean is around.
4. Personal space is kind of nonexistent. While walking back to the office with the foster family yesterday, the foster mother talked to me linking her arm in mine. We met for the first time that day. I personally don't mind this at all and am used to it, but I expect some non-Koreans may freak out.
5. Guys can be more intimate and touchy without the "GHEEEEY" stigma.
6. Society as a whole still seems to believe men and women are different creatures - not just biologically, but in terms of expected gender roles, discrimination, reverse-discrimination and the like. Battle of the sexes are kind of facepalm-inducing here.
7. Sadly, gay rights are kind of in text only and many people (even some political liberals) do not take it well even now. I have, however, seen several comedy acts lightly poking fun at homosexuality now. Gay as comedic factor might not be the best thing to have in media, but it's still refreshing to know that the public has taken the stick slightly out of their collective ass, even if only a centimeter. It's still nowhere near gay-friendly, though.
8. I never liked the whole "acting cute" thing in girls to begin with, but not having lived in Korea made me hate it even more. Feiqi, Ruixiao, remember when I laughed evilly at your reactions (read: screaming and flailing around) when you heard that actress interview of The Red Cliff? I heard this girl talk with that similar sort of cutesy voice and I had the impulse to punch a total stranger. I UNDERSTAND NOW, GUYS. I UNDERSTAND.
9. Did the quality of TV media deteriorate?
...and et cetera.
Long post is long. Whew.
