What is expected of others.

What do we truly expect of other people and what are the consequences if those ideals are not met? I look at the intensity of others and wonder if life should always be lived with that deep burning or if sometimes that same enthusiasm can be detrimental to the way we function on an everyday basis.

The opinions of those who really count should be the ones that you strive to obtain but how do you go about figuring out who is worth your time and who is not without stumbling across a few bad experiences. When you do come across those who are not worth your time does that mean the time that you invested in those people mean nothing? Is it important to break off all contact with someone when you realize that they are not who you thought they were or you find no use for them anymore?

I have come to the realization that even though I was vocal about what I thought at home and never really hiding my distaste for anything, I was never truly being myself. It was usually a group consensus that was being expressed. I am able to think with a clearer mind out here. Things that use to bother me at home don't have the same effect on me anymore. Other peoples drama or temper tantrums should not change the fact that I am trying to live in the moment. I will take a page from "How I Met Your Mother" and let future David deal with all of this. I am no longer worried about satisfying the right people by hating the right people. All of these emotions are useless. I will just aim my focus onto taking better care of myself and figuring out who I want to be.

Lately, all I have been writing about is the positive aspects of Korea and I think that is giving some people the wrong impression of what life out here truly is like. I have wanted to lose weight for quite some time and now that I am in a country of stick figures I have more motivation to do something about it. On Friday, I went out with some co-teachers for dinner and the office manager said, "It looks as if you are getting fatter. Am I wrong?", This floored me because on Thursday, I went to Levi's and bought a pair of jeans a size smaller than I was at home. I, also went to the tailors to get four shirts taken in and a pair of pants redone. So some cultural aspects of Korea is extremely flawed. I kept my composure while I was out but after I got home, the alcohol kicked in and I started to cry. A moment of weakness plus alcohol never makes for sound judgment. I woke up the next day feeling like a fool. It has occurred to me that the way that others look at me does effect that the way that I look at myself. I know that back at home it is rare to be shamed into wanting to lose weight but the lack of motivation has our country high on the obesity side. I am not justifying this extreme method or mentality but where is the median?

I have plenty of time to figure this out for myself.

Part Duex

When I am not feeling so lazy I will write about the Korean history I learned on this trip.

Let's Go West! I mean East...

This last Saturday Hye Young invited me to go with her friends for a road trip to the East Sea. Along the way we stopped along the harbor to partake in the freshest sashimi I have ever eaten. In the morning the fish was caught, by mid-afternoon we picked which one we wanted, still flopping around the chef skillfully sliced it up in fifteen minutes and we began to eat. Little did I know that one of the groups' favorite fish is also my favorite sushi fish, halibut. After lunch we walked around the the street market and one of Hye Young's friends bought me two huge packs of dried seasoned fish. This stuff is awesome when you grill it til it is hot and the sweetness of the seasoning caramelizes on the squid. There is nothing better than having a few pieces of these with a nice cold beer. Just talking about it now makes me regret that I decided not to pick some up when I was at the grocery store today.







I have been thinking quite a bit about how much everything has changed and whether it is truly for the best or am I just fooling myself like I did back at home. Changing to one's environment is a natural event but why does it sound as if it is not a change that people want to see in me. I know that I have been rather critical of western ideology and lifestyle lately but that is all I have seen. The positive aspects of the culture was left back in America. Many of the foreigners I have seen act no better than uncivilized baboons. Someone brought up the fact that my moving to Korea was really an attempt to run away from my problems in the state. He said that I have changed quite a bit and that eventually when I do come home there will be traits in everyone that I will not appreciate or dislike. The eventual growth away from some people will be a something to address in the future as well. Well, when that becomes an issue I will deal with it but right now I will send this time working on me.

Here are the pictures from the East Sea and the museum that shows traditional Korean life.

I think there were too many pictures on one blog so they began to run together. so here is the other set of pictures from that night.

New Year's Is the Biggest Letdown Waiting To Happen All Year.

As stated in How I Met Your Mother, people make New Year's out to be this grandiose event every year and that is what usually causes it's downfall. For the first time, I held no great expectation for the day and had a memorable experience. Who I truly feel bad for is my friend Amy. We set up this elaborate plan to go to Seoul to ring in the New Year and then go to Namsan Tower (The highest point in Seoul) to watch the first sunrise of the year. We left late to going to Seoul and got into the city by 9 o'clock. We headed for Itaewon (the foreigner district) to have dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant. I kept thinking to myself that I could not stand being in this area. I was so fed up with how disrespectful the foreigners were behaving. They were yelling out profanity, throwing litter all over the place and I felt ashamed because the Koreans probably thought that's how all foreigners behave. What is worst, being egocentric or disapproving of some of the habits of your own country? I am overjoyed by the fact that I live in a small city away from Seoul. I could not take this sight on a daily basis.

The realization has set in that when I do go back home I will be hit by a nasty case of reverse culture shock. I am going through a stage of rejecting almost everything western. I am not denouncing my culture or heritage but I wished that people could act in an appropriate and respectful manner. While strolling through the streets of Itaewon, I wanted to get the hell out of there and was becoming irritated by music that I once enjoyed. The association of negative attributes of one culture has manifested itself in almost every aspect now. The food was good and we ordered quite a bit but that is where our first mistake occurred. Due to that, we left the later than we intended to, jumped on the subway to get to one of the main areas where they would do a countdown. Over estimating the time we had, we casually walked to our destination until we got stampeded by a hoard of people. This was the first of many encounters with the shoving. As we tried to ascend the stairs to the countdown, people were pushing forward to get up from the subway and then others was pushing down to get back to the subways. Needless to say, we missed the ringing in of the New Year and almost got thrown down a long flight of stairs.

While trying to take pictures of the remaining festivities, people were running in front of our cameras and getting in the way of a good amount of the shots. In a city as large as Seoul, the police were out in drones, lining the streets and blocking off roads. While passing a street vendor, a drunken man lost footing and knocked a young kid into a counter making him hit his head. All of this happened no more than five feet in front of the police and they didn't do anything until the mother started to yell at the cops. While yelling she began to kick the man and the vendor woman also began to do the same. At this point we just walked away because it was becoming ridiculous.

In search of a 24 hour coffee shop or McDonald's to rest in for the few hours we had left before going to Namsan Tower, we found nothing. Finally we went to a PC room and stayed there for the three hours. Leaving at 5:30 to head to our destination we walked through a shady part of Seoul and up the millionth set of stairs for that night. Not a complaint but an observation.

A little background on the significance of this event. The first sunrise of the year is very important to the Koreans because it is the welcoming of the New Year and upon seeing the rising sun you make a wish. We went to the observatory of the tower and was crammed up against the window as more people were trying to get within view to see the sun. Eventually we were told that we had to sit down so that the people in the back could see this as well. I had a woman's butt in my face for a good 10 minutes. Even though almost everything I have said has been negative, all I can really remember was how kind the people around us were. Although they shoved and pushed their way in front of us when we wanted to take pictures they backed away from the window, cleaned the condensation off the window and did everything they could to make it easier for us. By this time, I had been up for almost 30 hours without sleep and Amy had it worst because she had to teach before we left. Yet the only thought I can think about was what a wonderful experience this was. The sunrise was a magnificent sight that made it all worth it. Then the little bit of sleep that I got when we got back felt like the best and most well earned hours ever. What I am trying to say is that these stipulations that we place on such trivial properties is what leads to our sense of failure and disappointment. So the release of such benign concepts will be a major goal of the next year. It is not the New Year's resolution but it is a relevant objective.