Korea is the land of morning calm, the land of kimchi, the land of race car taxi drivers and the land of business constantly going bankrupt...
About a month ago there was a bit of a panic amongst some of my fellow teachers due to a rumour that the very luxurious, highly frequented by weiguks (foreigners) California Wow gym was closing. There was some online articles about other California Wows closing in Seoul and other major cities. People were being cheated out of their 10,000,000 won ($10,000) lifetime memberships or their 1,000,000 won year memberships ($1,000). Anyways the panic was quickly settled when they were reassured that the Daegu branch wasn't closing.
In this manner small business change over as quickly as you can say kimchi jjigae juseyo (kimchi stew-like soup please). Another example...down the road from my apt I used to have a fruit and vegetable market. One day I thought they were doing some spring cleaning, next thing I know there is a new restaurant. All this happened within the span of about a week and a half.
Due to this business turnover seen all over Daegu, you can imagine my sheer shock and terror when the convenience store located at the ground floor of my building appeared to be going out of business. You have to understand that I have been here for 11 months, 10 of those months spent at my current apt and I have come to love and appreciate my little store as well as the friendly couple who run it. They notice when I'm away and ask me where I have been. They speak 3 English words and praise me when I practice the new Hangul I learn. Clearly my life was in shambles...but then I noticed that a fried chicken restaurant at the corner was being turned into a new mini mart. Great I thought! problem solved, no more shambles, just walk 50 m down the street. BUT today I ran into the man who owns the store at my building and asked him if he was leaving and he said NO!!! So I said, "Changee?" (a little konglish for ya) and he nods his head. So not to worry folks, they are just remodeling. My life is no longer in shambles. No as a matter of fact it is now improving. I have my store, my friendly store owners and now a new mini mart! ASA!!!!
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me alegro de saber que estas pasando el mejor tiempo de tu vida : viajando y conociendo nuevas culturas y modos de vivir. es interesante tambien leerte en ingles porque de alguna manera logras explicar y contar tan bien lo que hasta ahora estas viviendo, que lastima que no actualices tu blog continuamente pero al final es lo de menos... creo que tengo deseos tambien de conocer los lugares que describis... ojala todo vaya bien y si tenes tiempo podes visitar mi blog : vasquez-arte.blogspot.com
para darte una idea de lo que ahora estoy haciendo... buena suerte y hasta pronto.
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