The Land of Contradictions...

Korea, or the land of contradictions as I have so kindly dubbed it, never ceases to amaze me.

In Korea if you don't sort your garbage properly (compost, recyclables, other garbage) you can get a W800, 000 fine (approx. $800). This would lead you to believe that there might be some concern for the environment, and yet, I have never seen so much over packaging in my life. Products come packaged in individual packages, then grouped into some main packaging and then wrapped in some sort of plastic packaging. This is not the case for everything, but overall, packaging is excessive.

In Korea, j-walking, or crossing the street anywhere but at the designated crossing spot while the light indicates it is safe to do so is rarely seen and unless you want to get hit by a car I wouldn't recommend trying to run across the street. Respecting the lights is a common practice here. However, only in Korea will you be walking on the sidewalk and suddenly find yourself having to jump out of the way because there is a motorcycle coming straight at you or a car is suddenly driving beside you on the sidewalk.

Koreans often display increased physical contact between member of the same sex. It is a way of showing camaraderie. It is not uncommon to see girls walking hand in hand and men walking with their arms around each other. In the classroom my students display many of these qualities and I have been exposed to these things both by my students and my fellow Korean teachers. I really like it, I think physical contact is one way to get to know someone and me being a touchy feeling type person fit right in. However, for a culture that displays so much affection towards people of the same sex, they are very homophobic. Kids often make gay jokes and in the travel books it is recommended that gay people keep that to themselves.

There is a great concern for cleanliness and germs in Korea. People walk, hike, ride bikes and motorcycles with masks (similar to hospital masks), arm protectors and gloves. They never walk in the rain, due to the acidity of the rain here. Often times things that we westerners do are dirty, like wipe the whiteboard or chalkboard with my hands. Yet places where people deposit garbage is DISGUSTING and to make matters worse there is no one place to put garbage you just leave on the curb, any curb. There are no garbage cans on the streets, or maybe one every 10 blocks. And you are constantly haunted by the sound of people clearing their throats as they spit phlegm onto the sidewalk right in your path. WHY, OH WHY??????

Moral of the story...I find these types of contradictions on a daily basis and for the most part find it very humorous. These are some of the most interesting ones, but everyday I see things that amaze me and make me realize that I truly am in a different world. It's easy to forget sometimes as we live our lives day to day. But every once in a while I have to stop and say to myself...holy shit I'm in Korea.