funny things about korea!

ok.......first off a disclaimer........I am not trashing koreans in this next part cause I do love'em, their cute and funny.......but I thought it would be fun to tell you some of the odd ( to a western ) things they do.

ok.......since I have been here.......I have seen

dead pig heads outside restaurant markets as a way of advertising they sell pork I am assuming. I have seen a man take a squid out of his truck and take it to the side where there is a cutting board and slice and dice it , stick it in a bag for a happy customer all in less than 2 minutes. I watched a women trying to stick a live crab into a styrofoam container at the supermarket. Outside of stores, they sometimes have dancing girls on a small platform to get people to come. At my gym, there are ashtrays in the bathroom and they are used lol.

It takes 20minutes to get a burger at macdonalds.........they would rather sit on the floor than a chair. They say handsome and delicious all the time. Korean st8 men are more gay than me ( I know you find it hard to believe ) they hold hands on the street and the fathers will often grab their sons penises on the subway as a way of bonding perhaps? Everyone rides scooters and motorbikes, with no helmets on the sidewalks and streets and many drive really fast. I have already seen a crash.........somehow the guy was ok, he drove right into the side of a car lol. Middle age women where visors that cover their entire face and u cannot find bronzer for your skin, only bleach. Its almost like koreans are scared of the sun, they go to the beach with jeans and long sleeve shirt on lol. They go hiking after midnite, I am going on thursday, hopefully there will be some lights lol

don't know is this accurate, but I heard today from a friend that when we eat something we say " oh this tastes fuckin great " the korean equivalent is " oh this has great cock taste to it" lol. It seems that koreans like extremes, it is probably the most conservative asian country, however cheap sex is EVERYWHERE and dirt cheap lol.

Stuff I still wanna do............go meet a taoist guy, I wanna go fishing on the ocean, I wanna scuba dive( actually you can swim with sharks for 60bucks ) and do more hiking to temples.

Ok I feel bad now, I want to tell you why I LOVE KOREA. Many of the people are kind and caring. The food is to die for and I love the freedom of the service industry...........its always open, like my gym is open until 2am. I love the history here, it has had such a profound impact on the people and I love my neighbourhood, its just like vancouver, and if I want korea, its a subway ride away. I am excited to see how the young koreans of tomorrow will transform their country. I love the land, there are mountains around the city and the beach and the seafood. people know how to have fun here. Its shocking how shy some koreans can be, but I am sure that once u get to know them better, they could make really great friends. Oh and I definitely have caught yellow fever, thank god I am not a size queen.

LOVE YOU ALL..........keep in touch

P.S - I ate live octopus, getting the pic off a teacher friend, will post soon.

ASIAN BOYS - ANOTHER WORLD

Hey all, sorry about slacking on the blog. It is important to me, I guess I have been still busy getting to know more people. I am sometimes successful often not.............will just take some time. I wanted to tell you some things about cultural differences here. I have been hanging out with these boys the last little while, they don't speak much english, but honestly thats the least of our problems. Foreigners feel isolated from korean society for a million reasons. Xenophobia is RAMPANT here and for me lots of positive racism against me. When these people are in public, they are 100% different from when they are in my appartment. 3/4 of the gay boys still live with their parents ( even when their 30) and EVEN have a curfew lol. Their either wanna have sex with you once and never talk to you again cause they feel so ashamed or after your first encounter, they will wanna know when u wanna marry them and when you are going to buy them something. Sex roles are HUGE here, they will most likely ask if you are a top or bottom before they will wanna know your name. bottoms and tops have pre-defined roles in the relationship just like in the seventies back home. They won't talk to you in public, cause they are worried what complete strangers might think of their english. OUTSIDE image is everything in being successful here..........your clothes, hair, what car u drive, all that crap. The japanese boy was so intolerable while shopping that I ditched him at the subway. He had so much attitude and flat out was just a bitch, SO cold.

Many of the foreigner gay guys drink a ton and are completely bitter about being gay here. Actually many foreigners drink a ton, actually EVERYONE here drinks a ton lol . Cause the gay scene is so small and many people are fucked up and unhappy, it can get pretty competitive and caddy. I plan on telling people NOTHING in this scene. I am learning to rely on myself more for entertainment, cause no one can take better care of me than me :P Will I find love in Busan.........only time will tell. I will more than likely find it with some level headed foreigner more than an asian though at this point. I will admit I spent way too much money this month, but I mean I think its normal, trying to make friends and get stuff for your appt. This month i am going to budget. My mastercard is lost in the mail and my canadian bank card has stopped working. Luckily I get paid tomorrow.

On a more positive note, I am starting to meet some decent people. Generally speaking korean people are quite friendly and gentle and kind hearted. It is a super SAFE place to live and I respect where their society is at on positive social change based on their history. Give this place a decade and I am sure they will be way more international.

I have a kiwi friend ( new zealander ) who has a b/f...........we are pretty good friends and I have a new korean friend who teaches at my school and lives in my building, he is a st8 boy but studied in New York and had many gay friends there. There are a few girls I plan to get a bit closer with over the next little while. Nadines friend from high school is here and so I plan to meet up with her, another kiwi who seems like a perfect fag hag named Cindy lives close and a couple girls from PEI that seem pretty nice. This new persian friend who is close to busan, gay and cute and seems to have a great head on his shoulders. I plan on having a bit more of a routine now and will even get a gym membership. I wanna explore more hiking, taoism and some of the arts and movies. I also plan to start saving heavily so I can travel to some kewl destinations while I am out here. I am switching gears really.....I have experienced what most of the locals do here over the last month, now I wanna shape my own life as I do feel I am much more in control. I was really at other people's mercy when I first got here, but no more ! Ditching the japanese boy was so empowering..........I don't need his guidance or translation........made it home just fine :P

LOVE YOU ALL - I hope this gives u a better perspective of my life here, I know I have been short on details lately.