Amanda Takes Off...

Good Man was sick yesterday and YJ couldn't meet for language exchange today, so I thought it was going to be a weekend at home.

My apartment doesn't have aircon. Had I known that, I never would've signed the contract. No matter how many fans I turn on, no matter how many windows I have open (or if I even have the front door propped open, which I hate doing since everyone can see in!), it's been a constant 86 F in my apartment all weekend. You can bet your butt my admin team has aircon in their homes and if they ask me to re-sign next year, I won't do it unless they install aircon first.

All of this is to say that yesterday I spent mostly sleeping in the heat, with occasional trips out of bed to knit.

Today there was a CSI: NY marathon on TV, so I figured I'd just knit all day. (I'm working on a project I really want to finish!) But Good Man wanted to meet.

We met a whole lot last week (four days out of five) but two of them were very stressful and one of them was really busy for both of us—we need not be reminded of my Bank Rant.

So it was nice to meet under more normal, casual circumstances.

We met at the movie theater. I got there first, so I had to get the tickets. I took a number and 115 people were before me, so I went down a floor to the Libro bookstore. A half hour later I went back to the theater. Before I knew it my number had passed. I ran to the fifth counter (the clerk that was whipping through the numbers without pause) and couldn't remember the name of the movie. I made a fool out of myself but got the tickets. And of course...Good Man showed up three minutes later.

You know, when I met Good Man he said, "It would be good for your Korean to hang out with a man like me." But fact is, he speaks really good English and acts as a great buffer (again, will not mention Bank Rant). I hate speaking Korean in front of him because I'm nervous, but Master wants to meet...so Good Man's going to hear my North Korean accent sometime! (There's a saying from before the split that South Korean men are better for North Korean women. Guess my accent works for me. ㅋㅋ)

After I got the tickets we had two hours to kill, so we had a light dinner, and sat and people-watched for a while. We saw a very predictable but fun summer action flick, Live Free or Die Hard.

At one point in the movie, a license plate is being read. GT 592 N, I think. "Golf tango 5 9 2 November."

The subtitles read "Golf tango 5 9 2 11th month." Now, "November" in Korean is indeed "11월," but this was not a month of the year! It was the NATO Phonetic Alphabet! I was pleased to find such a translation error.

Good Man, who worked in the communications sector for his mandatory military service, was curious as to how I knew the NATO alphabet without having been in the military. There were, however, a few letters I couldn't remember (Quebec and Yankee).

Dis-Arming

The Simpsons Movie is coming to South Korea next month. I told Good Man we will be seeing it. "The Simpsons is the perfect example of humor for my generation. That show started on FOX when I was in third grade, which used to shock my American students. You want to understand Americans our age, you watch that show."

Disarming

Good Man and I were bold on the subway platform, facing each other holding hands. Guess if I act like that as a white girl here, I should expect looks, but tonight we didn't get too many.

I wish I could be like Good Man; he's usually completely oblivious to looks from other people.

I am having a Rant About Korea Day. To make up for it, some funnier, sweeter moments at the end.

There is an ad for maxipads or pantiliners or something of the sort that ends in English with "Enjoy your magic day." Now I don't generally view a period as a curse. It's one more month without being pregnant—아싸!—but...what?

Korea doesn't like foreigners making money in Korea. I will not go into the details, but basically, getting normal services in Korea as a foreigner—and you are always a foreigner—has always been a pain in the butt. We can't get normal cell phones, it's very hard to get credit cards, up until January or so we couldn't even register for websites—not even with an ID number. Many stores here have point cards or similar rewards programs, but you can watch every Korean hear "do you want to sign up" while the clerk clearly ignores the foreigners.

Well. Recently a bunch of foreigners (of the Chinese flavor) did some sort of scam at the bank. So now all foreigners face restrictions. Anyone opening a new account can't use the ATM for three months.

I asked for an ATM card that would work outside of the country. Nope, foreigners can't have one.

Gordon over at Blue Wave Taekwondo School told me that Good Man could also be called Good Sport. He's right.

"Why can't I get my own money outside of this country? I am here legally. I have obviously made this money legally, and now I can't get my own money? I've been with this bank for a year! How crazy is that?" I continued on, "And why is it always 'my foreigner friend, my foreigner friend...'? As if it's not obvious I'm not Korean! What is going to happen in 20 years when all of these half bred Chinese-Korean* children grow up? Are they 'half Korean?' 반한국인? Will people say 'Well my half-Korean friend—'"

"We don't say half-Korean. We say 혼혈." Honhyeol. Mixed blood.

"OK, so what, they get to do Korean things on even days of the month but on odd days they're foreigners?" He laughed and I went on, "Korea calls itself 'The Hub of Asia.' Hub my lily-white foreign butt! Look, I understand, historically speaking, the fear of foreigners. China was bossing you around, Japan invaded how many times, but America bombed Japan's butt and that's why Korea is Korea. OK, so you got split into two, I know, but I am not Chinese, why can't I get my own money? Why can't I bank like a normal person?"

"Ummm. I don't know."

"Didn't you date foreigners before? Didn't they ever complain about this?"

"No. I think they just gave up," he said with a grin.

Seriously, though, bless the man for listening to me. He is a Good Man and a Good Sport.

"Why is that woman staring at me? Like this," I say, screwing up my face. "No, she's staring at us."

"Umm. Ignorance and bias about foreigners?"

"It's racism, [Good Man]. There's racism based on hatred and racism based on ignorance and stupidity, but it's still racism."

I expected looks when Good Man and I started dating. Anytime I go out with a Korean male I get looks, but today it sort of wore on me. Interestingly, a very old couple on the subway just grinned at us sweetly while a young identically-dressed-down-to-matching-earrings-and-pink-hats Campus Couple gaped.

* I mentioned half-Koreans-half-Chinese above. An increasing number of Koreans are marrying foreigners. It's mostly men marrying Asian women, though there's an interesting twist with North Korean defectors.

In fact, over half of Koreans say they approve of international marriage. The twist? Korean women prefer white men. Korean men prefer Asian women.

In 2006 of 337528 marriages, 39071 were to non-Koreans (11.6%).

Foreign women marrying Korean men was 29660 (75.9% of all Korean/Foreign marriages). 14450 of these were to Chinese women, 9812 to Vietnamese women, 1474 to Japanese women, 1131 to Filipino women. Non-Asian women is 2793 of 29660 (9.4%). In other words, less than 1% of all marriages in Korea last year were between Korean men and non-Asian women. Guess it's no surprise we get stared at.

Good Man said, "I'm hungry. Let's go eat." Pause. "Let's go naked!"

"How do you say 'go naked?'" He told me and I yelled "발가벗읍시다!" Let's go naked! I thought. "No, wait! 모자를 씁시다!"

I said, "Michael's friend says foreigners smell like cheese. Is that true?"

"Yep. But I like cheese."

I burst out laughing. Korean men over the age of 35 (and surely over the age of 40) smell like a combination of soju, cigarettes, and kimchi to me. Luckily, Good Man doesn't smoke. He doesn't smell like soju or cigs or kimchi. Or cheese, actually.

It is utterly amazing how things can change in a matter of twenty-four hours. Rather, it's amazing how things can change in 2 hours and how your mood can be completely reversed in twenty-four hours.

Not everything is as perfect as it was a week ago, but pretty damn close.

This week has been hell.

Master and I had a heartfelt dictionary conversation yesterday. I was sitting on the couch, he was kneeling on the floor across the table from me. His wife was listening in the kitchen, then sitting on the chair to my left. NewSabumnim was to my right, leaning against the shoe rack. Master and I were dictionary talking and the two others were just nodding, offering support.

This was followed up by a new dawning in my Korean ability. I've spoken Korean with Master on the phone. I've spoken Korean through tears at the studio. Today I bawled in Korean over the phone.

This week is rough.

In lighter news...

Amanda 언니...

These siblings attend with their older sister.

Older Sister Runs Away

Master's Daughter Sizes Me Up

A nice weekend, if a bit exhausting.

Yesterday I met Good Man at Sinchon (not to be confused with Sincheon, both on the green line to further confuse you). We had breakfast/lunch together, then walked from Sinchon station to Kyunghuigung (a palace) to watch NewSabumnim's Demonstration.

Yes, I've now seen this demonstration three times in as many months.

What? Why?

Gordon (GW), a frequent commenter and fellow blogger over at Blue Wave Taekwondo School is in town for a foreign instructor's course at the Kukkiwon. He was here with a large group of people and I encouraged them to go to the demo, where I met all of them.

Unfortunately, the team seemed sort of tired at the demo. They just got back from a trip to the -Stans of Eastern Europe and while NewSabumnim claimed she wasn't jet lagged, I don't believe her.

Board Breaking
(New Sabumnim is the Woman)

Breaking Two Apples With One Jump

Meeting GW and his gang was awesome, even though I wasn't expecting that most of them would know me from my blog.

After the demo, I introduced NewSabumnim to Good Man or Good Man to NewSabumnim, however that would work out in Korean hierarchy. NewSabumnim told me to quit eating ice cream cause I'm getting fat. Thanks.

Went with the instructor's group to eat some Chinese food. This turned into a herding cats experience. GW wanted jajangmyeon and was told that they didn't have it. We went through a whole series of "I'm allergic to shellfish...I can't eat meat...I want soju..." before settling on fried rice for everyone (except the vegetarian who got tofu and rice). And then one guy said, "Hey, what's that?" and pointed to another table.

It was the jajangmyeon they didn't have.

GW said, "That's what I wanted! OK, no! Next time!"

I think Good Man was slightly overwhelmed. He was also quiet, though he appeared to be having a good time. Before we met them, Good Man told me that Westerners can meet and talk about anything, but Koreans need to have something in common and I think he is right.

We had coffee together then bid the group adieu. It was awesome to meet them, very cool to meet taekwondoists from America in Korea through the internet...

Good Man helped me with my Korean homework on the subway. I was using the (으)ㅂ시다 form to make "let's do X!" in a somewhat forceful way. (Both Good Man and YJ told me that this form isn't used too much.) I was also using the (으)니까 form to say "because of X then Z."

I was having fun changing the prescribed sentences to mostly slightly inappropriate ones while the ajosshi next to me was trying to figure out what I was writing. Good Man was a good sport.

Then I got to a chart with a list of verbs. I had to simply conjugate the verbs using the "let's do ~!" form. One of the verbs was 쓰다 which can mean to be bitter, to write, to use, to wear a hat or watch, and possibly a few other things. There was no context for the verb, so I immediately thought Let's wear hats!

I then started saying the same in Korean, over and over. 모자를 씁시다! Mojarul ssupshida! I found this terribly funny for no good reason.

Only bad thing was getting glared at my random strangers on the subway (and this was when we weren't studying Korean, so it wasn't about my hat silliness).

Yes. I am white.

Yes. Good Man is Korean.

Yes. We are a couple.

Get over it.

Interestingly, the worst looks came from a guy younger than us who was with his own girlfriend. At least I hope she was his girlfriend the way he was groping her...

Finally did my Korean homework since there was no getting out of it while riding the subway. Met YJ for a language exchange today and she was excited that I finally did my homework. We had coffee, then she came along as I bought some new jeans. We had dinner (while waiting for my jeans to get altered for length) together before parting ways.

A nice, busy weekend.