Another Day, Another "Korean Death Stare"

So there I was, waiting in the car for my wife to come back from buying gimbap (Korean sushi).  I happened to glance up from my reading and noticed this provocative poster on an air conditioning unit - or whatever that ugly contraption happened to be.  Then, quite naturally, I noticed the usual, unkempt, untidy mess around the poster, which is something you tend to see pretty much everywhere in Asia (though South Korea is cleaner in general than the Chinese speaking countries I've lived in).

I guess the nasty bits of duct tape that Koreans love to use to litter the landscape with, to hang posters, flyers and what have you, really caught my eye - perhaps more than the gratuitous "boob shot" poster itself.  Then, before I could even properly frame the image, I noticed that a woman inside the beef whatever shop next door to where I shot this was giving me the proverbial "Korean Death Stare."

Naturally, I stared back, but only briefly, because I get tired of the childish way that many Koreans often communicate their impulsive fears and anxieties with aggressive, penetrating dirty looks - that they seem to be so incredibly proud of, CULTurally speaking. And why exactly is that anyway?  Like Koreans INVENTED dirty looks?  Whatever!

No, sadly, most Koreans simply do not seem to be very good at expressing their emotions in a healthy way, unless they are being overtly aggressive and needlessly confrontational.  Which is something that seems to be deemed necessary quite often in Korea.  Which really is different from the way most people in Taiwan and China tend to be, I might add.  In my own personal experience, most people in Chinese climes are usually just passive aggressive as hell.  Many, many (but certainly not all) Koreans, however... well, that's another story entirely.

"Pighting!" is a popular catch phrase in South Korea, but of course, they really mean to say, "Fighting!"  Those darned hard to pronounce English consonants!   At any rate, within literally seconds of my trying to frame the photo, the woman in the beef store had apparently urged some tall, typically cowed looking guy with glasses (who was probably her husband) to start pacing around inside their store, in direct sight of where I was waiting for my wife.

Well, believe it or not, and as any rational person might easily enough conclude, I didn't come here just to piss off all the nervous Koreans!  So I got back in the car and just tried not to let their fearful overreaction (that I see here all too often) get to me.  What can ya say?  KOREA!  It can really be a stressful place to live sometimes.

Unless you keep your head in the sand while living in Korea, the way most short time expats here do. When they're not getting drunk together, that is.  Getting drunk and/or teaching kids at the cram schools, unfortunately, seems to be what most twenty something foreign English teachers in Asia do most of the time.

But that's another story for another blog entry.

In any case, I then thought about it and decided to take another shot of the provocative poster amid the untidy tape scarred mess from a different angle.  After all, the beef store people don't own the public street corner where the poster was hanging, right?   But then, sure enough... the guy comes out and starts pacing in front of his store.  And all because I was taking this dumb little photo!  And I didn't get a single shot of the beef store, for crying out loud!

So what really was the big deal, anyway?

Don't think the woman giving me the Korean Death Stare or the man coming out was a reaction to me brandishing my camera to photograph something of interest on a public street corner?  Well, you weren't there, then.  And you probably don't know Korea the way I do.

In fact, in total, including my native country, I've lived long term in 4 different major countries (3 in Asia), and have visited a number of other Asian destinations over the years, and NOWHERE else have I gotten the kind of aggressive, knee jerk, fearful and even needlessly belligerent reactions to the simple use of a camera than I have in South Korea!  Go figure.  But then, Korean CULTure often seems to be especially uptight.  Defensive, even.

Below is another view of the scene.  Though, I must again reiterate that I still haven't a clue as to why those folks were so nervous!  Oh... wait.  The "beauty salon" thing hanging up there is usually indicative of some sort of prostitution in Asia.  Not always, but quite often, when you see that kind of a rotating sign, like the one pictured below in the upper left of the photo, it often means that... uh... certain services are offered.

Personally, I've never gone into any such establishments in Asia, but a nice former Christian missionary in Taiwan took me for a long walk around Taipei one night, and painstakingly pointed out all the hidden brothels masquerading as "barber shops."  How this "religious" expat guy knew where all the clandestine brothels in his district in Taipei were, I really do not know.  And I'm not even sure I want to think too much about it, in fact.

Okay.  Whatever!  Carry on, carrying on, folks!  Believe it or not, once again, I really did not come here to piss anybody off.  Especially not any hot headed Koreans who seem to have something to hide.  I'm just another "poor wayfaring stranger, traveling through this world of woe."  Or rather, I just came to teach "Englishee."

 

The song, "Wayfaring Stranger" pretty much says it all for me these days, trying to live and work here in South Korea.  Because this sure doesn't seem to be my home.  And boy I wish I had one to go back to.