Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Worldly Adventures: Beautiful
Worldly Adventures: Beautiful: "So there is nothing really humorous about last night but I just wanted to give you a look at what it means to go out. When you go out ..."
Beautiful
So there is nothing really humorous about last night but I just wanted to give you a look at what it means to go out. When you go out just be expecting anything to happen. Though not everything I experienced last night happens all the time next time it will be something different. :)
I have been a work out fanatic (another post for another time) so to make sure I get my workout it means that sometimes I have to meet James at work to drop the children off so I can continue on to the gym. So after I realized that I stood up my friend I got there in time to work myself into a frenzy. lol Afterward we decided we would go out to a beef and leaf place. This is very popular cuisine in Korea. They bring you marinated meat raw which you then proceed to cook on either a gas, electric, or plain old coal burner. Coal is the connoissuer method. We have been to many different restaurants but there is one that is our favorite... Cow Meggie (this is phonetic as I have yet to be able to read or write hangumal). So after I got nice and sweaty and my face was as red as it could be, we went out.
Now we are already stared at and made to feel uncomfortable on a normal day and let me just say that I was not feeling lovely. :) So we park near the restaurant on a street where a little ajumma comes to meet you and give you a ticket. An ajumma is Korean for old married lady. So pretty much any old woman you see you refer to as an ajumma. :) These ajummas just hang out on this road and run to meet whatever car is parking to make sure you get your ticket. I thought it was pretty funny when we were first confronted with the ajumma parking lady. But now I just wait for her to make it to my car.
We walked the rest of the way to the restaurant and sat down where we were presented with side dishes (what they call all the dishes that go with their meal). There are many types of kimchi: cabbage, grass, onion, garlic, turnips, radish, etc. There is one particular dish at this restaurant that is Jamie's favorite. It has what looks like grass and leaves mixed with a pepper sauce. Jamie says it looks like they went in the backyard and clipped stuff to put in it. So we lovingly refer to it as backyard. lol So jamie's favorite side dish is backyard. I personally like the onions. :)
The thing that makes it really different from the states is that we do not blend in. No matter how much you try to act natural and like nothing is happening I am here to tell you that everyone else notices you and is not shy about talking and pointing, laughing, and waving. We sit at our table trying to enjoy our meal and the whole time we are treated like celebrities. I am telling you people I now know what it is like to be accosted by the paparazzi. Friends if you ever come accross a celebrity take it from me, let them be. They just want to walk, or shop, or eat. lol
After we are done eating we then leave and wait near our car for the ajumma to redeem our ticket. We pay her for parking on her street and go on our way. I decided to go to a coffee house with my friend. The coffee house is called Fontana and the atmosphere is great. Cute little couches with such a great ambience. Now it gets even better from here because the menu is in english. As we know things already read oddly when trying to be translated so I have a good laugh at some of the mistranslations. Here are just a few and see if you can guess what they are supposed to be. :)
Hurb Tea
Propoccino
Shangria
and many more that I wish I could remember. There is one however that I think is a foreign beer and I am not sure if it was mistranslated or just funny because it read funny in english. Hoegaarden. :) hee hee
After we order our drinks we sit and talk where we are trying once again to act normal and not achieving it very well. As people point, laugh, and talk we find ourselves being blinded by a little mirror that the table next to us had set pointing the light directly into our eyes. Go figure. When we leave... same thing. Pointing, laughing, surprise, shock, awe... the list goes on. And this is all a normal night when we go out into ROK.
All of this to show how the Korean people view westerners. Koreans are fascinated with anything western. They love our eyes, our features, and our skin. They say that our eyes have double eyelids. They love them. ROK is second only to the US in plastic surgery. And the surgery that is most often received is the eyes. They have surgery to open their eyes more and to make them look more western. This sentiment of western looks being so beautiful is represented even with the word that means America in Korean. US in Korean is mee guk. I found out recently that mee guk directly translated into English means beautiful country. hmmmmm if that doesn't pull at your heart strings I don't know what does. A country so obsessed with making themselves look different than their genetic make up that the name of a leading western country means beautiful. I never thought much when I saw an Asian person. They were just another human being. But now it means so much more. This is a country that is 99 percent homogenous and they want to look like the beautiful country. It makes me sad because they are beautiful in their own way and should not be looking at others to get their beauty. Why are humans so obsessed with being what they are not? I want to look at the Koreans and yell at them to stop trying so hard and to just be. They are beautiful in their own natural way! But then I am confronted with my own obsession and I ask if I am content with myself.
I look at this culture obsessed with looking like me and my genetic make-up and yet I do not even want to be me most of the time. Such an oxymoron. How do I ask a culture of people to be happy with themselves if I am not happy with myself. I have been reminded of this daily for some time and I think the Lord is definitely doing a work in me as I live in a country obsessed with what I am so discontented... me.
I have been a work out fanatic (another post for another time) so to make sure I get my workout it means that sometimes I have to meet James at work to drop the children off so I can continue on to the gym. So after I realized that I stood up my friend I got there in time to work myself into a frenzy. lol Afterward we decided we would go out to a beef and leaf place. This is very popular cuisine in Korea. They bring you marinated meat raw which you then proceed to cook on either a gas, electric, or plain old coal burner. Coal is the connoissuer method. We have been to many different restaurants but there is one that is our favorite... Cow Meggie (this is phonetic as I have yet to be able to read or write hangumal). So after I got nice and sweaty and my face was as red as it could be, we went out.
Now we are already stared at and made to feel uncomfortable on a normal day and let me just say that I was not feeling lovely. :) So we park near the restaurant on a street where a little ajumma comes to meet you and give you a ticket. An ajumma is Korean for old married lady. So pretty much any old woman you see you refer to as an ajumma. :) These ajummas just hang out on this road and run to meet whatever car is parking to make sure you get your ticket. I thought it was pretty funny when we were first confronted with the ajumma parking lady. But now I just wait for her to make it to my car.
We walked the rest of the way to the restaurant and sat down where we were presented with side dishes (what they call all the dishes that go with their meal). There are many types of kimchi: cabbage, grass, onion, garlic, turnips, radish, etc. There is one particular dish at this restaurant that is Jamie's favorite. It has what looks like grass and leaves mixed with a pepper sauce. Jamie says it looks like they went in the backyard and clipped stuff to put in it. So we lovingly refer to it as backyard. lol So jamie's favorite side dish is backyard. I personally like the onions. :)
The thing that makes it really different from the states is that we do not blend in. No matter how much you try to act natural and like nothing is happening I am here to tell you that everyone else notices you and is not shy about talking and pointing, laughing, and waving. We sit at our table trying to enjoy our meal and the whole time we are treated like celebrities. I am telling you people I now know what it is like to be accosted by the paparazzi. Friends if you ever come accross a celebrity take it from me, let them be. They just want to walk, or shop, or eat. lol
After we are done eating we then leave and wait near our car for the ajumma to redeem our ticket. We pay her for parking on her street and go on our way. I decided to go to a coffee house with my friend. The coffee house is called Fontana and the atmosphere is great. Cute little couches with such a great ambience. Now it gets even better from here because the menu is in english. As we know things already read oddly when trying to be translated so I have a good laugh at some of the mistranslations. Here are just a few and see if you can guess what they are supposed to be. :)
Hurb Tea
Propoccino
Shangria
and many more that I wish I could remember. There is one however that I think is a foreign beer and I am not sure if it was mistranslated or just funny because it read funny in english. Hoegaarden. :) hee hee
After we order our drinks we sit and talk where we are trying once again to act normal and not achieving it very well. As people point, laugh, and talk we find ourselves being blinded by a little mirror that the table next to us had set pointing the light directly into our eyes. Go figure. When we leave... same thing. Pointing, laughing, surprise, shock, awe... the list goes on. And this is all a normal night when we go out into ROK.
All of this to show how the Korean people view westerners. Koreans are fascinated with anything western. They love our eyes, our features, and our skin. They say that our eyes have double eyelids. They love them. ROK is second only to the US in plastic surgery. And the surgery that is most often received is the eyes. They have surgery to open their eyes more and to make them look more western. This sentiment of western looks being so beautiful is represented even with the word that means America in Korean. US in Korean is mee guk. I found out recently that mee guk directly translated into English means beautiful country. hmmmmm if that doesn't pull at your heart strings I don't know what does. A country so obsessed with making themselves look different than their genetic make up that the name of a leading western country means beautiful. I never thought much when I saw an Asian person. They were just another human being. But now it means so much more. This is a country that is 99 percent homogenous and they want to look like the beautiful country. It makes me sad because they are beautiful in their own way and should not be looking at others to get their beauty. Why are humans so obsessed with being what they are not? I want to look at the Koreans and yell at them to stop trying so hard and to just be. They are beautiful in their own natural way! But then I am confronted with my own obsession and I ask if I am content with myself.
I look at this culture obsessed with looking like me and my genetic make-up and yet I do not even want to be me most of the time. Such an oxymoron. How do I ask a culture of people to be happy with themselves if I am not happy with myself. I have been reminded of this daily for some time and I think the Lord is definitely doing a work in me as I live in a country obsessed with what I am so discontented... me.
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