A South Park-esque 'Dude I Learned Something Today' to fill in some space

CONTUNUING to feel guilty that I don't get to update my blog very often I decided this evening that I was going to post a few of my thoughts rather than that I have been up to this week.

I guess it's my blog, and that's kinda what it's for but today I got thinking that in the three months that have flown by I really have learnt alot about a new culture and a new country.
It's a little too early to go drawing conclusions about my time in Korea but here are four things I thought of that I have learnt since April...

1. Stereotypes are called such for a reason - In my experience some are justified, some are false and some are as yet unproven....

I'm sure when I told many people that I was coming to Korea they gave me the deer in headlights look as if to say 'Why on earth would you want to do that?' Knowing slim to nothing about the country itself I did a few Internet searches and of course came across a mix of good and bad 'reviews' from people who had been here.

Over zelous neon lighting, eating dog as a regular part of their diet, zenephobia and working all manner of hours for no extra pay were all things I read about before coming and whilst I would like to say that most stereotypes of life in Korea are unfounded, perhaps some of the things I have yet to experience have just not been proven either day.
One thing I should definately say is that (and I'll put this in caps) ALL KOREANS DO NOT EAT DOGS!! This is a complete falsehood and infact not all Korean's are able to because of their religion. There is a rumour of a 'dog day' which does exists when natives cook 'man's best friend' but these aren't just any old dogs, these are dogs which have basically been genetically created to become food!

2. Being far away from home doesn't always being 'far away from home'

Obviously since the invent of the Internet communication across the world has become completely possible and whilst I feel I would have gone insane without the use of a computer there have been many reasons which have meant me not going grey (or bald). Whilst I'm not trying to suggest that Korea is some western paradox where everything is available, the only thing aside from deoderant (you can actually get women's but not men's) that I have seached for and not found is blu-tac.

I guess globalisation is a core reason for the fact that chains like Domino's Pizza or Baskin' Robbins are widely available in Korea. And although apart from the delicious 31 flavours of ice cream I haven't turned to western food very often, it is comforting to know that they are there in the background should things go sour.
Although Korea is extremely technoligically advanced Yungsan Electronics Market is a fine example of somewhere where you can get almost anything from across the world should it have been impossible to find anywhere else. I am sure that I will come across other things in the next nine months that Korea doesn't have but so far I'd say one thing isn't bad.

3. A safety choice isn't always a safe choice

While we're on the subject of globalisation and food I thought I'd harp back to the moment in the early going when Charlie, Kevin and I thought that buying a burger would be the cure to all our hunger problems. Sadly that burger happened to be from Lotteria, which I admit has improved in my opinion after a chicken burger which I ate there, but will forever get the blame for making me ill within the first month.
As easy as it would be to eat familiar foods such as chicken and pasta, not only would that be disgraceful way to spend a year in a foreign country with so much good food 'Lotteria-gate' proved that reverting to type isn't always the way forward. Taking risks is sometimes beneficial. If it hadn't been for a risk then we'd never have found delicious foods like dak-galbi and donkas. All I'm saying people is don't be afriad to be adventurous!

4. Attitude is the key

Moving to Korea was probably one of the toughest but well thought out decisions I ever made and I'm sure that a few people reading this still think I am made for doing it. I think that one of the reasons I am succeeding so far, and hope to for the next nine months, is the way in which I have been able to apply myself. A new experience such as this is always going to be over-rawing but you can choose to be swalled up by the magnitude of the odds you are facing or you can decide to stand-up tall and take whatever life throws at you.

I would like to think that in this situation I have done the latter, and to my credit and benefit. Things which are now routiene to me such as ordering food in a restaurant or riding the subway were in the beginning taxing situations in which I was very wary of the outcome. I guess that completing such activities on a daily basis has given me the confidence to do them without even thing and although it probably brings a lot of stares I'd like to think that me, Charlie and Kevin are setting a fine example for the USA and England respectively.