Surrealist Subway Etiquette

These pictures were taken from posters in subway stations all over Busan. They had been staring me in the face for months and I had not gleamed their true meaning until recently. Now, I wish to share my revelations...

This one is a little deceptive, the English is a little too straightforward. The Korean script translates as "Hand Be Careful". So, I guess this means that English readers aren't supposed to touch the sign, and Koreans should just be careful when they do.

No grooving or lounging allowed on the stairs!!

Interesting causation going on here. From what I can gather, the cessation of spread-leg, full page newspaper reading can actually result in new hairstyles for your neighbors. I also think there is some punctuation things going on too, but that is beyond my humble deductive faculties.

Pandas...Giraffes ... elderly pink rabbits with plaid mufflers .... ... Smiley faces!! It is clear what's going on here.

Translation: "What in the hell are you doing crawling out of my TV?!?"

...???

You fool, you're supposed to jump over the turnstyle, not crawl under it! (But really, aren't those some evil looking grins!)

Again with the evil faces! Resultingly, I feel this one is also a bit of mixed message. Should we not block the people disembarking, or should we not man-handle the people that do.

Experience tells me the latter is correct.

Christmas in Korea

I've never been much of a crusader, I think crusades create a momentum that blur and dull the causes that spurned them. People just get caught up in the blood and iron. Operation Enduring Freedom as it may now be called (I heard they stopped calling them wars in the 90's to save money on pensions...unconfirmed rumour of course) was originally called operation Holy Crusade. That lasted about 6 hours until the one guy in the white house who actually had a history degree (I think he maintains the fixtures in the east wing) mentioned the potential misconstrutions with a name containing "crusade".

So, back to Christmas and my angst over having to work Christmas day. Oh yeah, I have to work Christmas day. Everyone in my company does. It is a statuatory holiday in Korea, replete with deparment store music and seasonal kitch. There is no real family element to it though. Those sentiments get taken care of on other holidays. Yet still, it is a day off for all, except those in my company. My company...ahh, what to say. They pay well, but they don't really believe in acknowledging holidays. Now, I know that they have in past year made some exceptions in the Busan chapter and granted some extra days off around Korean thanksgiving.

So, I approached the branch manager and inquired as to the possibility of calling Christmas, which falls on a Monday, off. He said no. Then he got one of the office staff to arrange invitations to a "christmas tree decorating party" at 12 freakin'3o this friday afternoon. Clearly the point was missed, nay, it was all together dodged. It would be like throwing a Korean a pack of go-stop cards and a cup of green tea and then saying "Happy Lunar NewYear M#*&'er F#*^'er, now get back to work!"

Ah, blogs are fun. I had no idea I could rant like this. I was going to go all out and make a big issue. I mean raise shit tactically. I've read a lot about social agitation and the promotion of subversive political agendas. The Soviets were pretty good at it, I even wrote a paper on the Comintern in University. I decided against it though, it would more than likely just cause a lot of malaise and bitterness in people who didn't already feel that way about the company. I've been there long enough now to know that will come naturally.

I'll guess I pin a piece of plastic on a fake plastic tree and then choke back another slice of pepporoni and crab pizza covered in corn.

Children are the dardest things...

It is another week in December. The first week of a new term coming on to my umpteenth Christmas away from home. This week I have been plagued by recurring students, some of whom I have had in class for almost a year now. This is good in that I can really direct their progress over a concerted amount of time and I can also enjoy watching how far they have come along. It is bad in that they know all of my tricks and jokes nd I have had to, much like madonna, continually re-invent myself. Unfortunately, I do not have the assistance of makeup or hair support staff so I have to rely on cheap gimmicks.

As strange as I may seem to them, they are just as freaky to me. For example, I have always wondered why, whenever I say hello or wave to them, they shake their heads at me. I find it mildly offensive but never really acted on it until this week when I asked them; "Why are you negating my greetings", or in teacherspeak..."why are you so wierd when I say hello, why do you do that?!? Huh!? Speak I say you!".

After the chorus of giggles and mockery subsided, it was impatiently explained to me that it was their way of saying hi back. They were shaking their heads instead of their hands. "So, you're all just too lazy to say hi then" I asked. "Yes!" was the resounding answer.

Maybe this term I will also learn why the students cover their pencil cases with meaningless stickers (full cases, and they still have to borrow pencils and erasers off of me), and why they like to make mini sculptors out of eraser bits, and why the word "poo" is so damn funny!