Boobs.....
No, I'm not gonna talk about boobs, I just figured I'd give anyone reading this at their respective workplaces whiplash from looking over their shoulder to see who's looking over their shoulder.
Things in Daegu are going very well-great crowds and we have all really been enjoying ourselves so far. I've been told that this is a place not unlike Washington State where you either love it, as the locals do, or hate it with a passion. On the whole, the team has really taken to this place. Even the overzealous, militant sightseers are finding things to do.
It's still Korea, though, and as lovely as the people have been, yesterday, I was soberly reminded of the fact that I'm far from the home I love. I was in the main marketplace/shopping district and passed a couple of big garage door sized banners portraying G.W. in some devilish looking pictures, surrounded by Korean slogans that I am certain were not "Four More Years".
There weren't more than four or five people in the area who seemed affiliated with the Bush bashing banners, quietly handing out literature or getting people to sign up for anti-Bush cookware (or something like that). I kept a low profile and avoided the area, which was smack dab in the middle of the shopping area. No one gave me even a sideways glance, so I figured I was invisible behind my new Nicky Eyes from "Goodfellas"/"Risky Business" sunglasses I got for 5,000 Won. (A good deal, if I may say so myself)
With the marketplace a number of blocks and a half an hour or so's time behind me, I was poking my nose around a stationary/Hallmark/lamp 'n stuff store when I saw what looked like a school field trip scootin' on by. Then I noticed that the hats they were wearing weren't those of goofy-ass, color-coordinated high school students on a band trip(and no, I never did that to my kids), but the united colors of "shut the hell up, America". There was what I can only describe as a proverbial parade (except that they were on the sidewalk) of about 300+ ill tempered Koreans with bullhorns, a swift gait, and a destination I was guessing was the area where I had just been browsing for cute Korean crap. I watched in the mirror, my back to the door, as 76 Kim/Lee's lead the big parade, while 110 Park/Jongs screamed away. I was watching this retrograde sea of anger monkeys, trying to remember what provence Toronto was in so I could at least sound believable when I said "I don't know what all the fuss is aboot? You guys wants a smoke? Say, I hear the 'Leafs have a shot if there's not a lock-oot in the Fall."
But, no-one in the store ratted me out, and, frankly I wasn't worried, but I could sense that they knew I was hanging out a bit longer so as to avoid detection. A few minutes later, I bought a couple of Snoopy rubber stamps and kamsa hamnida'd my ass back to the hotel for some Ramen noodles and a sigh of relief.
That's only happened a few times to me over here, but it's strange to be shlepping along, browsing the markets when, all of a sudden, you are literally in the middle of a protest. I was shopping in Seoul about three weeks ago, having just bought my folks a nice piece of pottery and my brother and sister-in-law a cool lamp in the same store, when, upon exiting, there were college-age kids hootin' and hollerin' and passing out anti-Bush flyers. Again, I pulled down the brim of my New England Patriots hat and melted as best I could into the sea of much shorter locals, who took me away from the protest like an old Calgon ad(Ancient Chinese secret, Eh?).
OK, enough crap. I guess I'm letting myself get carried away as a few people recently complimented me on my writing abilities. Hey, when you spent 5 1/2 years in college, you do a bit of writing. Ego trip aside, I've really been enjoying writing lately. I suppose it stems partly from all the reading I've been doing as well as from having something to actually write aboot; I mean about.
I'll write you again soon, hopefully before I, a lone Jet, gets cornered by a bunch of Sharks. Or would they be more like 'Rions(get it....poor "L"'s.... never mind....) Let's hope I don't find out. An-nyong Hayseo!
Peace,
Steve
P.S. Those were "Fiddler on the Roof", "Music Man", and West Side Story" references all in one blog. " Smoke on your pipe and put That in!"
Things in Daegu are going very well-great crowds and we have all really been enjoying ourselves so far. I've been told that this is a place not unlike Washington State where you either love it, as the locals do, or hate it with a passion. On the whole, the team has really taken to this place. Even the overzealous, militant sightseers are finding things to do.
It's still Korea, though, and as lovely as the people have been, yesterday, I was soberly reminded of the fact that I'm far from the home I love. I was in the main marketplace/shopping district and passed a couple of big garage door sized banners portraying G.W. in some devilish looking pictures, surrounded by Korean slogans that I am certain were not "Four More Years".
There weren't more than four or five people in the area who seemed affiliated with the Bush bashing banners, quietly handing out literature or getting people to sign up for anti-Bush cookware (or something like that). I kept a low profile and avoided the area, which was smack dab in the middle of the shopping area. No one gave me even a sideways glance, so I figured I was invisible behind my new Nicky Eyes from "Goodfellas"/"Risky Business" sunglasses I got for 5,000 Won. (A good deal, if I may say so myself)
With the marketplace a number of blocks and a half an hour or so's time behind me, I was poking my nose around a stationary/Hallmark/lamp 'n stuff store when I saw what looked like a school field trip scootin' on by. Then I noticed that the hats they were wearing weren't those of goofy-ass, color-coordinated high school students on a band trip(and no, I never did that to my kids), but the united colors of "shut the hell up, America". There was what I can only describe as a proverbial parade (except that they were on the sidewalk) of about 300+ ill tempered Koreans with bullhorns, a swift gait, and a destination I was guessing was the area where I had just been browsing for cute Korean crap. I watched in the mirror, my back to the door, as 76 Kim/Lee's lead the big parade, while 110 Park/Jongs screamed away. I was watching this retrograde sea of anger monkeys, trying to remember what provence Toronto was in so I could at least sound believable when I said "I don't know what all the fuss is aboot? You guys wants a smoke? Say, I hear the 'Leafs have a shot if there's not a lock-oot in the Fall."
But, no-one in the store ratted me out, and, frankly I wasn't worried, but I could sense that they knew I was hanging out a bit longer so as to avoid detection. A few minutes later, I bought a couple of Snoopy rubber stamps and kamsa hamnida'd my ass back to the hotel for some Ramen noodles and a sigh of relief.
That's only happened a few times to me over here, but it's strange to be shlepping along, browsing the markets when, all of a sudden, you are literally in the middle of a protest. I was shopping in Seoul about three weeks ago, having just bought my folks a nice piece of pottery and my brother and sister-in-law a cool lamp in the same store, when, upon exiting, there were college-age kids hootin' and hollerin' and passing out anti-Bush flyers. Again, I pulled down the brim of my New England Patriots hat and melted as best I could into the sea of much shorter locals, who took me away from the protest like an old Calgon ad(Ancient Chinese secret, Eh?).
OK, enough crap. I guess I'm letting myself get carried away as a few people recently complimented me on my writing abilities. Hey, when you spent 5 1/2 years in college, you do a bit of writing. Ego trip aside, I've really been enjoying writing lately. I suppose it stems partly from all the reading I've been doing as well as from having something to actually write aboot; I mean about.
I'll write you again soon, hopefully before I, a lone Jet, gets cornered by a bunch of Sharks. Or would they be more like 'Rions(get it....poor "L"'s.... never mind....) Let's hope I don't find out. An-nyong Hayseo!
Peace,
Steve
P.S. Those were "Fiddler on the Roof", "Music Man", and West Side Story" references all in one blog. " Smoke on your pipe and put That in!"
posted by Gags at 12:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home