Korean Encounters

In total there were 4, I think. The 3 major ones were ex-pats.

The first occurred when my friend and I hopped into an elevator in his apartment.
"Hey, here are some Koreans you can relate to, I'm sure." he says smiling at two 8 year old girls standing in silence.
I said hello and that I was a teacher in Korea and they looked at me like I was from another planet. Probably because I suck at speaking Korean.
He laughed, "They might be Chinese, I don't know."

Interaction number two was very brief outside a bar. Here are the Cliff notes.
"Oh I taught in Seoul for a year and then I came here."
"Cool," there was too long of a pause for me to keep talking to her so I simply said. "Well, I'm going to go get another drink, pleasure meeting you."

The third guy stayed in my hostel. He was really cool and really into teaching and pedagogy as a whole. He's been teaching in Seoul for 5 years and currently doing a Master's in education on the side. It was awesome having teacher-talk with him and discussing the Korean English Curriculum as a whole. He put it quite simply: it'd be good if it had an identity. The guy was really smart and absolutely loved Korea and the culture surrounding it.

I met the fourth person at a bar too. She had been working in Chiang Mai for about a year. She asked me where I was from and told here I was teaching in Korea. She had also taught there. In fact, she taught in Busan. Because I know I'll probably be leaving after this year I asked if she found it tough to leave. She shook her head and then went on a tangent about how she hated Korea and surprisingly Busan!
"Everyone is so into fashion and so superficial, everyone judges you on how you dress and what you look like."
Being half in the bag I couldn't give an accurate depiction of what she actually looked like. She kept yammering on and on about the shallowness of Koreans which is evident but you just accept that part of their culture, just like eating kimchi with every meal. Obviously this girl had been in a really rough spot in Busan and I asked here where she lived.
"5 minutes away from Gwangalli Beach" she said as if it could have been any dot on the map.
This is blasphemy to me. The Gwangan area is arguably the most ex-pat friendly and scenic spot in Busan. After leaving orientation my apartment wasn't ready so my co-teacher put me up in a hotel that looked out on the Diamond Bridge which is where, and when, I took the cover photo of this blog.
I realized there is obviously something wrong with this girl and have realized now that Busan isn't for everyone. Regardless, she's totally spinster bound if she couldn't meet any exciting or cool people in one of the most exciting and cool places I've ever been. In the end, I went for a burger with a bunch of people, leaving her and another guy stranded together. It only took two minutes before this guy was sitting next to us demoing a double bacon cheese.
I guess she's content in Chiang Mai, and if not, she must be from heaven originally which just doesn't make sense.