Ah...Korea Part 2

Sometimes I look at the amount of time that passes between posts and it makes me a little scared to think of how quickly time is flying by here! I have officially completed one half of my contract. I've been here for six months. All in the same moment, it feels like I've lived here a lifetime but just arrived yesterday. But I digress. Let's continue with the vast abyss of cultural insights that my advanced skills in people-watching have afforded me. (Plus a few more random, unrelated pictures.)

How about one that I just noticed? Holy cow, the greeter at the bank wears a gun! In plain sight! And yes, he's the door greeter, not the security guard. He's the nice man that helped me pay three bills at the automated machine and sat and talked with me about his time in Virginia teaching tae kwon do. No wonder there's no crime here. They know they'll get shot by the greeter!

Confucius Say...
Though Confucianism is not overtly followed today, its centuries of influence have left an indelible mark on Korean society. Some of the remaining mindsets are:
-Women are born the weaker sex. It is the man's job to make them stronger by making their life more difficult. In the ancient past, the men actually assigned tasks as though the women were slaves in order to break their weakness. Interesting how they never thought the women reached the state of strength. The result today: The woman is oppressed for most of her life by the man, but suddenly turns in her later years and takes it out on the man. These couples are very difficult to deal with on the subway! Other remaining results are:
-Women embrace this role and idolize the puny, undefined, muscle-free body, while men should have muscle definition to demonstrate his role as the strong one.
-Me to my class: "Why do you think I always say, 'Ladies first'?" Steve, my second grader, "Because women are weak."
-This antiquated dichotomy of the sexes has also led to extreme double standards as far as behavior is concerned:
-It's perfectly fine for men to be publicly drunk, even for the boss to be drunk with those he is in charge of. It's the job of the newest hire to stay sober in order to take the boss home.
-On the other hand, women are not to be drunk...anywhere...ever. They are thought of as, uh, not very good names, if they do so.
-Men can smoke. Many do.
-Women are not so smoke...ever. I have a friend who smokes but she hides it. One day she was accused of smoking by someone else. Her job was threatened if she ever did it again. The man who threatened her job, her boss, smokes.
-Obedience without understanding. The result: You can never question or go against authority. This leads to situations like Monday being off on the calendar all year, then being told that you no longer have Monday off. You are not allowed to ask why. Deal with it.

The Presence of the Church
According to recent poles, the country is almost equally split between Buddhism and Christianity. This is quite amazing considering the relatively short time this country has had a missionary presence. I would have to say, though, that the Catholic church has a much stronger presence than the Protestant church. The reason for this? I have no idea. But, what I've noticed is:
-The proselytizing amongst some Christians is very in-your-face. It can border on very rude and offensive. One Korean friend told me that her teacher in her private Catholic school told her that she was going to hell. She said to herself in that moment, "I believe Buddha"
-Another Korean friend thinks this is due to the fact that the first missionaries here were works-based. So sometimes maybe the relationship doesn't matter as much as accomplishing the task
-But it's not all bad news. The church here is strong and, for the most part, full of compassion. They reach out to the terrified refugees of North Korea and extend the hand of friendship to Japan, a country guilty of so many wrongs against Korea, in the name of Christ.
-Another of my Korean friend's thoughts on why some Christians here are so zealous is because of North Korea. It is not long ago that they felt the hand of communism, and the refugees here are also painfully acquainted with absolute control, so it's quite understandable that when they experience the freedom of Christ, they want to share it with all they meet.

I realize that this is a rather heavy post, so I leave you with one last cultural observation to lighten the mood. Korean food causes bad breath. Like something has died. This is probably because most of it was already fermenting when it went in! I also just learned that all this fermented food causes cavities faster than sugar!

Stay tuned for Ah...Korea Part 3! Yes, there's more!