Oh the weather outside is frightful

It was beautiful last week here in Korea. I was able to run outside and even go out without a heavy coat...but it seems that was just a tease. We're in a cold front again and it's not too fun. I used to like the month of February to March so much. I had BGMC's for swimming, there was NCAA's and the hope of Spring Break. Unfortunate for us there is none of that here. I'm starting to get a bit of cabin fever. Admittedly, spring is really close and if the calender is correct I only have two and a half months left until I can leave. I'm so excited to be in a new place. Although am greatful for what I have gained here. I have learned I like teaching and enjoy being around my students...for the most part. I learned to just enjoy running and actually have a need to run. I have learned that you're not always going to find great people, but when you do it's worth going through all of the bad apples to get to the best.

From college and here, I've learned I can't focus on one thing. I don't like the way they treat foreigners here because I see it from an insiders point of view. Ev always likes to point out that the South can still be extrememly racist and that here they're just interested, which, I don't see as the case and until they can walk down a street and not shout "HELLOW" to a Western looking person progress can't move forward. And if they're just interested I suppose that if I walked down a Russian neighborhood in NYC and said hello to them in Russian they should definitely think I'm just interested and not mocking them slightly. It's a thin line.

"I am a celebrity now. A superstar! You may all bow down to me, because in Korea I am famous. Everywhere I go I attract attention. People turn their heads in wonder. People gasp in awe. John Lamb: Korean Superstar.

One of the hardest things to get used to in Korea is the staring. I am white, Korean are not. I am therefore an oddity. Kwangju has a population of about 2 million. Within this two million are about 200 foreigners. 200 hundred white people in a city of 2 million. Even in the year 2001 we are still looked at as a bit of an oddity.

For example, my wife will be walking down the street and a car will stop just to stare at her and then drive off suddenly. Kids will come up to us and say "Hello" in English. And when we say hello back they giggle and run away. This happens all the time. It actually becomes quite annoying. I just want my privacy! Now I sound like Alec Baldwin or something. The next step will be beating down the children of Korea in frustrated rage.

One old lady came by my apartment while I opened the door to get and forced her way beside me to look inside. She said something in Korean which I will now translate you for you with my wonderful Korean translation skills: "Oh, this is how whitey lives." She then left my apartment. It was a strange experience.

In public, people stare without any shame. Sometimes, if you smile back, the person will point and laugh and say something in Korean which I can only assume means "Lookey at fatty white man" (Koreans tend to sound like they are speaking in pigeon English in their native tongue). The worst is when I smile and get nothing back. Just a blank, intense like I have boogers hanging out my nose. Not everyone does it, but a majority stares."

The author goes on to state he realizes why they stare when he does soemthing strange which is pretty funny but for the most part, I find that staring and "helloing" quite rude after getting several view points on the matter from western looking people.

So there are definitely things I don't like here and at home. I hate how far I have to drive to get to Target and go to a mall in the South sometimes and how ridiculously hot it gets. But the good outweigh the bad or at least the experiances here outweigh the negative ones.

With the winter cold you really start thinking about stuff a lot, but I'm really tired and it's 4:01am here...someone needs some sleep