Acute Culture Shock

Acute Culture shock is something that is a little hard to understand. It doesn't really make a mention in the dictionary, but for lack of a lexical example, let me define it as encountering a situation that in direct contradiction of your cultural value set, but considered normal by those around you. Learning to deal with these acute shocks is a part of handling culture shock and the process of cultural acclimatization.
I have had some interesting experiences with differing culture each of which leave me a little more able to deal with the world and its complexity.
From the first time you saw the road between your feet in a taxi, which didn't stop for red lights, to the time the airliner had rust on the inside and all of the safety instructions were in a language that no one understood.
From seeing a group of rats in the street bigger and happier than hamsters in a yard, to the time you ate a hamster with potato and red wine.
From seeing people letting their children pee and defecate in the street and leaving it there to seeing a dead puppy left in the street all day.
From seeing people let their children run around in the street at all hours of the night to seeing gangs of young children that fend for themselves because their parents either don't care for them or have abandoned them.

Every time this acute shock happens you have to move the outer limits of your ideas on what is possible within human society and everything you know is likewise readjusted to reflect the new scale. Something that was previously the worst that could happen is now further towards acceptable practice.
It seems to happen a lot in Korea due to the lack of extenuating circumstance. Korea is a wealthy nation with a well educated populace. Experiencing things of that nature here can't really be tempered with the justification of the lack of alternatives.

I noticed a few months ago that a student of mine, 6 years of age was playing with a syringe. The syringe had a blunt point, but was still a dangerous item. I quizzed him on where it came from, thinking it was probably from some science class or something. Students here seem to use equipment that is not really given to small children in Australia, cutting knives, normal (not safety scissors) etc. He said that he bought it and I assumed that it was meant for some purpose. Part of an experiment or for applying lubricant to robot parts etc.

From School syringe

Over the next few months I saw a few more of them, and worryingly children running around outside using them as water pistols. I asked another teacher about them and they seemed not to understand the issue that I was pointing out.

I recently found that one of the street shops at the front of the school sells these needles for 300won, less than 30 cents each. I told Sumin about it and she didn't seem shocked and said that people used the same thing as water pistols when she went to school.
I am amazed that something that would be considered a deadly weapon in my country would be sold to children in Korea. I have even read about syringes being used as a weapon in china, not far from here. It seems that Koreans refuse to believe that children aren't capable of hurting each other deliberately, as they are all angels and they don't seem to think that they could have a lethal accident with such a thing. I think it is irresponsible to sell such a thing to children, as they pose a very real risk of grievous injury that the children don't understand. These are children that have no compunctions about shooting each other with BB guns and hitting each other with play swords. To think that they wouldn't hurt themselves with such a thing is negligent in my opinion. They are blunt, in that they aren't razor sharp like the hypodermic needles, but they are still sharp and they still are very capable of taking out an eye, or injecting a clumsy child or a playmate with septic water or air.

From School syringe

I find myself shaking my head again, and readjusting everything I know about moral values.

Link to photos of one of the syringes

Trains

Iron carriages, as they are called by most of the world are for the most part a bit uncomfortable. But if you can get past being forced into an enclosed space with people you wouldn't ordinarily spend time with they can be one of the most interesting places in any city. This is a place where you can examine the normal habit of people. Where you can see the practical application of manners across the social strata and garner a greater understanding of passing trends. Hot got does it have to be before people can wear shorts as thongs? Who is given pride of place in sitting ? Do people read the papers of others ? How loud a conversation is accptable ? Have you ever thought of you behaviour on the train as a meter for your cultural values?

New photos

There are some photos to look at.

Do bong san - A mountain near Seoul

Street photos in May

For those who keep wondering what it is like here.

If you can work out what this is about people let me know. IT stank enough that I closed the window coughing.

DDT ?

지하절

Different people and cultures have different ideas about things we perceive as certain. Take a subway station for example, to some it is a place where you spend time waiting, to others it is a place you are before you leave. To those who wait the need for simulation while waiting seems obvious, to those about to leave, a clean efficiency is all that is necessary.
Both of these people have had their time to shine it seems in the design of subway stations around the world.
Some of them are impressive in the almost surgical nature of their clean efficiency, they gleam like the inside of a hypodermic needle, their stairs and paving glisten like the grooves of a gun barrel. Even the advertising is streamlined in its attempt to impart a message to the passing consumer. Only a moment’s inattentive stare is all they desire to communicate the benefits of consumer discrimination. The stations of Tokyo’s light rail, the newer stations in Seoul, New York City and the Transmillenio of Bogota all try their hardest to impress with how modern they are, and how modern and efficient are one and the same.
Others seem designed to distract the participant from the actuality of their commute. Be it with giant murals like the subway in Chile, tiled mosaics like the Subte of Buenos Aires or even the spectacularly lit architectural feature roof of the metro in Washington D.C. These places offer art, places of refuge and the opportunity to be taken far away before entering the carriage.

These places are always entertaining to me, they are a snapshot of a segment of society. Public transport brings all ages and many different types together for a short amount of time to give them the opportunity to tolerate each other. Such things always are entertaining.

Now I can't understand all of the writing there but, if I didn't know any better I would assume that the Love Care Massage from the Up Down providers would involve a happy ending for the lady client.

HDR photos

 

 

 

비

Rain
Driving rain
Driving people indoors
Deodorising polluted breath
Disinfecting city streets
Directing decisions
Dictating futures
Delivering life
Driving us
Rain.

A Song for the deaf

If anyone has any ideas on what the man in the little green circle is doing, given that the subtitles on the left are the lyrics.

Hotel Motel

When I was growing up the words Hotel and Motel were more or less the same.  In practise they referred to a place where you slept that wasn't yours.  A place you could hire by day, maybe the term Hotel suggested a place a little more ritzy, but they were basically the same.  A lot of places hedged their bets by placing both words on the sign. 
Travel has altered this perception a fair bit. 

In Australian culture people move away from their parents in their early twenties, sometimes earlier.  This is considered a normal part of growing up, of gaining independence.  Often they move into a house with people of similar attitude and moral value, which is geographically not too far from their parents, and their comfort zone. 
The result of this habitation dislocation is that one is free to act without being guided by the moral compass of one's parents.  In actual fact, most people start down this path before leaving the nest, but once away they are able to do so with impudence.  In short, they have a comfortable place to have sex.
Other countries have different family cultures, where leaving home so early is not as common.  Some family cultures encourage children to stay at home until they are married, and sometimes even longer than that.  This is so they can assist the family providing support in what ever way that they can.  People live as a family unit until their late twenties, and early thirties until they are able to establish themselves in a separate house.  This depends on finances, the needs of the family, and other social concerns (like having a spouse). 
In countries with this close knit family structure, a motel is not the portmanteau of Motor and Hotel that the dictionary defines. Perhaps Mating Hotel, would be a more appropriate foundation as these places provide a place for couples to exercise their passions away from prying eyes, at an hourly or nightly rate.
In Korea Motels are many, cheap and convenient, existing in areas where there are bus terminals, universities or bars.  In Colombia they were tucked away at the edge of major cities to allow discretion in terms of remoteness.   Korea's motels make no attempt to hide their purpose, condoms, and vaginal wipes are provided to clients along with the toothbrushes, sex toy vending machines are located in the corridor on each floor.  The make up for this extroverted nature by having concealed parking, and a system that allows to the hiring of a room without eye contact. 
Simply, there are many motels, they don't go out of business but no-one ever goes there.  No one you ask anyway, and if they have it was because they needed somewhere to say and they went with a group of same sexed friends or alone. 
Quite often they are utilised by people needing somewhere to stay for a night, but this is quite clearly their secondary function.

I think they are great.  They provide a safe and clean environment for these things, with contraceptives provided, making up to some extent for a the lack of sexual education provided in these cultures. 

Better sound proofing of rooms would be a welcome addition though.

More photos.

Check out the photos from my phone from the last year.