Co-worker's crazy ex-girlfriend Part I

I've decided to share one of the many interesting stories I usually don't share. This one is just too crazy to not write about, and too fresh in my mind...

So, last night I was trying to fall asleep when I hear my co-worker/neighbor's ex-gf knocking on his door. It started out as a normal knock but soon became more frantic when nobody answered the door. Within minutes the knocking had turned into full blown kicking as she slammed her foot against the door as loud as she could while yelling in broken English "Please open the door!". This had happened once before but he was home and soon opened the door as he did not want to cause a big scene. Anyway, this literally went on for a good 10 minutes before the ex-gf realized I am right next door and started banging on my door yelling in broken English "Kevin please open the door!". I didn't answer the door as being stabbed by a vengeful ex-gf of a co-worker is usually not good for ones health. After another couple of minutes beating on my door, she went back to his door and continued the yelling and kicking. Eventually another English teacher opened their door and asked her to stop, it was pretty late at night after all. The crazy ex didn't listen and continued her assault. I hear more doors open and Koreans yelling at her to stop, but she just yells back at them and continues. Finally after a good 25 minutes (literally) I gave in and opened my door. I told her to "please stop kicking the door" in Korean which took her by surprise. She then asked me where her ex-bf was and I told her I don't know. I could smell the alcohol on her breath and realized she was very drunk. She then took my arm and tried to drag me into MY room asking me to "drink" with her. Realizing being alone with this woman could potentially be very dangerous I told her to get her hands off me and leave the building. She refused and continued to kick his door as hard as she could. At this point I didn't know what to do. I stood there for another couple of minutes while another English teacher yelled at her from down the hall to be quiet. Deciding that my presence is not helping the situation I go back into my room. She continues the kicking, as more and more Koreans, and Westerners open their doors and yell at her to stop. Forty-five minutes after she began she finally got tired and changed her tactics. Instead of trying to kick down the door she began to cry..."I love you, please open the door", over and over she sobbed. Her tears turned to anger and I heard her muttering quietly to herself "I will kill him" and "He will die". Finally things got quiet as she tried another tactic, she stopped making noise and waited. Eventually I thought she had left when all of a sudden I heard her making phone calls.

I could only understand bits and pieces of what she was saying on the phone but I knew this was going to get ugly. At this point I was starting to get a really bad feeling, the kind you get when when you're driving in your car and realize you are about to get in an accident and there is nothing you can do.

Part II with 2 or 3 pictures coming soon...

The evil stare

Whenever I'm out and about with a Korean woman it's a given that she will get the nastiest evil stares from other women. Just yesterday I was at Dunkin Donuts with Sun and this girl was just giving her the most evil stare I've ever seen. Sun says it doesn't bother her, thankfully. I've gotten a couple evil stares from western girls myself. The funny thing is there is nothing going on between us, just simple friendship. What is it about a white guy and an Asian girl that makes other women so upset?

Come to think of it, what is it about this place that makes everyone so jealous about everything? It's really bizarre.

Random people keep talking to me

So I was sitting in a local pizza joint waiting for my pizza when a middle aged Korean man started a conversation with me. He started off by asking how long I had been in Korea, then proceeded to ask where I have been in Korea, then asked what I did for a living, where I lived and how much money I made, etc. People keep asking me that, how much money I make. It's not a lot of money, it's comfortable living though. One thing you'll need to get used too if you move here is the minor celebrity status you'll have. All kinds of people will try to talk to you. It doesn't matter if you have your headphones on and can't hear them, if you are busy talking to someone else or if you are eating your dinner. Just about everyday when I'm walking around someone will inevitably try to start a conversation. Sometimes I welcome it, especially when its a beautiful woman. Sometimes it's annoying, especially when I'm exercising.

Now, what REALLY pisses me off is when a woman will pretend to like you so that she can get a free English lesson. This has happened to me more than once, and it often leaves me confused. If you want to learn English keep your hands to yourself, don't keep rubbing against me, and don't invite me on vacations with you so that you can practice your English, ok? I have no problem teaching you English, heck I'll do it for free, but damn it don't lead me to believe you actually want something meaningful.

Anyway,

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you want to come here there are certain things you need to think about before hand. First of all, do your research. Read forums, blogs and anything else you can think of about the country/countries you are interested in. Read a bit about the history, culture and language, this should help minimize the culture shock. Second, don't come here for a single reason. Let's say you can't find a job in your own country, if that's the case you have things you need to work on before you come over here. You should have at least three reasons/interests for coming to this country. Third, you need to be able to handle isolation. It is quite possible you will end up in a place with few foreigners and locals who are afraid of foreigners. Finally, and quite possibly most important, you need to be adaptable.

Today was first day with no jacket in months

It felt so nice not to wear a jacket today. It was nice, warm and sunny just the way I like it. I had to wear a sweater but no heavy jacket today. I made my way to Suwon Station to shop at the book store, they have a small selection of English books (about 1 or 2 shelves). I picked up a copy of A Storm of Swords, the next book in the series I'm reading. I'm finally starting to get back into reading after college and work completely destroyed my attention span. In college everyday I had to worry about a test or paper or some homework or something. So whenever I tried to relax and read or play a computer game I would always have a nagging thought in my mind and I would try to remember if I had anything I needed to do. That has stayed with me since college, and it got worse in the sea of cubicles at my old company. I've been trying very hard to get rid of it and I think it might be working. Now if only I can convince myself to study Korean every day, I may actually learn the damn language. I've had so many people tell me out of the three major languages of this area, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, Korean is the most difficult for native English speakers to learn. I'm starting to believe them, there are sounds in the language that I can barely hear, but to Koreans the sounds are completely different. The only good thing is that it is by far the easiest language to learn how to read. I can read Korean very well (sound out the words), but most of the time I don't know what the words mean since my vocabulary is very small.

Anyway,

I decided to turn my comments back on. I'm moderating the comments for now.

A.T. (in da house), got your message. Hope things work out for you at the old job, hang in there. I know you are interested in ESL teaching but not in asia. After you do research, if you decide you want to come here let me know and I'll hook you up. Remember, do your freakin research before you take the plunge.

Josh (aka Pvt. Fatbody) you're a punk, have fun with your last days. I still say you should take 6 months off and get your fill of WoW and AoM.

Buying clothes that fit

One thing I really like about buying clothes here is that I can easily find clothes that fit. I am very thin, and whenever I go shopping in America I usually find a small selection of clothes that aren't large, extra large, or extra extra large. I feel bad for people who come here and are normal size by western standards (large), they usually have a tough time finding clothes that fit. Thankfully, I don't.

This post could easily turn into a very long post about the pressures Korean women face about their weight. I feel so bad for some of my friends here who are extremely thin but think they need to lose weight. I however, shall not post about that today.

No more short days

No more 3 hour work days. I'm back up to 5 hours a day now. I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much but I do miss those short days. One of my friends at work found another job but he forgot to tell me. I knew he was looking but he didn't tell me until after he left. Kind of sucks but these things happen.

It got cold all of a sudden these past couple of days, there is a saying here for it "Winter hates Spring flowers". Well...I hate Winter.

Anyway, gotta go meet a friend for lunch.