The Been Briefing

Always an Adventure...

On Saturday Laura and I met up at Ori station, as it would be our last time to spend together before we both leave for the States - I for vacation, and she for good. Over dolsot bi-bim-bap and dokk ramien in a traditional Korean restaurant, we reminisced about our experiences this past year and asked each other questions in preparation for the barrage of questions we will receive upon arriving back home. You know, those open-ended questions like, "So... how was Korea?" to which we both guffaw and chuckle, hem and haw over the endless possible ways we could answer. One comment Laura made, however, was blog-worthy. She said that in Korea every day is random. Something random happens every single day, and in some ways it has not become random anymore. Nothing surprises me anymore, and yet it always does. (And, I shall confess quite honestly, some days I handle the differences more valiantly than others. I have recognized my own sinfulness on several occasions as I see how ungracefully I have accepted the differences in culture here.)

After we had taken our conversation from the restaurant to a nearby coffee shop to continue, we noticed an older man (an ajjossi) stumbling around the street and finally passing out at the corner of an intersection, obviously drunk. It was a troubling reminder of the incredible drinking problem here in Korea amongst the Korean business community, as it is the result of attempting to cope with the incredible competition and stress that exists here. We stopped our conversation right then and prayed that the Lord would protect that man and get him safely home.

When Laura and I parted, I got on the bus to come home, and on the bus another ajjossi sitting further behind and adjacent to me started yelling. At first I dismissed the noise, but then I noticed he had gotten out of his seat and was gesturing to a group of young people. I could not tell if his anger was directed towards the whole group, but after 5 minutes of his ranting, I saw he was directing his venom towards one young man in particular. A few times it seemed as if it would go to blows, so there was obviously unrest and borderline mayhem. Despite the teenager's attempts to calm him, and the requests of other passengers and the bus driver, this ajjossi would not be placated. Finally, after the group of young people got off in Suji, he settled down a bit.

Then I noticed a businessman sitting in front of me, who had been turning around to watch the affair with sad eyes. He turned to me and said, "Where are you from?" I answered, "America," to which he kindly replied, "I have been to Portland." I then felt it was an opportunity to understand, so I asked him, "What just happened?" He said, "Older man was very angry, because young man not respectful.... I am very sorry about that."

I was again reminded of the ever-widening gap between the older and younger generation in Korea, the older generation still often steeped in Confucianist thinking, and the younger generation embracing the more western ways of thinking. What a clash there sometimes is!