Korea - Lost In Translation.

I know I would never be as lost in translation in Korea as much as I probably would when I travel elsewhere. But I did somehow. Here’s a few illustrations of my encounters ‘speaking different languages’ with some of the local people I met in my short stay in Korea. Read on.

1. Given: A Pair of Korean Wedding Dolls

It was on one of those days in my stay in Seoul that Kenji and I met up with one of Kenji’s Korean business partners over lunch. At the meet up, among other things, we were presented with a pair of large-sized Korean traditional wedding dolls. *Check out link, the picture and details of the wedding dolls set is similar to the one we got on that day from Kenji’s business partners.*

I find the gift really pretty. But unfortunately I have a certain dislike for display dolls like that, I don’t know why. Even so, we accepted the gift (not because it was pretty but because it was simply natural to accept gifts when given). And in the elevator after that, the CEO of the company, who was Korean, asked me this question:

“So when did you get married?”

I answered him, “In 2006.”

He looked surprised, and then continued, “Oh! So you have been married for about 4 years already?”

Surprised, I wondered immediately about the wedding doll gift and if anyone had told him tales that Kenji and I had just gotten married.

Later, the CEO stated, “So you have been married for about 4 years.” After that he queried, “But your child is only 6 months old??”

His question surprised me a second time. But I shoved aside my surprise and confirmed to him that he had calculated the years correctly and that my child was only about 6 months old at that time.

Out of the elevator he continued to look surprised. And I wondered what was it that the CEO had expected it to be – a 15 month old or so marriage, or a purely unorthodox baby before marriage/wedding style?

I’m not sure really. But what I do know for sure is that the conversation I’ve just had with the Korean man was one very odd conversation ever.

2. I don’t know of any K-Pop artists to be honest.

I met a Korean lady whilst on my way to the accommodation in Seoul one day. Her name is Miss Young. We spoke for a bit and then she asked, “So which Korean actors/actresses/singers do you know?”

I was stunned by the question for two reasons. One: because Miss Young seemed very sure of the surge in popularity of the contemporary South Korean culture in the country I come from. And two: I don’t know any K-Pop artists or Korean musical groups to start with though I have heard of their names through the news or some other forms of media a couple of times before.

So feeling a bit nervous, I just laughed, at that precise time and place my mind was desperately searching for an answer. I had wanted to reply Miss Young with a KIM-something (if I wasn’t mistaken the names of some K-Pop artists sounded not too far off from the other Koreans in general) but I ended up saying, “Well...”, and then stopped.

I knew for sure I could admit that there was no one in the industry that I truly recognized. But then again I wasn’t too sure if it’s acceptable to do so over there because if this had happened in Japan (or elsewhere in Asia actually) and Miss Young was Japanese I probably would have had to pretend that I knew some artists in order to keep the ‘harmony’ between us – ‘harmony’: the politeness and respect for other persons, as according to my understanding of the word.

And so because I was doubtful, I just went, “Um...” Shortly after that however, Kenji interrupted our conversation and said to Miss Young, “we know some (K-Pop artists), but their names have just slipped out of our minds”. Ah, right there and then the ‘harmony’ of the Japanese have saved me. Thank heavens, and good job Kenji! It was certainly a good response from him ever! :-)

3. The next destination.

On the second day of our stay in Seoul, Kenji and I decided to join a city tour. On the bus half way through the tour, Kenji asked the guide who was an English-speaking Korean lady, how long for that we still have before we arrive at the next destination. Confidently she replied, “about 15 to 20 minutes”.

A minute later, the bus that we were on pulled over and the bus door opened. The guide left the bus, then she turned around and waved at everyone in the bus to get off it. We hurriedly got off the bus and I approached her right away asking her where we were going.

She told me we were going to check out the amethyst at a nearby shop. Amethyst is a mineral stone violet in colour often used in jewellery, and somehow very popularly included in tours in Seoul. Kenji heard her and immediately looked at me. I looked back at him and we just smiled. We knew right there and then that we were lost in translation in Korea!

Korea - some piccies!

Here are some pictures taken during my trip to Korea. You might want to check them out - they are a bit different from those I have uploaded on my Facebook account. So enjoy!

Some traditional Korean women's costume put on display at the National Folk Museum.

That's me at the National Folk Museum.

Kenji and Echa (Hazuki) in the lounge of 'our room'.

View from 'our' room at 3-ish p.m. on 21st Jan 2010.

Gyeongbokgung was super foggy when we got there!

Scenery outside National Folk Museum.

At the Korean Folk Village.

The apartment we were staying at.

Kenji at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet located at the lobby of 'our' apartment.

The airport - to go or not to go.

Echa’s asleep. And so here I am finally having the chance to sit on a chair, face the laptop and feed on my McCafe cheesecake without any disruption. Ah, heavens. Right now that I’m having my afternoon break, I am considering going to the airport tonight to see Aunt Mimi off – she’s returning to Zurich (where she’s been living for over 30 years of her life) after about a week’s stay in Singapore.

But I’m not sure about sending her off yet though because by mid-week I normally start to feel physically drained (and given that today is Thursday, I have started feeling quite exhausted already in fact), hence am a bit hesitant to use the leftover energy for something I consider not very necessary (such as sending a relative off at the airport – sorry Aunt Mimi, you’re important but I still have Friday to survive as you can see). But I know it’d be nice to go and bid her farewell.

I was also thinking I’d probably go check the situation at Changi Airport out, if I were at the airport tonight, and see, despite the resumption of flights, if the airport’s still in a chaotic state as it was a few days back when an Iceland volcanic eruption caused a massive disruption to the aviation industry worldwide. Ha, now that I’ve thought of one more thing to do at the airport I think it makes more sense to go over and send Aunt Mimi off then. *chuckles*

On a different topic, it’s Earth Day today! Yeah, big deal. Nothing great is going on at home. And I’m doing nothing much about it either. If I were in school and teaching though, I’d probably turn the lights, fans, computer and projector in the classroom off for about 30 minutes or so whilst resuming classroom activities. And then I’d go check the other Earth Day related stuff that they have going for the rest of the day out. Well, I can still do the same at home actually – I can turn off all the lights, fans, air conditioner, laptop, etc for 30 minutes or even more, but I don’t know, what difference does it make, really?

Now that I’m not working and am staying home pretty much, I truly find it kind of awkward to commemorate days like the Earth Day all by myself. So I haven’t thought of anything ‘earthy’ to do yet much less carry out anything at all to mark the day, so things have been pretty much ordinary here. Speaking of ordinary though, it rained heavily with lightning and thunderstorms again today, but to make things less ordinary, I’ve used the weather condition to do some climate-related discovery at home.

Um, sounds like a freak I know, I went on to measure the distance between the flash of lightning and my location today. And so far I found out that the closest I was from where the lightning occurred was about 0.2 miles (about 300 metres), which was not very far at all actually but certainly it was not the closest of lightning flash I have ever experienced in the entire of my life. Well, I am thinking if it rains with lightning and thunderstorms again tomorrow (and if I’m free around that time that it happens), I’ll probably go measure the distance (between lightning flash and me) again and see if it’ll break today’s record of 0.2 miles!

Anyway, I better go. I’ve written so much in the past few minutes but it’s all crap and so I guess I better stop writing at this point. But if you feel like reading a bit more, well, you might want to read my previous posts “Hey, I Got In!!” and “Korea - The 'great' walk to Myeongdong”, which I’ve just edited and recently republished due to some incorrect facts! So yeah. Adios!