Greetings! I suppose it's time for another post and as I have been doing quite a bit socially (as in going out dancing and a bit of drinking), I thought it an appropriate time to talk about some of the differences I have noticed here and at home.
Drinking in SK is HUGE. I don't mean just an occasional weekday drink with partying on the weekends. No my friends, here in SK it isn't uncommon to see construction workers guzzling soju (Korean alcohol) while in the midst of their duties. I kid you not, the workers that are building houses around me have a mini fridge outside that they keep stocked with soju. There are always SEVERAL bottles laying around and I see them drinking as early as 7:30 am when I am leaving for school. At first I was taken aback by this, however it seems to be so common that I don't even think twice about it.
Another phenom in SK is public drunkenness/ blacking out. In fact there is an entire blog devoted to the photos of people blacked out. For the curious, you can check it out here: http://blackoutkorea.blogspot.kr/
Most of the time the people that I have seen and are documented being passed out in public are males, but I have seen both men and women in this position. The thing that amazes me is how the Koreans mostly turn a blind eye to those sprawled out on the street/ sidewalk laying in their own filth. No, these are not homeless people either. I have seen businessmen in their suits sprawled out... CRAZY! The fact that people don't offer to help and that their wallets/ personal items remain in tact also boggles my mind.
Just two days ago I was with a friend, waiting on another friend, at the bus terminal. There was an older man so intoxicated that while two people were actually trying to help him get to the bus, he fell down pulling them down on top of him. The 50 or so other people standing around didn't even bat an eye at this. Next thing we know, the bus is starting to pull away while the drunk man is half way under the bus. Luckily they were able to get the driver to stop before running the guy over. Oh, that is a completely different topic that I need to talk about too... the bus and taxi drivers here. Anyway, my friends and I finally got on our bus and got back to Pocheon about 6 hours later only to see that the man was now passed out at the bus stop!
i hear of many teachers who go out with their co-workers on weeknights and get totally bombed. Luckily for me, many of my co teachers live far away and none seem to do that or if they do, I am not invited. Though I prefer to think they are a bit above the continual drinking. I suppose if I had grown up in this culture I may be more used to it, as it is I just do not understand.This isn't something that just happens in the big cities either, as my town is quite a bit smaller and I have heard from friends in even smaller towns that they see the blackouts too. I wonder how the "responsible" drinking campaigns would go over here?
Stay safe and drink responsible my people!
-Cheers! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment