What I learned from my Korean friends

Few days ago, when I was a tour guide to four Koreans (read here and here), who were backpacking across Europe, I got a lot of information on their country, the people and life there and on various other things. Let me share some of the things my Korean friends told me and also some of my personal impressions on Koreans:

1. Koreans seem to be very polite, a bit reserved, yet friendly (my impression).
2. They get along very well in groups (my impression).
3. Korean girls are "hard to handle", my friends say. I wonder.
4. Korean girls supposedly want to be treated like princesses all the time, I've been told.
5. Korean girls may not be as loyal as their reputation is, my friends say.
6. Many Westerners date Korean girls.
7. It's hard to get a job in Korea: You need like 50 interviews, I've been told.
8. Korean food is mostly spicy.
9. Koreans love soju, their national drink.
10. American military is not very liked in S. Korea, but my friends say if it was gone, S. Korea couldn't defend itself.
11. Koreans are crazy about cell phones and cameras (my impression).
12. Life in S. Korea is very fast-paced, many Koreans don't find time to relax.
13. Koreans study very hard and have many exams.
14. Koreans drive on the right side of the road (unlike UK and Japan).
15. Speed limit on Korean highways is 110km/h.

This is the info I got so far. I knew some of these things, but some other were new to me. I got a better picture, because the info came first hand. It's so different than reading something on a Korea-themed blog or article. Anyhow, I'm keen on learning more about Korea, because I was always interested in it, especially when few years ago I started to watch Kim Ki-duk's movies and later started to like Lee Hyo-ri.
After my Korean friends left my country, two of them offered me to go to Tokyo with me. We had a discussion where I want to travel and I said I wish I could see both: Seoul and Tokyo. If I had company, that would be so much better. And my friend, Hwan, is really a good planer. I'd totally trust him, if he organized a trip to Tokyo (from Seoul). I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope I will make it at least to Korea, my newest passion.

[Photo of Han Chae-i by Clemens 2009: Source]

Korean friends in Ljubljana

Being a guide for the second day

Monument to Rudolf Maister, our general.

This was my second day as tour guide for my Korean friends. It was Sunday and I was about to show them our capital city Ljubljana. I came to Ljubljana in the afternoon, around 3pm, because they were visiting our beautful Bled. So we met at the trainstation and then headed towards the centre. The city was virtually empty. The only people left were tourists. It was hot and dry, so it was quite tiring to walk so much. But anytime I asked them, if they want to see some building that was a bit far off, they said yes.

Zavarovalnica Triglav building, designed by Plečnik.

The highlight was Ljubljana's Old town and the castle. While walking around thru the old narrow streets, I saw trouble ahead. There was a bunch of people, maybe 2 or 3, on bikes and one of them was shouting and harrassing passers-by. He had a golf club in his hand. And guess what? He was a skinhead. Now imagine I pass by with four Koreans. Luckily I saw a street on the left and I started walking faster and telling some stories to them, to distract them. Those assholes became louder and louder and I was afraid that they might follow us. Luckily they didn't. I remember that while these Koreans were in Austria, they told me someone look at them strangely and they didn't like it there. Then you can imagine how nervous I was that maybe some idiot says or does something stupid. Fortunately, everything was fine. Later I asked them, if they saw any people who would look at them strangely here. They said no. Pheeewww... I was relieved. Then we went up on the castle and they snapped some nice panoramic photos of Ljubljana.

Miklošičeva street.

The time for my departue came nearer. I had to go back home at 19.45, if I took some other train, it would be a very slow train and I'd come home late. And they were tired, too. So while we walked back to the train station, there was this girl like 50m infront of us. She was walking very slowly in high heels, she had shorts and a black yet transparent shirt on. Her body was amazing, I thought she was a model... and how he butt swung... wow... We were walking faster than her, so we caught up with her near the train station. All of us were waiting for the green light and I saw that she was checking us out. Maybe we were just a funny group: 4 Asians and a white guy, talking in English. Anyway, we crossed the road faster and the guys were hungry, so we went straight to McDonald's. 1 min later, she was in there, too. Maybe just a coincidence. The guys ordered some big menues, while she just ordered a small burger and sat very close to our table (hmm, I wonder). Eric said: She's hot. I said: Yea. Eric is the oldest one, he's the only one who smokes. He looks like a cool guy who would pick up a girl. Well, they were so busy with food and I busy with them, that the girl left and nobody, besides me, noticed. So Eric suddenly wondered: Where is she? She's gone, I replied. He was disappointed. Well, I never asked, if he would talked to her, but he might. We'll never know now.

Anyhow. After McD, we went for a beer and chatted like 1h. It was fun. They told me a lot about Korea and I told them things about Europe. Time just flew by and we had to say good bye. They told me they had a great time in Slovenia, better than expected and they thanked me a lot. It made me feel good that I was appreciated. But we had to part and I was kindly invited to go to Korea next time. I hope I will, because I always wanted to go (Update: And I did!).

Some more photos from that day:

Nebotičnik.

The Franciscan church.

The old railway station of Ljubljana. A new one is being built.

From left to right: Hwan, Eric, Justin and Peter.

What happened after the trip: Interestingly, Hwan (actually Kim Tae-Hwan), who was my friend for many years, suddenly unfriended me, when he returned back to Korea. It didn't happen right after the trip, but gradually over the summer and autumn of 2009. We were still fine in September, but in October he became distant and started to blame me for some things. It was right at that time, where I met my current girlfriend Lily and spent more time with her online and less with him. I thought a friend would understand that, but apparently, he didn't. He slowly blocked me in his emails, Twitter and Facebook (as Patrick Kim). He also kept changing his Western name from Shayne to Patrick to Simon... He deleted his blog, locked all profiles and stopped replying to all my questions. First I was surprised and didn't know what was going on, then I begged him to give me an answer why is he doing that, then I was angry and tried to spite. But I guess I never really got over this weird move. He adored me, called me hyong (big brother), he was so happy to meet and he promised me to guide me in Seoul, if I come to visit. Then he suddenly unfriends me and pretends like I don't even exist! And I was so nice to him, tour guided him around Maribor and Ljubljana, drove him and his friends around and even treated them few times. I don't regret that at all, but I would expect a little respect from him. Before going to Seoul this May, I begged him to meet me and to help me find my way. Guess what? He just ignored me. Just ignored and pretended I don't even exist and I went to Korea just to meet him. All his promises from the past faded away. And he tries so hard to have a good face (especially at AISEC Korea, where he's active), but what he did to me was beyond disgraceful. I'm still disappointed.

Read about guiding Korean friends in Maribor here>>

[All photos by MKL, 2009]

Korean friends in Maribor

I will be a tour guide for the first time today

Today I will be a tour guy for 4 Koreans, who visit my hometown Maribor. I know one of them from the internet, the other 3 are his friends. They are all students between 20 and 24 years old. They decided to backpack across half of Europe, starting in Seoul and flying to Prague. Then they stayed three days and went on to Vienna, where they stayed two days. After that, they came to Graz, that was yesterday. Today they'll cross the Austrian border and come to Maribor. It will be in the afternoon. They'll be here only 4 hours. Luckily the town is small and we will have just enough time to see the main sights. Well, nice. I just saw it started to rain. I hope it'll stop by the time they're here. It's no fun walking around in umbrellas...
I hope they will have a good time here. I've never been a tour guide to people who came from so far and I don't really know them. I showed my ex around the town, that's all. But a group? Nope. Not yet. It will be an interesting experience and I will blog about it after I return from the tour.

Maribor's cathedral stolnica.

Gosposka street, Maribor.

Wow, they came earlier as expected. 3h earlier. I wasn't ready, so when they called me, I said I needed like half an hour. I had to take a quick shower, dress up and rush off to town. There they were at the train station with lots of back packs. We said hi, stuffed luggage in our Ford Focus and the trunk was just big enough. Then I drove them to our biggest shopping mall, where I could park my car for free. After that we went on the sightseeing tour across Maribor. I guess I was good, because I planned that we make one big circle around the whole center and inclueded all the main sights. They snapped a lot of pics, the weather was a bit cloudy, but sometimes the clouds would go away and it became very hot with a blue sky. It was hot for them, but they like it for snapping photos. They were impressed and told me that they didn't expect Maribor or Slovenia to be so nice. They were impressed with our main attraction: The 400 years old vine, the oldest vine in the world. After we saw that, I treated them some beer and we relaxed in the shade. We had some nice conversations, I guess it served me well that I know many things about Korea, which made them crack up few times. Time went by so fast. After beer, we set off back to the shopping mall. I kept telling them about Maribor's history and they liked it. While we were walking on the street, I took out my handphone and played some Lee Hyo-ri mp3s and some other Korean songs, which made them laugh out loud.

Castle square/Grajski trg.

Back in the mall, I helped them buy some stuff and then I asked them, if they want to eat something. I was hungry, I skipped lunch, so they followed me. I kept asking them to tell me where they wanna go, but they always followed me. That's what I call a very easy to handle tour participant, hehe. Anyway, we went to that restaurant where you put together your own menu, it's part a buffet and part where you order the main dish. It was funny when all four of them looked at those chicken drums and sausages and had to decide what to pick. The cook explained to me what is everything and I translated. Took us five people about 5 or more minutes, there were some people lining up behind us. But once 1 ordered something, another one wanted same and it went fast from there on. So we ate a while and then just chatted from Korean to world politics, from travel to recession and Korean girls. I got some nice info about the latter. I asked them, whether Korean girls were hard to please, they replied unanimously: Yes! Oh boy, that's bad. I asked: Why? They said they always want to be treated, wherever you go. They want to be like princess, so you need to buy stuff for them and everytime you go out, you need to drive them back to their front door. And then I added: Are they generally loyal? Again, an unanimous no. Oh, boy, that's bad again. I told them, that they basically shattered my whole image on Korean girls. They laughed and I had to ask again, was it really that bad? Well, aparently one guy was cheated by his ex, but he said that not all are as bad (of course I know that). Times have changed in Korea and now you probably don't have any security, same as in the West. I also asked if there's many Westerners having Korean girls and they said yes. I asked why is that. First answer was: Westerners are big. And not shy. Well, these guys were small and seemed a bit reserved at the first glance. But they were pretty cool when we got to know each other better. So, after the relaxing conversations, I drove them back to the train station and they gave me this gift (see pic on right). I unvrapped it at home, it's a nice Haruhana memo pad with some very artsy pics.

I can't use it, it looks too nice to be spoiled by my scribblings. They also gave me a pin with some buddhist symbol, I don't know. I will ask what it is. I will probably go to Ljubljana tomorrow, to show guide them there.

They gave me tons of compliments, I guess that made me feel good.

Read about guiding Korean friends around Ljubljana here>>

[All photos taken by Hwan, 2009]