Things I hate:

1. Songpyeon and it's ilk.

Gag me with a stick. A lot of Korean food sounds gross, but is actually delicious. For example, pork spine soup and octopus soup are both dishes that had me blanching at the sound, but groaning with pleasure at the taste.
Songpyeon is supposed to be DESERT. I can't even tell you how gross it is. Chewy, smushy rice cake, rolled around sugary red-bean paste. Takes five minutes to get out of your mouth and into your belly, and every second is extruciating.

2. How it's disastrously impolite to refuse songpyeon.

I KNOW I hate songpyeon. Yet, if the secretary offers me songpyeon, it's obligatory. I'm eating some right now, trying to keep the disgusted look off my face. Yuck.

3. How the high schoolers on the bus with me talk about me EVERY SINGLE DAY. Young children saying "hello" to get a thrill doesn't bother me (often) but sitting there having them chatter about the waygookin (foreigner) pisses me off and makes me feel like the bus is a moving zoo and I am the exhibit.

4. Making stupid cultural mistakes.

I've been in Korea for almost four months now. There are certain things that I should know. However, when one of my co-teachers asked me if I had eaten yet, I stupidly responded, 'oh, not yet, I'm just about to go to lunch'. I'm pretty sure the only answer to this question is 'yes'. They're not asking because they care. It's just another way to say hello. It would be like us saying 'good morning' in Canada, and having the other person respond with the details of their breakfast.

This co-teacher is my favourite Korean lady ever. Instead of trying to make me feel bad, or letting my mistake go uncorrected, she smiled and said: "My foreign friend once asked me why Koreans are always asking, 'have you eaten'. It goes back to times of famine, but we are not actually asking that question." She said it in the sweetest way though. She is tact personified. And she is hilarious. One day she was telling me about her children. She said (in the most dramatic tone):

Everyday day I ask my God WHY? am I such a terrible mother? I don't like cleaning or cooking...In fact I feel sorry for my children to have me as a mother. I don't even want to eat what I cook. It's such a waste of my time. The grocery shopping, the preparing, the clean up. And it doesn't even taste good!

Today I told her she looked nice (she really is beautiful, she's 35, so she looks late-twenties to me, and she just glows).

She grabbed my arm, turned me to face her and said:
'Do you swear from the bottom of your heart?

I said 'yes'.

She said 'oh, that is so good to hear, you know my husband always tells me VERY VERY truthfully what I look like'.

I love her.

I am glad this entry turned into a 'things I love post'.