super monday morning

I'm terrified of older Korean people, especially women. Lately I've spent a lot of time with them, because there are loads of them at the hospital, and I spend roughly half my time there these days. The older they are, the more terrifying they become. It starts at about the age of 40. 40 year olds are slightly off-putting. 50 year olds are genuinely intimidating. 60 year olds I don't dare look directly in the eye. 70 year olds and up fuel my nightmares.

It's just the way they act toward me. The way they stare at me, disdain me, and silently judge me because I'm a foreigner in their country. It happens everywhere. In the hospital, on the bus, in the market, walking down the street. It's a subtle but intimidating form of racism. But, hell, it's not like they don't have good reason.

Older women are definitely the scariest. They all have identical hair cuts and the same expression on their face, especially when that expression is them glaring at you.

I've got another bone to pick with Korean people. They can't communicate for shit. Now, I know I'm a visitor in their country, and I can't speak their language. If I want to function flawlessly in their society, I should learn to speak in their tongue. It's a complaint you hear a lot in the States, that immigrants should speak English, and I'm on the other end of that complaint here. However, when I do venture a few words of Korean, simple phrases or words, it's often in vain.

Today, for instance, I was walking from the bus, to the hospital shuttle bus parking lot, which is at the Cheonam Hospital. I've always taken a cab there from the bus stop but it's like a 30 second cab ride and a waste of 2 bucks. So I head in the general direction, and see a street cleaner sweeping the street. I say to him, "Cheonam Byeung won...eodi-eyo", which as you might guess means, "Where is Cheonam Hospital?" The guy replies with a 10 second string of Korean, which I haven't a chance at discerning. So, again, I say, "Cheonam Byeung won...eodi-eyo" and I point in various directions. Again, mounds of Korean enter my ears. All I want is a point in a general direction. This goes on for a few more rounds, me saying my phrase over and over again, him being little or no help. Eventually I wander off and find it on my own.

There's more than one way to communicate, and having lived in a land where I don't speak the language for going on 2 years, I've become quite adept at non-verbal communication. Koreans are still lousy at it. In various settings, someone will just speak at me and realize I don't comprehend any of it. Rather than using there hands or arms to gesture or point, or talking slower and just in key words, they just say the same thing in the same manner. It eventually ends with me just saying "Okay" and walking away, assuming that any misunderstand won't directly lead to the end of the world.

Re-reading this complaint, it seems like I'm expecting everyone else to acquiesce to and account for my ignorance. Well, what of it?

The Super Bowl was this morning, for me. I didn't get to watch, as I spent the duration of it either on the bus to the hospital or in the hospital. The good news today is that my platelets are on the rise and my liver enzymes, while still quite high, are on the decline.

There was a fight between two guys in the waiting room today. A 40 or so year old guy who didn't look like a patient but probably a family member of a patient, and a 50 or so year old guy who was definitely a patient had a disagreement. I'm not sure what it was about, as the only words I recognized being yelled back and forth were either "shi-bal" or "geseki", fuck you and son of a bitch, respectively.

The 50 year old was extremely riled up, while the 40 year old just leaned against a wall, probably telling the guy to sit down and shut up. But the 50 year old wouldn't let it go. He had two canes with him to assist him in walking. About half way through this disagreement he realized his canes could be quite good for whacking the guy with, and he got the idea to try and brain the 40 year old with one. A horde of people rushed to intervene, and the 50 year old collapsed to the ground, because, well, if you need two canes to stand, and you're flailing them around in the air, you're not gonna have the strength to stand for very long.

The 50 year old then began sobbing and screaming some more, spittle flying everywhere, and I began to feel very embarrassed for him. Everyone was just staring at him, and from what I could decipher from the reactions of others in the room, he was being pretty unreasonable and was in the wrong. The 40 year old left the room and the 50 year old sat back down in his chair. He would intermittently let out these anguished and angered yelps. Eventually he got his name called to see the doctor and I never saw him again. The whole thing was equal parts thrilling and depressing.

It kinda looked like this:

Terrifying.

And just so you know, I don't mean to paint a negative portrait of this place. I love this country, more than my own, probably. Some things, though, can get under your skin. Like, for instance, the amount of commas I've used in this paragraph.