So, I was recently asked for a list of my top ten books about Korean history/politics, for someone who is living here and would like to know more about the country. Of course, asking me such a question is dangerous. Dangerous in two ways, mind: I sometimes have some pretty idiosyncratic views about books, and about historical issues that are worthwhile, and I haven’t read many, many books in the subject, so I may overlook some gems as well as recommending some books that have become dated but were important for me when I read them. So anyway, I figured …
Month: August 2010
“Hakwon Teachers”
In a recent post, I made a disparaging comment about being talked to like some hakwon teacher: And it’s even worse when it’s nine at night and a couple of people come in wanting to sample the beer, just see what it’s like, and they’ve clearly just eaten dinner and tell you so, and you say, with the smarmiest look possible, “Well, I don’t sell draft beer without anju,” as if you’re talking to some hakwon teacher or something, and to top it all off, the anju on your menu is a ridiculously overpriced joke — even moreso than the …
Two Three Annoying Things
The two girls who politely excused their way to the head of the line at the taxi stand tonight — past a bunch of us who were waiting, and assumed they were just walking through the stand but not going to catch a taxi someone else had waited for the right to take, when… yeah, they turned and slowly got into a cab. Everyone was staring, but nobody said a word till I shouted, “What? What the f*ck?” Then a few people mumbled and so on — about the crazy girls, not me. The second girl didn’t mind, as she …
TMI
Usually, we use that acronym — Too Much Information, TMI — to respond when someone is disclosing information about herself or himself that strays beyond the boundaries of what we’re willing to listen to: the quality of recent bowel movements, what it feels like to have a colonoscopy, why vomiting this food is grosser than vomiting that food, weird sexual proclivities, and so on. However in this case, I’m referring to the kind of information requested by a major Korean company that shall remain nameless and the questions in their application form. Now, I must repeat, the company must remain …
Anju? No Review…
Look, I am willing to adapt to a different culture, I really am. I understand that in Korean drinking establishments — especially the kinds of places where soju is available and sold for a pittance — it is traditional to expect customers to order some food, and it’s considered unusual for someone to order drinks and no food. I get that. If little hole-in-the-wall places didn’t make people buy food, they’d go out of business in no time, plus given the local genetics (in terms of capacity for alcohol metabolization), it makes sense to insist people consume something that will …