Back to School, Back to Koreality

"Now, you've got to be careful when stalking a kudu," one might hear an Albany full-time yarn-threader say to his youngster, "they're just like a locals - you can't rush them!"
"Also remember that you've got to be bleddy kwaaahhht (quiet) in the bush," one of the youngster's uncle's, sitting on a cool-box, will interject between biltong gnoshes, "a kudu antelope won't entertain a noisy guest for very long."

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There is such a cultural thing in South Korea as 'Bali Bali', which means to 'Hurry Hurry'. Korean Mothers want their six year olds speaking the Queen's English now. Night-time residents want groceries delivered to their front door now. It's quite counter-intuitive to the one I was fortunate enough in which to be brought up because back in the (Y)Eastern Cape there is such an ambiguous thing as now now. This expression now now is largely contextual, and can refer any length of time ranging from 'Ya no listen I'm just climbing into the vehicle and I'll be there now now' to the subtly sub-textual 'I'm just finishing my beer and I'll be there now now'. The "now now"/"Don't rush me I'm a local" culture still sits heavily in my character although I'm getting used to this 'Bali Bali' culture slaaawly .

So anyway that Christmas and Nyew Year period has come to a sudden end and I've been thrust back into the educational realm of South Korea and Pyeongtaek's belly. Hopefully everyone's had a restful time, and even better yet hopefully a couple of you won the lottery or got engaged (for some people out there, those are one in the same - congrats to those winners, by the way).

I didn't win the lottery, but I did get to do a thing or two. I went on a hike on Old Year's Eve and met a German who would "pay good money to travel to the Eastern Cape and meet the good-natured, well-humored people that reside there". He said he'd be sure to get "the best beer, German beer, and as much of it as possible, through customs". This being the same oak who wants risk his life climbing to China's most dangerous footpath to visit Huashan Tea House for a non-alcoholic beverage.

I was separated from the German bugger and 97% of the hiking crew halfway through because I was rejected at a Passport Checkpoint. The police at this checkpoint were part of the security team for the 'Blue House'. Better known as the President's Residence (rhyme intended). Luckily I wasn't the only one to be turned away, so a team of us went for coffee to bide our time until the pelleton had completed the rest of the hike. The coffee vibes were leka, I learned, among other things, about 'Jung'/'Jeong' and its uncanny similarities to 'Ubuntu'. Once official exercise/coffee proceedings had been completed we went for dinner at a genuinely Korean restaurant, one where the "side dishes" constitute an entire meal on their own. I ate with Jeong, a Korean who is allergic to kimchi (which is one of Korea's staple foods). The poor bugger was sneezing in-between mouthfuls of pork and soju.

Aaaaand picture story time...