Note to self: I live in Korea, not in outer space

So…FACEBOOK. For awhile now, I’ve been thinking of writing about the many ways in which FB ruins people’s lives—or will, eventually. If it were an actual dissertation, I think I’d call it something like: The Aesthetics and Social Deconstruction of the New Technological Dystopian Order, Otherwise Known as Facebook – but, dear readers, I have not fully finished my thoughts on the subject (mainly by being distracted from FB itself—what irony!) – so, in the meantime, I will share with you some recent foreigner-living-in-Korea observations.

It’s getting cold here. I now feel justified in having paid that extra $250 to push my suitcase through United’s luggage carousel of death to be able to have my inflatable garbage bag of a winter coat with me now. Halfway justified anyway. Actually—I’m still pretty mad about it.

But with the cold has come yet another reminder of how I am not in outer space-- that I am in fact, just on the other side of the world. Sometimes when I see Korean kids with their unlaced hip-hop sneakers or young Korean men with faux-hawks and gold chains, I get images of those scenes in movies or cartoons where the main character visits some alien world where everything looks the same, except the people are actually aliens. I can understand if this comes off a bit…racist, though that sounds too strong- maybe ethnocentric? (as in, since America is the center of the universe, everyone else is just imitating American culture and look like aliens while doing so) What? You guys go to the mall too?? And you also eat in fast-food restaurants and go mad over local sports teams? (well, not that *I* do, but you know, the average American.) Strange stuff.

No matter, Korea has, so far, thoroughly exemplified its highly-praised four seasons. I have a feeling that as much as I like fashion and am willing to sometimes feel uncomfortable to look fashionable, these Koreans – I can tell already—are going to out-fashion me this winter. I will unabashedly admit that I look semi-homeless in my winter coat. But hey—at least I’ll be a warm hobo!

Which brings me to…homeless people in Korea. When I moved from Chicago to NYC, I was shocked upon finding about a quarter of the homeless population I was used to seeing. I learned later that the main reasoning for this was because of Giuliani’s (or as my brilliant friend, Laura, calls him: Crueliani) ‘broken windows’ scheme—where he cracked down on ‘crime in the city’ by arresting homeless people for doing things like jumping turnstiles. I did see a lot more homeless people on the trains in New York, but they usually danced for their dinner- literally. Or sang. Actually—the origin of my blog’s name came from this one homeless man I saw on the subway at least once a week. He’d go from car to car and would get money by threatening to sing. When no one gave him anything, he’d screech some 50s du-op song at the top of his lungs until someone threw him a buck. After gathering up all he could, he’d start his journey to the next car and this is when he’d take the opportunity to let loose all his spiritual and political beliefs, always starting off by saying “here today, born tomorrow folks!”. So, there you are.

In Korea, the only time I am sure that someone is genuinely homeless is if they are blind and travel from car to car, blaring old Korean music on their mini-boomboxes. Other than that, it’s pretty hard to tell if someone has a home or not. This is because Koreans are not afraid to sleep on the street. Namely, older Korean men. During my first couple weeks I stood aghast whenever I’d see groups of Korean men scattered along subway floors or even just lying in the gutter (I’m not kidding.) I later realized that these men were just drunk and had passed out on the street. Here’s a blog that gives a much clearer picture of this weird Korean tradition: http://blackoutkorea.blogspot.com/

It doesn’t matter that the homeless population is smaller here—I still feel horrible whenever they pass by me- they get no acknowledgment by their fellow Koreans. This isn’t to say that Americans’ treatment of homeless people is praise-worthy—not by a longshot. But at the very least, it seems Americans acknowledge the person—even if it’s a negative acknowledgment—they still see the person. Here, it’s as if a ghost with a boombox is passing through the car. Most often, people don’t even move out of the way. I don’t know, maybe it’s different for other people here, but this is what I’ve noticed.

Speaking of my brilliant friend, Laura (who lives in NYC)—here is a wonderful organization she’s created to do her part in the battle against homelessness. http://www.wheninneed.org/ Fed up with not being able to give money to every passing homeless person, she created these really helpful info sheets that list places where people can go when they need food/shelter/legal representation, etc. She calls them ‘Street Sheets’. Ingenious idea. In any case, she needs help with the website, so if you have a moment out of your day to spare, it would be *lovely* to give her any advice you can—point out anything you think could be better or – if you’re one of those people with ‘connections’ or ‘resources’ – you could even pass along your info if you think you can help in the effort. I don’t know how many people read this thing—but I hardly feel this is a shameless plug after plugging something like blackoutkorea! And anyway—it truly is a worthy cause.

I will be having my first American visitor this week!! My friend Brandon will be visiting for 5 days and in that time, it is my goal to show him how strange, lovely, depressing, magnificent this country really is. Wish me luck!