Keeping up with the Kims
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Living in Korea
After a debacle in Taiwan, Korea has turned out to be a Godsend but for a foreigner, there seem to be many pitfalls. :ko:
I write this in remembrance of an incident which took place a while back, when the manageress (I think) of a newish restaurant next door to where I live (which was actually no more than a vacant plot when I first arrived here) harangued me and made me cart all of my rubbish (segregated, recyclable) back to where it came from. 😮
As it happens, I returned from work tonight, new (but still old – Jean-Michel Jarre, John Miles, Rush) mp3 files jangling in my ears, and the first thing I saw on the pavement outside of said establishment was a huge pile of rubbish. :eyes:
Quite why it is that the harmless foreigner is deemed worthy of a tongue-lashing for trying to do his environmental duty when the owner of the emporium now seems willing to violate the same rule (written in Korean apparently but not, alas, in English) remains a mystery. However, it turned out to be very easy to obtain this unwritten information . . . a couple of days later, having been paid, I took a taxi to my branch and nice Mr. Lee (there are a lot of Lees in Korea, just like China, but there are even more Kims), to whom I mentioned the problem, actually called the City Council Waste Department on my behalf and thereafter, I knew that I had to put the plastic and glass (I do like my red wines) recyclable wastes out on a Monday night for collection the following morning. :sherlock:
And the moral of this short tale? Despite behaviour on the parts of some of its citizens, Korea remains a proud country and its people in the large would like to think that foreigners think well of it; and when there is one who lets their side down, thankfully there are plenty of others who will more than make up by their acts of charity. :up:
