Oh Korea Quote #3

Despite the fact that I don't live in Korea anymore, I still have heaps of material for my "Oh Korea" series. I took a little break, but now they're back!

I really miss hearing all the random things that Korean people said. It was definitely a highlight of my life in Busan. For the third installment of "Oh Korea", I chose a really strange one. I've had loads of weird conversations, but this one was really out there. I was talking with a male coworker and I we were talking about health and sickness. Basically the conversation went like this:

Me: I get sick really easily.
Him: Oh really? You didn't drink mother's milk?
Me: ..... I'm pretty sure I did.
Him: Until when?
Me: I don't know, until I was 1?
Him: I drank mother's milk till I was 13. Plus I really like... * he put his hands in front of his chest.*
Me: Oh.....

At first I thought he was joking, but after a few more minutes of conversation I realized he wasn't. He was dead serious. I don't even think it's possible for someone to drink breast milk until that age, but I could be dead wrong. I asked a few of my Korean friends if this could happen. They said that because he grew up in the countryside, anything was possible. Apparently things are really different in the country. Either way, I'll always remember when a grown man told me he drank mother's milk until he was a teenager. Oh Korea, how much I miss you. 

Oh Korea Quote #2

Most of the time in Korea, I can understand or figure out what people say to me. It's like I have a sort of sixth sense in translating Konglish. What can I say? It's a gift. Although, there are still moments where I just can't figure out what the other person means. No matter how much Korean I use or English the other person uses, the meaning is just lost.

One shining example would be this quote, "Nothing is beautiful, unless you are beautiful." I'm not really sure what this person meant. Did they mean that since I am not beautiful, nothing is beautiful? Could he have meant that I am beautiful and because of that, everything is beautiful? Before I could ask, he ran off.  When I saw him again, the moment had passed and so I will never know what he meant. Either way this is definitely an "Oh Korea" moment that left me confused.

Oh Korea Quote #1

Even though I will be leaving the beautiful land of Korea, there are many things that will always stay with me, even when I'm gone. I will always remember all the weird and strange things that people have said to me over the past two years. I've tried my best to document them, but I thought the best way to remember them forever is to create typographic images of them.

I decided to start out strong with one of the most memorable things anyone has ever said to me. It was both horrifying and fascinating that anyone would ever say something like this to me. This is one of my most favorite Oh Korea moments and one that I always tell my friends. This is how the conversation went down:

Me: Oh my golly, it's so hot in here.
Him: You're always hot.
Me: Yea, I get hot really easily.
Him: Is your body hot?
Me: Um... yes...
Him: You are so hot I could boil a hot dog on your body.

Summers in Korea are a bit unbearable. They use the air conditioning really sparingly. Even though I'm from the Philippines and grew up in Florida, I cannot stand hot weather. My body runs hot, so I'm always uncomfortable. At least in the U.S. there was central air conditioning. In Korea, I feel like I'm always melting and forever in a sauna. I guess on this day, my co-worker wanted to comment on the level of heat my body exudes or he was talking about something else. Actually, this guy has a bit of a weird sense of humor, so I know what he really meant. Either way, it has to be one the weirdest and greatest things anyone has ever said to me.