[whatever there is to be said is said in English// and while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not sure]

ONE FOR THE OH KOREA, NEVER CHANGE FILE:

SCENE: A NOT SO CROWDED SUBWAY CAR; GOD AWFUL EARLY THIS MORNING

I went into Seoul this morning to meet a friend at the Canadian bar in Iteawon. I was lucky enough to score a seat on the subway, so I plop myself down and whip out my knitting. Knitting and a podcast are my favorite way to spend a subway ride! The guy sitting next to me notices my knitting and starts staring at my hands as I knit. And he kept staring. And kept intently staring at my hands. For twenty stops, at which point he finally got off. Which, whatever, I get stared at enough just for being white; toss knitting into the mix and I'm not really surprised I attracted some attention, but it was still a little creepy.

SCENE: A VERY CROWDED SUBWAY CAR; LATER THAT DAY

So there I am, still knitting on the subway, when a gaggle of ajumma (feisty old [well, upper middle ageish] Korean woman who will not hesitate to beat you on the subway because you're in their way) got on and stood in front of me. One of them starts gesturing at my knitting and talking to her friends. Then she grabs my knitting to get a better look and show her friends what she's talking about. At least she waited until I got to the end of the row. I get my sock back and keep knitting while the ajumma keep talking until about ten minutes later, when the same woman grabs my knitting again, gestures a bunch and grabs the handknit scarf I'm wearing. The scarf that is still wrapped around my neck several times. And she grabbed the part that was poking out the bottom of my jacket, so when she pulled on it to show her friends, it started to choke me. That's right, I was chocked by an elderly Korean woman today. Luckily, she let go quickly and we reached my stop and I made my escape. Needless to say, I decided to leave my knitting in my bag on the ride home.