Morning! (and other surprises in Korea)

Sometimes this place really makes me think. So many things are so different here (language, expressions, people, culture, shopping, driving habits) but, yet, some things are just like home. Take my building, for instance, there are a few guards (we call them 아저씨, ajeosshi, or 'mister') in the lobby...well, they're no so much guards as they are greeters, like at Wal-Mart (neat article here). After they figured I was not a visitor, but a long term resident of Seoul they started saluting me, waving and saying "Morning". Huh, morning? Ok, I guess they learned that greeting somewhere. Many Koreans in lower-level jobs know absolutely no English and what they may have learned these old timers probably had long forgotten, so I appreciated the effort.

Then I was inline skating (rollerblading to those of us who can pronounce it easily) one lovely 4AM and another 아저씨 said "Morning!". Ok, that's two. Interesting.

Then I got to thinking (well, it came to me while watching a Kia ad) that Morning is everywhere in Korea. This morning (there I go again) I saw a give-away paper called 모닝 (Korean phonetic of morning) and then recalled the ad for Kia's sub-compact car. A simple search on Google Korea came up with more: an online bookstore, an online flowershop, a golf site and a news organization. Then there's Good Morning Shinhan, one of the largest secutities dealers in Korea--with its flagship building in Yeouido, one of the largest in town and flaunting its name, albeit in Hanguel/Korean text, for all to see. And, of course, this is the "Land of the Morning Calm". I could go on, but you get the point.

'Morning' is not without it's detractors, though. About a year ago there was a major scam where a real estate developer conned million from many small investors. One lady summed it up well saying, "Now I know what it is like to go from a rich person to a begger in one day." Definately not a good morning for her.

As an aside, apparently another Western idea is hamburgers, and in NORTH KOREA, no less. (JoongAng Article here.)

Here's your factoid for the day: although most words are pronounced and even used differently than the original, Korean has incorporated about 10,000 English words into its language; much like Tagalog/Filipino has a lot of Spanish and we Westerners are comfortable with Bon Appetit and Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.