In my opinion, no blog about Korea is complete without at least mentioning Magic Blankets. How did they come to be known as Magic Blankets? Well I'm not sure anyone else calls them this but what else would you call a blanket that can do everything??? I first noticed them when I was out walking in an area without a sidewalk....well at least not a concrete sidewalk. Instead the Koreans just plop down a few rainbow colored blankets and you can imagine how splendid the results must be. Next I noticed that there is a building being worked on/renovated right by house. Now during construction it often happens that debris from the building being worked on could fall the four feet it takes to reach the neighbour building and cause damage to it. Well that could happen in other countries but not to worry in Korea....they just put a few Magic Blankets between the buildings and create an instant impenetrable wall. I also had the joy of witnessing a little shanty town where the accommodations were made entirely of Magic Blankets. Apparently nothing provides shelter quite like a building made of blankets.
The list of things I have seen them used for goes on and on and I really do not have the time to write about all of them but I will let you know about a few more uses I have imagined for the blankets:
- Although I have not confirmed this event with my own eyes, from my experience I have no doubt that at the scenes of serious car accidents one of the first items of duty is to wrap the victims in Magic Blankets. Not only do the blankets have an amazing ability to soak up blood, they are also revered for their incredible healing powers ;)
-Also, I cannot wait to see the Korean Oscars to see them "roll out the Magic Blanket" in place of the red carpet. You may laugh at this but if you saw as many of them as I have you would believe it!
Since I am working at a children's school, one could assume that the 6 year old fight I referred to in the title would likely relate to some of my students. Unfortunately this is not the case. In fact the 6 year old fight didn't take place between 6 year olds at all but instead it was between a 30-ish year old couple on my floor. I have heard them absolutely screaming at each other some mornings (people talking in Asian tongues are often known for always sounding mad so you can imagine what they sound like when they actually are mad). Last weekend at about 6am the shit must have finally hit the fan because he locked her out of their apartment (#205), with himself inside. From the fact that she cried and screamed at the top of her lungs and banged her fist on the door for 45 minutes, I can only assume that she wanted back in.
How humiliating must it be for your 30 year old husband to lock you out of the house? I felt quite sorry for her but I guess I was the only one because another man on our floor came out and yelled something in Korean which I translated into "Shut the h*ll up woman, we are trying to sleep in here." She yelled back at him but eventually they reached peace and she sat on the steps of the apartment building and cried. He eventually let her back inside and from the sounds of it, it was Royal Rumble XXXV when she got back in. I am sure that in Canada, people would have likely phoned the police but for anyone who knows how traditional Korean society is and women's place on the social scale, it is easy to understand why this never happened. Women are far from equal here. I was discussing with a Korean woman at work about how many Western guys in Korea have Korean girlfriends but no Western girls have Korean boyfriends. I was not surprised to hear here tell me that the reason for this is that Korean men find Western women to be lazy and not subservient enough. On the flip side, Western men really like Korean girls because they are so subservient to their men.
Now only if that Korean woman had a Magic Blanket on hand when they got into the fight, things might have been a little different.....
The list of things I have seen them used for goes on and on and I really do not have the time to write about all of them but I will let you know about a few more uses I have imagined for the blankets:
- Although I have not confirmed this event with my own eyes, from my experience I have no doubt that at the scenes of serious car accidents one of the first items of duty is to wrap the victims in Magic Blankets. Not only do the blankets have an amazing ability to soak up blood, they are also revered for their incredible healing powers ;)
-Also, I cannot wait to see the Korean Oscars to see them "roll out the Magic Blanket" in place of the red carpet. You may laugh at this but if you saw as many of them as I have you would believe it!
Since I am working at a children's school, one could assume that the 6 year old fight I referred to in the title would likely relate to some of my students. Unfortunately this is not the case. In fact the 6 year old fight didn't take place between 6 year olds at all but instead it was between a 30-ish year old couple on my floor. I have heard them absolutely screaming at each other some mornings (people talking in Asian tongues are often known for always sounding mad so you can imagine what they sound like when they actually are mad). Last weekend at about 6am the shit must have finally hit the fan because he locked her out of their apartment (#205), with himself inside. From the fact that she cried and screamed at the top of her lungs and banged her fist on the door for 45 minutes, I can only assume that she wanted back in.
How humiliating must it be for your 30 year old husband to lock you out of the house? I felt quite sorry for her but I guess I was the only one because another man on our floor came out and yelled something in Korean which I translated into "Shut the h*ll up woman, we are trying to sleep in here." She yelled back at him but eventually they reached peace and she sat on the steps of the apartment building and cried. He eventually let her back inside and from the sounds of it, it was Royal Rumble XXXV when she got back in. I am sure that in Canada, people would have likely phoned the police but for anyone who knows how traditional Korean society is and women's place on the social scale, it is easy to understand why this never happened. Women are far from equal here. I was discussing with a Korean woman at work about how many Western guys in Korea have Korean girlfriends but no Western girls have Korean boyfriends. I was not surprised to hear here tell me that the reason for this is that Korean men find Western women to be lazy and not subservient enough. On the flip side, Western men really like Korean girls because they are so subservient to their men.
Now only if that Korean woman had a Magic Blanket on hand when they got into the fight, things might have been a little different.....
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