Last week I was discussing Buddhism with one of my older Korean students. He revealed that he'd attended a Buddhist preschool where they taught him valuable childhood lessons. These are the things ALL preschoolers should learn.

• How to sit in Zazen
  
• How to open and close doors quietly
  
• The proper way to drink and pour tea, again quietly
  
• To think things three times before speaking them aloud
• The art of speaking quietly yet clearly

Forget learning to tie your shoes or color inside the lines, here is a blueprint for the education of toddlers. I for one am willing to help a tiny monk tie his shoes if he's busy practicing Zazen.

Homosexuality is generally frowned upon in Korean culture. But when you first get off the plane and walk the streets here you'd think basically all guys under 30 are out and proud. Your average young Korean fits all the western stereotypes: thin, clean, well dressed, high-maintenance hair. Plus, many facets of Korean life lend themselves to gaydar alarms. Take for example the popularity of bathhouses which I discussed at length in an earlier post.

But after a conversation with a Korean friend, I've learned that Koreans have their own stereotypes about what's gay and what's straight, they're just seemingly counter to those in the west.

As a public service, I've complied a gay/not gay list about Korean stereotypes. I've found lots of examples of things you'd think would be gay that are in fact considered quite heterosexual here and a few things that are just the opposite.

The list is exclusive to male stereotypes because that's all I've learned about thus far. Perhaps some day I'll be able to create a second list of Lesbian myths.

(Note: I use the word 'boy' as a general substitute for male, not to imply age).

Gay:
Boys watching a movie together.

Not Gay:
Boys holding hands while walking in public.

Not Gay:
Boys sitting on each others' laps.

Not Gay:
Guys buying each other jewelry, including 'Friendship Rings' which look a lot like wedding bands.

Gay:
Two guys living together, even as roommates with separate bedrooms.

Not Gay:
Boys bathing together and scrubbing each others' most private areas. I was told bathing your friend is a "sign of loyalty."

Last Friday was a school day; the first official school day in a month. Why was it a school day? Because the Korean Federal Government mandates a certian number of days middle school students must attend classes. Students at our school were short of that number of days so Friday and Saturday were technically "school days." All the students and teachers were obligated to show up. When I showed up, my co-teacher told me I'd be teaching classes that day, which was news to me.

But five minutes before class time, after I'd scrambled to put together a lesson plan, I was told, "No, you don't have to teach. Maybe you should just go home for the afternoon."

Strange, yes? That's Korea!

Since my last post I've been to Seoul and back and I'd like to say without apology that the food was probably the best part. We indulged in Indian, Greek, Middle Eastern, pseudo French and great Italian; things which are either impossible or an epic challenge to find in Busan.

Many things were closed on Monday for the Lunar New Year, but we were still able to see some of the sights. I've always been bothered by the notion that vacations must include a certain number of photographable events and trips to fulfill their mission. While I've never been one to sit in a hotel for a week and call it a holiday, a vacation should not mean checking boxes of tourist accomplishments.

So while we may not have done as many things as one might expect for a first-time trip to such a notable destination, we did have a good time.

In mild contrast to my previous statement on vacations, allow me to share some photos of the trip to prove what a great time we had. The photo here is the view from the Namsan Cable Car, which took us up a mountain to the base of Seoul tower. This is about the widest view of Seoul my little camera could capture, which is probably only 1/1000000 of the actual city. The human eye can't view this whole city at once, or even in a year-long stay. You can see further photos from my Seoul trip collection by clicking this hyperlink.