PROPS AND STAGES

One rather large downfall about living temporarily in Korea is the high turnover rate of the really cool and incredibly interesting people. Each awesome friendship I've created with the people here comes with a sort of expiry date, and maybe that's why we're able to forge pretty deep relationships in the short amount of time that we have--live like it's your last day kind of thing. There are a few people that have left an impression on me in the short time I've spent with them. One example is a girl from New Zealand, Amanda. She's such a fucking treat, and every moment with her has been pretty memorable, but she leaves tomorrow and the chances of seeing her again, other than the random and banal instances on Facebook, are slim.

Conversely, the many douchebags I've met are a won a million and tend stay longer than the one-year contract.

Korea feels like a giant stage, with the Koreans being the props. Because it's hard to fully interact with the Koreans due to various barriers, they almost feel like inanimate objects and are viewed as such. I don't know. I have made a few--full disclosure, one--good Korean friend, but on a whole, with the thousands of Koreans constantly around me, they are on another level, one that I, as of right now, can not fully reach to fully interact with them. I can understand and say a few things in Korean for when I'm at the store or the like, but it's still such a foreign language to me that the interaction almost feels fake and unnatural, and, like with an inanimate object, one-sided. The only interactions that do feel two-sided are with other foreigners, and so there are just pockets of interactions taking place on this stage.