In Support of Public Intoxication

Drinking is a big part of Korean culture - that's not news. Drinking is heavily encouraged almost everywhere. 

Public intoxication is not a crime here (or if it is, it is never enforced). It's not uncommon to see grown men passed out in parks or on the sidewalk. Hiking groups carry soju and beer with them on the hike to drink along the way. Beer is sold on trains and in bus stations for the ride.

Perhaps one of the most transparent endorsements of public drinking is the attitudes of convenience store owners. They keep corkscrews and bottle openers behind the counter, so you don't have to wait until you get home to enjoy your adult beverage. You can drink it on your way out the door.

Mudfest T-shirt

Tired of shitty Korean festival T-shirts?

Get a Mudfest Shirt. 

Korean Flight Attendants

In the US back in the mid-20th century, and up into the 90's, flight attendants possessed a certain mystique. Airlines flaunted their stewardesses like bikini models, bringing sex appeal into the air in a way that would change airline travel forever. Well, until the 2000's, anyway, when some airlines (*cough* Delta *cough*) started hiring average-looking people (and men) to vend microwave meals along their aisles. American flight attendants have lost the allure they once possessed.

In Korea,  however, where discrimination based on appearance is smiled upon, the attraction is still alive and well. Young Korean girls dream of growing tall enough and pretty enough to fly the skies with Korean Air. Their beauty, grace, and impeccable grooming is internationally renowned, as it is for many Asian carriers. 

Several universities in Korea actually offer a "flight attendant" major, where (girl only!) students can practice their manners, dress and geography skills to perfection.

At Uiduk university, the freshmen are required to stand by the front entrance at times, in their standard student uniforms, to greet every car and/or pedestrian that enters the campus.

Mud Festival: Keep your Shirt On

I went out to Boryeong over the weekend with a couple of friends to make arrangements for the Boryeong Mud Festival trip in July. 

Along the beach the city council had posted entries in a photo contest from last year's mud festival. There were probably three dozen photos in total, and all of them were quite good. Most focused on foreigners enjoying themselves in the mud.

One of the pictures, though, was a bit surprising.

The actual photo isn't blurred

My friend Justin and I, discussing opinions on the presence of the photo along the beach, felt shock and a bit of mild outrage, but couldn't decide who was causing it - the girl who posed so carelessly for a professional photographer, or the photographer who entered it into a contest.

Justin brought up the issue of privacy, which is always heavily guarded in Korean society. If this were a picture of a Korean girl it would NEVER get posted. This is true. Koreans tend to think of foreigners as a funny sideshow, without rights or feelings of our own.

But then again, Korean girls don't flash strangers.

It's not surprising that girls do this at mudfest. Some girls get drunk and like to flash people. Big deal. If you want to take a picture of some poor drunk girl's breasts and keep it for your own personal records, that's fine by me (and apparently her). 

I don't know if the photographer had the girl's permission to share the photo. But to post it along the beachfront in a photo contest is in extremely poor taste.