So Ridiculous

I had an experience on the subway. This guy sitting in front of me was wasted. Very common story here. So he is on the phone with his friend and starts screaming, cursing his friend out. Saying the most vile things in the Korean language on the top of his lungs. The entire car goes dead silent. This was the most obscene thing I have personally witness in Seoul thus far.

So this guy is shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs. The entire car is looking on horrified. Another older gentleman is getting fed up and says "Ya!" (like hey or yo) def getting pissed. I was vacillating between walking to a different car in horror and staying there laughing in his face. I know what my reaction would be in NY, I wouldn't even bat an eye.

In NYC, people would continue on as if nothing happened because stuff like this happens every 45 seconds. I mean I have seen people urinate. I have seen men openly masturbate, not once but on three occasions (the best was when I was in high school going clubbing with my friends and this guy was masturbating into a tire in an open car repair garage, we bugged out). I have personally been fondled on 7th Street (one of the worst experiences of my life but I do realize I am one of 60% of women who get violated in nyc). I have also heard of women stripping down naked in subway cars for the sake of performance art. So yes, you live in NY longer than 6 years, you have seen it all.

I was surprised at how shocked I was by the situation. I think because vulgarness is relative. In Korea, people, to quote my friend Dan "keep it classy". Yes, we get wasted, yes I have seen women fall out of their chair drunk and slide underneath tables, yes I have seen numerous men not able to walk on their own and need the assistance of 3 friends to drag him into a cab. But the aforementioned suspects are harmless, they never really cause a scene or impose their belligerence on other people. Because for a large city, Koreans, for the most part, act right. I have never even overheard a cellphone conversation because people are so polite (besides the usual shoving because this isn't actually considered that rude here).

So this goes on and on for minutes that felt like hours. Awkwardness ensues. And the cherry on the sundae was when after being hung up on by his friend three times, recalling him 3 times just to curse him out again, the guy gets so mad he spits on his own phone! I don't know if this guy is living in a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory world where things can travel through air in waves and land on the other side (who can forget Mikey and the TV incident). But the guy actually spit a huge loogey on his own phone thinking it would land on his friends face. I almost died.

Finally he calls back his friend (that he imaginary spit on) to ask him where they should meet up and he ever so politely tugs on a woman's shirt to ask her how to get to Samsung (not on our subway line by the way). She obviously does not talk back to this guy and he got off the next stop so nonchalantly to terrorize another subway. So yes, I realize this isn't so ludicrous if it happened in the States but in Seoul, he was the most outrageous person I have seen thus far.