Rape is Acceptable When You’re Sexy

I usually read entertainment news carelessly because it’s gossip- we believe what we want to believe.  But recently, Park Si-hoo, a Korean actor, is in the spotlight for rape.  Whether or not the allegations against him are true is not what I’m concerned with because I leave that sort of stuff to law enforcement, aka people who have expertise on investigating and judging these cases.  What I am concerned with is the reaction from Koreaboos to this story.

To be honest, I did not even know about this news until I saw posts after posts after posts from Park Si-hoo fans defending him on tumblr.  Why should I care?  People have the right to express their opinions, right?  Well, I am concerned with what the concept of “Korea” has done to these Koreaboos.  Kpop fanatics and Koreaboos have never been on my good side… the crazed mindset that they MUST go to Korea to find their “oppa” and the shameful pronunciations of random Korean words learned from dramas have always irked me.

I never believed that those crazy, obsessive behaviors would develop into … the ideology they believe in nowadays.  And the Park Si-hoo case clearly showcases their new values and beliefs.  Think about it this way- if the characters in this story were replaced with everyday average joes, no one would care about who raped who… and even if people did care, the accused is usually at fault (I do account for those once in a blue moon times where the girl cries wolf).  However, because this involves Park Si-hoo, a high-profile actor- wait, no- a KOREAN high-profile actor, suddenly the victim is blamed for being drunk and Park Si-hoo, the precious “oppa” is incapable of raping.

For those of you who do not know about the case, here is the story in a nutshell: a 22 year old aspiring starlet met Park Si-hoo at a bar, got super drunk, Park Si-hoo then took her home with him, she passed out in his apartment, woke up and alleges that Park Si-hoo raped her while she was unconscious.  As in most rape cases, the accused usually denies the allegations.

To me, this sounds like any other rape case I would read in the newspaper in any given country.  But because this took place in KOREA and involved a hot Korean actor, the story is viewed differently by Koreaboos.  Suddenly, Koreaboos think they are experts of the law in Korea and analyze the “rape laws, statistics, and age of consent” in Korea.  My question is, why do those even matter???  Rape is rape EVERYWHERE, and no matter the country, rape is NOT okay.  Also, the victim is 22 years old- age of consent is not a problem.  She is an adult- I mean, 30+ year old women get raped too and no one seems to care.  This girl is 22 and suddenly her age matters, for technicality, because the guy who she claims raped her “would never do such a thing.”  If such a high-profile case took place here in the US, I doubt people would analyze the laws and statutes as much as these Koreaboos are doing now.  We all know that this case is being magnified because it is in Korea and it involves a “hot oppar.”

It is highly unacceptable to pull random and false information out of nowhere in order to justify Park Si-hoo’s actions.  We don’t even know the whole story!  These Koreaboos believe what they want to believe, but rape cases are different.  They can’t just stick to their mindset that Park Si-hoo cannot do any wrong.  They need to open their minds and understand that there is a possibility he may be at fault.  I hate to break it to Koreaboos, but Park Si-hoo is human.  There was one post where a fan stated that even if Park Si-hoo did rape the girl, the girl is at fault too because she was drunk.  Okay, so she was drunk… doesn’t mean Park Si-hoo has a right to rape her.  She may have been unconscious but she wasn’t “inviting rape” by being drunk.

Another post claimed that Park Si-hoo is so hot and sexy that he “doesn’t need to rape women” and that the woman getting “raped by Park Si-hoo is lucky.”  Um- I think the problem with that statement is blatantly obvious.  When you’re famous and sexy, it doesn’t mean you get pardoned for rape.  In a country where “saving face” is really important, this girl was brave for coming out with this accusation… especially against a high-profile actor.  She finds the courage to step up and all these Koreaboos make her out to be the bad guy.

Koreaboos- have you no shame?  I’m starting to think “your kind” needs an ethics class… to teach you what ethics and morality are.

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International Education Week!

This past week was International Education Week (Nov. 12-16)- a week dedicated to demonstrating the importance of studying abroad  and going international.

International Education Week means a lot to me because going abroad changed my life and I do not know who I would have been today had I not gone abroad.  With that said, I highly encourage everyone to study abroad at least once in their lives- you will learn so much and open your mind.

Every day, I am thankful to CIEE, The Korea Foundation, NSLI-Y, iEARN, YesInternational, and the Department of State for giving me the opportunity to have the experiences of a lifetime.  Without the support of these organizations, I would not have been able to go out of my bounds and into a new and unfamiliar culture.

The impact of my experiences is beyond words.  I started out going to South Korea because of curiosity and desire to go somewhere, ANYWHERE.  But that changed within a couple of days of being in South Korea- I quickly became interested in the culture and the people.  By the end of my stay, I had fostered a passion for learning about the relationship between the North and the South.  The second time I traveled to SK, I was prepared to study and learn everything about South Korea- I hoped to gain a true understanding of the country.  And now, I continue to study Korean on my own.  Why?  So that I can help defectors.  I will talk about this in a separate post because the issue deserves its own… but that’s my ultimate goal.

Can you believe that curiosity turned into compassion?  THIS is the impact of my study abroad.  Everyone will have different experiences and meet different people… but these will shape who you are and open your mind to a new level that you do not know you are capable of.

So… do it.  Study abroad and go international.  After all, the celebration of this week is to encourage more people to think beyond by opening themselves up to the world out there.  You will be impacted differently from me, but that’s what makes each and every one of us unique.

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Summer is Disappearing Before My Eyes

This was my first summer break from college, which meant that for the first time, I don’t have work due when I go back to school.  You would think that a free summer would be fantastic, but to be honest it wasn’t that great.  I used to imagine ALL the things I could be doing instead of summer work, but I’ve realized that those only stay in the imagination…

So let’s go over what I DID do this summer… and I’m pretty sure you’ll come to the same conclusion: BORING.

1. I tried catching up on some shows/dramas- I watched City Hunter, BIG, and Project Runway Korea Seasons 1+2… and then I started to get bored of sitting on my butt all day watching shows.  Let’s just say that sitting in front of a computer screen all day takes a toll on the brain and eyes…
2. I applied for many, many jobs… and was offered nothing… why?  BECAUSE I DON’T GO TO COLLEGE CLOSE ENOUGH. yea… apparently these employers want college students from the island… and since I go to school all the way in Cali, they can offer me nothing, nada.  Dang…. this is discrimination against far away college students.
3. Working towards getting my driver’s license!  I have my road test in less than 2 weeks and I’ve been practicing driving with my pops and my driving instructor.  I’ve been trying to polish my parallel parking but it’s so hard to get it perfect.  >.<  I really, really hope to pass my road test the first time around so that I can get my license and be off on my merry way.  Wish me luck yallllll~
4. Fixing this blog- a word of advice to all you bloggers: NEVER ABANDON YOUR BLOG(S).  Seriously.  I’ve been working so hard to dust off this blog, so much garbage I needed to clean up around here.  And everything’s been putting me in a doozy ((O_O)).
5. PA work.  I’m going to be a PA this upcoming school year so I’ve had to complete some tasks… not fun… planning this and that and that and this… dude, the freshman better like me and the events I put together for them.
6. Eating lots of yummy food I can’t eat when I’m away at college.  Honestly, NY has the best, THE BEST food.  Eating in Cali is just not the same- not many options… I mean, come to NY and you will understand.  But this isn’t good- I’m eating good food and sitting on my butt all day.  Do you know what this equation equals?  PACKIN’ ON DA POUNDS.  I am going back to school and jogging every morning.  I need to get into better shape and I will stick to the plan… for real this time… because I put it in this blog~~ O_<
7. Sleeping -_- Hey, at least I’m replenishing some energy I lost while I was at school.

I wish I traveled somewhere this summer.  I would have felt much more productive…

o god o god~~ bringing in the tears~~ missing Korea again.  *sigh*

I wonder when I’ll be able to visit Korea again- seriously, that place felt right.  I need to go back.

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Hi! I’m finally back from a SUPER DUPER long hiatus.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been on here… and seriously posting…

I’ve had some really interesting experiences since I kind of drifted from this blog and I regret not writing about some of them here!  😦

So here’s what’s going on- (Yes, I’m finally going to get you all back in the loop.)

• I made some “here-and-there” posts about Korea~ I say this because I actually have a lot of adventures that I still haven’t posted about and it’s been a year already… so I kinda lost my train of thought… (oops).  And at this point, it’s kind of pointless to make all those posts trailing my adventures because it’s over and done with and my posts will be emotionless (guaranteed- since I’m just not in the zone anymore).  So here’s what’s going to happen~ I’ll just be making posts once in a blue moon about specific memories I have.  Sound good? 
• Uh- there will be some interesting (or at least i think so) boy stories to tell… so look forward to that!
• I got a smartphone!  mwaahaa so I’ll be doing some app reviews.
• Kpop has advanced… so I will make an updated version of Top 20 Most Wanted Boyfriends and Top 10/20 Kpop music videos.
• WordPress changed… I’ll be giving you some of my thoughts on this.
• Aaaannnnddddd maybe some gossip I’ll share.

heh. okey dokey. so tonight will begin my blogging marathon again!! wahaha.

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NSLI-Y KOREA 2011: Adventures + “Itaewon Freedom”

While I was in Korea, an opportunity came up to judge an English Speech Contest at Dongguk University.  Audra, Hannah, and I decided to participate as judges for this contest since we are all native speakers of English.  Before we went, they wanted to find the Block B building… I didn’t really want to go because it was heavily raining, but I went anyway since we were all going to the same place in the afternoon.

Okay, the Block B adventure went miserably.

First, we had been walking for nearly 30 minutes when the rain was too hard to bear.  I had an umbrella… and my shirt was soaked with rain water… Also, I was wearing heels… IN THE RAIN (I later found out that my heels… stained my foot!  I had black strap marks all over my foot-).  When we finally decided to take a cab, the cab driver was rude!  He took one look at the paper and said no.  After getting out of the cab, we walked some more… before we called another cab.  It turned out that the address that they were looking for was to the Block B dormitories, not the company building.  So we were in a shady spot, with lots of rain, and creeped out by the fact that we were at the Block B dormitories.

After realizing this, we took another cab back to the subway station and headed to Dongguk.  The Speech Contest was pretty fun and interesting… the Korean university students there were really friendly with us.  ^^  The snacks and drinks were also good.

When we were leaving, we met this guy, John Park- he was quite a character.  haha~  He was talking about how he hated his name and that he was always made fun of for it because it wasn’t very Korean.  And then he asked me if a “john” was also a toilet in America because he had heard that it was… I literally “lol-ed” at that. 🙂

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The following day, I met up with Shoshana and our Korean friend from last year, Dongyoon (we met her last year at the MIZY Center during the Shoes of Hope activity).  We decided to meet up in Itaewon.  Now, I had heard many bad things about Itaewon… but hey, it was worth a try going there and seeing the place for myself.  It also happened to be Dongyoon’s first time in Itaewon as well.  Besides, we were going there during the day- it gets really dangerous there at night.

When I first arrived at the subway station… I noticed the amount of foreigners there.  There were A LOT of black, hispanic, white, and middle eastern people-

As we walked to our destination, a Muslim Mosque, I noticed that many Arabs were scattered around on the streets.  And the men stared at us too, which was quite disturbing and uncomfortable.

At the Mosque, we had to wear these long, pale green skirts to cover our legs.  We also were not allowed into the Mosque because we were women.  There was a women’s Mosque downstairs but we did not feel like going in.  We also met a tour guide that talked about the Mosque to these two Americans, so we joined in on their tour.  The Arab guide was fluent in both Arabic, Korean, and English!  Sugoi!

After we left the Mosque, we had a late lunch at an Asian restaurant (Viet and Thai food maybe?).  There was a multitude of foreign restaurants to choose from, but we wanted Asian food.  And when I say a multitude of foreign restaurants, I mean A LOT- they were everywhere from French cuisine to Mexican cuisine.  After lunch, we walked around the streets of Itaewon, got some Patbingsu at Paris Baguette, and called it a day.  It was getting late, around 4ish?  Yea, that’s late in Itaewon…

Itaewon has some nice houses and apartments!

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Two nights later, Shoshana, some friends, and I went to this traditional Korean music show called Dulsori at the National Theater of Korea.  She met this guy on the subway who turned out to be an actor in this show and he gave her 2 free tickets to the show- so we went!  It was quite an interesting music show because it was all based off of rhythm and traditional instruments.  It was a great show and after the performance, many fans were outside (still) cheering.  The guy that Shoshana met was really friendly and took time out of his fan sign to greet us and take a picture with us.  It was fantastic!

The show ended around 9 p.m. and as we walked back to the subway station, we passed by Dongguk University.  We walked around Dongguk for a little bit before deciding to get some patbingsu at Red Mango.  We ordered a Mango Patbingsu- nomnomnom~

That night, I got home REALLY late.  I was worried that the transportation would be closed!  I got to the bus station at 11 p.m. and arrived home at 11:30 p.m. 😦

It was a close call.

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