Korean Job Discussion Forums

[earthbound14]

So I took a bus home from Gwangju after a wedding. All the family was aboard and it was a very merry affair.

The bus had subs under the seats, disco lights and mid range speakers mounted above every second seat. The system was bumpin.

Trott music was played at max volume while drunken ajuma and ajoshi got their groove on. The bus was shakin, bouncin and all round buzzin.

The sound system in this bus would have made young high school kids from back home drool.

Funny thing tough, it was the old white hairs that were partying and the youngins hung out quietly in the back watching the madness (kinda like profs who have taken the bus with their students on some weekend uni event). At one point during a rest stop some people switched from one of the other buses in out fleet and their were no more seats. The old people were yelling and cussin up a storm.

"Let's get this party started it's not like any of us are going to sit anyway!!!"

One highschool boy sat and covered his ears the entire trip and one young mother had to ask them to turn the music down just a little bit. An old dude with a cane in one hand and a bottle of soju in the other kept trying to dance in the moving bus (very amusing). Another ajuma who had a few too many was easy prey for a ajoshi keen to get a little more....if ya know what I mean (I had to work hard not to burst out laughing).

Basically they swore, played loud music, danced, drank too much, made a mess, were disrespectful and got jiggy with each other.....like university students.

Korean elderly are completely off their rocker.

Did I mention this was a 5 hour trip? I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh my arse off or contemplate suicide...You can't make this stuff up.

Good times in the land of Kims.

[IlIlNine]

I personally think it's fantastic.

After leading hard lives where their destiny was pretty much set in stone, they now have the opportunity to kick back and party! Hey, they made their sons (who are all now successful), what else do they have to worry about (certainly not a bunch of whippersnappers...) ?

You should be happy that they've finally realized how to loosen up. Too bad it happens so late in life here, if it happens at all.

The best thing to do is just boogie down with them. It's good times.

[cdninkorea]

Well, my guess is that when those people were young, they had little freedom to do what they wanted party-wise: no DVD bangs, no Hongdae club nights, no love motels, and no late nights (on account of the military curfew). Now that they're old they can finally party.

That's my theory, anyway. Thoughts?

[harlowethrombey]

[Xuanzang]

Was it Taxi cab music?

[JongnoGuru]

[earthbound14]

I think in Korea the idea of having fun once you retire is beyond frantic. With the way the country has developed, none of these people had time to do what they wanted, it was always for the good of the country or the company (they always had to sneak around in order to get it done or find some interesting excuses..."It was business honey I really did need to look at *beep* tonight."). There are those hard nose Confucius rules that pretty much beat the young down and it just seems to be an Asian thing were you can do what ever you like once you have done your duty to society. In India the elderly get to smoke as much weed as they want and get to be like Sadhu. Once their children are married off they are off the hook. In Korea the elderly reserve the right to party any time any where and cuss you out just for being young.

I hope I have as much piss and vinegar as those old folks on the bus when I'm their age, but at the same time I like my western way of having done things. I did all the fun stuff when I was at the right age to really enjoy it....of course now I have a future of being a highly respectable, mature, grumpy old man with nothing left to look forward to but death....

[Draz]

How do I make sure that I don't end up on one of those buses when I go to Gwangju this weekend? (Don't say take the KTX.)

[trish91198]

i think in awesome! party on ajumma!

[Draz]

[Xuanzang]

[sulperman]

If you want to have the most bizarre time of your life, get an older Korean to take you to an Ajumma/Ajosshi booking club/cabaret. Maybe if there is an older bus driver at your school who likes to drink, ask them to bring you. Thats how I ended up at one.

You will not believe how wild the old people get. Its like a mosh pit in the dancing area. A lot of people were in their 60s or 70s and getting WILD.

I am serious, in three years it was my best/most amazing experience.

Do it!

[NightSky]

sadly, it seems to be that they do not know to have a good time if it doesn't involve alcohol and noise--lots of both. there is a desperation among people here, a fear of being alone, a fear of silence--and it seems to be magnified among the elderly. perhaps they associate silence with death, rather than with peace.

[cdninkorea]

[IlIlNine]