Today's Korea Times newspaper published this photo as front-page news, with no accompanying article. A westerner looks at the photo, wonders why it rates front-page status (above the fold, no less!). The first thing I noticed was the high quality of the photo, and the bright colors. Then I saw the red circles that the editors had photoshopped in to the photo, drawing our attention to something notable. To a Korean viewer, that something is unthinkable: he is wearing SHOES IN THE HOUSE. I asked several of my Korean students what they would think of someone who would wear shoes in the house. They responded, repeatedly: "It would never happen." No, really, what would you think of such a person? "It would never happen." Then one student noted that on Korean dramas, the bad guy usually storms into the house with shoes on... just another marker of how bad he is.
Log of our travels and thoughts.