goa_entranced

Here are five common American gestures that will get you into hot water in foreign countries.

1. Watch Your Fingers in Italy

We were on our way to Rome after days of hiking the Cinque Terre. As we walked through the train looking for our seats, Kati kept complaining about her mosquito bites. People stopped mid-conversation to give us dirty looks, turning and whispering to each other.

I couldn’t understand this open hostility. Was it that obvious we were Americans? What were we doing wrong?

As I turned to ask my friend what she thought about about the glares, I caught her scratching a nasty bite on her chin, flicking her fingers in a backwards wave from her neck. I grabbed her hand and shuffled, embarrassed, toward our seats. It all began to make sense.

To an American, Kati had just been scratching her chin. To an Italian, she was giving them the equivalent of the middle finger.

2. Don’t Tell Them to Come Hither in Japan.

I tried teaching English in Japan for a couple years, and was trying hard to keep up with Japanese gestures. One day I beckoned for a student with my index finger. Her mouth dropped open and other students stared.

While in America the “come hither” finger is a perfectly acceptable way to ask someone to come to you, in Japan it’s a highly offensive gesture. I later learned that this gesture isn’t welcome in most Asian countries, and symbolizes death in Singapore.

The Japanese way to beckon someone looks like an American wave, palm out and fingers waving down.

3. Keep Your Thumbs Down in the Middle East

A friend of mine was once bargaining for trinkets at a street market in Iran, negotiating for a decent price. Although they couldn’t speak the same language, he and the storekeeper were having an agreeable exchange…until one good ol’ American gesture got him into trouble.

After they agreed on a price, he gave the shopkeeper a hearty thumbs-up. The shopkeeper’s brow crinkled in confusion, then he muttered something in Farsi before turning away. My friend was baffled until a fellow traveler leaned over and told him that his hand gesture signified that the shopkeeper could stick his price where the sun don’t shine.

In certain parts of the Middle East, thumbs-up is definitely a highly-offensive thumbs-down.

4. Order Beer With Words in England.

Along the same lines as the Middle Eastern thumbs-up is the English backwards peace sign (your index and middle finger held up with your palm facing toward you). It means the same thing as giving the middle finger in America, and will get you in trouble with the bartender faster than you can say “Cheerio!”

If the pub is loud and crowded, shout your order for two beers over the din rather than raising two fingers.

5. Is It OK to Use the OK Sign?

Many parts of the world interpret a circle made with the index finger and thumb, with the three remaining fingers up as “OK.” But some places see it a little differently.

In Japan, this gesture stands for “money.” In France it means “zero” or “worthless.” In Venezuela and Turkey, gesturing to someone in this way implies that they are a homosexual. And in Brazil, the OK sign is the same as an Italian chin flick.

Community Connection

If you’re stressed out about going to someplace new and inadvertently insulting the locals, don’t worry too much. No one will expect you to know everything about their culture, and people will laugh off your mistakes.

The crucial things are to respect obvious local customs, try to learn some of the language and most importantly, keep smiling!

Breaking News! An Australian has been deported from Dubai after flipping the bird in traffic. Watch those fingers, everyone.

Feature photo: Lorri37

Worldhum.com recently republished one of my favorite essays – Why We Travel by Pico Iyer – as part of their 8th anniversary celebration.

The essay is an absolute masterwork.

Why We Travel elucidates the inner journey of travel in Iyer’s classic style of lyrical juxtaposition.

Where There Be Dragons

Here’s an excerpt:

The sovereign freedom of traveling comes from the fact that it whirls you around and turns you upside down, and stands everything you took for granted on its head. If a diploma can famously be a passport (to a journey through hard realism), a passport can be a diploma (for a crash course in cultural relativism). And the first lesson we learn on the road, whether we like it or not, is how provisional and provincial are the things we imagine to be universal.

Isn’t that a fabulous quote? The whole essay is even better.

For years, some Where There Be Dragons programs have used Why We Travel as the first reading assignment, simply because it captures the magic of exploration so well.

If you haven’t read Why We Travel yet, read it now. If you have read it, read it again.

And while you’re at Worldhum, make sure to say congrats to Jim and Mike for eight – !!! 8 !!! – years of publishing fantastic travel stories.

I give Mercer’s report on the Best Places to Live in 2009 a massive yawn.

Photo: mbell1975

Business Week features photos of ordered, neat, European urban-scapes: stoic cathedrals coupled with familiar brand names, skyscrapers, all the tidiness of money and “civilization.” Buildings are clean and quaintly historic, skies are blue, rivers are strategically running past postcard-friendly architecture.

Bravo. And?

The Mercer reports essentially calculate the “quality of life” in cities where companies are thinking of sending their workers. New York is the base city for all the reports–it’s given an index score of 100 and all other cities are judged around that.

The factors considered in Mercer rankings include:

Infrastructure: electricity, water, postal services, transportation, etc…

Cost/Quality of Living: how extravagant of a lifestyle can you get on a decent budget?

Accessibility: How close is the nearest international airport? How frequent/reasonably priced are flights?

Crime rates and economic and political stability: Are you going to have to worry about getting kicked out by a coup? Pick-pocketed on the subway?

There’s nothing wrong with these calculations, and they certainly do pick out safe, highly organized and developed cities.

…but….and in this but lies, in my opinion, everything fantastic about travel…

These are places where you can get all the luxuries of the modern corporate lifestyle for relatively cheap, where it pays the most to have bought into this whole vision of globalization that judges quality of life based more on Starbucks and tidiness than on…human connections? Bustling communities? Diversity?

Call me highly impractical and romantic, but I think quality of life should be a helluva lot more than this. For as great as these cities may be–and some of them are amazing and surely wonderful places to live–I think these criteria mostly reflect an expat culture that demands imported French wines and fully furnished apartments at a steal in whatever outpost the company has most recently invaded.

And I find that, besides being somewhat sad, incredibly boring.

My criteria for the best places to live in 2009 would be:

1) A thriving coffee culture.

2) People who still love and care about and grow their own food.

3) Public places that are alive and teeming with activity. People who meet in these places.

4) A certain degree of unpredictability– non-conformity and non-uniformity. Can you find noodle shops or clandestine Nigerian record stores somewhere? Might you stumble across something unplanned, unprecedented, spontaneous, unruly?

I could go on and on…but I’m more interested in seeing what you all would use to judge “quality of life” in a place. If you had to rate the best/worst places to live in 2009, what would your criteria be?

Korean culture has survived for 5,000 years, despite the best efforts by hostile neighbors to stomp it out. If you know and respect Korean culture you will get much more out of your time in Korea.

1. KIMCHI IS CULTURE!

Photo: Nagyman

Kimchi is sliced cabbage, fermented with red chili sauce and anchovy paste. It is pungent, spicy, and sour. Koreans love it and eat it with every meal – usually on the side – though they also use it as an ingredient in countless other dishes.

Kimchi is symbolic of Korean culture: it’s strong, distinctive, and defiant. Some foreigners can’t stomach it, but if you can, you will earn the locals’ heartfelt respect.

2. SHOES OFF!

When entering a Korean home, you must remove your shoes. To do any less is a sign of great disrespect.

Photo: ilya_ktsn

Koreans have a special relationship with their floor, on which they sit and often sleep. A dirty floor is intolerable in a Korean home, and they view Westerners as backward savages for remaining shod in our living rooms.

3. SOJU!

Korea is a drinking culture, and their national booze is soju, a clear, vodka-like drink.

Photo: rtclauss

Soju is drunk out of shot glasses, and like all liquor in Korea, it’s always served with food. Koreans drink in boisterous groups, regularly clinking glasses, while shouting geonbae! (cheers) and one shot-uh!

At night you will see men coming out of norae bang (karaoke rooms) and staggering through the streets, laughing, singing and arguing. Just be sure to avoid the puddles of reddish-vomit often left behind, which are also known as kimchi flowers.

Koreans have strict drinking etiquette: never pour your own drink, and when pouring for someone older than you, put one hand to your heart or your pouring arm as a sign of respect.

4. RICE!

Like the Japanese, the Koreans eat rice with almost every meal. It’s so ingrained in their culture that one of their most common greetings is Bap meogeosseoyo?, or ‘Have you eaten rice?”

Unlike the Japanese, Koreans usually eat their rice with a spoon, and they never raise the rice bowl off of the table towards their mouths.

Also, chopsticks must never be left sticking out of the rice bowl, as this resembles the way rice is offered to the dead.

5. DO NOT SMILE!

Koreans are a warm and generous people, but you would never know it from the sourpusses they paste on in public.

Photo: aplomb

Sometimes, the chaotic streets of the peninsula resemble a sea of scowls, with everyone literally putting their most stern faces forward. This is NOT true of the children however, who will invariably grin and laugh while shouting “Hello! Hello!”

6. BEWARE OF ELBOWS!

Korea is a crowded country. It’s a cluster of stony mountains with only a few valleys and plains on which to build.

The result is a lot of people in small spaces, and folks will not think twice about pushing and jostling in order to get onto a bus, into an elevator, or to those perfect onions at the market.

Don’t even bother with “excuse me,” and beware of the older women, known as ajumma. They’re deadly.

7. PROTESTS!

South Koreans fought hard to achieve the democratic society they now enjoy, and are among the top in the world when it comes to exercising their right to protest.

Dissent is alive and well. Koreans protest with frequency and they protest with fervor – on all sides of the political spectrum.

Photo: rabble

Protesters employ a variety of methods, from the violent (angry students regularly attack riot police with huge metal rods), to the absurd (cutting off fingers, throwing animal dung, covering themselves in bees).

8. HIKING!

As Korea is mountainous, it should come as no surprise that hiking is the national pastime.

Even the most crowded of cities have mountains that offer a relative haven from the kinetic madness of the streets below.

Photo: xiaojiecha

Koreans are at their best on the mountain. They smile and greet you and will often insist on sharing their food and drink. Make sure to stop at a mountain hut restaurant for pajeon (fritter) and dong dong ju (rice wine).

9. BOW-WOW!

Yes, some Koreans do eat dog meat, despite some sporadic attempts by the government to shut down the boshingtang (dog meat soup) restaurants, in order to improve the country’s “international image.”

Dog meat is mainly consumed during the summer and by men, who claim that it does wonders for stamina.

10. NATIONALISM!

Koreans are an extremely proud people, and sometimes this pride transforms into white-hot nationalism.

You see this nationalism displayed at sporting events, where thousands of Korean fans cheer their national teams on in unison, banging on drums and waving massive flags.

This nationalism especially comes to a boil whenever Japan is mentioned, as Japan has invaded them several times, and occupied Korea as a colony for almost the first half of the 20th century, decimating the country’s resources and conscripting thousands of their women as sex slaves.

Finally, please remember the two following things:

To a Korean, there is no such thing as The Sea of Japan. The body of water between Korea and Japan is known only as the East Sea.

Also, Koreans fervently believe that Dokdo – the disputed islets between Korea and Japan (known in Japan as Takeshima) – belong only to Korea.

It would be most unwise to attempt to disagree with either of these points, as Koreans don’t consider them up for debate.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION!

Who the heck wrote this piece? Check out a profile of the author:

Introducing: An Olympian Travel Writer In South Korea

For the lowdown on finding work in Korea, read How To Get A Job Teaching In South Korea.

Photo: satbir

I’ll be honest.

For a long time – over a year – I received e-mail updates from Glimpse.org and archived each and every one of them without going to the website.

Tonight, jet-lagged and on fast internet for the first time in months, I decided to give Glimpse another look, and I’ve got one word for you:

Wow.

OK, here are a few more words about Glimpse.

The site layout is clean, attractive and much easier to navigate than it was the last time I visited.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a feature article by Matador Abroad co-editor Sarah Menkedick on the front page. Since the article was originally published back in 2007, it shows that Glimpse is doing a good job of dredging the best content from their archives and placing it where you can easily find it.

Read: Alan the Afrikaner (Who May Not Be The Racist Pig I Took Him For)

Student Travel (Mostly)

Glimpse was originally geared towards young people with interest in study abroad. Although it’s still geared towards students, travelers of any age can appreciate the feature articles and social aspects of the community. In fact, it seems like the new Glimpse, with its emphasis on user-generated and professionally edited content, is a lot like Matador.

Correspondents Program

Now this is cool. The Glimpse Correspondents Program is a $600 grant that any North American between 18 and 30 who is traveling abroad for more than 10 weeks can apply for. Along with the money comes a professional editor who will work with you to produce top-quality articles and multi-media – a great platform for launching a travel writing career.

National Geographic Approved

When I see the National Geographic logo, I know I’m looking at quality. Glimpse is supported by National Geographic. ‘Nuf said.

Have you checked out Glimpse recently?

What do you think of the site? Please leave a comment below.

Yesterday I took a bath with a cherry blossom bath bomb.

It was a rainy day in Japan.

Photo: Sarah Menkedick

I work a mad Monday-Friday 7-7 schedule, between the commute and a lunch “hour” that inevitably turns into a photocopying extravaganza with bites of supermarket sushi thrown in. Don’t get me wrong—I’m enjoying the job, my colleagues are great, and I seem to constantly be throwing myself into situations in which I’m over-stimulated, over-caffinated, and operating on a massive adrenaline rush.

But that said, work only leaves me Saturday and Sunday to explore Japan, and those two days seem like a giant candy store of possibilities. Orchid garden? Comic book café? Train to the countryside?

Yesterday, the candy store was closed. It rained. Poured. A friend and I tried to go out exploring, but peering at driving rain through an umbrella with wet shoes and wetter pants didn’t turn out to be an illuminating experience. So I sat in my apartment virtually all afternoon, feeling guilty for being closed off in my little bubble on my one free day, while Japan went on being Japan outside.

And then I took a bath with a cherry blossom bath bomb. Sakura is the Japanese term for cherry blossoms. The water turned a satiny pink. I sunk into the deep bathtub, the sides going up past my chin, and thought about Japan, travel guilt, and details.

It’s obvious that the best way to get to know a place is to roam around, see things, talk to people, eat things, be out and about and, in a word—immersed. And it’s natural for travelers to feel a sort of guilt for not doing so, or for not doing enough or doing it in the right way.

Yet at the same time, so much of a place seeps into a traveler through osmosis, through the slightest details that jar one’s memory years down the line.

Photo: Sarah Menkedick

I thought about this in the bath. The shower in my Japanese apartment is softly lit and perfectly designed, closed off from the rest of the apartment by folding glass doors. The bathtub is deep, like traditional Japanese baths. The room fills up with steam as the bath is filling. That day, the steam mixed with the fragile scent of sakura petals.

Japan’s in my bathtub, I thought. Yes, I’d love to be able to walk around and roam into temples and yakitori bars, but Japan is here, too. In the details. In smells and bath bombs and the depth of the tub. In the view from my balcony and the smell that hits me when I open the door and step outside—the smell of trees, with industrial overtones and hints of Asian spices.

Photo: Sarah Menkedick

All of this is part of what attaches me to this place and teaches me about it. And it’s not so much about doing what I think I should be doing—chasing the shoulds and the pressure and the guilt—as it is about creating the mental space to see.

How do you do it, travelers? What are the details, unexpected or sought out, that have etched out places for you?