Thursday 27 September 2012

(Day 69) Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center-day 56 C-27

sit-ups push-ups chairlifts
2 x 50 5 x 35, 1 x 30 2 x 35, 1 x 30

Breakfast 2 hard boiled eggs
vegmil soy drink
caramel flavoured bread
Lunch rice
kimchi
bean sprouts and crab meat
chicken soup
Dinnerrice
kimchi
spicy seafood with veggies
tofu and veggies in hot water

Less than four weeks ago...

Nothing happened today. The Russian kid is still here, the Chinese walks still walks too much, the Chinese who yells is incapable of talking quietly. Actually, all the Chinese are incapable talking quietly. There are now 15 people in the room, eight of them are Chinese. The Filipino is supposed to be going home in four days. After he leaves, I'll be the only person who speaks English in this room.

The Korean word for underwear regardless of gender, is 'panties.' Hearing grown men talking about their panties is hilarious. The Korean word for the sport of boxing is also 'boxing' but the word 'boxers' doesn't seem to have entered the Korean lexicon like 'panties.' Boxers are also called panties and so are jockey shorts. There is no distinction accept a between female panties and male panties.

We had an exercise period today since it was Thursday. However, the weather has begun to get colder so I, and others, would rather stay inside, read, nap or watch TV than stand around outside twiddling our thumbs. No one ever does any exercise anyway, they just gossip, but nothing ever really happens (no dead Mongolians this week), so there really isn't anything to gossip about.

One of today's new detainees is a Thai. He got busted anything along with 30 other Thais. They all got sent home to Thailand, but he was sent here because he didn't have a passport. I guess the real moral of this story is don't be hanging out at any singing rooms if you don't have a valid visa. And if you don't have a valid visa, at least have a valid passport or you'll find yourself sure your room with 8 Chinese men and a Russian boy.

Sometimes, the going-ons here are like scenes from a keystone cops movie. Some dude in the cell next to ours started banging on the walls. One of the Chinese banged on the wall in reply. The banging from the other side got louder. The Chinese banged on his wall louder. This went on for several minutes, finally ending with the Chinese cursing at the offender. I told him to stop-- his banging only encouraged more banging, but this was lost in translation and it fell on deaf ears. This is the same Chinese dude took the remote control away because he wanted to watch his show. At that time, he was spouting Chinese at me making some gestures with his hands. I just mocked and mirrored him with the same gestures, which pissed him off and caused him to confiscate the remote.

Now, don't I feel like a total tool. The Chinese who walks and seems to spend a lot of time scowling at me just offered some of his snacks. If I was Christian, I'd be suffering from some old fashion Christian guilt right now, but I'm not, so I'm just suffering from plain old normal guilt... Me, being all judgmental and what do I really know? Nothing. I've learned absolutely nothing. Maybe this will teach me, but probably not. I'll make the same foolish mistake again someday.

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