First, I ran into a real WTH?!??!?! moment. I was supposed to go on a date yesterday with a girl I'm interested in (we arn't quite BF/GF yet), but it was Lunar New Year's Day itself. We knew we were cutting things kinda close and that stuff was likely going to be closed, so the fact that everything WAS closed didn't really upset me. After all LNY is one of the big family holidays here in Korea, and I've bitched for years about how nothing in the States shuts down on the family holidays. I think its important that employees of those businesses be able to spend time with their families too, and given that most of our holidays are religious oriented, to worship freely as they desire to as well. Given my stance on that, it would have been a little hypcritical of me to be upset when stuff wasn't open here.
No, what got my goat was the ATM's. Here in Korea, they make a big deal out of the fact that ATM's are banking 24/7/365. And you can literally do everything you can do in the bank at an ATM. Pull out money, transfer money, pay bills, convert currencies (at some banks) etc etc etc. So anyway, I need to get out some money, and I went to my bank. There are 6 ATM's there. It was 1030 in the morning. NONE OF THE ATM'S WOULD LET ME PULL OUT MONEY!! There wasn't even the option for a withdrawal available on the screen! I found one that had the option available, so I used it, but I had to pull out 1 million won (equiv of about 1000 dollars). So I did that, BUT IT ISSUED IT TO ME IN A CHECK!!! GAH!!! Check's spend like regular cash here in Korea, so its not a problem I can still use it, but I needed the cash for cab fares and potentially lunch at a restaurant. A thousand bucks is a little much for uses such as that. So I'm seriously like WTH? Why do you even bother having the ATM's open if you arn't going to let them do their primary function????? Seriously, this just kinda blew my mind. For the most part, I love living here in Korea. There are parts of it that drive me insane though. Especially the logic that they use in some situations....trying to figure it out makes me go crosseyed.
Second, I was at a teacher's fellowship at the school I'll be going to in March. I go to church with most of the staff there, which is basically how I ended up getting on staff at that school. We were having a good time and all, and I was playing rummy with a few of my good friends from church. One of the elders, who's also currently the principal at the school decided he needed to get on his high horse about cards for some reason. Apparently, for whatever reason we shouldn't be playing cards. Didn't give us a reason, just that it was bad, and alot of people frowned on playing cards. I'm like, um, is there some reason that we shouldn't be playing cards? Do they stand for something I'm not aware of? I'm a recent convert, you have to understand. I was raised Catholic, and was personally saved less than a year ago. Since then, I've been studying Scripture alot, and have had some good mentors at my church. But seriously, cards? Not only are cards never mentioned in the Scripture (cause they probably didn't exist), but I can't see how playing a game with them would be wrong. I know that there was some symbology behind them when they were first made hundreds of years ago, but that was then. I could care less what they meant then, cause they carry no meaning now. Its simply a tool you use to play games! And its not like we were playing for money, or even playing a gambling style game with chips....we were playing RUMMY (Liverpool Rummy if you're interested). It would have been no different than if we were playing Phase 10, just with a different deck of cards! I could understand if we were playing something with a deck of tarot cards or something, but we weren't. So anyway, we kept doing what we were doing, but man it seriously pissed me off. Like I said in my last post, individual things like playing cards, drinking (in moderation, no more than a drink or two), reading, playing computer games, or for those of us in our lifestyle wearing diapers I don't think are inherently evil or fleshly because they are tools that we use. Its how we use them. Can cards be evil? Yes, if their used to strip a person of his earnings that he worked hard for so that he can't meet his financial obligations. Yes, if it interferes with his family life or relationship with God. But, No, if its a means of sharing time with friends and family in a fun atmosphere!
Thanks for putting up with my rant! :-)
I totally agree with you there. Sometimes people get stuck on small stuff and miss the big picture. It kinda annoys me when it happens mostly because it usually happens when someone is being proud or over zealous, in which case they are not likely to admit their wrong or try to understand why. I've heard of some people, back in the day, who where raising issue with allowing pianos in the church. their reason: pianos are used in bars and other unsavory locations. they would allow the lifestyles of others to dictate their behavior, rather than attempt to influence others through their example. Just because a tool can be used for evil doesn't mean it cant be used for good in the right hands, and I'm sure God appreciates the praise of a pianist just as much as any other musician. Honestly not a huge deal all in all, but when clergy and elders do it its annoying, just because they, of all people should lead by example.
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