Yesterday, on the subway, I saw my first left-handed Korean.
I'm sure there have been others, but I know it's exceedingly rare. I was teaching here for over two years, and never saw a student writing with his or her left hand. The pressure toward social conformity is very great, even in the pre-school and kindergarten years when things like what hand one writes with are established.
But on the subway, yesterday, there was a young woman writing diligently in a notebook with her left hand. I felt this startling feeling of recognition, and then a weird kinship with her. Totally unjustified, I'm sure.
Koreans sometimes notice that I'm left handed, and although they're clearly not offended by it, they nevertheless seem to find it even more alien than, for example, my bluish eyes.
So, anyway. Today, I'm going to Geumsansa, which is a major temple complex a few hours south of here that's important historically and that's also important to contemporary Korean Buddhism.