Ajumi

Ajumi is the plural for an ajuma. An Ajuma is Korean for a married woman but it's in your best interest to avoid being hit to not to use this term for anyone younger than forty. Ajumi can be the nicest or evilest of people you will meet in Korea and tend to have many similar characteristics.

The look of an ajuma is easy to spot. They tend to have tight curly perms and their uniform is a floral shirt matched with a pair of comfortable pants. They are easy to spot because they travel in packs and will never stand behind you in line. If you are waiting for the next subway they have the sharpest elbows in the world and will sneak past you no matter how hard you try to keep them at bay. They also have impeccable aim and will throw their purses to lay claim to any empty seat available in the rare case they are behind you when entering a train or bus.

Once seated they will then quickly get a sense of the environment by staring (and I mean full on staring) at everyone around them. If there happens to be a drunk, or a crazy person, near them who is disrupting the atmosphere on the train they have magic powers that puts that person in check. It's an awesome sight to see.

If there is a toddler nearby, ajumi will volunteer to hold the kid and if the kid is unwilling out comes candy from their all important purse. (I've also been given candy from ajumi multiple times.) Because they have given everyone around a once over any flaw they see they will go about fixing the problem. On two separate occasions yesterday I saw ajumi pick stray hairs off the backs of unsuspecting strangers without their knowledge.

The scary side of the ajumi comes out when they go shopping. Give them a shopping cart and you will be run down if you are unlucky enough to be in the way of a sale. If no sale exists they will bargain to get the cheapest deal available. They are also scary when they are out drinking for the night. This usually only happens on rare occasions and they make the best of it. They love to eat, sing and dance.

When they head out to eat they make sure to hand feed anyone else looking hungry. They sing oldies but goodies and have a special dance where their thumbs, bums and heads to most of the work. Don't worry about them getting drunk though. They will drink anyone under the table and are often seen carrying their husbands home on their backs while yelling at them.

Sadly, I believe they are a dying breed. The next generation of ajumi are very conscious of their appearances and with plastic surgery being more of a right of passage than a trend new ajumi will stay young forever. Long live the ajumi.