Wierd things in Korea (in no particular order):
1. This guy who rides around on a red bike with red flashing lights on the back, dressed all in red, with a red helmet that also has red flashing lights on it, speakers softly playing a patriotic korean song while he belts the words out along with it.
2. The 'paper cups' you get at water coolers are not cups, they are little pockets, like two pieces of paper stuck together.
3. the complete lack of toilet paper in 75% of public facilities.
4. our apartment repair man who considers himself my uncle, as he is 40 years older than me, and who makes sure that I understand he can fix anything.
5. The children who go out of their way to talk to, meet, and touch strangers. This is especialy true when said stranger is english (Hello, hello, hello x 50) and unshaved (5 year old child tries to feel my face... a little bit freaky the first time).
6. Taxi drivers: Crazy. Bus Drivers: Crazy. There is a saying here, that "Korea is the only first world country where you can get hit by a truck as you walk down the sidewalk". Last week, I nearly got hit by a truck on the sidewalk.
7. The korean obsession with videogames far outrivals anything at home. But not new games; mostly Starcraft, Counterstrike, MapleStory, WarCraftIII, and wierd online games. (not exclusively, just lots of them)
8. KimChi - Honestly who ferments cabbage? (I hope that doesn't offend anyone)
9. Walking down a market street to see whole, severed, pig's heads on sale. Right next to pig guts... nearly threw up.
10. There are stand up buses, and sit down buses. They charge you more for sit down buses, naturally.
11. Everything here is double packaged; you buy a box of cookies, and inside the box are individually (or dually) wrapped cookies. This is especially wierd given the korean obsession with recycling.
12. Sizes: Some things are ridiculously small, others huge. You can't buy one clove of garlic, or two, you have to buy at least 5, and thats only like a quarter. Same with onions, minimum purchase: 10-20 (your lucky to get them that small).
13. Cake sauce = pancake syrup
14. Lots of hotdogs, we have yet to see hotdog buns that are not filled with jam or whip cream (as adessert)
15. Strangers you have never met asking you to teach them english, everywhere. They all know it is illegal, but they assure you they are trustworthy.
16. Samples in supermarkets... you may be used to safeway or Costco on a lazy sunday afternoon. Slowly looking at things, trying the food, getting a free lunch... here we have agressive salespeople giving out free samples at the top of their lungs, shoving them in your face, and if you buy them, your likely to get a whole bunch free (at least if your white you are).
17. The incredibly overdone service industry. At some public parkades not only do they have someone in the booth to ask questions just in case the automatic ticket thing doesn't work, they also have someone who does a little dance to usher in you inside. In supermarkets there is nearly one person per aisle who just stands around waiting to help people.
I think thats all for now. Things are going fairly well out here in korea. We have settled in, and are enjoying ourselves. Our laptop is on the way, should be here tommorow or monday. Sager NP3790, 2.0ghz Petium M Dothan. Nice machine.
1. This guy who rides around on a red bike with red flashing lights on the back, dressed all in red, with a red helmet that also has red flashing lights on it, speakers softly playing a patriotic korean song while he belts the words out along with it.
2. The 'paper cups' you get at water coolers are not cups, they are little pockets, like two pieces of paper stuck together.
3. the complete lack of toilet paper in 75% of public facilities.
4. our apartment repair man who considers himself my uncle, as he is 40 years older than me, and who makes sure that I understand he can fix anything.
5. The children who go out of their way to talk to, meet, and touch strangers. This is especialy true when said stranger is english (Hello, hello, hello x 50) and unshaved (5 year old child tries to feel my face... a little bit freaky the first time).
6. Taxi drivers: Crazy. Bus Drivers: Crazy. There is a saying here, that "Korea is the only first world country where you can get hit by a truck as you walk down the sidewalk". Last week, I nearly got hit by a truck on the sidewalk.
7. The korean obsession with videogames far outrivals anything at home. But not new games; mostly Starcraft, Counterstrike, MapleStory, WarCraftIII, and wierd online games. (not exclusively, just lots of them)
8. KimChi - Honestly who ferments cabbage? (I hope that doesn't offend anyone)
9. Walking down a market street to see whole, severed, pig's heads on sale. Right next to pig guts... nearly threw up.
10. There are stand up buses, and sit down buses. They charge you more for sit down buses, naturally.
11. Everything here is double packaged; you buy a box of cookies, and inside the box are individually (or dually) wrapped cookies. This is especially wierd given the korean obsession with recycling.
12. Sizes: Some things are ridiculously small, others huge. You can't buy one clove of garlic, or two, you have to buy at least 5, and thats only like a quarter. Same with onions, minimum purchase: 10-20 (your lucky to get them that small).
13. Cake sauce = pancake syrup
14. Lots of hotdogs, we have yet to see hotdog buns that are not filled with jam or whip cream (as adessert)
15. Strangers you have never met asking you to teach them english, everywhere. They all know it is illegal, but they assure you they are trustworthy.
16. Samples in supermarkets... you may be used to safeway or Costco on a lazy sunday afternoon. Slowly looking at things, trying the food, getting a free lunch... here we have agressive salespeople giving out free samples at the top of their lungs, shoving them in your face, and if you buy them, your likely to get a whole bunch free (at least if your white you are).
17. The incredibly overdone service industry. At some public parkades not only do they have someone in the booth to ask questions just in case the automatic ticket thing doesn't work, they also have someone who does a little dance to usher in you inside. In supermarkets there is nearly one person per aisle who just stands around waiting to help people.
I think thats all for now. Things are going fairly well out here in korea. We have settled in, and are enjoying ourselves. Our laptop is on the way, should be here tommorow or monday. Sager NP3790, 2.0ghz Petium M Dothan. Nice machine.
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if we are still talking