This will be the final post in the blog series about my dad being in Korea. He helped me to write some of this before he left and it took me a few days to finalize it. Enjoy...
It was fun to see Korea through my dad's eyes. He did a great job of embracing a new culture and being observant of the differences between life back home in America and life in Korea. After you've lived in a place for a while you start to become desensitized to its intricacies, so it was fun to be reminded of various and unique aspects of Korea. Here are a few things he noticed that were different:
1. U Turns happen everywhere and all the time while driving.
2. You park wherever you want (sidewalks, made up spaces, in front of other cars, etc).
3. Stopping at red lights can be optional (and the orientation of the light itself is different too). To quote my dad, "There are some lights you obey and some you don't. How do you know which one is which?"
4. "Motorscooters dashing everywhere...on sidewalks, going the wrong direction, in between cars...forget about them worrying about lights."
5. Cars can be much smaller here.
6. Cars with the goofy mirrors on the back (these help in tight parking situations).
7. Almost all the cars have dented bumpers (see point #2 for why that might be the case).
8. Tacky bus decor.
9. McDonalds delivers and on cool little scooters!
10. Flatbed trucks instead of pickup trucks.
11. Gas pumps that come from the ceiling (you have to look closely to see them dangling down) and most gas stations are full service.
12. So much honking--even while we're in the apartment you can hear honking all the time.
13. Car elevators for parking
14. Burial grounds scattered about the city. These mounds are graves and literally you will see them in the most random places, like behind our apartment where this one is:
15. In the bathroom expect that there could be: no towels, a roll of toilet paper on the outside of the stalls for all to share, and a bar of soap on a stick.
16. Fancy bathrooms have toilets with buttons on the side (which are for heated seats and an electronic bidet).
17. Churches have neon crosses that light up at night. They are everywhere.
18. Common spaces in office buildings aren't heated.
19. Umbrella covers--these are handy for rainy days. You just slip your umbrella in a plastic covering to prevent water from going everywhere.
20. Soda can sizes
21. Meal portions are smaller, in a good way.
22. Had to use chopsticks all the time.
23. Alleyways are everywhere: there are big streets and then there are these obscure alleyways with little shops and a black market feel.
24. Propane heaters inside restaurants
25. Big moving elevators: It's hard to see this in the picture, but if you look behind the tree you can see an elevator moving things into the apartment from the outside. You just put your stuff on a platform and it carries it up to a window in your apartment.
26. People are pleasant and polite--they say thank you all the time.
Surprisingly the list was longer, but these were some of his main observations. If you live in Korea or have been to Korea is there anything you would add?
