#1 Ho-dok. Grilled pancakes with the stuff that goes in cinnamon rolls put inside. Fantastic.
#2 Weekly markets. It's just cool and old school.
#3 Safety. Whatever problems Korea has it's very safe. Even as a foreigner I feel safe. I don't know if it's the lack of guns, or the familial cultural identity, or the self-policing, but I love the results.
#4 the KTX. Fast, clean, and cheap. Public transportation here pretty much removes the need for a car.
Photos, thoughts, and miscellaneous brain matter.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Some annoying Things
#1 Almost no one looks both ways before crossing the street. Really, did you miss that assembly in school? The one where they told you to look both ways before crossing the street. The one that keeps you and others from becoming road kill? The best time to avoid an accident is more than a split second before it happens.
#2 Mopeds. You know, vehicles should follow road rules. And you mopeds, YOU'RE VEHICLES. This means that it's insane (that's right, I said it, insane) to ride on the sidewalk, swerve in and out of traffic and generally do whatever you please.
#3 No lines. Really, no cuing/lining up, is really annoying. I know it's a balibali (faster faster) culture, but if you lined up it would actually make things go faster rather than everyone just grabbing at what they want.
#4 People having only one skill. What happened to well rounded people? If you endeavor to know about the world at large rather than just your own skill than you can know if someone else is doing a good job and not just hope, because everyone is human and makes mistakes and it's good to be aware when mistakes are being made rather than just suffering through them.
#4 One word for many things but rarely many words for variations of one thing. This is actually just part of my frustration with Koreans thinking that English language culture is strange/odd/offensive/stupid. And yes I'm annoyed that certain Americans that I know respond the same way to other languages. Korean is a much vaguer language than English as far as I can tell. Annoying, but not offensive, so please stop treating English like it's ridiculous. It'll help keep me from feeling that Korean is ridiculous.
#5 Lack of facial expressions. How the heck am I supposed to know what you're thinking and how to respond if you don't tell me AND I can't read it on your face?!
#6 Lack of adhering to rules/consistency. Before I came to Korea I didn't really consider myself a rule person. No, I wasn't a rebel, but I didn't think order was that important to me. It is. Having rules that everyone follows unequivocally and knows makes life so much easier and smoother. Having all the rules be bendable depending on the situation is confusing and stressful and leads to slower function and chaos.
#7 Saving face. You now, I know that other cultures aren't more wrong than more own, just generally different, but this is something I'll never be able to accept. Anything that promotes people not being themselves, suicide, and lying is something that will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. I understand that this means I'll probably never marry a Korean.
#2 Mopeds. You know, vehicles should follow road rules. And you mopeds, YOU'RE VEHICLES. This means that it's insane (that's right, I said it, insane) to ride on the sidewalk, swerve in and out of traffic and generally do whatever you please.
#3 No lines. Really, no cuing/lining up, is really annoying. I know it's a balibali (faster faster) culture, but if you lined up it would actually make things go faster rather than everyone just grabbing at what they want.
#4 People having only one skill. What happened to well rounded people? If you endeavor to know about the world at large rather than just your own skill than you can know if someone else is doing a good job and not just hope, because everyone is human and makes mistakes and it's good to be aware when mistakes are being made rather than just suffering through them.
#4 One word for many things but rarely many words for variations of one thing. This is actually just part of my frustration with Koreans thinking that English language culture is strange/odd/offensive/stupid. And yes I'm annoyed that certain Americans that I know respond the same way to other languages. Korean is a much vaguer language than English as far as I can tell. Annoying, but not offensive, so please stop treating English like it's ridiculous. It'll help keep me from feeling that Korean is ridiculous.
#5 Lack of facial expressions. How the heck am I supposed to know what you're thinking and how to respond if you don't tell me AND I can't read it on your face?!
#6 Lack of adhering to rules/consistency. Before I came to Korea I didn't really consider myself a rule person. No, I wasn't a rebel, but I didn't think order was that important to me. It is. Having rules that everyone follows unequivocally and knows makes life so much easier and smoother. Having all the rules be bendable depending on the situation is confusing and stressful and leads to slower function and chaos.
#7 Saving face. You now, I know that other cultures aren't more wrong than more own, just generally different, but this is something I'll never be able to accept. Anything that promotes people not being themselves, suicide, and lying is something that will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. I understand that this means I'll probably never marry a Korean.
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