Random observations in Seoul....

Just my observations I've made....

1. Its way overcrowded! Forget about personal space. You won't be having any!(Imagine fitting 49 million people into a country the size of Florida).When I go out to popular places in Seoul its always crowded. Going to E-Mart is like shopping at Walmart near Christmas-every single day! (There is no walmart in South Korea) Almost everyone lives in these big highrise apartment buildings. There aren't many houses.

2. I don't think there are any traffic or parking rules whatsoever..red lights don't mean anything. People run them all the time. People park all over the sidewalks. You actually have to watch out not to get hit on the sidewalk. Thats where you are suppose to be safe! People also ride scooters and bikes on the sidewalk. If you hesitate at the green light they will beep!

3. Koreans love spicy food. I try to find something that isn't spicy Like Dongas (pork cutlet)or samgyeopsal (its like bacon).

4. All korean dishes in restaurants come with a lot of free side dishes. And they keep refilling the side dishes. Most food is cheap here. You can get a decent size lunch for 4,000 won which would be less than $4 usd. They eat with chopsticks. Koreans also like to share food. Its common for everyone to sample things from everyone's plate or have one communal dish on the table. They don't tip here. The price on the menu is what you pay. You don't have to figure out how much tax to pay.

5. You can get Mcdonalds delivered to your house.Other places will deliver food in real dishes in these boxes then you just put the dishes back outside your door and they will pick them up.All the delivery guys drive scooters.

6. Koreans drink a lot! Koreans consume the most alcohol. There are people who are drunk every day of the week and any time of the day. There aren't any open container laws either. You can sit out in front of the store and drink your beer. They sell beer at almost every event.

7. Not many people speak English. English education is very important here, but Koreans aren't very good at speaking English.

8. Its very hard to find "plus" size clothing. I've heard that if you're over an American size 8 or 10 that you will have a hard time finding clothes. I only know of a few places and the selection isn't that great!

9. Men aren't that worried about appearing masculine. Boys hold hands. Boys also tell other guys that they are handsome. A lot of the men wear pink. They carry a "murse" (man purse). You can also find them carrying their woman's purse. Skinny jeans are popular for guys. I do like the tailored suits and pink.

10. Kids love hangman and rock,paper,scissors. I use rps to determine who goes first on games. Its the only fair way.

11. They use a different system to determine age. When you are born you are 1 year old. When the near year comes around you are 2. If you were born on December 31st you are one. Then on January 1st you would be 2. You age another year on the 1st of the year.

12. They celebrate the Lunar new year instead of Jan 1st. Lunar new year is a family oriented event where people return to their hometowns. The dates change every year. Its usually around the end of January.

13. If a holiday falls on a Saturday then thats when it is. That's not good for this year since most of the holidays fall on a Saturday so I don't get any days off from work for holidays. If it falls on a Saturday you don't get Friday or Monday off.

14. Most of the kids are in school all day long. They go to school during the day. Then they go to after school academies to learn other subjects like English and Math. Studying is more important that extracurricular activities.

15. If you are foreign people stare at you. Especially kids. They point and say "waegookin" which means foreigner.

16. The subway gets really crowded at certian times of the day. Some times the seats are full and there are people standing in the aisle also. I've been on a train that was so crowded you could barely move.

17. There are tons of stairs everywhere. I saw someone running up and down the stairs at the subway. I wish I were in that good of shape. By the time I go up 60 stairs (yes I counted) out of the subway I have to stop and rest!

18. They don't use dryers. clothes are dried on a drying rack.

19. The shower is just a showerhead in the middle of the bathroom-no walk in shower or shower curtain-the bathroom gets wet. There is a drain in the middle of the bathroom. It does help with cleaning the bathroom though. Just take down the handheld showerhead and spray it everywhere.

20. They don't wear shoes in the house. You take off your shoes at the door.

21. They have public bath places where you can shower off then take a warm bath or a cold bath. Its not really a bath but more like just relaxing in the water. You clean off before getting into the "bath". Everyone is just walking around naked. Men and women are separated.

22. They have PC rooms that are open 24 hours. There are usually a lot of people in there playing games. Starcraft and Sudden Attack are popular over here.

23. When you go to the movie theater you can choose where you want to sit. The tickets and refreshments are a lot cheaper. A ticket is 8,000 won which is less than $8 usd.

24. They have DVD rooms where you can sit in a little room (usually used by couples) and watch movies that have come to DVD on a projector screen.

25. They love kimchi(spicy fermented cabbage) and rice. Some koreans eat rice everyday.

26. Koreans like to squat. A lot of the toilets are "squat potties". They don't flush their toilet paper down the toilet.They put it in a trashcan beside the toilet. Some places don't even have toilet paper or soap in the bathroom.

27. My apartment doesn't even have a fire alarm or an extinguisher-apparently they have no fire codes or laws. My last apt didn't even have a sprinkler system. I think my apt has sprinklers-they are these things on the ceiling that look like sprinklers!

28. They have no food safety program over here. They don't do restaurant food inspections. You're taking a risk everytime you eat out.

29. There are tons of street vendors everywhere selling everything from food,fruit, shoes, socks, etc.

30. When you are sick you go to the hospital. I don't think they have specialized family clinics like in the USA. You have to go to a pharmacy to get OTC meds. They aren't in the supermarket. OTC meds are really cheap here. I got 10 pills for coughing for @$1 usd. Birth control is about $6 and you don't need a prescription.

31. They have a lot of exercise machines outside in public areas. Metal machines that do simple things-nothing like treadmills or anything of that nature.

32. Prostitution is illegal but they don't really enforce the law. There is a place in Itaewon called "hooker hill". When you see a barber pole with 2 poles thats a sign that you can get sex acts performed in that business. These poles are everywhere!

33. You don't get your driver's license until you are 19 years old.

34. Kia and Hyundai are the major car companies. You rarely see a non korean car.

35. Most of the kids love soccer.

36. All the kids have these cute pencil cases. (I never remember pencil cases being soemthing that everyone had when I was in school). All the kids wear uniforms to school.

37. In most places you take a number and wait for your number to be displayed before going to the counter especially at places like the bank, movie theater, and post office. You don't stand in line-you just wait for your number.

38. At a restaurant the waiter doesn't keep checking on you to see if you need anything. If you need something you either ring a bell on the table or call them over to your table. Most places do not offer free refills. Most places you just pay the cashier instead of them bringing the bill to your table. They also have a lot of restaurants where you sit on the floor at a low table-its very uncomfortable! If you are with a group is custom for the oldest person to pay. They don't pour their own drinks. Its custom to have someone pour your drink for you.

39. They never card you in a bar. I've been out with all of my friends and I've never seen anyone get carded to buy alcohol. Over here the legal drinking age is 19. Some bars are open all night long. I once stayed at a bar until it closed at 7am.

40. Cabs are cheap. The subway is cheap. Buses are cheap. Gas is not cheap! They pay by the Liter. Its about $1 a Liter so about $4 a gallon.

41. Stores like E-mart have freebies taped to all sorts of stuff. I've seen free ramen noodles taped to beer, water bottles on cereal boxes, day planners on snack boxes.

41. Their version of karaoke is called a noraebang (singing room). You go into a private small room with your friends and sing karaoke.

42. Everything is measured differently over here! Kilometers instead of Miles, Celcius instead of Fahrenheit, Kilograms instead of pounds, centimeters instead of inches. I have to convert everything over to what I'm used to.

43. When Koreans speak English they put an 'e' sound on the end of everything. Englishee. Lunche. They put an 'e' sound on words that end in E or CH. like lunch, english, beach, etc. or Page-e, language-e. Konglish is also used. Its like a mixture of Korean and English. Example of Konglish: Handphone=cellphone

44. All the kids have cell phones. I had kids as young as 7 years old in my class who had a cell phone.

45. Drive thrus aren't common here. I've only seen once since I've been here.

46. The old women are called "adjummas". They usually have short curly perms and wear these huge visors.

47. Ovens aren't common here. I miss baking in the oven!

48. Seoul is one of the biggest cities in the world with a population of over 10 million. Its roughly the same size as Charlotte, North Carolina with a whole lot more people!

49. Most Koreans sleep on the floor. The beds are really hard and only have a mattress. (not a mattress and box spring like I had in the USA)

50. Most places have "ondol" heating. The heat comes up through the floor. Its very efficient.

51. Selling things on the subway is illegal but people do it a lot. They sell all sorts of cheap products and I've heard the quality isn't that great. There are also a lot of beggars on the subway. The most common that I see a lot is blind people who walk down the middle of the subway playing music and holding a basket for people to put money in. I rarely see anyone put money in the basket.

52. They eat dog soup during the summer. They have a special breed of dog that is raised specifically for eating. The boshintang (dog meat soup) restaurants aren't very common, but there are a few. I haven't tried dog meat.

53. English Hagwons can be a very corrupt business. Luckily, I ended up at one that actually pays me on time and takes out the correct taxes, pension from my check.

54. They like to wear shirts with nonsense English written on it. I look at the shirt and it makes no sense.

55. People who can barely speak English will try to talk to you all the time at random places. You can't understand them and they can't understand you. Its quite amusing at times. I also have people who just talk to me in Korean. They keep going and going although I probably look at them like "what in the heck is she/he saying?"

56. They start getting on the subway or elevator before the people have gotten off.

57. There is such a thing termed as 'couple wear' here. You see couples who are dressed alike. I think its cheesy and crazy! I'm not talking about matching. Wearing the same exact outfit!

58. The 14th of every month is an unoffical holiday. Feb 14 is Valentines day where the women are suppose to buy things for the men. March 14 is 'white day' where the men buy sweets/flowers for the women. So basically its like celebrating valentine's day twice. April 14th is 'black day'. The single people get together and eat black noodles.

59. Koreans love Spam. Around holidays you will find an abundance of Spam gift sets in the stores.

60. The Korean alphabet (Hangul) is really easy to learn. Their words are written in characters. Example: 안녕하세요 (Hello). I've started learning a little Korean. Its difficult to pronounce!