Finally, Some Thoughts on Korea

1. Koreans hike in lots of clothes, even when it's balls hot out. I thought this was because of all the cute outfits available (who knows which came first, though) but I think it's because their sweat don't stink and they hate sunlight. Well, they hate letting the sunlight touch their precious white skin. Which brings me to

2. Koreans are obsessed with white skin. Most of the lotions available include "whitening" agents (like you'd find in toothpaste - which i'm also against) and apparently if you look close enough you can see their faces are a little whiter than their necks because of the cream. They do not think my freckles are cute, and at the waterpark the lounge chairs are indoors instead of in the sun. Also, they like the blonde white teachers the best. When i'm in public kids sometimes say hello to me because they think i' weird or something, but when i'm in public with a blonde coworker it happens all the time and the kids are relentless. I also found out that teachers get hired based on these facts. i'm surprised i got hired at this point.

3. Koreans know how to use a water feature and aren't afraid to overdo it. There are fountains all over the place and they are all pretty damn cool. I see them randomly all over the city and am always excited by them. I wonder when the novelty will wear off. Although they will probably all be turned off soon for winter. sad.

4. Koreans are not the ritualized tea drinkers i thought they were. They are more coffee shops than imaginable. in my building of 8 floors and maybe 15 apartments per floor (from 4-8), there are 2 coffee shops on the first floor. there is one across the street and at least one per block (2 including the backs of buildings) for as long as i can walk. They are pretty cool though - they have wifi and nice seating and are a great place to study. Although the one i went to recently did not have a bathroom that i could find (sometimes they share a public bathroom with the building but i didn't look further than the shop). The coffee drinks i get (lattes and such) are anywhere from 3,500w-6,000w, which is approx $3-$5.50 or so. I try not to frequent any place that charges more than 4,000w though. I still have not figured out why i like them better here than in the states. maybe the convenience? maybe it'll wear off soon. But back to the original point - they don't even serve tea at restaurants like chinese restaurants do in the US (and maybe china?) which brings me to

5. Korean do not drink fancy things with meals. At restaurants, there is a water cooler and cups next to it for people to drink water when they feel like it and that's it. Often people can order beer or soju with dinner but no one drinks soda or juice. I don't even think it's offered or available. I didn't realize this until today because i've never been one to order a drink with my meal but looking back at my first meal here i realize that my friend ordered sprite and it took a while to convey the desire. Also, the sprite drink here is called chilsung cider and it's offered in vending machines all over. I saw one in the park today next to a fountain. i had to ask people what it was because i thought it might be alcoholic at first.

5a. two more observations about drinks. at fast food joints (burger king, mcdonalds, and this place called lotteria) they do not ask what drink you want - you just get coke. i kind of like not having to decide. once, i saw that there was sprite and asked for it and got it. fun! also, can you believe i've had enough fast food in the 2.5 weeks i've been here to know that? more on that later.

5b. people drink some nasty shit at the bars here. i'm not sure if it's because people are younger than i'm used to hanging out with or what but i took at least 3 pictures of horrible looking tables of drinks at a bar one night. i would see people drinking something gross looking and go over to pretend i wanted to chat with them and then once they got cozy i made them do a "cheers" pose. one table of girls had blue and yellow drinks, one table of russians had like a choco martini, a blue drink, and something even worse looking, and one table of guys had a row of shot glasses like 20 deep. Then one night we went to a third bar (i got home at 5am) and we ordered some sort of strawberry pitcher, which apparently was alcoholic, and ordered soju to mix with it. we only drank it in shots, which may explain why i was not ill in the morning. i also could not sleep well (maybe due to the sunlight streaming through my window) and drank water every time i woke up.

6. also at the bars, Korean dudes dance in the best way ever - by themselves at a distance from me. Love it! at least this is what happened the one night i went to a club. koreans are so homophobic that they don't believe in gay and therefore are comfortable touching same sex in a way americans are not. they don't mind dancing in a sausage party away from the girls. i liked it so much i wanted to get this one group of guys numbers but i felt like i needed at least a month before i started hitting on random dudes.

7. ok so the shit i've eaten. before i left i ate a lot of cheese because who doesn't love cheese? and i thought there wouldn't be any here. well, traditionally, there isn't cheese in the meals, but there are so many restaurants that are not korean food that i've eaten my fair share of cheese. in fact, i ate a whole pizza 3 times last week! wait, 2 times a whole pizza and one time sharing, except the sharing one had more cheese than any normal pizza. i still haven't had korean pizza yet, which has all kinds of weird shit all over it. last week was a holiday so i had to go to mcdonalds to find something to eat, and we went to the bus terminal on our way to the waterpark, which has the city's only burger king and everyone raved about it so i had to eat it then, and at the bus terminal in seoul i needed something easy to get wtih 150lbs of luggage so i had to go to lotteria. those are my excuses. my coworkers claim the fast food here tastes healthier and less greasy than the US but i don't think that's significantly true. the traditional food here is also served in big portions. i feel like we're supposed to share or something but it's pretty easy to eat a lot. korean barbeque is also just as popular and easy to get as i'd hoped except grilling food all the time is like asking for cancer so that's bad news. and there's a market on the first floor of my building so it's way too easy to get ice cream bars and or cookie things on my way up to the apt. the ice cream treats are awesome too. 500w for a cheesecake bar is hard to resist. and some of the coffee shops have amazing gelato. i think i might actually have to exercise if i want to lose any weight. damn. oh i forgot to mention the fried chicken. why is it that i eat shit here that i would never eat at home? anyway, the fried chicken is amazing. the hot ones are hot though. like i mean it. and they don't give you ranch or blue cheese ever.

So basically, Korea is way more like the US than i expected or wanted, but it's made my move pretty smooth. The shit the teachers complain about missing is super weird and not at all universal - one misses dill pickles (they serve sweet pickles as kimchi in some places), one misses quesadillas (not hard to find the tortillas and cheese though), one misses personal space (i remember get annoyed with that in the states though), one wants guinness, i'm kind of into the cheap beer here though. Cass is no more than 3,000w in a restaurant and sometimes under 1,000 at a market - and we can drink it in the streets, and on the busses adn in the waterpark no one stopped me from walking around with it and drinking it in the dr fish. maybe i'll find something to hate on after a little longer.