Interesting Little Things about Seoul/Korea

• When you get a movie ticket, you are assigned a seat number.

• Sale signs always start with the highest percentage, for example 75%-50% Off

• A lot of English songs are redone by Korean artists, which is somewhat understandable. People want a Korean language cover.  It's confusing though when they do a cover, but its still in English. Why they just don't keep the original, I know not.  

• Noraebang here is intense. There are tambourines and maracas and chants that people sing in between the breaks in songs. 

• You can buy DVDs for as little as $3. There are also a lot of things that are really cheap here. Kimchi chigae is only $4. 

•  The drinking culture is insane here. People drink until they're drunk and then spend all night drinking through that barrier. Also, you typically drink at 2 or 3 different hofs. "I would have been fine if we didn't go to that second place" is like a catchphrase here.

• It is really weird to Koreans when you go out to eat by yourself. Food culture is all about sharing, so there is something inherently... wrong--sad and lonely, I suppose-- when you go out to eat by yourself.

• Korean food is very extreme--it's either extremely spicy, extremely sour, or extremely sweet. 

• I've found that ahjummas are very nice to me. It's the ahjusshi who are complete bastards. You guys know me-- if you show me an ounce of respect, I'll return it tenfold. But the old geezers who just expect respect just because they're old-- fuck them. They take advantage of the culture here and are complete dicks while expecting deference and respect in return. I loathe these people. When I meet someone who fits this description, I wish for fluency in Korean so I can tell them exactly what I think. Instead I'm reduced to nonverbal cues, which is not as satisfying. 

•  If you shop at a department store in the US, like JC Penney's for example. You can shop throughout the entire store, grab a bunch of things all from different departments and you only have to make one transaction--you get one receipt and you pay JC Penney's. 

          Not in Korea. Department stores are made up of individual brand-name stores. Using US name equivalents, the employees are not JC Penney employees but Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren employees whose store just happens to be in JC Penney (well, more a 5x5 square of space rather than a "store"). So, if you buy 3 different products from 3 different stores, you are making 3 different transactions because you are directly paying that brand for its product. In a way, department stores are more like malls.

• Korea is very good about recycling. There's even city-wide organic waste disposal (which may even be nation-wide, but I'm not positive. I know that Seoul definitely does though). Although, Seoul does not recycle paper. I do not know why since they are anal about recycling everything else. 

• There are no such thing as trash bags in Korea. They do not exist as such. Everyone just uses a plastic grocery bag for all the things that are not recycled. 

• Even though grocery bags are used as trash bags, Koreans will try not to use them if at all possible. There are cardboard box stations in food stores where you can take the cardboard boxes and duct tape they have available and package your own groceries.

•  There are very few trash cans around Korea--meaning that trash piles are made on the street and very unfortunate people have to clean it up. :-/ 

• When you order from a restaurant, they deliver your food on real plates. They give you a yellow plastic bag to tie the dirty dishes up in and the next day and a delivery guy will come pick them up. 

•  In restaurants, there are call buttons on the table if you want service

• When you go to convenience stores, there are warming cases of canned drinks. It's awesome when it's cold outside to get a nice warm canned cafe latte or honey ginger drink.  =)

•  Salad dressings are really bizarre here-- a lot of them are creamy. Thousand Island being the most popular. I've also been served cole slaw with honeydew melon dressing. That was interesting. You can find balsamic dressing in stores, but very rarely served in restaurants. I've gotten to the point where I don't order salad because it inevitably will come with a mix of mayo and mustard on top. *~* Been burned too many times...

•  Facial masks are really masks. They are individually packaged wet towelettes with the eyes, nose, and mouth cut out and you simply place it on your face. It dries and you peel it off. So, one face fits all. I tried them and don't think they work, but that's just me.

•  I like that some things (like milk and eggs) not only have the expiration date, but also the date they were packaged. I like buying milk that was packaged yesterday and is now in my grocery store. Awesome. 

• I hate that people spit wherever they please without any consideration for other people. They spit in the middle of sidewalks, in subway terminals, off of balconies down on unsuspecting pedestrians... it's really disgusting.