First off, everyone is super nice. They're either super nice or just keep to themselves. They are a giving people. Always trying to give you food or presents. I was waiting for the subway with river and a lady in the front of the line kept motioning me to stand next to her so we could get a seat (their subways are crowded. like extremely crowded). Another time I was just walking down the street with river in one arm and his backpack strapped on the other, and some lady insisted on carrying my backpack for me. You'd think she was trying to steal it, but no, she just walked by me, and carried it the whole way to our destination; speaking to me in Korean the whole time. Haha. I'm not even sure of where she was headed, but she came with us. I love that in the Korean language there isn't even a word for mine or my. It's always ours. "Our mother. Our home. Our grandpa." Even though it's obviously not our grandpa, because we aren't even related. It's always ours though. everything is about sharing what you have. I love it.
Next, I don't know if I even want to go here, but the driving. Oh driving in Korea. It seriously made me sick at first. It's kinda like comparing it to a war zone. You prepare like you're going into battle. I don't drive. The husband does though, and at first I would get so much anxiety. Driving to church for an hour was exhausting in itself. Now, I just hang back with river and ignore the almost near death experiences every five minutes. Seriously. There aren't really traffic laws. I mean there are speeding cameras on the freeways, but they warn you when a camera is coming up, so everyone just slows down for the camera and then speeds up again. You can cut anyone off whenever you need to abruptly make a turn. You can jump into the front of the line and cut people off in a turning lane. You can run cars off the road if you need to, especially if you are a bus. Really anything goes. And make sure to always watch out for the motorcycles that randomly decide to drive on the sidewalks when needs be. As for parking. Good luck finding a spot, and if you do it's probably too tiny to even open your door to get out. And if you drive in Korea you must be able to reverse into your parking spot. Really. No one just drives in and parks. It's only in reverse. You park so close you have to bring your side view mirrors in. People have their phone numbers on their front windshield so that if you are boxed in you can just call them to come let you out. Every parking structure feels incredibly small, because it is.
Next, If you're in Korea, make sure to have a good pair of gym shoes. You can wear sneakers with really any outfit. I don't know why I notice this all the time, but really everyone wears sneakers. They are keeping nike in business. You can be in a dress with tights, and sneakers will totally work. You can be in a full on business suit and sneakers. Sneakers go with everything. I'm not knocking it. Hey, it's better to be comfortable. Really, I just want to embrace this fashion statement.
Personal space. You don't really need any here. Korea is a small country, but over 51 million people live here (the whole country is like a third the size of Utah! What?!) It's crowded to say the least. People are always bumping into each other, and trying to cram into elevators. Walking down the streets in Seoul on a weekend is like a giant obstacle course. Don't even attempt to go to Costco or ikea on the weekend. It makes Disneyland feel like an empty place. We literally time our Costco trips right before they close. That's really the only way.
Recycling. You have to at least own 3-5 garbages in your house for recycling. I really am grateful people are so good about recycling here. You have to buy special bags just to throw away food or anything else that doesn't fall into the paper, glass, or plastic option. It makes me more aware of what we throw away, and we definitely try and consume less. It feels a little counterproductive though....because they wrap, and then double wrap everything. We just went to CPK the other day, and they tinfoil wrapped our pizza, then boxed it, and then put it in a plastic bag to take home. Some lady gave river a sucker that was wrapped like any normal sucker, but then also wrapped in a plastic bag on top of that. See what I mean. Counterproductive.
These are just a few of our experiences. I haven't even started on the food. And I'm obviously generalizing when I say "Korea." It's been fun trying to navigate this city, especially when it's just river and me. it's always an adventure. Haha. I think I need to start a whole new blog post for our subway and bathroom incidences;) and I could talk all day about the heated floors and toilet seats. I've always hated hot air blowing in my face from heaters. But heated floors in the middle of winter warms your bones. So nice. And I can't forget about how much my ocd cleaning soul loves that everyone takes their shoes off before entering your house. Everyone. You don't even ask, no one wears their shoes inside. I will say the weather in the spring is amazing. The flowers and trees are in full bloom and are the most vibrant of colors. We still ride our bikes to the parks almost everyday. We will take being outside any chance we can get. Thank you warm weather! It's made our second time in Korea sooo much can better!
Here's to more new adventures:)
Xo
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