Disclaimer: From now on, my blog is inevitably & unofficially going to describe "Kristine's Observations of the Inadequacies and Shortcomings of the Korean Culture." Quite frankly, people here are out of this world. Any and all systems of operation make zero sense to me.
The following list of complaints is in no particular order.
1.
Music: I found a way to stream 102.7 KIISFM online. All this Kpop is making me realize how much I miss RnB, rap, hip hop, overplayed Adele songs, and even Rihanna's whiny voice. Things went well for 24 hours, and then the website detected that I wasn't in the United States and denied me access. My Internet is too slow to stream music videos on YouTube. Unheard of in Korea, right? Well my Internet sucks. I can't access KIISFM. I am restricted from Pandora. I am restricted from Hulu. I downloaded an IP blocker, so that those websites wouldn't detect that I was outside of the United States, but the shield that I downloaded also added an annoying advertisement to my browser, so I got rid of it. Now my main source of music is the Australian radio station that I listen to back home. It plays electronic dance music and Top40, so I get the best of both worlds.
2.
Old people: Out here, you're supposed to "respect your elders." It makes sense in theory, but definitely not in practice. The old people here think that they can walk all over anyone younger, so they will spontaneously cut you in line because they have to "get somewhere." I was cut off at the ticket window at the bus terminal a couple of times. Fool me once, fool me twice, but never again. Hell no. Old people even push you out of the way to get onto the bus (to school). It's like, "Lady, we're both getting on the bus. Calm the hell down."
3.
Drivers: In America, we have the stereotype that Asians are bad drivers. Well, I figured out where that stereotype comes from. It's because Asians immigrate to America and bring their awful, irrational driving habits with them, wreaking havoc on our streets and freeways. In Korea, drivers don't stop before the crosswalk. They don't even attempt to stop when they see the crosswalk. They stop whenever it is most convenient, which is sometimes not at all. Yes, they (bus drivers, taxi drivers, regular drivers) run red lights all of the time. Pedestrians do not have the right-of-way. That being said, I have no problem yelling obscenities at drivers that nearly run me over.
4.
Crosswalks: Similar to America, there are buttons to press on the poles by crosswalks on major streets. Unlike America, these buttons are only for blind people. If you press the button, the pole will announce something in Korean (probably indicating that it is not time to cross), then speak again when the sign says walk. Well, how the heck are blind people supposed to know how to find the button? I made the "mistake" of pressing the button the first day that I got here, and my mentor teacher told me that it was for blind people. pfft. Well sometimes the lights take so long to turn green that I use the pole to tell me when to cross, so I can Kakao or stare at something else. Everyone stares when the pole starts talking -- because let's face it, we have yet to see blind people. I don't know why people don't use them more often. Sometimes I leave old people in the dust because they too space out and don't realize that I'm halfway across the street before they start crossing.
5.
Lunch at Daebul: Last week one of the side dishes was a cafeteria creation that is high on the list of things that don't make sense. It looked like fried tofu made orange-chicken-style with Chinese mushrooms, slices of sweet pickles, and cubes of canned fruit in a thick, goopy gravy. It was gross. I didn't eat it.
6.
Staff Meetings: After a staff meeting last week, they distributed small bottles of Bacchus-D. Everyone was drinking it like it was no big deal, but I stopped to try and read the contents. I sounded out the hangul for the first ingredient. It read: taurine. Taurine is an amino acid commonly found in energy drinks. I came home and Googled Bacchus-D. The drink also contains high fructose corn syrup and guarana, which is rich in caffeine. They basically handed me a Korean Red Bull. Why?
7.
Rice: The rice here sticks to my teeth like glue. My greatest fear is that my teeth will rot because I can't get the rice off. Unsurprisingly, dental hygiene here sucks.
8.
Apartment Smoking: The non-smoking signs that I drew 2 weeks ago proved to be effective. However, my bathroom smells like smoke again today. I drew up more signs, but they were immediately taken down; I don't know by who. I knocked on my neighbors' doors. No one answered. The guy in the main office isn't there. My bathroom wreaks. I have a headache.
6.
Television: It sucks. I only watch CNN.
7.
Beans: I small bag of black beans --about a few fist-fulls-- costs $10. I can get that many beans in a Chipotle burrito!
8.
Cell Phone Stores: There is at least one on every block. How do they stay in business?
9.
Air Quality: Prior to coming to Korea, I imagined living in a rice paddy surrounded by crisp mountain air on the bank of a fresh-water ravine. In reality, Korea smells like cigarettes, fuel exhaust, and sewage all day, everyday.
10.
Fashion: Some women think it is reasonable to wear a leopard print top with long metallic pants and running shoes or wedges. What are they thinking? I kid you not; I saw a woman at Emart yesterday wearing two kinds of leopard print (top and bottom) with running shoes and a light blue vest. Halloween costume idea: check.
11.
Light skin: I always wear long pants to school, and I am turning pale. Give me my Cali tan back! People here want to bleach their skin white, but I want to be brown.
12.
Washing Machine: My washer destroys 15% of everything that I put in there. The lace straps of one of my tops are tattered. And just when I thought that my mesh laundry bag would save the day, the washer ripped a hole in it. There are a million buttons, and they are all in Korean. It beeps like crazy when I leave the door open. It also beeps like crazy when I turn it on. I have to turn it on and off and on and off, pound my fist on all the buttons in frustration, and then it is ready to go. I hate it.
The list doesn't stop there. Just think about any aspect of your daily life, and I will probably have some input about the Korean version of it.
