I LOVE:
-K-Pop music - I sure didn't expect to but after a few short minutes watching the music channel on cable, I fell in love with K-Pop... Which is lucky really as they play it everywhere, all the time! Often the choruses are in English (usually Engrish) which stick in your head even if I can't understand the bulk of the songs (but they're ALWAYS about lovey) And some of the kids sing them a lot, and always know the dance moves so if I run out of work to do or am feeling lazy, I just get them to sing to me! GREAT!
-Now Bar - where all the English teachers from far and wide Yeongtong (and beyond) gather many nights of the week - Wednesdays and Fridays are huge.. Spent a lot of time there already, and I think the best thing about it is the owner Mrs C - she is amazing, super sweet and nice and she feeds us late at night (mostly so we stay longer drinking Cass - terrible but cheap Korean beer). She's fabulous! Love!
-Wearing slippers at school, home, everywhere. I heart slippers, and the ones here are so cute.
-Korea's LOVE of Neon. Neon everywhere, all buzzing and bright, I love it, and it totally changes the look of the streets from day to night.
-Grilled Cheese - American style - Not Korean, but I have been shown how to make REAL American grilled cheese and I LOVE! Rachelle, you know our love for toasties at lunch time, but honestly, these are amazing! I will have to show you how one day!
-Korean Plum Wine - delicious in the park in the sun, and only about $4 for a bottle!
-Deep fried kumara from street vendor after Now Bar in the early hours - Korea's answer to the pie, way cheap and way delicious
-Meat on a stick, yum, from street vendors all over, delish
-Galbi! Korean BBQ, with a little gas bbq on your table, a plate of meat and hundreds of different side dishes. You cook the meat until you like it then wrap in lettuce leaves, so good
-Matching couple outfits. It's true, all couples in Korea have matching outfits - some as simple as matching tshirts, others far more detailed from head to toe - it's flipping cute and often hilarious. -My kids at school - SO cute, even the naughty ones (often moreso the naughty ones)
-Engrish signs - also called Kongrish here - There are subtle ones everywhere, but I heard of one in Seoul in a store apparently called "Make Yourself F*cking Beautiful". Gold.
I HATE
-No soap in toilets - sometimes soap on a stick, but often absolutely nothing, very grotty
-Padded toilet seats - WTf?! So unpleasant and unnecessary
-Having to put used toilet paper in the trash rather than the toilet so it doesn't clog the drains, revolting, and very hard to remember (SO my hates have a lot to do with toilets eh!)
-Hocking/spitting everywhere you go, you hear particularly men go in for a big hock and spit on the pavement. Makes me sick up a little in my mouth everytime I see/hear it
-Kimchi. Not as bad as I thought and I may be able to get used to it, but right now I'd rather have none - definitely better headed on galbi barbecue, but blegggh (For those who don't know, kimchi is a cabbage preserve type thing with chilli paste on it)
-Korean Beer - it's like wee, watery and not nice at all, but it's cheap as (about $13 for a massive pitcher that would fill about 6 large glasses, bargain)
-People not understanding my accent/mocking me for it. First day, funny, second day marginally funny, second week, give it a fricken bone eh!
Totally unusual
-There's hardly ever toilet paper actually in a stall, you have to grab some from a big roll outside the door - and too bad if you forget. This makes no sense to me at all... You're still providing the toilet paper! What is the benefit of it being outside?!
-No rubbish bins anywhere - you actually know where there ARE rubbish bins and could tell someone to meet you beside the rubbishbin in Suwon, that's how rare they are. Instead rubbish is dropped all over the place, often resulting in huge piles of rank rubbish by the end of the day, which is always cleared away, mornings are usually rubbish free. Apparently this creates jobs for Koreans (much sought after) but is totally inefficient individually picking up each piece of rubbish with a long claw. Stupid, no?
-My shower (which is how most of them are) is just on a wall in the bathroom, no curtain or anything, so everyday everything in my bathroom gets wet from the shower and I have to wipe it all down to dry it out. Why people?!
-The obssession with whitening products for skin and being more western in general. These people are beautiful just as they are, I don't think they need to worry about this, plus surely putting bleach on your skin every day isn't a good thing?!
-Sugar in toothpaste. Defeating the point entirely
-Having to wear a hat/cap at the water park Caribbean Bay - no cap, no swim, but everyone has their hair sticking out of them anyway and I really don't understand why.
What a nice rant! xo
New friends hanging at the park on a sunny Sunday afternoon
The amazing Mrs C - delivering us late night pancakes and maple syrup
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