I have come to learn that this whole blogging experience is useful for
one thing and one thing only, bitching about stuff that makes the author
mad. Not wanting to stray far from this
noble medium’s original purpose, I shall now indulge in ranting and raving
about stuff. What will follow this paragraph
will be a series of things I have seen in the past few weeks that I think are
absurd, and that the Koreans should no longer do. Now to make this particular rant a little
more interesting, I thought that I would also include stuff where I think
Americans should take cues from the Koreans.
It is all in the spirit of fairness I assure you.
Things that shouldn’t be
Children under the age of 14 should not ride on the back of
motorcycles. No I don’t care how tightly
they say they are holding on. Oh and put
a helmet on! While walking home, Rachel and
I saw a girl, who could not be older than 8, clutching to the back of the
driver of a motorcycle. No, it didn’t
look safe, and it certainly didn’t look responsible. If they don’t possess the fine motor skills
to hold a pencil, then they shouldn’t be trying to clutch to the shirt of a man
on a motorcycle (especially when they don’t have long enough arms to go around
the driver’s waist).
Cities should not smell like Iowa.
You know what I mean, and no I am not going to apologize to the people
of Iowa. Your state smells terrible and
you should feel ashamed of yourselves.
Korea at times has a particular Iowan odor to it. I know that is going to become a great deal
worse when the rainy season really comes, and that will be a treat.
Restaurants should be honest with their hours. If your sign says that you are open till
10pm, and I come to the door at 9:30, then I am going to sit down and you will
bring me food, and I will regret how much I ate. This has happened to us more than once, and
it is apparently a thing. The closing
time means that is when everyone wants to go home, and not when they actually
stop serving people.
Work places should have an HR department. This is something that Rachel has suggested
and it is a good one. All of the moronic
incompetence that has been going on at work would go over a lot smoother should
there be people who are in charge of dealing with these problems. It seems to me that with the number of issues
that have been going on at work, we don’t need a single employee, but perhaps a
whole team, with support staff, ninjas, and maybe bears. Seriously an office bear has far more
benefits than you might think of, especially in HR. (On a related note the vice director {the
person who is directly beneath Marie A} has been forced to quit as well. Denmark is getting more like Iowa every
day).
An honorable mention:
This isn’t as much as something that shouldn’t be, but rather something
that is so absurd that it must be mentioned.
I love walking, especially in cities at night. It is a hobby that isn’t very easy to do in
most American cities. Now one particular
night I happened to pass by the local train station. Here I first discovered a man who was face
down on the sidewalk, asleep, drunk, and I predicted that he will wake up very
upset. Now this fact alone is not what
makes this so absurd. Not 10 feet away
from Honkuitus Drunkitus (The
technical name that I have coined for anyone displaying the lack of sobriety
deserving of soju), was the aftermath of a multi-car pile-up. Now these two things were not related, but it
is the fact that both of these things were DIRECTLY in front of a massive
police station. I suppose that if you
have to have a multi-car accident, then you might as well do it in front of the
police station.
Things that should be
Chicken and beer is a religion here.
In the United States there are sports bars and places like Buffalo Wild
Wings that strive for the sports crazed demographic, but here there is an
entire sub-group of restaurants that is collectively called “chicken and
beer”. These wonderful establishments are
so perfect in their simplicity that it is almost elegant. Cheap draft beer, delicious fried chicken,
and the occasional sports program, culminate into an experience that is difficult
to replicate. A plate of fried chicken,
a couple rounds of beer, and a few tasty side dishes for around $15 is
something that should happen back home.
Health Care has made all the news back home with the talk about how the
affordable health care act possibly being stuck down (Note: The first draft of
this was written before the AHCA decision was made). I have thought this before, and talked about
it in the past, but is something that bears repeating. Health Care here is cheap, widely available,
and decent. A fellow blogger about Korea
had trouble with his knee and needed physical therapy. How is it that he was able to get daily
physical therapy for under $40 a week and many people think that paying into a
fund to make this happen is unconstitutional?
(On a side note this payment is somewhere around 1% tax, meaning that I
pay less than $30 a month)
Violent crime is laughably low here.
It is so low in fact that I am filled with cultural shame when I
consider the evidence. I had the desire
for a long walk (what a surprise) and this time I went along the Han
River. My goal was to get there late
enough to see city lights along the water.
I was not disappointed, but then I began to think about just how bloody
safe it was. First of all, all along the
river were parks, public exercise equipment, and small playgrounds. This was all flush against the river and
under some freeway bridges. The amazing
thing not just how many people there were, but the number of children there
were. Now this walk way was packed with
people, bike riders, walkers, little dogs on leashes, and kids in areas that if
they were in New York would be filled with people pushing shopping carts,
smelling like Iowa, and as soon as the sun went down people would be scrambling
for the fastest way out of there. What
fills me with shame is that the same area which would be used as a set piece for
Law and Order SVU in the states, is instead a family friendly area where kids
were more than happy to have a soccer game well after the sun set. Anywhere but here, if I say that I went on a
river side walk in the city people would say I’m crazy. Well people still tell me that, but it’s only
after I tell them that I walked some 15km.
Honorable mentions
Automated Ticket windows are a godsend.
I have been going to movies here for a while now, and it has been a
wonderful break from the grindstone of day to day. These ticket windows are interactive and
automated screens that take cash, and plastic, offering the day’s selection of
films in multiple languages. It even
asks if I want to buy any concessions.
It has made going to the movies so much easier.
