Things That Should and Shouldn’t Happen

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.