Speed

It's very interesting - time in Korea.
Some things seem to go slow as the days leading up to finals, and others as quickly as the taxis in traffic.
Some of that is my own perception, but part of it is also that South Korea went from being a third world country to its current bustling, current state in such a short amount of time.

There is still evidence of the mindset of scarcity - parents and grandparents of my students lived in a time when they earnestly worried that their children would not have food to eat. In current day Korea, my sense is that they no longer worry about their children's basic needs - they've set their sites higher.

Some things that remain from that mindset and time period are the lack of clothes driers. No one has a clothes drier here. In the states, I would put my clothes in the washer and then come back in 40 minutes and move them to the drier. Not a thing here. Everyone line dries everything - it's common to see wash clothes and table materials drying outside of a restaurant in the morning.

Copyright laws are not so common place here. I've read a few blogs and seen a couple youtubes on this topic. What others have said is that you can buy character goods (non licensed) in any market. Also, peoples youtube videos are used for news shows without permission, and downloading is INCREDIBLY common here - and no one has ever heard of consequences for these actions. It just sort of makes sense to me that this lack of policy is due to uncontrollably fast growth. Mandating or regulating that growth could have stunted it (I'm no economist or lawyer... just sayin).

Also. Appliances.
Not included.
It's fairly common here to have your washer in the kitchen - it struck me as odd when I arrived but now it just seems so normal. My school equipped my apartment with a two burner gas stove, a large fridge, a microwave, a sink, and an air conditioner (among many other smaller things). Notice, no oven or toaster. Floors are heated here, and air conditioners are more like space heaters or portable AC units at home. Very few things are built in or included in apartments when you purchase them. Maybe that's different if you're in a more up-scale situation... who knows. I went to a target/walmart equivalent here and found everything you could imagine as a plug in appliance - burners, rice cookers, ovens, toasters, toaster ovens... everything that I think of as "normally" a plug in appliance from home, and then some.


And yet, we are very much so in the 21st century.
All of my students have smart phones (that happens in the US, as well). Also, most of those phones are as big as their faces. Samsung and other companies make BIG PHONES!
I went to a chicken restaurant owned by Samsung. Yes. Samsung Chicken. WHAT?
No one uses keys for their apartments here. Why bother with silly keys that you'd need to keep track of when you can just install a key code lock?
You can get ANYTHING delivered. Seriously. There aren't drive-throughs, but everything delivers, including McDonalds.
I live next to a movie theater, and the same company is putting in ANOTHER movie theatre two blocks over. I live in a suburb. What?!
Where I live definitely comes more alive at night time. I'm not sure if it's due to the heat and humidity, but it is quite quiet in the morning, and starts getting wild at like 8 or 9pm.

I haven't seen any Hanboks outside of museums or attractions, and yet I feel there are elements of the older times mixed in with current times. I'm sure that's true anywhere, but because I'm new to this place and many cultures that I'm immersed in, I notice it more than I would at home.


In recent news:
I joined a CHOIR - a fun outlet and opportunity to meet other expats (who I don't work with!)
I visited the (Japanese?) dollar store - Daiso. Seriously awesome.
All The Single Ladies (Meg, Meg, Jen, Becky, and I) are booking our Chuseok trip to Tsushima ( Check This Map! ) today after school. It'll include bikes, ferry boats, ladies, nature, and laughter. GAME ON!
I awoke salivating at 5:30am from a dream which consisted of eating chipotle with my family. I'm serious. I'm now consequently really missing sour cream and my peoples. Ugh.