Crazy Corea (pt. 1)

I've learned that none of the computers that I have access to right now have memory card readers! So, no pictures temporarily, but I will post as soon as I am able for your viewing pleasure.

In the meantime, I've started compiling a list of funny, quirky, awesome things I've seen during my first week in Korea that I just have to let everyone know about. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come, but my list is already quite long, so I have to break it up into parts.

1. Korean trash baffles me. It's tossed out into the sidewalk in front of your building for the trucks to pick up. It never piles up tremendously, and there's no litter anywhere else on the streets, really. But it's a new experience to see trash bags and all kinds of assorted cans and such in colorful piles as I walk to work, instead of in neat bins lined up up by the sidewalk.

2. The doors are magnetized!! It makes leaving notes for friends and advertisements very convenient. You can come home to quite a few bits of paper on your front door, so the hallways are temporarily colorful with ads.

3. Korean drivers can be a bit of a concern. I'm not sure if they're just not really paying attention, because I know  that they have quite a regard for human life, including that of children. But you really should be careful when you step off roads. One of my drivers frequently wandered onto other lanes and came THIS close to pedestrians. I almost laughed out loud when they backed into the bumper in the parking space and left one of the back tires suspended up on it, because I could just see Dan wincing and my brother shaking his head.

4. 7Elevens are nice affairs. The one down the street from where I live is clean, modern, brightly lit. There are chairs and tables, like at a proper snack shop, for people to sit at. In some ways, Korea is like Costa Rica and El Salvador, with lots of little shops down the street and just around the corner from my apartment. People choose their favorites, and they can be found there at all hours of the day, enjoying a nice gossip with their neighbor.

6. The city is busiest at night. No kidding! Even though Ochan is considered a suburb of Cheongju, it's nothing like Murrieta or Pasadena, where the streets are lonely or deserted after 9pm on a weeknight. Because the children are just ending hagwon at around that hour, families do their shopping late at night, go to the park, take their evening stroll. The funny thing is that, even though Lake Park is alive with people of all ages, it's not what you would call noisy. It's not really loud, and my walks from home from the school is pleasant and surprisingly soothing.

That's it for now. I'll add pictures again once I'm able to do so.