Hi, those four readers :D After a k-pop spazz there's an article for everybody (sooo... like three of you? :D) I've been in Korea for more than a month now and apart from attending free events for expats, music shows recordings and self-studying Korean I have pretty much nothing to do. That does not stop me from having things I'm not that excited about in Korea. Let's take a look at my top 5 no-nos. Toilet paper to the bin Yes. It's not everywhere. But almost everywhere. In Korea you essentianly cannot flush the used toilet paper to the toilet but instead you have to throw it away to the bin. How disgusting. Apparently, the reason is that Korean pipes are too small and can get clogged easily. This highly technically developed country has wrong pipes. And they are completely fine with solving it the bin way. At home it does not have to be such a problem as you can empty the bin whenever you please. Otherwise on the public places it's much bigger problem. If the place is crowdy you encouter an overflowing bin with feces showing around, not even talking about women's problem. Really, Korea? Not enough trash bins on the street Another bin problem. Still a smaller one for me. If you go through the streets of Korea, you rarely pass a trash bin. Not much of a problem for you, you say? Yeah, you can put that little paper to your bag and throw it away later. But what if you're like most of the Koreans and you enjoyed your cold coffee/bubble tea/lemonade/whatever drink? Do you wanna carry it back home the whole way? Well, I don't. And that's when the bins are missed the most. The only place when you can be 100% lucky is the underground as there is always some trash. But you still have to search for it. It's just a pitty because then people leave the plastic cups whenever they please, mostly around some tree or on some pile. What is even more bizzare is that Koreans recycle everything. They can have up to six different categories at home and they can be angry if you do not follow ther rules. And then they just go and leave the trash on a street. Weird. Small bathrooms This is actually not such a big problem but it still can bother you. I do not mind having a toilet in the bathroom. I've grown up with a toilet next to the bath and a basin. No big deal. But in Korea you rarely find a bath, they just have showers. Next to the toilet. Mostly you don't have any curtain or at least a glass wall to separate the toilet from the shower. You just have the shower head and... a toilet. And a drain hole in the floor. So when you shower, you shower the whole bathroom including the toilet and if you're clumsy enough even toilet paper and toilet bin. But why? Why can't they have at least some curtain? I understand that this setting is because of the size of Korean flats and bathrooms (which is small). But for example the flat I live in now has a pretty big bathroom - but still no curtain, and I could see some glass fit in here. There's another airbnb host that lives here and I have no idea how but when she showers she always ends up showering the entire bathroom including the mirror on one of the walls. And then you have to wear some slippers when you need just to pee... No, I'm not a fan of this, I apologize. Circle lenses Are you going to Korea? Are you thinking "I'm gonna buy there my favourite lenses from pinkyparadise and save up on shipping and they surely be even a bit cheaper"? You're gonna be very dissapointed. Like me. Those big brands that shops like pinkyparadise or candylens offer are totally Korean. G&G, Vassen, Geo - all brought from Korea to you. Then why aren't they also sold in Korea?? So far I haven't found any shop that would have those brands! And not even uncle google helped. Everywhere I read that you cannot purchase them in a store. Just online. Which is even weirder when you look around and find some lenses store on almost every corner. No kidding. There's a LOT of lenses or glasses shops. But they have less known brands that are promoted by Korean idols, mosty just monthly or daily lenses for same or higher price than those ones you love. So do not hope for anything and just order them from your favourite online seller. You're not gonna get them here... (By the way, does anyone know about any discount code for pinkyparadise? O:) I'll need new lenses... At least the have free shipping promotion now until 27th of September :D And if anyone knows how to make google stop translating the site for me, I'd appretiate the help too...) Left, right, stop, go... Do you come from country where you normaly walk on the right side of the pavement? You're gonna have a bad time in Korea. People walk everywhere and anywhere. They walk on the far left side right in front of you ad even sometimes expect you to go around them. And when there's a big crowd, nobody cares where he's going. So it's kinda an adventure to go through a crowd because anywhere you go you might bump into someone going the oposite direction. Hand in hand with this, I suppose, goes the driving in Korea. It's insane. I've used Korean taxi just once in my life (last year, we needed to catch the last train so we had no other option). And I'll probably never do it again. Drivers there drive pretty dangerously. They're speeding, do not care about red lights much... Nope. You can get a green light as a walker and the car stops in front of you in the middle of the zebra and just because you walked there (because I no longer give a fcuk, I have a green, I go). So basically, be aware of where you're going, you can bump into anything. Bonus one
The stares. I dress a slightly to the Korean fashion with short tshirt showing a bit of my belly (surprisingly it does not look that fat) - I get stares. I'm holding a Happy Meal bag - I get stares. I wear a face mask like at least quarter of the people in the streets - I get stares. I'm dressed up normally with no weird accessory - I get stares. It's mostly in smaller areas that do not have much tourists (but happened even in Gangnam...) and I'm getting a bit tired of it. You look at me and smile? Fine, looks like you think I'm cool and I might smile back. You look at me weirdly and even turn back when you pass me? Thanks, please don't do that... Kinda makes me feel like a real alien here. I guess that's what happens when you come to Asia and you're white and blonde. Do you have any things you do not really like about Korea? Share them in comments, I'm curious. Be go(o)d P.S.: I probably forgot to put it here but if you wanna be noticed when a new post is up (finally), you can like the page on facebook where I share all the articles.
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Aya SunhyeK-pop fan who moved to Korea to try luck here. Categories |