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Things you will NEVER get used to here
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byrddogs

Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Location: Shanghai

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:27 pm Post subject:

Crap beer and what they charge for it in the market. While Tsingdao isn't great by any stretch, it's less than a dollar for a double deuce...Another national brand here (Suntory) can be bought at my neighborhood market for about 35 cents for a double deuce. Both are much better than the stuff there.

12ax7

Joined: 07 Nov 2009

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:35 pm Post subject:

cj1976 wrote:

Something I find hard to get used to is the rampant nationalistic fervour that drives people to watch figure skating. It's like when he world cup comes around and suddenly, there are football fans everywhere.

Too young to remember the Battle of the Brians?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=383RoLN-j9E

Wink

12ax7

Joined: 07 Nov 2009

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:02 pm Post subject:

Steelrails wrote:

cj1976 wrote:

Straight men who watch figure skating. It's no more of a sport than hairdressing.

I beg to differ. Clearly it requires athletic ability. It requires jumping ability, conditioning, stamina, agility, coordination and strength. And as with any sport, the older you get past your athletic prime, you decline.

Or maybe I was wrong and a figure skater can still practice their techniques, but ignore their physical conditioning and gain 20 lbs. of fat and still perform at a high level.

And what exactly is gay about figure skating?

If anything figure skating is more of a sport because it involves both athletic AND artistic ability. Basketball, baseball, soccer,hockey, you just have to execute. Figure skating you have execute AND look good while doing it.

Also, don't forget these guys need nerves of steel.

Elvis Stojko was definitely an athlete, a fickin' jumping machine. Not the most elegant skater, but he still dominated men's figure skating for nearly a decade...and then became a Canadian national champion in martial arts.

fermentation

Joined: 22 Jun 2009

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:07 pm Post subject:

cj1976 wrote:

To be fair, Koreans do like soccer (or football) in general. My "Koreaness" has been questioned many times for not liking soccer. But you have a point on other sports. Figure skating and baseball are good examples. I remember a couple years back during the Baseball world cup everybody around me was suddenly a baseball fan. Even people who I know didn't care or know anything about baseball. Same with figure skating. People are fans only when Kim Yuna is skating. That's just weird to me.

byrddogs wrote:

Crap beer and what they charge for it in the market. While Tsingdao isn't great by any stretch, it's less than a dollar for a double deuce...Another national brand here (Suntory) can be bought at my neighborhood market for about 35 cents for a double deuce. Both are much better than the stuff there.

Not just beer. I just can't get used to the prices here if the same thing cost much less back in the States. I have this mental block that keeps me from buying stuff because I keep thinking, "This crappy bag of chips/soda/etc should cost half!" You would think I would get used to it after awhile.

12ax7

Joined: 07 Nov 2009

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:27 pm Post subject:

fermentation wrote:

If you compare convenience store prices here with those in Canada, it's cheaper here.

Then again, you shouldn't eat that junk anyways. When I worked in a laboratory, I distilled 20g of potato chips out of curiosity. Results: 10g of fat and 1 g of salt. Yes, half of the weight was fat. So, a large 200g bag of potato chips has almost half a cup of fat in it and two table spoons of salt.

Besides, I think the potato chips are way to sweet here. A Korean snack food manufacturer (Lotte, I believe) sold Lay's a couple of years ago, but that only lasted 6 months or so. I guess they weren't loaded with enough sugar and artificial sweeteners (which is weird since Pringles are quite popular here, and those aren't particularly sweet).

Last edited by 12ax7 on Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:33 pm; edited 3 times in total

byrddogs

Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Location: Shanghai

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:28 pm Post subject:

fermentation wrote:

It's hard to get used to it, but we have (had in my case) to pay those prices to live there. It's funny that there are many Korean brands here in China that cost significantly less than they do there. As far as US products go here, much cheaper than the states as well. I love living in Shanghai. I make nearly the same salary and work much less, yet live a much better quality of life (big, new apt, can find any produce/fruits for cheap, reasonably priced western restaurants (that even deliver) out the a$$ if I feel the urge. I just bought a computer desk with bookshelves recently delivered for less than $45 for the wifey. Try finding stuff like that in Korea or the States.

edwardcatflap

Joined: 22 Mar 2009

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:30 pm Post subject:

Quote:

To be fair, Koreans do like soccer (or football) in general. My "Koreaness" has been questioned many times for not liking soccer.

How many of those people would show the slightest interest in football if Park Ji Sung didn't play the occasional game for Man United? I'd bet not very many. As the previous poster said, it's all about nationalism

Steelrails

Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:11 pm Post subject:

edwardcatflap wrote:

Quote:

To be fair, Koreans do like soccer (or football) in general. My "Koreaness" has been questioned many times for not liking soccer.

Soccer's pretty big and a playground sport. People would follow it regardless, same with the NBA, golf, and tennis.

You do realize that before Park Ji Sung, Park Chan Ho, Jeremy Lin, Yao Ming, YE Yang, KJ Choi, etc. that Koreans still followed NBA, MLB, golf, and more, right?

The NBA was on national TV here back when Jordan was playing. It was only the Bulls. That's how big Jordan was. No one wanted to see the Bucks play the Clippers. Is it really all about Korean nationalism?

As for figure skating, if someone from your country is going for the gold, more people are probably going to tune in than normal. I mean what were Koreans supposed to do? Not watch? Cheer for someone else?

Some other weird things-
I will never get used to weird socks.
I will never get used to some of the more exotic creatures in the fish tank at the restaurant.

byrddogs

Joined: 19 Jun 2009
Location: Shanghai

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:21 pm Post subject:

Steelrails wrote:

The NBA was on national TV here back when Jordan was playing. It was only the Bulls. That's how big Jordan was. No one wanted to see the Bucks play the Clippers. Is it really all about Korean nationalism?

So, what happened after that? Jordan no longer played for the Bulls and the NBA was no longer relevant? Sure, SBS sports would broadcast some NBA games from time to time and the playoffs during my time there, but for the most part it was soccer, golf, soccer, golf, and some uni volleyball, lol.

Oh, I forgot to mention billiards.

The Floating World

Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:48 pm Post subject:

byrddogs wrote:

fermentation wrote:

Hey man I'm moving there next month after almost 8 yrs here. How do you like it? I visited over xmas and thought it was awesome, blew any K city away easily. Send me a pm if you get the chance or reply here... I also found way better selction of imported foods there and much better prices; european cheese, deli meats etc about half as muh as you'd pay in SK and yeah 700won for a can of suntory or tsingtao that is twce as good as any K beer.... also found western beers cheaper in the supermarkets. The selection of foods and beers at the foriegn market at ppls square is fab.

Adventurer

Joined: 28 Jan 2006

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:50 pm Post subject:

byrddogs wrote:

Did you know that Tsingtao (the place) used to be a German colony in China? Personally, I was reasonably impressed with the beer. It's a decent beer. As far as Korean beer, I've found it to be horrible except for this dark stout I used to see, but no longer see. I don't mind the new OB. It's decent enough. With this addition, I have hope that the beer will improve in Korea, though not quickly.

edwardcatflap

Joined: 22 Mar 2009

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:04 pm Post subject:

Quote:

People in the UK have a thing about supporting your local team. It creates a local identity and brings the community together. We admire those people who will trudge out to the local stadium on a wet friday night to watch an uninspiring nil nil draw. we look down on fair weather supporters or armchair supporters who claim to like the game but don't put their money where their mouth is. With Koreans it's nearly all about the latter type of people. they get massively excited when their national team's doing well but couldn't care less the rest of the time. Not saying they should behave one way or another, just saying why people from other countries judge them as not really being 'true' supporters.

As for people watching figure skating you make a fair point. I remember large numbers of people in my country getting very excited about Torville and Dean a long time ago. On the other hand families wouldn't gather round the tv to watch that British guy win the gold medal in shooting again. Depends on the sport.

The Floating World

Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:24 am Post subject:

Quote:

I will never get used to some of the more exotic creatures in the fish tank at the restaurant.

Ever eaten those 'sea *beep*' (what my friend and I call them) things...?

I haven't, don't have the guts.

wainy316

Joined: 04 May 2010

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:00 am Post subject:

edwardcatflap wrote:

Quote:

To be fair, Koreans do like soccer (or football) in general. My "Koreaness" has been questioned many times for not liking soccer.

A Korean guy wanted to fight me because I said Ashley Young was better than Park Ji Sung. Laughing

Adventurer

Joined: 28 Jan 2006

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:40 am Post subject:

wainy316 wrote:

edwardcatflap wrote:

Quote:

To be fair, Koreans do like soccer (or football) in general. My "Koreaness" has been questioned many times for not liking soccer.

A Korean guy wanted to fight me because I said Ashley Young was better than Park Ji Sung. Laughing

To be fair, isn't that somewhat normal for many cultures? I mean if you were Turkish, you might be proud that Mehmet Oz is famous in the US, and that many European teams have people of Turkish background, but there are tons of players of Turkish background that are good. One Turkish friend commented that some Turks take pride in a German Turkish player who was not even raised in Turkey just because he's ethnically Turkish. If you're from a country like England, Italy, or France, and you won world cups you're not going to think about such things.

Algeria never won a world cup, and the Algerians were proud of the Berber captain Zineidine Zidane. That said, the Turks would, actually, at least watch the European cup because they're in it. Some Algerians would watch European teams as some feel connected to Europe and get the European games on TV. The Koreans are not in any European championship and don't feel much of a connection to Europe. They feel a connection to each other mostly. The only people who really pay attention to the European teams somewhat are Europeans and people from the Middle East. People beyond Southwest Asia are too far to be interested.

I don't think it's so strange for them to be interested in Manchester United because Park Ji Sung is in there. Don't you think some Chinese people might be happy about the Chinese players in the NBA? Look, I understand it may look silly that someone only started caring about Man U because of that player, but, in a way, didn't many people get interested in the Bulls because of Jordan or the Lakers because of Kobe Bryant. I know it's different, but similar in the sense that individuals often get us interested in certain teams.

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