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Things you don't understand in Korea.
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periwinkle



Joined: 08 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

haengdangdong wrote:
[I called 119 when I found a drunk ajushee on my couch in the middle of the night stealing my jackets. They told me that they were the fire department and that they didn't speak English. They didn't foward my call.


Oh my God. What complete idiots. That just takes the cake.
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OiGirl



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 2:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How come "24 Hour Kimbap World" doesn't serve kimbap after midnight?
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why, for such a heavy-drinking society, does all their alcohol suck so bad?

Why is there so little food in stores? Why one aisle for ramyon and one for canned tuna?

Why so little variation in food and types of restaurants?

Why do some Koreans (try to) speak a little English to each other, not you the foreigner, just because you are within earshot?

Why do total strangers appear offended to see a foreign guy hanging around a Korean girl? Why do those same jerks act like an overprotective relative?

(Actually I think we've discussed all this stuff enough already, especially the last one.)
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spidey112233



Joined: 21 Jul 2005

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

never read all the pages but......

why in the hell do drivers wear little racing gloves in their family sedans and bus drivers with those white ones?

i can guess that its part of the uniform for the bus drivers, but still. they must not want to get their hands dirty or somethin'.

AND

why do korean drivers put the "parking/emergency brake" on at red lights and evrywhere they park? itsn't it called an emergency brake for a reason? like on steep hills while parking etc.

my car back home is a stick. i tell all these koreans i drive with, just put the car in first gear and leave it when parked. it's not gonna roll away when the parking place is FLAT!

they pull up on the break as hard as they can every time. geezz....
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spidey112233



Joined: 21 Jul 2005

PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

and what's with all the mirrors on cars? i think they make bad Korean drivers even worse
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Corporal



Joined: 25 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why does it seem like nobody gets annoyed here when proper notice is not given about ANYTHING?

For example:

a) my apartment not having any hot water for the entire next WEEK, but they only confirmed this after it was already unavailable. Rolling Eyes

b) my daycare telling me on Thursday NIGHT they're going on vacation from Friday to the following Wednesday. Uhhh thanks for giving me a chance to make other arrangements, assholes.

c) at work: schedule changes, extra classes, new students, students leaving...now why would I need to know any of that?
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why do they change the title of an English language movie into another English title which is put into hangul on the screen? Example, one called "Addicted to Love" was in hangul as "Virtual Seduction"...."virtual" is maybe OK, but "seduction" I assume is not well known among Koreans.
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Barking Mad Lord Snapcase



Joined: 04 Nov 2003

PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well....foreigners will comment on South Korea's traffic, that is for sure.

No escaping that.

If drivers keep their habits, they know the deal, it's their choice.

While I do not completely agree with some posts about the nation's supposedly widespread disregard for the welfare of strangers, I share a basic view about the traffic problem: most of the time it is a question of choices and of hard decisions.

There is a sure-fire way to lose road fatalities and be safer overall: change your driving habits and patterns and p-a-y--a-t-t-e-n-t-i-o-n.

No tricks or gimmicks....just plant your butt in the driver's seat and drive safely.

A small portion of unsafe drivers do have problems with social and work-related pressures, but the vast majority simply make bad driving choices and do not exercise caution.

It is not even a question of being anally retentive here. It is a question of well being and safety. When I first arrived in Korea I was shocked by the sheer chaos of aggressive, inattentive drivers .

I am not super cautious or without attention flaws, but I drive safely most of the time and avoid driving inebriated and pay attention. Its not magic nor is it impossible. It is a choice and like all other choices it comes with a set of consequences we must take responsibility for.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?p=595149&highlight=#595149
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death from above



Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Location: in your head

PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i love how how drivers don't yield or even slow down for pedestrians
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know Koreans aspire to learn English, but why I have the BBC amazes me. Of course I am not complaining. But why do I have a channel in an area where less than 1 in a 1200 or more can watch it.?
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Sleepy in Seoul



Joined: 15 May 2004
Location: Going in ever decreasing circles until I eventually disappear up my own fundament - in NZ

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why is it that Korean plumbers never seem to bolt down the toilet to the floor? In every place I have lived in here, the toilets are puttied to the floor (including one place where the putty had completely broken away, making many of my trips to the bathroom an adventure - the smallest movement while on the toilet seat had the cistern swaying like a drunken ajoshi, with the water sloshing around inside like a full bladder).
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JongnoGuru



Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jajdude wrote:
I know Koreans aspire to learn English, but why I have the BBC amazes me. Of course I am not complaining. But why do I have a channel in an area where less than 1 in a 1200 or more can watch it.?

Dude, all 1200 of them can watch it. Unless they're blind or don't own a television.

What I don't get is:

1) Why am I always the only one in a group giving or receiving directions to somewhere who knows (or will want to know for the sake of orientation) my East, West, North & South? Hey, I'm not the one who spent his entire life being constantly bombarded by references to direction. Buk(han), Dong(hae), Nam(hae), Gyeongsan/Chungcheong/Jeolla nam- & buk-do, Gangnam & Gangbuk, Nam(san), etc.)

Guru: Is it east or west of the palace?
Whoever: Um.. It's on the Shinchon side.

Guru: Okay, I've just exited XYZ Subway Station. Do I continue north from here?
Whoever: You have to go toward Trendy Department Store.
Guru: Right, so that's north?
Whoever: I don't know. Just ask someone.

(later...)
Guru: Okay, I'm at Trendy Department Store. Now, is it east or west of here?
Whoever: Confused It's toward Funky Handphone Plaza.
Guru: Right, but I don't know where that is. Just tell me east or west.
Whoever: ...
Guru: Look, is it on the China side or Japan side?

2) Why is it so difficult for people to remember their (or their company's) six-digit postal code? Every address has one, yet nobody seems to know what it is off the top of their head. The reason this issue comes up for me so often is that when we bill Korean clients, we mail a VAT receipt to them. We'll have a copy of their Business Registration Certificate on record, but those never include the postal code, just the street address.

Us (Guru or secretary): Hello, we're calling to confirm your address for our records. Could you give us your postal code please.
Them (Client's staff): .... My boss is in meetings now. Can I have him call you back when he returns?
Us: No, no -- we don't need to trouble him. It's just the postal code we need.
Them: ... I don't know what the postal code is.
Us: It's the six-digit number after your company's address.
Them: Yes, I know that, but I don't know what ours is.
Us: Well, do you have a name card?
Them: Why do you want my name card?
Us: Rolling Eyes No, I mean just take a look at your name card and it will probably have the address and postal code of your company on it.
Them: .... Um, I can't find one right now. Can I have the president contact you later?
Us: Rolling Eyes Exclamation Okay, how about mail? Does your office receive any mail? Like bills, invoices, letters, junkmail, anything???
Them: (whispers to co-workers, shuffling papers, inordinately long wait) Can I call you back please?

It's just maddening and silly. We don't even bother asking anymore. There are postal code booklets with this info, and we use them instead.
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Grotto



Joined: 21 Mar 2004

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Koreans insane tendency to drive in the middle of the road whenever possible, usually swerving over the center line like a bunch of drunken monkeys in a circus car.
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

JongnoGuru wrote:

Dude, all 1200 of them can watch it
.


Indeed. And I can watch the Chinese and Japanese Tv too.
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simone



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Now Mostly @ Home

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 10:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How in an empty corridor that's easily fifteen feet across, someone with brush against you or bump into you.

I was at a subway station yesterday morning, standing in front of the machine that sells �� tissue, getting myself a refreshing pack of Smints, when I felt something brush against my ass. Turns out to be a hand.

I spin around, and it's a guy, maybe early 30s, lurching along. I yell "ya" after him, and he doesn't notice... I'm not really pissed off, because I'm not sure it wasn't an accident, but I'm still thinking that the guy should pay more attention, so I want to make him sweat.
So turns out there's one of those ubiquitious new subway cops just behind me, so I mime what happened and point to the guy.... Cop goes up to him and gives him a real talking to. Then some embarassed gesturing (no officer, it was just my paw swinging like it naturally does, see?) cop lets him go after some sheepish bowing. I tell him to be more careful in the future (but with my bad Korean it may have sounded like a death threat) and everyone goes along on their merry way.

Yeah, from his lurching walk (guy was half asleep) it makes sense that he didn't do it intentionally, and I didn't feel his hand grip my butt cheek at all, but I just though, jeez, people should have extremely innappropriate behaviour pointed out to them. Like if you're walking down a corridor with tons of space, don't bump into the only other person in the corridor? And particulary not with a hand touching a body part that in North America you'd likely get arrested for......

Simone
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