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rudyflyer
Joined: 26 Feb 2003
Location: pacing the cage
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 Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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Lemon is right, this place is like in many ways stepping back to the mid 90's.
Never thought a city so big could be so backwards in many ways. I expect this is rural areas even in rural areas of the US it can be like a step back in time. But a city of 1 million people? |
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The King of Kwangju
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Location: New York City
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Rudy and Lemon - nice to hear some things never change. I was starting to get worried for a minute there. |
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Chonbuk
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Vancouver
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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Lemon and Rudy:
Daejeon is the same actually, but there is the North end where it isn't as bad, and than the rest of the city where it is still old school Korea.
A friend from Seoul came down 2 weeks ago, and couldn't believe that he was still being Helloed at.
I have been in Korea since 1996 also, I have left and returned a few times- 3 maybe.... I've lost count.
The biggest change is the internet, we had those Hanguk Tongshin monster boxes for email back them.
Women are working outside of the home more than they used to.
Pets- actually I think that is the biggest change. All those "foreign" dogs
Fashion is a little more adventourous, but not much and not for the majority of people.
Gay bars and the Queer festival- whoosa, quite a change from a country that had NO gays....
I think Korea is still exciting for a newbie coming here, maybe not as much as a far flung adventure or risk as it was in 96 but still it's an adventure.
For me and for most of us 7-yearers it's not really an adventure anymore it's life, and life does have its ups and downs.
Enjoy the monsoons.
Chonbuk |
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Cthulhu
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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Wow--a lot of people came in '96. I notice the "go back home 2 or 3 times" trend is alive and well. I did it too.
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| Seeing IMF signs and products everywhere. I even had an IMF burger at Lotte once. |
Still see the odd faded one in Busan. I think I've heard the letters I, M and F used together to last me 10 lifetimes. Ever ask a Korean what they stand for? 
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| Hearing "I Love You Baby" blaring from every street corner as Frankie Valli sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" |
Eck--I remember that song going on forever...
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| Oddly, many did leave, but alot came back as well!! It seems like half of my friends from Busan are living in Seoul now.. 7 years later.. |
Yikes! I think I missed the boat on the Busan--->Seoul migration. 
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| I've been out of Korea for a couple of years now, but reading this forum I get the feeling that a lot of the fun is gone. Either that, or the posters are all a little older and the guys getting away with everything are too busy to post. |
I think that's true. A lot of the rough and tumble feeling is gone. Perhaps Korea really is being dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century (I did say 20th not 21st  ) or perhaps we are all to old to do what we used to. Settling down takes a lot out of a guy...
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| Pagers kept getting smaller and smaller (8282 means "to hurry" pal ee, pal ee) |
I remember that number. And when someone was pissed off, I think it was 181818 right? (ship/pal=Korean swearing) I got that a few times...  I think there were one or two others but I can't recall them. |
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rudyflyer
Joined: 26 Feb 2003
Location: pacing the cage
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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Chonbuk:
Spent a lot of time in Daejeon that first year and half here and a lot of time last June (went to all 3 WC games there) you're right its pretty old school.
I do though like the "new town" part of the city, seems to like a dividing line between the "old school" and new there. people in the newer parts seem to have a better attitude than the old part.
At least you have good western resturants there. You have "Here Today" which is pretty good. Don't you have a TGI's? I can't wait until the one opens here Aug 21 and the Outback which opens July 5th
TBPHO, if we can't get jobs at a univ near Seoul for our next move we'd love to be there.
No the "hellos" never go away. Happens even in Insadong. Some days Koreans seem like little children who never learn *sigh* |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Ody wrote: |
| 3) almost everyone, even young women, wore the same (albeit fashionable) clothing several days in a row, and they usually owned only a few outfits for a season. I was looked upon as being decadent! |
I absolutely forgot about this one!! Thats a big one.. yeah, the korean teachers I use to work with would wear the same great looking clothes for several days in a row.. without blinking an eye to it! I forget about that one!! |
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gang ah jee
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: city of paper
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 12:07 am Post subject: |
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| King o' Kwangzoo wrote: |
| You mean wayguks don't feel like aliens anymore? No hostility? Really? I'm not trying to be a smarta s s here - if this is true, the place has changed more than I thought. |
can only speak for myself, but in seoul almost no hostility. i'm not exactly spending all my time around kwanghwamun, but still.
| Lemon wrote: |
| Come to Kwangju. Step back in time. |
word.
Since i got here in January 2000
- taxi drivers don't get offended or laugh patronisingly when you fasten your seatbelt
- decent, cheap coffee is a possibility in a lot of neighbourhoods
- architecture seems to have improved. |
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richinkorea
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Location: Gawd Darn Hot and Sunny Arizona !
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 12:24 am Post subject: |
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The driving has also changed a ton. It's almost civilized now, at least in Seoul.
It can be fun to play crash 'em up derby.  |
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Ody
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 6:30 am Post subject: |
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Ody wrote:
3) almost everyone, even young women, wore the same (albeit fashionable) clothing several days in a row, and they usually owned only a few outfits for a season. I was looked upon as being decadent!
I absolutely forgot about this one!! Thats a big one.. yeah, the korean teachers I use to work with would wear the same great looking clothes for several days in a row.. without blinking an eye to it! I forget about that one!!
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right  
Last edited by Ody on Thu Mar 17, 2005 3:39 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:46 am Post subject: Re: Do you remember when...? (one for the long-timers) |
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| Cthulhu wrote: |
(some of these might still exist, though I haven't seen them in a long time)
--beer had foil on the cap
--mosquito trucks shot that foggy stuff all around the neighborhood (maybe still?)
--moon boots and miniskirts
--1000 Won basic fare taxi rides
--Budweiser was considered exotic
--more than half the buses didn't have air-con
--bus/subway tokens
--the Won was worth something
--riot police actually had a job to do
--coffee shops had telephones at every table (and grossly overpriced coffee...but wait, we have Starbucks now)
--TV stations (except AFKN) basically shut down all afternoon
--beepers (pagers) everywhere meant pay phones had long lineups
--related to the above, people you were meeting would disappear for awhile to answer the pager message instead of gabbing on the phone in front of you
--every second bar was a so-called Jazz bar playing DJ DOC...hey, wait a minute...
--black market stores actually had stuff foreigners deperately wanted. "Is that Corona I see? Ohhhhh! And peanut butter? Woohoo!"
--people would try to sell you things on buses
Any others? |
I hope those miniskirts come back this year..
And the Korean Won is worth something now! |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:23 am Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
10) Any Korean man over the age of 35 ONLY wore either green or brown plaid checkered pants/shirts.. usually not matching. |
Tiger--
This one item all by itself is worth five of your "Crisis! Broke a Shoelace!! What should I doooo??" or "Big job interview! Grey socks or black???" threads.
Nice-uh! |
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SuperFly
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Location: In the doghouse
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:23 am Post subject: Re: Do you remember when...? (one for the long-timers) |
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| Cthulhu wrote: |
| --1000 Won basic fare taxi rides |
When did this change? How much now?
| Cthulhu wrote: |
| --coffee shops had telephones at every table (and grossly overpriced coffee...but wait, we have Starbucks now) |
So all the coffee shops are gone...what replaced them? That's one hell of a lot of coffee shops...and I'm guessing cell phones replaced the table phones. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:25 am Post subject: |
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| Oh no....! The table phones!!! Fly, you're making me all misty-eyed now. |
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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
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:28 am Post subject: |
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| There are still some coffee shops that have the phones at every table. I can think of one in Sinchon off the top of my head. |
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Ody
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here
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| Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 3:38 am Post subject: |
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| The King of Kwangju wrote: |
| Ody wrote: |
| ...in the "old days" i was a tourist here, sometimes for several months, and i was always happy to set foot on ground in my own country afterwards... |
| The King of Kwangju wrote: |
| A tourist? |
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yes a tourist; for the first time in '92, then in '96, and Christmas 2000; before actually moving here in '02.
| The King of Kwangju wrote: |
| Why did you keep coming back? For months at a time? |
why does it matter?
| The King of Kwangju wrote: |
| Ody wrote: |
| ...people were friendly enough, gregarious in fact, but i still felt like an alien (due perhaps to the wide birth given me on the streets), i remember actually missing the open hostility of my home in brooklyn, ny! |
| The King of Kwangju wrote: |
You mean wayguks don't feel like aliens anymore? No hostility? Really? I'm not trying to be a smarta s s here - if this is true, the place has changed more than I thought. |
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i live in Hongdae now, and (other than when i was pregnant) get stared at only occasionally, and not with nearly the same intensity. come to think of it, maybe that has a little to do with being older.   |
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