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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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 Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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To explain it- They are already dressed up. They just happen to be in a coffee shop.
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This is probably true, my wife dresses up to go to a coffee shop but she dresses up to look smart in front of the friends she meets there not really because of the venue. However, a Korean woman once told me people carry those unbreakable Starbucks Coffee cups around as kind of a status symbol. I found it pretty difficult to believe but she insisted it was true. She didn't specify whether they also put on particular outfits in order to carry the cup around. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:40 am Post subject: |
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| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
I didn't say anything about claiming status, rather females dressing up and spending money to be in a coffee shop meeting friends or "studying". Which is ridiculous.
If there is a status chase, its among groups of girls. |
Studying at a coffee shop is pretty common place no? Heck the free wi-fi alone would be a decent reason to go there.
The Starbucks near my work (in Canada mind you) is crammed with students!
As for the dressing up thing, I will side with those who said that for the most part K-women just tend to dress up to go out anywhere, it is not a sit at the coffee shop thing. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
| I didn't say anything about claiming status, rather females dressing up and spending money to be in a coffee shop meeting friends or "studying". Which is ridiculous. |
Everyone who goes to the coffee shop to hang out with friends should have to wear sweatpants to keep it real.
Where else are they going to hang out? At home, with their families listening in to their conversations? |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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What I find ridiculous is that there aren't any free alternatives considered.
Study at the park? -no that is not for studying
Library? -not enough seats (HUGE LIBRARY IN GOYANG HAS 3 tables per FLOOR??)
Community center? -its for old people 
So why the coffee shop? Paying to sit for questionable wifi (when you pay for internet at home anyway), dirty toilets, having to put on 30 min worth of makeup to sit in a chair and chat with a friend or on Kakao having an open book in front of you (not for reading) is a waste of time and money.
Just my rant  |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:41 pm Post subject: |
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What park? Ha. Korea has awful weather anyway, who wants to study outside? You're not supposed to talk in the library. The community center is full of old people who will stare at you and talk about you if you go in there. If they went to any of those places they'd still put on the make-up anyway. It's not necessary, they just like it.
Socializing is not a waste of time. Five bucks for a comfortable place to sit for awhile and talk to your friend is not that bad. I'm one of the cheapest people I know, but I just don't see how this is so terrible. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:00 pm Post subject: |
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We'll have to agree to disagree, Draz. 
I find the interior of coffee shops here depressing. Bad food, weak "coffee", hard (or smelly) chairs, clashing faux-euro decor. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Also, most of those people who everyone says are "dressed up" are not that dressed up, its just they aren't dressed like slobs. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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| True, some of the Westerners you see walking around Itaewon/HBC look like they must have spent just as much time as Koreans spend dressing up, trying to look as scruffy as they do. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 12:03 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Also, most of those people who everyone says are "dressed up" are not that dressed up, its just they aren't dressed like slobs. |
The suits for Saturday shopping are a bit much. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 5:59 am Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Also, most of those people who everyone says are "dressed up" are not that dressed up, its just they aren't dressed like slobs. |
The suits for Saturday shopping are a bit much. |
Well if it works for those people who wear them, so be it. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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Just once, I want to see PatrickGHBusan give an unrestrained opinion on something. Like:
"Justin Bieber sucks."
"Vegans are weird."
"Vancouver is way better than Toronto, hands down."
"Dudes who wear suits to shop are dorks."
"Rugby is the greatest sport ever invented."
"I'm a beach guy. Mountains just make me sweaty and tired."
But alas, I fear it is never to be!
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:52 am Post subject: |
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| Zyzyfer wrote: |
Just once, I want to see PatrickGHBusan give an unrestrained opinion on something. Like:
"Justin Bieber sucks."
"Vegans are weird."
"Vancouver is way better than Toronto, hands down."
"Dudes who wear suits to shop are dorks."
"Rugby is the greatest sport ever invented."
"I'm a beach guy. Mountains just make me sweaty and tired."
But alas, I fear it is never to be!
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Justin Bieber does suck and living in a place where he is heard all the time is pure torture.
Vegans are damn weird...
Dudes who wear suits to shop are not dorks, they have different tastes than you do...period.
I do not care for Rugby and it is not the greates sport ever invented as that title belongs to Hockey.
I am a mountain guy and a trail runner, but I enjoy the beach with my kids.
Golf is boring and over hyped
Racists are morons.
People who judge by the group are just as moronic as racists.
Managing Y generation employees is often annoying.
Lets see what else? Something more Korea-centric perhaps?
Bundeagi is horrible.
Dog soup is ok.
Adjumas are usually pretty entertaining to watch as they go about their business.
Korea is a fascinating place once you get beyond surface impressions and if you manage to get out of the expat experience once in a while.
I do not miss pollution in some parts of Korea.
I do miss the milder winters there.
Busan is a fantastic city to live in.
And finally:
unrestrained opinions often blur out the complexity of an issue and tend to warp meaning and limit comprehension. On the other hand they sure are handy and loud. 
Happy holidays to you then Zyzyfer, hope that made you happy. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:15 am Post subject: |
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Great, we've made a start. Although bundegi, dog meat, the weather and polution are the default safe options everyone goes for when a Korean asks you what you don't like about their country, How about finishing this sentence instead.
I don't like the way Koreans tend to ......
Can you do that? can you go that far? I think not. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:07 am Post subject: |
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| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Happy holidays to you then Zyzyfer, hope that made you happy. |
It did! |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:16 am Post subject: |
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| edwardcatflap wrote: |
Great, we've made a start. Although bundegi, dog meat, the weather and polution are the default safe options everyone goes for when a Korean asks you what you don't like about their country, How about finishing this sentence instead.
I don't like the way Koreans tend to ......
Can you do that? can you go that far? I think not. |
I would not say Americans tend to, Canadians tend to, French tend to either...so I sure will not say Koreans tend to unless thats QUALIFIED with something that adds perspective and limits the scope.
What don't I like about Korea? (since this obviously seems to fascinate the heck out of you lol)
Traffic in the larger cities
Tendency to tear down neighborhoods to build up new ones too fast
Deep summer heat (late July-August)
Aggressive driving by some (even if I can UNDERTSTAND why it happens)
Over study for some kids
Squat toilets (those are fewer than they were however)
Thats just a short list of course...and I have one just as long for most of the places I have lived in or visited.
Now, what I will not do is take my experiences and paint all Koreans with the same brush because it makes for a big bang of a statement. I can also accept that many of my initial impressions of Korea were flat out wrong and borne of my own ignorance and limited perspective (the ole expat experience I spoke of before). I also never (in my life) take a few bad experiences and blow those out of proportion pretending they are general conclusions or trends.
Finally, and I stated this numerous times here, I like to try and understand why things happen a certain way or people behave a certain way and also where behaviors and patterns come from BEFORE I try and draw a conclusion from it. I would no more blindly accept the story of one recruiter about someone he placed than the story of one teacher about a bad school without in each case trying to get some sort of supporting evidence or facts.
I doubt however all of this will satisfy you Ed... |
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