I have already made a random list of unexpected things that I have seen or stumbled on in Korea. But this list goes on and on, as I keep discovering new things that make my everyday life full of surprises. So here we go for another list of small things that are different here. Of course, some of them may not exist in Korea only. But if you see all or most of them in your daily life, then there's a good chance you're living here.
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| Take a look at the car doors |
You may remember that I wrote about mosquito trucks and electric cables the other day. If you take a closer look at the picture I posted then, you'll see a third item which to me is typically Korean : door guards on cars. Since the first time I came here, I've been surprisd to see how popular these kinds of sponges stuck on car doors are. The reason may be simple : Korea is a rather small and crowded country. Consequently, there's a lack of space so parking spots are pretty tight and you need these items to avoid dings and scratches. Ok, but why would these door guards have to be blue or pink? That's something I cannot get used to. Seeing a brand new, shiny black Mercedes with pink sponges on its doors makes me wanna cry. Really. The good news is I have noticed that there may be fewer of these monstrosities than there used to be. Nothing could make me happier, but I'd better not count my chickens before they're hatched.
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| The horror! |
Fortunately, there are not only eyesores. This week, for instance, Korea's cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and that is amazingly beautiful. As an ignorant westerner, I always associated cherry blossoms with Japan, and I have just discovered that there are a lot of places where you can admire them in Korea too. I didn't need to go very far: the following picture was taken in front of our apartment building. But we'll soon visit places that are famously gorgeous during cherry blossom season, so expect more posting about that very soon.
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| Cherry blossom in Busan |
Speaking of our home, another sign that you're living in Korea is that you probably don't have keys in your pocket. Virtually all apartments now have digital door locks. I never really thought about it before coming here, but I must admit that the good old keys we use in France seem quite outdated to me now. Still, I wonder how many tries you have if you enter the wrong code on the number pad, because you can't remember it or you came back home drunk. And what happens after your last try? Hopefully I'll never get to know the answer.
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| Digital door lock in Korea |
Another reason why I shouldn't get back home drunk is these stepping stones near our home. I've seen that in several places in Korea, and that's very exotic to me.
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If you're very tall or reasonably tall (I'm six foot one, which is clearly above average in Korea, but it's above average in france too...), there's also a chance you'll often bump your head and you'll have to get used to bending down when getting on and off the bus or the subway (where the straps are at nose level for me), or even when visiting some places like this temple, or this café in Busan. Being tall is all the more inconvenient in a country where you may have to sit and eat on the floor, and it's sometimes complicated when you go to the restaurant or you visit you in-laws and you have to fold and unfold yourself before and after eating (not to mention the back pain and asleep legs). But on the plus side it will help me work on my suppleness.
Last but not least I'm still a little caught off guard when I see this in Korea. I do know that the swastika is a very ancient symbol that is now used in Buddhism, but I still feel some kind of cringe sometimes when I see one. I guess it'll pass, though.
As I said, I think it's very unlikely that you can find all of these things anywhere else on earth. That's what makes Korea so unique, on top of all the other features that I have written about on this blog. It may look like a lot, but I feel like I haven't even started yet!
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