Random thoughts from Korea

I’ve been here for about a month, working, living, and generally absorbing as much of Korea as I can. Here are a few random observations that I’ve noted. And yes, they generalize a lot about an entire culture. Think of it as an outsider’s snapshot of Korea.

Smoking seems to be more prevalent here than in the United States. It is not uncommon to see dozens of people outside of each university building smoking in between classes and during lunch.
People walk slowly. Even compared to Iowa. I attribute this to the large Confucian influence, where not being in a hurry is valued. I dig it, because it is hot here, and I can walk really slowly and not break out in a pouring sweat.
Koreans love fried chicken. Okay, this is very over-generalizing, but I mean it in the nicest way since I freaking love fried chicken. Koreans make the most wonderful, delicious, succulent friend chicken. It is not to be confused with southern fried chicken in the United States, and I wouldn’t make them compete against each other. Rather, I’d have a big bucket of each and just enjoy. For more, check out this New York Times article about importing Korean-style fried chicken to New York City. Mmmm… one thing I will really miss about this place.
Parking is surprisingly cheap for such a crowded city. Well, at least compared to the Boston area.
Korean traffic is slow. In two ways, actually. The speed limits are low, and the traffic is thick. Think of it as the central downtown area of any big city (NYC, Boston, Chicago), except spread out over a larger area. When I drive in to work from the suburbs (say, like Natick to Boston), it is about 11-12 on-road miles. It can take anywhere from 30-90 minutes. The speed limit is at most 70kph in places, but one rarely gets going that fast. The drivers are not very aggressive, and they all seem to reliably signal their intentions, but it is crowded. You really have to pay attention, as lanes appear and disappear constantly, with the only indication being arrows painted in the lanes.
The arrows painted on the streets are all done in the same font. Cool.
Koreans don’t use Google. They user Daum.net or Naver.com.
http://maps.naver.com must have some sort of geolocating via IP address going on because when you open it in your browser, it brings centers on your current location pretty reliably. I’ve tested this at home, at the Ramada Hotel, and at Yonsei and Ewha Universities. Very cool, and super useful.
Koreans must have the ability to take in more sensory input than I can. I find everything a little overwhelming. They have tons of bright lights on every building. People are constantly shouting at you at the grocery store to buy their stuff. They even use amplification on the weekends. The music and the department stores is blaring. Their web pages have so much going on on them it is crazy. (The simplistic Web 2.0-y U.S. style has just not caught on here, with the big, simple, shiny buttons and very little text.) It is all a bit much for this midwesterner. Check out any Korean web page and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
On that topic, I went to the aquarium yesterday. For one of their underwater shows, they had a crowd of people assembled in front of a tank, all crammed into the area twice as large as a large living room. In the U.S., the announcers/guides would have either just shouted, or had very little local amplification. Not here. The sound was seriously loud. And it didn’t seem to bother anyone but me. Ouch.
No one uses a Macintosh here. But, they still remain “cool” enough to use as props for high-end commercials where people are acting like architects and stuff. Go figure.