Throughout
the next few weeks we found out that we are living in the second
richest area in Seoul. Pretty much every person owns two Mercedes, oh,
except for us. We don't have one. We don't even have bicycles.
Actually, we don't even have proper walking shoes! We also discovered
many things Korea provided for us. Things like padded sidewalks - all
the sidewalks are covered in recycled tire. Great to jog on, and
non-slip when it rains. Why don't they have these everywhere?!
Unfortunately, at intersections the rubber is rimmed with marble so
when you're going at a good pace on the sidewalk, as soon as you hit an
intersection you find your feet flying out from under you. Okay, so not
all their ideas are so great. But these Korean's sure do keep us on our
toes...or on our behinds.
Besides rubber sidewalk, some other
VERY cool inventions that exist in Korea that Ian and I feel should be
mandatory in other countries include: Traffic directing robots. Arrows
on crosswalks going one way, and beside it going the other way so that
people don't run into each other when crossing the road. No one really
follows them, but its a good idea anyway. Doorbells on each table in a
restaurant for service. They come when you need them, and they're not
bothering you when you don't. Numbered seating in movie theaters.
Choose your seats, and come when the movie starts. No line-up.
Brilliant. Special stands placed at entrances that you stick your wet
umbrellas into and it instantly wraps your umbrella in a plastic bag.
Genius. One invention that we still think is great, but can pose a
major problem for the new-comer is floor heating. When Ian and I first
arrived we learned that we had to turn the hot water heater on in order
to get, well...hot water. Unfortunately, the button for it was on a
contraption on the wall, which happened to have about 10 other buttons
on it, all explaining themselves...in Korean. We figured out how to
turn on the hot water, but with hot water also came a VERY hot floor.
In the dead of summer, the last thing you need is floor heating. This
dilemma plagued us for weeks, until finally one day I couldn't stand it
anymore and stubbornly tried every combination of buttons on and off in
order to save not only our energy bill, but what was left of our minds.
The culture shock was setting in nicely, and continued right into our
first day in a shopping mall. One Saturday morning, Ian and I went to a
plaza nearby and walked up to the door of a department store. The doors
were closed and standing on the other side of them were four women
slowly bowing up and down, up and down, up and down. Who were they
bowing to? There was no one around. As we watched, it started to look
really creepy. We asked each other, "Are they robots?" I walked forward
to take a closer look. I reached out to open the department store door,
and I met eyes with one of the robots. Her expression changed to what I
can only described as panic. Instantly a security guard was at my side,
sternly informing us that the department store wasn't open yet. Ian and
I looked around and saw that a large group of people were standing
outside waiting. We had just march right by them and right up to the
door to open it. We had just ruined their perfectly timed flawless,
morning ritual. A few minutes later, with one final bow, the robot
women stepped forward with large plastic smiles and opened the doors. A
mad rush ensued, and the women resumed their creepy, perfectly timed
bowing ritual. What is this scary world we have found ourselves in?
**Shudder**
