Seoul Discoveries

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 provides 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 everything is fully thought through. 

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 in Korea, 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 sanity.

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 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, totally 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 little world we have now found ourselves living in? **Shudder**