O.I.K.

Only In Korea...

• There's no tax - it's wysiwyg here, as the tax (if any) is included in the advertised price


• There's also no tipping, at restaurants, cabs, or anywhere you would normally leave a little extra.


• When you're seated at a restaurant, the waiter does not return to take your drinks or check on you. So how do they know you need something? One of two ways: either there's a "magic button" on the table that you ring whenever you're ready to order or need something, or you yell or say "yogi-o". It means "over here".


• No one says 'excuse me' if they bump into you on the subway. This includes a slight bump to a full-on push-you-out-of-the-way-to-get-that-last-empty-seat-before-you. Some of the worst offenders of this are the ajumas.


• Scooters regularly drive on the sidewalk. Not at a reasonable pace, but often at full speed along a pedestrian-filled walkway. No one seems to care.


• People park in the middle of the street. Perhaps not the middle lane, but on a reasonably busy thoroughfare, they will park on the side of the road regardless of how this will affect the traffic coming behind them.


• Because of this parking issue, many cars seem to ignore the lanes on the road. Buses especially will drive for blocks in the middle of two lanes, effectively blocking all traffic behind them from passing. They also don't pull over all the way when picking up passengers.


• When walking down a retail street, it is not uncommon to see the street congested with tables, all covered with small nick-nacks at 'sale' prices. These tables are not monitored, and unless it starts raining, it seems the shop owners often forget they're there. No one steals from them either.


• Shoes for women only go up to a size 8. The 'big size' stores go up to a 10.5. I have seen one such store. There were three pairs of shoes that were bigger than a 10. None of them fit me.


• Wearing socks with sandals or flip-flops is not tacky, it's polite. You can even wear footsies (ankle-length pantyhose) with a skirt or shorts.


• Girls wear high heels all the time with anything. rain. snow. sun. beach. work. play. running in their gym shorts. I kid you not. And they're often a bright color, like orange, with big bows or flowers or 'jew-els' on them. And they don't have to match any of the other clothes that you're wearing.


• Guys and their girlfriends will often buy the same outfit and wear them at the same time (how else could you tell that they're dating?). Sometimes right down to the same belt and purse. Yes. Men wear purses here. They're not man-bags. They are purses.


• Public restrooms often do not supply toilet paper - there usually isn't even a place to put it. It's b.y.o.t. here.


• Very few large public areas are air-conditioned. Individual shops usually are, but not so much so that coming out of the heat into a store is refreshing. Hallways, elevators, subway and train stations, etc. are never air conditioned, and rarely have fans. Apparently it's the same for heat in the winter.


• The metro and buses are generally frequent and punctual. It is usually simple to get to where you need to be. Unless you are trying to get home in the wee hours of the morning after a night of dancing (and/or drinking). Then, not only will you get on the four different trains that do not go all the way to your stop (so you must get off and wait for the next train), but it will take you twice as long to get home as it did to get there. You may miss your stop by sleeping through it, as well, and end up at the place you left the night before only 6 hours later


• There is a lack of public water-fountains and garbage cans. I have seen ONE (1) water fountain here. The water has to be purified to drink, so the few places that have public water have water coolers with paper envelopes as cups.


• Eggs come in a carton of ten, and the standard is brown - I have yet to see white eggs for sale.
  
• TV shows do not start on the hour or half hour. A standard starting time could be 9:07 or 3:52. When movies or a series is shown, you will get 45 minutes (or so) of uninterrupted program, followed by 15 minutes of commercials.

... etc.