10 things that are different to back home!

Hello!

David and I are almost 3 months into Korean life. There are many things that you need to adjust to whilst living here. Here is a list of 10 things that I needed to adjust to.

1. People, generally men will cough up a lurgie and spit it onto the floor right in front of you. I still find this extremely disgusting. It's like smokers back home who spit lurgies on the floor. Ew. 

2. Squatties! Many public bathrooms in Korea are squat toilets. These give me the heebie jeebies! I had to use one once because I was so desperate. There were two, one was clean thankfully, but the other had excrement splattered all over it. 

Some restaurant toilets are not inside the restaurant. The majority is located outside, through a different door, up a set of stairs, or down an alley! 

3. Older people tend to push in line (Not all), or push their trolley right into you when they want to get past. I was in line at Emart and an older gentlemen pushed his trolley right into my backside, just because he wanted me to move up a little. I understand that people don't really say excuse me here, but I'm sure there is a Korean phrase for "can you move up"...maybe he was afraid because I'm a foreigner (not that I look like one). 

4. Grabbing a waiters attention! Unless you want to wait an age, you have to shout "yu-gi-oh". There is another phrase you can use to call over the owner of the restaurant which is "sa-jang-nim". Sometimes there is a bing bong bell you can push to get their attention. 

I love this idea. I hate back home when you constantly get hassled by waiters or you don't get enough attention. 

5. Bowing. There are many ways to bow in Korea. You will see people bowing when they say thank you. 

6. The majority of Korean pizza's have sweet potato on them! David hates sweet potato. We need to find out how to ask them "no sweet potato"! There was on time I bought a random pizza from Mr Pizza, and it had sweet potato stuffed in the crust (Sorry David). 

7. Cars! I almost got killed twice crossing the road. Sometimes when the pedestrian man is green, cars are allowed to turn if they're coming from a certain way! One time David almost got hit by a scooter because some dude was driving it so fast on a pedestrian path. 

8. Store workers. Their job is to follow you around the store and help you when you need it. I cannot get used to this. Sometimes I just want to look around alone. They will always ask you if they can help. I need to find the Korean for "I'm just looking". 

9. Many restaurants require you to pay at the end of the meal at the front door. Also, things like bowling, pool, screen golf, you pay after you have finished your game. 

10. Korea is generally safe. Of course, not 100% safe. People leave their bags, wallets, phones lying around and hardly anyone steals them. I can't get used to this. I'm always checking and making sure my possessions are safe. 

There are more than 10 things that you need to get used to here, but these are the main ones for me. 

I will most likely experience others as I live my life here :]! 

Kelly