In Other Words...

Here is an email I received today from my friend here in Seoul.  This is her perception of our new city.  She is from PA and arrived in Seoul in early August.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN SEOUL WHEN:

• You’re walking down the sidewalk and suddenly you’re almost run over by a moped – being driven by a grandpa with a baby in the front – both without helmets
  
• You’re at a pool where women of all ages are wearing shoes that you’d wear  to a Christmas ball – if there was no snow
• You take a 3 mile taxi ride that takes you 45 minutes and costs $3.50 USD
• You go to a Costco where they bring out the samples like it’s the last supper and crowds of people push you out of the way like they’ve never seen chocolate cake before in their lives
• You walk down the street and the only other Caucasian you’ve seen that day greets you with a hello like he’s your long-lost brother
• You go to a hospital, and there must be at least 600,000 people there – all with their brother, mother, grandfather, daughter, second-cousin, second-cousin-once-removed, and their auntie
• You make it to your destination in one piece, pull into the parking garage and discover that you’re expected to park your American-sized SUV into a space that would barely fit a Smart Car
• You go to a public toilet, enter the stall, do your business, and suddenly discover – OMG! – there’s no TP!!  You finish up, go out to wash your hands, and notice that Oh- there’s the toilet paper, it’s hanging by the wall, next to the sink
• You’re out to lunch, and try to order a Diet Coke – a what? – ok, how about a Coke Light?  Ok, I’ll take water – major caffeine headache begins
• You go to a food court – does ANYONE have Diet Coke???
• You’re out to eat, they bring you the smallest napkins on earth, a water in a glass the size of a juice glass, and chopsticks
• You wonder to yourself – what IS IT with this country and the teeny-tiny napkins and teeny-tiny Kleenex??
• you hop in the car to go somewhere with your kids, and your neighbors kids and everybody piles into the car like it's 1975 - no car seat, kids piled up into the back - crawling all over each other and fighting - ah, the memories

Last, but not least,

You know you’re in Seoul when:

• Every time you go to the market with your 4 year old son, he begs, pleads, and promises eternal good behavior if you will please, please, please buy the 5 fish on the string – can he have it?  Ok, how about the octopus?  (both are fish plunked out of the sea, and thrown into a freezer – this is literally what they look like – why he wants it is beyond me)