Korea, part five - Things About Korea

AKA: *sings* These are a few of those cultural things...

1. Couples
Christmas is a huge dating holiday in Asia, so we had plenty of opportunities to observe the Korean couple in their natural habitat while we were in Seoul. One of the things that we noticed rather quickly was the number of couples with matching hats, matching clothing, or, worst of all: matching Christmas sweaters. You know, the kind your mother would give you or make for you every year with a goofy reindeer or something of the sort on the front, the kind you hope will disappear in the back of your closet and never come back?
Those. Matching.
Cue stomach evacuation.
I asked Chantelle who in the couple pushed this matching fashion, guessing that it was the sort of thing the girl forced on the guy, and to my surprise she said that the originator could be either of the couple, but was most likely something both wanted to do. Different strokes...

2. Hats
Outside of the matching couple hats, there were two kinds that made me laugh a lot every time I saw them. The first was a fuzzy cap with ear flaps, all of which was made to look like the top part of the face of famous, cute characters, like Hello Kitty and Doraemon (wikipedia). The end result, however, was to make it look like someone had gone on a Hello Kitty safari hunt and turn their kill into a nice, skinned-Kitty hat. It was somewhat dreadful. Even more dreadful, in my book, were the not-small-children people who would wear these...people who were, many times, older than me.
The second was the Atlanta Braves cap. I saw a couple of men wearing them on the subway and got really excited before Chantelle explained that a celebrity in Korea has recently begun wearing the hat and talking about "A-town." I still somewhat chuckle when I think of the Braves being "supported" in this fashion.

3. Eating utensils
In Korea, chopsticks are not rounded but flat, and are made of metal rather than of lacquered wood. They take a little time to get used to and require a bit more manipulation with the fingers to get them comfortable, but are nice in their own way. In addition, meals are either eaten with chopsticks or with spoons - you will always be brought these implements, whether or not you will need to use both, but will be given no other options unless you're in a restaurant serving Western food.

4. PC-Bongs
This sounds interesting, I imagine, to an English-speaking community, and I hate to be the bearer of un-fun news. "Bong" is the Korean word for "room," and PC-Bongs are just that - rooms filled to the brim with computers, the Korean version of an internet cafe. If you need to print, to scan, to surf the internet, all can be done from a PC Bong. An hour of time on the internet costs around 1,000 won, which is a little less than a dollar at present.
This being said, PC Bongs aren't used for internet surfing so much by the Korean populace, but instead for online gaming. At any point, a PC Bong will be half filled with gamers playing everything from World of Warcraft to Everquest, all of which are already loaded on the computers. These games are extremely popular, and PC Bongs are equipped to encourage the long stays of their guests: snacks and drinks are sold, and there is often a smoking section, which will allow those with a nicotine craving to maintain their play time rather than leaving the sanctity of the Bong.

5. The Won
The won is fairly weak against the dollar and the yen right now, being around 1300 won to the dollar. This was a wonderful thing for us, as travelers, and I was excited about the prospect of getting more for my buck than in Japan. However, there are only three denominations of bill in Korean currency at present: 1,000 won, 5,000 won, and 10,000 won. Roughly $1, $5, and $10 respectively. In short, traveling with any amount of money is uncomfortable, but probably safer - if you're less likely to have money stolen from you if you're not always carrying it with you.

6. Military Service
South Korea has a required military service of two years. These two years can be taken within a certain period of time, so you don't notice a certain age range missing so much. What this meant at Christmas, though, was that there were soldiers on trains coming home all the time. Probably didn't mean much to the Koreans, but I kept expecting one of them to come and try to arrest me for something...