**Even though most people live in apartments of one size or another (most are giant suitcase type structures), I have seen the occasional house but most of them are nearer to the base of the many mountains rather than in the immediate business districts & urban areas (no, not ghettos). Most are fairly simple but occasionally I'll see one that is a throwback to more traditional Korean homes. Most, however, are basic brick & mortar set ups.
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| Actual 'houses' are in short supply |
**I talked about the driving habits/techniques/peculiarities of Koreans but realized tonight that I failed to mention one major occurrence. When it's dark out, obviously everyone drives w/their lights on but for some reason (I'm guessing respect or safety), most cars kill their lights when they come up behind someone waiting at a traffic light or intersections & occasionally when they are driving through intersections (I think to warn oncoming traffic from different directions but it seems dangerous). They also do this as they are driving up a hill, which is quite common, since much of Korean is mountainous terrain.
**Exercise in Korea is rather interesting. From what I've noticed, every city park has some form of equipment intended to help the citizens stay in shape. Ironically, the ideal physique in Korea is that of a smaller, thin build. Men don't necessarily work out to 'get ripped' but rather to maintain their health, whereas the women rarely participate in any type of fitness programs aside from yoga, running or biking & even then, it seems rare. Many of the children do enjoy sports & happen to be quite enthralled by soccer, basketball, swimming & skating (inline & speed) but it's very uncommon to see huge, muscle bound Koreans parading around. Tae Kwon Do is an especially popular way for the Korean children to stay active after school.
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| Exercise equipment everywhere |
**Not to be alarmed, the knee (as usual) was feeling fine by Monday - I can only assume it's going to be a recurring theme on future hikes but shouldn't slow me down enough to warrant scrapping all the destinations I've got planned. I'm certainly anxious to start spending my weekends gallivanting around various destinations, especially since the seasons have finally begun their shift to spring - temps in the high 50's & low 60's the last week or so. I do expect a few cold, windy days mixed in over the next month but the warmer weather is certainly welcome!
**I'm an avid golfer & was excited to bring my clubs w/me (although I opted not to) so I could play a few rounds on some of the courses. Koreans seem pretty fanatical about the game & there is a strong contingency of professionals on tour w/Korean roots - more so on the LPGA (Women's tour). Since arriving, I have seen one actual course but scattered all over are 'country clubs.' These are basically fancy driving ranges w/a putting area & a hefty price tag....might just have to rent clubs at one of the real courses & take my chances!
Golf course sighting near the end of the video
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| A 'Country Club' near my house |
**I am supposed to have dinner at an Outback Steakhouse (there's a surprisingly large presence in Korea) sometime in the next couple weeks w/the ladies from the Otae (Tues/Thurs) school. They say the menu is very Westernized, so I'll hopefully be face deep in some garlic mashed potatoes, Mac N Cheese & a juicy steak - so excited! They were very impressed that I'd eaten at the original Outback; I just keep wow-in em!
**Although roughly almost 60% of Koreans are Buddhist, the Christian faith has established a solid foothold (nearly 30%) in the religious psyche as well & man they love neon signs! Looking forward to spending a weekend at a Buddhist temple; should be a very spiritually enlightening experience, although I don't think they've bought into neon the way the Christians have.
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| Neon for Jesus? |
**I see many elderly people walking the streets & it appears they are rummaging through the garbage but upon further inspection they only take plastics, paper & cardboard type items. When I asked James about this, he said of the elderly never had an opportunity to save or invest for their retirement & the burden of caring for their financial needs falls one of two places: 1) Their children take them in, care for & support them the best they can (which it sounds is often the case but a significant strain on their wallets) or 2) They live on the little money they have while collecting recyclables, which they stockpile in various locations around the neighborhood. Occasionally the city comes around, collects it & pay the people for what they've gathered. James said it amounts to AT MOST 10,000 won (almost $10) a day. Much of this isn't due to failure of financial institutions, a housing bubble burst or corporate greed but rather the communist regime decades ago when North Korea controlled all but 10% of the entire Korean peninsula & these people simply didn't make money/save money & had a deficiency in dependable job skills. It's a generation that's been stuck in an unfortunate circumstance & simply do what they can to survive.
The recycling area is about 30 seconds into the video
One of the elderly I assume collects recyclables for cash
**Can't say thank you enough for the cards, care packages & goodies I've gotten! It's not only a great surprise to get 'mail' but the contents have been awesome....thanks, Mom, Leah, Cara, Brenda, Tyson/Sheryl, Teri & Michele (only one has been lost in transit, that I'm aware of). Mom mentioned that when she was at the post office, the lady said South Korea wasn't 'accepting' packages but I got hers, so I'm not really sure what that was about.
That's probably enough rambling for tonight, it's late & I gotta get some ZZZZ's.
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