10 things we totally dig about Korea

10. Wet wipes to clean your hands at every meal.

Garrett's happiness at discovering Korea had Krispy Kreme. Not pictured, Green Tea donuts with Red Bean filling.

Sit down restaurants always give you a wet towel before your meal and fast-food places will almost always give you a disposable wipe. Yeah we know it’s a small thing, but we think it should be a universal practice.

9. Public park exercise equipment. 

Garrett workin' hard on the twisty-twist

We realize this exists in the states too, BUT, before moving to Korea we rarely saw people actually using it - and if they did, they definitely weren’t being serious. Overall, Korean people are pretty health conscious - and so they take their exercising very seriously. We aren’t sure which muscles are actually being worked by many of these machines... however, they sure are a lot of fun and they. are. e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

8. So.many.coffee.shops. 

... and most of them are multi-level. Because of the extreme density of Korea (remember, we are 50 million people living in a land area equivalent to the state of Indiana) many businesses build up rather than out. This also means multi-level grocery stores, which are also quite fun due to the ramp style escalators which allow you to easily take your shopping cart to each level.

7. The abundance of obscurely phrased English-y t-shirts. 

saw this in a store window while we were
in Busan last weekend.

This is a major source of entertainment/bewilderment for us. We are constantly seeing Koreans wearing shirts imprinted with either misspelled or entirely meaningless phrases. We were told that foreign words on clothing are for “decoration only” and that Koreans don’t usually try to read what they or others are wearing…

6. Couple-outfits. 

For obvious reasons we have to be sneaky while taking these pictures.
Girl behind the couple on the subway totally caught me.

Yes, Korean couples really do it, and, like with the public park exercise equipment, they are totally serious. We were told it is like a test from the girl of how devoted the guy is in the relationship – if he will wear matching clothes on their date then he is committed. And the outfits don’t end with the matching shirts, every mall we’ve been in has stores with couple manikins in coordinating underwear... Garrett refuses.

5. Getting to wear slippers at work. 

Traditionally, Koreans have eaten and slept (thus spending a large portion of their day) on the floor – therefore it is very important that the floors stay clean. So once we arrive at school everyone immediately changes out of their “outside” shoes, then for the rest of our work day we get to be the next-best-thing to bare foot.

4. Strange sweet-savory combos

this is not icecream
this is mashed potatoes - with sprinkles

We were warned when we first arrived that anything we were used to being salty/savory – will be sweet, and vice-versa. Being open-minded, adventurous foodies, we shrugged this off, thinking we were prepared for whatever Korea could throw at us. That is until we ordered garlic bread – and were given Garlic toast topped with gelato, whipped cream, and chocolate-caramel sauce. It has taken some adjusting to, but we’re actually learning to really dig this flip-flop of flavor combos.

3. Korean convenience stores.

Nothing will ever come close to our love for QuikTrip. And we mean never EVER, okay? Although Korean convenience stores can’t compare to QT – they are incredibly impressive in both quantity and quality. Need to pay your electric bill or purchase wifi data? Find a 24-hour convenience store. Want to buy tickets to the baseball game? Yep, go to CU, GS25, or 7-11. Uh-oh, got a run in your tights? Just walk 30 meters to the convenience store nearest you. Want some dried-squid to appease the midnight munchies? Probably not, but you had better believe there is a convenience store within a 2-minute walk from wherever you are and they have that too.

2. No cooking, never.

Enjoying some Galbi in Seoul. Notice the sign behind Garrett - each of our main plates of meat was about $6.

Eating out in Korea is inexpensive, DELICIOUS, and (mostly) healthy and tipping is never required. We still feel extremely awkward about it, but the one time we tried to offer a tip here, the guy literally started waving his hands, speaking quickly in Korean and backing away from us as fast as possible. So we have taken it upon ourselves to take a year-long-oath of no-cooking-never. Yeah, its awesome.

1. #nosurprises.

Garrett being clearly not surprised that we are eating some super delicious thing that tastes like a churro had a baby with a pancake.
and Andie being so not surprised that avocados cost more that $3 a piece that she took a photo of it!

And by that we mean, expect the absolute craziest to happen – so when it actually does happen you don’t waste your energy being mad/confused/bothered by it. When we first moved to Korea, we decided “no surprises” would be our motto for the year. This slogan was adopted from a forever-to-be-remembered night at a bar with our dear friends the Dossett’s, (check out their blog here; http://dossettsinvienna.blogspot.com!!) It seemed quite fitting for our new life in Korea. We used to wake up every day, pretending we knew exactly what to expect. Living in a foreign country has stretched us to think that kind of life is pretty “ji-ral” (translation, “total B.S.”). Nobody ever knows what any day might throw at them. The best you can do is receive it with grace, try to laugh about it, and remember there is a Baskin Robbins that just started carrying “Monster Cookie” ice cream a couple blocks from your apartment. 

 "Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost." - Helen Keller