Guest blogger: My little sister :)

Thoughts on Korea

I just got home from spending almost two weeks in South Korea visiting my big sister Taryn. And as a self-acclaimed #1 reader of this blog (there are actual statistics to back up this claim) I offered to be a guest writer. Unfortunately for you, I am not as creative a writer as my big sis and words do not flow as eloquently from me. So, I have decided to make lists. It’s what I’m good at and, call me crazy, what I love doing. I must have taken all the organizational genes while Taryn got all the creative ones. As I list my likes and dislikes and general observations of my time in Korea… keep in mind that I was only there for 12 days and during a very cold streak. Therefore I did not get to see a whole lot or meet a ton of people to make my observations more generalized. I ask your forgiveness in advance.

Also, I add the question of whether I would come back to Korea if given the chance. I put this because when most people think about traveling to Asia—they think of the big cities of Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. No one really thinks of South Korea as a tourist “hot spot” or a “must see” when going to Asia. And really, I would have never gone there if it had not been for my sister living and working there. What I experienced in Korea made me fall in love with this place. It is difficult to describe exactly what it is about Seoul (or Korea in general) so I’m not even going to try. I would do it a great injustice. All I can do is this:

What I liked:

• #1 being the food: I even fell in love with kimchi
• The people: they were so polite and ready to offer a lost foreigner help and assistance
• Public transportation: how easy it was to get anywhere in the massive city of Seoul at a very cheap price (you will notice
it’s also one of my dislikes)
• That there was a coffee shop pretty much every other store on any block in Korea
• How much exercise I got from all the walking; I wish the US would encourage walking more
• All the shopping that you can find anywhere
• The language is so interesting and fun to listen to, yet extremely difficult to decipher the different sounds and words (it all
sounded the same to me because everything in the polite language ends the same way)

What I disliked:
• Most public restrooms were not heated
• Most public sinks did not have heated water
• Most public restrooms lacked either soap and/or toilet paper (or all of the above)
• The germs, due to lack of all of the above. Men hocking loogies all over the streets or subway stations—close quarters with people on the subways and buses—and the sudden changes from extreme cold weather outside to extreme heat on the subways….. makes any microbe want to have a party and multiply.
• Thus, public transportation (because of germs, and the snowstorm) is also one of my dislikes!

What I found pretty hilarious:
• Most of the Koreans were scared of us foreigners because we seem to be the root of the spread of swine flu (aka H1N1)
• That you have to take your shoes off to go into a dressing room at any clothing store (they’re pretty good at saying “shoes off!”)
• The language of “Konglish,” aka direct translations from Korean to English

Would I go back to Korea?
Answer: YES!!! I loved it there, despite the germs. The “likes” definitely outweighed the “dislikes.” Next time I go I will be more prepared with better walking shoes, more hand sanitizer, and I won’t go during the flu season.

In conclusion, (not to sound like an advertisement or anything…) if any of you are planning a trip to Asia ever in your life… do not overlook Korea. I hear in the summertime it is quite beautiful. Even in the wintertime there were moments that I was caught up in the beauty of the place (granted, I am a Minnesotan and do love snowy weather). If you never make it there, that’s ok. Chicago I hear has some great Korean restaurants. At least try the food!