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I've been in Korea on a business trip for about a week now and I've spent time in Seoul, Hwaseong, and Cheonan. I've noticed some things that are both odd and amusing, maybe some people here with more experience can shed some light one them!
1. I don't understand the traffic lights. Blinking red seems to mean go, greens seems to mean go, and yellow seems to mean go. I've also seen solid red and blinking yellow simultaneously (wtf?). I'm guessing blinking red means yield to traffic?
2. Every lane is a diamond lane. From the 11th story view of the street from my hotel to riding around the countryside I see diamonds painted in traffic lanes everywhere. What the heck does diamond mean in Korea, because it certainly doesn't mean carpool.
3. The vast majority of cars are black, white, or silver, and almost every single one is Hyundai or Kia. I think I understand the car brand choice - the government has huge import taxes on foreign cars. That that doesn't explain why nobody seems to want a car with some color though. Also, all company cars are black.
4. The work day starts late. Granted I'm only visiting 2 locations of one company, but even from my hotel room in Seoul traffic doesn't seem to pick up until after 8:00 am on weekdays. I'm at an office building now waiting to start my work day at 8:30 am and theres barely anyone here. I think the Korean work schedule just starts a little late and ends very late. They Korean's certainly put in long hours, but it doesn't seem like they're ever fully engaged in their work. At this particular company they have a soccer field in front of the building and ping pong/video games inside the building. It seems like work is supposed to be a part of your life, whereas the American perspective is to finish your work ASAP so you can get back to your life.
5. Not drinking with meals. In the lunchroom of the company I am visiting nobody drinks with their meal. Despite the food being spicy and salty everyone waits till they finish their food, then on the way out they drink a glass of water. I was told by one person they do that because "drinking with meal is bad for digestion," but that can't really be can it?
6. The drink size is tiny. From ice tea, to soda, to water cups in restaurants they have almost all been tiny. I drink my water in 1 or 2 sips and I'm still thirsty as can be!
7. Many people tend to shuffle their feet and make a lot of noise while they walk. Whats up with that?
If anyone can shed some light on these observations that would be awesome! Just for kicks here's one of the many engrish examples I've seen on my trip so far:
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/IFaoK.jpg)
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I also noticed the not drinking water during meal thing during my visit to china. My relatives living there were adament about drinking during meals, and they were horrified when I did it. Might be an Asian thing I guess?
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On March 11 2011 08:55 JayMunger wrote:+ Show Spoiler +I've been in Korea on a business trip for about a week now and I've spent time in Seoul, Hwaseong, and Cheonan. I've noticed some things that are both odd and amusing, maybe some people here with more experience can shed some light one them! 1. I don't understand the traffic lights. Blinking red seems to mean go, greens seems to mean go, and yellow seems to mean go. I've also seen solid red and blinking yellow simultaneously (wtf?). I'm guessing blinking red means yield to traffic? 2. Every lane is a diamond lane. From the 11th story view of the street from my hotel to riding around the countryside I see diamonds painted in traffic lanes everywhere. What the heck does diamond mean in Korea, because it certainly doesn't mean carpool. 3. The vast majority of cars are black, white, or silver, and almost every single one is Hyundai or Kia. I think I understand the car brand choice - the government has huge import taxes on foreign cars. That that doesn't explain why nobody seems to want a car with some color though. Also, all company cars are black. 4. The work day starts late. Granted I'm only visiting 2 locations of one company, but even from my hotel room in Seoul traffic doesn't seem to pick up until after 8:00 am on weekdays. I'm at an office building now waiting to start my work day at 8:30 am and theres barely anyone here. I think the Korean work schedule just starts a little late and ends very late. They Korean's certainly put in long hours, but it doesn't seem like they're ever fully engaged in their work. At this particular company they have a soccer field in front of the building and ping pong/video games inside the building. It seems like work is supposed to be a part of your life, whereas the American perspective is to finish your work ASAP so you can get back to your life. 5. Not drinking with meals. In the lunchroom of the company I am visiting nobody drinks with their meal. Despite the food being spicy and salty everyone waits till they finish their food, then on the way out they drink a glass of water. I was told by one person they do that because "drinking with meal is bad for digestion," but that can't really be can it? 6. The drink size is tiny. From ice tea, to soda, to water cups in restaurants they have almost all been tiny. I drink my water in 1 or 2 sips and I'm still thirsty as can be! 7. Many people tend to shuffle their feet and make a lot of noise while they walk. Whats up with that? If anyone can shed some light on these observations that would be awesome! Just for kicks here's one of the many engrish examples I've seen on my trip so far:
1. I can't remember blinking red/yellow on light that weren't broken. If it's just blinking yellow it just means you're in an area to slow down (e.g. around school). Sometimes you'll see blinking yellow with red if that signal contains both straight and turn signals. As for blinking red... only that the light is broken.
2. IIRC diamond means slow down. "Careful" I think.
3. Those colors because they don't stand out. Pretty sure Japan is like this as well. It's black, white, greyish, or light bluish.
4. I believe the standard hours are 9-5 or 8-4 but I don't know they keep it strict. As for the worth ethic, it may be drastically different from company to company, but iirc Korea has one of the highest if not the highest working hours in the world. I can't comment much because I didn't work in Korea but 'company-ship' is indeed strong. Kinda like another family.
5. I'm also told that drinking while eating is bad for digestion but that was by a Korean. Perhaps they want to savor the spiciness of the food. Honestly I drink not because the food is spicy, but because I don't want the feeling of my mouth/lips/tongue burned due to how hot some stuff is.
6. I think drink sizes are smaller in Asia compared to US/Europe. At least America.
7. Shuffle feet? I don't know what that means but I also noticed how some people walk while making noise too. I walk like a ninja so it was really weird for me.
EDIT: oops accidentally posted. Continuing on...
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Drinking water while eating fills your stomach quicker and therefore you are not able to eat as much. In asian countries, its important a person can consume alot of food, has to do alot with health and wellbeing. Its funny, the americans can certainly drink alot of water to lower calorie consumption during each meal.
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I really disagree with all of this, just sayin (:
I lived in Korea for a coup years btw. :X
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On March 11 2011 10:23 itzme_petey wrote:
Drinking water while eating fills your stomach quicker and therefore you are not able to eat as much. In asian countries, its important a person can consume alot of food, has to do alot with health and wellbeing. Its funny, the americans can certainly drink alot of water to lower calorie consumption during each meal.
That's kind of strange logic to me. I would think it would be because in America water is far more plentiful, so its OK to drink whatever you want, while it's (as far as i know) far more expensive in asia. On the other hand (Excuse me for racist stereotypes lol) Asians might find that food is more scarce than in NA so they would want to drink fluids during their meals so that they can be full and eat less. While in America you drink crap just so you can swallow faster for the next plateful of food lol.
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i suppose that drinking during meals will make someone bloated easily, and not able to finish their meals.. in asian countries (especially china and korea), they believe that one must finish their food, and not have leftovers..
afterall it's the hardwork of the farmers who made it possible for people to have rice..
I've heard the sayings in chinese, "Every grain of rice comes from the hardwork of the farmers"
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maybe allows the stomach acid to digest the food before being slightly diluted with water.
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The traffic lines are almost exactly the same, you must have just seen broken lights or altered lights for that particular time of day or intersection. There's a reason you can easily get a drivers license in Korea if you are a driver in the US.
You can ignore the diamonds.
Black company cars are a sign of luxury and higher up culture always ride in black cars. They also tend to sit in the back left right as that is considered the safest. This is portrayed in K-dramas and movies as well. Hyundai is a source of national pride and thats why a lot of koreans have that. Think Hyundai-LG-Samsung and some others as the big hitters.
There is a collectivist mindset and you don't have faggy hipsters who drive beetles that are lime green. Kinda refreshing to me imo.
The drinks are smaller like they are in Europe. Has to do with them using the metric system and also just always using smaller drinks.
The drinking with meals is like the fan-death thing. Stupid myth that a lot of people just tend to learn to believe growing up that it will mess with your stomach and digestion.
As for people shuffling their feet and purposely making more noise.....lol
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Weh .. Just so you guys know. Drinking water while having a meal improves digestion. Plus, it improves the flora inside your oral cavity.
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Hm my dad doesn't drink anything while eating and only drinks after he finishes his meal
So I guess it's kind of a traditional thing?
I never bothered to ask why... :x
Maybe I should
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It's called culture shock.
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It's called culture shock.
Eh? It's not culture shock, its curiosity.
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The drink size thing has to do with measurements in asian countries. 1 cup in japan is around 110ml so 2 cups is 220ml. Cans are 240/250 so you are getting something close to 2 cups. 375ml is just too much for some people that they dont finish it.
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The drinking during meals thing is probably just a Korean thing, but then again quite a large percentage of Korea seems to believe in "fan death", so I'd take anything they say with a grain of salt on such topics.
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The drinking during meals thing is probably just a Korean thing, but then again quite a large percentage of Korea seems to believe in "fan death", so I'd take anything they say with a grain of salt on such topics.
LOL fan death. I had never heard of this. Anyone else who doesn't know should definitely read this, its totally awesome:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death
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Haha Fan Death made my day. I love these oddities when traveling 
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EPT
