Wandering Observations

I would like to comment on a couple of experiences I've had/observations I've made just walking around my neighborhood these past two weeks.

1. Women here love high heels.
- This of course is a generalization, but I'd say over 50% of females are wearing them no matter what they are doing. Even when riding a bike....which brings me to point number two.

2. If you don't have a bike you just aren't cool.
- Bikes are everywhere. I love it, but I do find it problematic when they are on the sidewalk with you weaving in and out of pedestrian traffic. And it's not just bikes....scooters, mopeds and even motorcycles can be found on certain sidewalks. All of these vehicles are all most purely functional. Most bikes have a big basket in the front and small shelf on the back. At home I've seen people strap bags to such things to said shelf, but here there is often a passenger sitting back there. I've seen grown men and women riding on the back of bikes like this, sometimes in work attire. Hope to get a picture of that soon.... which leads to point number 3.

3. Koreans LOVE pictures.
- When I went shopping in Insadong on Saturday there were numerous people walking around with cameras. And when I say cameras, I don't mean a little pocket sized digital....we are talking big expensive cameras with hardcore lens and everything. And they were constantly snapping shots of the people they were with or random things on the street. Now I liked Insadong, but I personally didn't find a ton of stuff that I wanted a picture of. It was weird, but it does make me want a new camera. =)

4. Back to sidewalks - I'm pretty sure I will be hit by either a car or bike before this year is up.
- When it comes to sidewalks/streets there are two...OK maybe three types in my neighborhood.
a) Large roadways - 6 lanes of traffic with a stop light every block. This includes relatively large sidewalks with a designated bike lanes that people are always walking in, therefor bikes also ride anywhere.
b) These large roads turn right onto narrow "busy" streets which are technically two lanes, but only on a good day. There are sidewalks, but most of the time a car is parked on it so pedestrians, bikes and cars are left to mix in the madness. There is a lot of polite car honks around here and you get nowhere fast.
c) Even smaller alleys that are mainly residential. No sidewalk and your lucky to get one car through.

5. Not a whole lot of patience.
- If you are in someone's way there is no shame in pushing them out of the way. The subway doors are the most common place to experience this, but I had an even more blatant example happen to me at Seven/Eleven the other day. I was picking up a few things (milk, OJ ect...) and was checking out up front. The clerk didn't speak any English and as I was trying to figure out how much everything was a group of boys came up behind me (on both sides!) and started putting their items on the counter. I felt like I was surronded. It even took a little extra time when I found out that I was being charged for the bag that I just asked for, but they made no effort to back off. An older man even joined in and put his things down. I wanted to scream at them! It sounds silly now, but it was a totally stressful situation at the time. Maybe because it reminded me of all my kids hanging on me while I was trying to get one thing done. Anyway...weird.