I'm sorry Oreo Boy

Once upon a time there was Oreo Boy (so named as he appeared one year, quite a few years after meting him, in Melbourne, all the way from Seattle, with no warning, to present me with a backpack full of Oreos (this was in the pre-Costco age)). He was American. He was cute. He walked around often with his top off. In a cafe by the Hoover Dam in Nevada he refused to put his top on and they refused to serve him but that didn't stop him from being topless. And then there was the topless in Disneyland incident of 2001 (him, not me). Anyway, my point is this. One night, in a tent in the Grand Canyon, Oreo Boy got really mad at me for commenting that something that was American was weird (I now can't remember what that something was). It was not weird, he pointed out, just different. Oreo Boy and I might have parted ways soon after that but his remark has stayed with me.

Is Oreo Boy right? I have often thought about the accuracy or otherwise of Oreo Boy's comment, particularly during subsequent travels to exotic places (Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne not included). More than ten years on, and with the benefit of hindsight and years spent considering cultural relativism (I threw that in to sound intelligent) I would like to report that I have concluded that it is totally ok to consider something as weird. This is not to be confused with judging something to be good or bad. It is just stating that the thing in question is out of the ordinary and not part of one's frame of reference for what is considered usual. With that disclaimer in place, I would like to share some of the weirdness of Seoul. Sorry Oreo Boy.

1. The Adjuma experience. I think I will always find it weird that it is totally acceptable for an adjuma (older Korean woman) to come up to you in the street and clean your coat, fix your collar and point out the deficiencies in your parenting at the same time. I had my jacket patiently brushed down by an adjuma the other night as I was on the escalators heading to the tube station (I had hastily pulled it out of the back of the wardrobe two minutes before running out the door and it has not been worn since last winter). She thought nothing of it, despite the fact the jacket was on me at the time, and even found it bemusing that I appeared so startled (afraid might be the more accurate verb in this instance).  

2.  The size of towels. Apparently big towels (not even big, just usual sized towels) are not needed in Korea. It is not because Koreans are a race of short people. I have seen some rather tall Koreans, including some rather fit, well proportioned, groomed and dressed Korean males (I should stop now but let's just say that I am completely on board with the K-Pop fascination).  At first, I thought this phenomenon was just limited to the naked spa bath experience (just to add further humiliation to what is already humiliating (see earlier blog post on public nudity) but, as we discovered on our driving trip around Korea in July, small towels are everywhere. I am currently trying to uncover the link between small towels, small tubs of yoghurt (my children each eat two in one sitting) and small sized loaves of bread (around 10 slices in each loaf is all that you will find) that are sold here. Any ideas?

modelling small sized towels

3. Gas stations not only hand out free water when you fill up but sometimes they also have bunnies attached to the hose which somewhat distressingly makes me think that you are literally hanging a bunny when you let the hose go (hoses go up to the roof here and not back into the pump). Does the free water make up for the fact that you leave with a bunny dangling in the sky as you nonchalantly drive off? No. It does not. 

hanging the bunny at the gas station

4. Fried chicken delivery. You can get it anywhere, anytime. You can be in the middle of a park, halfway up a mountain, at the gates of a temple and the fried chicken motorbike man will find you. There is no place he will not go in his quest to deliver you a bucket of deep fried chicken!

5. Gift packs of Spam. I have nothing else to say on this. 

gift pack of spam

6. Car park spaces just for the ladies. Not just for the pregnant or the pram carrying lady but for all ladies. To begin with, I thought this meant that the car park spaces would be wider than usual to cope with the alleged theory that women drivers are worse than men (I say alleged but I will confess that I fall into the category of women who cannot reverse but my navigation skills far outweigh mu husband's) but I now think it is the opposite. The lady only car park spaces have been made smaller than normal here in Korea in recognition of usually smaller ladies usually driving smaller cars. This does not help me and my not so good reverse parking abilities. As a result, I may have taken the ladies only option a bit too far the other day when I took up almost two car park spaces as I disastrously attempted to reverse park. I am woman. Hear me roar. 

ladies only car park space

7. Finally (for now and note that I am not going into love match as I consider that a category all of its own) weirdness number 7 relates to rubbish or the lack thereof. We are living in a city of around 20 million. And there are relatively few rubbish bin opportunities to be found. But that does not mean there is no cleanliness. In fact, it is the complete opposite. This city is ridiculously clean. When do you find a rubbish bin there are usually three in a row so you will of course obliging deposit rubbish according it its type. You do the same for your home rubbish (which must also go into specially marked bags all colour coded). People do this. No questions asked and no complaints heard. 

rubbish disposal bin

Soul to Seoul: my soul might be a little weirded out in Seoul but I think I like it.