Two "Only in Korea" Situations Happened to My Friends This Week that I Won't Miss about Korea

Situation #1:

My church friend was riding his bike in the Gangnam area. While on a side road, his light was green but all of the sudden he saw a car running through a red light, so he slammed on his brake and he flew over the handlebars and landed on his right arm. To make matters worse, the middle-aged woman (affectionately known as an "ajumma" in Korea) look back and saw him lying on the street, but kept driving any way. If that wasn't bad enough, 10 different people saw him, but did nothing to help him out.

Situation #2:

My coworker is a young American guy from L.A. like me. He was smoking outside an office building where many other Korean middle-aged men were smoking. A woman approaches him and drills him by asking "Where are you from?", "Where do you work?", and "How long have you been in Korea?" He said that he thought it was okay to smoke there since every other business man was there and there were two Korean males smoking next to him, but they weren't approached. So he asked, "What about them? They're smoking too." The woman's response: "Well, that's just how we do things in Korea." Then she fined him W40,000 while the other two men got away without receiving a fine. My coworker was annoyed to say the least.

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Two "Only in Korea" Situations Happened This Week That Will Make Me Miss This Country

 

Situation #1:

Last Thursday, while the Election was happening, I couldn't focus on teaching, I was glued to my phone between classes, and while I was grabbing a burger at McDonald's. Due to that, after I ate my burger at the McDonald's next to my work building, I left my jacket on the stool opposite the stool I was sitting on at 3:00. If it had been a colder day, I don't think I would've forgotten it, but because it wasn't that cool and I was so wrapped up in the elections, I easily forgot about it. 

By the time I left work at 9:00pm that night, I realized I immediately that I had left my jacket at McDonald's since it wasn't where I left. I quickly went back to McDonald's and it was exactly in the same position that I left it untouched. This is one thing I love about Korea. Stealing is rare and people never mess with things that isn't theirs.

Situation #2:

My friend Nate Richey and his fiancé were getting married on Saturday at 12:00pm. I decided to get there early, find a cafe and get some coffee. It took me about 15 minutes to find one, but I found a great one that was playing classical music, had comfortable seating, had great coffee, some fancy chandeliers, and a very kind cashier. The only thing that was weird about this place was the name as you can see in this picture....

I guess I was a deadbeat for getting coffee here! It still amazes me that the largest city in South Korea, 18th largest city in Asia, and the 28th largest city in the world, often has businesses with strange, funny, or weird English names like this. Regardless of that, this is also one of the reason why I love Korea!

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy