final observations of Korea

(I posted this on my myspace blog when I first arrived, I am copying it here)

1) Every male in his 20's here looks like the missing Asian member of the Hives
2) Being drunk in public is not only accepted, its almost expected. Soju costs about $1 and it'll do you for the night. Good times.
3) When I came to Korea before, there were some people who spoke some English (in Seoul). In this town, NOBODY speaks English.
4) The temperature is about the same as in SLC right now, but it feels about 20 degrees colder. It's COLD!!!! (yet it doesn't snow here much.. weird)
5) Korean service is way better than American service. They'll bend over backwards to help you, and everyone is very polite, yet they don't work for tips. In fact, you really don't tip anyone.
6) Everyone lives in apartment buildings, and everything is packed together very tight. It's cool because you don't need a car at all, there's a 7-11 type store every 15 steps, hundreds of restaurants, and lots of activity. However, driving and parking are a nightmare, and trash is everywhere. I definately think high-density neighborhoods are much more interesting than the big-box store, strip mall, sea of parking lots, cookie-cutter house ones I'm used to. Maybe just learn from some of the problems here to make it ideal.
7) Paper towels and antibactaerial soap are both more expensive than contact solution.. ??
8) The group of us newbies have gone out on our own a few times to try new food- every time it's been quite an adventure, to say the least. We have no idea what we're doing, or what we're eating. Last night we had chicken throats or something. But at least they were shiskabobbed.
9)Koreans cannot walk straight. If you are walking on a path, in a straight line, and a Korean is walking on the other side of the path, coming from the opposite direction, they will inexplicedly drift into your path of travel.
10)There is a channel that shows video games. As in, the game itself gets recorded and put on tv.
11) Everything here is excessively packaged. I bought a bag of Chips Ahoy (something like them) and each cookie was individually wrapped. I also found out that hot dogs are individually wrapped, I discovered that AFTER grilling some.
12) I still have never seen a Korean wear sunglasses.
13) They spit everywhere here, and very loudly
14) You see groups of girls in public, groups of guys, and couples, but you NEVER see a mixed group of Koreans.