I collected some interesting, some not so interesting facts from Korea this time:
- Motorbikers have hand protectors to keep their hands from getting hurt in a fender-bender (I guess it's easier than driving carefully ;)…
- Women carry the food on trays to stores (where the workers ordered from) and go back to the restaurants, when the costumers are done they leave the trays and dishes out on the sidewalk so the ladies come back to pick them up later.
- If you ask for information they really want to help you, even drawing a map to tell you where the best places are.
- They eat sweet beans with frozen yogurt . Arrrrgh!
- Taxis only open the right-hand side doors so other cars dont damage them.
- There are always riot trucks parked by the government buildings ready to stop any demonstration.
- I didn't rip my pants this time on the bullet train... I'm already losing all my pants for gaining some American pounds, all I needed now was for them to be lost because of damaged bags...
- Wal-Mart didn’t succeed in Korea because they prefer spending a lot of money on fancy stuff
- The first time since I was about 12 that I am called "Endjo" again. Roberto (my friend from childhood) used to yell my name like that, at least that’s how my brothers made fun of the way he sounded when calling my name at the gate.
- South Gate is a street market like a feira hippy in Brazil + some stores in open buildings (where I bought a nice suit). You can buy every kind of trinkets imaginable... nothing really useful besides the clothes...
- Sabado dia 16/12/2006 deixamos a Coreia do Sul de manha e chegamos em Beijing a tarde. Semana cansativa de treinamento em 4 faculdades diferentes: 2 em Seoul e 2 no sul da Coreia do Sul.
China:
- Oh, one thing that's funny is that IN CHINA (a communist country where the majority FOR SURE isn't Chrostian) they have x-mas trees at the airports, hotels, on the streets, xpmas songs are played everywhere you go, etc... but the USA that defends minorities and even gives right to illegals can't have a tree because some guy says it's either the tree and the minora (whatchamacallit) or nothing...
- The girls that work at the Pearl Market speak better English than many college professors and educated people I know. They use the language!
- The girsl at the market say, when you pretend to walk away (sign that the price is high and you're a tough costumer about to be lost) they say: "You can bargain, you say how much..."
- I told one of the girls (that obviously wasn't in a good mood) after I said that the price she was asking for a camera was more expensive than I could pay for in my country snapped at me: "Why cheaper in my country?!!!" to what I replied: "Because what you sell is fake!..." (which is true, basically...
- Restrooms might be the last place they think of taking care of, let's say it like that...
- Our driver, who loved being given the English name of Dora, speaks almost no English (besides basic words like "bad", "good", "traffic", "I'm sorry", "Morning!", and a few others)... She is a very nice lady, very helpfulm but it is an exercise Steve likes me to do: communicating through patiently/slowly pronounced keywords, drawing and gestures...
- Steve, Karla and I went to the Forbidden City on monday (before going to the market, as became our habbit since the first day we got here). Steve paid a guide to explain he History behind it, it was worth it. Many interesting facts regarding good luck and bad luck numbers, murders, betrayal, curruption, bribary and romance. An interesting fact is that Heaven (including the earthly paradise) only has 10.000, meaning the Emperor and his family cannot have a building more than 9,999 rooms, the last one will be in the Heavens above (or something crazy like this)... well, lately they built 1/2 a room (so we still have 9,999 and 1/2 rooms).. guess what that 1/2 room is? A Starbucks... in the Forbidden City... and we had some hot chocolate there to see if it was true...
- Odd numbers are lucky numbers in China, good numbers... but when they gamble they play "8" ... go figure...
- One thing we learned on this trip: "Huh?" is universal...
- Fomos ao Mercado das perolas, legal demais. Tudo muito barato importado, quero dizer, feito na China. De iPod falsificado a bolsas Coach tinha de tudo, mas a atracao maior mesmo eram as perolas que variavam em tamanho, cor, preco, formato e origem (de agua salgada ou doce).
- Experiencia que todos deveriam ter, ir ao mercado das perolas eh bem diferente de outras feiras e mercados. Chega a ser engracado o desafio de se caminhar em um corredor sem ser agarrado pelo braco ou barrado por algum vendedor dizendo “Want belt? Good price, you say!” em ingles ate que inteligivel, isso mesmo vendo que suas calcas nao estao caindo. A melhor tecnica eh perguntar o preco de um item, barganhar (eles ate dizem “You can bargain”) e fingir desapontamento e se afastar em direcao a outra banca: o preco cai drasticamente, pose-se ouvir as dezenas ou centenas de Ywon caindo... de W600 voce consegue uma pechincha de W150 facilmente.
- Na nossa terceira ida ao mercaod da perloas (segunda-feira18 de Dezembro), nao sconseguiamos parar de rir: comprei um casaco com mangas mais curstas que o desejavel (tenho que ir trocar), Steve e Karla compraram muito mais do que queriam, ao sair o Steve foi atacado por vendedoras que o fizeram comprar gravatas e bolsas por um preco bem mais que razoavel, mesmo que ele nao precisasse...rimos bastante, depois fomos a um resturante italiano no qual uma banda de garotasd cantavam musicas dos anos 80 muito bem e alguns ritmos natalinos como Rudolf the Red Nose Rein Deer... Karla ria apenas de olhar para o decorativo sundae que ela comprou.
