The Cultural Divide Part V

Clean my room!

In Korea, students are in charge of cleaning the school--not the janitor--but surprisingly, they also clean the teacher offices. Every Tuesday, during the 7th period, one of the third year students comes in and sweeps under my desk while her classmates busily vacuum the floor, tidy desks, or empty garbage cans. I must say that this sort of compulsory cleaning in many ways creates a certain degree of respect for school property that is uncommon among American high schools.

Hall patrol

Unlike American schools, teachers don't patrol the halls and supervise students between classes. Instead, they hurry off to their desk and get work done while students wander the school aimlessly and police themselves. They're not really any trouble makers though. Usually all of the girls are huddled in a corner surrounding the coffee machine and eagerly waiting for their cup to drop.

Cell Phones

(My friend Melia inspired me to write something about cell phones.) In Korea, you don't really purchase a plan like you do in America; instead you kind of name your own price per minute. If you make a deposit (which you get back at the completion of your one year contract) and get a reduced price per minute, or you don't make a deposit and you pay a higher price per minute. Minutes aren't set; you just pay for what you use. I chose the cheaper minute package + deposit and I think I pay about 300 Won per minute or something like 35 cents. Text messages are DIRT CHEAP!! They are 50 won or about 5 cents. Love it.

School rules

How many of you thought that rules were strict in high school? Well, the rules here are way harsh. No gum, no hats at all, you MUST wear your uniform (the only thing you choose is your socks), no piercings of any kind, you can't die your hair, no cell phones or else the school will confiscate them for one year and will cancel your cell phone contract, no perms (apparently straight hair is part of the uniform) and if you do get one then you have to pay an obscene amount of money to change it back, and all students are required to attend study hall until 10 pm every night--and if you're caught talking you'll be in push-up position for a half hour in the hall.

TV programs

TV shows don't really run in season here; they pretty much go everyday until the TV station runs out of new episodes. There aren't many commercials during shows--maybe only two breaks in a half hour with 2 or 3 commercials each--which means that shows end between 10 and 20 minutes earlier at which time there are non-stop commercials until the next hour begins.

Korean green tea

It tastes like vanilla but smells like moldy socks. I can only drink it when my nose is plugged.

Produce in Korea

Kiwi, kiwi and more kiwi!! One amazing part about living in Korea is that they have kiwis all year round (imported from New Zealand). And they are AMAZINGLY delicious! In fact, almost all of Korea's produce is better than the stuff at home! The apples are so sweet you almost get a sugar high from them, the grapes are so big and juicy that you could make a whole lunch out of one bunch, the dragon fruit is just plain good and not available in the US, and the bananas are out of this world. The vegetables aren't as good (which I'm sorry to admit) and go bad really fast. In addition, the variety is pretty small but that's to be expected in the land of kimchi (pickled cabbage).

Bills

All bills arrive in the mail (most without envelopes) but you don't remit payment through the mail. Instead, you visit the bank and pay in cash--no debit cards or credit cards allowed. However, a few regular bills like a cell phone bill or your apartment's maintenance fee can be automatically deducted. All you have to do is submit your bank account number. It seems like everyone does this. If you don't have a credit card, you can make an instant transaction/transfer online by using your bank account number as well. Every time someone asks for my bank account number my brain screams, "Identity theft!!" I'm not sure if that's as big of a problem here as it is at home but even so I am surprised by their willingness to offer up that type of information. However, I do know that if you want extra protection, you can have the bank send you a text message every time your debit card is used.

Geeze, there is so much more I could write if I only had the energy to do so... More to come on a later date. :)