South Korea !

You may be wondering how I can rationalize posting about South Korea when this blog is supposed to be about Sweden.  Well - Swedes receive a minimum of 25 days off a year.  That is 5 weeks off a year, aside from public holidays etc.  (Side note #1: look up how much mandatory vacation time citizens of varying countries are given.  Americans may be shocked: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country.)
Sounds great right?  In many ways it is.  But, (side note #2:)  from my perspective, residents having so much vacation sometimes leaves no one to attend to the necessities.  For instance, if you need medical attention in Sweden in July, you will most likely have to wait (and wait).  But that is not the focus of this post, so let's get back to what I was originally going to talk to you about.  Namely: vacation!  Swede's have a lot of time to travel. And now, so do we.

Our daughter lives in Daejeon, South Korea.  So, as you may have guessed, we are here visiting.

For the next few blogs, my posts will be dedicated to our time here in South Korea, visiting with our lovely, loving, wonderful daughter!

My impressions:
First installment:

There is so much to write about, I am having difficulty because I want to offer full explanations, but I am too busy vacationing to stop and post.  So I will try to post impressions, and snippets.

* Landing in Seoul airport.  Beautiful, efficient.  Our daughter told us it has been voted the the last few years to be the number 1 or number 2 airport in the world.  I am not surprised.

* We stayed in Seoul overnight at a hostel.  Here is a picture of our room.

Our bed was like a giant shelf that went across the length of the room.  On the "shelf" were three mattresses with accompanying linens.  If was surprisingly comfortable.

Now here is something Koreans have in common with Swede's.  We took our shoes off at the door to our room.  (the other door is to the kitchen, thus the large number of shoes).  I have to admit that in Sweden, although we would take off our shoes at a person's home, and we may put shoe covers on our shoes at a place of business, we would wear our shoes in a hotel room.  But not here.   : D

* Clean.  Compared to Sweden: fewer smokers, and almost no cigarette butts on the ground (butts are everywhere in my neighborhood in Malmö, even though there are plenty of trash cans with ashtrays.), fewer dogs, and no dog droppings in sight (Malmö sidewalks, like those in Paris, can be a bit like walking among land-mines).  Spitting.  Why is it that people think it is OK to spit?  Yuck. I even saw spit on the floor in the otherwise clean, public bathroom. On the up-side, I don't see much littering.  Lovely green-space around town(s).

* A mix of old Asian streets and very modern high-rises (these pictures were taken in Seoul):

* Appearance:  Very stylish, dressed-up (more so in Seoul than in smaller cities), slim population. Women dressed femininely.  A lot of high heels, and some baby-doll dresses.  Men are dressed up too, sometimes in suits and ties (which one rarely sees in Sweden).  It is not uncommon to see people (at least women) looking at themselves in mirrors, or taking pictures of themselves.  Today at the subway, we saw a young woman who was carrying a silver-tone framed, hand-held mirror that was ~ 6 inches in diameter.


* There are even small mirrors in women's toilet stalls so that one can look at one's face when they are sitting on the toilet.  (Yes, really.)

* There is exercise equipment in the parks, and along the roads.  That is pretty cool.

* One sees few handicapped.  I have seen two people in wheelchairs the entire time (9 days thus far) we have been here. If I understand it correctly, although challenged persons are given an education, they are not fully brought out into society.

* A lot of couples.  I am told that being part of a couple is important.  Sometimes, one sees couples dressed in matching clothes. I see this sometimes in the States in older couples, but here it is seen in all age groups.

* Sun is avoided. It is common to see women carrying a parasol or umbrella, and/or wearing a mask, hat, scarf, etc.  Here is one example:

The mask below (commonly seen) and others like it which can cover the neck and upper chest, (I believe) have a dual purpose to protect against smog (that primarily blows in from China) and also to shield one from the sun. 

* Let me leave you with a somber picture which honors the memory of all those who died in the sad ferry accident several weeks before our visit. 

I will write more later.  Stay tuned.