“High-rise condo complexes are successful in Korea, but haven?€™t always been elsewhere. Individual responses to stressors are of course variable, but it?€™s realistic to say that cultural responses differ as well, and this type of design hasn?€™t faired well in Europe or the US because those people have been acculturated to accept certain types of stress, but not others.”

I guess you haven’t been to Vancouver.

Two new puddles right outside the front door.

Although B-R usually keeps its ingredients a trade secret, this time I could tell at first glance that the main ingredients in this newest flavor were soju, rice, ramen noodles, and cabbage.

I believe it is being called the Noolji Surprise.

If it had chocolate in it I might have been tempted, but as I was already dunning late for work, I passed it by and kept on moving.

I can?€™t help but scratch my head. Why should people in a foreign country have to speak English? Do other countries have English only zones for the benefit of English speaking foreigners living there (as opposed to decisions by Koreans to make English only areas to force themselves to learn/practice English)? As for keeping the prime real estate that will be Yongsan (once the base is abandoned )an English only (foreign only?) area, it seems akin to developing part of NY?€™s Central Park and turning it into an Spanish only zone. And the idea of ?€?keep[ing] the walls up?€™ has rather elitist connotations, if not outright colonial ones.

Someone is trying to build just such a zone in Jeonju. The questionnaire I received (twice in the last year) horrified me with questions like, “Should the foreign enclave be open (a) only to foreigners, to (b) to foreigners and Koreans fluent in English?” I was horrified. Someone told me it was “just housing” (!!!) and not a question of whether friends who cannot speak English could or could not pop by for a visit. Still, I was horrified.

As for the spitting, it may be a regionally variant thing. Down here in Jeonju I can’t say it’s SO common but I see more of it here and in Iksan than I’ve seen in places like Seoul, Kwangju, or Busan. But I can attest that the INDOOR spitting (which revoltes me) does happen and it’s mostly young men with so-called Japanese hair. These young hipsters do it in stairwells, in bathrooms, and occasionally even in classrooms. The indoor spitters I’ve seen have ALWAYS been guys with a love affair with hairspray.

As for Songdo? I dunno, I prefer more of a combination of top-down and bottom-up revolution, but whatever; the changes that could come of it might have some good effects. It can’t be much uglier than the cement block apartment buildings that are everywhere now, can it? Though I’d prefer to see them do something with industrial bamboo… it’s the new concrete, after all. Oooh, ooh, yeah… think it over with Bruce Sterling. Heh. Whee, fun.

http://jabex.spymac.net/Desktop-Images/4.jpg

Hopefully Seoul will never look like that.

Sorry, Marmot. I really didn’t mean to.

Although, I do think this whole “loogie business” is a topic worth discussing further given that it’s so nasty and so widespread and is one of the first “different” things many foreignors notice about Korea when they get off the plane.

As far as the Koreans learning the habit from the Chinese….well, I don’t have evidence one way or the other, but my money is on the Koreans having taught it to the Chinese. Either way, it is something Korea needs to address if they want to attract foreign investment.

Will foreign companies refuse to set up shop in Korea just because of loogies when there is a buck to be made? Hell no. But, there will always be quality of life issues with getting quality employees to travel to Korea and live there long-term. The spitting [and flag burning, finger cutting, etc.] is just a surface symptom of a much deeper syndrome that has led many foreignors reluctant to view Korea, rich as it is, as anything other than a dirty third world shit hole, when those of us who live here know it’s a pretty nice place most of the time.

That sounded awkward…did it make sense? Oh well…

Hckkthhprghhrgatthp! [Sound of a good loogie coming up.]

I didn’t see so much spit on Taiwan, though I heard that some like to chew nasty betel nut there, which gives you pink spit.

Whatever the case, a daily outrage.