There is so. much. plastic. in Asia. South Korea is no exception. South Koreans love their plastic. Everything is wrapped in plastic. Food. Daily items. Even plastic bags need more plastic.

I think for most this realization hit when they got a meal to take home. It was, of course, in a plastic tray. That plastic tray had a plastic lid on. With a plastic spoon and fork. Wrapped in plastic. Taped onto the plastic tray. To keep it all together, it came in a transparent plastic bag.

All the bottles are made of plastic, too. Of course they are.

Once you bought all of this, you are kind of on your own with it. You are expected to eat your food out of that plastic tray, then wash that plastic tray and depose of it.

Because at least they recycle, right?

Wrong. Well, kind of right. They do recycle, similar to Germany, but it is a weird system where you separate bottles (plastic) from other stuff (also plastic) and sometimes vinyl (plastic?). How am I supposed to know everyone does it right? Is there somebody going through all this trash and sorts it for a final time? Why do people have to separate the trash correctly on their own in the first place, then?

Also: South Koreans seem to hate trash cans. Must have something to do with a bomb that has been planted in one, so the country collectively decided: No more trash cans, just throw it onto the ground in differently colored trash bags. Or it is due to some weird tax thing that encourages people to take their trash home with them to separate it properly (pay-as-you-throw?). Anyways. This results in (1) very few to no trash cans anywhere and (b) trash just randomly on the streets in front of houses or in backyards.

It looks really dirty. And there is a lot of plastic. A lot.

It really makes me think about the hyper consumerism here. Everything is shiny, everything is plastic, but once you buy it and are done with it, Koreans seem very much out of ideas what to do with their trash.

I wonder if this is a metaphor for their society as a whole. I guess I will see.

So far, I know it is similar with plumbing and other waste management.

Going by recent statistics, there is a lot of microplastics in this, too. So it checks out.

This is going to be a short one.

So I was getting back from the rental agency and wanted to grab a drink on the way. Korean summer weather is killing me. I noticed three girls I knew sitting in the convenience store and talked to two of them for a bit (one had to leave).

They asked me about my age. I told them and that I was studying again. „That’s brave“. I know she meant well, but that didn’t sit well with me. I don’t even know why. I don’t think it’s brave. It may just be new for them. Here is the thing: Besides having more experience and done more in my life already, I do not think I am that different from them.

I like food. I like to travel. I am getting annoyed by orientation week. I want to find a new room (they were at that same agency, I think). Everything here is new to me. I like to party.

But…

I think my grey hair stands out – especially in a society that is all about looks and performance like South Korea. I don’t feel that included, especially in that club we all went to where I got weird looks by staff (yes, really) and don’t know why. And people generally turning their backs to me. I feel this when I talk to people and we understand each other, but I know that after that initial small talk, there will not be friendship because of differences. Kind of puts this whole experience into a different light.

But I always had these problems with people, so what’s new? And I think this experience is something a lot of people make when coming to South Korea, I am just on the fast track.

So I don’t take it personally. I am an experience for others, too, and I intend to make it a good one.

I am tired. My feet hurt. My room is messy. I do not have a phone number. I did not get the courses I wanted. And I am not at all oriented.

Other than that, it’s going great!

What is there even to talk about? Well… every day begins at 6 am and I have finely tuned and organized program until 8pm. Every minute you spend, every move you make, they will be watching you~

And there is never time for anything. Best example? Courses. You would think they are pretty important, as they are the main reason most of us are here. But … they have been delayed by a day. And then we had to pick them after lunch break. Which resulted in a mad dash for cheese sticks and french fries, followed by confusion while navigating their website. Just great. I am free to do whatever, but I can’t imagine how stressful this must have been for people with specific needs.

Such a nice atmosphere. Too bad I don’t have time to enjoy it.

We are also walking a lot. And I mean a lot. 50.000 steps per day. Easy. Up the hill, down the hill, in 34°C and high humidity. I hope I do not look like I feel.

Other than that, everyone has been extremely helpful. It is very different to Germany for me, as I really feel like people are here to help. Even though you have to smile and wave – probably even while asleep on the bus that took us to an amusement park. That park – Lotte World – would be perfect for a Zombie movie. At least in my opinion. Don’t tell the Koreans this, but damn their Lotte mascot is creepy. Would Goethe have liked this?

Fun Fact: Lotte is a huge company, and this is their park. It is named after Charlotte, a character in „Die Leiden des jungen Werther“ by Goethe.

At least we filled out banking forms. Someone really went through 50 pages per person for 400 persons and circled all the fields you have to tick with a pencil. When I find out who that was, I want to gift them a little something. Incredibly well organized, incredibly inefficient. But impressive nevertheless.

In the distance: Solbridge. I think the green is only possible because all the people are crammed into skyscrapers.

Tomorrow: More walking. More smiling. More waving. More collectivist activities. Everyone is invited, and everyone must attend.

After that, I can finally be my usual self again, relax a little and finally orient myself in South Korea.

Looking forward to it!

Hello and welcome to this little blog.

You know that feeling, right? This nagging feeling that you should have done something long ago. But you just didn’t. And then a day passed. A week. A month. But now you’re going to start. You just need to…

Anyways. Welcome to this blog. I will write about my stay abroad in South Korea, and all the impressions that I get. And when I am back, I will see if I continue!

That leg room means business.

I have seen a lot of travel videos on South Korea (and Japan, and other places). I just like to watch them, they are relaxing. Just a night train with a dude who does not talk much, or walking through Seoul at night. I wanted to do that too. More on how that went later…

I generally and genuinely do not think that you have to make experiences yourself to learn something. You can learn from others. See what they live. But there is some strange kind of danger to that. You are not living this yourself, it is just an illusion. And we all know what social media does to our brains.

Korean Cable Management.

So I came to see for myself. Just wanted to go somewhere far away for once.

And you know what? It is not that bad. People are the same everywhere, just a little different. Or as they say in Thailand: „Same same, but different.“

The Koreans I met so far were nice. One smuggled my sweatshirt through the airport control, after I forgot it there and could not go back. The older (probably rich?) man in the airplane was very amused when I put on the complementary face mask and took it on himself to teach me how to eat Korean food correctly. It was a fun flight!

She helped me make that smoothie on day one to cool off at Daejeon Station. I will forever treasure this memory, even if I got to treasure the smoothie only for a couple of seconds. So good.

Speaking of desperation. Imagine getting on the bus in South Korea after a long flight, only to get yelled at by the bus driver who refuses to switch to English. Wasn’t me who got yelled at. Never understood why, either. Old men don’t care.

Generally, the days here have been very, very long. Koreans work hard and are incredibly organized. Both not my forte. Also, just because you work long and hard does not mean you get a lot of work done. But more on all that later!

Not pictured in the beautiful view of Daejeon: The days are long, hot and humid.

Lastly, something for the nerds: This blog runs on wordpress. It is selfhosted at home (pls dont pull the plug, mom!) on a TrueNAS Electric Eel system via Dockge docker. Reverse proxy with caddy, cloudflare for protection with regular IP address updates.