Wiki Korea

It has been an interesting few weeks. I'm now feeling more hopeful regarding communication with Koreans, but probably I have taken my gesture skills to the next level in the meantime. And Google Translate has given me a hand.

I’m amazed with how much communication can take place with only a few gestures and words like:

• “spicy” – that’s the warning I get whenever I buy kimchi here, and then I'm asked if I wanna take it in the airplane (is that even possible? not only the because of the smell, I mean, there's still a lot of liquid inside!),
• “on / off” – very important when I have technicians coming to fix / handle appliances at home,
• “ice / hot” – whenever I order a coffee, tea or latte in a coffee shop I’m always asked if I want it iced or hot, even if it’s -10 degrees outside,
• “sign / no sign” – debit cards don’t require pin numbers in Korea. 3 out of 10 times I don’t even need to sign, which makes losing the card a big risk; on the other hand, it’s one of the safest places I've been…

Everything is high-tech and loud. There are tv screens everywhere and appliances produce annoying long-lasting sounds to indicate errors or that the programme has ended. Every time, the ATM and the metro card reload machine scream at me with instructions in English and I don’t know how to make them stop. And the voice in English sounds so much louder than the Korean. Almost as if foreigners needed extra encouragement.

Keys have no use in Korea. Everything works with codes, including our apartment door:

 Our living-room looks like a control room:

Everyone carries a Samsung Galaxy Note, though some lost souls try to stand out of the crowd with an iPhone. Since its launch, 10 million Notes have been sold in Korea alone. Most of the technology in public places is powered by Samsung. Our home is powered by LG (ok, except the microwave and the TV).

The banking system is pretty advanced in some things like paying bills by only scanning a QR code and so behind in others – I still had to go to the counter to change my card’s pin code (yes, the one I never use).

In the meantime we have found a little Portuguese oasis in Hongdae, the university area – the first and only Portuguese restaurant Taverna de Portugal with Super Bock beer and homemade “pastéis de nata”, yeah! It's run by a Portuguese-Korean couple and will be our safe haven whenever we feel homesick and need to speak Portuguese to someone other than ourselves. Difficult task, since there's just a few over 100 Portuguese in the whole country...

마포구 상수동 90-8

Another nice thing I've discovered this week: Spring is coming!

Hannam-dong, Seoul