This article was written by a guy who fell in love with Korea. One of the reasons he mentions is the pace:
"What's so special about Korea? By now, it's a cliché to talk about how dynamic Korea is. But it's even truer today than when I first arrived. The country has a constant buzz, sustained by its famously in-a-hurry population. There is a reason why the words ppalli-ppalli, meaning "fast fast," are among the first words that nearly all foreigners learn soon after arrival."
I scoffed reading this because one of the things that kills me about Seoul is how slow paced everyone is here. No one seems to be in a rush in the subway even during rush hour. There can be a subway audiably about to come and no one on the stairs will quicken their pace to catch it. In their heads they are going, "Oh I'll just catch the next one....in 9 minutes".
As a New Yorker this is sacralige. We will full on sprint once you hear that train coming. We know the next train comes in literally 2, but that is 2 minutes wasted on the platform. If it is not your train to catch you will still move the fuck out of the way knowing that some guy is trying to catch it behind you. None of that going on in Seoul.
I know this is unfair judgement since the writer is from somewhere in Canada and I have been a New Yorker for 8 years now. New York is afterall the fastest city in the world so it is hard to be subjective about this. I am sure Seoul is fast paced compared to other places.
What I have come to realize now that the novelty of living in Korea has worn off is that New York truly is the greatest city in the world. I knew this of course living there because every New Yorker is so damn smug about it. But living here has really confirmed it for me as I compare every single thing back to NY.
Even the fashion here kills me. Korean girls always want to look pretty or cute. No one is fierce here. There are Seoul fashion blogs and I wonder why bother?! There is zero fashion scene here. Case in point, skulls are still 'in' here.
Only 5% of the population really knows how to kill it on the streets and that 5% just looks like a NY girl who is fairly well dressed but trying to be 'pretty'. 'Pretty' is so 6 years ago. A well dressed Tokyo woman has a distinct look. A Parisian woman has a look. A well dressed Korean woman lacks a look. The remaining 95% look like shit. I love my fellow Koreans but they don't know how to coordinate, sorry I said it.
Don't get me wrong, Korean fashion designers on the other hand are killing it in the fahion world. I give credit when credit is due.
I admit the food in Seoul is good and you can eat anything that is found in NY here. I had prosciutto and melon in Itaewon and it was one of the top prosciutto and melons I have had. But I still miss walking down a block and having the choice of Thai, Indian, French, Italian, or dirty Chinese.
I miss the individuality of American culture. Korea is a very collective society and while I do think there are many social benefits to being one in a crowd, I miss the weirdos, the eccentrics. the crazies.
I know this quote is over quoted but it is one of the rare things that is not overrated.
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”
The mad ones apparently all flocked to NY in the 70s.
John Updike put it best when he said, "The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding."
And while I am not smug enough to think that NY is right for everyone, certainly not this guy, for me there is no where else.
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