Drinking Water. No, not quality. quantity. There is a serious void in the stomachs of Koreans. That void is water. I drink a boatload of water. Realistically I drink probably three liters of water a day on average. Oh and 3.8 liters to a gallon there, people. Most doctors recommend that at least 2 liters be consumed daily to simply replace the lost fluids by normal functions such as excretion, respiration, and perspiration. But if you consume about 2 liters of water in a day, then you're probably doing fine by most - and probably more than most. Most being Koreans. Koreans straight up do not drink water at meals. It's amazing. I go to fill people's water cups and they haven't even touched it. Mind you that we're eating Korean... Show more

Vegetarianism. If you are 1 in 5 billion people that are vegan (these are verifiable facts here, people), you must be: 1) Angry at something, or 2) Conscientious of something that doesn't quite sit with you. Either way, you have chosen a meat-free life that has almost exclusively alienated all of your closest friends and family. Great job! You will continue to live this lifestyle until you are a tired, old, cynical shell of a human being that is known more for vulgarity than eco-friendliness. Wow! I can't wait to subject my own children one day to this Hollywood-esque lifestyle! Hey, I'm okay with it. But many vegetarians react to their diet defensively almost like being accused of racism. "But I have lots of meat-eating... Show more

Size. I'm from Texas. It's true - everything in Texas is bigger. I wonder if the reverse is true for South Korea? Let's take a look. South Korea encompasses a skant 38,492 square miles - which makes it slightly bigger than the state of Indiana but slightly smaller than Kentucky. Woah~ that is small. What about population? Kentucky has roughly 4,500,000 residents while Korea has just under 50,000,000. That makes Texas roughly half the population of South Korea. So, Kentucky has 40,411 square miles of land with about 111 people per square mile. Texas fares a bit better with 268,601 square miles - that's roughly 93 people per square mile. Korea? 1300 people per square mile. Shall we have a chart? Oh man I love charts: Korea - 38,492... Show more

More from Stephanie:  So on an early release day at the elementary school where I helped teach, my aunt picked me up and I went with her to help her with her job, which was a private English tutor for kids. Her job seemed to consist mostly of driving to each kid's apartment, checking their homework, asking a few questions and assigning more homework for next time. (maybe it was homework-check-day or something) but after we visited a few kids and got in the elevator to ascend yet again, we were joined by some very young "초딩"s. Before we came to that apartment we had each bought an "ice cream" (more of popsicle type things really) and were trying to eat it before we got to the kids house and when my aunt saw the two second or third grade... Show more

School Uniforms (교복). These stifling expressions of fashion in the West share a much bigger spot in the limelight in the East. School uniforms are commonplace in Korean music videos, dramas, and movies. They also differ in style from school to school. It would certainly exhausting to catalog all types offered, although I'm pretty sure at least one or two bloggers have tried in the past. School uniforms become mandatory at the junior high school level. I wonder if this is because the cirriculum gets harder at that time - hence requiring more professional attire. Maybe it's because they are too expensive. Maybe it's because elementary age children play outside more and would get them dirty much quicker. I wonder... It's... Show more