My Favorite Things About Korea, Part 1: The Elevators

Back “Home” with Fresh Eyes

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By the time my brother and I were both in graduate school around 2014, my parents decided to leave New Jersey, our home for the past 2.5 decades, and return to Korea. It was an interesting transition for my brother and I, essentially becoming “international students” overnight and having to travel halfway across the world to see family. This coupled with the relationship with my now wife, also from Korea, and our concurrent work in Korean cultural development all spiraled together into a tremendous experience of suddenly being immersed in Korean society in a way I had never experienced before. For better (probably) or for worse, this has abruptly become my new familial home and a much more integral part of my ongoing life.

If you've read some of my previous posts, you'd probably recognize a very critical attitude towards Korean culture and society. This isn't to be negative or pessimistic of my new transition, as often happens when ex-pats and immigrants are forced to integrate, but instead to promote a more critically productive dialogue of what the nature of culture is and how we can possibly alter its course. Culture can be as dangerous as it is defining and unfortunately at this historical moment, Korean society is horribly imbalanced when technological advancement is compared to personal freedoms.

All that being said, something I want to try out through a few Steemit posts is purely focusing on some of the significant joys of living/being in Korea as a form of self-therapy, national pride, and just inconsequential fun all mixed into some freeform writing. So...

These are some of my favorite things~

Take a Ride with Me

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Nearly all Koreans live in tall and dense apartment complexes that are lined up like dominos across the urban landscape.

• Source: The Japan Times

One of the utmost pleasures that I enjoy on a daily basis because of them are the elevators. That's right, those simple little boxes.

These are some of the reasons why elevators in Korea are an absolute joy. Hopefully if you ever visit the country in the future, you'll remember and appreciate these little places.

1- The doors close when you press close. Immediately. There isn't a delay and there isn't an illusion that the door will eventually listen to you like in most other countries. Open means open, close means close. Rides feel exponentially more punctual due to this as you close the doors as soon as you hop on and shut them when it stops at a floor with no one there.

2- The buttons can be “unpressed.” Ever press the wrong floor on accident, only to annoy fellow riders when you press a second button? Or ever have a young child be enthralled by the responsive lights and press several buttons at once, causing major speed bumps on your way up or down? Fret not in Korea as a second push will unselect any lit button.

• Source: Youtube

3- Elevators don't jolt. I can almost never feel it when elevators start moving. As a child, the only time I ever pooped my pants was when my parents coerced in me into riding The Tower of Terror when I was in elementary school. Ever since, the initial spasm of elevators causes a slight dread. But the elevators in Korea seem to handled by the smoothest of operators.

• Oh, the memories... Source: Scott Sanfilippo

4- Elevators are the only true community spaces. I mentioned before that most Koreans live in expansive apartment complexes. Unfortunately it isn't common to have many communal areas integrated into these developments other than a few dotting playgrounds. The only place that neighbors share is the elevator and as such, most are tagged with public service announcements, recent events, and sometimes even a neighborhood calendar of activities to join.

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Fancy, huh? The angel is in the details. Its the little things like this that really make me appreciate the daily experience of this country. I had quite a bit of fun writing this and already have a few in mind for further spotlights. Maybe I'll do the stairwells next...

Steem on!