Observations about Korea (version ?)

I thought that I'd post a few of the many observations that I have made while in Korea. Its going to be a bit of a brain dump, so we'll see what all makes it into the final posting.

1. I've noticed that besides being a lot taller than most Koreans I'm also a lot bigger in general. Some of the males in the society are starting to get taller but they aren't filled out at all (pretty thin/wiry). Now I realize that I'm not the biggest guy ever, but it is an odd feeling to walk down the street and #1 be able to see everything / over everyone and #2 see that I'm about twice as wide as a lot of people (especially the women). I feel that I occupy a significantly greater volume (you know, like water displacement sort of test) than most Koreans.
2. The beds are rather hard. If you're in a hotel they are alright, but otherwise they like their beds extremely firm. Some nights it really feels that I'm sleeping on a board. I may need to look for some kind of egg carton or something to pick up while in San Fran and take back with me on the plane.
3. They don't carpet their floors. Most every place that I've been in has hardwood floors. (random I know)
4. had a few comments about the cars here, but realized that I have enough for another post... look for it in the future
   
5. All of the food is either "good for health" or "good for longevity" or "good for the brain" or something. Its funny to listen to them talk about it. They'll say that its good for something, but not be able to back it up... or end up saying that its traditional and that's why they eat it.
   
6. Honestly they will eat most anything. Sometimes you look at it and you think to yourself "... those are just weeds covered in red pepper." Also they cover most everything in hot sauce or red pepper. Just an FYI if you ever travel here and order food. Make sure that you ask for the toned down version, unless you really, really like the hot stuff.
7. I'm still working out why (or the reasons why) Koreans dress the way that they do ... look for that one later too
8. The Korean Won is an interesting currency. The current conversion rate is about 1250 Won for every US dollar. The interesting bit is that the largest bill is the 10,000 Won and if you do the math, that's about $8.00 US dollars. The easiest way to describe would be to say that the largest bill in the US is the $10. Thankfully there is a 50,000 Won coming in July, however we'll have to wait and see how fast they circulate.
9. Prices in Korea are similar to the US for a lot of things. Most goods here are cheaper and most services (taxi, etc) are a lot cheaper than the US. Cars, computers, petroleum, and housing however is much higher than in the US. My apartment would cost about $2400 a month (granted this is inflated due to the short lease), my rental car is about $620 a month, and petroleum is about $4.60 a gallon. If these things weren't paid for by the company, it would be rather hard to be living here, especially at those prices.
   

Hmm, I seem to have run out of things for now. If you have something else that you'd want to know about ask me or throw a comment on this post and I'll try my best to address it. I'm sure that I left a lot of things out.