1. (00: 00) Here's a Spanish woman who says she was on a subway in South Korea with her daughter, and she says she was so shocked by the Koreans' reaction to her little girl's unspeakable behavior that she had to wrap her head around it. So let's take a closer look at what exactly this foreigner experienced in South Korea Hello, I'm Andrea Ago from Spain and I have a five-year-old daughter, Anna, who is my only family member and I work almost non-stop for her. And recently, I went a little overboard and took a two-week long vacation to give her a taste of traveling abroad Anna seemed to be a little intimidated by the fact that her father wasn't around and I wanted to give her a boost of self-esteem by letting her experience things that other people haven't had the chance to do First of all, I was torn between South Korea and Japan as a destination to take my young daughter, both of which are among the safest countries in the world and both of which have a lot to offer that continues to preserve its own traditions In the end, I decided to go with South Korea.
2. (01: 04) After much deliberation, I ended up choosing Japan because it had a few more flights to offer Honestly, I was a little disappointed in Japan, which I was really looking forward to, starting at the airport First of all, the immigration process in Japan was incredibly slow They were doing everything by hand, and it was extremely inefficient, with two or three people clinging to each other to do what seemed like a job that could have been done by one person The Japanese airports were definitely touting the super-fast immigration process through the use of QR code technology, but when I asked them about it later. They gave the ridiculous reason that they didn't trust machines, so they were doing everything manually, without machines, and the process was much slower than in the Spanish airports, which are known for being very efficient, and Anna had to sit on the ground, tired of waiting, waiting for her turn. So, after a lot of waiting, we exited the Japanese airport I was very excited to be in a foreign country for the first time, and she was enjoying the Japanese atmosphere, with her old bright smile back.
3. (02: 09) But that happiness didn't last long We walked into a Korean restaurant in Japan to fill our stomachs, and we were treated in a way that I could never have imagined First of all, we ordered a set meal of eel, and at first the Japanese staff was very polite and welcoming to us, but it turned out to be much shorter than I thought it would be, and Anna couldn't even touch the whole eel in her mouth She only touched the fish gas dish that was served as a side dish, and I had to call the Japanese staff for her. I asked the Japanese staff if I could order an additional dish of this fish paste for Anna, for which I would have to pay an extra fee. The Japanese staff responded with an awkward laugh and said that he didn't know if it was possible because it wasn't on the menu, and then walked away. I questioned his vague answer, so I asked one more time and was able to order an additional dish of fish paste. But the dish that came out was really bad. The tempura was burnt in color and even the fish paste was burnt.
4. (03: 12) one didn't even have any fish in it, it was just a bunch of fries In addition, the sauce that was listed as sauce was not the ketchup sauce that was initially listed, but an incredibly spicy chili sauce Anna, who was expecting a lot of it, cried and complained of pain after eating the spicy sauce What was even more shocking was that the attitude of the staff, who had been so friendly, changed in an instant after I ordered the extra dish, as they unnecessarily took empty plates to our table and cleaned the floor of the table where we were sitting, as if we were reporting them. Even when I protested through the translator, they just shouted "sumi-masang" and dryly shouted "sumi-masang." I found out later that in Japan, they use very euphemistic language when they say no, and it's considered a big rude thing to order something that's not in the manual. But to do such a cowardly thing to a foreigner who didn't know what they were doing, and to a child, made me think that Japanese people are not kind, they're just wearing a mask to hide their devilish inner selves.
5. (04: 15) But then when I got the bill after being kicked out like that, it was a really ridiculous amount of money They hadn't just added the fish gas, they had added the price of the eel bowl to the bill I lost it when I saw the bill and I started to argue with them out loud, not using a translator, but using English Japanese people have such a traumatizing effect on the English language that they finally got off their asses and brought me a proper bill, and I was like, "What the hell is wrong with me?" at this restaurant. There were quite a few Japanese employees working in this restaurant and I was stunned by their united harassment of the customers and I walked out of the restaurant feeling like a crank In addition to this, the Japanese people were also notorious for telling Anna to be quiet when she got excited in public places or on public transportation and I was horrified by their lack of consideration for others and Anna was also suffocated by this Japanese harshness and told me that she wanted to go back to Spain just one day after coming to Japan.
6. (05: 19) So I made a rather reckless decision for her, which was to cancel all our plans in Japan and go to South Korea, a country that I had been thinking about for a long time. I couldn't leave her traumatized on her first trip abroad, so I booked a plane ticket to South Korea on a whim. And because of the rush, we arrived in South Korea at the crack of dawn, and it seemed like we were going to have to take a taxi, but then a group of Koreans in front of us started to go somewhere as if it was natural. I've learned from my many international travel experiences that following the locals is almost a surefire way to get somewhere, and I was confident that these Koreans would be able to direct me to a taxi stand at this late hour, since I was pretty sure there weren't many options other than a taxi And that's how I ended up in the most unexpected place I'd ever imagined I ended up at a bus stop, and I was like, "How can it be that it's the middle of the night and there are no buses running?
7. (06: 23) How can there be a bus running? I was very puzzled, so I turned to some Koreans and they told me that, unlike the Japanese, Koreans speak very fluent English and that they have a system called the late night bus I thought it was quite absurd that they would run public transportation at such a dangerous hour of the morning In Spain, robberies targeting buses have happened in broad daylight, so when you're driving down a deserted road in Spain. But in reality, we had no choice but to take this late-night bus, because it felt very dangerous to go anywhere again in the dark of night. However, the late-night bus that I had just gotten used to was amazing. First of all, the route itself was very efficiently organized, so it seemed to stop in every city. Fortunately, this bus also stopped at the hostel where we were staying. I think Koreans enjoy such a perfect public transportation infrastructure.
8. (07: 28) I felt a huge sense of envy that they had access to such affordable public transportation even in the early hours of the morning, but then I noticed something strange: the Korean passengers all seemed to be paying for the bus fare with just their cell phones. In fact, far from having this infrastructure of cell phone payment in Spain, most public transportation still accepts cash only, so at first I didn't even understand why they were holding out their cell phones, I just tried to do the same thing they did, and of course it didn't work. Then the Korean passenger laughed and told me that you can only pay with your phone if you register your card, and then he said that he would help me register my phone card so that I could easily pay with my phone in Korea, because these digital payment systems are common in Korea Luckily, my phone was a Samsung phone, and he helped me register my card After all, I was paying for my bus fare with my phone, which is really 22nd century technology.
9. (08: 31) I was able to do that, and I just felt all these modern technologies and systems and the friendliness of the people as soon as I got to Korea, and it just kind of gave me this nice feeling that in Korea, it's going to be nothing but other good things in Japan So we got to our hotel safely, thanks to the late night bus, and the next day, as soon as we woke up, we went looking for a restaurant because Anna hadn't had a proper meal because of her crazy experience in Japan, and I was trying to find a restaurant that spoke English as much as possible, but she was so hungry. The restaurant we ended up at was a very shabby restaurant run by an old lady who didn't have a menu in English I was nervous about what would happen if we didn't make it, so I ordered the first two items on the menu because they seemed to be the most popular items on the menu The owner, Mrs. Yi, took one look at Anna and immediately brought her a child seat and a baby fork I was so surprised.
10. (09: 36) I couldn't help but be surprised because in Japan, they would kill for a child's seat and just give you a creepy smile and tell you to stand up if your chair is too low, but in Korea, the culture of giving to children is incredibly advanced, and even in this shabby restaurant, they were doing it for Anna But our surprise was short-lived, because the food she brought out was all made with intense red heat. She served kimchi stew and marinated crab, and it just didn't seem right for her to eat. Of course, to me, they were both amazing, and she tried a bag of grilled Japanese eel, but she said it was too spicy and she couldn't eat it. The good news is that the restaurant had a variety of side dishes, so she was able to fill up, but it was still very frustrating as a mom to have to feed her unhealthy food for two days straight.
11. (10: 41) But then I remembered my experience in Japan, and it was hard for me to do anything about it because I didn't know if I was going to get kicked out of the restaurant for unnecessarily ordering extra food and getting an unimaginable pooh-pooh treatment But while I was thinking about it, suddenly my grandmother came over to us and immediately did something that shocked me because I didn't understand her Korean, so we had to talk through a translator, and she said that her daughter didn't seem to be eating her food, and she asked me if it was because the food was spicy. Then she poured some stock into the kimchi stew, told us to wait a minute, and went back into the kitchen A little while later, my grandmother handed me a plate of tteokgalbi, saying that she had washed the seasoning system with water and that it was inedible, so I should feed my child this food as soon as possible I couldn't help but be shocked by the kindness of Koreans, which was so different from Japan In Japan, they would attack the child's food indiscriminately because she made an order that wasn't in the manual, but in Korea, they would consider the child's liver and add new food.
12. (11: 46) and make new dishes for me, which was really unbelievable The grandmother even handed me a fruit drink, saying that she got it from the store next door and that the food tasted very noodle-like, and I was really, really overwhelmed by her kindness Luckily, I liked the tteokgalbi so much that I didn't just pick at the meat with my fork, but later on, I used my hands to completely devour the tteokgalbi When I was about to pay the bill after such a perfect meal, I witnessed a scene that really surprised me. The bill was ridiculously low, and it turned out that the tteokgalbi and the drinks were all free, and she was just doing a favor for her granddaughter, Anna. I was so touched by this hospitable culture in Korea, and even Anna, who was too young to understand the concept of kindness, understood the warmth of her grandmother's heart, and she smiled and said thank you, and it turns out that these shabby restaurants are equipped with mobile payment infrastructure.
13. (12: 51) I was able to pay using the mobile card that the Korean had registered for me earlier In Japan, there were many places that didn't accept cards, so I had to carry heavy coins that clinked, but the level of infrastructure in Korea was really not even comparable to Japan Anyway, that's how the mother and daughter went around Korea and then headed back to their hotel as it was getting dark The Koreans were really accommodating to Anna anytime and anywhere, and Anna was smiling for the first time in a long time and enjoying her exciting trip to Korea. However, there was a problem: we were apparently jet lagged, and since we had a number of unspecified commitments upon arrival in Japan, my mother and daughter were unable to fall asleep until after dawn Anna didn't even understand the concept of jet lag, so she began to whine about not being able to sleep and insisted that she didn't want to stay in bed when she couldn't sleep I tried to talk her out of it, but the stubbornness of a five-year-old can be overwhelming, and the sun was just beginning to rise.
14. (13: 55), so I decided to take a taxi to Bukchon Hanok Village and walk around the surrounding streets for a bit But then I got curious, because Korea has such an unbelievable public transportation infrastructure, I wondered if there was any public transportation running at this hour To my surprise, there were buses and subways running even at this very early hour, around 6:00 a.m. The subway is very popular at this time of day, and there were a lot of people dressed in active attire already on the subway But what was surprising The subway was almost full