Often in Korea I see stuff that makes me laugh. Sometimes these things stop me in my tracks and make me pull out my camera. This happened to me twice today, and I obliged despite being late to my commitments (err, sorry folks!)
First up, we have a winner for "Most Ridiculous Cleaning Cross-Application":
That ajumma is using a floor buffer to scrub the bulding's driveway. WTF? First off, it's a driveway, you ain't gonna buff it to a shine. Hell, you shoudln't even care if your driveway is that clean. Second, you've got High-Pressure Hose Homie over there with plenty of cleansing power.
Also take notice of Mr. My Job is to Stand Here and Watch, an essential fixture anywhere manual labor takes place. Usually people in this esteemed position will also be accompanied by their understudy (present, but cropped out).
I think I must have been in the epicenter of ridiculousness this morning, because 30 minutes later some ajoshi was torching an adjacent parking lot. Apparently there was a small amount of dead vegetation near the fence that was bothering him, so rather then do the civilized act of putting it in the trash, he lit the crap on fire creating huge plumes of smoke. Nevermind the fact that we've already enough pollution. Forget that there are tens of thousands of people within a block of this. Ignore those cars just a few feet away too. Most important, completely disregard the hospital across the street. Anyway, no photo here, as the camera was out of reach.
But, another opportunity came up. Exiting the subway as I have numerous times over in Itaewon, on my way to meet up with Una for dinner, I was suprised by something I'd never noticed before:
This isn't just a sign pointing you to the pisser, but rather it's a sign pointing you to the pisser AND to Itaewon Kalbi (kalbi = bbq ribs). In case you're illiterate, it's that part written in hangul at the bottom of the sign: ?????????
Now, I'm sure the guy who put those stickers on the sign thought that he was being ingenious with his free advertising, but all I can do now is think TOILET = Itaewon Kalbi, and extend that meaning to their food (which I've yet to try since Hongdae has more BBQ joints than I could possibly try in my lifetime). I guess Koreans don't make my kind of associations...
All-in-all, just another amusing day in Seoul.
Is that a sticker? it looks like it's part of the signboard. The sticker is located on the right and the letter ??????? on the left seems to be printed on the signboard. The ad isn't free, the signboard is public and unless the guy has contributed some money to the local council there is no way that he can put up a sign for free.
I used to work for a 'Hoff' in Gangnam and they got in trouble with council men several times for putting up a banner.
The stickers on the poll/wall are illegal as well but there are so many thus the
supervision is impossible.
They're quite clearly applied stickers: notice that they don't have the reflectivity of the sign. Regardless, looking at them in person you can see their texture on top of the sign's surface.
Also, that square sticker over the man pictogram is blank. It's so old that its faded away.
I'm thinking that advertising regulations is handled by either the local "dong" office or "gu" office, and that neither one really cares about Itaeweon. But what would you expect in a district that sells fake Prada, Channel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. openly on the street year-round?
For those of you who never served in the military, yes, scrubbing the sidewalk seems silly. For those of us who served, that's what we did along with, "If it doesn't move, paint it!" I personally scrubbed, applied wax to and buffed the concrete floors often in B-52 hangars in Michigan as part of my "extra curricular duties" which were served after the work day. That being said, I would imagine that any culture that scrubs the floors of their city sidewalks has some of the best public restrooms in the world.
From what I know Korean's have a passion for keeping their piece of the 'street' clean and tidy. Now I'm not surew if I agree with using a floor buffer, but it sure as hell beats getting on all fours and scrubbing all day. Don't you agree?
And that sign is just too funny. :)
Dang... you should see one of our JOBSITES. When I was working there, any signs of styrofoam or wrappers on the floors, or even thrash metal pieces would be gone just LIKE THAT. Talk about a passion for cleanliness!
Anyway, laughed my ass off at the Galbi sign. I wouldn't want to be eating at a place like that EVER!
You know...the next time I'm in Itaewon looking for kalbi, that will be the first thing that comes to mind.
The owner of that place should thank you for that.
Many women like Kalbi. A great way to advertize.
I believe that the restroom sign with the restaurant name just indicates that the restroom in that restaurant is for the public use. Since there are not many public restrooms, I guess the city gives some money to those restaurants in busy districts (Itaewon, Insadong..) to make their restrooms public.