JOIN US'People here don't value time'
Jeong Eun Yeong and Jeong Ho Jeon, who hail from Seoul in South Korea, have been living in the City for the last three years. They have adapted themselves well to this City although they are uncomfortable with the infrastructure problems here. Studying in their third year bachelor’s degree in computer applications at Dayananda Sagar School of Information Technology, the two friends are enjoying themselves in the best possible manner.
So why did they choose Bangalore despite Seoul having many universities? “It is not that we don’t get quality education in Seoul. When it comes to core computer applications, Bangalore is the best. After mastering the basics of computer applications, we can take specialised courses in Seoul. In Bangalore, one can learn English and Computer as a single package,” they say.
Initially, they had to endure many difficulties because of language and food problems. “I couldn’t communicate with people. We were shocked to see people eating with their hands instead of using a spoon and fork. We didn’t understand why toilets had hand showers on the right hand side. Once I even washed my hair using that. Later, we had a nice laugh over it,” says Jeong Ho Jeon.
Noise pollution, garbage mishandling, stray dog menace, improper public transport are some of the inconveniences they point out. They like going to MG Road and Koramangala during their free time. “‘Matteo Coffea’ on Church Street is where we hang out often with our friends. We love to window shop at malls for hours and like having pani puri, kachori and delicacies like chicken kabab, biryani and chicken curry. But we don’t like curd. We do miss Korean fastfood a lot,” says Jeong Eun Yeong.
The duo also wonder why people here consider short skirts as obscene. “We don’t know why people here have reservations about wearing short skirts. When Indian women wear sari, they reveal their stomach. So what is the problem in wearing skirts?” they ask.
They have learnt a couple of Kannada words like chennagide, oota aayta etc from their local guardian. “People here are laidback compared to Koreans who are hard-working. People don’t value time here. We are on time for every function but we have to wait all the time. Coming late is not considered a mistake here,” they say.
When it comes to shopping, they prefer Seoul. “In Seoul, there is a market called Sinchon which caters to the needs of the young and the student crowd. Hence, we like that place. Seoul is a colourful city and has a vibrant night life. It is a city of high-rises and is advanced in terms of infrastructure and technology. It is because of the great infrastructure that we were able to host Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. Though certain parts of Bangalore can be compared to Seoul, Bangalore has to develop a lot to match Seoul,” they say.