Korea, as my previous posts may have implied, has a fairly broad but still unofficial “no fatties” policy.  People don’t seem to take all that much particular notice of my size – though on the first night, there was one child of around 5 years old who looked at me as if I were Godzilla (Does Korea have its own Godzilla, or is that Kim Jong Il by default?), mouth agape and eyes wide open as I passed by. The issue is that nothing in Korean society seems able to accomodate people that fall outside what one might consider “normal” sizes in this country.  Store shelves are far lower than they are in the United States, due to the shorter average population. Larger food portions are about half again what we in the U.S. would call “single serving”, though many of the traditional meals I’ve had so far during my stay have been served pot-style with many people using their own utensils to take food from multiple serving bowls so portion control is nearly non-existent.

Seats are smaller, if there are seats to be had aside from kneeling on the floor, and beds are harder which leads to joint pains and aches if your body is distributed at all “lumpy”.

People, so densely packed in this highly industrial county, have little compunction about being in close proximity when walking down hallways or in packed subways.  There’s no intentional contact or brushing, but it’s not uncommon to get your shoulder bumped.  It sounds a lot like New York City, for example, but there definitely seems to be something a little more frantic here. People seem far more inclined to sit next to you on a subway bench, even if there are other spaces available, rather than seek out the furthest point possible from anyone else.

Of course, my observations are those of someone who hasn’t even been in this country for more than 48 hours so your mileage may vary.