Korean Car Wash: Follow the Koreans

Finally, after living in Korea for the past 5 years, I bought a bargain used car from another foreign teacher who was leaving the country. Despite being in the huge megalopolis of Seoul, I love having the freedom that a car brings, as I always had in the USA.

Unfortunately, I'm forced to park outside, and Korea has a phenomenon called "Yellow Dust", which is known to all Koreans. That's a different topic which I'll expand later. For now, just know that it makes my car very dirty, very frequently.

So, getting the car washed regularly is a must!

Having lived in Korea for 5 years, a common theme I'm still learning to more fully implement, which you'll hear repeated on this blog is: When in Korea, follow the Koreans. Adapted and slightly changed from the "When in Rome..." mantra.

I'm in my car with the Korean girl I'm dating, Eunji, and we take it to a car wash for the first time. It cost a little less than $4 (4,000won). We went through the huge machines and got a wash, then a blow dry. Then we stopped under a little car wash tent and some men did a hand-dry. They will also do an inside cleaning if you want, using a little vacuum, all included.

As I was pulling out of the gas station, she says to me, "let's not go here again. They're not good." 

Being from USA... by my standard... that seemed PRETTY darn good!!! So, I asked, "Why??"

"They didn't even give us a free gift. That's Korean style. You should get a free gift like a drink or a box of tissue."

O.O

Who would've known??? That's just one example of personal standards I've had to abandon to take upon the Korean way of life.

Car washes... are... awesome. ^.^b