Diversity

One thing that really blows my mind about Seoul is the lack of diversity. I'm sure you've gotten the picture when I say that people stare at me more than the burn victim on the subway, but when I sit back and really think about it, it's not just racial diversity that's lacking. It's also social class diversity. Last night I watched this PBS Frontline documentary (you can watch 'em for free on their website) that followed around 2 lower class teenagers from an eastern Kentucky trailer park. It made me think of just how diverse America is. That really isn't present here. There aren't huge gaps (that I'm aware of) between the classes. I'm sure there are to a small degree (like working class and white collar), but it's not as apparent as it is back home. In a city of 18 million (including metro areas), there really isn't the token "bad" neighborhood (slum or ghetto). I asked my Korean professor from UWM about that before I moved here. I wanted to steer clear of the bad areas, but he said there really isn't any, and I do believe he's right. It's pretty crazy. In a good way. Now, I don't mean to say that there aren't any homeless people here (because there definitely are those people begging for money) but it's a REALLY small percentage of the population. Any other big city I've been too (NYC, Paris, London, San Fran, etc...) the numbers of beggars I'd see was waaaaaay higher. And regardless of how you measure it, this is one of the biggest cities in the world.
Although I don't think social class diversity is a great thing, I really do miss the diversity of America, in OTHER ways, like people who dress differently and express themselves in different ways. Like just thinking about a normal highschool back home (which is sort of a microcosm of American society), you'd get the jocks, the preps, the burnouts, the skaters, hippies, computer nerds, not to mention all of the different races, etc...stereotypical, but true. Here, people don't really stand out or express themselves. Seoul is like the private school that requires the students to wear a uniform. Everyone here pretty much dresses the same and looks the same. It's rare to see someone with piercings, tatoos, bleached hair, or individual style of any kind. It's kind of sad that people don't feel free to express themselves in terms of their appearance, especially in such a MASSIVE city. The society is just so conservative that it's not really socially acceptable to do so, whereas in America, it's almost expected or weird if you don't. I think it will be much different when I go to Tokyo over summer break. It will be fascinating to compare such large Asian cities.
Just an observation. A little deep for a Saturday morning.