Hawk CP#6

   For Dojun and I's last session, we talked mainly about the differences in housing and transportation between the U.S. and South Korea. The conversation started because I was sitting on my front porch and I showed him a view of what I was looking at. He immediately told me he was envious because he did not have a balcony of his own. This made me curious to know more about his living situation, so I asked. He told me that he lived in a standard, run of the mill apartment in Seoul. He went on to tell me that in South Korea you can pay a large deposit equal to the amount of the value of the apartment to the landlord and that upon termination of the lease, the renter receives the deposit back in full. I explained to him that in the U.S., that is not how we rent and that most everyone rents month to month. He informed me that this payment plan is also practiced in South Korea and is becoming more and more popular.
   Somehow the topic of our conversation became about transportation. At one point, I was explaining how vital cars are to the American existence to which Dojun posed the question, "Does anyone get anywhere on time?". I thought the question was funny and I was not sure why he had asked it. He told me that in Seoul traffic is so congested that you can't arrive anywhere on time by car and that the metro is a much better alternative. I explained that, though traffic can get heavy in cities like where I live, traffic is almost never bumper to bumper. I also took the liberty to inform him of all the expenses  that go into the maintenance of a car. He concluded that he rather prefers his $1 fee for a one ride ticket. I agreed.