Shoes and Shoe Abuse

I've been looking at people's shoes a lot here. They seem to wear the same kinds of shoes that we do, for the most part. They just do different things with them.

For example, Korean women wear high heels everywhere, and with everything. To work, walking in the park, shopping, even to (but not during) yoga.

Everyone else wears sneakers, it seems. I see a lot of Chuck Taylors, which is cool. And a lot of Chuck Taylor knockoffs. Also Adidas, Nikes, and all the other popular brands we know and love.

What they don't like to do here is tie and untie shoes. You have to take them off so often, that it has become not worth it to wear shoes properly. You can't go into your home or anyone else's without removing your shoes, as we tend to realize about Asian cultures. Even service people, like the cable guy, have to take off their shoes before going into anyone's home. The internet guy did that at my apartment when I got it installed, and I thought it was kind of funny.

You also have to take off your shoes at many restaurants, which I didn't expect. If the resturant has tables and chairs, you don't have to take off your shoes, but most Korean restaurants still use tables that require you to sit on the floor, on cushions. Or, they trick you, and the table looks like it's a floor, but it's really just a recessed table, with benches built into the floor. Those tricky trickies. When you get to the restaurant, the lobby has a bunch of cubbies that you can leave your shoes in, but most people just leave them on the floor, in front of the little step up to the main restaurant floor. Then they get moved off to the side by employees and you have to search for them when you leave. You have to put your shoes back on to go to the bathroom, which is located by the lobby for shoe purposes (at least partially, I assume).

I don't have to take off my shoes at work, but I talked to a teacher in Seoul who says at his school, which is public, they have to take off their shoes and wear slippers inside. I wonder if other workplaces are like that.

With all this shoe removal, shoes become kind of a hassle. Thus, the shoe abuse comes in. They just slip on their shoes and walk on the backs, crushing the heel of the shoe. It kind of kills me. But they don't seem to mind it. I haven't noticed a lot of backless shoes around here, which I think need to be introduced en masse.

I feel like an asshole when I go out with my boss and she has to wait for me to put my entire shoe over my foot and bend down to tie it. Those thirty seconds are really long.