Construction cranes are rampant throughout the city. They dot the skyline everywhere that you look. Seoul is constantly growing and changing to try and keep up with the latest trends and advancements.
Unlike construction in the United States, here in Korea buildings change face literally over night. Two examples:
Example 1:
Back in October, I visited a coffee shop near the exit at the subway stop near my school. The coffee shop, Angel-in-Us-Coffee, had the most amazing hot chocolate and I was keen on trying another cup the following Monday. However, as I took those final steps out of the subway exit, I was met with an unpleasant surprise: an empty, gutted out building!
Over the weekend, the coffee shop that I had become a fan of had disappeared over the course of a weekend! There was no sign that there had ever been a working coffee shop. The walls were stripped down to the concrete studs. The coffee serving bar was fully removed. Heck, even the sign on the outside was gone. You can imagine my surprise. Within a month, a KFC had moved in, leaving no remnants of the coffee shop behind.
Example 2:
Next to my apartment building is a mall and on the main floor was another coffee shop called Holly's coffee. I'm pretty convinced that pretty close to over night this establishment was replaced by a Korean style restaurant. One day: Holly's. The next: Korean food.
The construction rates in this country are phenomenal. Granted, the amount of building codes that companies have to go through here compared to the United States are much less extensive and evasive, which definitely does help the process. But maybe, just maybe, we should look to employ some Korean construction companies in the states to get those roads, bridges, and other long winded projects completed!
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