One Car, Two Car, Black Car, White Car

"Harry," said Dwayne. " I have some news for you: modern science has given us a whole lot of wonderful new colors, with strange, exciting names like red!, orange!, green!, and pink!, Harry. We're not stuck any more with just black, gray, and white! Isn't that good news, Harry?"

-Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

I am not an expert on car ownership in Korea, but the hoards of vehicles in this country is similar to the US. As home ownership is pretty rare, Koreans seem to use their cars as a status symbol. I chatted with a friend about dating in Korea, and she told me she checked  out guys' cars to learn more about them. She said she was very impressed by European imports (wealthy) and put off by small, colorful, Korean cars (poor).

In the US, people drive all sorts of cars from beaters to Beamers. Living in a town of 8,000, people knew I was driving by because of my car's make, model, and color. I was one of two people with the same car. Two. Our cars were unique and as for my younger demographic: our cars had more to do with function than form.

In Korea, people seem to stick to a pretty set list of car makes and models. Most of the young professionals I've met have bought new models of the latest Kia or Hyundai. Beyond similar models, they are all the same colors: grey, black, white, and tan. In a large parking lot, there may be one or two colored cars out of hundreds. Clearly, Vonnegut's words didn't ring true in South Korea.

A Korean friend tried to explain their reasoning for the color choices. They said that since VIPs and CEOs drive neutral colored European imports, the rest of the country thought their cars should mimic them with similar designs. I don't know if it's true, but something clearly stuck and continues to echo throughout dealership showrooms around the country.

So, how does this affect me?

In the small school parking lot there are about 12 vehicles. I've probably gotten a ride from each teacher at least once or twice. But, to be honest, if someone asked me: Where is the English teacher's car? I would have no clue. I know it's tanish-greyish...or maybe it's white? It has the blue foam bumpers on it (like most do). I could probably whittle the list down to 6 cars, but that would just be nixing the black cars in the parking lot. I consider myself pretty observant, and I just don't understand how this is so difficult. Parking lots are tricky places...

Vroom,
-Bets