Since I feel pretty absurd about my last post being all about Costco, I'm going to hash some things I've noticed about Korea and Koreans, if only to assure you that not all my time is spent sampling wholesale American products. I do spend some time making gross over-generalizations and reinforcing stereotypes for myself.
1. Koreans are fascinated with white people.
OK, I don't know if you know this or not, but Koreans are quite enamored with white people, especially Americans. Probably the media-influence thing. I catch people staring ALL THE TIME! And unlike in the U.S., people are not put off by being caught in the act of staring. I'm using it as an opportunity to practice: I will gladly take on any staring-contest challengers. Bring it.
Random people ask to take pictures with me. This has happened on numerous occasions, often at tourist sites. It makes me wonder if some day a Korean ajoshi (married Korean man) will be sat down, grandkid on his knee flipping through the old family album, "Here's me and Grandma at the Jinhae cherry blossom festival. Here's the American I said hello to, in English. Boy, was he handsome."
Which brings me to my next point...
2. Koreans think I am handsome.
Koreans think I am handsome. If we've met or you've stalked me on facebook, you know I am by no means Brad Pitt. Yet in Korean's eyes I seem to be at least his equivalent. I'm told all the time I'm, "Very handsome," or my, "Face, very good," and I get compared to David Beckham with a startling frequency. Tasteless comment warning: the following will NOT be politically correct, though it DOES NOT reflect the views, beliefs, convictions, or prejudices held by the author (me). Maybe it's like how some people think all Asians look alike. To Koreans, maybe all white people look alike. Fortunately for me, alike means akin to David Beckham. I'm not complaining, that's for sure.
3. Koreans like America.
Koreans really like that I am from America, I don't know why. Whenever I tell anyone I'm from America (or Migook, in Korean. Look at me, speaking Korean), I always get the same response: "Oh, America! Goooood!" Usually this will be accompanied by a thumbs up. I don't get why Koreans like America so much, and it makes me wonder if they just say this for every country. "Oh, Canada! Gooooood!" Or do they have a different response for each country? "Oh, Canada! That suuuuuuucks!" Maybe I'll experiment and tell people I'm Canadian, just to see what kind of responses that gets. Though the whole "Goooooood!" thing is really good for my ego. Or bad, depending how you look at it. Same goes for the David Beckham comparisons.
4. Koreans are surprised by my eating habits.
Korean people are really shocked that I can use chopsticks. They're equally surprised when I eat spicy food. Korean food is spicy, sure, sometimes very much so. But in general, it's really nothing that shocking, especially when you've been reared in a land of Mexican food, hot wings and tabasco sauce. Still, three months into my teaching tenure, I'll have coworkers look at me, baffled, "Kimchi?! You can eat kimchi?!" "Sure, it's pretty good." "No, I think kimchi is too spicy for you," as I eat another piece of kimchi. "Wow! You can use chopsticks?!"
5. Koreans have strange manners.
Eating with Koreans is a little bit difficult for me, seeing as their table manners are very different and, to me, a bit strange. First, they eat with their mouths open. Wide open, food on display, lips smacking, not a second thought. Second, the lips smacking thing. The worst is when there's someone next to you on the subway chewing gum. Next to you, across the way, at the other end of the car. Sometimes it feels like a contest who can smack the loudest. The ajoshies take the cake. A couple weeks ago Jaclyn and I were in a fairly crowded sushi restaurant when we heard someone's smacking. We turned to look, and were aghast to find that the guilt party was in literally the opposite corner of the restaurant, six tables away. Impressive, to say the least. Third, they'll keep adding and adding food until their cheeks are stretched like a chipmunk, and then add a little more. They think I'm strange because I take a bite, chew, swallow, and only then do I add more. I think maybe they developed this cavity stuffing strategy in case North Korea attacks, then they'll still have a few meals worth of calories stored away in their cheek pouches. When their mouths are filled to capacity, they'll have boisterous, shouting, laughing conversations, and with all the p, b, and k sounds in the Korean language, things can get messy. But since this is a saving face culture, when the food goes flying everyone just glances then turns a blind eye. Not the most appetizing experience, but I'm getting used to it. Plus, I get to eat however I want which is sweet. Hopefully the habits don't stick when I get home; none of you will want to eat with me.
6. Koreans have really great cell-phones.
Korean's cell-phones are really impressive. Almost all Koreans have i-phone-esque smartphones, and considering LG and Samsung are native Korean companies, they are on the very blade of the cutting edge. Some of their phones are actually mini-tablet computers, somewhere between an iphone and an ipad. They carry them around under-arm in decorative cases or in special bags (basically like a purse). Most of the phones are equipped with televisions, so they whip them out the second they get onto the bus or subway, plug in their antennas and watch away. They're all equipped with internet and cameras, which includes without fail, a mirror function... unabashed segway!
7. Koreans are vain.
America is supposed to be the country obsessed with appearance, vanity, superficiality all those traits, right? Vanity in America is NOTHING compared to what it is in Korea. There are mirrors EVERYWHERE. Every subway stop has mirrors at the top of the stairs, the bottom of the stairs, in the waiting areas, along the escalators, beside the tracks. And they are well used. Sometimes the person in front of you will suddenly grind to a halt, no warning, What on earth are they staring at over there? you think. Of course, it's themselves, of whom they caught a passing glimpse in a car window or storefront, and were mesmerized like Narcissus. The prior mentioned cell-phone mirror things are put into constant use, bus-stop, bus, subway, restaurant, wherever, and Koreans, are constantly primping and fixing their bangs, men and women alike. If they somehow missed out on the cell-phone mirror feature, then they'll take a picture of themselves, give it a peek, adjust whatever they think needs adjusting, then snap another photo, repeat the process. Once there was a girl doing this on my bus literally from when I got on 'til when I left, click, look, fix bangs, click, look, fix bangs, for fifteen solid minutes. Most impressive.
8. The Korean trash system is rad, and they use "the right kind of bags."
Koreans have this trash thing DOWN. I don't really get how it works, but you kind of just pile up trash in the street and it just disappears. You buy special trash bags, the "right kind" (whatever that means, I'm assuming they break down easily or something?), and just toss them into the pile when they're full. I guess you're supposed to use a different special trash bag for each kind of recycling, and another for yard-waste (I don't have a yard, and, like I said, I don't really get how it works so I just forgo the recycling aspect). Luckily, my co-teacher pointed out that ajummas (married women) collect all the recycling and turn it in for a premium to recycling centers, so you can pretty much dump it however you'd like and it'll vanish like it was never there. I'm tempted to start collecting recycling myself, if it's so lucrative. People also treat the trash dumps as a kind of swap meet. The other day I saw a nice set of table and chairs all wrapped up in plastic to protect them from the rain. I also saw a really interesting wardrobe a while ago, and when an ajumma caught me looking she implored that I take it then and there. At least I think that's what she was saying. She might have been mocking me for looking at someone else's garbage or cursing my children for all I know. Hard to tell with those ajummas. Finally, Korea has a nationwide composting program. You keep all your food waste in a little green tub (hermetically sealed, luckily) and when it gets to the point that opening it makes your kitchen reek for the next few hours, you wrap a little tag around the handle and leave it out overnight. The next morning, viola! All the solids, gone. The liquid they leave behind, but that is what the sewer drains are for. I really like this whole system, but I'm a little worried about what the bug/mold/rot-stink situation will be like when the summer months roll around.
9. Koreans are very efficient when it comes to space.
It seems like in the urban areas of Korea, every bit of space is utilized. I live in a very urban area, just off the edge of the Daegu industrial park and behind the new EXCO (Kenny G. is playing in June... any takers?) in a five story apartment. My window looks out on the EXCO and some other apartment buildings, but just outside, there is a farm. Yes, a farm. On first arrival I thought it was just a patch of dirt, but now that spring is sprung, every day there are workers tending the crops that have sprang up in the last month or so. There's also one just behind my school, in a tiny space between the school and a complex of high rise apartment buildings called "Paradise Land." I don't know how they do it in such a small, industrialized space, but these mini-farms are seriously flourishing in the warm weather. It's pretty inspiring: gives me hope that even if I live between an apartment building and an industrial park, I can still eke out some veggies from whatever patch of dirt is there.
Ok, that's all for now, surely more to come. Sorry if I offended anybody with my unfiltered ramblings.
Anyong!
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