Korean Quirks and Customs

I have been meaning to write a short little entry on the quirks and customs that we have experienced in Korea for a while now, so here goes. Some of them are pretty common- for example taking and receiving with both hands and bowing slightly to your elders when you greet them or thank them. In Korea you use different words depending on who you are speaking to. For example if I were to say 'Hello' to somebody older than me (or a man) I would use 'Anyungseo' but if I speak to a child or somebody younger than me then I would use 'Anyung'. It greatly annoys me when my children address me using 'Anyung' as this shows their total lack of respect for me! I make sure I always correct them!

There is quite an obvious gender divide in Korea though I would like to think this is changing with the younger generation. Women are most definitely seen as sexual objects and men as sexual predators. This view was summed up when we decided to try some gender specific chocolate. The chocolate for women actually tasted of flowers and light perfume- the chocolate for men tasted of cigarettes, alcohol, a sleazy bar and aftershave. It's no joke!

It's common, accepted and encouraged for most wealthy men to have a wife and children and many mistresses. Even in a rural city like Gimhae there are 'bars' at the top of every building in which a man can go and pick up women and this is incredibly common practice. While I appreciate that this happens in the UK, the scale to which it is happening here in entirely different. Half naked teenage girls dance outside shops at the weekend in an attempt to lure in more customers and women at work (including my place of work) are constantly being sleazed over by their vile 'superiors.' Although I appreciate that I have to accept cultural differences I find this behaviour insulting and disgusting. It frustrates me that this nation has advanced so fast in so many ways (technology, education, business, trading etc...) yet there is no sign of feminism anywhere. It's probably a good thing that I am only here for a year, otherwise I would be forced to start some kind of revolution!

Korea also seems to be incredibly narcissistic! Looks really do matter here. The streets are lined with plastic surgery clinics and billboards advertising wider eyes or a smaller face. I spoke to some of my older female students and they said that so many of their older friends (aged 16-18) have had surgery on their eyes and nose to make them look more Western. When I asked them if they thought that plastic surgery was a good or a bad thing they didn't seem to understand- they just thought it was fairly normal. We had a meeting at work the other day hosted by one of the directors and it was designed to encourage us to praise each other more. At the end of the meeting we were given a piece of paper with someone else's name on it and we had to write a couple of really positive things about that person. I have done this excercise before in the UK and everybody has always written about people's strengths in terms of their personality.
Not in Korea.
Every single comment that was written by one of the Korean teachers had references to the person's level of attractiveness and at the end of the meeting this turned into a debate about who was the sexiest teacher. It was a cringeworthy experience!

The use of 'rock, paper, scissors' here is also incredibly important. Locally known as 'kowie, bowie, bo' this little game is used to make decisions when they need making. It is used everywhere- all my children constantly use it in the classroom when a solution needs finding. I had a class with some 15 year old girls in which we spent 40 minutes looking at a well used philosophical problem -"Who gets the heart?" It's quite a heavy discussion based on eight people all with different ages, races, occupations, education, backgrounds, marital status etc... Every single one of them needs a heart or they will die, but there is only one heart available. They have to decide which person is most worthy of the heart. After 40 minutes of pretty heated debate and no sign of a decision my students turned to me and said, "Teacher, we have decided that the only fair way of deciding who gets the heart is to have a game of Kowie, Bowie, Bo." And that's what they did. If only all decisions were that easy!

Another thing that I have noticed is the lack of floor 4 in some buildings. I guess it's rather like the American's superstition of floor 13. In a lot of Korean buildings floor 4 is missed out altogether and it seems impossible to buy things in a set of four. My children have also told me that it is very bad to marry somebody who is either four years older or younger than yourself. This is because the number four 'sa' sounds like the Chinese word for death and Koreans are very superstitious about it. They are also very superstitious about writing people's names in red ink as they believe that the person whose name is written will die. I have actually made this mistake a few times now as we have red board markers at school and the children go loopy.

In fact the Koreans seem to be quite suspicious people. I have been told that I should never buy my boyfriend shoes as this will mean we argue a lot throughout our relationship (though I did buy Lee shoes for Christmas and we seem to be doing fine.) It has also been said that if you sleep with the fan on that it will suck out all the oxygen in the room and you will die! Unlike England, a magpie here is bad luck (particularly if spotted in the mornings) but similarly to old Blighty it is bad luck to put an umberella up in the house. It is also custom to take shoes off before entering any building.

So these are just a few of the noticeable quirks and differences that we have experienced so far. I'm sure there will be many more to come!