This and That about Korea

1. People don't say "excuse me" or "I am sorry" when they bump into you in public. It really annoyed me at first but one of my American friends looked at it differently. She said Korean people don't make a big fuss about bumping into each other in crowded places. They don't get offended over that. It made me re-think the whole thing.

2. Looks are considered much more important in Korea than in the States. You see women in heels everywhere even in the rain and snow. Plastic surgery advertisements are all over the subway, on buses, vending machines, and on restroom doors at an eye-level when you sit to do your business. It seems like people judge who you are much more by the way you look than anything else. But I did notice that people (especially women because I don't really pay attention male fashion) are more trendy than stylish. Most people seem to just follow what looks good on celebrities and ask the plastic surgeons to make them look like the actress so-and-so. Is it the lack of individuality that was bred into the Korean mentality? (I feel like some Korean feminist is going to shoot me for writing this.) Who knows, but I think it makes a good topic for cultural study.

3. Korean work ethic and politics: Koreans are workaholics. I am sure many don't want to be, but the infrastructure of Korean businesses and corporations are carved out to make people work long hours--unnecessarily long. One time we had company dinner (and they usually go for a loooong time) and our boss wanted to take us to karaoke afterward. I was tired and didn't want to go, but I was told I should because if I didn't, I might be branded as the "disobedient and arrogant" Korean American who didn't respect the ways of Korean business culture. For two seconds, I vacillated on the fence of "Do I just go and conform?" or "Do I say hell with it and vindicate my independence with a huff?" Then my dad's voice came saying "Be respectful, remember you are Korean no matter how American you think you are, your history is deeply rooted in your Motherland..." Like an obedient daughter I agreed to go but felt a little bit like a sell-out.

4. Korean women are small and thin. The biggest shoe size here maxes at 8.5. and you can't get clothes that are bigger than size 8 or 10. If you want bigger clothes and shoes, you have to go to Itaewon, a town for foreigners, or get them made.

5. In the subway restrooms there are what they call "modesty buttons." They are used when you have to go do some noisy no. 2s. You push the button and through a small speaker comes the noise of either a flushing toilet or a sound of birds chirping. I personally prefer the birds chirping. It makes a forest out of a potential thunder bucket. In Korea, when nature calls, the forest responds.