What Are Korean People Really Like?

The first impression that I got of Korean people when I arrived back in April, 2000, was that they were very eager to please foreigners and very accomodating. Sometimes they seem a little over the top, but they are genuine about their feelings, good and bad.

One of the things about Korean people is that most of them, I am generalizing of course, are very respectful of your opinions and won't belittle you at all. They even respect you more sometimes when you stand up for yourself. They very rarely hold grudges and like to 'clear the air' most of the time.

My blog sometimes seems a little negative, but that is due to my upbringing in another continent and my exposure to another culture. Sometimes your culture allows you to be both more and less tolerant at different times. Therefore, you have to constantly 'tweak' yourself when you are on another continent and imbedded in another culture. Most of the time, I think I get irritated because I believe what the actions of the people show, is disrespectful to me. That is far from the truth, it is just part of their 'hustle hustle and bustle' culture. I am not excusing their behaviour as normal to me, but it is normal for them. You are a guest in their country and you always have to try and 'ground' yourself into thinking that way, when things don't seem to going the way you are used to.

It was funny, the other day I was bitching about people bumping into me and one guy walking in front of me and so on and so on. Kyoung Hee turned around to me and said that all the complaining I was doing and all the names that I was calling these people, was insulting to her. " I am Korean you know?"

It hit a nerve with me and made me realize that I was just going on and on. She said that she agrees that what the people do is not right or normal to what I am used to, but this is Korea, she said. She was dead right and it gave me a different perspective on how I was acting.
Needless to say, I am doing my damnest now to stop being a 'whinger!' I sure as hell don't want to be one of those negative foreigners that can't wait to go back to the 'promised land.'

Back to Korean people. They are kind, friendly and always eager to speak English with you, or should I say try! Some of the kids come across a little rude, but don't all young kids from every culture.

Korean people are very direct with both compliments and insults, which they don't realize are insults, by the way. I have been called fat by both students and teachers since the day I arrived here and I have never been called fat in North America. Being a weightlifter, again the Koreans are not used to seeing big men who are over 100kgs=220lbs!!!!! I always get remarks about how hairy I am. Korean men are not hairy at all. They have very little body hair. I on the other hand, am turning into half monkey as I am getting older. I am losing hair on my head and gaining it everywhere else including my ears and nose...... yuk yuk... don't worry I have a trimmer!

Everything is always perspective, so my advice to anyone that is thinking about coming here, is to just go with the flow and don't take anything personally. Of course there are bad people no matter how nice you are or what continent you are on, so people will disappoint you everywhere, as they say!

Korean women are the bomb. The only problem that you may have is that you can break their hearts very easily. They fall in love very quickly and are so loyal that it is unbelievable. You have to be very careful if you just want to casually date a Korean girl. As long as you don't 'do the business' you are okay, but once you do, you have someone that will go to the ends of the earth to be with you.

When I first met my girlfriend, I thought that she was having me on about how much she 'loved' me and sometimes to tell you the truth, it did my head in! I soon realized after a bit of time, she was deadly serious. My advice is, don't play with Korean girls' hearts. They fall fast and they fall hard.

There was some moron from the States a few years back that had his own blog and he put on it that Korean girls were dead easy and all this other negative crap about them. The problem was that Korean people got to know about it and it was a big issue for a year or so here. There was a definite anti-foreigner sentiment feeling for quite a while.

I get overawed sometimes with my girlfriend because she just loves the bones of me and I can't believe that she acts the way she does. She always wants what is best for me and will go out of her way to make it happen. Of course she is a woman and she drives me mad of course, at the best of times!!! We have been together now for almost a year and a half and have lived together for almost 6 months. We are working out our cultural differences and the biggest challenge sometimes is just the lack of understanding of each other's language.... hehe. I like it though 'cos it is fun trying to work around the language barrier.

Korean men are what I describe as 'real ' men towards their women. They don't allow themselves to be pushed around, if that is possible even, but they go out with their friends and do what I consider manly things. They don't overly dote on their wives, but at the same time provide for them and are usually good husbands. They work long hours and party long hours too!!! It is part of the work culture here to go and have some soju to calm the nerves and create more team spirit.

Korean people never go out alone. Usually they are in groups of at least 3 or 4 and sometimes way more. Korean people usually have at least 3 or 4 really good friends and tons of friends that they went to school with. Remember most schools have class sizes of between 35 and 40 sometimes even as high as 50! So, being a loner in this country is not very common. That is one of the main reasons that I like Korea so much. People go out no matter what age they are and when they are married they don't stop going out. There is a definite culture of friendship here and that puts Korea right up there in my books.

Korean people dress immaculately. Their shoes are always polished and shining. Their footware is always in good condition. It is very rare to see anyone with bad footware in this country. The young guys and women dress in the latest fashions and the middle to older age groups all dress very stylish although sometimes it is their own Korean style, which we might not like. I have very rarely ever seen a Korean wearing an unironed shirt or t-shirt. They all have accessories to go with everything from bags to watches and jewellery. They are not flashy, but very well dressed. They remind me of the same calibre as European people's styles.

We, the North Americans and other countries are considered to be 'slobby' by the Koreans because we are not as particular as they are and it is dead true. There are some sights to see when you see foreigners and what they wear to school as teachers!

Dresses and stockings galore, you will see on the street everyday, worn by both young girls and older women. I see min-skirts and skirts everyday and everywhere, even in school. Their shoes and bags and clothes all usually match. It is awesome to see, to tell you the truth.

Korean people are very clean. The public bath is a big part of their culture. They go there to scrub their skin and to have a sauna and whirlpool. They go as families and everyone walks around butt naked, on seperate sides of course; men on one side and women on the other. It is pretty cool to see a father and his son at the public bath together and the father scrubbing his son's body and the son scrubbing his father's body. First time that I saw it, I was amazed. Again, this is a big part of their culture.

When it comes to cleaning from a domestic point of view, Koreans are quite clean although I must say they do a lot of surface cleaning. They only tend to clean what they can see. I have found tons of places that don't clean the tops of lockers and the tops of canopys etc. They are very particular about floors and tiles especially. Koreans are always washing their floors down and businesses especially, are very conscious about the front of their stores. They are always sweeping and washing the sidewalks down. Korea is quite a dusty place, so it is commonplace for people to wash things down a lot.

I would say Koreans are very clean, but not immaculately clean. As I mentioned before, if I could find a fault, it would be about only surface cleaning. Remember, I am talking about businesses and shops and the like. I haven't been in that many Korean people's houses to be able to observe the trend or the style of cleaning, other than a few friends and director's houses.

Korean people walk a lot and hike a lot. Being a country of mountains, hiking up mountains is a very normal thing for them to do. Also there are walking paths everywhere that are always full of people, night and day. The culture believes in being active nowadays, that is for sure. The nice thing about the walking paths is that there is a bike path right next to almost every one of them, so you can ride your bike or rollerblade in the same place and not worry about hitting people. The Korean government have put some real future thinking into the parks and paths that accomodate all the people. Usually most of the paths run beside a small river or lake for the added view and serenity.

There are open markets everywhere and it is a big part of Korean culture to buy fresh vegetables and fruits and fish and other types of meats. There are what they call 5 day markets, which are held on any day in the month with the number 5; usually the 5th, 15th and 25th. Everything is fresh and there are tons of different types of food to choose from and may I add clothes and other items for sale.

Pigs heads in Korean are supposed to be good luck. If you dream about a pig, you should play the lottery for sure!

Well, I hope this has given you some insight into the Korean people. They are full of life and a very good friend, part of a community and part of their own identity as Koreans. Korea is renowned for being one of the most autonomous countries of the 21st Century.

I love this place, love my job here, love the free lifestyle that it affords me and I try to embrace all of this every chance I get and have no plans on leaving Korea anytime soon.