Some odds and ends

Even though I have not been here for very long, I have picked up on many Korean habits, inclinations, and overall cultural differences that have kept me on my toes since arriving.

1. No concept of space order or personal space.
First of all, lines do not exist. Well, they exist in the sense that sometimes whatever waiting area one may be in is so narrow that a “line” is formed. However, there is no differentiation between the first and the last person in line. If you feel like going, you do. It’s completely incredible to observe. The first time I experienced this phenomenon was my first day in Seoul, waiting in “line” to buy something. As I’m about to pull out my wallet, some woman waltzes right in front of me and places her items on the conveyor belt. I was dumbfounded. At the time I thought it was disrespectful, and specifically directed at me because I am clearly a foreigner. Turns out, cutting lines does not discriminate. It happens to anyone and everyone. It is so very much the norm, though, that the madness is the method. Everyone gets a turn and you don’t hear any moaning or groaning about cutting. It works. The next spacial issue is a complete disregard of personal space. If you’re in someone’s way, you will just get pushed aside, sans excuse me, pardon me, etc. Trying to get off the subway is practically a death wish. People pushing you to the left, to the right. I was trying to get off of an extremely packed subway car when I suddenly felt a harsh pounding against my hip. I looked down only to see a 4 1/2 foot old woman trying to shove me aside. Guess what I did? That’s right, I shoved her right back...it is survival of the fittest in this place.

2. Heated floors.
Koreans seem to do a lot of things right, and their method of heating is definitely one of them. The heat comes through the floors. Not so convenient when you are my training roommate, Sophie, and myself, trying to figure out how to work the heat. Because there was no instrument blowing hot air into the room, we couldn’t hear the heat being turned on. We ran around our hotel room, like the blind leading the blind, trying to find where this mysterious hot air was coming from, assured that we had pressed the correct button. We later came home to a hot room: what? where’s it coming from (while taking our shoes off) ahhh, the floors! Genius. The method is actually very efficient: I have kept my room on the lowest setting at 45 degrees Celsius, turning it off occasionally, and my room has been cozy and warm. It also seems to promote my system of trying on clothes and leaving them on the ground. They feel like they’re fresh out of the dryer. Who doesn’t love that?

3. Extreme customer service.
Having worked in sales for years, I can appreciate good customer service. It does annoy me at times, but I prefer help over being ignored. Being here, all I want when walking into a store is to be left alone. There is literally one salesperson every square foot. Inch toward one rack, a lady is on top of you, trying to force a coat on your back. All I can do is say “Anio, Anio” (no), shake my head and hands violently, and hope they back off. I haven’t had much luck in that department.

4. Personal questions.
Some of the questions I have gotten from my students include:
How old are you?
Are you married? Why not?
Are you rich?
Keep in mind this is all within a day or two of meeting the kids. And no, it is not one of those “kids say the darndest things” situations. These are actually commonly asked questions among Koreans. In the US, we would be inclined to avoid asking as well as answering any of these quandaries. Asking age is most common because this is the way to distinguish how the person should be addressed. In Korea, you only bow to your elders, and it is considered inappropriate to bow to people who are “below” you. So for instance, it would be appropriate for my students to bow to me, but not me to them. The rich question has been directed at me because Koreans generalize all Americans to be wealthy. When I told them that in Chicago, I see many more homeless people than in Incheon or Seoul, they were shocked. By the way, I have seen maybe 3 homeless people since I have been here.

5. Germophobic discrepancies.
If you read earlier, you most likely saw the pictures and stories about swine flu paranoia. The swine flu makes the cleanliness and germ fixation very salient, but other instances of a clean-obsessed culture include the fact that Koreans wouldn’t dream of stepping foot into someone’s home, and many restaurants, without removing their shoes first. Additionally, Koreans refuse to touch their food with their hands. To any of my friends who know how I eat understand how this “hands are not meant to be utensils” rule is very burdensome to me. On the other hand, the neurosis is inconsistent. Food cannot be touched, but it is all shared. People double dip, lick their chopsticks, stick them back into the dish, and so on. At dinner for two, most of the time the server will give just one mug with water for the two to share. I just recently found out that most restaurants clean the dishes with cold water instead of hot...who even knows if they use soap. Diverging practices about germs, all wrapped into one big weird custom of cleanliness. My germophobe of a brother would die.