Friday, January 13, 2012

Korean culture

I really like Korean culture. I could imagine living in Korea. There are a couple things I especially liked: 1. There is emphasis around family, rather than individual glory and materialism. We watched a Korean movie that happened to be playing on television:

We could not actually understand any of the dialogue, but still watched it in rapt attention. It is about five athletes who attempt to qualify the Korean team for Olympic ski jumping.

One is doing it to win an apartment for his biological mother who gave him up for adoption as a child. Another is doing it to support his new baby. A third is doing it to get out of mandatory military service, so that he can stay home to take care of his grandmother and autistic brother. The fourth is doing it to win the heart of a girl.

2.

There is no tradition of tipping in Korea, for cabs, waiters, or service people. Yet the service was far superior to what I experience in the US. We took cabs three times, and twice, the cab driver got out of his car at the end and walked several minutes with us to find our destination. The third time, the cab driver pointed and made sure that we knew where we were going.

Similarly, waitresses were attentive, and came over to refill our kimchi continually. There is no tip, but they wanted to do it, because they actually care about doing a good job.

3 comments:

Msoong said...

Niniane, Korea is one of the most male chauvinistic society in Asia, far more so than Japan, Taiwan, or China. You sure you want to live there?

Milton

Anonymous said...

What Milton says is true. Koreans also have the highest rate of plastic surgery in Asia, if not the world.

Also, as much as I admire the work ethic of Koreans, Korean society is super high pressure and has the highest suicide rates in the world.

Anonymous said...

As long as she isn't looking for a job or a husband, she should do just fine.