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Part Two: 5 Things I've Noticed While Living in South Korea
Here is part two for all you curious folks! Topics include rarely eating breakfast, teachers (almost always) marrying teachers, processed cheese, men's tote bags, and the daily ritual of drinking milk in the morning.
Korean people don't eat breakfast - It's normal for 3/4 or half of my students to come to school without eating breakfast. Many Koreans see breakfast as an activity that takes up extra time when they could be sleeping or doing something else. Even the majority of Korean adults don't eat breakfast either. Korea is all about the '빨리 (fast) lifestyle'. For me, as a regular breakfast-eater (simple pleasures in BIG breakfasts), I grew up with the mentality of, "Food is fuel. If you don't eat breakfast you can't learn properly at school." In Canada, many schools have breakfast or lunch programs for children who forgot to eat breakfast or their families don't have enough food at home. From a young age, Korean students are taught how to diligently study. I wonder if they would be superhuman studiers if they regularly ate breakfast...
Korean teachers marry other teachers - Out of my 3 schools, the majority of my coworkers marry other teachers. I was blown away by this when I first started meeting my colleagues and asked them about their families and spouses. Almost all of them have married other teachers and quite a few of them met while at teacher's university. I'd reply with a, "Wow, really??" and had to explain why it was so surprising for me to keep hearing the same thing. In Canada, it's not common for people of the same profession to marry. I guess it depends on the industry, but many couples have different job backgrounds. My colleagues explained it's the same in Korea, but amongst teachers, many marry other teachers. I asked, "Well, what are the chances that so many teachers fall in love with other teachers? It just sounds like it's not that probable." My colleagues said that one perk was that the summer and winter vacation fall around the same time for all teachers. It allows the family to spend more time together because both parents are off of work. "So... you marry each other out of convenience for vacation time??" I said puzzled. They assured me that while that was a good reason, it was obviously out of love. Yay for scheduled vacations and love!
Lack of good bread and cheese - All my European friends would cry. Honestly, going shopping at the local grocery store makes me want to book a ticket to Europe ASAP. I even went to a larger grocery store (4-levels) in another town and the only type of bread I found was WHITE. Just basic, white, sliced, sandwich bread. "Where is the multigrain?? Where is the rye? Where is the sourdough?" Then there's the cheese... If you go to a local grocery store, you can usually find some shredded pizza cheese, but you have to go out of your way to find decent cheese. Plus, it's usually quite expensive because it's been imported. While I do like them, I can't handle eating any more processed cheddar slices (imagine Kraft cheese slices). So when I found a block of American cheddar cheese at the store, I broke down and bought it. If you're moving to Korea, pack quality cheese and bread (check customs first, of course).
Koreans are extremely fashionable - Koreans care a lot about their appearance and looking great. Hair salons are affordable and accessible. I got my hair washed, cut, and styled for $12. That would probably cost $50+ in Canada. Brands are important and are highly regarded when you show them off. Men wear cloth tote bags or leather bags to carry their stylish wallets. That was something refreshing, men wearing bags/tote bags. Why wouldn't you carry a bag when you have stuff to carry? Plus, they look so good! Canadian men rarely wear bags and if they do, they're usually criticized for looking too 'feminine'.
Milk in the morning is a ritual - All of my students drink milk or eat yogurt around 10am. One student collects a crate from the lunchroom that has milk or yogurt in it and brings it to their homeroom. All the kids add chocolate or strawberry powder to the milk for flavour. Even the teachers have a milk supply! They pay milk money every month. I guess Koreans love to build up their calcium! It's a fun little routine that they do every day. I guess they're not lactose intolerant >_>
Thank you for reading my 'Part Two: 5 Things I've Noticed While Living in South Korea'. Next post might be about the dating culture in Korea ;D (juicy).
Be safe and take care!
