Posted by Korea Is Awesome. But Be Ready To Get The Cultural Shocks Though
When I landed in Korea, I immediately fell in love because there was free WiFi almost everywhere. Let’s talk besides internet. Public transport is superb. English is spoken in most of the major destinations. But there’s one thing that I just couldn’t fit in, and that’s the culture.
At first, I literally didn’t knew anything about the Korean culture. A friend of mine had always said that unless you know someone who lives in Korea, or unless you have done extensive research (from trusted sources of course) about the Korean culture, you don’t have any chance of knowing what to do next.
And now that I am physically away from Korea, it is time to be completely honest about the life experience in Korea. Consider this as a soapbox, but a very blunt one. Most people will only talk about the good experiences in South Korea, but before you land yourself there, make sure that you know about the bad experiences too because those are the things that are often unsaid. Let’s first start with the good ones.
Charging Your Phone Anywhere
To be honest, this is the second best thing that I like about Korea (after free WiFi). You can literally just hand over your phone to a person in a convenience store, and they will charge it for you.
When my friend handed over, I was literally asking him whether they will just steal and run away or not. But when the opposite happened, it made me feel like Korea is way ahead of any country in the world when it comes to trusting other people. This type of technological orientation just surprised me because I’ve never seen anything like it before.
Just hand over your phone to a person in the convenience store, and they’ll make sure that your phone charged and you’re ready to go.
But That Makes Your Walk Into Everything
By everything, I meant literally that. When that level of technological orientation helps develop Korea, there are these individuals on the other side who are just face planting into everything while walking. I literally saw a guy being face-glassed into a glass wall because he was so engrossed in his phone. And then the expected laughter of his friends, and mine too happened.
This is something that you will barely find anywhere in the world. I mean there surely are people who would occasionally walk into somethings, but in Korea, you will realize that almost everyone is having this issue.
It Will Be Really Hard For You To Find Gangnam Style
During my whole trip, if I can remember correctly, I heard “Gangnam Style” once, and that too was a ringtone. It was pretty shocking for me because it was one of the most biggest hit songs in the world about a year ago, and it is completely absent here in the mother country of it.
But the next thing was a shocker. PSY is the one who endorses almost everything there. Whether those are socks or your cell phone covers. Almost everything can be found endorsed by PSY. Maybe it is because people like him as a person and not his songs, just maybe.
Koreans Ask A Lot Of Questions. Personal Questions
This came as a cultural shocker to me because I have a habit of smiling at everyone and greeting them with an occasional Hi. I did the same thing in Korea, but soon I was in a situation where people wanted to know many personal things about me. I did managed to make through that awkward situation, but here’s what I found later that evening.
When you say hi to a Korean and smile at them, they consider 강남홀덤 it as though you’re interested in them. And that’s the reason why they start asking personal questions to you, such as your age, whether you have a religion, or you have a boy friend or a girl friend. And this is a common thing there. They ask these questions to know you better and becoming a friend.
Koreans especially care more about your age. It is in their culture to maintain a healthy relationship between the old and the young ones. So if they find that you are older than them, they will treat you with utmost respect. And that’s the reason why “how old are you?” is the first question that they tend to ask.
Matching Outfits
Falling in love is a great thing there (nope, I didn’t fell in love, except with the country). Koreans believe that if you’ve been dating each other for straight 100 days, then it is a huge milestone. And that’s when couples start wearing identical outfits. But that’s not just wearing polo’s and jeans. From caps to shoes (if possible), they wear everything identical.
One day I misunderstood one couple as wearing a uniform at a coffee store, but it was lucky for me that I realized it before asking them something about it.
Koreans Eat In The Same Dish
As awkward as it may sound, but that’s the truth. Every country that I’ve traveled to in my life, I’ve never seen anything like this in any culture, except in some Muslim cultures.