Once apon a time in Korea

Today I am living in a winter wonderland. Tiny snow flakes fall outside my window drifting towards the already blinding white ground. Korea in March is a mysterious and magical place. Well today it is at least. The usually grimy, dirty streets and muddy rice paddy's are covered in a clean white blanket of snow which makes it feel clean and crisp. Everyone is complaining about the weather but I’m in a kind of trance admiring what is more snow then I have seen in years.

I have been in Korea for nearly three weeks now and it has not all been magical snowiness and pretty scenery I assure you. The culture shock has been substantial but my plan this year is to see a part of the world that is so different to the world I am used to back on the farm in South Africa, and to embrace the differences and really experience the culture. I won’t make this post a long one because it is my first and there will be many verbose posts to come, but a few observations come to mind. Korean culture is very different to what I am used to back home, everyone is terribly respectful and many people are incredibly shy and often awkward. Most of my friends would call me outgoing, sometimes even loud but in Korean culture I find myself slipping more and more into the shy quite child I used to be. Here everyone bows to one another when they meet, the deeper the bow the more respect you are showing. And this is a culture based entirely on hierarchy, where your age demands respect as does your position in terms of your profession. Everyone here is Painfully polite. Now I’m not saying my mamma raised me as a feral child because respect for elders and politeness are attributes that are also very important in South African culture; but somehow here it seems like any small thing might offend someone. If I show the bottom of my glass to an elder while I drink I am being disrespectful, if I refuse a drink I may offend someone and if I say gamsamnida (Thank you) to a child I am giving too much respect and should rather use the casual version kumawaoyo. I seem to be negotiating a mine field of possible offensive actions I had no intention of detonating. But that is what a new cultural experience brings, you may be the ‘offensive foreigner’ for a while but soon your attempts to do things the correct way are noticed and taken as compliments. Sometimes just bowing to someone correctly makes them smile or your use of chopsticks impresses a fellow teacher, and if you have a social drink with a Korean or show that you enjoy their food you will be their friend for life.

For now I stay inside my tiny snow-globe of painful politeness until the local people are more willing to show me the respect I need to earn.

From snowy Korea tto mannayo (see you again)