I think you are semi-Korean

A while back I sat next to the vice principle at lunch and when he saw I was enjoying the spicy food he said to me: "I think you are semi-Korean!" Yesssa! Ten points to me. In the moment I suddenly felt like I was being accepted at school and into Korean society and then in the very next breath he said: "I think you need a Korean boyfriend!" Hmm, didn’t see that one coming. Just another day in Dynamic Korea, with that comes the interesting and contrasting experiences of living and integrating into Korean society. It is an interesting contradiction at times. Sometimes I walk down the street and feel like I might be growing a second head because of the way that people stare, like I’m not even the same species as them and then I am frequently asked if I have found a “handsome Korean boy” yet or why I don’t have a Korean boyfriend. So at once I am treated as so foreign and unique and at the same time there is a need for me to mould into this society, learn their language and become more like them even if I do look considerably different to them.

After living in Korea for four months I have made a number of observations about Korean people and their customs. Something that is really important to Koreans seems to be sharing in their traditional food and drink. Korea really has some amazing food, it is very foreign and different to what I am used to in South Africa and I wont pretend to love everything (I mean why would a person ever want to eat dried squid?) but I really do enjoy their food and I think that sharing traditional food with people of any culture in the world is definitely a way into their hearts.

Maybe the sudden praise of my eating habits and the desire for me to have a Korean boyfriend is because at a teachers' dinner I few weeks ago I had two shots of Soju with the vice principal (accepting alcohol when offered is considered very polite behaviour) and when he saw I drank and could take a shot without falling over he said "Ah Paula I like you! Have another one" and so began the spiral of craziness of an evening out with the teachers. Something every teacher in Korea knows about it the notion of “school teachers’ dinners,” these happen sporadically during the calendar year and usually spring up with very little notice. There is always a teachers’ dinner or lunch on the first day of school and then you also have them when there has been a demonstration class at the school or often during the students’ exam time. Now I managed to escape that particular teachers’ dinner without throwing my name too far but the knowledge that I drank alcohol would prove dangerous in the future. You see the vice-principal informed me that social drinking is 'part of their culture'. Now that does not mean that all Korean’s drink, there are many Christians who do not, the principal at my school is like this but he does not mind the other teachers drinking. Now this social drinking is a very strange concept to me because back home I would try to avoid instances where I might get drunk and make a fool of myself in front of my coworkers. However in Korea it seems that it is ok to go out and get plastered with the other teachers because drinking together shows a camaraderie and mutual respect for one another (and how drunk you were the night before is never mentioned the next day). Now I don’t really understand the respect part when a teacher needs to be pretty much carried out of the restaurant after dinner but some parts of it do make sense to me. It is good for the teachers to have time to be together in a social setting drinking and eating and not worrying about kids and grades and classes. They are always cracking jokes, although I don’t get them, and laughing a lot as they share food. Koreans’ also have a very distinct way to offer drinks to one another in this kind of setting. Now it is not really about the drinking, the alcohol is just a vessel, but it is more about the act of being offered a drink and then offering in return that plays into all of the ideas of hierarchy, respect and Confucianism in general. If you don’t want to drink alcohol you can just get them to give you a shot of ‘cider’, which is sprite, instead because it is the act of offering a drink that is important. That said it is sometimes impossible to avoid the shot of soju that somehow makes it into your hand without you even realizing or your bowl of makoli (rice wine) that keeps being refilled when it looks vaguely empty. However if you do drink that is seen as a very good thing to many teachers, especially the male teachers and it seems in particular to my vice-principal.

School dinners can get out of hand but the kinship you feel with your fellow teachers and the kindness they show when sharing their precious traditional food, drink, and customs with you is the real reason why I travel the world; to get a glimpse into the lives of others, to learn how they live and to live beside them and share in the tiny things that make their country great.

So I offer you a figurative shot of soju and say Gambae (Cheers).
Until next time 또 만나요 (tto mannayo: see you again)