• This is blog entry is called, “Oh Korea!” because recently I find myself saying this phrase a little too often.
• Oh Korea, why are your women afraid to grow muscles? I saw an advertisement for what looks like ace bandages, but much tighter, to put on your arms and calf muscles to prevent them from growing. I also know that it’s also quite popular to perform such surgeries as severing the calf muscle, or sculpting (removing) the thigh muscles so they are thinner. Oh Korea, why?
Dad and I were talking about a Korean TV show that pits a Korean girl pop group against professional or semi professional (college) athletes. They then compete in physical challenges whereby the Korean pop girls somehow always win!?!?! The girls in the pop group are muscle-less twigs, and yet the fit athletes always fail the challenges. Why Korea, why do you promote the anorexic look over healthy fit bodies? What must the parents of these athletes on TV think of their children? “See, if only you had less muscles you could be successful! This volleyball /swimming / softball etc. is no good for you! You’ll never get a husband with calf muscles like that! We need to sever those muscles immediately! Then you can be a winner like the girls in the pop group!”
• Oh Korea, why is it okay to dress in drag on TV, but not to be a transvestite?
I’m confused, if you are a guy it’s okay to dress in drag if you are being filmed for a TV show. However, if you dress in drag because you like the way you look, or feel, then you are just wrong and shameful! As long as you dress up to imitate someone else, it’s fine, but don’t you dare do it for your own enjoyment! It is only for the entertainment of others you sick weirdo!
This all started when I went to see Rocky Horror the musical. I was so surprised that the audience seemed to be okay with the drag issue. Then I remembered that as long as it’s for entertainment it’s fine! Put it on stage or in front of a camera, anything goes!
• Oh Korea, why do you make employees sit in ranking order at the office? I know I’ve talked about this before, but it has never really impacted me until recently. I had been working on my own for 10 months, but now I work with a team of 3 others, soon to be 4 others. Well, the configuration of chairs used to be 3 desks on the right, and 2 desks on the left. But because of this highest ranking bullshit their needed to be 3 desk on the left, and 2 desks on the right. This is because the highest manager needed to sit by the window and for some reason only one other person could be in front of him, not two. So the desks had to be disassembled and reassembled on the other size.
Now, we had to go through all this hectic moving so that we could be in ranking order. But I’ve been with this company for a year and the new employee hasn’t started yet but she will be sitting behind me. A whaaaaa? Okay, truthfully, I will let it slide because you guys thought I was leaving in October. But I gave up my desk drawers for my manager because his desk didn’t have a set. And I ordered a new set of drawers a month ago when we moved. Still, no drawers to this day, yet sitting right behind me, in an empty desk, for an employee who isn’t even here yet, are a set of drawers not in use, and I am still waiting for my drawers to arrive!!! “Oh no, you can’t have those drawers, they belong to Ms. Kim.” “Well, why couldn’t I have used them this whole month while she hasn’t been here, and when my new drawers arrive she can have those ones?” “Oh no, because those are Ms. Kim’s.” Oh Korea, your killing me here!
• Ok Korea, why are your weddings so staged? I know I’ve gone over this as well before, but the bouquet toss at a wedding is ridiculously misinterpreted. This weekend was Hui Kyung’s wedding. Just like the other weddings I’ve attended, we needed to stage a photo where the girl who is scheduled to get married next (literally the next weekend in this case) gets to catch the bouquet. And we toss it over and over again to her until we get the right picture. Nothing new here, what is new is I asked what the girl was suppose to do with the bouquet now that she has it. I was told that the bouquet is dried out and then 100 days after the wedding of her friend, she is supposed to burn the bouquet. Yup, apparently it brings good luck to the bride and groom. I asked if you the bride and groom have to be present, like it’s some big ceremony, but nope, ya just burn it on your stove or however is most convenient for you. You can call them and tell them you burned their bouquet but they don’t have to be there to get the good luck, and you don’t have to call them if you are too busy. Oh Korea, why are you so strict when it comes to some traditions, and completely nonchalant about others?
• Oh Korea, why are your dress codes so confusing? So I’ve talked a lot about short skirts and wearing high heels to go hiking, but just when I thought I had the Korean dress code figured out, my assumptions about dressing up for a wedding were wrong. I mean, weddings are a big deal in the US. We dress up for the occasion. In fact, I was scheduled to go to two weddings this month, so I borrowed two dresses from Vicki. I mean, I didn’t want to buy new dresses for these wedding, but I also know how fashionable the Koreans are so I didn’t want to wear the same clothes I wear to work. I was really surprised that my colleagues came to the wedding wearing the same clothes they normally do! Guys in the same suits, girls in the same dresses, I mean, yes, Koreans are always dressed up during the week, but I figured weddings would mean you have to dress up even more than average. Oh Korea, really, I’m puzzled by the dress codes sometimes.
Just the dress code? I just can't even with this country. Everything is white noise now. Shrill, shrieking white noise.
ReplyDeleteOh Korea, why won't you give me my friend back?
ReplyDeleteBlame the magazines, I recall Oprah & Tyra talking about women's body issues & black women wanting to be lighter. Miami & LA are fighting for the plastic surgery capital title. Wedding in a church are also very staged. Just because something is different in its cultural idiosyncrasies doesn't mean this is the only place in the world where they have these problems. It sounds to me you got caught up in the Cool Aid from Korean people talking as though Korea is the only country in the world with problems that the rest of the world has.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI have re-read my blog after reading your comment. Although I have chosen a thematic pattern in which I use the phrase, “Oh Korea,” I never state that these events that occur are exclusive to Korea. I am unclear as to how you have interpreted my words to mean that these events do not occur anywhere else in the world. I am well aware that Brazil has the highest rates of “medical tourism” for peopling seeking out plastic surgeries, and that Japan has more deaths each year from bulimia and anorexia than any other Asian county. But you see, I don’t live in Brazil or Japan, so I can only give you factual accounts of my life here in Korea, not the rest of the world.
Twice in your comment you make reference to my cultural observations as “problems;” however I never refer to these events as problems. I am merely sharing my perspective by making comparisons to my prior experiences growing up in the US. If you believed that my observations were in fact “cultural idiosyncrasies,” then you are contradicting yourself repeatedly by referring to them as “problems,” or worse, by suggesting that I need to “blame the magazines.”
However, I do thank you for your comment for it has made me re-read my blog and analyze my cultural observations and testimony for grievances I may have caused. I do not want to give off the impression that I think what happens in Korea only happens in Korea.