The Ups and Downs of Homogeneity

When you were little, what cautions did your parents always leave you with? I'm sure it varies for everyone, but most of you probably had some form of the classics: Look both ways before you cross the street, respect your elders, don't talk to strangers.

Well, that last one seems to not be so important in Korea. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would say that Korean kids are encouraged to go up to strangers and pester them for candy. Its a strange existence when xenophobia is not instilled on that level in the young. Everyone is so friendly and in each other's business. Its how I imagined small town America would have been in the 1950s. Maybe today, I don't know. The only reason I've ever gone to small town America was to either do a gig there or to drive through (I guess with the exception of my summer in Arizona).

On a field trip the other day, one of the little girls I was supposed to be looking after strayed over to talk to a middle aged man in a shady corner. It was making me nervous because in America, the situation would be viewed with a certain amount of wariness and the man would know it. He would then work to end the conversation because he would feel uncomfortable or he would know he was making someone else uncomfortable. Not in Korea. In Korea, this situation is viewed with an air of 'isn't that cute? He's taking time to talk to that little girl'. In this situation, I was the one who had to calm the heck down.

This has a lot to do, I think, with the sameness of Korea. I don't think those kids would be so willing to talk to foreigners that way, but since it was a Korean man then they knew to expect certain things from him.

Despite the fact that I strongly believe America's diversity is one of its greatest strengths, there is something to be said for living in a society with no surprises. People here feel a very strong bond with each other to the point where the honor system actually works (this may have more to do with the group-oriented nature of East Asian cultures than Korea's homogeneity but it could be some of both). People in Korea never have to make allowances for different religions, or different cultures or even for different dietary needs. Here everyone has had the same upbringing, everyone likes the same things (mostly), everyone eats the same food.

Not to say that Korea is a boring place, or that it doesn't have things from other cultures, which it does, but that - for the majority - Korean people like to be Korean.

This also leads to unexpected problems for the foreigner. For example, there is no way I'm going to find make-up here to match my skin tone (not really that big a problem, but still).

I have to find a specific pizza place that sells normal pepperoni pizza without putting things on it I would consider to be not compatible with pizza - mustard, potatoes, squid, hard-boiled eggs, and mayonnaise to name just a few.

I can find shoes just fine, but my co-worker, Jonathan, has trouble finding a men's 13 size shoe for obvious reasons. He and William also have a hard time getting their hair cut because they are both black and have hair textured in such a way that it baffles Korean hairstylists.

I, too, have been having trouble getting my hair cut but only because I want to get my side-swoopey bangs again and here everyone has bangs that go straight across their forehead. It looks great on Korean girls but I'm pretty sure I'd look stupid. Korean hairstylists just assume that you want it the way everyone else has it. Not being able to communicate what I want will be a problem.

Finally, the biggest problem I found with the homogeneity of Korean society is that they don't often appreciate thinking outside the box. Things that are different or not to their tastes are dismissed out of hand. A good example would be when I came to work with henna on my hands. The kids went crazy. They thought it was the weirdest thing they'd ever seen which is understandable if you've never seen it before. But the way they carried on you would think I had a disease on my hand.

Though the younger, urban, generations embrace all things new and different, just outside the city people are not so accepting.

Korean Food

On most days I eat the same lunch that the kids are having, not just because its too much of a hassle to plan to have my own ready and eat it in the 30 seconds of free time I have between classes, but also because I want to try real Korean food and this is a pretty good way to do it. Most days it involves rice, a kind of soup, Kimchi (fermented cabbage, Korea’s national food), and a couple other sides. Today, the soup didn’t look like soup and smelled really familiar for some reason. They kept on calling it ‘curry’ but that didn’t sound right to me. Halfway through eating it I realized that it was dhal, a kind of lentil dish that Indian people ate with almost every meal. Hence why it smelled so familiar. I ate that stuff everyday for five months straight.

The Korean teachers are all impressed that I’m eating what they are eating (can’t lie, so am I) and the American teachers keep saying things like ‘oh god, don’t eat the _____ its disgusting!’ and then I try it, and its nothing that foreign. A good example of this is the ‘curry’. They kept on saying don’t try it! Its not like normal curry, it tastes weird! And in all reality its much closer to curry than anything they’ve ever tasted.

While I’m on the subject of food I might as well add that Koreans seem to love pizza – or rather, their idea of pizza which is not really our idea of pizza. I have been told several million times by my coworkers that Korean pizza is terrible, it nothing like our pizza, yadda, yadda, yadda. Since in my opinion their judgment is suspect, due to the aforementioned ‘curry’ incident, I decided to try for myself. I ordered 'Italian cheese pizza' which seemed pretty straight forward – bread, sauce, cheese, done – and except for the addition of kernels of corn baked into the cheese (wtf Seoul?) and being really greasy it was pretty normal. However, the other pizzas I saw were nothing like what I was used to. Some had strange toppings, some had weird looking crusts and some had things like mayonnaise and mustard swirled on the top.

Koreans also seem to enjoy meat snacks of all varieties. Jerky of all kinds and flavors (Squid Jerky!) can be found at any convenience store and one of these days I will get up the courage to try some. They also have these awesome 'yogurt drinks' which I am addicted to. Some taste more like milk than yogurt but all are equal in deliciousness.

I was in Lotte Mart (Asia's answer to Wall-Mart) which is about five stories tall and takes up two city blocks and I was looking for something to make my hair not freak out at all the humidity. I was unsuccessful in that but I did find 'squid ink', a kind of shampoo made from, well, squid ink, that is supposed to be good for you hair. I almost bought it out of sheer curiosity but it was a huge bottle so I though it was probably a bad idea.

Tomorrow, I have to take the two youngest classes to the 'Recycling Museum'. Just me. With about 15 kids who don't speak English. Fun. I'm not sure whose the conductor in this Orchestra of Crazy but I'm pretty sure they aren't paying attention.