Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Korean Culture

I was talking with a co-worker a week or so ago. She is originally from the Philippines and took some ESL classes in Canada to improve her English. When she heard I had spent time in South Korea she started gushing about Korea. Some of her classmates had been Korean and introduced her to Korean culture. She loves Korean culture.

I bit off my cynicism and held back the first comments that came to mind. Instead I asked her what she liked about Korean Culture. She thought about it but was never able to answer because we had to get back to work.

It got me thinking about Korean culture and for the life of me I blanked. I just couldn't think of anything other than K-pop, karaoke, neon, and noise. (Ok, the flashing lights and slot machine noise helped me think of the last two.) A while later some of the traditional stuff came to mind. Samulnori, the hanbok, some of the food.

It bothered me a little that I couldn't think of a slew of things that would fit the category of Korean culture right off the bat. Had I become that jaded or forgotten that much? (Quite possible both. :))

If you feel like participating I am interested to read about what you think of when you hear Korean Culture?
Posted by Flint at 5:53 PM
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5 comments:

  1. Drugstore CowgirlOctober 18, 2011 at 6:05 PM

    Confucianism.

    ReplyDelete
  2. FlintOctober 18, 2011 at 6:08 PM

    Good one DC. It is a big part of Korean Culture.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BurndogOctober 18, 2011 at 8:49 PM

    I think of Chuseok, and those hats with the ribbon, and hanboks and 'four distinct seasons' and adjummas pushing while ajosshis are spitting...Hongdae, Gyeongbokgung, old palaces and forts...temples...those millions of temples that you hike for hours to see and then realise that they're EXACTLY the same!

    Good to have you back by the way.

    ReplyDelete
  4. FlintOctober 18, 2011 at 9:42 PM

    Good ones Burndog. I tried to stay away from the negative ones although they were the first things I thought of. ;)

    I hadn't thought of the holidays at all. :(

    I figured this belonged here more than at FF.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousOctober 22, 2011 at 6:17 AM

    Tae Kwon Do is pretty cool. I took it for several years as a kid. The general "Asian vibe" from the traditional music and dance is very nice. I like kpop and Korean drama too. I also like the Korean language itself. South Korea seems like it is a modern and safe enough country to visit as an American compared to other countries. But there are always going to be things you don't like/hate about a country. I have a love/hate relationship with both America and Japan. There is always going to be bad along with the good. You just have to make sure to focus on the good and ignore the bad cause there's bad everywhere. If it's all you see, then life will just suck and not be fun at all. XD

    ReplyDelete

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