Recently I've been watching more Korean movies on top of the Korean dramas. I think the culture difference really comes out most in some of these. I find that there are whole situations I just don't understand!
I watched the Korean drama "
Coffee Prince." It's a very good show, but Korean reactions to situations are so different!
For instance, the two main characters meet through a misunderstanding. In America, a person will do just about anything to clear up that mistake or misunderstanding! In Korea, however, they just sort of freak out inside their heads at the misunderstanding (and don't say anything much out loud~~)! They don't really try to make the effort to clear it up! Weeeeeeeeirrrrrd...
In the Korean movie "
He Was Cool," the two main characters HATE each other! (That's a common theme in Korean love stories as well.) And a strange thing in Korean movies that when someone tells you to do something (even if they're a complete stranger), you do it! Even if it's ridiculous or crazy, or they're wrong! Especially if they're older than you. In America, that would almost never happen. If someone tells you to do something (ESPECIALLY if they're a stranger), you usually ask "why?" It's so strange!
The same kind of situation happens in "
My Sassy Girl." The main character helps this drunk girl and people make the mistake of thinking they're together... he tries to clear up the misunderstanding, but not very hard! On top of it, they don't really like each other and she orders him around and is always making him do embarrassing things! Things NO American man would EVER put up with. And then he ends up falling in love with her, and she with him. That would never happen in America either! If a girl humiliates a guy, and if a guy acts really weak like that... they would have no respect for each other. It's strange!
Another common theme is "waiting." In all three shows above there was some sort of "waiting" happening between the two main characters. For YEARS! In Coffee Prince, he waits for her for 2 years; in "He Was Cool," she waits for him for 1 year; and in "My Sassy Girl," he waits for her for 3 years! In the shows, in all that time their feelings have never changed for each other. And in all that time, they never contacted each other or anything! ...And they still love each other?
Cultural differences that are shown in movies like this really make me look hard around me to see what reflects reality.
I'll let you know what I see...
I was lucky enough to stumble across this YouTube video teaching you how to do the dance to 2PM's latest song, "Without U." (2PM is a famous Korean band with two English speakers and pretty good songs) Here's the original video so you can see how it looks when the professionals do it. ㅋㅋ ^.~
That definitely happened my first few months here! The trucks that go around selling things sound like they're giving govt announcements... It's really hard to believe they're only selling fruits.
This was really funny to me because it's SO true. Koreans wait right at the doors of the elevator or subway to get on/off. I have no idea why.
At my roomie Tharine's suggestion we went to Jinhae (진해시) to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. Cherry blossoms come out in the spring and watching them bloom is pretty amazing. In about a week or two Korea goes from bare brown trees to green buds and white blossoms everywhere! It's definitely something worth seeing. Everyone goes out even if it's still a little chilly because you can feel the change.
There's also this great view of Jinhae from a tower near the downtown area, but to get up you either have to take a cable car or climb 365 steps. The line for the cable car was sooooooooooo long; it was ridiculous! So we definitely opted for the steps. Even though there are a lot of steps, honestly it's not as bad as climbing an actual mountain! In other words, it was do-able. ^^
