Intercultural Life

Month: July 2012 (Page 4 of 5)

Letting Food Go Cold

So most of us have probably eaten cold pizza for breakfast or something right? This is different to that. I have noticed Koreans don’t worry as much about food going cold. I’m always hesitant to make generalisations because some things, especially if I’m judging just from my husband, are just a personality quirk and not a cultural difference. Korea however, is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world. When there is not much diversity you do get a culture that really has a certain way of doing things. So there are some things we can say is the Korean way of doing it.

This is something I have noticed and I noticed it early on when I first made Korean friends. If hot food is made and cools down, reheating it isn’t a priority. Many times I witnessed a meal being made and the food that was made first (and that I thought should be eaten hot) was left on the table while other food is being made. That food is then eaten cold even though it was originally hot.

The difference to Western culture is that we usually want our food to stay hot or at least warm. Do you remember being yelled at when it’s dinner time because you haven’t come to the table yet and the food is getting cold? Think how often we use phrases like “come get it while it’s hot!”

Koreans, I’ve noticed, can put leftover cold fried chicken on the table and no one is like “You should reheat that!” Once food has cooled down there isn’t much desire for them to heat it up again.

When I was helping my husband’s mother cook dinner while we were in Korea I made a dish, but she still had to make some more so it was still going to be a while before we ate. I started to panic about my dish because I was worried about it getting cold and not tasting as good. I put foil over it trying to keep the warmth in. In the end when it was put on the table it was cold but it didn’t bother anyone.

You may know a Korean who always wants their food to stay hot, but in general not reheating seems to be the norm. Sometimes people who have stayed in Korea might say things like “I never noticed that” about whatever the issue may be. But I think living constantly with a Korean means you pick up on these little things.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Favourite

Haha, well It’s not really a secret how much I love G-Dragon.

So what is the correlation between K-Pop and having a Korean partner? Does having a Korean partner make someone interested in K-Pop or does being interested in K-Pop result in ending up with a Korean partner?

Both are possible. Some people are gradually exposed to K-Pop through their Korean partner and grow to like it. There are also others who discover K-Pop in another way and start to really enjoy Korean culture as well. This interest results in meeting more Korean people and the possibility of having a boyfriend or girlfriend who is Korean.

My story is a little bit different. Years ago when I first starting making Korean friends I really didn’t hear any K-Pop. My Korean friends were all on working holiday visas while in Australia. At this time I briefly dated a Korean guy as well. I was not exposed to any K-Pop at all. The following year I was living in Sydney in a share apartment with Koreans and that’s when I got bombarded with K-Pop! I didn’t like it…. and I said a lot of negative things.

Because most of my Korean friends were on working holiday visas, eventually, one by one, they all left Australia. There came a time when almost all my Korean friends were gone. Missing them, I actually starting listening to K-Pop on my own accord. G-Dragon was really what first got me interested. Through him I discovered Big Bang.

By the time I first met my husband I had completely become a K-Pop fan. Oh I’m still critical of a lot of groups but I always give them a chance now. Big Bang remains my favourite group and G-Dragon will always be the one that first led me into the wonderful world of K-Pop.

It’s not that my husband dislikes him, actually he really likes him, he just gets slightly jealous of my admiration.

 

Your wedding in…?

Oh dear. This happened far too many times. At first I hoped it was just the slip of the tongue and they accidentally said the wrong name but really they knew we went to South Korea for our traditional wedding. Then I realised many people couldn’t actually remember where my husband was from, even though they’d met him and even had conversations with him. Is he just some generic Asian man to them? Asia is a country right?

The other disturbing thing is that people are assuming that somewhere like Thailand and South Korea are pretty much the same thing. This is so insulting to both Thai people and Koreans who have very different cultures. How are people this ignorant about other countries?

I know it annoys Koreans so much when people assume South Korea is some third world country. People who can’t think of one single thing they know about Korea while they watch their Samsung TV and then go drive their Kia car. While it’s easy to laugh at strangers who don’t know, it’s much sadder when it’s a good friend who is ignorant. Like a friend of my family who thought Japan was the capital city of China… even though my brother has been living in Japan for several years.

I really hope this changes. It is quite embarrassing how little some Australians know about the Asian region even though we are right next to it.

Socks

I have no idea if having long toes makes holes in socks, I was just trying to find an excuse for all my socks getting holes in them after one day of wearing them. He is wearing the same cheap socks I am but he doesn’t have this problem.

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