I was talking to one of my friends this week in Seoul about the Korean people in general. They are a fascinating people, in that they strive to be American in so many ways and yet have these fundamental cultural customs they all adhere to. The one my friend pointed out was the fact that nearly all Koreans are expected to present this middle class image to the rest of the population. This includes nearly all parts of their lives. They should dress a certain way, have a certain size home and act in a certain manner all relative to what the middle class ideal may be. So even someone who earns much more than what would be considered middle class does not present themselves as lavishly above the status quo. Conversely anyone who may not attain the wealth needed for such possessions are still expected by society to try to stretch their budget to support this middle class way of life.
This conformity is not a new way of life to asian cultures, or even as I'm sure some of you are saying to American culture. Absolutely, there is a sense in America, especially suburban America, that you must obtain a minimum of a two story, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, house with a well groomed yard, two car garage equiped with those two cars, etc. to solidify your middle class status. Yet there is also the constant pressure to have more than you have, to buy the best your budget with allow in order to move ahead in the eyes of others to the upper middle class and beyond. American society puts no social limitations on moving beyond the middle class, in fact it is encouraged. In both cultures there is this superficial idea that the way you look, what you own and how you present your life to others is what you should be judged by.
Let me add that I am not judging either cultures and not attempting to codemn them. It was just interesting to me to see this, and hear some Koreans talk about this middle class phenomon. Curiosity is the my default position.
My experiences with the Korean people have been, for the most part, pleasant. There have been some times when my foreign look has frightened small children, seriously. I was walking by the river the other day eating an ice cream bar and a little girl, who was looking down, looked up and backed away in pure, unadulterated fear. Another time I asked a woman where a certain store was and she shook her head and backed away like if she answered my question then the Americans would invade Korea again. One of my friends who is African American says that she is afraid people are going to hurt themselves staring at her.
Yet there have been several times when Koreans have come up and been very kind and helpful. A friend and I were lost in the maze that is COEX subway/mall and a man about my age came up to us, a brazilian flag strung around his neck like a cape, and offered to help these obviously lost souls. We talked to him while he steered us to our destination and we ended up getting his phone number to go out and drink soju with he and his friends sometime. Also, the lady who runs my local grocery store always has a friendly, comforting smile. She is either thinking how she can best help this poor foreign customer, or figuring out my physical weaknesses so she stick a shive in my side and steal my money. Hopefully the former.
Random observations/ideas/sports thoughts/political diatribes:
- Nearly all men in Korea wear suits seemingly all hours of the day. They are always black, with white collared shirts. Women wear high heels nearly as much. Even while walking in the park they are decked out in this attire. I guess it goes back to the middle class status/look.
- Every night, after about 10 pm, if you walk the streets you see these suited men, and heeled women, hammered. I mean like swaying, slurring, don't realize they are on planet earth, couldn't spell kimchi if they tried, hammered. I love it.
- Farva, they have liters of cola in Korea.
- I was in a book store perusing the english section when I came across the reference section. Many of the books didn't seem like reference material. Included on the shelf were the following titles: Al Frankin's Lieing Liars..., an assortment of Chicken Soup for the Soul, the Darwin Awards, and perhaps my favorite was a book about different yoga positions illustrated with a George W. Bush doll, outfitted in his "Mission Accomplished" flight suit. Absolutely brilliant.
- On the subway there are ads for male breast reduction.
- I can't believe my Irish and Wildcats both lost this week! Also all those heading to midnight madness, I am jealous and wish I could be there. GO CATS!
- Lastly, I will end with politics like last week. First off I am glad to see the polls are tilting heavily towards Obama. USA USA USA! But I came across something very interesting the other day. While on thedailyshow.com, going through some old clips I stumbled on a November 7th, 2005 show where Barack Obama was the guest, via sateliette from Washington. He was very personable and has a great line at the end about Jon being over-hyped. At the end of the episode, Jon teases that Senator McCain will be the guest the following night. I immediately thought about the irony in this, that in successive nights in the first part of November, election month, three years ago both of the presidential candidates appeared on the Daily Show hawking their books. John McCain appeared live on set, on November 8th, 2005. Watch that John McCain. He is a man befitting the title of Senator in that interview, not the shell of his former straight talk self he is now. He seems human, making jokes, in most cases funnier than Obama, while presenting his conservative viewpoint. Bring back that John McCain. That is a John McCain you can be proud of. That is the straight talk, maverick John McCain. It is actually a little sad to see.
Please post any comments, perhaps ones disagreeing with me about America and its seemingly superficial nature. Call me a scum sucking, liberal idiot, call me a beyond my time genius, call me whatever you want. But please put it in comment form and I will do my best to respond. I'm out.
