Girls in the US are constantly bombarded with unrealistic idealized images of women. Barbie proportions in real life? It’s just not going to happen, although that hasn’t stopped Beverly Hills from trying. My first teen-beauty magazine reported the “epidemic” of plastic surgery with US teens. That was ten years ago and the “epidemic” continues. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that 5% of college-age women (17-24) have had plastic surgery—and that includes non-surgical procedures such as chemical peels and Botox.
Korean statistics for the same group? Conservative BBC estimates are at 50% for surgical procedures alone!!! 30% of a woman’s income goes to support her plastic surgery. Most women have their first procedure at the age of 16. Add to that the bombardment of whitening cream ads I saw walking around Seoul, in fashion magazines and read about in Vitaliy’s culture shock books— compared, the US has little to worry about the influence of unrealistic images on young girls. We aren’t even close. Not even.
Who knew I was such a Grinch
Our second day in Seoul, Vitaliy took us on a bus tour around the city—a great introduction to the city. Yet within that snapshot I noticed one very large sore thumb. Christmas adverts speckled store fronts, high rises, buses, and later I would find out, Christmas decorations lingered inside as well. More obnoxious than your neighbor’s Christmas lights in July, the green and red color schemed “buy, buy, buy!” ads only annoyed me instead of promoting the holiday spirit. Roughly 25% of Koreans are Christians; another fourth is Buddhist with the last half of the population identifying as neither/other. Christianity is deeply integrated into our Western cultures so even if you do not practice Christianity in the US or Europe, due to our history and culture, Christian holidays are part of our lives. Everyone has Christmas Day off. Stores advertise pretty spring dresses right before Easter and spring breaks somehow always “coincide” with the holiday. It’s part of our culture, not the Koreans.
I remember Vitaliy’s stories during Christmas and how most of the children in his Christian school had little to no grasp on the concept of Christmas. Wait, no, they had a grasp of the consumerism concept. Five year-olds needed the latest Samsung phone or LG TV in their room. That they understood. From everything I saw, read and heard—South Korea wants to be a “World Class” country (you have no idea how many times I saw that phrase) with Seoul as its “Best Class” city. While such aspirations are commendable and Korean progress is nothing short of astonishing, it appears that Koreans are latching on to any and all Western, primarily American traditions which can yield some ugly results.
I adore American Christmas, but abhor the ridiculous amounts of money people spend to keep up with the Joneses and buy 36 gifts with their six-year-old son Charlie. And it appeared that Korea adopted that whole consumer Christmas tradition and neglected its true meaning and roots in Western culture. Like an a la carte menu, cultural traditions have been chosen and embraced…another example…
Dogs…
Koreans are infamous for eating dog. A colleague of mine mentioned how a friend taught English years ago in Korea to wealthy Korean wives. It was quite “in” to go to English class, not actually learn English, but all the same to go to class. The teacher decided to write down a few idioms, cut them up and have the women put them back in order. The two idioms were:
Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
The women stood there trying to piece the words together. Finally, they got it. “Teacher! Teacher! We have it!” they exclaimed. “Look! You can’t have your dog and eat it too!” They were quite confused and disappointed when the teacher said that was incorrect and completely inappropriate.
Good news for some dogs—dog restaurants are not slowing down—but Koreans have found a new puppy hero: Paris Hilton!
No? Not the hero you were looking for? Sorry, but Koreans love buying tiny pups and dressing them up in the cutest little outfits ever. I’m talking about slick rain jackets and matching boots; furry collars and caps; bedazzled sweaters…they have it all. Walk around the block for five minutes and you are bound to run into a dressed up dog or two. Thanks Paris Hilton for passing on that American tradition.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Take Me Out to the Crowd…
Another perplexing American tradition the Koreans adopted is baseball. That classic American pastime (that hasn’t made it far in the rest of the globe) is the thing to do in Korea. Vitaliy mentioned fan intensity for the sport, so we decided to catch the Korean baseball season opener: Doosan Bears vs. Kia Tigers.
First off, every team is sponsored by a corporation. No Seattle Mariners, instead it’s [Enter Corporation Name Here] followed by a team name, like Lions. Teams are not their own corporations like they are in the US. Further, there are also only six teams in the entire Korean league. We chose to root for the Doosan Bears, the home team, last year’s champion and that day’s winner. The baseball stadium is part of the Sports Park in Seoul. Coincidently, the sports park, a bouquet of six or so sports facilities, was home to the 1988 Summer Olympics.
The Korean baseball experience is nothing like the American version. Before entering the stadium, one can be overwhelmed by the various vendors peddling kimbap (Korean sushi), cans of warm Korean beer, containers of fried chicken; noise makers, dried seafood and trinkets of all kinds. Small food shops litter the outer orbit of the stadium: KFC (Koreans LOVE their fried chicken), coffee shops, convenient marts, and Burger Kings. Surprisingly, the prices of these food places inside the stadium are the same as any other location!!! Americans always take advantage of location. Location is value added; one must pay extra for that lukewarm hotdog bought inside a stadium as opposed to ten feet outside it. Not in Korea! Another pleasant surprise—you can bring in your own food. No one tells you to throw it out. I saw people bring in their own hot water and cup a noodles to have during the game. People would pack coolers of soup, kimchi and other foods stuff. During American sports events, and a few Ukrainian ones as well, walking stadium vendors sell food like hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, sunflower seeds in Ukraine, etc. To meet Korean preferences, vendors walked around with dried squid. I didn’t fare so well watching the squid vendor try to push this product.
Squid Anyone?
The baseball game itself was…wait, actually I didn’t really pay attention to the game that much, primarily due to the crowd. Korean crowd culture blew me away. The stadium was divided in two, not physically divided in two, but an imaginary line divided the crowd. If you were a Doosan Bears fan, you sat on the left side. KIA Tigers’ fans sat on the right side. You just knew where to sit. Fans were decked out in appropriate colors: white and blue for the Bears, yellow and red for the Tigers. Toward the middle of each team’s stadium half, stood a large platform. This platform held the key for crowd spirit: the cheer leader.
The Cheer LEADER
The Band...
Platform cheerleader was a male cheer leader, decked out in team colors (the Doosan Bears cheerleader came out with spectacular fanfare, wearing a large cape which he threw to the ground to the delight of the crowd), and holding the all powerful whistle. Whenever his team was up to bat, the cheer leader would toot his whistle, somersault, jump, wave his arms like windmills and lead the crowd in these thrilling coordinated dances and chants. Almost everyone in the crowd held onto their inflated noise sticks and would dance along. Right above the platform, a troop of scantily clad girl cheerleaders were non-stop dancing. They would only stop for a costume change, of which there were at least six.
Tiger Fans
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