Everyone who ever read a bit more about Korea knows that - as most Asian countries - cultural and social values are a bit different compared to the ones in Western countries. I thought about talking about the most striking differences for a bit, as they were at least for me very interesting, weird and some even funny.

1.Ambiguity

This can be seen in almost every aspect of Korean lifestyle only if we pay a bit of attention. Starting from the architecture (especially in Seoul) to fashion, the coexisting of two styles is like a personal talent of the country.

Just imagine visiting one of the tallest buildings you have ever seen. Everything is made with the latest technology, it has the fastest elevators, and the architecture of it is stunning. It”s amazing to see how developed the country is in this aspects. But then, leaving the building and after walking literally 10 minutes, you enter the market place, which seems like another world. Everything is dirty, the crowd is unbearable - the stink too - there are old ladies screaming everywhere trying to lure especially the tourists to eat at their stand, people are talking with their mouths full, managing to spit out the food, and there’s little to no chance to be able to escape the maze without being stepped on.

This is just one, maybe a bit more extreme example, but as I mentioned before this ambiguity can be found in many more fields, so let’s take the workplace as the next example. Here respecting your elders and the ones in higher position than yours is the base of society, so kicking over the rules in day to day life could get you in real trouble. Employees will always speak “up” to their employers using formal language, make lower bows when they meet and show respect in every aspect of life. The one and only case when they are allowed to treat each other as almost friends, and not just people working together is when they go out to the company organized drinking parties, where everyone eats together and then gets shitfaced together. (I’m not even kidding about this one, I’ve never seen so many well dressed adult with suitcases being so drunk that they actually fall asleep on the streets or at bus stops) Such a nice way to socialize, right?

( Korean businessmen play in a water fountain on a Seoul street in 2009 - Photo by Ingmar Zahorsky )

The last field I want to mention is fashion. Now if you walk a bit on the streets, you will observe some pretty weird things about the casual, day-to-day way Koreans dress. You can easily tell that people pay way more attention to the way the look in this country than in most European countries. At the same time it’s not rare to see people dressed really well, or in high school uniforms wearing slippers or shoes with stepped down heels, transforming this way a perfectly good pair of footwear in to slippers. This indeed might be because wearing something that is so easily removed is more comfortable, especially if you consider the Korean trend of taking of shoes at some restaurant, or even in cafes.

Another thing that might come as striking is girls leaving the house with removable hair curlers left in their bangs. I haven’t figured it out yet if it’s out of laziness or if it’s the newest fashion trend, but seeing it for the first time was quite weird.

2. Spitting on the street

Now this is a thing that I had a very very VERY hard time getting used to with (and I still haven’t completely) , even though I come from Romania, which is - without dissing the country - not the cleanest place in Europe. People here, especially if they smoke, do it often and always accompanied by a very loud sound. And no, it’s not only the old men doing it, I’ve seen very pretty, petite Korean girls, dressed ready to party spitting after every smoke of a cigarette. Very attractive, really.

3. Showing respect and Korean Age

Like in most Asian countries, Korea is very conservative when it comes to hierarchy, be it in the family, at the workplace or in any social situation. They have quite a few different speech levels (seven to be exact), and they are used to show respect towards a speaker's or writer's audience, or reflect the formality or informality of the situation. Also bowing is a very important part of any interaction – the workers in cafes, shops and restaurant will always bow as a sign of respect when a customer enters or leaves their stores, and will use formal language with them.

One of the first question people ask each other when they meet for the first time is regarding the other person’s age, as if there is even only one year between them, they will use a different, more formal language. Until the question is asked, everyone uses the formal way of speech. Koreans tend to use their Korean Age when answering the question mentioned above, or just say here year of birth. And yes, there is something named Korean Age. By their system, you are usually 1 but sometimes 2 years older than your International Age. You can find numerous sites and pages that will convert you I.A. in K.A. but let me explain it, because actually it’s pretty easy. Here, you are born 1 year old and then, when the new year begins everyone ages 1 year together! This means that if you were born let’s say on the 5th of december, you would already be 2 in january. It might seem super very weird for a foreigner, but they truly believe that it’s way easier to keep up like this about everyone’s age. You do you Korea!

Another very important thing to remember is that here money (or anything else) is always given and taken with two hands, with one hand on the heart or with one hand holding the other. The same goes when pouring a drink (usually you don’t pour for yourself, but for the other, who will do the same for you), shaking hands, etc.