I have lived in South Korea for over 5 years and I will tell you the truth about the country

Some people associate South Korea with dramas, others with Kia cars and Samsung technology, and finally, there are those who think of the martial art of taekwondo, which was born there. But in many ways, the country of morning freshness remains an unfinished book for many people. However, they are willing to study it with pleasure. Ada Kwon is a translator who has lived in South Korea since late 2013 and is still discovering things about this wonderful place.

O awesome.club became so involved with Ada’s stories that he decided to publish them. So we hope they inspire you too.

If they don’t like something, they always make it clear, as they don’t hide their displeasure. At the same time, as in all Asian countries, the feeling of a “social conscience”, the spirit of solidarity and so on are very strong. They love foreigners and will take them by the hand to the necessary stop should they get lost. A large part of the population speaks English very well.

They don’t eat dogs, or at least not the majority of the population. In general, this habit is something left over from wartime, when people starved to death and ate everything they could. The elderly, mainly, consume it, as they have been through the war and say that it is good for their health. 80% of my friends haven’t tasted dog meat once, the other 20% ate it in childhood when grandma gave it to them.

Here, the food is spicy, but you get used to it quickly. I’ve never tasted anything so spicy that it could burn your mouth and bring out a few tears. The portions are huge. With any dish, they will bring you a lot of banchanswhich can be refilled for free as many times as you like.

I love soups, especially the dwaeji gukbap (pork soup that is cooked for many hours, its broth should be almost white). In some restaurants, they say, “If you feel the soup has been reduced with milk to add color, call the manager’s number and we’ll refund your money.”

Coffee consumption in this country exceeds that of rice. On every corner you will find small and large coffee shops. In fact, there are TOO MUCH cafes.

For me, it’s very annoying to hear the noises they make when they chew. Wherever it is. All people. In restaurants, when there are a lot of people around, it is very difficult to stay there. Is it so hard to close your mouth to chew?! It drives me crazy!

I still don’t understand: at 20:00, the office workers, in suits and ties, invade all the bars and restaurants, take soju (rice vodka) until 3:00 am, they return to their homes by taxi and at 8:00 am the next day they are ready for work. How do they recover so fast? It’s something I don’t really understand.

All drivers are uniformed, wearing white gloves and sunglasses. Buses run at great speed. If a grandmother doesn’t hold the railing firmly, she will fly away, but they won’t slow down. These vehicles are on the streets from 4:30 in the morning until 1:00 in the morning. Taxis are not expensive. For example, if you are three people and need to walk 6 or 7 stops, the cost will be almost the same as the bus.

There are not many national holidays to relax: 4 or 5 and each one lasts only one day. Nobody goes on vacation for a week on New Year’s.

There is no central heating, but every home has underfloor heating technology. You control the time and temperature level. If it’s too cold, you can keep it all winter and you’ll pay a lot less. Koreans usually sit on the floor, as well as sleep on it. There are only bathtubs in old buildings, built before 1990. Later, they started to save space and now in all buildings there is only room for showers.

There is no problem here if you forget your keys at home, because both the condo door and the apartment door have a digital lock. You can pay a little more and install a fingerprint scanner lock, but we didn’t, there is no delinquency this way. All the windows and interior doors do not open as we are used to (pull/push), but like a screen (to the right/to the left).

They study hard, pass exams three times a year. Sometimes teenagers sleep in class. It’s a little sorry when I’m asked to go out and wash my face to wake up and continue studying. Nobody reads books, draws, plays football or hangs out with friends. They just don’t have the strength. In their free time, they play games on their cell phones or go to the computer room.

And learning by heart doesn’t make them smart. Recently, a 15-year-old girl was surprised when I told her that the Sun is a star. By the way, an offense to the teacher or a fight with colleagues will have punishment that can range from cleaning classrooms to a blow with a stick in the hands.

Girls are forbidden to dye their hair, nails and face, haircuts (male and female) are strictly regulated, it is forbidden to do anything unusual and stand out from the crowd. In addition to school supplies, students can stand out with their sockswhich is why the streets are full of vendors with carts full of cute socks with different designs.

Upon completion of high school, students take the famous “Suneung” exam. It takes place in November across South Korea. During that day, there are no flights or military exercises so as not to disturb the students.. If any of them have problems and think they won’t be able to make it to the exam in time, they can go to the police or emergency services, who will provide you with siren transport and take you to school.

Immediately upon completion of the exam, they broadcast an analysis of that year’s questions and answers on television. Results are published after 20 days. At the same time, all over Korea there is a wave of suicides among teenagers, because getting into a good university is a guarantee of a successful life in the country.

I work at a supplementary education school. There, students learn to play musical instruments and learn to draw and languages. I am an English teacher. Exclusively for language practice, they hire foreign teachers. Grammar and lexicon are studied with Korean teachers.

Once, we decorated the school with balloons, I distributed them to all the students. A 13-year-old boy managed to inflate it, but not tie it, the balloon would fly from one place to another. After 20 minutes of martyrdom:

Me: “Ben, let me tie it up.”

Student (very serious): “Professor, life is a challenge”.

And then he spent another half hour shaking the flask. He ended up managing to tie him up. Well done, boy!

When I arrived in the country, I was impressed by the frequency of the traditional hanbok: at all parties, weddings and some official events. O hanbok It is very beautiful, but very expensive, from 2,000 to 8,000 reais.

Sometimes this is funny; in others, it surprises. There is a game called “Mention 7”. Students have to divide into teams, then extract a letter from the box with certain questions such as: “Mention 7 fruits”, “Mention 7 natural phenomena”, among others. The problem occurred when the card said “Mention 7 groups or singers who sing in English”. I could hear their brains stir for a minute. In general, they could say Adele, Michael Jackson and Ariana Grande. After a few minutes, a silent and remarkable student said shyly: The Beatles. And that was it. They couldn’t mention anything else. Also, Koreans love it too Masha and the Bearalthough they do not know their country of origin.

In cinemas, as on TV, all foreign films are shown in the original language with subtitles. Only the cartoons are dubbed. The only exception is The X-Files. I don’t know why, but this is the only foreign movie/series that has been dubbed into Korean.

Koreans don’t translate movie names. They just take the titles and transcribe them in Korean letters.

all koreans read webtoons (a type of digital HQ). Children, youth, adults, absolutely everyone. if it’s not the webtoonsat least once a week they read manhwa, in Manhwa coffee shops. It’s cheap (about 4 reais per hour) and there’s ramen (a dish with noodles). Cheaper than buying each of the new volumes. Sometimes you can see creations by famous and non-famous artists from webtoon at subway stations.

For about 25 reais (the price of a cup of coffee at a local Starbucks), you can spend all day in a public sauna. Upon entering, you are given loose pajamas and a towel. They are required to stay in the common area for men and women.

The sauna is similar to a large water park. Everyone is naked. This doesn’t embarrass me, but it is embarrassing for elderly Korean women, as I have a few colorful tattoos. But since I’m a foreigner, they just look at me and don’t comment. Interesting: Korean women don’t shave a single part of their body. In the last decade, they started shaving their armpits, but on their legs and in the groin area, they don’t move.

On the sides of cars and on the subway you can see posters that clearly show which number to dial in case of great danger and another one for less extreme cases.

In some places, I have seen these oscillations. The poster says “I only trust Noona” (Noona is a man’s treatment of his older sister) and they give a phone number to call if you have problems at school: from bullying and a difficult relationship with the teacher to problems in the cafeteria.

In Korea, almost everything is purchased over the Internet. Delivery takes 2 to 4 days. Going shopping in the country is more or less like this: you pick up and try on the item in the store, find it online, compare prices and buy wherever it is cheaper. The delivery location depends on where you specified when ordering. For example, you can select a store within 24 hours of where you are. They also offer special boxes for packages. Or can…