Every country has their merits and downfalls and Korea is no exception. After living in Korea for two years, I can confidently tell you about some of the things that are okay to do here but not in the states. Although, I do warn you to take what I say with a grain of salt. Your girl has forgotten how to American and the mannerisms I used to have are kind of forlorn to me.
After living overseas, some of the things we take for granted suddenly become noticeable when relocating continents. Everything from the workplace to the restaurant to the local grocery store seem to have their own set of rules and customs. Let’s take a look at five things that are okay in Korea but rude or illegal in America.
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1. Drinking in Public is Okay!
Cracking open a cup of fuck me up loud and proud never felt so good with this law. Koreans get hammered and pass out of the street, but Americans are known for getting drunk and disorderly. Koreans don’t get on a brand new level like Americans do and I think this is why Koreans can handle drinking in public. It’s cool to drink publicly in Vegas, but in Chicago the 5-0 will arrest you faster than you can say, “Blue Moon.” In Illinois, no one in a vehicle is allowed to be drinking or you’ll face massive fines and losing your license. Take this verses Korea and they don’t care how much the inhabitants drink as long as the driver is sober. Then again, drunk driving isn’t punished as harshly as it should be, but that’s a story for another day.
2. Restaurant Manners
In America, your server will constantly pass your table asking how you’re doing and be overly friendly. They make below minimum wage and tips are their livelihood, so I totally understand why this behavior is practiced. After living in Korea, I actually like it when servers ignore me. When I’m out alone, I just want to eat in peace. Piggy backing off of American servers being friendly, Korean servers are nice, but they don’t really smile or go out of their way to make you feel welcome. They don’t get paid nearly as much as their American counterparts so if I was in a similar situation, I wouldn’t smile either.
3. Table Manners
Nothing boils my potatoes more than bad table manners. Obnoxious noodle slurping still makes my skin crawl. This loud swallowing is to show food is delicious and you appreciate the effort the cook made. Even though I’ve been in Asia about 5 years, I can’t bring myself to do as the Koreans/Japanese/Chinese etc do. I’m also terrified of slurping so hard the noodle goes down the wrong pipe and I die. I’m almost 100% sure my tombstone will read, “Death by noodle” if that comes to pass. I also can’t stand the mouth smacking when eating food. I’ll let the noodles slide, but why the rest of the food? My family would smack me upside the head if I ever dared chew like a cow at the dinner table.
4. Spitting on the Ground
While this is a punishable offense in Singapore, (can we please bring this law into Korean society) in America, it’s still quite rude for anyone to spit. If a man spits in front of a lady he’s a heathen and if a woman does it, she’s definitely considered uncouth. Maybe this is my Chicago pride just talking, but it’s one of the cleanest cities in America for being the third biggest. Have you ever seen the first Jurassic Park where Dennis Nedry gets stuck inside the jeep after stealing the dinosaur embryos? A cute dilophosaurus appears, raises its hellish bat wings, and makes mince meat out of him. You know that sound it makes as it spits on him? That’s what it sounds like every time some old ajhussi spits and it makes me want to scream. I’ve even seen an old man spit on the train and I literally wanted to vomit right there on the spot. On second thought, this no spitting should be a law in Korea like yesterday.
5. Pee Bottles
Yup, you read that correctly. Pee bottles. When mothers are at the store with their little boys and he has to pee, a mother will just whip a water bottle or the like out and allow him to pee in it. First off, this can’t be sanitary and is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. Second, why aren’t they teaching their offspring to pee in a toilet? We have restrooms for the very reason of relieving our bowels. There’s even family restrooms for crying out loud! This must be one of the reasons why you see all those old ajhussi peeing in alleyways and wherever they fancy without a care.
What cultural differences/weird things/strange rules do you find different from your home country. In my opinion, Korea is a pretty great place to live and every day is an adventure. Besides the minor drawbacks of public sanitation not being the best because of spitting and surprise pee bottles, I’d say waiters leaving you alone is pretty darn awesome. Also, walking and drinking is great. How about that exercise as you kill your liver? 😉
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13 Comments on Five Things that Are Okay in Korea But Rude/Illegal in America
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That is so disgusting that they allow their children to just urinate in plastic bottle in public rather than take them a public washroom or – God forbid – a nearby bush or tree where it is a bit more “discreet.” BTW, when you were living in South Korea, did you find that the country had a lot of outdoor fitness facilities in public parks?
A friend of mine had taught ESL there about 13 years ago and she was quite intrigued about how Koreans valued their fitness so much that you could pretty much see fitness equipment at any public park, like stationary bikes and treadmills. She worked in the Southern part of the country closer towards Jeju Island, though. So not sure if this was a universal thing across the country or only popular in certain regions.
Yeah, it’s one of the grossest things I’ve come about in Korea unfortunately. 🙁 I do find that Koreans aren’t that into fitness as much as old people are. I hear a lot of this equipment is for older people because suicide is common amongst them and exercise helps people be happier. These days foreign workouts like Cross Fit are becoming popular.
These are really rude, but that doesn’t change my mind from loving Korea(winks). They need to have an educative show regarding this and a law to reinforce public hygiene. They’d pass for animals if they tried these habits in another country.
Same! I still love Korea regardless but sometimes the cow chewing really boils my potatoes.
Hey Gina!
Thanks for this post, I’m probably gonna share it with my friends.
I’ve never seen anyone pee into a bottle!! I’m not surprised though. You can see men peeing when you walk past a washroom everywhere you go (a reminder of how alive patriarchy is, I reckon).
The spitting makes me want to die sometimes. I can hear it echoing up from the street below me and into my apartment. Ugh.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing it with your friends! I’m definitely tired of seeing men pee in alleyways. It’s so gross. One time I was coming out to take out my trash and saw an older man and a high school student peeing on the area where we have to put our recyclables. I was so disgusted! But as for the spitting. I try to imagine it’s one of the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park about to eat them for spitting. Hahahaha.
I’m surprised to hear about the pee bottles. Never seen it. Not the spitting either and I’ve been living here for several years. The only thing I’ve reacted to is women/smoking and women/tattoos, piercings.
The pee bottles definitely come as a surprise to me as well. I don’t really care if women smoke, have tattoos, or piercings. If they want it, then they should have/do it.
I haven’t heard about those pee bottles before and I haven’t seen it yet, thank god! I always find it amusing when Americans are surprised that drinking in public is OK. That was definitely one thing I was bummed about when I lived in the States 😀
Well, as you’ve seen Americans can’t help but get disorderly when they drink. We are a rowdy and emotional bunch. Hahahaha.
All the mouth noises here make my skin crawl. I can’t stand it. Also the spitting, oh my god! I give death stares to people when they do it, especially on the subway. It’s like, come on man, that is freaking gross.
However… I do appreciate the no open container laws. That is ace.
Omg. I’m dead when I see people spit on the subway trains. It makes me want to die.
When I was travelling across Uttar Pradesh in India recently, it was the spitting that gave me the greatest struggle to maintain my diplomatic poker face. Or maybe the public urination? I can’t decide. The latter case at least involves some nominal attempt at discretion, but the spitting is openly and frequent. There are a lot of signs forbidding it, but no one present seemed to actually consider it gross.