I've been in Korea for
about 8 months now. Though it is in many ways like living abroad in a
new place, I've encountered some peculiar familiarities during my
stint here so far. Beside the obvious fact that mostly everyone here
looks pretty similar to each other and to me, I've noticed that there
are common archetypes of human beings and particularly, of Koreans. I
suspect that we've all experienced this phenomenon to some degree:
you go to a new country and you see carbon copies of people you know
or as you travel you begin to notice a similar face in each new
country you visit. I've seen Ginny Kim, Jenny Song, Paul Park, Judy
Ha, and others' doppelgangers among the student body at my school
alone. Sometimes you see a Chris Kim's dad look-alike working as a
shop attendant in some obscure crevice of Seoul.
In addition to the
doppelgangers, and perhaps more notable, are the habits and customs
that surrounded me in my rearing, which I was not fully able to
appreciate until now. Among the myriad of examples I could cite, one
of the most salient is the toothbrushing practice of Koreans. The
American Dental Association recommends brushing twice a day. I've
always brushed my teeth twice a day because that's how I learned to
brush from my dentist and from my elementary school teachers. But
growing up in my parents' household, I can't count how many times
I've argued with my parents over the number of times I should brush
my teeth. I would get a nagging from my mom everytime I didn't brush
after eating lunch at home. I could never understand why they made
such a big deal of it. I came to Korea and now I understand. Everyone
here brushes after lunch. People walk around with their toothbrushes.
What impressed me most was the fact that people walk around campuses,
airports, public bathrooms, and any other number of public places
walking around, brushing as if in the comfort of their own homes. Now
I understand. Funny the things you learn when you travel. Even
funnier the things you learn when you go full circle back to the land
your parents emigrated from.
Another interesting
observation about Koreans is the kind of gifts that they tend to
give, especially for prizes. I've always seen this at the annual
Memorial Day picnic in Delaware among Koreans. The prizes are always
toiletries, towels, and food, all in wholesale packaging. Then I saw
that people got exactly those kinds of things here in Korea at a
raffle. Again, something clicked in my head. It wasn't that the
Koreans in Delaware or the people at my church were strange. It's
just that Koreans are very good at preserving their way of life and
thinking no matter where they are in the world. Upon reflection,
those are good things to receive.
I could expound on a
number of other observations such as the use of the word “sack”
instead of “backpack” by my mom and Koreans in Korea; the use of
unorthodox pieces of land for farming as done by my aunt and uncle in
their backyard as in Korea the obscure plots of grass used near
highway ramps and rice paddies that line the sides of country roads;
how my mom needs to buy whatever produce is famous in a region as a
gift for everyone as every place in Korea is famous for something.
But you get my point. Being here in the fatherland, I've come to
understand things about my parents that I otherwise never would have.
