You Know You Live in Korea when...

Yes! I am going to do a really cliche blog post! Though I should make it more like "You know you live in Korea as a American national when..."

You know you live in Korea when you wear Korean style clothing that would be considered grandma clothes in the US! This is me and two of my roomies dressed up for a birthday party :-D

You know it when...

1. You unconciously use only your right hand to give things or take things from people, while your left hand supports the elbow.
This is because in Korean culture, it's rude to use your left hand to give or accept things. Nowadays, I can't help it. When I come back, see if I do it. 

2. You bow when you greet people.
Yes, I can't help this either. I think it's going to be pretty hilarious when I go home and start bowing to everyone. 

3. You eat other people's food without asking.
This is gonna be bad. See, in Korea (and Asia in general) people share food. Like in restaurants, there is often one big dish that everyone can just eat out of. So in the house, it is relatively common to just go try someone's food without asking. I may have picked up this habit. haha.

4. On the subway, if someone leaves the seat at the end of bench, you scoot down to it, or run for it.
This is something that I find interesting, though logical. I was sitting on the third seat down, and the person on the end left, then the person next to me (in the second seat) scooted over. At first, I thought it was sort of rude, as if they wanted to avoid me. But after a few months of observation, I have concluded that they will always scoot to the end. Weird of me to notice, but it is pretty funny. Maybe they do it in other places too... I don't know.

5. You often use expressions of uncertainty like "it seems like" or "maybe", even when you are perfectly sure.
This one is super annoying. In the Korean language, it more polite to speak on uncertain terms. They are not likely to just say "We should do this" or "This is it" and more likely to say "Maybe we should do this" and "It seems like this is it" even though they mean the former. Arrrgh they even translate it to english and I never know whether it's actually maybe or not. Sadly enough, I now do the same, sticking maybe in front of a lot of sure things. :-/ haha

6. You compliment people on their English whether they're that good or not.
I picked this up from the Koreans, who, even if you just say one word of Korean (like annyeonghaseyo, hello) they say with wonder "Ooooh you're good at Korean!" It's rather off-putting, since I never even got a chance to try out my true skills, and they're already saying I'm good. It has to do with their very low expectations for foreigners. 

7. You hear English and you get surprised.

8. You mix up your l's and r's and in general lose most of your English skill.
This applies only to native speakers. It's really annoying. 

9. You give weird looks to foreigners and whisper "외국인"(korean word for foreigner) hostilely behind their backs.
I don't know why I do this. Maybe I'm protective of my territory hahaha. Koreans don't do this, but kids will often say "hello! hi!" to us. They're cute.

10. You don't feel safe in Itaewon, a place know for foreigners.
I know... It's sad. But seriously, I don't feel safe around foreigners! I'll walk down a dark alley of Koreans, but never one of foreigners. 

11. You forget how to use sarcasm and/or wit.
ㅠㅠ This I am most sad about. I seriously am going to take offense at everything everyone says when I come back home, just because Korea doesn't use sarcasm.

12. You introduce yourself with the Korean pronunciation of your name, knowing they'd never get it otherwise.
Mine's Leh-ee-chell. hahahaha. 

13. K-pop becomes normal.
Is this possible? I'm sure you guys have heard of/seen the Psy music video "Gangnam Style". Well, my friends. In Korea-land, that's pretty normal. The bright colors, ridiculous costumes, pretty people (minus Psy of course ha)... it's all everyday stuff. No, normal people don't go around like that, but it's accepted as normal entertainment. It no longer makes me giggle, and I don't even make fun of it anymore... I am a shameless kpop listener! 

And you know you live in the Anyang University International House, when...

14. Sleep? What is this sleep you speak of?

15. You've forgotten what quiet is like.

16. Someone asks you what food you're making and your answer is "I don't know..." every time.
We have a tendency to just throw whatever we have together in some sort of stir-fry. So don't ask us what it is.

17. You think hearing German, Spanish, Danish, and Chinese on a daily basis is normal.

18. You create fake familial relationships. I have a 30 year old son. My roommates both have dads that are only a few years older than them.

19. emart boxes + rainy day = emart robot.

Originally, I was inside it... but it was not that comfortable haha. 
















20. There are so many inside jokes you can't count.

21. You tend to adopt your housemates language habits, whether english or not. "En serio!" "It's too much..." "It is not possible" "Is that normal?" "你的屁股很臭" (Your butt smells... hahahaha).

22. It's too dirty ㅠㅠ

23. You have to wait to shower or to cook.

24. At least one person will come home drunk everyday...

25. Everyday is a learning experience!


And here is an example of one of those "normal" music videos that are soooo crazy.