A while back I took these photos and I've just been extremely lazy/busy and haven't loaded
Image is very important in Korea. Almost too important. In people, it is too heavily stressed--that's for sure.*
But it also means that the most random things are just plain freaking adorable. For example: Coffee is just more cute here. I know what you are thinking, "Coffee? Cute? What is this person talking about!?" But remember, I have a toilet bowl brush that says it is happy for me to use the restroom because that means we will eventually be together--so cute coffee isn't really that far out of the realm of possibilities.
Without further ado, a cute cup of coffee:
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| Star! |
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| Heart! I heart coffee!! |
I worked in Starbucks for 5 years throughout high school and college and not once did I ever even think about trying to make shapes out of the foam. In America, it just isn't something that we would really consider. But here it's just one example of how things are just cute-ified.
*Footnote**: There are some serious disadvantages to being in a society that stresses physical image so much. But it goes beyond just the obvious. Let me try to explain:
In Korea, the education is so incredibly stressed. I think I've heard that 98 % of people graduate high school. Or 99%. It's some ridiculous number--something in the States is kinda unheard of. And of those 99% of high school graduates, over 85% of them go to college (according to a report done in 2008)***. Yeah...kinda incredible. But this creates a pool of people who are over qualified for many positions. But because the pool of people going into the job market is--for the most part--relatively even and super smart, it creates a problem. How does an employer distinguishes between applicants? There are many ways, but, from what I've been able to gather, appearance is a huge factor. Applicants must send in a passport sized photo--and it usually is the deciding factor to who gets hired. Which is very sad. It creates a society that is told to emphasis looks. Fashion. Hair.
One of my friends, who was trying to explain this to me (and did a much better job than I am doing now) told me that she was on a bus to Seoul (a 2.5 hour ride) and she watched the girls next to her fix, reapply, rearrange, fix, redo and generally obsess over their appearance the whole way to Seoul. The WHOLE way. I have heard stories of people who have a lay-over in Seoul/Incheon and they come out of the experience thinking that Koreans are just extremely vain because they will sit and stare at their appearance in a mirror and fix a strand of hair that is not really out of place.
I need to say that it's not vanity. Time for a disclaimer: It's just their culture. I say it's sad, because it presents limitations to people who are not "gorgeous." But it's not something I can change. I am in a foreign country with different rules. This is just something that I notice that is somewhat different than home. I know I am over-generalizing, which is not great, nor right. But I am just trying to express what I am experiencing over here. This is something that I've noticed and wanted to relay to people. I know that this might make some people unhappy/angry. They might think that I'm forwarding stereotypes--but I'm not trying to. I can go on and on about my own countries negatives. America and Korea do have a lot of similarities--especially in the obsession-over-looks-part of our culture--but I am in Korea and experiencing Korean things. This is just something that has stood out to me.
**Note to self: officially a dork for using footnotes in a post.
***Korean Education Statistics
*Footnote**: There are some serious disadvantages to being in a society that stresses physical image so much. But it goes beyond just the obvious. Let me try to explain:
In Korea, the education is so incredibly stressed. I think I've heard that 98 % of people graduate high school. Or 99%. It's some ridiculous number--something in the States is kinda unheard of. And of those 99% of high school graduates, over 85% of them go to college (according to a report done in 2008)***. Yeah...kinda incredible. But this creates a pool of people who are over qualified for many positions. But because the pool of people going into the job market is--for the most part--relatively even and super smart, it creates a problem. How does an employer distinguishes between applicants? There are many ways, but, from what I've been able to gather, appearance is a huge factor. Applicants must send in a passport sized photo--and it usually is the deciding factor to who gets hired. Which is very sad. It creates a society that is told to emphasis looks. Fashion. Hair.
One of my friends, who was trying to explain this to me (and did a much better job than I am doing now) told me that she was on a bus to Seoul (a 2.5 hour ride) and she watched the girls next to her fix, reapply, rearrange, fix, redo and generally obsess over their appearance the whole way to Seoul. The WHOLE way. I have heard stories of people who have a lay-over in Seoul/Incheon and they come out of the experience thinking that Koreans are just extremely vain because they will sit and stare at their appearance in a mirror and fix a strand of hair that is not really out of place.
I need to say that it's not vanity. Time for a disclaimer: It's just their culture. I say it's sad, because it presents limitations to people who are not "gorgeous." But it's not something I can change. I am in a foreign country with different rules. This is just something that I notice that is somewhat different than home. I know I am over-generalizing, which is not great, nor right. But I am just trying to express what I am experiencing over here. This is something that I've noticed and wanted to relay to people. I know that this might make some people unhappy/angry. They might think that I'm forwarding stereotypes--but I'm not trying to. I can go on and on about my own countries negatives. America and Korea do have a lot of similarities--especially in the obsession-over-looks-part of our culture--but I am in Korea and experiencing Korean things. This is just something that has stood out to me.
**Note to self: officially a dork for using footnotes in a post.
***Korean Education Statistics
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