10 Crazy And Fun Things About South Korea
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Loading... - Boram Choi
- 22 Jul 2022
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South Korea is a truly fascinating country, and we defy anyone to spend time there and not fall in love with it! And, just as with people, where it’s the crazy quirks that you fall in love with, you’ll probably find that it’s the quirks of South Korea, and its people, that you end up loving the most!
We’ve put together a list of the Top 10 Crazy and Fun things we know about South Korea that will (hopefully) give you even more incentive to hop on a plane and discover this Southeast Asian gem. Trust us – you won’t regret it!
1. You’ll age more quickly!
No, it’s not in some sort of time-warp. Along with several other Asian countries, South Korea uses a different way of calculating age than the Western world, meaning that your ‘Korean age’ will be either one or two years (depending on what month you were born in) older than your ‘Western age’. Using the traditional system in South Korea, babies start life at 1 year old, as you are considered to be one in your first year of life, two in your second year of life, three in your third year of life, and so on. However, in South Korea, everyone ages up on the Lunar New Year (Seollal) in February, and not on their actual birthday. For example, a baby born in January would be one year old when they were born, and would then turn two on Seollal in February, even though they would only be a few days old according to the Western system!
It can be confusing so, hopefully, those years you gain when you land will give you extra wisdom, and not extra wrinkles!
2. It’s Kimchi, not Cheese!
Don’t make a fool of yourself when you’re asking people to smile for a photo. You need to make sure your instructions are, ‘Kimchi!’(the national dish, based on fermented vegetables and spices – seriously delicious!) and not ‘Cheese!’, to avoid being met with a blank set of expressions (or being provided with some actual cheese)! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
3. Beards are bad!
Sorry guys! It doesn’t matter how much grooming you do or beard oil you use, unfortunately, all beards are considered pretty dirty and unkempt in modern day South Korea. So, you’ll have to have a close shave if you want to make sure you’re not avoided in the streets!
4. This number is very unlucky!
Every culture has their own superstitions, and the ones in South Korea are no stranger than most! They are, however, worth knowing to make sure you keep your South Korean friends happy and stop you assuming that no one there knows how to count from 1-10! The number 4 is considered very unlucky in South Korea, as the words for ‘death’ and ‘four’ sound similar in Korean. When you get in a lift the button for the fourth floor will often be F, instead of 4, or sometimes skipped altogether, and you should never give sets of 4 as a gift! It isn’t just the single number 4, the numbers 14 (which sounds like ‘time to be deceased’ in Korean) and 44 (which sounds like ‘died and deceased’ in Korean) are also given a wide berth.
5. No red ink!
Another South Korean superstition centres around the use of red ink in pens, especially if you’re writing people’s names. Basically, AVOID AVOID AVOID! In South Korea, writing someone’s name in red ink means the person is about to die or is already dead. Definitely don’t try it in your TEFL class, as you’ll incite a slow-motion style ‘nooooooo’ from the students, as they dive to take the pen out of your hand! Read More…
