lao-ocean-girl

Earlier in the day, I spent 3 hours with Raswan, Mat, Lucia, and Adnan (all my co-workers) catching up on what we each did during the winter vacation.  Everyone in the room had been to Bali, so that was one common thing we all discussed.  Lucia went to Australia, Adnan went home to Canada, and Mat stayed in Korea, saving money.  The one thing we all agreed on, was that we didn’t want to come back to Korea, and how cold it was.

Therefore, it was appropriate that Mat forwarded me this email.  It’s one of those, "You know you’re Korean, when…" lists.  There were 88 items in the list, but the ones below were so poignant to me.  Either I, or my friends have experience and seen the following more than ten times, and they’re definitely true.

You know you’re Korean when:

1. You stare like a blinded deer in headlights at anyone different.
2. You attempt to go into the subway or elevator before the people get out.
3. You think having 4 seasons is really special.  (SO true!)
4. You describe any girl over 110 pounds as "fat."
5. Your cell phone has more than 20 pictures stored on it…of yourself.
6. You look at thin blonde women and assume they are Russian hookers.
7. You open all of your windows in the middle of winter and crank up the heat.
8. You open the window a crack when your fan is running, just in case, because you think running fans can kill you!
9. You’ve traveled to various places in the world and when asked about whether you liked the food or not, you say, "I don’t know." "Did you try the food?" "No. It wasn?t delicious.  I tried to eat only Korean while I was there.?  (Do you know how many times I’ve seen Koreans pull out individual packets of kimchi and ramen when I was in Thailand or China?)
10. You would never dream of asking to get paid extra for the overtime worked.
11. You think picking your teeth or nose in public isn’t polite…unless you oh so discreetly do it with one hand covering up your activity.  (Yeah, now I definitely don’t know what you’re doing.)
12. You eat dog because it supposedly gives you four thrusts instead of three.
13. You open up a new business with an arch of balloons and two dancing girls.
14. You proudly adorn your new business with a sign that reads: "SINCE 2005"
15. You ask the foreigner next to you if he can use chopsticks, while he is eating with chopsticks.
16. No one in your country has AIDS, but "kimchi" can cure it.  (It can also cure bird flu, btw.)
17. You order pizza and it comes with corn and mayonnaise, as well as a side serve of sweet pickles to put on top.
18. You have a terrible cold and it doesn’t occur to you that coughing in other people’s faces and food will make them sick too.
19. You honestly believe foreigners care about whose island Takashimi/Dokdo is!??
20. You cover your mouth when you laugh or smile but not when you cough or sneeze.