Foreigners' Views on Korea

Every Chuseok holiday, there are a bunch of specials on TV cuz lots of people are at home watching TV. I caught one this past week that I found pretty interesting.

It was called Global Talk Show or something like that and they had a panel of 16 females from other countries such as Russia, Colombia, Mongolia, Japan, China, USA, Canada, etc. who are currently living in Korea giving their insights on what they thought of Korean culture. It was a pretty funny show! It's always amusing to hear another point of view of your culture and its oddities. Plus, I was impressed with some of their Korean skills. Amazing!

Anyways, the format was the MC presented a question and then showed the Top 5 responses and the 16 females would share their experiences on the subject. Here were some of the questions:

Q) What do you find annoying about Korean women?

1) They make men carry around their handbags no matter how little and light they are
2) They fix their makeup anywhere and anytime
3) They pretend to have little appetites when eating with men
4) They talk nicely in front of you, but nasty about you behind your back
5) They insist they didn't have cosmetic surgery when it's obvious they did

Q) Who are the sexiest Korean guys?

1) Daniel Henney
2) Jang Dong Gun
3) Won Bin
4) Bi (Rain)
5) Kang Dong Won

Q) What do you like about Korean guys?

1) No body hair (Me - yep!)
2) They know how to spend money (Me - yep!)
3) They're very affectionate and expressive of their feelings (Me - yep!)
4) They call often, day or night (Me - nope!)
5) They remember the special days/occasions like Valentines' Day, 100 Day Anniversary, White Day, etc. (Me - yep!)

Q) What are your favorite date spots?

1) Bar
2) Restaurant
3) Movie Theater
4) Sauna
5) DVD Room (We don't have these here but basically it's kind a like a karaoke place but instead of singing, you get a room, sit in a sofa and watch a movie on DVD. It's common for couples to go here to make out...so I hear ^-^;;)

Q) What's a Korean night club like?

1) No time to sit! Because of booking (See here for an explanation booking from personal experience)
2) They give lots of prizes for dance contests
3) Can meet celebrities
4) Men pay for drinks (yeah, what's up with that? LOL)
5) Men just watch you dance without dancing themselves

Q) What are the weirdest Korean foods?

1) Dog meat
2) 번데기 (Beondaegi - Basically, it's the larva of a butterfly. Nasty!)
3) Raw octopus - That thing is still moving and squirming as you're chewing and eating it!
4) 순대 (Soondae or Korean sausage - Very popular snack but I don't eat it myself)
5) 선지국 (Seonjikook or Soup made with pork blood - Supposedly good for hangovers!)

There was also one segment where they were discussing Korean drinking habits and especially one part where the foreign girls were wondering why all Koreans say "Khhhh!!!" after each swig of soju (the sound is hard to express in writing but that's the best I could do). They were asking if it tastes that bad then why drink so much of it? The Korean male celebs on the show then explained that it's not because it tastes bad, but it's an expression of how refreshing and enjoyable the drink is. If you've ever seen a Korean drink, you know the sound. There's also usually a slightly pinched facial expression that goes with it too.

Anyways, just thought I'd share. It was a pretty interesting show and it was funny to hear a foreigner's view of the Korean culture.