Life in the ROK

West goes East: The lives and adventures of a Californian couple living in Seoul

Sunday, January 07, 2007

This is an "Illegal" museum photo I took today before the guards rushed over and I quickly hid my camera. Unfortunately this shot does not really show how unbelievably crowded some Korean museums are, especially if the show is of popular western art. This exhibition is called Van Gogh to Picasso, so we should have known that on a Sunday it would be crazy. But it is hard to prepare oneself for all of the pushing that goes on in Korea. It is not malicious pushing, but there is not really a word for "excuse me" or for "sorry" unless you do something that is really rude. Don't get me wrong I like Koreans and in general all of the people that I know are very nice, but the pushing......well from what we have learned it is just part of the culture and how you deal with living in the most populous city in Asia.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

From my experience with the Korean culture here in the US it is an amazingly gruff culture. Frank to the point of rudeness (in our way of thinking) and loud. But smart, studious and very agressive. I find it difficult to find the distinctions between Korean and Chinese culture. It will be interesting to learn more. Thanks for your pictures and insights.

12:41 PM  
Blogger Jes said...

I can't get used to the pushing. I also can't stop saying 'sorry' when I bump into someone!

5:52 AM  

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