The Korean Squat. Don't lie. You do it sometimes when no one's around. For the uninitiated, you are in for a treat. The Korean Squat (also referred to as the Kimchi Squat) is a great way to relieve tired legs whilst waiting for public transportation, using a large brown bowl, or just chatting with friends when chairs are MIA. It's not terribly hard to see this on a daily basis. For that matter, there's no shortage of people posting photos of the peculiar act, either. Case in point: Here, here, here, and here. Even celebrities do it. Proof: What I like is that the Korean Squat is not only applicable to Koreans - apparently many different people of Asian decent can do it with ease. White people everywhere are jealous. I can do... Show more

Facial hair in Korea. First, let's take a look at some background source material. A selection from the American literary classic: A Brief History of My Face by Matthew. I'm a hairy guy. I've resisted this natural protein growth by shaving, plucking, waxing and zapping my way to relative hairlessness in order to attract the opposite sex. I've endured scalding hot burns, embarrassing ingrown hair blemishes, and unspeakable pain as I have journeyed to a discover the perfect balance between 'naked-mole-rat' and 'rocky-mountain-man'. I've spent an innumerable amount of precious funds on razors, trimmers, creams, gels, lotions, and toners all in a vain effort to control my undying masculine mane. But now, I shave my entire face... Show more

출생. Birth Order. I would venture that most Westerners don't immediately think of birth order as a common source of personality distinction but that doesn't mean we don't think about it. Sure enough, once we get to know someone, we are not surprised once we find out that they are indeed needy for attention because they're the middle kid. To discover that a bossy 'A' type personality is the oldest in her family doesn't exactly shock us. As someone who studied early childhood development as an undergraduate, I'm particularly interested in how birth order affects children and their personalities as they develop. Take a look at this chart for a typical Western perspective. The main difference I find is that Koreans seem to 1)... Show more

Using two hands. In Korea, to use one hand to do something is considered to be rude. So stop doing it. Seriously. But don't go all out and use two hands to accept liquid hand sanitizer or anything like that but the primary receiving and giving of anything from cash to paper handouts should be done with both hands*. Think of it as a redundancy - if one hand freaks out and shucks you, you still got the other one. You never know when you'll need the strength of two hands... Seriously though it's just one of those cultural nuances that is important and sometimes overlooked. The most common mistake comes from the use of the left hand only. That's just nasty. I kid. Come on now, who really thinks about which hand we use? In a Western... Show more

Blood type. Stop. Ask yourself "What blood type am I?". Chances are you're a foreigner in respect to Korea (seeing as how this is an English language blog written for the benefit of foreigners) and that you probably answered with "I don't know". More importantly, you might have thought "why should I care?" The short answer? You shouldn't. But don't be surprised if other people do. Well I'm here to lay it on the line. It does matter. Kind of. See, this whole idea behind looking at someone's blood type originates from a Japanese belief that blood type determines temperament, compatibility, and pretty much everything else that defines someone. Apparently your blood has been yakking it up. What does it say about you? This sounds... Show more