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Beards and why they make you look dirty (Korean men and facial hair)

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

In your family, are you the Youngest? Oldest? Middle? (Korean birth order)

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

[ IMPORTANT ] Back to School Special – KoreanClass101 September 2009 Newsletter

SAVE 15% OFF! Back to School Special is Back for 2 days! Save 15% OFF Any Basic or premium subscription! Introduction Save an INSTANT 15% OFF Any Basic or Premium Subscription! Back to School Special is here for 48 hours only! Claim your discount now. Secets to Learning Korean Secrets to learning Korean REVEALED! Best Lessons and Blog Entries for September! - Find out what's popular this month! The blog has some great content for you to see. Welcome to the KoreanClass101.com newsletter. These periodic newsletters will deliver to you all the exciting developments that are going on at KoreanClass101.com. With each issue, you will receive the latest announcements, promotional offers, blog news, and forum news,... Show more

Using two hands to do what you do (nonverbal Korean politeness)

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

Hey little mamma, what’s your type? (Blood type in Korea)

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