Today we went out to a lively district of the city. The night life reminded me of Vegas, except the buildings were all much closer together, but the fun continued throughout the night. I learned a couple valuable lessons today. The first lesson was when I fell victim to cultural imperialism today. It was when I was attempting to place an order. In American you simply tell the bartender what you want, pay him and get your order. At this spot, and other places in Korea, you must walk to the front hostess and she takes your order and payment. After I figured out the process I remember thinking, well in America you don't have to waste time walking around..I quickly reminded myself that this is not America and that perhaps there was some underlying cultural reason for the system of ordering, paying and receiving.
The second lesson I learned was that introductions are incredibly important in Korean culture. There was three girls celebrating a birthday. They noticed we were observing them and so they invited us over to talk. We introduced ourselves before I knew it, they were offering us food, we were exchanging contact information and the we went dancing. At the end of the night the girls stated “now we are friends”. There has been several times where I have been talking to some Koreans and at the end of the conversation they stated something along the lines of us now being friends. I wonder if when Koreans establish this title of “friends” do the newcomers to the group get included in all everyday activities, like a brotherhood, or is it like America where usually the newcomers slowly get included into more and more of the activities of the group.
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