I've been reading this website called Stuff White People Like. It made me laugh like a hyena....farmer's markets, camping, eating outside, moleskine notebooks, trains and Mad Men. So here's my take on stuff Koreans like....based entirely on watching my parents and corroborating it with other friends...
1) Church - Even if you are not a Christian...you will go to church, a Korean one. Church=social club. Plus your kids might meet their future spouse there! I did not but that's a small detail.
2) Dial soap - Old school orange version. It will cure all ailments according to my parents. From eczema to getting sick a lot. "Dial kill da germs."
3) Roe (fish eggs) - Personally this makes me want to puke but my parents treat this like black gold. Let's just throw in fish eyeballs too.
4) Slippers - Once you take your shoes off at the front door, you slip your feet into some nice terry cloth slippers and scuff your way to the kitchen to boil some tea...
5) Barley tea - Dark brown tea made with barley....hot in the winter and cold in the summer. I love it.
6) Burberry - Raincoats, visors, quilted jackets, golf gear, purses....ya gotta have it....real or fake, don't matter.
7) Plastic or glass containers - My mom must have 4000 small glass/plastic containers to store even the smallest amount of food leftover from any meal. One orange segment? Put it into a tiny container! It looks like an Escher drawing in the fridge: staircases to nowhere....
8) Golf - most obvious one. I think it has to do with being able to rate your ability vs. someone else's. After you get your PhD, how will you know where you rank?
9) Serialized TV dramas - Korea produces the most widely watched drama shows in Asia. They are translated into all languages. I happen to love one the most - My Lovely Kim Sam Soon. This show rocks. My parents rent these shows on DVDs - checking out 10 at a time! Highly addictive...
10) Fruit after dinner - After dinner, we used to watch TV while my mom cut apples. We ate apples every night - varying occasionally with watermelon, grapes or pear but apples were a mainstay. My mom even taught me to cut an apple in the "right" way which I still do to this day....
