Sharing is Caring

One thing I have noticed here in Korea is that most people drive "neutral" color cars. You really don't see many red, green, or heaven forbid, yellow, cars on the roads. About 90% of the cars I see are silver and some are black. I was wondering out loud about this the other day and my co-worker told me she thinks it is because most people buy foreign cars and then it is harder to sell them in a few years if they are painted a strange color. Interesting.

Something I really admire about Korean people is their innate sense of community. They learn from an early age that (for lack of a better cheesy phrase) "sharing is caring". The idea that something belongs to everyone is ingrained into their tiny heads and therefore, carried on throughout their lives. This is one of the major differences I have noticed between American and Korean culture. In America we are born into a family where something is yours, his, hers, etc. The word "mine" is often one of the first words a child can speak. This idea of 'mine and yours' is carried on throughout our lives. We earn our own money, order our own meals, use our own things, and we proudly express what we own ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying this is a bad thing. Americans should be proud that we live in a country where we are afforded our own things and we should be proud of the things that we work hard for. It is just different in Korea. A prime example of Korean sharing takes place at the table. Food is served and eaten in a community style where everyone digs in and shares the plates. Alcohol is often poured into the same glass and shared among friends. Another example of community that I see on a daily basis is at school. My students are always sharing their school supplies with one another. I know this may seem trivial, but if I had asked one of my students in my class last year to share an eraser with a neighboring student he or she may have looked at me in disgust. In my classes here, if a student is lacking anything, someone is always willing to share. Sometimes there are up to 4 or 5 students sharing an eraser. I love to see it. There are constant examples of a strong sense of community all around me and I really praise this culture for their lack of "mine".

There is one second grade boy I see gliding through the hallway all the time acting like an Olympic speed skater by sliding on his indoor shoes with one foot in front of the other and one arm behind his back while swinging the other arm back and forth. It just makes me smile every time I see him. Who knows, maybe we've got the next Korean gold metalist here at Neulpureun...

Happy April!

Namaste