Korean Drinking Culture

I'm finally getting settled in here and used to the Korean lifestyle. I just wish I could master the basics of the language and maybe communicate a few words to the people I meet--a smile and a bow can only get you so far on the street. I'll get there though...four hours of languageclass a day goes a long way. I just wish we could get over the pronunciation/alphabet portion. I can only say "ah, ah, ah, ah, oh, oh, oh, oh, i, i , i, i" so many times before I wake up in the middle of the night thinking I'm being attacked by korean vowels. It's a great program though, with teachers from Korea University (like the Harvard of Korea) and they do a great job of getting us ready.

For the orientation they've also got us going to workshops on culture, and teaching, and even photography in Korea. The FB network is Huge, and definitely one of the best parts of the program. They bring in outside professors, past ETAs, and all sorts of bigwigs to give us the lowdown on life over here and how to succeed both in and out of the classroom. Though some of these workshops and classes can be a bit grueling after a long night....

The past couple nights I've been out with various ETAs and some Korean students from Jungwon University. I'm starting to get down the drinking games and their songs--most of which end with me taking a shot of soju dumped in a glass of beer, maybe some cola or spicy soup for good measure. Don't let them fool you though, those little Korean guys can drink, and the girls too. One of the girl RAs from Jungwon (not like freshman year RAs, but really just there to help us get around....or tell us where the good bars are) walks in late and downs half a pitcher to catch up. She couldn't be more than 130 lbs or so.

They also have a smattering of interesting customs that go along with the drinking culture. There's a distinct lack of leisure drinking as oppose to back home--a good microbrew is nearly nonexistent as far as I can tell. Missing my good beers is going to be a lot harder than the savory american meals. Hence I'm all about drinking to enjoy the beer as well, but so many people here (I hesitate to say most because my view is so myopic right now) just drink to get drunk, even the older folks. This difference though is that its always a big event with lots of people where everyone has a great time. The beer here though (Cass, or Hite usually) is pretty low grade, and I can't imagine anybody sitting back with some soju on the rocks like you would with a nice whisky or scotch. It's also interesting that when you're out with people, you never pour for yourself--I'm not exactly sure what the tradition is there but I imagine it's got something to do with the gift-giving, communal atmosphere. They also Always order food with drinks. I can see this as a natural cultural norm that arose from the obviously beneficial aspects of having some food in your system. It's funny though how they'll order the food (adamantly) with drinks and often never touch it--they don't waste the food, some one will always get it, but it's as though the mere presence of food is necessary for it to be OK to drink. I'll get back on here after I get out to a bigger city and see some more of the country.

Cheers.