Korean Culture Part 2

K-POP, Exo, Exo and Exo, PDA

Yes, EXO the famous boyband which reminds me a little of the backstreet boys and the spice girls back in the day when we were still young is the number one hit on every school girls phone and about the only thing they really get excited about in class. There are 12 guys in the group which to me is quite a lot and sounds more like a mini choir but they definitely knows how to impress the ladies and how to get their hits all over the place. You get hot Korean guys but to be honest none of these boys really do it for me. Even the boys in my class agrees with that. K-pop is Korean pop, a genre unique to South Korea. There is a few other pop groups such as BigBang, Girls Generation and 2NE1. I've learned in this short time that I'm here that you make your class happy by including some kind of popstar into your lessons. 

In Korea they don't have separate people doing advertisements. I know in South Africa you get agencies that specialises in this type of thing but here it's a little different. Celebraties rule the place. They are on every billboard, every advertisement, every TV production, every shop uses them as their clothing models. They are everywhere. These stars are everywhere. In 2009 a group called Dong Bang Shin Ki took their managers to court after a 13 year contract dominating their lives. From advertisements, shoots, interviews, shows and rehearsal time the members of this group was deprived from sleep and had no time to themselves. The norm was that contracts last 10 years but after the group won their court case contract time allowed was lowered to 7 years max. And when you think of all these things they do you would expect them to make as much money as the American popstars make but in Korea that is however not the case. The contracts these popstars sign puts them into so much debt that they don't really see the money they generate. It all goes to the agency they signed with.

The Korean nation is really very competitive when it comes to education for one but also physical appearance where you have to be a size 8 and you must wear the latest trends you can definitely see where the people get their styles from. Once a celebrity wears this type of handbag EVERYONE is in need of this type of handbag. And it's like that with everything. Even tooth brushes, alcohol and other ridiculous things. And this causes one of Korea's biggest problems - Teenage suicide. Yes it's bad. It's the highest in the world. 

And the men wears make up !!!! 

I saw the most, wait I don't even know what to call it, thing on the train on my way back from Busan. A girl and her boyfriend sat behind us, both Korean, and you know how us girls normally sit and do make up in public places from time to time? Okay the guy didn't do it like we do it but his girlfriend was colouring in his eyebrows with a nice pencil and he checked to see if it's fine, commented and she continued. I laughed my ass off. It's a little retarded. Why do I choose the one place in the world where there is only females? 

And here is something even more strange. In Korea being a couple is celebrated not only on Valentine's day but 11 other days as well. They have Dairy day, Valentine's day, White day, Black day, Rose Day, Kiss day, Silver day, Green Day, Photo day, Wine day, Movie day and Hug day. It starts on January 14th and is celebrated every month on the 14th. I wonder how kiss day works? Do you kiss someone the whole day because I sure as hell know my lips will get numb and then what's the fun ? On these couples days the couples also coordinate their clothing. This started in the 1990's by celebrity couples and Honeymooners and have ever since became more popular under couples. It's a way to express PDA since their culture are extremely conservative and any sort of public affection shown is frowned upon. So the way to show everyone else you are a couple is by dressing alike. I can give it to some couples. They look quite stylish. Just to be clear about the extend even the underwear matches most of the time. There it's a statement to the world that you are in a couple but also something you share as a couple and a way to bond. Most of the time this is really hard to pull off since most couples don't live together and still live with their parents until marriage. It's just cheaper that way. So how they normally do this is that the girl will pick out a few clothing items and call her boyfriend to decide what they will wear together. So if he has something that will match her picked out outfits they will go with that. This sometimes includes shoes, jeans, jackets, t-shirts, sweaters ect. Even hair sometimes have the same type of look. It's definitely a Korean thing and will stay uniquely Korean.

Don't believe me? Google it!

I can't help to wonder what you do with all your clothes after you break up with the person you were in a relationship with? 

Here also all Korean guys will immediately ask you if you have a boyfriend or not and they will respect your answer unlike in some cases back home. If the answer is no however they will try their luck in a gentle way. Another thing that's quite common amongst Korean men is not to really respect a woman as independent but rather as a person who cannot make their own decisions. They see woman as children which can be seen in small things they do like a tap on the head or squeezing your cheeks and even to the greater extend of ordering you food in a restaurant without consulting with you first. I think I might just get a little to independent for these boys to handle. 

Here is a Video of the Famous EXO group.