Korean Pop

Here is some Korean pop music for you all to enjoy. This song is played everywhere...

"Sorry Sorry" by Super Junior

Haircuts

Getting a haircut is awkward. You sit in one spot for thirty minutes, making small talk with a person you don’t really know or flipping aimlessly through a magazine you have no interest in reading. Believe it or not, not being able to communicate with the person cutting your hair makes it even more awkward. I initially thought not having to talk would make it less awkward. But when you can’t chat about the weather or what you did last weekend or about the movies you’ve seen lately, all you can do is stare at each other in the mirror. Additionally, communicating what kind of hair cut you want is quite the game of charades. Luckily I also knew approximately four words in Korean that were almost relevant to getting a haircut. The woman cutting my hair also knew a few words in English (cut, short, picture, beautiful, hair, bye).

When I first arrived to the salon I was seated with a large group of Korean children and their guardian, nanny, mother, or something. As soon as I sat down they all turned their heads and stared. This happens frequently in Jeonju and these kids were subtler than most people. After the staring ended a woman who I took to be about 40 came over and sat down with me. “Picture?” she asked. I shook my head no, assuming she wanted a picture of me when my hair was shorter. She got up and brought over a book full of pictures of hair. Pictures of Korean models, western actors, musicians, magazine clippings, tons and tons of pictures of hair filled this massive laminated tome. I pointed to one with short hair and the woman nodded yes.

The actually process of cutting my hair was interesting. In most ways it was like a haircut back in the states except that when she started cutting she used giant plastic clips to cut different layers of hair. The clip was somewhere between a beret and a plastic clip you use to close bags of potato chips. Using those devices made for an extremely efficient haircut. I also noticed that only her hairdryer had a cord. Her electric clippers and shears were all battery powered. Everything she used was on a cart that could be wheeled around the room from chair to chair, really a good idea. After she finished cutting she asked if I wanted wax-styling, I said yes. Then after playing with my hair for 8 minutes or so she asked if I wanted spray (hairspray I assumed). I scrunched my face and shook my head no. I think that face and motion translates cross-culturally. All in all I had an enjoyable experience, the staff was very nice and accommodating, and my hair looks pretty much like it does in the states right after I get a haircut. Success!

Udo Octopus

A few weeks ago we had a few days off from work and a group of us decided to go to Jeju Island. (I will be posting more on Jeju later). When we were on Jeju Island we took a day trip to Udo Island. We rented some mopeds and four-wheelers and just toured around the island. We found an amazing beach that was a dark, volcanic sand, crawling with tourists. After making a loop around the island we returned the vehicles and walked down to the nearest beach.

The beach was only memorable because of how lame it was. The beach itself was mostly rocks and broken shells; and large, black, volcanic rocks occupied most of the water. However, before we got to the beach we were called over to a group of picnic tables by an extended Korean family. We were offered some fresh caught octopus (Udo octopus is an expensive meal and the fact that we were offered a whole one really speaks to the hospitality that can be found in Korea). Of course we gladly took part in eating it. We were instructed to dip it in a red pepper sauce, which gave it a mild spice and little sweetness on the end. The octopus itself was a little salty, but over all it had very little flavor. The texture of the skin was rubbery and the meat was doubly so.

Fresh Octopus

After trying the octopus we were asked to take a seat on the grass and relax. We were brought fresh cooked pork, kimchi, rice and several bottles of soju. Heather acted as our interpreter for the family and our host, a man who I took to be about 50 years old. We made small talk and his children tried out their English on us. We ate and ate, and the family refused to stop serving us food. Eventually we were able to convince our hosts to let us continue on our way. We said our thank yous and good byes and finally made it to the beach. This was clearly one of the best lunches I have ever had.

White Power

A few weeks ago I was walking through E-Mart (pronounced “E-Matuh”) and in the lotion, section there was this:

White Power Mask (yep it says that)

I was struck by how funny it was to see that phrase printed on the package of a product. A person would never see that in the states, unless you were in Alabama of course. I thought it was hilarious and ridiculous to see packaging like that. Later, I was thinking about the product and I really was confused by it. Why would there be a product that you put on your skin to make you more white? I asked my one of my Korean co-workers, Heather, about this and she gave me some insightful details. According to Heather, many Korean women want to be fair skinned. They use parasols, enormous hats and visors, and lots of sunscreen to stay fair skinned. Apparently it is common for women to use this “white power mask” or something similar as well. The idea is to remain as pale as possible, and when that isn’t enough you use this cream to literally bleach your skin. I am told that occasionally you will see older women walking around with faces that are distinctly paler than the rest of their skin. Those women are people who use this kind of cream.

Of course I could talk about the cliché that Americans want to be tan while the rest of the world desires to be paler and how amusing it is that “the other” (to quote anthropologists everywhere) wants the opposite of what our culture wants in terms of skin tone, but I’d rather not be that kind of Western blogger (I would also prefer that Edward Said did not roll around in his grave too much). This kind of product is actually not really that surprising and make sense if your desire to be paler. In the states people might apply makeup to make themselves appear more tan or darker than they actually are. If that is not to a person’s liking they can buy a whole variety of lotions that work as a “bronzers” which work to darken a person’s skin. Additionally, a person could go and get a spray tan to artificially change their skin color. For even more extreme measures a person can actually go tanning at a parlor or the old fashioned way.

If you reverse your objective and wish to stay fair skinned then a “white power mask” cream makes sense. A person can simply avoid the sun, through clothing (parasols, visors, etc), and they will remain fair skinned. If that is not enough they can certainly apply makeup to mask the actual tone of their skin. An even more extreme measure would be to apply this kind of bleaching cream. The white power mask is a product in a series of methods to keep a person’s skin pale. It is logical when you put it into the context of the culture. However, the name of the product is still funny to me.