Those crazy Koreans......

Thought id share a few urban legends/beliefs/weird customs that ive encountered over here lately. Its been a while since ive directly made fun of Koreans on here, as ive generally just been updating with things ive been doing, but im feeling a little sadistic today, so here goes:

1. Koreans believe that if you leave a fan on during the night, with the windows closed, you will die.

Electic fans: Friend or foe??

This is 100% true. I couldnt create something so ridiculous. Korean people are generally VERY smart and logical, but are clearly insane. Its a widely held belief that the majority of people believe in, not just a few Whack-Jobs. In fact, The Korea Consumer Protection Board (KCPB), a South Korean government-funded public agency, issued a consumer safety alert in 2006 warning that "asphyxiation from electric fans and air conditioners" was among South Korea's five most common seasonal summer accidents or injuries, according to data they collected. Hence, even the Korean governement believes that "Fan Death" is true. Really?? This should be enough evidence we need to condemn S.Korea to second- or third-world status immediately. The best part of death via fan is the retarded reasoning given as to WHY fans will kill you in your sleep. For example;

- an electric fan creates a vortex, which sucks the oxygen from the enclosed and sealed room and creates a partial vacuum inside.

- an electric fan chops up all the oxygen particles in the air leaving none to breathe

- The fan uses up the oxygen in the room and creates fatal levels of carbon dioxide

- That if the fan is put directly in front of the face of the sleeping person, it will suck all the air away, preventing one from breathing
- That fans contribute to prolonged asphyxiation due to environmental oxygen displacement or carbon dioxide intoxication.
- That fans contribute to hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature

Never mind that these theories violate the most simple and basic laws of nature, physics or common sense. Koreans take fan death very, very seriously. Search Fan Death in google if u feel like exploring this further. Its worth it.

2. Koreans believe that if you walk in the rain without an unbrella, your hair will fall out

Again, absolutely a belief that the majority of people believe. You will never see a single Korean walking in rain without an umbrella. You actually see many Koreans walking in perfect sunny weather with an unbrella as well but that for another purpose - avoiding a tan (tan is a sign of working outside, working outside = lower class). So yea theres lots of bloody umbrellas over here, and I hate em; such annoying things, but a neccessary evil at times I will admit. Anyway, Ive not taken an umbrella to school a few times and by the end of class i has been raining. Sometimes heavy, sometimes barely at all, but theres always a teacher there to lend me an umbrella. Well lending isnt the right word, more like, forcing me. Ive had teachers run through the school, down stairs, yelling and screaming with an umbrella in their hand, imploring I take it because its slightly drizzling. I think there is an entire room somewhere in each school that is dedicated to houseing umbrellas, and video cameras at all entrances and exits, monitoring if people are leaving the school without one. One day, my students made me buy one when we had a class in town. All we were doing was walking from one store to another about 30 metres away, but they wouldnt let me go outside without one. This myth may actually have a morsel of truth to it - acid rain perhaps?? - but that isnt a uniquely Korean problem.

3. Koreans dont say "goodbye" on the phone, or have a dedicated "sign off".

This one cracks me up because I hear it very often. It doesnt always happen the way I will explain it, but it does more often than not, and happens between people my age and my teachers, so its not a generational thing. They have a greating on the phone " yeoboseoyo", then they talk at a million miles an hour, then comes time to sign off. They go from intense talking, to a short silence. This is followed by a short grunt. Silence. Then a longer grunt. This longer grunt is the sign to hang up. So 2 grunts indicate that its time to hang up. So fricken weird. And its definately a grunt. No audible word is spoken, just the passing off air from deep in the chest. There is a word for goodbye in Korea, a way to say talk to you later, a way to say absolutely anything we can say in English, yet Koreans decide to grunt. It is just so strange. I would really sturggle having a phone conversation in Korean because I wouldnt know the sequence of events that lead to the grunting. Do they say something before hand that initiates the grunting? Does one person start and the next person follow? What if im not finished? So many questions that ill probably never know the answer to.

4. Koreans dont eat the skins of grapes

They peel them off and leave them in a pile next to the bunch. I think the reasoning is fertilizers and pesticides during production, but everyone ive ever know eats the entire grape and there is nothing wrong with them. Well, at least grape skin isnt the reason there is something wrong with them.

There u have it, a few little quirks about my friends and neighbours!!