Major Differences I've seen between Koreans & Americans:
Lifestyle. It's hard not to notice how active you have to be as a Korean, especially in a large city like Seoul, where public transportation is amazingly built into the infrastructure. Walking to and from bus or subway stops to going up/down the stairs cross some of the major streets all factor into helping many Koreans to stay in overall amazing shape, despite the onslaught of Western fat/grease-filled fast food restaurants. For women I think there's an image issue and greater presure to stay thin, but I don't think it's any worse than in the U.S. Ultimately, the active lifestyle is what seems to keep the Korean people in shape as a whole.
Privacy. Americans love their privacy. Every other house on the street has a fence to demarcate one's own property (physical privacy) and it's rude to ask someone too personal of questions on the first few encounters (personal privacy). Not so in crowded Korea, where privacy is a luxury that most people do not have. I was taking care of business in the bathroom when some lady custodians came into clean... and usually the first thing that people ask when they meet someone here is to ask what year they were born (which establishes the age hierarchy that affects the relationship between two people from thereon... it's something that's deeply engrained in Korean culture).
Sense of Entitlement. In the same vein as accepting the lack of personal space as a reality, Koreans tend to have less of a sense of entitlement as Americans do. While the rate of lawsuits is climbing here, I still don't get the sense that Koreans would try to go after someone for frivolous matters like many Americans do. (I can't help but remember that crazy lawyer who tried to sue $67 million against a dry cleaners for lost trousers).
I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T Do You Know What That Means? Americans love (ok, idolize) their individuality and independence. This fact doesn't get any clearer than watching old farts in their 70's or 80's driving 15 mph when they can barely see (and barely hear my honking). Personal mobility means a great deal to Americans because it determines the level of one's independence. However, in Korea, once you reach a certain age, you don't see elerly driving as much (but then again, Korea is such a small country geographically that one can get around easily without ever hopping onto the driver's seat of a vehicle).
Group-Orientation. I guess to put the individuality thing into a greater dichotomic picture, Korean culture tends to favor the group-orientation rather than the individual. Here's what I mean: when there's a certain cultural practice or a trend, everyone tends to follow it without much question - people tend to follow rather than think for themselves. This tendency for group-orientation manifested itself in amazing ways during the 2002 World Cup when tens of thousands of Koreans gathered in outdoor Seoul to cheer on their nation, or these days, get together to protest U.S. beef imports. The not-so-amazing manifestations include the culture of smoking and heavy drinking that is deeply engrained into the social scene (and I'm not just talking about at clubs - literally anywhere where there are groups of people). There's this unspoken pressure to conform to gain acceptance within that group, be it college kids/alumni or coworkers at a firm.
White Coat. Students and Attendings alike wear the long whitecoat in Korea, where the medical school is a college, not graduate, program. Additionally, one does not choose a specialty based on their Step 1 score & 3rd year scores but based on a specialty-specific exam that they take during their intern year (everyone does an intern year here).
More to come.
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