Fun Korean Myths

First off, let me apologize. I realize I haven't been very good about updating this. There are a few reasons for that. First, as most of you know, I'm a bit of a procrastinator. I sometimes need something to kick me in the rear a little bit, and since most of my rear-kickers are across the ocean, I haven't been very good at keeping this up to date.

The second reason is that everything seems pretty normal to me now. I have been living and working here for four and a half months, so a lot of the things that seemed strange to me four months ago now seem pretty normal, and no longer seem worth commenting on.
As many of you know, I went home for Christmas. I apologize if I didn't see you when I was home, but it was a pretty whirlwind tour. I was only home for seven days (three of which I was pretty jetlagged). But being home made me remember just how absurd some Korean myths are. So this episode of Kevin's Korean Adventure will be devoted to my favorite Korean myths.

1.Most restaurants here involve a grill or a burner right at your table and you cook your own food. This is great if you are with a Korean who knows how to cook the food you'll be eating, or if you have been to the restaurant before, otherwise you usually end up with an older waitress cooking your food and just generally invading your bubble. One thing we've learned in cooking our food at the table is that Koreans won't eat burnt meat. I have a feeling it's mostly because Koreans don't like the taste of burnt meat, but my foreign friends and I have been told on multiple occasions (while we were in the process of eating said pieces of meat) that eating burnt meat actually causes cancer. For whatever reason, many Koreans believe that eating burnt meat causes cancer. I'm not sure whether burnt vegetables have the same effect, but I guess I should be careful cooking in the future.

2. Fan death. This myth is so common that it has a name, and has been very well embedded into Korean culture. Koreans believe that sleeping in a completely closed room with a fan on in the room can kill you. I've never really asked for specifics on how a fan will kill you, but having spent most of the last 6 years sleeping with a fan on in a closed room, I'm pretty sure it won't kill you. This being the case, when I arrived in Korea I tried to find a fan because it helps me sleep. It was nearly impossible and I didn't end up finding one, and I can't help but think that this myth might be a large part of why fans are unavailable in this country: it's the Korean equivalent of selling someone a gun, or everclear in a supermarket. Stores (understandably) don't want to be indirectly responsible for the deaths of their customers.

3. The funniest myth I've heard in Korea was posed directly to a coworker and myself. We were sitting at our desks which face the Korean teachers across from us. On this particular day we heard the Korean teachers across from us speaking to each other in Korean like they usually do, and then one of them asked if they could ask us a question. “Is it true,” she asked “that white people need to get sunlight or you will grow fungus in your skin?” She asked this completely seriously. This one is not as widely accepted as the other two, but it's much more entertaining. Apparently the other Korean teacher she had been talking to had told her that this was untrue, but she wanted to find out for herself. I have no idea where this particular myth started, but I would love to find out. I'm sure it's a great story.

So there's the best myths I've heard at this point. If I think of any more or hear any new ones I'll put them on here. I'll try to be better about updating this in the future. If you want me to write more, bug me about it a little bit. If people let me know they're still reading it I'm much more likely to force myself to write.