I see it everyday, the similarities between Koreans and Black and/or Coloured South Africans. I have to tell you a bit about it.
Park Myung Su from Daegu, South Korea, Thabo Ndlovu from Soweto and Jerome Melkos from Cape Town actually have more in common than you'd imagine.
Thick, gold chains. (Why, Patricia, why?!)
Never scared to speak to strangers who don't speak your language, in your language (Solution: Nod and smile).
Pointing out people's physical flaws to them and thinking it's okay.
Having at LEAST one alcoholic in your family. He (or she) embarrasses you all the time and brings shame to the family name, but alas, we cannot choose our family, so we fight with them and love them always.
Proudly owning a car that's dropped and kitted with a sub woofer instead of a boot (trunk, U.S friends).
... rolling through the hood, windows rolled down, music loudly blaring like 'street cred' will buy you a future.
Taking as much pride in wearing brand names, as you do in your own surname. The victims: Lacoste, Puma, Dickies, Fila, Nike, True Religion, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and too many more.
Popping the colour of your lumo coloured golfer tee for extra flavour.
Needing one thing, and one thing only for a dish to qualify as a good meal. For Koreans, it's rice. For us in S.A, it's meat.
Strict, old school, over-protective parents who take pride in embarassing you in public. The bigger the audience, the better (for them).
An acute obsession with emo, I-can't-live-without-you love songs. Metro fm RnB Sunday listeners, I see you! Kpop enthusiasts, I see you too!
Light skin is right skin; some even do the skin bleachin'. And ooh, don't forget your umbrellas for the sun! I learn we call ones for the sun 'parasols'.
Good table manners were taught at your 'Model C' school (what does that even mean, by the way?), and not at home. BUT if you're Korean, your traditional (lack of) table manners follow you wherever you go.
Noisiness is in your blood. On the phone, when you've had too much to drink, when you're sad, when you're happy.
And here, a few pics as evidence:
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| La Parasol |
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| (Toit!True Religion jeans, Nike kicks, Gucci man bag. Ballin' like a Durban kwaito DJ) |
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| My 10 year old student in his Polo shorts. o_O |
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| So it protects you from the sun and makes you whiter at the same time? Say what?? |
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| Street cred on another level. Note the sound system in the face please! |
And those are just a few I can think of right now. Just thought to share my daily source of amusement and close-enough reminder of what I left back home; the fuel to my Proudly-South-African flame. ^^,
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