Thanks @itchyfeetdonica for organizing this beautiful cross-culture challenge for us! Congratulations for being a Steemian for over a year~~<3 Hence, we could know each other now! :)👭
For me, I would share the cross-culture between KOREA🇰🇷 and MALAYSIA🇲🇾 because I have truly experienced 7 months life in Korea during my internship.
Hierarchical Society
Korea is a hierarchical society which is the core in their daily life. For example, younger people need to show respect by bowing to the elderly, pour drink to the elderly and so on. Not only this, Korea has speak levels ( honorific system) which reflects the relationship and status of the parties involved in the conversation. Therefore, they will always ask about your age in order to decide what politeness level (반말/casual and 존댓말/formal) they need to use for each individual.
This is totally different compared to Malaysia. We do not practice bow and use honorific system for higher status people. Hmm, kind of challenging because it means that we need to obey and follow the elder's👴👵 instructions.
(I gained few kgs when I was just back from Korea because my professor kept asking me to eat more...I have trained my capacity to the biggest at that time)
Views on Beauty
Beauty in Korea is their distinct and unique culture. In fact, portion of the country revenue is from beauty industry. They have beauty stalls all over the place, and the current rising trend is plastic surgery which is socially accepted. And some of the family will give plastic surgery as a highschool graduation gift for their kids. In short, we called all these k-beauty which covers skin care, make up and plastic surgery.
You will get a lot of free gifts if you buy skin care/ cosmetic products there.
I have seen guys applied lotion and sunblock in the office, which is rarely see in Malaysia. (Shocking 1) I was like I need to apply more to show that I am a lady💃👸 .They bring their sunblock and makeup products everywhere. Other than that, they encourage healthy food such as red ginseng drink, ginseng chicken soup and kimchi for better health and skin condition. Furthermore, they have a lot of jimjilbang (public bath house) which claim to be able to remove toxic from your body and improve blood circulation.
On the other hand, Malaysia do not really concern on skin issues and conditions. We do not even apply sunblock when we go out, but we started practicing it these days after the influence of Korea. (Not trying to look down on Malaysians but these are what I observed)
Self-service Etiquette
This is the most memorable experience for me. I still remember vividly that day when I just back from South Korea, I was automatically clean up after eating in fast food restaurant. Then, my friend looked at me shockingly. I stunned for awhile and tried to figure out what was happening. (Shocking 2) As I have been brain programmed to clean up after eating for more than half a year, therefore my body was consciously doing it without realizing it. However, I believe Malaysian is getting more aware and adaptable on self-service culture. So yea, these are partly what I have experienced, I call it culture shock.
In Malaysia, we do not clean up after eating especially in kopitiam (traditional coffee shop which serves breakfast and some other dishes not a cafe) or hawker stalls. But in Korea, I need to clean up as an act of kindness to the person who prepare food for me ( what I think).
Wide Variety in Convenient Store (GS25 and CU store)
Guess what I did after eating a meal??
We always went to convenient store to buy some ice-cream, coffee drink and candy for snack. Everytime I have this indecisive dilemma when I entered the stores!
I am not a coffee☕ person but I miss Korea coffee drinks~~It's so yummy and I do not feel dizzy or nausea after drinking. I tried to buy different types of coffee drink everytime I visit the store, there are just too many choices!
Sadly, Malaysia does not have these variety of food in convenient store. hahaaa . I am honestly missing Korea food.
Miscellaneous
I could not speak more on Korea culture difference compared to Malaysia.
This was the collage I created in Korea. They use digital password lock include room and locker. Coffee machine or water dispenser use paper cup for drinking (environmental friendly). Do not cross the road until the pedestrian light turns green. A person walking across the street illegally🚫 (jaywalking) is subject to a ticket and fine. Drink sort of vitagen/ yoghurt for better digestion after the meal.
Oh yea, they call foreigner as alien, so I got my alien card in order to stay there more than 90 days.
Overall there are a lot of differences between these two countries. I could not share it all in one post ><
What I could say is their online shopping system is very efficient and practical (We can deliver fruits too), delivery is very fast, normally I receive within 1-2 days.
They use their naver instead of google for server and map.
💃Stay healthy and live beautifully👸
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