So guess what? I have a roommate!!! I'm really too old to be having roommates but this happens when you are broke. AND guess what else? She's Korean! pleasant kid so far but damn! I have to really concentrate on everything she says so I understand, its already getting tiring and its only been a week :-/ But she IS really nice though. The problem here is the age difference, I found out that in Korea your age begins from conception so she is "older" in Korea than here, isn't that interesting? The things you find out about other peoples... O and she is also a nail technician (no stereotyping) so I might get a free manicure outta this! But this whole situation is gonna take ALOT of getting used to cuz I've been lucky enough to have my own space the last couple years, let alone having to deal with such a vast culture difference. I'm wondering if her name is really her name...I doubt it. This is another thing: Asian people, young ones coming over here, often adopt an "american" or "english" name that they go by. While that may be convenient, I kinda disagree with it. Your name is your name and people should learn it, part of appreciating where you come from.
I'm curious now to know if Koreans have "conventional" naming methods. Considering some of the friends I'v made and the naming conventions I've learned about, I'm not putting anything beyond anything. So if you didn't know: 1. People from Iceland, their surnames translate to "son of" or "daughter of" their dad's name, so brothers and sisters have different surnames. O and I just love the Brazilian method: 2. ever wonder why Brazilian names are so long? Its a string of their parents' surnames! Or maybe their grandparents if they feel like it. Yep if they feel like it. (Costa I know u'll post a reply to this) 3. I can probably include Trinidad in this too: I have my mother's surname. It's common for children to take their mother's name if the parents aren't married, or in a common law relationship. I know some people that find that weird as well. When my roommate's english gets a lil better I might ask her.
I had a Japanese roommate once. She turned out to be real cool too, after a somewhat rough start. Again, culture clashes. She was all quiet and we were all boisterous. We? there was a Norwegian too. hehehe. It was awesome. Beat THAT combination! We all got along great after a while, its all about learning about the other person. Japanese custom...hmmm...they are very private about hygiene and have music or other device to mask any 'noises' in public bathrooms. Norwegians...it is NOT the custom in Norway to give peeved toddlers alcohol to make them go to sleep HAHAHA, what a hilarious conversation that was!
Ok I gotta go, its getting late but I'll leave you with an American custom to consider: they like to eat out alot. ;-)
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3 comments:
Ok, let's do it by parts..a Korean roommate, that doesn't speak the language very well.. that does kinda remind me of your other Asian roommate. She improved her english a lot in the years in the US, so that will give ya some hope :) I loooove your explanation of how private they are in the bathroom, hahaha..I honestly never paid attention at it, even though I went through two Japanese roommates :)
And names... well, it's actually a latin thing to give the mother's name as well as the father's. We don't have middle names though, even though some people (like me) might have DOUBLE first names, which makes it really complicated with the immigration people here :)
And actually, to add to your "from other cultures" list - people in some hispanic countries have both their parents last names BUT, contrary to Brazil (where dad's name is the last on the string), the mother's name is the OFFICIAL last name. Weird for a culture that is so machist..
Oh well..end of the long post. ;)
Oh what a combination! I bet you'll have some more to write about cultures when u have been here! hihi
Soon come! :)
i used to hang out with mostly foreign students when i was in uni and found out that so many of them were given their first name because of what the name meant or for some other reason deeper than...gee it sounds nice. i really liked that so we did it with our kids too.
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