[TL;DR intro music]
In the seven years that we've been living in Korea,
we've come to realize that your identity isn't just determined by your family and your upbringing.
Even if you move to another country,
as a grown-ass adult
you can have your tendencies and your identity change significantly.
So today we want to talk about ways that Korea has changed us
and we don't mean like a culture shocky kind of way.
We mean like beliefs and tendencies that have completely shifted in us.
Also I'd like to mention that we might be semi-disgusting in this video
because we have a cold
[coughing]
(Yep) That's just been like going around Korea.
Everybody that we know has it so I'm sorry if we should a little congested today. (Yea)
I know an immediate belief that has shifted in me that I cannot believe
I didn't even know when it happened. (Yup)
You know what it is?
I don't even know the transitional part of it
I love white rice!
Rice is so delicious! Before when I was growing up, I barely ever ate rice.
I found it boring but there's something now about a warm, steaming bowl of white rice that makes me feel like my family loves me.
Okay
Well I know they do, but I feel it more when I see white rice.
I don't think what's weird about it is this is not an immediate change, (no)
like we used to complain all the time about white rice, not having any bread
( I remember-) We fought against this for so long, like we tried to like cut it out of our lives,
but now we need to have white rice.
and you know we didn't realize this was like such a strong pull until you leave Korea.
So when we left Korea to go on our Eat Your Kimchi tour or even to Europe,
I found myself being like where can I get a nice bowl of white rice around here?
And when people give us rice, it's this long grain bull****
I don't want that! I want the sticky stuff, I wanna like wrap it with kimchi,
I wanna wrap it with seaweed (roasted seaweed) with my chopsticks
It feels like it's right.
It should be nutritionally devoid. That's what I want.
I want the most nutritionally devoid rice that you can hand me.
Give it to me!
Speaking of eating, I firmly believe that this is a universal truth that can be proved by science
through very many algorithms and theorems: chopsticks are the superior utensil. Hands down.
Forks and knives are so barbaric.
Why am I stabbing food? Why am I destroying it?
I wanna pick it up gently like chopsticks work so much better in every situation. (Okay)
For things you're not even thinking of. Okay so for example,
Do you remember the first time on our birthday that my co-workers came out with a cake
and then they handed out chopsticks to everyone. And I was like, shouldn't I get like a fork or something?
No! You take a chopstick, you like stick it in the center and you cut with it
and you just pick at the cake with the chopsticks. It's so much better!
And it picks up the fluff and the strawberry in one bite.
Salad! Salad is so much easier!
Okay you got a fork and you're like violently jabbing a cherry tomato
You don't have the cherry tomatoes are like no you can't get me! Can't get me!
No, you pick up the cherry tomato with your chopsticks! That's what it does.
Cherry tomatoes don't want to be stabbed!
Also spaghetti! You need a spoon, you need to twirl like into a spoon
No, you pick it with chopstick, spin it around like this and you got this nice little like spaghetti ball and you try to eat it
It's better!
There is only one scenario which I would say you need a fork and knife.
That would be like for a piece of steak that you get in like a giant slab and you have to cut it
Yeah but you cut it first, then you throw that sh*t away, the fork and knife that is,
and then you pick it up with chopsticks.
That's how it's supposed to be done.
Chopsticks. Chopsticks are the way to go.
Now this next one is something that has happened to Martina. I still haven't been converted yet.
Okay so we're visiting my family in Canada, I remember we were watching a movie,
and I just curled up on the ground to watch it.
and my mom's like "We have a couch you know..."
We bought furniture!
And I got up and sat on the couch and like slowly slid off the couch onto the ground
like a baby that doesn't want to be held
just like arms up and you slid down
I think that couches are very comfortable. I enjoy them
but maybe it's because our dining room table in our house in Korea is really low
when I sit on the couch, I don't like the leaning to get stuff. I just wanna be on the ground.
So I'd enjoy sitting on the floor, I enjoy eating food from that mouth level,
I like Spudgy being able to waddle up and put his little face up on my lap
I like sitting on the floor.
That's you, I still can't sit on the floor. So that's Martina-ism right there.
That's probably because you're legs are so big that when you try to sit on the floor, you lift up the table
and people are like "What's going on?"
And I know there's a dick joke in there somewhere
My ere-
But I will say that this other thing that we've been resisting for awhile
that has snuck up on us that I have succumbed to as well: eondol heating.
(Oh man) I used to just think that it was over priced and not really worth it- (impractical) impractical.
But now when winter comes, I turned on my eondol like two weeks ago
didn't even need it that bad, it's just a little bit chilly
but now it's just like, the floor is all warm and heated and luxurious.
You know why? Because you walk without your socks on
and you're like "My toesies are colddd" and you're like "we should just turn the eondol on just a little."
The floor is all like warm and toasty, like I won't sit on the floor but I'll lay on the floor and roll around on it
and I'll purr and I'll lick my -- I won't do that.
And the next thing I find that I'm actually actively trying to resist but I can't
is that I will bow to anyone and anything if you make eye contact.
I just, these little short bows I do all the time.
I never used to bow in Canada but now
Hello Mr. Pigeon
Hey, Hey there
Is that a, Hey dog, Tree, Hello tree
I just like, Don't have to full bow but I just do these little like chicken bows all the time
and I don't know why, I can't fight it, It's a part of my soul, and it is the essence of being to bow all the time.
I remember when we were in Japan and we were meeting other white friends (Yea)
and we were like "Hi, nice to meet you" and we're like "nice to"
and then we looked like these dumb, weird (Hey)
I don't got to bow to you
I could just handshake you
but then handshakes are like- handshake and the bow
and you like move your hand with your body at the same time
and if you don't know them, it turns into handshake with the arm and you're like doing this whole bizarre
and it's just like the people from the oustide looking like
"What are these weird white people doing?"
I don't know. I can't stop it. I am trying not to
I will say that I've read online that this is a habit that will be unbreakable.
I've read that people have left Korea or Japan or other Asian countries years ago
and all of them still do the hand thing or bowing
It's like become engraved in them.
It's bizarre how all of these things that we're talking about are subconscious things
It's not something we actively try to do, just something that, like you said, like we mimic without knowing it.
These are parts of us now that we didn't necessarily want to be a part of us but we can't avoid anymore.
Now there are a few more ways in which we've changed without necessarily wanting to
especially driving habits, but we're going to talk about that in our blog post
so make sure you click on the link here if you want see how I've become driver of the year.
Oh no.
Given it away already
Have I?
Driver of the year in Korea when we go back to Canada
So our question for you today is for any of you that have lived overseas,
and I don't just necessarily mean leaving North America to go to like an Asian country,
what if you're Asian and you went to North America or Europe? (Right)
How have the countries changed you in ways that maybe you like or don't like? Let us know in the comments section below
I heard that your dad is in love with Italian dressing.
Well I'm not sure if he still is but there was awhile in which he used Italian dressing for everything.
Yea? When did he get to Canada?
Oh he got to Canada when he was 38.
So suddenly it's like Italian dressing. Oh and bridge! He loves playing bridge.
No, but he loved it in Poland. (Did he?) Yeah. (I take it back.)
You should apologize to my father right now. He's watching.
Sorry, Mr. Stawski. You make really good banana bread and I miss it.
No, I hate your banana bread. (It's so good. Send us some banana bread.) Never make it again, dad.
Don't you dare. Dad, no. No.
And the bird's milk chocolate
[Polish] That's a Polish thing. (Now I want some.)
There you go. I'll agree to that. (Send me some pirogies.)
I really miss your pierogis.
Okay, I agree to that too. (And your homemade wine.)
Eh. (Just ship it on over.) Maybe.
The bird milk chocolate.
Okay, bye, dad.
[Piano music]