Table manners

Actually, since we did not have enough time to make each countries’ foods, we just made a decision to set up fake foods of each countries.



At first, we talked about Korea table manner and settings. Actually, Korean almost eats a kind of soup with rice. So, Korean soup was supposed to be right side of rice in this picture. In Korea, we MUST put rice on left side of soup and put soup on right side of rice. In addition, a spoon should be located on the most right side. Moreover, big soup (called “JJigae”) should be put on the center of table. That means we share the food with families or friends who eat together. So, we do not use individual dishes expect for soup located nearby rice. That is big different food culture from other countries. Another interest thing is that we cannot eat before the oldest person start to eat. Of course this custom seems very strict. So, nowadays we do not consider the custom in families. However, if I have very formal and important dinner such as meeting of my girlfriend’s parent, I MUST do that. We also rarely use tables and chairs while we eat which means we sit down on floor and use only table to have short legs in a house. We also think this behavior to make some noise while we eat as rude behavior. However, when we eat noodles, we do not care about noise. And we do not care dress when we eat something in a house but when we go to luxury restaurant, we almost dress up, however this is not force.






Another country is Chile. In Chile, Chilean never shares food. They use individual dishes except for traditional food which is a kind of salad with a big mud bowl. It is very interesting that they should put their left hand (if someone use left hand, he/she should put right hand) on the table. If someone do not the behavior, people think strange. They usually have a lot of talking time after their meal. This is called “Sobremesa” This is quite different from Korea because we usually finish meal within 30~1 hour and then go to each destination. Chilean thinks that making noise is very rude while they eat including noodles. In addition, if they go to restaurant, they should dress up without exception. Sometimes, they cannot go inside unless they dress up formally.






The last country is USA. Table manners and settings of USA are almost similar to Chile. Making noise while they eat is forbidden including noodles and soups. Sometimes, they have strict table manners when they go to very luxury and formal restaurant. So, each spoon and fork should be used with proper foods. That makes me so confused. Some Americans even do not know how to use properly. In America, they also should dress up when they go to restaurant, however sometimes it depends on restaurant to dress up formally. They used to dress up formally even when they have meal in their house very long years ago.




I think food manners are almost decided by location because food settings and manners are very similar between Korea, Japan, and China. America’s food manner is also similar Canada and Mexico which is adjacent to USA.

Party~!!!!!

I’m going to write down my party plan which is not real and real holiday party that I experienced.
Actually, I will more focus on Valentines' day and Korea New year day.



1. Valentines’ day and Korea New year day.

Valentines’ day(14th Feb) was the New year day of Korea because Korean use lunar calendar, which means that yesterday was New year day of Korea (actually china also uses lunar calendar). So, several days ago, we planed Valentines’ day and New year party. The most interesting is that we should make traditional each countries’ food for this party. So, I prepared “Ddogbogkki” which is very famous and well-known food in Korean. But, there is no Korea food ingredients in Mississippi.


I ordered some ingredients through website. Finally, I could make my food and then went to the place, 1st floor of Student union. There were so many people gathered at Student union more than I imagined and I could see diverse traditional countries’ foods. Actually, my food was little bit spicy despite I made an effort not to make spicy. So, some people could eat well but some people said “oh, it is good but too spicy to eat”. I cannot write down guest list because so many guests came over there. But, I post a picture instead of announcement of guest list.


After dinner time, we played one game. This game was so interesting. At first, we should sit down as a circle and then one player stand at the center of circle. The player should say “I love you so please give me your smile” to in front of anyone and then the other person who received should say like this “I love you, too but I cannot give a smile to you” WITHOUT any smile. If receiver fails to endure smile, he or she will be changed by proposer. Actually, when I got another’s propose, I couldn’t stop laugh. So, I did the role of proposer TWICE.




This above picture is group picture. I cannot forget about this day~!!!!





This picture is the game that I mentioned above. Soooooo funny~!!!!!


The most wonderful thing was that we got beautiful snow when we went back to each dormitory after this party. What a fantastic ending of this party~!!!! lol~!!!


2. Plan a party

1)Party details
We are planning to hold Christmas party. The location is one of Bars which is in Square. Time is midnight to sunrise.
2)Guest list
We will invite unknown people. So, we will just give our invitation to any people whenever we encounter unknown people. But maximum people are about 50 people.
3)How you would invite guests
Just give invitation to any people. We do not consider who will receive our invitation. In addition, we will post our party on facebook website.
4)Supplies
Actually, main supply will be alcohol such as, beer, vodka, and so on. But we will prepare some pumpkin cookies because the day is Christmas.
5)Activities
We will write it on our invitation that all inviters should bring their wrapped gifts and then we will distribute the gifts to each person. Nobody knows what the gift is. Another activity is sexy dancing time. Luise will lead this dancing time with Santa costume.
6)Why you picked to celebrate this holiday.
Christmas is the biggest holiday of America and festival day in the world. That means everybody can be familiar with this party.
7)How is this party different than a party in your country?
Actually, there is Christmas day in Korea. But, big different thing is that this day is special to couples not families. In America, everybody goes back to their families at Christmas day. But, in Korea, only few people celebrate this day with their families.
8)photos that represent this holiday or your party.

Social norm

When I came here, United State, I did not know any social norm that American know and accept usually. So, unintentionally, I broke some social norm. Maybe my experience is very common in Korean.

The first social norm that I broke is leaving a tip for the waiter. I cannot be familiar with this custom because there is no tip custom in Korea. As far as I remember, when I went to Japanese restaurant located adjacent to Olemiss, I just paid food price without any tip. I did this rude behavior several times whenever I went to there. Finally, one of my friends who is a American said to me “Do you hate these waiters? Why do not pay any tip?” When I heard this, I really was surprised and so sorry for my ignorance of tip. After this shocking experience, I always make sure whether I paid tip or not whenever I leave restaurant.

The second thing is dressing up for formal place. Even though in Korea, people tend to dress up for formal places such as, wedding, graduation, and so on, most Korean just go to art place for watching opera, musical, or something like that. So, when I traveled to New York during winter break, I made a decision to experience opera in broad way. I bought a ticket and went inside. At that moment, I noticed that every people dressed up formally except for me. They did not look at me directly but I could feel their gaze. I really hoped to turn off light and start opera immediately. When I said this story to a friend of mine, he said that although there is no designated rule to dress up, almost 100% American accept the rule as a public rule like social norm.

These two things are my experience to break up social norm of my America life.