Personal Space

I have been asked to describe the people here. I can only give my own limited perception, but I have noticed several differences from Canadians. I'm not saying the differences are good or bad, just different. Since there are too many for one post, I'll just focus on one aspect for now.

In Canada, there is a little thing called "personal space" that is highly valued and respected among Canadians. Nobody dares violate another person's bubble of "me" space, at least not without profuse apologies and "excuse me"s. However, this seemingly insignificant, yet very important, unspoken rule is often taken for granted by many people.

Never again will I be one of those people.

In Korea, the phenomenon of personal space is virtually non-existent. Since theirs is a culture that does not promote individualism, they do not consider personal space to be important. Also, when you have a population of nearly 50 million people in a country not much bigger than Nova Scotia, personal space is difficult to come by.

For example, navigating the city's largest department store on a busy weekend is often a rather difficult and sometimes frustrating endeavour. Getting from point A to point B without getting hit by a cart, almost stepping on a young child, or getting shoulder-checked is nearly impossible. Having experience in hockey would be a definite advantage here.

When we go shopping, the people often seem oblivious to anybody else in the store. They have a tendency to block the entire aisle by leaving their cart positioned diagonally across the aisle. If you want by, you have to move their cart yourself. Just make sure there are no children in the cart (which there usually are), or you will get some dirty looks.

As much as they will get in your way, if you happen to be in their way, they wouldn't hesitate to nudge you aside. Or they may just wedge themselves between you and whatever it is you were trying to look at. In a checkout line, if you are not within inches of the person in front of you, you are not really in line. People will squeeze in ahead of you without a second thought.

As Jordan has said, "the people are always in a hurry to get somewhere. However, when they get there, they will just stand in the way and move for no man." When push comes to shove, it works both ways. That is just the way it is. I guess when you have this many people in so little space, you have to be a little pushy if you want to get anything done!

Now I know what a sheep feels like. In fact, when we are stuck in a crowd, Jordan often starts "baa-ing"!