So, I will soon start another year with the same goal at the top of my resolution list:
1. Lose weight.
Sigh. It’s not that I don’t know how to lose weight. No, no, my friends. I’ve done it countless times, enough for me have to keep a closet full of clothes ranging in four different sizes. Indeed, my thighs have taken me through thick but are missing those times of thin. No, it’s that I don’t know how to KEEP IT OFF. Forever and always.
Lose weight? Simple formula: Eat less + exercise more. Burn more calories than you take in. BOOM. TADA! WOOHOO! By jove, I think she’s got it! Wrong. As anyone who has ever struggled with weight loss knows, there are several factors to making those pounds permanently disappear. And here in Korea, there are some factors which may not figure into my life back in America:
1. 회식 (Hwe-sik) – There is no exact American equivalent of 회식 (herein referred to as hwe-sik for ease of typing). Hwe-sik is a gathering of your colleagues to encourage team-building and relationships. They usually involve lots of alcohol, tons of peer pressure to take shots and consume mass amounts of 소주 (soju – THE national alcohol of Korea, and dinner outing staple, at a price less than that of water), inordinate amounts of food, and an occasional jaunt to the 노래방 (private singing rooms). Needless to say, company-sponsored, and oft-mandatory hwe-siks do not do kind things to one’s S-line (a Korean term for the ideal body shape, literally, a woman’s body forming the shape of an S).
2. Korean kindness – On an individual level, once you are introduced to a Korean person and are ‘in’, they will do the most extraordinary things for you. They will give you the shirt off your back and bend over backwards to help you. They will walk you to the bathroom or wipe your sweat off you, but most of all, they will FEED you. And it’s not the simple greens and light pancheon that adorn an average Korean dinner. They will ply you with meat. Bulgogi, samgyeopsal, galbi, dakgalbi, nakji, et. al.
3. The perception of the American (generally Western) diet – Many Koreans believe that we eat hamburgers everyday, so they’ll often ask if we want cheese on our ddeok or ramen, be surprised when we want just water instead of ordering coke, or surely, we must want to go to Outback instead of a Korean restaurant. While considerate, these suggestions are often misguided and often end up in getting service (complimentary foods, gifts) of calorific add-ins.
4. Living single – Korea is a communal society. Everything is done in groups. Grown children live with their parents until they are married. You can’t order food at most Korean restaurants if you order just one serving. Since there are few times in life when a Korean person would regularly be cooking for a party of one, most things are sold in bulk or, at least, family-size portions. So, for a singleton like me, cooking can be a challenge. Foreign food? Pricey, way pricier than its Korean counterpart.
5. Alcohol is Korea’s playtime - As evidenced by number 1, Korea is a drinking culture. You’ll see: drunk men, passed out, arms splayed on top of cars or on dirty sidewalks any day of the week; drunken ajummah’s and ajoessi’s singing and in generally good cheer filling up the subway on weekends; thin-as-rails Korean women throwing back shots of soju; and red-faced businessmen staggering out of gogijjip’s, slurring their words and urging people to go to the next round. Of course, it seems like most of the expat community here also takes part. And I’m suffering – alcohol is is a fat bomb waiting to explode – 541 calories in a single bottle of soju!
I’ve outlined some of the obstacles. Not all, as clearly there are more impediments to successful weight loss, most of which have absolutely nothing to do with culture. I like Korea and I’ll be here for the next year, at least, so I’m going to surmount these challenges and hopefully my blog can gain a subtitle by year’s end: Losing Weight in Korea (Or, How I Lost Weight in Korea, and You Can, Too!) .
Next blog entry, I hope to outline my weight loss goals and deadlines.
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