Cultural Difference # 3: Drinking
Drinking alcohol is Korea’s national pastime, they say. I honestly thought it was just all jokes and exaggeration so imagine my shock when I went there for the first time and saw how hardcore they were. I have so many things to share, I don’t even know where to begin.
In the Philippines, San Miguel Beer is considered our national “drink”. It is the best-tasting beer in the world after all and we’re lucky that it’s very cheap here. 소주 Soju, on the other hand, has almost become a national symbol for Korea (there are soju souvenir items, in fact). There are many popular soju brands like 참 이슬 Chamisul and 처음처럼 Chum-Churum, both distilled by Jinro. Just to give you an idea of how bad-ass soju is, beer has about 4%-6% ABV (alcohol by volume) while soju has 20% ABV. I know, I know, it just flipped you its middle finger, didn’t it?
Beer is for pussies.
Even though it smells and tastes like rubbing alcohol mixed with water, I do drink soju. I think I was the only one in my barkada who could tolerate its taste and truth be told, it came in handy when I got together with my boyfriend. Jimmy drinks alcohol like a thirsty athlete after a training. He would tell me about his drinking misadventures with friends when he first came to Manila, like when they would consume 2 bottles of Bacardi 151 (75% AVB) in one night and there’s just 5 of them. I eventually learned that it’s not uncommon at all.
An American G.I. that I met said that Koreans drink to get shit-faced drunk. Like, it’s almost their goal. Another Italian-American expat claimed that he became alcoholic during his 12-year stay in Korea. Well, now you know… *troll face*
Don’t get me wrong, I used to drink A LOT, too. For about 3-4 years, I partied really hard and was drunk at least once a week (drunk as in crawling-to-the-toilet-vomiting-my-guts-out-drunk). And yes, Filipinos do get sloshed, of course! But really, the drinking cultures are very different.
First, Filipinos primarily drink to “get-together” and celebrate. You have the group, the tanggero (not Poyt Salazar though she is a drunkard) or the person who pours the drink and makes sure it gets refilled the whole night and the bangka or the entertainer- the person who tells the jokes and the stories and such. In most cases, there’s singing involved because we’re Filipinos! WE NEED TO SING, be it with an acoustic guitar or with a videoke machine.
The more drunk you are, the better you get at singing! And the music is more heart-felt...
(Identities have been concealed because I don’t want to lose friends LOL).
Personally, I agree with the American G.I. From what I have observed, I do feel like Koreans drink with the objective of getting seriously wasted. One time, I went to a Membership Training-like outing and I swear, we were drinking from 6pm-2am non-stop! And how can you not get drunk? We weren’t even chatting, we were just playing drinking games the entire freakin’ time!!! One person literally “one-shots” a glass of beer mixed with soju every 4 minutes. T_____T
Second, the pulutan (food during drinking sessions). Pinoys are notorious for greasy, unhealthy food and pulutans are no different. While drinking with Jimmy’s childhood friends, I was asked what I wanted to eat (because like any typical Filipino, I can’t drink without pica-pica). THEY WERE EATING KIMCHI AND RANDOM VEGETABLES while downing soju and I just… couldn’t. So I said I wanted pork. Liempo was my peg but I didn’t know how to explain it. “You want ham?”, asked Jimmy and I simply nodded. Lo and behold, they served me SPAM!!! WITH EGGS!! OMG I literally internally flailed. Breakfast much? Where’s the sinangag (friend rice)?
Another time too, with the same group of people, we had peaches for pulutan. You read that right, a bowl of muddafakken peaches in syrup. Yes kids, they drink with fruits.
Ang Tunay na Lalaki pinupulutan ang alateris (Real men eat “Jamaican cherry” while drinking).
*click to enlarge photo*
Third, my people are not too keen about the concept of bar-hopping. We go to one place and it’s ours for the whole night. Of course, some people do but that’s not the norm. The Korean-style is totally the opposite and I learned it the hard way.
I was out with Jimmy, sajangnim (the boss) and his friends. We started drinking soju with beer aka “bomb shot” while having dinner at 7 pm. We finished at 9 pm and moved to a wine bar and had 4 bottles of expensive red wine. FYI there’s 5 of us drinking. After finishing the bottles, the boss invited us to his house at around 11:30 pm. I was ready to turn him down when Jimmy said we HAD to go with them. Apparently, it’s a Confucian society thing. >_< After 3 more bottles of wine, we capped the night at a noraebang or KTV at 2:30 am. I was ready to punch people but of course, it’s their custom so I had no choice but to go with the flow and sing… We finished at 4:30 am and our call time was at 10 am. WHAT THE HECK.
Lastly, and this was the most shocking of all, Koreans don’t seem to care about being drunk in public!!! It’s not uncommon to see vomit on the platform of train stations and even inside trains! They’re even there the day after. People also randomly shout at each other from across the street and literally pass out!!! One Pinoy friend once told me about a man who was unconscious on the floor of the subway and no one bothered to wake him up. You don’t believe me?
Aaaand good morning to you, too!
There is actually a whole website dedicated to photos of passed-out people in Korea – Black Out Korea!
I realized that the reason it doesn’t happen in the Philippines is because we’re too usisero (nosy) and pakialamero (we don’t mind our own business). People won’t just pass you by when they see you wasted on the street! Within 5 minutes of being on the sidewalk, trust me, there would be a minimum of 17 people surrounding you and wondering if you’re dead. If you’re lucky, your valuables won’t get stolen and they would call the tanods. Also, I’ve never heard of a single Filipino who has left his/her friend shit-faced drunk alone. That’s like… friendship over.
Anyway, those are some of the differences between the Pinoys and the Koreans’ drinking habits. Interesting, isn’t it? I’m not claiming that one is better than the other, I just wanted to share some facts with you! Remember, drink moderately, guys (and please don’t start drinking until you’re done with school)~
Kombe! Tagay!
Click here to read CULTURAL DIFFERENCE # 1 and CULTURAL DIFFERENCE # 2
