...it is IMPOSSIBLE to guess anyone's age here.
Maybe it's the obsession over sun protection. Or maybe Korean people just don't stop aging after 17, but I swear there is NO WAY of knowing how old anyone is...and it's almost frightening.
For example, today my adorable coworker Yong was helping me learn Korean (which, may I add, is as difficult as learning how to play piano from Helen Keller). I asked him how old he was. Now, by my standards, Yong doesn't look a day over 19, but knowing he is Korean and works with me, I figured a safe estimate was 25.
Homeboy is 35 years old.
Let me also preface this with the fact that Koreans count age slightly differently than we do back in the land of the red white and barbecue. Say you are born in November here in Korea, at the dawn of the new year, you are considered 1 year old. Then come the following November you turn 2. So most Koreans will quote you an age that is one year older than if we were going to ID them at a bar (which we surely would because they all look so young).
Koreans are very healthy people (excluding the chain smoking, public loogie hocking, and the hours spent playing video games in computer cafes). They are very active, constantly walking around and exercising. They eat healthy, and everything they do or say they will follow with the line "It is good for your hearth." They mean health. Sometimes l sounds can be vicious. Ask them to talk about their "whole body."
They are obsessed with shielding their skin from the sun. Not only do they appreciate the health benefits of not looking like a piece of leather, a la USA, but also, if your skin is darker than it indicates you likely work on a farm and are of a lower social ranking.
My guess is these minor obsessions, partnered with the apparent inability to grow body hair, is the reason for perplexing ages.
Another one of my teachers is 31, married with a daughter. Thought he was 20 at most.
One of the women teachers was a little older. I though maybe 40. She is 56.
It also makes me wonder about these old men and ladies I see walking the streets (and occasionally dumping in the streets....see glimpse part 1). How old are they?! If I think they are 70 then there is a good chance they are over 100.
Maybe it's all the gimchi, or maybe they are just doing something right that we are missing out on. I mean, I figured our culture of fried food and childhood obesity was on the right track...but perhaps we should take a step back and reassess our priorities in the west....and always ID a Korean because that shit is a mystery.
In an unrelated note, these are some of my second grade cronies. I made them dance to "Call me maybe" and "single ladies"....old habits die hard.
