Alexandre, a French blogger living in Singapore, points to some of the similarities between his native land and the Land of the Morning Calm:
- They are a little country placed between an island of lunatic fellows who drive on the wrong side of the road and a big continental country of serious guys, both of which used to be wont to invade them, for more than one thousand years, in turns,
- Corruption is not unknown there…,
- They can manage to score very well in the World Cup after two previous disastrous attempts,
- They are still at heart a kind of rural country,
- They are fond of strikes and can get pretty rough when faced with the cops,
- They eat a lot of fermetned cabbage, local style,
- They have (or will soon have) the fastest long-distance commercial train on earth,
- They like the globalisation, unless it hurts their interests,
- They can hit the bottle quite hard…
Seems like a fair comparison to me. Perhaps dda would like to add to this?
BTW, Alexandre also had some very nice things to say about the Korea blogging community, and for that I wish to thank him. And just in case you haven’t popped by it yet, his blog Shuxie is full of insight (mostly in English, with some French) from a perspective that at times differs quite a bit from that of Yankee expats. By all means, take a look at it.
9 Comments
Lors de mon premier séjour en France, j’ai passé quelques jours dans une ferme à Cherbourg… c’était là où une vache m’a chié dessus… ainsi commença ma liaison amoureuse avec la France. Je déteste sa politique, mais j’adore son peuple et sa culture (bien que je ne boive pas d’alcool).
Vive la France! …et surtout les Françaises!
Kevin
Hi, thanks ‘Marmot’ ! (are there such animals in Korea? I used to have ‘teddy marmots’ in my early youth instead of teddy bears, as I liked to chase them in the Alps mountains).
Your link will sure boost the debate with the ‘Yankees’, but I will learn from our disagreements, and am always surprised to see that what another Frenchman, Monsieur de Tocqueville, wrote about you Americans 170 years ago (when there was no more than 20 million of you) is still largely valid.
chubbybee,
Oh, God, I wasn’t trying to be profound. I don’t seriously believe there’s a neat separation between culture and politics– I’ve studied too much Buddhism to believe that. All things are connected, as Yoda might say.
It’s how we often tend to deal with large, complex phenomena: we isolate various parts (instinctively or quite consciously) and often speak as if the parts are neatly separated or distinct. Of course, as exploration and discussion ensue, we realize the case isn’t so simple– which is your point, I think, and I agree.
While I’m fairly comfortable writing in (admittedly imperfect) French, I may not have transmitted the joking tenderness I was intending. France’s politics do indeed frustrate me, but it’s possible, as you say about the US, to dislike certain aspects of a culture/nation/society/etc. while loving others. La vie est compliquée. Of course, it’s good to see how the parts of a phenomenon interrelate, and occasionally to question whether we’ve parsed the phenomenon correctly.
A more uncomfortable question might be: how can Kevin know he’s gained a real appreciation for French culture if he doesn’t drink alcohol? What kind of asshole lives in France and doesn’t try the wine?
I always had fruit juice while everyone else drank wine, back when I lived with a host family. I did attend a dégustation in Nice once, a few years later, but since I’ve never acquired a taste for alcohol, I had no idea what I was drinking, or how good it was.
Hélas.
Kevin
mondieu! big hominid doesn’t drink… c’est pas vrais! merci fo the the thoughtful reply. i hope it isn’t a medical condition that keeps you from partaking in france’s finest (save of course the incredibly tall, slender _well_ endowed ladies)…
i would have never guessed that such a vulgar hominid could be a teetotaler.
You don’t drink, Kevin? Christ, I should take you off my blog list before your teetotalering spirit contaminates the ethos of this site!
Kind of freaky, huh? A guy goes to Georgetown and doesn’t drink a drop. I had roommates who made it their mission in life to get me to drink. Didn’t work.
Yeah, I live pretty monastically. Sadness.
Kevin
“Kind of freaky, huh? A guy goes to Georgetown and doesn’t drink a drop. I had roommates who made it their mission in life to get me to drink. Didn’t work.
Yeah, I live pretty monastically. Sadness.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Kim at December 14, 2003 07:03 AM
”
Jesus! you’re from Georgetown? Did the Catholics teach you all the cuss words?
Raphael,
Most priests I know, Jesuit or otherwise, are salty-tongued. By which I’m not admitting to having been French-kissed by priests, so get your mind out of the gutter. Heh.
No, I think my chronic nastiness is pretty much a function of my own native foulness, though from a Buddhist standpoint we have to say that everything comes from somewhere else– dependent co-arising. To borrow from Thich Nhat Hanh, Kevin is composed entirely of non-Kevin elements.
Thanks to my Dad, I’ve had a long association with the military. Whereas many high-minded folks will say things like, “To express yourself intelligently, you don’t need to resort to swearing,” I tend to feel that foul language is a medium for very creative expression– and the military folks have set high standards in this area… which I rarely meet, though not for lack of trying.
The French are fabulous at swearing. Being able to make an enchanement de jurons is actually quite aesthetic– I remember learning this when I went to France in the mid-80s for the first time. It was a trip down memory lane when, in “The Matrix Reloaded,” the Merovingian spewed a very familiar chain of swear words then concluded, “It’s like wiping your ass with silk; I love it.”
Kevin
Why are you painting korea in such an unflattering light? As if these ugly points were simply unique to korea. Korea is way ahead of its time than china and more digitally advanced than japan. There is rampant corruption in all three countries. The ‘neighnors’ are not anymore serious than koreans. Koreans are in a strategic location. It is just the ramifications of their political climate which is tense. Koreans are the original stock from where the tough and striving asian came from and Japan has inherited, China is large and buffered. Koreans are also a very unique and proud people and they are great inventors. Koreans have endured tremendously and exceled. Koreans deserve respect as they were the original torch and icon of the indomitable asian spirit but is now being lost in obscurity.