The Trusting Society

I must first say that my opinions about Korea were easier to express early on in my stay. It was simple to make generalizations about Korea based on just a few days or weeks in one area of the country. As I stay longer and see more it becomes harder to contrast Koreans to what I consider normal.
My perspective will remain confined to that of a white male ‘professor’ who doesn’t speak the language. Nevertheless, I am observing and learning. And I have noticed several behaviors that have prevailed to be a strong part of the culture: being trusting, distaste for planned schedules, and an obsession for rice and slippers.
I will focus mainly on the fact that Koreans here seem to be extremely trusting of each other. Now I am in the outskirts of a small city and am living in a Christian college, but I truly think that this aspect of their culture can be seen throughout Korea, possibly with the exception of the two largest cities –Seoul and Pusan.
When I go downtown, I usually go to a café and study for awhile. The cafés here are usually ritzy places and will charge about $4 for a cup of coffee, often the size of a Starbuck’s smallest cup. I’ll go up to the counter and get a cup, but they won’t charge yet. I could sit all day if I wanted after finishing my cup and not be asked to pay. On the way out, customers will stop by the counter to pay their bill.
One time, riding a taxi going downtown, we were caught in traffic. So, it took about 15 minutes. It normally is about a $6 ride, so the driver decided to point at the meter when it was at 6,000 won and turned it off. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but I handed him a 10(,000) and he pocketed it. Though I still wasn’t sure as to what he was up to, I thought it was kind of funny. When he finally finished driving, he pulled out the 4,000 change and said thank you. He wasn’t out to make an extra profit off a group of foreigners that hadn’t a clue.
The best examples of how trusting people are here is at the cafeteria and the gym. At the faculty cafeteria I could eat everyday for free. Many people will eat without paying beforehand as I do. They can write an IOU or nothing at all and just later in the week tell the cashier what they ate. It seems that they don’t have to worry about anyone trying to cheat the system.
The gym and rec. hall has a membership fee of $30 /month or $60 / semester and is used by a small percentage of the students (I think that gyms and sports aren’t nearly as big of a deal as they are in the US or any Western country). There is usually someone on duty, though they are as dependable as a Hawaiian when it comes to showing up to work on-time. There is no one checking IDs. Plus, a secret is that they leave the key about one inch from the lock. So, when the gym is closed, like on Sundays, someone who hasn’t paid for any membership could have the gym to himself.
It seems that there is a great innocence here, an innocence that I hope they don’t have to lose. There are many more examples of this openness and the feeling of trust. In a country that has spent so much of its history subjugated by other empires and is still in a bit of a civil war, its amazing to see the trust among each other and of FOB foreigners –such as myself.I guess after living with all the freaks of Berkeley and being surrounded by the US murder capitals, Oakland and Richmond, I am surprised to see such a peaceful trusting society.