컬쳐쇼크 Korean Culture Shock!! "I didn't steal your bag"

[joaomarcelo1917]

In Brazil even if you don't left the bag, someone could steal it, and your shoes as well!

[KenshinForever]

what a nice guy :D

[dkrdj2003]

Because, they want to keep their seats ..

[omglykmybffjill]

Oh, and I wanted to add, I've accidently left my credit card somewhere once (not in DC of course) and it was in the lost and found when I went back to look for it hours later. Many of the things I've lost, but not all, are usually returned to me or are put in the lost and found.

[omglykmybffjill]

Most of the places I've lived have been like that (mostly in the US. I haven't really seen it in Germany but I think saving a seat like that is considered rude there?). I'm not sure if its only southern towns or just not big cities cause the only large city I've ever lived in was D.C in which no one claims to be southern ._.

[adodds530]

I live in the U.S. & I'm able to leave my bag unattended in cafes (to save my seat) with no problem. I probably wouldn't leave to go to the restroom, but as long as it's in sight. This might be because I live in a smaller city/college town though...so people seem to be more trusting of each other.

[strykerdax]

I had the same experience!

I was at a bus stop trying to figure out which bus to take but I had no idea.

So I asked a Korean.

He had no idea too.

So what did he do next?

He left his suitcase at the bus stop, walked 10m to a nearby stall and asked for directions, without even looking back at his suitcase!

I find it really amazing that they have this sense of security in public.

[ArcArT92]

I loved your Korean.....I've been studying korean for about 2 weeks on and off and I kind of understood some of the words you two were saying :)! I also joined a Korean club and the people in it are awesome! Thank you for uploading this!

[daehyunkim01]

This is really awesome and you speak really good korean! wow .. and you made a very informative video! with an example and everything wow congrats! ^^

[expatkerri]

@daehyunkim01 thank you so much!! i'm glad you liked it ^_^

[VVIPxHOTTEST]

OMG YOU'RE CANADIAN? :D I love you! I'm from Quebec haha ~

Koreans are so kind!

[ruthxcore10]

@VVIPxHOTTEST I'm from quebec too

[indigopocky]

It's not just Korea or Koreans I do that all the time XD (I'm American). I just take my wallet to order.

[SnowGlowingShadow]

@indigopocky

I was actually thinking the same ; I live in Sweden and i often do that. Done that so many times haha XD

[thisloneliness]

Growing up in inner city London my mother would drive me crazy asking me to check if her purse was always completely zipped and her wallet was there. You could never, ever leave it. They steal it while you're walking in some cases! Crazy that Korea is so safe in comparison to the rest of the world.

[aphrodite8604]

lol. In America your bag gets stolen while you're holding it

[keyla7fold]

Where I live, I used to be able to do that... I used to leave my purse at tables and I knew nothing would happen, but everything has changed now. Nobody leaves their belongings alone anymore in fear that they might get stolen. Times change...

[Ms3JeongaYoon]

한국어 진짜 잘하네요....한국에 살면서 한국어 절대 안배우는 외국인들 많은데 정말 자랑스러워요. so proud of you how well you speak korean. i saw so many foreigners in korea never try to learn korean, because everyone must learn to speak english in the whole world i guess idk whatever they think, this is awesome.......................­..........................i like it.

[shineeportal]

I think I'm getting better at Korean, I could actually understand some of the words and phrases and get the gist of what you guys were saying. I've used the resources that you gave in the annotations to learn and its really helpful! I've only been studying for about a month and a half too! Thanks for the upload! :)

[Ms3JeongaYoon]

@shineeportal you are so smart!!!!! :)

[shineeportal]

@Ms3JeongaYoon Thanks! :D

[WatterySnow]

omg o_o ur korean Is soo good!!

I only know easy words like, Saranghaeyo or noona neomu yeppeo xD

[Mikkcin1991]

oh noes!!!! she said the 4 letter word!

[Mrgreatestfreakout]

Omg, if you were going to make this up, you could've just skipped the conversation part because it has worsen the video by making it fake as north korea. Kim jung ill would've made a better video than this

[starshellss]

Well, maybe it's not only north americans worrying about unattended bags(of koreans). I'm korean and when i was doing the same at the library in Iceland, like letting my laptop or bag for a minute unattended, my european friends always warned me not to do that. They always told me like "Ohhh you're so naive thinking no one would never touch ur bag. Plz don't do that when we're not with u." I know Korea's changing, but maybe still Koreans believe others even though we don't know each other.

[colinshin]

haha! youre videos are so cute

[IamNotaThreat]

i lived in korea for a year and i must say that koreans are some of the most honest and kind people that i have ever met. you could literally be passed out on a park bench with money hanging out of your pockets and it would be safe. one day a friend of mine left his wallet at a cafe by accident, and the person who found it had mailed it to him with all the money still in it.

[ben08820]

If that was new york, that bag's gone in 2 seconds.

[kagoon0709]

OMGGG you are so brave to actually go after the guy and ask him why he would just leave his bag like that...to be honest i bet he would be wondering what's up with you hahaha

[kagoon0709]

haha this is how safe korea usually is

[etkaty]

우왕그남자분디게착하시네..

[jordnthoms]

The most shocking thing for me is the table of people (or worse yet -- a couple) continuously playing with their smart phones.

[bagleyy]

if non-koreans don't get it yet: imagine if the public witnessed you stealing someone's unattended goods. it would bring SHAME to you, your acquaintances, and your family. in korea, no material good is worth your dignity. also, a person who steals = a poor, homeless person with no status. in korea, status is SOOO much more important than it is in america.

[mikiedcul767]

I noticed this too! My boyfriend is from Seoul and always leaves his bag (and laptop) in plain view whenever we take breaks from studying in the library. I am always worried that someone will steal it and tell him that people here will do it, but he always shrugs it off. *sigh* Guess North America people are more paranoid... (I always hide my laptop and bag out of sight when we leave the library)

[AleksandrsLV]

I gotta say this is one reason why I love languages. I honestly found that almost exhilarating to watch as I can't even approach people like that in my own country and talk to them like that lol, and to do it in a foreign language? Amazing.

[Aspenfash899]

yeah try leaving your bag in new york smh

[ttoulousetales]

Wow, you are really brave to just run up to a stranger! Your Korean sounds great, and that guy was super nice to take a minute to talk to you. :)

People are so suspicious about bags here. I think most of my classmates don't even (often) leave them on their desks in class even when just moving to another spot for a minute or anything.

[lalalamusiclalalala]

I like how you were just gonna pretend that someone was going to come into a cafe and leave their bag there, then a person actually came!!! :D haha what a coincidence!!! He was so nice!!! Like you said "korean people are really nice" (: WOW (:

[bluecreambunnymomiji]

thats because they are honest people and they not trying to kill one another with booms

[stickinss]

Your korean is soo good (i don't speak korean but i think yours is really good) , aaand am i the only one that think this guy was really hot *.*

[cedcoc01]

This is very interesting. In France, leaving your bag to do something is not common :P Your Korean is GREAT :) I hope I'll get to speak as good as you :P That was sweat of him to answer your question. Your video are really interesting. Thanks for sharing ^^ 새해 복 많이 받으세요. ^^

[1234Theme]

Impressive that you actually did that. Also a cool and interesting video.

Thanks!

[FindMeInKurume]

Same thing here in Japan, people don't worry. I am also from Canada so the mindset for me is the same as you. However being in Japan for 5 years now, I'm a little more relaxed and don't worry as much as I did when I first arrived. Nice video.

[sungjooo]

WOW. you speak A-mazing korean!!! ^^ I couldn't believe what I was hearing. :P

[expatkerri]

@sungjooo ~thank you!! i'm really not that good at making sentences... and i want to be more fluent!! 암튼 고마워요 :)

[eViL1686]

Singaporeans do that too, but they leave a packet of tissue papers instead of their own bags...

[bloodbp]

bigger question would have been, why is he carrying a purse?

[charcharyin]

Cool I knew it! I hadn't known why but I guessed it was to claim a spot. hahahaha *dis be mah spot bitches~! gots coach written on it*

[TufaThanNigerianHair]

This is one of the reasons I love Korea!

You can tell people don't steal b/c they even sleep on the subway/bus with their bags open, and when you go into a store, you don't get followed under the pretense of someone "helping" you. This was especially shocking to me, because in America as a black person, I'm so used to being followed.

[cjswnsdl]

OMG i've never seen korean pronounciating english as engrish!!

[acting303]

OMG i did this too i live in the states and now and people are always like take your back with you and im like why... and then i realized americans expect someone to steal it whereas if you take your bag with you in korea your friend next to you would be like just leave it there what are you doing and my face is like =O. then theres that thing where petty crimes dont really happen in korea because its rude...

[MusicNFame]

the guy was sooo nice!

[MsYesunglover]

In my country it's like, if we are going to order and we are looking for the waiter it's okay and if we want to go to the bathroom and there are people (4 or 5) OK :D but no people NO OK :D

[iTOPfan]

OMG! That guy was so nice! :D

[veteranfw]

Korean's generally don't steal...when I lived there in Seoul my cultural shock was with the bathroom in an apartment. The shower head is in the middle of the bathrrom with no shower walls to keep you from wetting the entire bathroom. Blew my mind. So when I went to koreans girlfriends apartment for the weekend, I learned to SS&S in a puddle of water, LOL, so weird.

[sitemouse]

Kerri, I had the same response recently about locking the doors on my house/car from someone who doesn't live in a rural town such as mine. No one locks their doors here because everyone knows each other and it is presumed (and correctly) that someone will notice and interfere if there's intrusion. On visits to more metro areas of the USA and Canada (Ontario), I've noticed this isn't the case. Everyone is left to guard himself. I respect Koreans for guarding each other as a social norm.

[drsnowmon]

Love your confidence

[deafheart23]

Lol! Um, he was kinda cute! :3

[msdisguised]

he reminds me of one of my gay friends.. really similar on how he speaks korean and his voice!

[mypotionoflove]

in singapore..we do the same...even in more obvious manners where some of us would actually place our phones or laptop on the table to save a seat XD

[xShizukaUta]

Woah, your korean is awsome ! O __ O I wish i could talk like that >w<` Awesome <3'`.

[Sunlightflower]

Nah I leave my stuff all the time if it isn't too crowded

[librislibertas]

o my effing goodness. wow so cool! must. study. korean, harder. 부러워!

[TheNubian1985]

so fucking staged! but i am impressed you know their language!

[totetytam]

waaaa this video is so interesting

[buraburayoshi]

wow that was so cool how you got a random person to talk on camera with you! Really cool!

[starkitty5]

yay Canada!!!! Toronto!!!!

mustve been really awkward to just come up to the person and say you've been watching his bag

[TalyaSan]

So funny the way she stalked him x).

[SGlee89]

Well, I won't leave my bag in Seoul station since it is the most busy station and there are lots of homeless people but other places I don't really worry about leave my bag unattended. This happens because people somehow believe that people around other tables will watch the bag for him. by the way haven't you notice the guy keeps touching his nose?? that is the indication that he is nervous. You made that guy nervous girl :)

[havefaith89]

You are like my hero, I could NEVER do that!

[expatkerri]

@havefaith89 ~ you totally can!!!!!!!

[ReplacedMemory]

wow...It's so nice that things are that way in Korea, here you have to be careful with your belongings all the time too :S

[lycos888]

In China, your bag will be gone in 5 mins..

[heopie]

For a minute I thought it was scripted. It was because thefilm matched so well with the narrating part!

[soshalchic]

헐~

[cherylxoxo]

love this series! it's mentally preparing me for when i teach in korea lol i can blend in with everyone~

[korean701]

Of Western individualism and totalitarianism in South Korea It's an advantage of the differences occur and the totalitarian.

Formation of social consciousness in south Korea

[pangdabear]

haha! im guilty of this BUT i do keep an eye on my bag while I'm ordering. xP like he said, when there arent alot of seats available.. you gotta do what you gotta do xP

[AMHeartinSeoul]

He was so friendly! Wow! That's really interesting. I don't think anyone trusts anyone else enough to leave their stuff unattended in my city. Not even at my old university.

[Eerae]

wow!! 저는 한국사람이지만 보통 가방은 착실하게 챙기는 편인데 ㅎㅎㅎ 근데 카페같은 경우는 잠깐 주문하러 가는거니까 그닥 걱정을 안하는거같아요 글구 누가 훔쳐갈려고 하면 왠지 주변사람들이 고자질해줄거같다는 막연한 믿음? 근자감?ㅋㅋㅋ

[verypinkangel]

OMG where did you learn korean language?? woooowww tell me please xD

[expatkerri]

@verypinkangel ~~ hey~ i just added an annotation in this video to another link where I share the resources I used to teach myself ^_^ check it out! good luck!

[MissHIPPObum]

@expatkerri you taught yourself?! that's amazing i'm so proud of you...man i sound like a parent...you know what i mean...like "good for you!" i'm trying to teach myself french

[GirlPilot89]

Wow that was awesome! He was very nice to you1 lol I feel like in nyc the guy would be like...no..leave me alone lol ! GReat video!

[Eerae]

@GirlPilot89 I think it's because she is pretty and young! lol and Korean people are usually nice to Foriegners..

[GirlPilot89]

@Eerae Wheww i hope i have the same luck XD

[Eerae]

@GirlPilot89 yeah, good luck!lol

[2pmlovee17]

omg....your korean is so amazing. like full fluency in conversation with that guy. so jealous -_-

[littlemonyou]

Actually I leave my sfuff in the public library sometimes when I am in a hurry but I still try not to leave as much as I can. Cause there are warning marks all over the library that it happens a lot. And You should still care about stealing in Korea. I never leave my bag alone on the table unless there is someone who can watch my stuff, and that someone can be who I can trust like friends, parents, sometimes trustable strangers. I would never left my bag alone especially in cafe like that :P

[pinkangel451]

I'm Korean..feel weired, in Seoul? surprise..surprise..I always carry my stuffs with me not on table, especially wallet.

[algoseer]

we do that all the time in my country as well. but maybe with less expensive things. like when you are getting on a bus, you would leave something on the seat to "Reserve" it. I am from India.

[tokutom]

lol stock music

[thepinkspider1]

wooow... i'm an asian but this is actually the first time i found out that there's an asian country that THIS MUCH SAVE??

actually in our inda-culture, if we went with firends or parents or atleast more than one person.. we will do this: Like one would sit and WATCHOUT the bag and the other one go and order.. dont care if the one order for themselves then they switch or order for both.. WOOOWWW

[krizia1107]

ahh..the guy was so kind to spare his five mins to answer questions from a stranger!!!>_<

[stefy4sl]

wow!! i'm envying so much your korean TT

and wow again! we also never leave our bags on the tables to keep the place.. when we do that, there's usually also a person waiting there, and when other people have ordered, we switch the positions.. so in the end the bags are never left alone!

But i do like the fact you can leave your bag without worrying!

[francescam18]

Well, that is how it is. Also in the Philippines, Japan, . mostly asian countries

[nizishu]

@francescam18

umm... My first time to be stolen was in Philippines. T_T

My tour guide told me there are many Pickpockets in Philippines.

I should have listened it more carefully.

[slatslatslats]

i'm very careless so i always leave my bag or jacket on the table when making sure to save a seat, but we really shouldn't do that here in sweden since there's a big risk of someone stealing it. (i live in stockholm, during summer and tourist season one should really hold on to their bags tight..) but normally if i have company one of us stays behind to watch the bags. perhaps we're more paranoid?!

[NQQ613]

It's the same here in Japan. I've been doing a study abroad here for about 10 months now and the same thing happened to me. I come from the UK, and thought it was weird too... one time when I got a teaching English job, we were talking about our cultures. And I was really surprised that it doesn't matter what type of bag it is, even BRAND bags they just leave unatteneded! The guy said it was completely ok! but I told him if he came to the UK, esp London, NEVER to do that! lol :P

[JomoWhore]

Should've asked for his number while you were at it...;P

[roxanneworld11]

And get ready for this biggest shocker: in Copenhagen, specifically:

Babies left in carriages or strollers outside of stores. While their parents or 1 parent shopped inside. Often!..Not so much 'department stores' but definitely single business establishments. First time I saw it I looked for the mother! But someone explained to me that was common. This was about 10 or 15 years ago. Not sure if this is still true now - but never got over that one.

[roxanneworld11]

Go get 'em, Kerri! Wow! I'm totally impressed that you went after that guy. haha! & he was so nice to help...Hilarious but a great feeling to be in a olace where you can leave you bag kike that. Same thing happened when I went to visit & then decided to live in Denmark. People left bags like that...+ forgotten bags or wallets were always right where they were left behind accidentally.

[tetomareunafoto]

wow, this was such a great video! good job kerri :) at first i thought that the guy was a friend of yours and that you asked him to do this, but after watching the video i can see that he actually was a stranger. kudos to you for talking to him... and recording it for us :D

[deeehoang]

he seems so nice! and when u approached him he looked shocked. that was cute when he was like Do i do english?

[sasrun5]

koreans seem to be such nice people ^ ^

[lammholics]

one reason i think is that koreans are obsessed with saving seats lol

[kyeongeunchoi]

I always leave my bag to save the seat in Seoul. lol I haven't think it could be culture shock. :D Thank you for sharing this video. :D

[MattRodrig]

I have a really weird fact to tell you. Where I live in my country, people do that at restaurants, quite often. As he said, to keep the place for you. My country is more dangerous than Canada. I don't leave my bag alone, never.

[expatkerri]

@MattRodrig ~ what country do you live in?

[MattRodrig]

@expatkerri I live in Brazil. I've seen people leave their bags on the tables so many times (at least in my state). But it's not always. Anyway, very nice video. You are making me find Korea as interesting as Japan, if not more. 

[MattRodrig]

2:12 this girl eating something looks like someone from SNSD. Good video.

[awriterandagamer]

"D-Do I say Engrish?"

Heheh that made me smile X3

[cestmoiian]

oh my god lol what a courageous woman

[kanjitravel]

Haha, yea I would NEVER leave my bad unattended, and I am from a small town in Florida. Hmm... He was a cutie!!! ;)

[ChaeSu10304]

Next Episode: "I Have No Address"

I think I know exactly what the next episode is leading to.

[kkk1548]

wow your korean is so good

[dailyorangejews]

that guy is sooooooo handsome!

[4q2pab]

I left my backpack on the Seoul Subway with all my camera equipment. A restaurant owner who found it tracked me down and returned it to my hotel. I found the guy and offered him 125,000 W reward and he was "Insulted" by my gesture.

[yudelkamusic]

I wish it was like that here in the states but I guess its cause Korea seems to have a relatively low crime rate so people must not be too worried that their bag would get stolen

[HDNighster1]

@yudelkamusic Good thought, low crime rate. I've heard that crime rate is much higher in US military bases than in civilian cities in S. Korea. It's safer to live off base than on. Very interesting culture.

[iwantagoodnameplease]

Music too loud! Can't hear what you're saying. If I turn it up, the music just gets louder :P

[dani10teo]

Wow he was so kind to give that interview. Also great job for spotting him and chasing after him LOL. Your Korean was great and your videos are very interesting and helpful ^^

[lolchanele]

OH wow!! I wish it was like that here I cant leave my ipod IN my backpack at school or it will get stolen and i dont live in a bad area either XD

[kimsuke101]

wow! really culture shock...for me, i can leave my bag and order near where i can see it, but leaving it and going somewhere far to order and not knowing what will happen to my bag is a no no. btw when you said there might be a bomb in the bag I looked at him if he looked suspicious LOL

[bnzism]

Great video. And fantastic that you interviewed the guy.

[hijabeeinkorea]

please subtitle the second half for us! :) much appreciated.

[YangJettYung]

wow this is my favourite video from your channel so far!

[waterflowzz]

That was an awesome video..... hmm did you ask if you can film him? or was that part cut? lol most koreans dont like being on cam.

[TheLaurakus]

I really like these videos, but you should sub the Korean part!!

[kal20twelve]

Awesome video. I would leave my bag on the table but take valuables with me in the US. I guess the assumption in Korea is to get your stuff stolen since so many people live there.

[charlycheer]

oh yes I do that here haha..i leave my laptop or my purse and feel completely comfortable about it..I would never even consider doing that back in LA haha

[EvannRachel]

I had the same reaction when I first saw people doing this! Now I'm pretty comfortable leaving my stuff laying around most places. It's kinda nice.

[youngbinlee]

헉;; 잘못올렸다 댓글 ㅎㅎ 근데 진짜 대단해요-_-////

[youngbinlee]

Wow,

[p00lman]

That was a compliment, not an accusation. =P

[p00lman]

You've got ballz.

[GreenEggsAndHamster]

Nice! You gotta love how safe it is in Korea!

[liza183]

시간 있으세요? sounds like you're hitting on him!!!!!!! HEE HEE

[liza183]

You can really catch the interesting things!

[anjel5521]

I understood most of what you were saying and like half or a third of what he was saying. Subtitles would help but I really like that you showed the convo in Korean because I'm learning. Very cool and nice guy that just answered your question. Cool cool. :)

[deb1920]

Your videos are aptly named "Korean Culture Shock", so if there was someone who was looking to move to Korea and wanted to know what they were in for, they would probably come across your videos pretty easily. 9 times out of 10 they most likely won't know Korean, so I'm sure it would be nice for them if you had captions on your videos when Korean is being spoken.

I really like your videos by the way. :)

[expatkerri]

@deb1920 ~~~ ask and you shall receive! i just added subtitle annotations!

[qiranger]

Another great one!

[SchwarzerMannn]

good lesson to learn + very impressed with your korean you are such an inspiration to me =)

[0hayoung0]

kerri ask him why did he leave his bag on the table, and he answer that, cuz everyone do that, and no one would steal his back.. and he also mentioned that he has been to toronto kk

[edgarae1]

What did you guys say?

[Miyuuchyan2010]

Haha, such a stalker.

And what did he say? I only know basic greetings in Korean. x]

[lenamarie0485]

ok apparently watching kdramas work because i think i understood like 75% of that conversations XD (maybe knowing japanese helps too??)