A typical Korean school lunch is a nutritious, hot, multi-component meal served cafeteria-style, always featuring rice, soup, kimchi, protein (like chicken or fish), vegetables, and a fruit or drink, emphasizing fresh ingredients and strict hygiene, with daily menus varying to offer diverse flavors like bulgogi, japchae, or tteokbokki alongside staples.
School Lunch in South Korea
Clockwise from bottom right: pork backbone stew (돼지등뼈감자탕), rice with glutinous millet (차조밥), Korean ham pancake and tofu pancake (햄전&두부전), seasoned water dropwort with mung bean sprouts (미나리숙주나물무침), sliced radish kimchi (섞박지), and mango pudding (망고푸...
Korean School Lunches
A typical meal at a Korean household consists of a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup or stew and numerous banchan (side dishes.) Fun fact: Koreans love spicy food more than ever. Kimchi, for example, now uses 12x as much chili pepper in 2010 as 1930!
The Issue. I have once realized that though much of the world acknowledges 18 as the age of legal adulthood and age of majority, this is not so in South Korea where the legal adult age and age of majority is 19 that confuses the international age of 18 by Korean standards.
If your birthday has passed: Your Age + 1 = Korean Age. If your birthday hasn't passed yet: Your Age + 2 = Korean Age.
South Korea's 52-hour work rule caps most employees' weekly working hours at 52, consisting of 40 standard hours plus 12 allowed overtime hours, aiming to reduce overwork, improve work-life balance, and boost productivity by ending excessively long workweeks previously common in the country. Implemented in phases for different company sizes, this law applies to a seven-day week, including weekends, and was a major revision to the Labor Standards Act, phasing in from 2018 to 2021 for most businesses.
The "3 date rule" in Korean dating refers to the common practice of deciding whether to become an official couple after the third date, moving quickly from casual "talking" (sseom) to an exclusive relationship, a faster pace than many Western cultures where dating remains casual for longer. It's an unwritten guideline where the first dates assess compatibility, and by the third, couples often establish commitment, sometimes with "couple items" or frequent communication. While still influential, younger generations (Gen Z) are sometimes moving away from this rigid timeline.
The regular consumption of three meals—breakfast, lunch, and dinner— is considered the norm in traditional Korean society.
Holland is known as "the first openly gay K-pop idol". He is an only child. His parents found out about his sexuality after he discussed it in an interview.
Tteokbokki is Korea's national snack. The Korean love of tteokbokki begins early thanks to the school zone snackshop. A paper cup of tteokbokki for KRW 500 was a regular snack on their way home from school. The main ingredients of a cup of tteokbokki used to be rice cakes, fish cakes and eggs.
Traditional dishes like Kimchi, Bibimbap, Samgyeopsal, Japchae, and Sundubu Jjigae are nutrient-dense and emphasize vegetables, fermented foods, and mindful eating. Experts believe the Korean diet aids in weight loss and lowers risks of chronic diseases by avoiding processed, sugary, and fatty foods.
What salary is needed to live comfortably in South Korea? To live comfortably in South Korea, especially in big cities like Seoul, you should aim for a monthly salary between 2.5 and 3 million Korean won (about 2,000 to 2,400 USD).
In South Korea, night self-learning for high school students begins at around 6 pm. on average when classes are completed and night self-learning is finished until 9 pm, 10 pm. Depending on the school, students who want to study at night after regular night self-hours will be able to study for an additional hour.
When hungry, any Korean would swear that a bowl of rice and some kimchi are all that's needed to complete a meal. The most popular type is the traditional version made from napa cabbages, called baechu kimchi. Not only is kimchi eaten as a side dish, but it is also used as an ingredient in other dishes.
The "333 rule" in Korea is a popular oral hygiene guideline promoted by the Korean Dental Association: brush three times a day, for three minutes each time, within three minutes after meals, to combat plaque and maintain dental health, though some experts suggest waiting 30-60 minutes after eating due to enamel's temporary acidity after meals, making it a cultural practice linked to public brushing habits.
4B movement, South Korean feminist activist movement and political stance defined by four deliberate refusals: bihon (“no marriage”), bichulsan (“no childbirth”), biyonae (“no dating”), bisekseu (“no sex [with men]”).
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Sealy Bed Surveys 20,000 People Around the World The average Korean sleep time is only 4-6 hours. 95% said, "I don't feel refreshed in the morning". According to a survey, the average sleeping time of Koreans is only 4-6 hours, which falls short of the global level.
South Korean law prohibits political activities by foreigners. Even peaceful demonstrations can turn violent at any time. They can lead to significant disruptions to traffic and public transportation.
A total of 118 days off will be available for South Korean workers throughout the year, including Saturdays and 70 so-called “red days” -- public holidays and Sundays -- marked in red ink on standard Korean calendars, according to the Korea Aerospace Administration's official calendary.
South Korea has officially switched to the international age system, meaning most Koreans are now 1–2 years younger than before. In the traditional “Korean age” system, everyone is considered 1 year old at birth and gains another year every January 1st, regardless of their actual birthday.
Korean uses two number systems, Sino-Korean (il, i, sam...) for dates, money, minutes, and Native Korean (hana, dul, set...) for general counting, age, and hours; 1-10 in Sino-Korean are 일 (il), 이 (i), 삼 (sam), 사 (sa), 오 (o), 육 (yuk), 칠 (chil), 팔 (pal), 구 (gu), 십 (sip), while in Native Korean they are 하나 (hana), 둘 (dul), 셋 (set), 넷 (net), 다섯 (daseot), 여섯 (yeoseot), 일곱 (ilgop), 여덟 (yeodeol), 아홉 (ahop), 열 (yeol).