With the seismic shift on the global entertainment landscape known as hallyu, stemming from a Chinese phrase meaning ‘Korean wave,’ including everything from fashion to skin care, K-pop music, and the romance of K-dramas, we also glean timeless cultural customs for living with added measures of kindness.
Wherever you call home, these eleven tender K-Cozy gestures open the heart:
- Wipe a friend’s tears and yours will be wiped away too.
- Never eat or drink alone.
- Share an umbrella in rain or sun (even with a stranger).
- Remember ordinary things can be fancy—like pastry shops.
- Eat something spicy when you’re sad.
- Wear couple t-shirts and socks (or anything matching) with a BFF.
- When a friend is sick, stop by the pharmacy on your way to deliver comfort.
- Help the elderly across the street—or anyone struggling (as with luggage at a train station).
- Instead of giving directions, accompany the other all the way to their destination.
- Kick those street shoes off at the door and slip into a pair of comfy house slippers.
- Eat cake.
Donna K. Wallace, who lives spaciously in Big Sky Country Montana, is mom to a global traveler and enjoys visiting other countries too, meeting new friends and learning traditions of cordiality—most recently in Seoul—where her daughter attended Korea University.