Italian and Korean Culture Compared: An Expat's Perspective

이탈리아 요리는 한식의 복잡한 조리법과 달리 간단하고 맛깔스러운 요리를 우선시합니다.

### 이탈리아인 여성의 한국 생활기: 문화 충격과 따뜻한 연대
* 🇮🇹 이탈리아 출신의 한 여성이 한국에서의 생활을 공유하며, 한국 남편과의 결혼을 계기로 한국에 온 사연을 전했다.
* 🎤 가수이자 작곡가로 활동하며 한국에서는 직장 생활을 병행하고 있으며, 한국어 학습 과정과 한국 역사에 대한 관심을 드러냈다.
* 🧀 이탈리아 음식, 특히 **치즈**에 대한 애정을 표현하며, 이탈리아 요리와 한국 요리의 차이점에 대한 이야기를 나누었다.  "치즈는 사랑이고 삶과 같다"는 그녀의 말처럼 이탈리아 요리의 **단순함**과 **다양한 치즈**를 강조했다.
* 🇰🇷 한국 생활의 장점으로 **편리한 교통 시스템**과 **깨끗한 환경**을 꼽았으며, 단점으로는 **늦은 밤 거리의 음주 소란**과 **한국 직장 문화의 어려움**을 언급했다.
* 🇰🇷🇮🇹 한국과 이탈리아의 **직장 문화** 차이를 비교하며, 한국의 **높은 업무 강도**와 **엄격한 서열**에 대한 인상을 전달했다.  반면 이탈리아는 **수평적인 관계**와 **느긋한 분위기**가 특징이지만, 이는 **낮은 생산성**으로 이어질 수 있다고 지적했다.
* 🇰🇷 이탈리아인 친구의 시각에서 바라본 2022년 **한국 계엄령** 상황에 대한 경험을 공유하며, 한국인들의 **평화적인 시위**와 **연대**에 깊은 감명을 받았다고 언급했다.  "한국인들의 **결속력**에 충격을 받았다"는 그녀의 말은 당시 상황의 심각성과 한국인들의 대응을 보여준다.
* 🏠 한국 주택의 **곰팡이 문제**를 언급하며, 이는 많은 외국인들이 겪는 어려움이라고 덧붙였다.
* 🍝 마지막으로, 한국에서의 **파스타** 경험에 대한 기대감을 드러내며 영상을 마무리했다.

My favorite Italian food is um... [Music] Okay, nice to see you again! Yeah, long time no see. Been good? This is my Italian

friend. Nice to meet you. I'm from Italy, from Rome. I film for music videos because I'm a singer and composer. You sing?

Yeah, I thought she was an office worker. I'm an office worker here in Korea because, you know, the singing industry is a

little bit hard to get into. I record in my studio in my house. Can you sing for me a little bit?  'Have Yourself a Merry

Little Christmas, make your heart be bright...' I... I don't know the rest of the lyrics. Thank you. How long have you been here?

Since 2022, so it's been almost two years because I came here in December 2022. Why

did you come here? My husband... you're married? Yeah, I'm married. What am I doing here? Introduce me to a nice Korean guy, then I

will marry him! It's hard to find a nice guy.

picky? I am very picky. But that's, you know... why? Because I only ever had one relationship in my life. Was he French?

No, no, he was purely Italian. When was the first time you started being interested in Korea? I actually started with

Japan. Interest? Yeah, for sure. But I mean, that's kind of normal, especially in Western culture.

Japanese at first, but Japanese is... so you gave up? Yes, it's too hard! So I said, maybe I will start first with Korea and

then I will... I will think about that later. Yeah, Korean is very easy.

Yeah, Korean is easy. Oh yeah, at least the alphabet. And then I

studied a little bit of history. Everybody knows about the Japan-Korea relationship.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you finally understand why Korean people, you know, have a grudge?

Came here because of your marriage, yes, not just because of Korean food. Korean? No, my favorite is Italian food.

Okay, and with this, my friends, I say goodbye. I thought we were friends?

No, you were very wrong. I W— you! That was unexpected. Yeah, he likes to make people angry.

Okay, I have a question for you. I'm scared.

You should be! Why is cheese indispensable in Italian cuisine? Every day she has cheese in it! Cheese is life!

Cheese! Cheese is like love—life; you can't get over it. The thing is, also, we don't have one kind of cheese; we have so many variations of cheese.

Cheesy cheese! But there are many kinds of cheese. Cheesy cheese, my friend Min is...

…in Korea. You have almost the same taste. There's a cheddar taste and a bit of a mozzarella taste, kind of like American cheese.

American cheese? That is… uh… what is American cheese? Sorry, friends. I asked Chad about the difference between Italian and Korean…

Wow! Let's hear what Chad has to say. Let's see, let's see. Korean cooking typically requires a lot of effort and time.

For instance, making broth can take several hours, and the process of preparing kimchi involves multiple steps.

Dedication adds a sense of warmth to the food. Italian cuisine also involves care and dedication.

Oh no! Oh my! Many dishes are simple and quick to prepare, which can make a noticeable difference in this aspect. Korean cuisine offers a wide variety of flavors...

...through its use of seasonings, cooking methods, fermented foods, and side dishes, delivering a sense of dedication and warmth that makes it even more…

...in bias. In contrast, it might feel overly simple.

That's actually true, yeah. But you know, it has to be simple because you have to enjoy every flavor; you don't have to cover it up with spices.

It's not to over-flavor it. Over-flavor? You guys are saying that Korean food is overly flavored? That's not... not your bias?

Chbt, okay. JBT, okay. But like, imagine Italian food. If you put, like, I don't know, a bunch of, like, salt and pepper or...

Garlic. Yeah, or garlic. Like, if you filled it with that, like, it would not taste the same anymore. It would be too much. You

wouldn't feel the pasta's flavor. You wouldn't feel the tomato's flavor. You wouldn't feel any other flavor in there.

Okay, pros and cons of living in Korea. Pros: Transportation, cleanliness, everything works well, like the system. The

system is perfect. One of the best, I think. While in Italy... you know. Yeah, I know. Italy is messy. Okay, Italy is one of the

worst countries for systems. Yeah, like you need some kind of paper from either the government or any of those instances; the

loops that you have to go through. It's so hard to get anything done, and it's going to take you like months, if not

years to get anything done. And money... oh yeah. Oh, it's so expensive. So many services are free, but in Italy we have

to pay even a lot for the services, and that's actually something I'm angry about. We already pay a lot of taxes. Oh

yeah. If I'm not wrong, Italy has the highest taxes in Europe. Where do these taxes go? Politicians, of course, as usual. I heard

that political life in Italy is messy. Boy, let's not even talk about that. Well, this is kind of happening in Korea as well, so

in another way, it's very shocking, though. People, their memory is still fresh from these kinds of instances, so they're

reacting very strongly. Yeah, it's a trauma. Yeah, exactly. So they're like, "Nope, this is not happening." Whereas in

Italy, we are so used to that. It's always been so bad, and it's gotten worse, like incrementally, so we don't even notice it.

Anything changed? They just gave up. Yeah, they just gave up. That's the big difference, like right here.

People were like in the streets, like, "No, it's not happening in Italy." It's like, "Okay, whatever." So how did you feel? I was

just laughing. I thought it was a joke. No, I believed it, but I was like, "Oh well, what can I do? I'm just a dumb foreigner"

What about your family and friends? Maybe they were worried. They contacted me as soon as I actually

didn't know about the news. My friend contacted me; he told me, "Hey, what's happening in Korea right now?" And I read

Same. My American friend just texted me, "Bro, what's going on in Korea? What what do

you mean, what's going on?" Yeah, I just take the news and then martial... what the...? Yeah, my mom said it was on the news for

days after it happened in Italy. Yes, I guess the news was bigger than here. That's crazy. So your parents like...

Italy? No, no. I didn't do like this. I, as soon as I like tried to calm them down,

saying like, "Oh, it's okay. They will do something. I'm sure, because I know Koreans are very good at this." So I was

sure about that. That was actually a very touching moment that people just...

to stop the soldiers. Mhm. Yeah, I mean the

soldiers, honestly, most of them didn't really want to be there. Like you could see it. They disobeyed the order. Exactly.

Also the protests afterwards. I was surprised by how organized and peaceful they were. Like there was not that much

conflict; nothing bad happened. And actually, I heard that there were many coffee shops, and there were people paying in advance for coffees for people

there and stuff. I heard like it was even in the news like yesterday; somebody paid like, like 5 million won or something to a

Coffee shop to have coffees for anyone that was protesting. See, this is Korea. No, that was amazing! I... good. I was pleasantly

shocked by that. It was... I must say, this part of Korea is amazing, like the solidarity of the people. Welcome to

Korea! Welcome to... to Korea. Appreciating Korea. What about cons? Oh, I have a con.  Me? You, the old man

spitting in the streets at night at 4:00 a.m. Sometimes I'm sleeping and I wake

up... You're... that is horrible! They're drunk. Drunk people can do that; their brains are not fully

functional. That's... that's my only con. For me, it would be the work environment. Ah, well, you worked in an office, so that's

till now. I didn't have a good experience of work because the working environment is pretty different from

Italy. So I guess it depends a lot on where you end up working. I'll tell you why the Korean working environment is really

hard. I ask, of course. I actually already knew this fact, but just in case, I just double-checked. Of course, the

challenging work environment in Korea can be attributed to various historical and social factors, one of which is the

influence of Japan during Korea's industrialization period. It's always the Japanese. That's why we learn from Japan.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, they do have very strict... even more than Korea. Oh, yeah, way more. So what about Italy? Italy is way easier than

Korea. Not way easier, but I assume that Italian people are not working as hard as Korean people. Like Korean...

100%! 100%! Yeah, it's different because we have a different relationship with our bosses, usually. So in all the work environments

where I was in Italy, there was never a strict hierarchy, so we always had this friendly vibe going on, which can be good.

But it can also be bad. It's good because you don't have all that stress on you, but it's also bad because then people

take advantage of that. So, you know, like, "Oh, if I don't have to do this thing, then I'm not going to do it." So that work

doesn't get done, and then everyone else is in trouble because nobody did the job that had to be done. So that keeps

rolling like that, and nothing gets done. That's why we're not productive enough. Yeah. Mhm. 'Cause everyone is very laid-back

and also I think people are very entitled, especially nowadays. 'Cause my mom, she takes care of immigrant kids, like

minors, and whenever they come of age, she finds them a job. And she sees like the difference of those kids that need

to work to survive. They want to send money home and stuff like that's their reason for going to Europe. They work so

hard, like both during their schooling, when they look for a job, and they work in like different industries. They work

so hard, they're so diligent. And then you see the Italian counterparts where there are a lot of news about these things

happening where, I don't know, you go to a job interview and some Italians bring their mom, their dad, you know, for

emotional support, 'cause like they can't deal with having like a job interview or something, or they refuse to work in more

physically heavy jobs, like, I don't know, factories. Yeah, exactly. They refuse to work those jobs 'cause they're like, "Oh, no, I

don't want to work such a difficult job," even though they're pretty well-paid lately. Or also they're like, "Oh, I'm not

going to work on the weekends." So that's that's also an issue. So oh, no. You laughing is never a good sign. No, no, no.

"와 상상도 못했다;;" 계엄 그 후 한국인들 반응과 결속력에 충격 먹은 이탈리아 외국인 반응ㄷㄷ 우리가 몰랐던 이야기

국내 외 문화를 교류하는 토크쇼, 인터뷰, 뉴스, 다큐 등  각종 엔터 영상을 제공하는 
Variety show channel




CKOONY

이탈리아 친구와의 만남 및 한국 생활

이탈리아 출신의 음악가 친구 소개

한국에서 직장 생활을 하는 이유 (가수 활동의 어려움)

한국에 대한 관심의 시작 (일본어 학습 후 한국어로 전환)

이탈리아 음식과 한국 음식 비교

이탈리아 요리에서 치즈의 중요성

한국 요리의 정성과 시간 소모 (육수, 김치 등)

한국 요리의 다양한 풍미와 양념, 숙성 음식, 반찬

이탈리아 요리의 간결함과 재료 본연의 맛에 대한 강조

한국 음식의 과도한 양념에 대한 의견 차이

한국 생활의 장점: 교통, 청결, 시스템

이탈리아 시스템의 비효율성과 높은 세금 문제

한국 생활의 단점: 야간 음주자의 침뱉기

이탈리아 직장 환경과의 비교 (수직적 관계, 업무 태도)

한국 생활의 단점: 곰팡이 문제

계엄령 이후 한국인들의 반응과 연대

이탈리아 친구와 가족들의 반응

군인들의 저항과 시민들의 평화적인 시위

시민들의 연대와 따뜻한 행동 (커피 기부 등)

한국인들의 연대에 대한 놀라움과 감동