Korean Friendships

My friend Young, of whom I posted before, turned 30 today. Young and I decided, starting last week, that we will have lunch together on Thursdays. Of course with his birthday today it was a special lunch and many of his school friends joined.

It is not uncommon for the friendship-click formed at school to stay with a Korean throughout his life. This group would every so often get together to enjoy each other's company and literally grow up (and old) together. Korea is a group-centered society, therefore the "group" is very important, and such group-friendships are treasured. (It is for this same reason that foreigners seldom become authentically best friends with Koreans, because their closest friendships were already formed at school.)

This is so different from my Western experience. Of my primary school friends I'm in touch with only one person. Of my high school friends probably no more than four. And we never hang out together as a group. I usually visit with one or two of them at a time. Some of them I only see once a year or so. Also, my closest friendships were molded not as a child, but as a young adult.

It was nice to see Young and his groupie, so very comfortable with each other. And it was especially nice to be a part of the group, at least for an hour.

The photo in this post is not a Creative Commons image.