The Korean Squat - the only way to relieve those tired legs
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Don’t lie. You do it sometimes when no one’s around.
For the uninitiated, you are in for a treat. The Korean Squat (also referred to as the Kimchi Squat) is a great way to relieve tired legs whilst waiting for public transportation, using a large brown bowl, or just chatting with friends when chairs are MIA.
It’s not terribly hard to see this on a daily basis. For that matter, there’s no shortage of people posting photos of the peculiar act, either. Case in point: Here, here, here, and here. Even celebrities do it. Proof:
What I like is that the Korean Squat is not only applicable to Koreans - apparently many different people of Asian decent can do it with ease. White people everywhere are jealous. I can do it but like other foreigners, I can only do it for a fraction of the time that Koreans do it. The pressure on the lower half of my body is excruciating after a few minutes. However, after I’ve been standing for a long time I find myself squatting for only a brief time to regain some strength in my feet when chairs and benches are absent. You’re welcome legs.
But, it’s not that I look down upon it with condescension or marvel at it with wonder, it’s simply that the squat is one the little things about Korea that make it special to me. I would venture to guess that most Koreans do not think of the squat as special or even uniquely Korean.
If someone in America squatted at an intersection waiting for the light to change, people would either ask if the person is alright or pass him or her off as a crazy person. Either way it would deserve some attention.
Furthermore, I would guess that without a foreigner gawking with a camera, they wouldn’t think twice about doing it in the first place. Let alone, a foreigner such as myself writing a blog post about something that most would likely consider just a normal part of their lives; no more interesting than the zipper neckties or instant freeze dried coffee so readily available.
So now it’s just up to the masses to decide to do it or not - social awkwardness be damned. Now that you have been exposed, I pose the question: Are you a squatter?
Thoughts?
Posted by Matthew in How Koreans Do It |
October 20th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Wow I am really glad that someone finally touched on this subject. When I started teaching last year I found myself in a squatted position to fix an instrument (I’m a music teacher) for my students and one of my American students (I teach at an international high school where 95% of the students are Asian) pointed out that there is a certain way that people squat. He squatted next to me and he and his friends started laughing and said “wow, I don’t know how Asian people do it because I seriously cannot do it.” He actually told me “you have an asian squat”….which would make sense because I am 1/4 Japanese (my mom is half, and my grandmother is full), but I never noticed it until he said something…now he always makes fun of me for it and I poke fun at him because he can’t.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
It makes my knees hurt! I dunno how they can do it. But then I suppose since they do it since they’re children, their legs are used to it XD
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I never thought of squatting as a particularly difficulty thing to do…(sorry, I’m Asian). Practice makes perfect, I guess? We like being close to the ground.
Squatting toilets are common in Asia but a rarity in the West. It takes tremendous skill to use a squatting toilet. If you haven’t tried before, you should, just for the fun of it! Just go out into your garden, if you have one!
October 26th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Yes, it’s not difficult ^_^.
Sometimes people in my country - Indonesia - do that at public area.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:41 am
[…] I am just too tall to be doing the kimchi squat. […]
October 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
My ethnic background is Dutch, so while I might well be able to wear wooden shoes longer than any of the rest of you, without ever getting blisters, the “kimchi squat” makes my knees and ankles scream in agony.
The time it really gets me is when I see young people do it — I’m used to seeing the old ladies squatting in the street, shucking garlic cloves or whatever, but once I walked past a group of five quite attractive, very well-dressed and groomed women who looked like office workers in their twenties, squatting to have a smoke on the sidewalk, and I was shaking my head all the way home. They stood up when they saw that I’d noticed them, but it still threw me for a loop.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:43 am
This is something I’ve never noticed before, and I’ve been in Korea for over a year and a half now. Now that I think about it, I think it’s something I may have passively seen, but never really noticed. I suppose it’s something I’ll notice more now that it’s been brought to my attention. But yeah, never noticed it before.
I have a friend who lived in rural Nepal for a year while volunteering with the Peace Corps about 10 years ago. She said that it was not common for houses to have chairs, or anywhere to sit other than the floor. So, they would squat in groups and chat. I’m pretty skinny, so I don’t have much weight weighing down on my legs, but I think I would find doing the squat for more than a few minutes quite painful.
And since the school I work at only has squat toilets, I’m grateful every day that I’m a man and I can use a urinal. I don’t know how the female teachers (especially non-Korean female teachers not used to squat toilets) survive on a daily basis. 고생이 많겠네요…
November 4th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I’m British and have no Asian decent. I came to Korea 3 months ago and I love squatting! For me it’s a great way to be near the floor, whether for a rest, mopping it or any other thing that you need to be near the ground for! Thank you to the people of Asia for showing me this technique ^.^
November 12th, 2009 at 9:28 am
I love this topic - I had never really considered it before. I am a westerner and I often squat to do my gardening or to enjoy a view when I have been bushwalking or just to have a rest. I squat in the Asian style and I think it is probably because I spent a few years going to school in Singapore as a teenager. I also spent a considerable time in the army and as a soldier in the field toilets were hard to come by, so squatting to relieve yourself was the only option. I look forward to going to Korea in a couple of months and I guess I will really notice people squatting. Thanks for the fun post
November 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
The Korean Squat? You make it sound like its some kind of racial thing. I know you are not really trying to do that but the ability to squat like that comes from years of sitting on the floor as opposed to sitting on chairs with our legs dangling like useless appendages. Koreans have strong legs and sitting on floors for meals and socializing makes so much more sense if flexibility is something you desire. I have been in Korea for 10 years now and although I still have difficulty from time to time, I can usually stay seated in a crosslegged position or squat for a reasonable length of time. When I first got to Korea I would fall over or cramp up ( not something you want to do in one of those older squatter washrooms) after just a few minutes now. The other day I met a 94 year old man with a bicycle. Imagine my surprise when he did rolling mount on the bike sidesaddle. Awesome! Lazyboy you can keep your recliners. IKEA you stuff your modern deco sofas and chairs! The Korean squat is the way to go. Ofcourse you have to first getover the fact that we all look like Diane Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist when we do it.
November 15th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Well, it might just as well be a Romanian thing as well; we use that squat position to rest tired legs and chat too. True, not just anywhere; if wearing facy clothes they can get creased. skirts might be too tight etc.
But we do it, and I find it relaxing.
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I squat as daily exercise to keep the sacrum as stretched out and flexible as possible. If craniosacral theory is valid, this practice would give the brain better circulation and maybe prevent neurological conditions such as vascular dementia. Do a little everyday and your hips will be more mobile and seductive when you walk!