Korean Job Discussion Forums

[madeinkorea]

A little background information: As an adoptee this was my first trip back to the mother country and one could say I expected a lot from it. I even naively expected to be able to trace my roots and reunite with my biological family. Man was I wrong... Not only were they unable at the adoption agency to provide me with any useful information, I was also confronted with not so welcoming behavior from the locals. I mean, a great part of them were quite hostile towards me when realising I didn't speak Korean...

There was this goshiwon lady answering in perfect English: "I cannot understand you" while at the same time refusing to address me any further. It was an old lady and it took place in some shady neighborhood around Seoul Station (yes I was quite lost my first day, or rather night in Korea)... Along with her condescending attitude it made me think about an era when people were even more overtly against so-called outsiders.

This and a couple of other negative encounters with Koreans later on during my stay made me feel like a stranger in my once meant to be home country. It was quite a horrible experience and during a while I felt a lot of contempt even though I found great pleasure in being able to wander the streets unnoticed aka blending in - at least physically. Yes it made me awkwardly feel at home, you can not imagine.

Anyway it struck me that overall Koreans showed to not be more involved with the phenomenom adoption. At some point I even wondered if they even know about it. For a nation that used to be the top exporter of babies and children for the purpose of international adoption, it was very strange -even traumatising, witnessing this kind of (feigned?) ignorance.

[Rteacher]

If you really want to connect/re-connect with Korean culture, I think you need to learn the language to some extent. Around Seoul, there were several "learn Korean for free" classes run by friendly educators, and one of the sponsors of this forum (beeline) also advertises "free Korean lessons" online ...

[madeinkorea]

I know but it's so difficult... Also my grudge against Korea makes that I didn't put much effort in it.