Korean Job Discussion Forums

Grimalkin · Joined: 22 May 2005

Let's not count Korean gfs/bfs...apart from those how many Korean friends do you have?

After being here over a year and a half my total seens to be zero! Embarassed

I'm not exactly sure why that is but it probably doesn't help that I've hardly learnt to speak any of the language.

Another part of it seems to be we have different ideas about boundaries, some friendships have gotten started but I've been scared off by a kind of over-enthusiasm on their part (somewhat like a platonic version of their wanting to have sex on the first date....if that makes any sense at all).

And a lot of the time I just don't get where they're coming from Confused

(Don't get me wrong I'm not a total social pariah...I seem to get on fine with other westerners).

I'm just wondering how the rest of you are getting on on that score.

Do you have many Korean friends? If not why do you think that is?

If so, did you have to overcome many cultural obstacles?

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

i've never run into any cultural obstacles. i have several korean friends (about 10 i would consider good/close friends). some speak excellent english; some can't speak english at all. i also have other foreigner friends here (most are not westerners though).

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

I have a ton of Korean friends. Lately because I don't go out enough most of them have downgraded to acquaintances unfortunately. I know what you mean about being frightened by the overeagerness, but I've avoided it several times.

Young FRANKenstein · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:10 am Post subject:

Not including ex-s? Uh... Judging by the numbers in my phone memory, I suppose 10 good friends, and about the same number of acquaintances that I see every so often.

Most of them speak English quite well, which is funny because it was the ex-s who didn't speak English very well at all.

ChopChaeJoe · Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Location: Seoul

about 4 Korean friends. enough for now.

DaeguKid · Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Location: Daegu

I have Korean friends who are girls. I have met some good Korean lads, but they are the ones who dont ask me my age right off the bat. I feel that the ones that ask me my age right away want to establish who is older and therefore who has the power in the relationship (good ole confuscianism).
Now someone may come out here and say that maybe they are trying to figure out how to talk to me in Korean, but I establish that I'm from a western culture and a friend is a friend and that it is not based on age.
DK

Atavistic · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:18 am Post subject:

I have as many close Korean friends as I had close friends in America. Most of them are college students and thus about 5 years younger than me. I was just browsing a new friend's Cyworld page and found out she was born in 87. I nearly choked.

I do understand about the enthusiastic friendship thing. It was a little overwhelming at first, but now I'm used to it. Heck, I met this new one and asked her out to dinner the next night. I think making friends in Korea is less BS-y than back home. None of this, "Oh, we should get together for dinner! *Kiss Kiss* Call me!" junk.

There are cultural misunderstandings sometimes (my best friend had to text message a mutual acquaintance to save my butt when I made a very misunderstood joke) but for the most part, I don't feel like we've had to overcome anything huge.

By the way, they speak varying levels of English from virtually none to quite a bit.

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

VanIslander · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:27 pm Post subject:

qcat79 · Joined: 18 Aug 2006 Location: ROK

yeah, it was weird when i met my first korean friend. he wanted to hang out the very next day, which kinda freaked me out. then i met this other guy the other day that was too enthusiastic and it kinda freaked me out too when he invited me to spend the night at his house (because the trains had stopped running). i was going to be his english teacher too, but then he didn't show up for his lesson, which obviously through a wrench into the whole relationship thing. mixing business with pleasure isn't a good thing.

plus koreans B.S. way too much. i would still like to hang out with them and make guy friends, but i would feel awkward taking money from them if they wanted to learn english.

Mashimaro · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: location, location

I think it's kind of sad in a way how many foreign guys waste so much time sitting around having boring, vapid conversations with plain looking Korean women in the hope of getting laid..

Hey, if you get what you are looking for, it's not a complete waste of time, but of course most casual 'relationships' don't last, often end badly and generally never see them again.

I imagine a lot of guys leave after a few years with a couple of genuine female friends, a few exes, a bunch of former one/two night stands and next to no male friends at all.

nautilus · Joined: 26 Nov 2005 Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!

Grimalkin · Joined: 22 May 2005

Young FRANKenstein · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:58 am Post subject: