Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Merlyn]

almost...I haven't seen this one in some time. While I was on the subway coming home tonight a Korean father and his child came into the same car I was on. I was standing near the door and the Korean child, upon seeing me, was actually so scared he started crying. I'm not an ugly foreigner and I'm in good shape and don't usually get this response with Korean kids. As you have probably experienced, they're usually the more curious of the Korean people and quite willing to say 'Hi', if not a laugh and stare at you. But this kid couldn't control himself and practically went into hysterics. His father prodded him onto the subway and once getting him on, the child hid behind his father's legs before he eventually moved him to another part of the car where I wasn't visible.
I blame the parent. I mean how many kids react this way when they see something strange. Would his kid start crying if he saw an animal on tv that he didn't see everyday, a monkey perhaps. I don't think so. Or was he so programmed by his father already that foreigners are something to be feared. All I could think was, if I was his father I would have walked over to myself and told his child. "nothing to be scared of... see" in Korean even, but the father was probably too scared as well. Terrible parenting.

[ruffie]

Doesn't this belong in the Hub of Asia thread?

[okokok]

That must've been the kid I traumatized a few weeks ago.... I thought he'd be able to get over it.

[Hater Depot]

The first time I saw black people I was horrified. I asked my mom what happened to them, if they had been in a terrible fire or something. I might even have cried. And that was a kid living in New York City and spending his days in a Cuban-Chinese daycare!

Needless to say, New York never recovered from the shock of that day to become the international hub it once foolishly dreamed of being.

[pdx]

he's a kid. get over it.

imagine only seeing korean (or even just asian in general) people all of your four years of life. you see black hair, black eyes, tanner skin. and then all of a sudden there's someone who looks completely different!!

I'd freak out.

But, to add to this, my friend and I went to the National Museum on Saturday and there were a million kids there. We actually commented how we hadn't had any group of pre-teen girls say "HI!!!" to us, and then this one kid starts pointing and staring at my friend as she walks right by him, saying 'way gook in! way gook in!" haha. his mother slapped his hand.

We turned around and said "hii!!" and just laughed it off.

[brento1138]

I vaguely remember being afraid of men with beards. Santa Claus scared me. I think I cried whenever I saw one.

And yes, also black people... since there aren't many where I'm from.

Kids are weird... but to kids, black people and bearded men are weirder.

[Lizara]

Apparently when I was about four, standing on a subway platform in Toronto, there was a girl there with blue hair and I commented on it quite loudly and extensively to my embarrassed mom.

You didn't say how old the kid was in your story, but it doesn't seem weird to me at all for a kid to be afraid of someone different. I seriously doubt he was "programmed" to be that way.

Did the father talk to the kid during this incident? Do you know for sure that he didn't try to tell him it was nothing to be scared of?

[jajdude]

Haven't seen one cry yet, but had the usual other reactions. They include: hiding behind parent, pointing and stating the obvious "waygookin" (which we all learn after a week or two in Korea, seems to surprise Koreans we know the word, because kids who've studied English for years do not know "foreigner")

The best, which has happened to me a few times while eating in a restaurant alone: A kid comes up to the table to gawk.

Nice manners.

International people.

PS I am from a very small town in Newfoundland. Any non-whites are a bit of a novelty but there's none of this nonsense. Maybe because of TV that shows people of all colors speaking English?

Well, actually my first encounter with non-whites happened as a teen, so I may be off the mark about youngsters.

[rusty1983]

How pretentious

[ruffie]

[Gemfinder]

Here in the States, an elderly gay man was followed and beaten to death after he got off of the bus back in Feb. His attacker came up from behind and asked if he was gay and then went after him with a metal pipe. He died later on from those injuries. And yes, this is 2007. I would feel uncomfortable with most of these situations, especially some kid coming up to the dinner table just to gawk, but based on what I've read so far, that's seems to be the extent of things. How have you been treated elsewhere? Are there hate crimes in South Korea?

[Roch]

[caniff]

I would have crouched down to his level and repeatedly said "BOO!!!" to him until he crapped his drawers.

But that's just me.

[ilovebdt]

[formerflautist]

When I was in college, I had a guy call me a freak because I had blue hair. Guess he wasn't used to people looking different either.