Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pdx]

It's actually quite different here than where I am from. I'm not from a huge city, but it's at least a city, and people there are friendly and say hi to each other on the street, or at LEAST smile at each other. So it's quite weird when that doesn't happen here. Most unnerving is the stares you get from Koreans, and when you give them a smile (i don't really mind them staring), they look away.

But, then again, i agree with whoever said it- why DO we feel the need to say hi to someone- what bonds us together other than the fact that we are both foreigners?

[query29]

Why not say Hi to someone you see? And there are more similarities than just being foreign to this country. Both prople have probably taken the road less travelled and taken the chance to visit another country and do something relatively unique.

I've only been here a couple of months and it wierded me out the first time I saw another foreigner so I didn't say hi. After reading this post, I can say that I will say hi to you if I see you from now on, so please be friendly back!

[rawiri]

Well it's funny because it depends on who i'm talking to at the time. Some are friendly and some really aren't, some are even in the middle between friendly and not friendly!. It would just be so much easier if everyone from anywhere else all acted the exact same way so we wouldn't have to deal with these uncomfortable situations.

[kimchi story]

[Adventurer]

[dogbert]

[wylies99]

I've seen people post on this site that they meet other teachers on the street all of the time. When I see other teachers, ESPECIALLY WOMEN, they GLARE like they own the sidewalk. I guess "blonde from a bottle" now comes with "attytood", too.
I guess the ones in Itaewon think that just because Nigerians and soldiers hit on them, they're "bootyfull."
Well, I have news for them- soldiers hit on ANYTHING in a skirt. Put a wig, lipstick, and a dress on a dog and walk it around any US military post, and it'll get marriage proposals.

Guess I'll stick to dating Koreans.

[Adventurer]

[sojourner1]

The expat lifestyle is one of here today, gone tomarrow and of independent thinking people. It is a lonesome independent self led state of being. I sure would like to have friends that I hang out with or people to have interesting discussions with, but this is not available as they stay on thier computers and to themselves. So I go to my computer too. Foreigner bars alienate me even more than the country itself, becuase it is an artificial socialization concept set up in a foreign land. The computer plays a huge part of why people seem so unfriendly, besides the fact that experienced expats know what it is to have a friendship go to waste due to the 2 being separated by changing careers.

As an experienced expat, I still am willing to have friendships on a personal level when the conditions are right, because good friendship is a very special happyness that is rarely found. Fear and misconceptions are the barrier preventing from socialization and friendships occuring.

Of course, to my memories, people were not a bit friendly in Saint Louis Missouri USA, becuase it was all about social status and money. They do seem a bit friendlier here, but no one that becomes a good friend. Of course, I am living in a small dong where I never see another foreigner outside of work. It's as Korean as you can get. And one lonesome journey it is....

[sojourner1]

EDITED* darn a danged double post due to computer error.

[Rapacious Mr. Batstove]

[wylies99]

Very funny. Ladies, I'm not just a piece of meat- I have feelings!

BTW- you win. You know more than me about Itaewon and the people who hang there, looking for a cheap drunk and an easy piece of a--.

[hgatejesser]

I tend to smile at / acknowledge more foreigner randoms than Koreans...It's less of a "whoo-hoo, kindred spirits" reaction and more so that Korean men seem frightened of me and Korean women kind of give me the once over..

So I suppose it's a chance for that daily stranger interaction I got used to living in a smaller town the last few years...

I think that military types are more friendly than your average foreigner because their social environments are so much less clique-ish than the real world (usually by default)...

[jajdude]

I think some people become (more) weird after living here long enough, and may be used to being alone, not socializing often. Maybe some lose some social skills. Such people might not seem friendly sometimes. You got to give strangers some slack, some benefit of the doubt if they are standoffish, not really rude.

[Vicissitude]