Korean Job Discussion Forums

[marckot]

(Sorry for the long post but I need to tell you this)
There are these two loonies in my town and it is fate that I should constantly run into them. It feels like entering the twilight zone when they start speaking to me.

The first loony is this guy who I constantly run into around my apartment. The first time he spoke to me was about three months ago. The conversation went like this:

Korean loony: Hi, Nice to meet you. I am Sung Hee Sun. I am a poet. (He hands me a handwritten business card. He printed his business card on a small paper cut out from a notebook.)
Me: Hi. How are you?
Korean Loony: How can I help you?
Me: I am ok. Thank you. I don�t need help.
Korean Loony: (Not a word. Just looking at me. Silence until I speak again.)
Me: hmmm�. Ok? Bye.
Korean Loony: Bye

Well this first meeting did not leave me confused at all because it went down like most first greetings with random Korean people. The loony part of the story is that I have now in the last three months met this guy more than 10 times and every single time the above conversation is exactly the same. I mean really exactly the same. When I see him approaching me I know exactly what he is going to say. I rehearse the whole conversation in my head and then it goes down exactly like that. He even waits for me outside my local supermarket when he sees me going in. When I come out the twilight zone is upon me!!!! Well I must say he did get a real business card since our first meeting. Maybe this guy is a successful, though eccentric artist and I just don�t know it.

The second loony is an old woman who storms up to me every time she sees me around Mokpo station. She makes a b-line straight for me like a bull charging a matador. And���������..yes the two of us also have a little conversation with each other that has been repeated several times. Here goes:

Korean Loony: Hi. How are you?
Me: I am ok (different response every time to make it at least seem interesting for me) Thank you and you?
Korean Loony: What is your name?
Me: Freddy, Jason, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Yeti (She has no idea)
Korean Loony: Where are you from?
Me: I am from South Africa. (Each time a different country because she never remembers.)
Korean Loony: How long have you been in Mokpo?
Me: I have been here for ����.. (Can say anything because she never remembers.)

The twilight zone all over again. When I see her charging me I start thinking of creative little answers I can give her. She won�t remember anyway.

After every conversation I shake my head and pinch myself just to make sure I am awake or not trapped in another dimension. For some strange reason it peps up my day when I run into these two characters. I always walk away with a smile on my face. Maybe not a smile of joy but most likely one of disbelieve.

[denistron]

lol

[Young FRANKenstein]

There's a guy like that who hangs around Daejeon station. Older guy, presumably he's there cause he's retired and he's just hanging around to speak English to the waegukins that wander in to catch a train (I've never seen him speak to a Korean yet).

I'm there EVERY weekend, and every weekend he talks to me... and no, he doesn't remember anything I've ever told him either. After 50 or so times talking with someone, you'd think he'd remember SOMEthing. Not so. He doesn't even recognize me from one week to the next.

[RACETRAITOR]

I can think of three, all found in Hongdae.

1) The "Jesus God bless you" woman. She walks around this district of sin using a few words to turn you from your evil ways. I noted she only blesses foreigners.

2) The swing kid. This guy who's about 18 who loves swinging on the swing in the playground. When he's on there he has this look of abandon on his face. Would normally swing for a couple hours each night, weather permitting (I hope). I tried following him home once but he lost me.

3) The mokoli man. Who doesn't love this guy? "Best friend!"

[Bondrock]

The original post made me remember the "welcome to Korea Guy"

Shortly after i arrived here a man came up to me outside my apartment. He shook my hand and said "welcome to Korea"

This same old man did this to me almost daily for 2 years, sometimes twice in the same day. He always wore the same checkered sports coat and a black fedora. he would shake my hand and say "welcome to Korea"

that was many years ago. i had forgotten all about the "Welcome to korea" guy.
-----------------------

Now i live in a newly created city in a brand new apartment. every time i go out on the balcony i see this old guy sitting outside the opposite apartment - smoking. about every ten minutes he slowly gets up, goes beside a bush and takes a pee. this is right beside the apartment entrance. so, one day he squatted and took a poop in the same place. WTF?

i nicknamed him "pooper". The man lives in an expensive, brand-new apartment and would rather poop on the ground... what a loon!

[soju pizza]

I met a guy at the subway near the Busan ferry terminal on my way up the stairs. He was waiting for me to pass and caught up with me, wanting to buy me dinner and/or coffee. I refused, but we had a little chat. He asked me for my phone number, which I denied having. As luck would have it, it started to ring as I was walking away, but he never heard.

Anyway, I went home to my city an hour and a half away and the next week my upstairs neighbor got a phone call from him asking my buddy if we could all have dinner together. He'd made the mistake of giving away his number when they'd met at the exact same spot THE YEAR BEFORE. Apparently quite a few foreigners have met this guy lurking in the subway at the ferry terminal exit. He used to work for immigration at the ferry, and now he wants to practice his English.

Nice enough guy though, it seemed.

[just because]

I've met the busan guy...

Was going to the ferry terminal one day out of the subway station and he barreled me up asking for dinner....I gave him a fake phone number and was on my way.

[thebum]

last time i asked an ajumma for directions she wouldn't stop commenting on how handsome/pretty/i was/what a 미남 i was and she also wouldn't stop rubbing my upper arms.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[thebum]