Korean Job Discussion Forums

[andrew]

*****

[oldfatfarang]

These 'young' girls are only acting out their rigid gender role in Korean/Confucian society. K chicks about 20-28 are all giggly, soft, deferent to men (mostly) and very 'feminine' (Oh, I can't do that - it's too hard etc).

This role is what K boys want, and they'll never get a man if they act any different.

However, when they're 30 ("30 finish"), K girls get married. They then adopt a new gender role - the scary 'Adjuma' (wife/mother/older woman).

Basically, the giggly younger girl (can't remember if it's Agashi?) is just a trick for the boys. Beware. The change in behavior is dramatic and leaves even K boys wondering where his lovely giggly girl went.

[Demophobe]

You should see people when I walk my dogs, a mid-size c0cker and a large golden retriever. I have had older women run away, climb over the sidewalk/grass rope and walk a huge circle around me, stop dead in their tracks and close their eyes...quite absurd really.

Both dogs are in canvas harness leashes that I keep taught and close to me when people are around...it is clear the dogs cannot move sideways at all.

Whenever I walk by some guys, they inevitably call the dogs attention in some way. So, I let the retractor button go and the dogs blast over to them, and they scatter like rabbits in a fire.

When we walk by people with smaller dogs, they always start going crazy, barking, etc. Sometimes as we pass them, I look down at my dog and say "도시락!". My dog has no idea what it means, so nothing happens, but the owner of the noisy rat scoops up their dog pretty quick.

They seem very fearful.

[Fishead soup]

[kermo]

I've noticed that Korean people will often overreact to loud, sudden noises-- OMMOH!-- but I've always attributed it to teachers laying the smack down in class when they were young.

[passport220]

Yeah I do it in class just to make sure everyone is awake. I just raise my voice in an unexpected way�. Normally it is just a word to praise them or something that is funny. I justify it as making sure everyone is awake and paying attention, but it is really just for my own amusement.

[kat2]

Koreans in general (men and women) are prone to being overdramatic. I think its just conditioning from all of the shows on TV. There's nothing subtle about Koreans.

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Hah! At the risk of side-tracking the thread, about fear of cute harmless dogs, I have to say:

at one of my previous schools, one of the teachers and his partner had an adorable, beautiful, smart dog they walked on the grounds. I don't know if it was an under sized Siberian husky or just a younger one, but it certainly wasn't a big one.

I ran into them and some others on campus one fine day work-day afternoon, and we stopped to chat, so, he let it off the leash cos it wanted to go explore, and he was supposed to be walking it, and it clearly wanted the exercise.

I'll never forget what happened:

it made a bee-line for the library building facing us, and took itself up the stairs. As soon as it dissappeared through the doors, the screams started. You could follow its progress by the shrieks and bursts of screaming that rapidly trailed along the hall windows facing the area where we were standing.

Finally it emerged from the door entrance on the other side of the building and made its way around the benches and trails in the quad area, slowly coming back to its owner, and scattering more young women like startled pigeons screeching "Ohma jigae!"

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[safeblad]

[Smee]

Yeah, the slightest thing unleashes the "갑자기" chorus.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[blaseblasphemener]

That's what they get for beating defenseless dogs for boishingtang.

[billybrobby]

Yeah, nothing highlights the inherently phony nature of Korean girliness like the ajummas. Also, there's the fact that some girls aren't afraid to walk around all day in heels and a miniskirt in the dead of winter, have their noses cracked open by a surgeons mallet, or have painful bags of silicon stuff into their chest. But we're supposed to believe their purse is too heavy to carry?

But you can't blame them. It's no less phony than the beer-swilling, sports loving parody of masculinity that most of us American guys buy (literally) into.

[passport220]