Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JeannieAbroad]

I'm confused. The more research I do, the more the facts I come across keep cancelling each other out.

I am half Korean and half Caucasian. My co-workers, who are very nice and helpful, have made it clear (in a nice way) that they don't consider me Korean. Just American and a native speaker. I've heard that gyopos are starting to be "welcomed back to the Motherland" but does that not apply to mixed individuals? Does half Korean not count?

My mother, who is full Korean, always said that Koreans are very touchy about the mixed-blood issue. Some even hostile, due to the assumption that anyone of mixed blood is a product of an American GI and a prostitute. I didn't really believe her. Actually, I still don't, I am still trying to form an opinion.

I always had a pretty clear notion of who I am. I'm proud to be an American. I came to Korea to teach and find out about a part of myself that I really haven't tapped into yet. My mom raised me with Korean food, but stopped speaking Korean to me when I was five years old, when my Dad moved us back to the States for me to start school. She wanted me to be completely American. She regrets not helping me retain a second language, as do I.

I came here to see where I came from, but should I just accept the fact that only being half is not Korean enough? I never had an identity crisis until now! My friends back home think I look Asian, but here, I had to show my parent's wedding photo to prove to my co-workers I was Korean!

Please note that I am enjoying my time here and love Korea so far.

[whatever]

That sucks. I feel for you. You seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

My advice: Do something noteworthy that makes positive international press, and they'll claim you as their own with arms open wide.

Until then, don't seek approval from these shallow individuals, as 'helpful' as they might otherwise be. Judge yourself, and hold your head high. I've always thought that a multi-ethnic heritage would be something to be doubly proud of.

[JeannieAbroad]

whatever - Thanks for that!

This isn't really getting me down, far from it. I'm proud to be mixed...its who I am. I just want some concrete answers on whether or not Koreans, in general, view people like me. Shame? Indifference? Love? Masked Hatred?

[dogshed]

I never understood the idea of looking for yourself
in the ethnic history of your family. My grandmother
was a German-Russian-Polish-New York jew and that
had an influence on my family but I don't expect to
find special revelation if I go to Europe, New York,
or Israel.

Whoopi Goldburg said she went to Africa and discovered
that she was an American.

[jinju]

[Mary-Jane]

It's down to appearance superficially, but mostly language, I think. Technically I'm a half-gyopo too, but I have no practical connection to Korean culture. I was never taught any Korean by my mother and even back home, most people can't tell what my mix is, I'm they think I'm either partly Asian, Hispanic, Indian, etc... Oddly, I love Korean food even though my mother rarely cooked it.

Here, I stick out quite a lot as I have dyed hair, Western clothes, although oddly enough I never get approached for private lessons like most full Caucasians teachers seem to. Mostly, though, it's the language barrier that separates me. If I could speak or understand Korean, I wouldn't be as much an outsider as I am. Most gyopos have some language ability- I don't. It makes me completely separate.

Although I got the F4 visa, I think almost all Koreans I know consider me totally foreign. I'm teaching myself the language out of a desire for something to do, but I think my only link to Korea and my relatives here will always only be through my mother. Only a proper language ability would give me that connection.

I've stopped admitting to my mother being Korean because although it surprises and interests some Korean people, I just end up feeling even more of an outsider. More sensitive to Korean culture, maybe, different from other people that I grew up with, yet with no real connection of my own.

[Mary-Jane]

Well, I should also add that my mother's siblings and my grandmother have been delighted to see me and make me feel part of the family. Funnily, my cousins ignore me though!

[nicholas_chiasson]

-Identity Crisis...
You're AMERICAN. We don't have ethnicities. Most of us are proud of that. Sometimes when we go to other countries we feel sad, because we don't have a nationalsim based on skin color or language. I've got adopted siblings. When ever I explain that to Asians, they get confused. All you need to know about the attitude here is that they don't consider a pure korean kid born out of wedlock to be adoptable. And they wonder how Americans can want and love half-black people.
-I think the amount of stress on asian-LOOKING-Americans to assimilate to some kind of pan-asian-neo-nationalism is one of the saddest and strangest things I've encountered in my time here.

[bejarano-korea]

[tsulami]

I guess I have seen my experience a little bit differently. I have always enjoyed when people don't know where I'm "from". When I say America, of course that's not the answer they're looking for. I never expected to be accepted as just another Korean when I decided to make the move here. I did hope to learn more about the culture that my mother was raised in, however, and maybe try to learn a bit of the language (still working on that one).

Most of my coworkers are really cool with me. I am a foreigner and I don't think I really need a special treatment because I'm half-Korean, although some were excited to hear that I am. Of course, the first question always is, "was your dad in the military?" and then I explain that my mom moved to the States by herself in the 60's.

I also don't really look Korean, so that may play a difference in my treatment on the streets. A passing person probably wouldn't suspect I'm Korean at all. I almost feel I have it better off being a mixed kid. I have a friend adopted from Korea who came to visit. Everywhere he went, people were asking him for directions. Shop keepers and waiters would always ask him the questions while he stands there saying "mulayo". By the end of the trip he was just telling people he was Japanese.

I've also met up with some of the long, lost family left here in Korea. Most are slightly distant cousins, but they've all been really welcoming. A couple offhand have really gone out of there way to make me feel part of the family, even more so than my Korean relatives in the States!

My advise is just to take everything lightly here. It's hard not to get upset sometimes especially when you have preconceived expectations. How far are you into your stay?

[JeannieAbroad]

[Teufelswacht]

[JeannieAbroad]

[Boodleheimer]

[SPINOZA]