Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KrazyInKlamath]

on my way to work when I felt someone touching my hair. I turned around and there was this ajumma petting my hair. I gave her a hard stare and she did that stupid smile that they tend to give and stopped. The rest of the ride to work this incident kept going through my mind. Who pets the hair of a stranger? Why is my hair so much more facinating than others? In many of my classes, the students like to play with my hair, even the boys. The middle school girls said that my hair is like a Barbie's hair. My hair is waist length, brown, and soft (so I have been told). I just thought this was odd. Who knew hair could be such a strange thing here?

[I-am-me]

..We are all pets in koreans eyes.

[xtchr]

I was sitting next to my friend in a bank once waiting to be served. She's part African and has semi dreads, but nothing outrageous, and they really suit her. A Korean woman (early 20s?) leaned over and pulled her hair. So, quick as a wink, my friend returned the favour . The look on the Korean's face was priceless.
My friend has the tolerance of a saint, and didn't let the stares etc get to her, but this was crossing the line.
But really, how incredibly pig ignorant/stupid/non-sensical do you have to be to think that foreigners can and should be treated like pets in a zoo, just because you're curious.

[kimchi_pizza]

Notta big deal. At least not as much as it yoused to be. The Asian
fascination with Caucasian body hair is a nature phenonenom. Whenever
I check a childs paper or assignment they would rather gawk at my
hairy forearms the little gawkers that they are. Once in a great while one would gather up the courage to touch my arm. I would get bent outta shape in my early years of teaching but now I totally ignore it as they are only curious. Unless they pull or make a rude comment then I get pissed!

Curiousity may kill the cat but it won't kill a Korean or you. Next time
smile, look and nod. No real harm done.

[KrazyInKlamath]

That's exactly how I felt, like some petting zoo creature. I do not mind my younger students playing with my hair because it keeps them out of trouble and a lot of little girls back home like to play with my hair, but a grown woman doing something like that. Maybe next time I'll pull the visor off her head.

[Bibbitybop]

At least you weren't the foreigner in the jimjilbang a month or so ago who woke up to a Korean man fondling his wang.

[laogaiguk]

peasants, and will be for another generation at least.

[shaunew]

[eamo]

[DrunkenMaster]

[dimitri31]

[maddog]

[poppydaisy]

I'm a Korean American and during my first 2 weeks of teaching, I've had a student touch my hand and tell me how soft it was. I continue to have students offer me candy and gum at the beginning of class to be polite and continue to comment on my hair looking pretty. This would never happen back at home. It's just their culture. Just like it's normal to see same sex friends holding hands or hanging on to each other, touching is a form of affection here. Korean's cultures personal space is much different than back at home where the land is plenty and spacious. I try not to take offense, but rather take it as a form of affection they're trying to show me. Of course, a stranger invading your personal space, is totally different than someone you know. What has helped me is to expect all the norms that happen, like the shoving, ditching, and other annoying things we've read about on here, then it's easier to deal with.

[KrazyInKlamath]

Nothing surprises me much about Korea anymore. I usually let things just slide off. I was just shocked and maybe a bit afraid she was going to take out a pair of scissors and cut some of my hair for a trophy.

I think the most surprising thing is that I am on my second tour of duty here and it is the first time a random stranger has done that. Now I am just waiting for the first drunk ajossi to grab my chest like some of the little ones have done.

Ahhhh, Krazy Korea! Gotta love it!

[caniff]