Korean Job Discussion Forums

[politica]

I've been in Korea for a little over three months, and just as friends have warned me, my honeymoon period has officially ended. Don't get me wrong- I love Korea for the most part, I'm glad I'm here, I have a good job, yadda yadda yadda . . .

That being said, there are certain things- shall we say a lot of things- that are start to irritate the piss out of me. A lot of the following will be politically incorrect and culturally insensitive. Read at your own risk because I don't give a *bleep*.

Where to start?

-Ankle-high hosiery are not appropriate for ANY outfit, certainly not mini-skirts.

-Old men- You stink. Do not sit next to me on the bus, or the subway, or at the bank, or ANYWHERE. You stink.

-Mustard does not belong on cheese pizza. Mayonnaise does not belong on fruit. Ketchup does not belong on sushi. Stop bastardizing food, its disgusting.

-The sound of slurping soup makes me feel like I'm in a retirement home and makes me want to vomit.

-I'm not big, YOU ARE SMALL.

-Stop putting sugar in everything. Especially garlic bread. Ick.

-You've been studying English for 10 years, I've been studying Korean for 3 months. Cut me some slack.

-I DO NOT want to watch your Korean dramas. I rarely watch American dramas. So stop asking me.

-Women- Stop fixing your eyelids and start fixing your teeth.

-If you can't read and understand the English on your shirt, you shouldn't be wearing it.

-That's right, I said "Aniyo kimchi."

-Your country IS polluted. Lying is a universal language.

-I'm not Christian. I don't want to read your Christian books. I don't want to meet your Christian friends. And I don't want to go to your church.

-No seriously- I've read the bible cover to cover and I don't believe in Jesus as the son of G-d. And I STILL don't want to come to your church. sheesh . . .

-I'm gay. I don't want a boyfriend. I don't want a Korean boyfriend. I really don't want a Korean Christian boyfriend. Give up already.

-Schoolgirls- Much as I love tight clothing on teenage girls (of legal age), you need bigger uniforms.

-Dogs don't need their butts wiped. That's disgusting.

-Yeah, I wear my shoes in my apartment. If you have a problem with it, then don't come in.

-Hiking, rafting, and eating candy are perfectly safe activities.

-My dear co-teacher- I DO wear the same size as you. Stop acting so shocked and get over yourself.

-American cows are not crazy, Korean ajummas are crazy.

-We're all gonna get on the bus, please refrain from elbowing me in the ribs.

-"Sorry" is not an appropriate response for surprising me with a class of 40 3rd graders and no lesson plan.

-Yeah, that's right- I asked about a school event that's a whole TWO WEEKS away. You're right, how could you possibly know the answer?

-When you tell me to do something in English, and then tell me not to do it in Korean, I'm going to do it . . . BECAUSE I DON'T SPEAK KOREAN!

-Yeah, I went hiking this weekend, I'm such a thrill-seeker!

-Women- Muscles are good, bones are not.

-If you're feet are covered in band-aids, you probably shouldn't be wearing those shoes.

Anyone else like to air their frustrations?

[Mod edit]

[tanklor1]

-Schoolgirls- Much as I love tight clothing on teenage girls (of legal age), you need bigger uniforms.

Now hold on there, let's settle down and try to not get too crazy. All funny bisness aside, Korea can be a little fickle, after all we're crazy people who lived in far off maigcal lands where people do things in a slightly different mannor then what Korean society has been set up these past 3000 or 6000 years to do. Why do old women sit out in the sun selling fruit? Shurgs shoulders "I don't know", Why do people wear terrible English on their clothes that makes little to no sense? "Can't tell you.", Why do respectable bisness men fall alseep on street corners at night, can't they afford a cab? "Again, someone with a higher brain function can comprehend and understand these radical elements to the culture that is deemed "KOREAN" All's I know is that I don't understand half of what I see on a daily basis, if you include the writing on buildings 95%", just sit back, (lay off the school girls) and soak in the craziness. Better to go with the flow, you're not going to change the society.

[Join Me]

Welcome to Korea. Read your complaints so many times before that it is almost like a nursery rhyme that puts me to sleep. That said, last week walking down the sidewalk some adjuma was holding her dog up in the air by its tail and wiping its arse vigorously. First and last time I want to see that. Absolutely disgusting and every time I walk down that sidewalk now I get the vision all over again.

Now I am wondering if it is possible that Korean adjumas and their desire to wipe the arses of dogs could change the evolution of dogs. Is it possible someday that anyone who owns a pet may have to wipe its arse just because bored obsessive adjumas insisted on wiping their dogs' arses and dogs evolved into needing their arses wiped?

They need to start having more kids in this country again cause I would much rather see adjuma helping little Jun piss into the road then watch her obsessing on a busy street over some little dog's bung hole.

[tanklor1]

[Faunaki]

Give yourself a few months and you'll be pushing like the best of them and laying into western women for not starving and cutting themselves. Get out while you can.

[ciccone_youth]

Yea i think most of us all got that phase, I had mine after 2-3 months of my arrival.

Then one day it sort of goes away, you still know it's around you but it doesn't bother you as much. You'll see.

At least that's what happened to me.

[PeterDragon]

Well, before the haters hit this thread telling you you're racist, closed minded, etc.... I'll throw in my own milder bitchfest (been here a year and a half now.)

I just got back from a school sponsored sojourn in my hometown, and although I think enough of my school to stay here one more year, I finally put my finger on why I haven't made many Korean friends in my time served here. (With two exceptions: my only two true Korean friends are a woman who lived in Canada for 5 years and can thus relate to how isolated I feel making the cultural switch in reverse and a half-American Korean citizen who's completely bicultural.)

Anyway, I went back to my hometown. In Korea I am, in spite of being a foreigner, a social "have". I'm well respected and valued in the community where I work as a public school teacher. Parents give me gifts, students idolize me, and in spite of a few contractual disputes, the entire faculty values me and treats me like an equal.

In The Old Country I was a social "have not". I was frequently unemployed, intermittently homeless, and generally prone to picking fights and causing trouble. Most of my employers treated me as an extremely disposable "resource". In my tiny hometown, exactly what kind of loser I was/am is pretty common knowledge.

But spending three weeks back in my hometown, I realized that I'm treated well by almost everyone there. These people treat me well in spite of my bad behavior because I've done a lot of nice things for them personally. Likewise, the handful of people who treat me badly do so because I've genuinely wronged them. I've picked fights with them, or evaded their attempts to "catch me in the act" of my general misdeeds, then gotten cocky about it. I earned every friend and every enemy I have fair and square.

Koreans, on the other hand, love me or hate me for the most superficial reasons. My co-workers, students and PTA like me because I'm clean cut, conservative in much of my personal morality (not much for drinking, drugging or one night stands) and inadvertently live up to some Confucian ideal I don't personally buy into. I am certain that if these people knew what kind of person I used to be, they would turn on me. It wouldn't matter how hard I've worked for them or how nice I am to them, all that matters is their superficial notion of me as a "good citizen".

On the flip side there are Koreans who hate me simply because I'm foreign. They don't care how polite I am, how well dressed I am, how willing I am to show kindness to their fellow Koreans. They'll still refuse me service in their bars and restaurants and swear and spit at me if they see me walking down the street with a Korean young woman.

Nearly every Korean "friend" I make is a fake friend. Whenever I anger a Korean, their angry at me about things I can't control.

Mind you, it's not the end of the world. I'm paid better than I've ever been paid in the U.S. teaching is the most rewarding thing I've ever done for a living. And being able to make it here, as daunting as it sometimes feels, has given me self respect and self confidence, two things I've never really had much of.

So that's my bitching. I feel you on a lot of the other stuff though politica. You'll never get used to the most obnoxious things you encounter and there's no reason you should. But rest assured you'll be able to detach yourself from a lot of the littler annoyances and just find them amusing.

[CeleryMan]

-I'm not big, YOU ARE SMALL.

HILARIOUS ... SO CARLIN-LIKE!!

[milspecs]

what compels a person to sit at home, get on the internet and compile a list of things they hate about the country they live in.

its sad really.

[Passions]

Sounds like someone needs to return to Hicksville, Oklahoma.

[A2Steve]

[Kikomom]

This is good Politica. Darn tootin' funny good.

[moosehead]

[Kikomom]

Maybe they're staying skinny so they can continue to wear the same ill-fitting clothes/uniforms? Get their use of it? Maybe some can't afford new ones? Or are wearing hand-me-downs.

Smallness might be a badge of frugality (however misconceived), or they're poor and that's all they have.

[mindmetoo]

A good list.