Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tesl]

I just have to get this off of my chest. I have been a high level amateur bodybuilder for near 15 years, and I have worked out in gyms around the world.

I must say I have been shocked over the last 3 months to see adult straight men using a hoola hoop regularly in front of the mirror while smiling at themselves and dressed in pink trainers. They then proceed to the leg abductor machine to work the inside of their thighs after which they use the kick back butt machine. No bench press, no bicep curls and no shoulder press. What's next.....?

Then, they want to touch my arms, chest, ect. in the locker room. This really freaks me out in a bad way.

What's more, when I visit the international school where my wife works, many of the overseas Korean boys are holding each other constantly and all giggly with each other.

Conversely, the girls and women here act like normal people.

Is this all due to an absent father who is always at work and an overbearing ajuma style mother? Or am I missing something?

When I lived in China, and when I visited Japan and Taiwan the males were not like this.

Let me add that the older Korean guys 60+ are as tough as nails and some could be straight out of a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movie. Those are the guys who are responsible for the Han River Miracle.

What gives?

[Forward Observer]

I was once lost in Miami and ended up underneath a turnpike near a sports arena of some kind. There were 1000's of homeless people living in tents and out in the open underneath the turnpike.

At a stoplight waiting to get the heck out of there, my buddy and I had to stifle laughter at a very, very large black man wearing a pink tutu on a street corner. He was not a wannabe she either. He was a he, and was clearly insane or working.

His bedroll was just a few feet away.

[Binch Lover]

Did a little blood rush to your manhood?

[Burndog]

Your response could quite easily be seen as being homophobic. I can fully respect not liking people touching you...no problem there. But to complain about the exercise regimes and gym attire of grown men...and the awkward behaviour of adolescent boys....surprises me.

Women (and girls) in Korea are also more touchy feely than back home. You see girls holding hands and walking down the street much more, and my students are always holding hands and linking. I am surprised that you only noticed the boys/men doing it.

Adolescent boys quite often playfight, wrestle and jostle...and are quite often very giggly...even in western countries...and particularly when they are around a new person they want to impress or are nervous. Maybe your wife's students are nervous around you, and want you to be impressed by them? Maybe that's why they get all giggly?

I don't know. I can't really answer your questions adequately. The exercise thing I would put down to a different concept of exercise/fashion. The touching stuff between boys and men...is less about the lack of a father and being all gay (sheesh) and more to do with a different approach to male-to-male interaction. Korea is not Japan, China or Taiwan.

I would be careful using terms like 'normal people' as well. What is a normal person to you? A westerner? A well mannered Asian who behaves like you expect an Asian too? It can be dangerous to frame ideas with terms like 'normal', especially when discussing something that essentially a cultural difference.

My 2 cents.

[Cerberus]

cultural differences.

to a Westerner, most Korean males appear to sporting flames.

(and some do, even if they don't know it yet, e.g. G-Dragon_)

but you'll learn most of them are actually not gay, but will dress and act "gay" based on a Western gaydar.

just chuckle at it as I do, but what's the point of getting worked up about it or getting upset about it? let them be as they want to be.

they're also very touchy feely. Doesn't have homosexual overtones either.

the ones who lift seriously also don't do the typical adjumma exercise routine you describe above. But some do. Just smile and carry on with your workout.

In fact, Korean boys/men touch other Korean males far more than they touch their females. Personally I find this enormously amusing, but whatever.

[I'm no Picasso]

My middle school boys are cuddling and hanging all over each other all the time. It's cute. It can be a little disarming when you have certain cultural expectations when you first arrive, but if you spend enough time around it, it just seems normal and not weird or gay at all. It's just a different way of interacting. They're all still quite "manly" in their own little man ways. They also regularly smack the crap out of each other.

I do have to say that I still haven't quite adjusted to my female Korean friends taking my hand as we walk down the street or cuddling into me when it's cold outside. But that's pretty much my problem.

[jmuns]

in my high school the boys straddle each other in their chairs. then they fix their friends hair. then i made the 'one chair, one student' rule. now they can only pet one another, or christian side hugs. poor kids.

[kabrams]

[kabrams]

[storysinger81]