Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Lemon]

I lived in Korea for a long time but left in 2004 for greener pastures. Since leaving I've been back for two week visits every winter for inlaw/grandparent visits for my kids. I'm on one of those visits now. On the whole I like Korea, but on these visits reality intrudes on nostalgia and things come rushing back to me that grated on my nerves when I lived here.

On this month's visit, it's this - I'm a Weirdo Magnet.

Every single day since I arrived on January 8th, I've had at least one disturbed Korean chase, yell at or grab on to me at some point in my journey. I wear earphones and do whatever I need to do to send "leave me alone" vibes without being overtly hostile, but it's no use. These are not the "I want to practice my English" types, nor are they attempts at friendliness- I'm talking about people with special needs that aren't being met, and they're hostile. And they seem to make a bee-line toward me. There are literally thousands of people around me. Why me? They're hard to handle with grace.

I note there's one other thread that addresses this, but with nearly 2 million posts on this site since 2003, if this was a common phenomenon there'd be more talk about it.

I've lived in several SE Asian and Middle Eastern countries this decade, and I have never experienced anything like this elsewhere.

Is it just me, or is this a shared experience among foreign residents in Korea?

[mr. positive]

Never happens to me, for what it's worth.

Where are you located? I would think it would happen less in Seoul, more so outside the big city.

[Ukon]

Other than durnks...no....occasionally the weird foreigner though.

[The Lemon]

[hajima 99]

Interesting. I have not once been grabbed, chased, nor yelled at (to my knowledge) in over three years. Something like this has happened to you every day since you've returned for a visit (so about 14 incidents already)??

When you say these are people with "special needs," I'm assuming you're using the politically correct term to describe individuals with a psychological disorder. Perhaps it's your physical appearance? Maybe you look particularly friendly or approachable (despite all your attempts to portray the exact opposite)?

I've got nothing... Does your wife have any theories? Do you look like Santa Claus? Obama? Colonel Sanders??

[Hightop]

The Lemon, I remember when you wrote that sticky for buying stuff at Yongsan. I see now u have updated it. But if you creep down to the replies there are some gems.

A co-worker bought a 128mb key-chain style player for 150,000

I just bought a 15" one two months ago for about 350,000w

64 megs of RAM and a 4 gig hard drive

[The Lemon]

[yingwenlaoshi]

You're one of them.

[The Lemon]

That thought occurred to me. Perhaps they were trying to invite me to their meetings.

[curiousaboutkorea]

I've really only had one (repeated) experience with this. In this case it was a woman who was obviously mentally handicapped. She lived on my floor in my building, so I'd often see her in the elevator, hallway or in the neighborhood. I think she lived alone, but would obviously need someone that checks in on her and help her out. She spoke English surprisingly well (far better than 95% of Koreans I've met). She befriended me, and I was nice to her. However, she would always push me into awkward situations and try to find out my apartment number so she could come visit me whenever she liked. I always avoided giving it to her and I think the people in the office were wise to it. She claimed she asked them for my apt number and they told her a different number (when they well know where I live).

I haven't seen her in a few months.

[aishiii]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm a babe magnet.

[Harpeau]

Welcome back! Man, that sounds rough! There are lots of dingalings roaming the subways these days. I get approached quite often. It must be that word on my forehead. I'va had a couple friends and some counseling clients that have been attacked and weird crap happening to them over the last few months. Makes me wonder: what's been airing on Korean TV?!

[nomad-ish]

it's not just you, i and others i know have attracted some legitimately disturbed people by just being foreign-looking. one time in particular was really scary, i thought the guy was going to hit me (i was cornered). my only advice for you is to change subway cars, cross the street, or leave quickly if you come across someone like this (the headphones are a good start, but won't always deter those that are very unstable).

on a tangent, i always attract foreign weirdos in clubs... i'm guessing it's just the high proportion of them to normal foreigners here in korea...

[PatrickGHBusan]

Lemon if it is any confort to you...I was ona visit to Busan this past fall (visiting the in-laws with our two kids).

Stayed for nearly 5 weeks.

Had some encounters with the weirdos onm the subway and once in the large underground shopping mall in Somyeon.

My theory is that since we stand out and in my case I was with my two mixed kids for most of the encounters...the weirdos just get keyed in. The thing to watch for is what they do AFTER you get rid of them...in my case, they went on to bother the next and closest Korean so they seem to be equal opportunity offenders!

[The Lemon]