Korean Job Discussion Forums

[WoBW]

Here's just one of many stories where Kore has been cool to me.

Korea can be an incredibly bewildering place for a foreigner. One thing that can lead to endless surprises is the way you are treated by the locals. Now in Seoul there are so many foreigners that we are not a curiosity for Koreans, and their reaction to us is mostly one of indifference. An example of this is on my walk home from work, where I walk through this dark menacing looking area beneath an overpass. There are always groups of shadowy figures huddled around playing cards. At first I found this somewhat unsettling, but I have since found that they don�t pay me the least bit of attention. I pass them not 5 feet away and they scarcely even look up from their game. However, every now and then I am caught by surprise when a stranger takes a sudden interest in me.

One night, bored in my apartment and craving to simply be around people I decided to slide over to a local bar. I was new to the neighbourhood and knew not a soul so I ended up perched at the bar in a �Western� style place with a good few people enjoying their evening. Feeling a little self-conscious, I sat nursing a beer and staring at nothing in particular. As I was finishing my second beer and preparing to skulk out the door as inconspicuously as possible (as I said I was feeling a touch self-conscious), I was mildly alarmed to hear a voice next to me say hello. I turned to find a young woman smiling at me.
�Oh, hi,� I croaked, slightly unsettled.
�Hello,� she said again, �You look so lonely, come and sit with us.�

She was with her younger brother and his girlfriend. After the usual introductions, we started into a conversation about our respective occupations, homes � that sort of thing. Sometime later she suggested that we all go and eat together, an invitation I accepted because she was right � I was a little lonely. I was enjoying the company. I was mildly embarrassed when she told me she had paid my bar bill and refused to take any money from me.

We sat in a non-descript restaurant (I�m sorry, but why do all restaurants look the same in Korea � is there a place where you can go to by a prefabricated restaurant and just plant it in the location of choice?) talking, and with me hopelessly pushing food around with a pair of kebab skewers (sorry chopsticks). It was pleasant enough. I didn�t get to eat much on account of my inability to get control of the aforementioned eating utensils, but I was enjoying myself nonetheless.

Inevitably the time came when I needed to �splash my boots�, so as there was no toilet in the restaurant I struck off down the street in search of one. I should tell you here that this was a neighbourhood where narrow streets, all lined with bars and restaurants criss-cross, and every street and restaurant looked the same. After eventually finding a place to relieve myself, I eagerly started back to rejoin my new friends.

Now here�s where things started to unravel. I stood in the street scratching my head, looking not unlike Stan Laurel when he turns to find the piano he was looking after rolling down a steep hill, with Oliver on top, legs waggling. I realized with a mild sense of alarm that I had no idea how to get back to the restaurant, or even which street it was on. I�ve always been proud of my good sense of direction, but this place was like a neon lit maze. After wandering around and muttering for a while, I sighed and decided I was beaten this time. I headed home, knowing that these kind people would forever be nothing more than a memory.

This little story shows that you can sometimes be surprised by Koreans when they take down the barriers and make a move to be friendly. I�m not saying that Koreans are unfriendly to foreigners, far from it. It�s just that usually they just ignore you, and I suppose that�s the way most strangers treat each other in a big city. When do Koreans ever approach other Koreans who are strangers and strike up a conversation? Not often, I bet.

Any Koreans reading this should appreciate one important thing: most foreigners in Korea are friendly, open-minded people. We don�t bite. Many foreigners are also lonely, as it�s not always easy to maintain friendships here. If you speak a little English, then next time you see a foreigner sitting alone in a bar or restaurant looking a little uncomfortable why not say hi. They will probably appreciate it.

And Lluvia, your brother and his girlfriend: Thank you. Shame we�ll never meet again.

[Gibberish]

The Koreans sound nice, and they generally are, or at worst indifferent. It's kind of a jerk move just ditching them like that, though, so I can't really say how much empathy I feel for you. I mean, Seoul isn't exactly the most well-mapped city in the world, but how could you wander so far looking for something as easy to find as a bathroom yet still not be able to return back? Did you walk like 12 city clocks or something? Were you really, really drunk? I guess I'm saying is that it sounds like you simply just gave up with little effort to go back and keep hanging out with these cool people.

And you should have just done what Koreans do and piss in a back alley somewhere near the restaurant and go back.

[nautilus]

[samd]

Ah Dave's

[IlIlNine]

Why didn't you ask where the toilet was? There was probably one in the same building, perhaps needing a key from the counter.

[Sody]

Your story was great until you revealed how truly dumb you were in leaving. Did you really try and find them or did u just give up after a few minutes? I can't believe you just took off like that. That's incredibly rude.

Still, your post is a great reminder that we should all try and be more open and friendly to foreigners in our respective countries too.

[mc_jc]

My question is; why do you feel bothered when others vent out their frustration when you pull a dick move like that?

Do you now see why some Koreans see foreigners are mere moochers?

[machinoman]

hahahaha you guys are messed up...

actually ill join in. i have been really drunk and done some dumb stuff, but i would not have given up trying to get back. phone number is like the first thing i share with someone, maybe i'm crazy. free drinks, free food, leave them will the bill, and you are complaining about negativity on dave's? that is just asking for trouble.

its the last time they'll invite a lonely waygook to their table...

[teecee]

Geez, harsh crowd. He explained that he had tried to find the restaurant but that after taking a whiz, he was a little disoriented and unable to find it. When one doesn't know the language, it can happen sometimes, I know it's happened to me. YOu guys act as though the guy <b>tried</b> to welch on a bar tab. Yeah, perhaps the Koreans thought - what a dick - and perhaps they took the time to realize that it's possible, when one is in a foreign country where one can't generally read ish, that getting lost is a distinct possibility.

[itaewonguy]

why not ask the Koreans why they complain about foreigners!
or why not ask Americans why they complain about other americans!
HUMAN NATURE myfriend...

[CapnSamwise]

if complaining is a major component of your idea of human nature than count me out.

i hearby declare myself sex-centaur.

[Globutron]

I declared on my first few days here that my work is great, the people i've met are beyond great and the country is great and always will be for me.

Some typical Daver replied with 'lol youre so dumb and naive lolz wait a month until the honeymoon period is over lolz'

Well, the honeymoon is over and, I still find it great. The people generally just walk by me, as you might expect unless I was, say, Jonny Depp. But maybe 3-4 times a week I get little kids shyly waving at me and people buying me things for no reason (I got a bunch of bananas a couple of days ago).

So I also do not understand the negativity on here, but that is because I obviously got lucky. Negativity is on here because people vent on here. as has been said a good few times, people rarely come on the internet to complain about how good a time they're having.

Anywho, although aesthetically repetitive, I generally find it pleasing (I'm sure it'll wear thin on me over time), and the country itself is nothing but great thus far.

[itaewonguy]

[teecee]

I don't come on ESLCafe.com too often precisely because I get sick of the whingeing. Why are you in Korea if you dislike Koreans so much? I'm in their country, I'm very well-paid, there is a reputation for folks who look like me to act like dicks at times, but yet my positive experiences - in fourteen months massively outweigh my negative ones. People want us to be happy here because they don't want us going back to our countries and saying that Koreans are so introspective and opposed to foreigners. Koreans know the world is changing and just as in all our countries, there are lots of people who open to it and then there are some folks who will just be opposed to it, regardless of the proven benefits of change. So many of my co-workers and folks I meet do nothing but whinge and then they wonder why they're miserable. How about saying, what do I like about Korea? How am I lucky to be here? There are so many people in the world living in poverty and misery today that there's nothing worse than spoiled westerners complaining about supposed Korean inhospitality. OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

[CapnSamwise]