Korean Job Discussion Forums

[eb]

I don't think Iam better then anyone...No wait, ok-maybe a little

But, at least that advice was sound and honest.

[tomato]

I would like to tell all of you about a few I'm-OK-you're-not-OK practitioners I have known.

Number 1: my mother

My mother grew up as a shy and unattractive girl. Her mother and her aunts were always criticizing her and the boys at school were always making fun of her. She thought that she would live her life as an old maid.

She didn't, though, because obviously, she met my father. It seemed, however, that she still found it necessary to redeem herself by maintaining that she was happier than most other people. Consequently, she was always looking for signs of unhappiness, whether real or imagined, in other people.

Number 2: my stepmother

After my mother died, my father married a clinical psychologist. Because of a bout with childhood polio, she had to walk with a cane while most other people walk with the two legs that God gave them.

She criticized everybody and his brother. She never looked for reasons for other people's behavior, ostensibly because she believed in behavioral psychology. However, whenever she discussed another handicapped person, she took momentary leave of her behavioral philosophy and sympathized with the other person's point of view.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that she studied clinical psychology so that she could find weaknesses in the very people who appeared so strong to her.

Number 3: one of my Spanish professors

A Spanish professor at the University of Tennessee was constantly casting aspersions about college students in general, whom he referred to as "twenty-year old kids." He did his dangdest not to see any strengths on the part of any of the students in the class. Instead of stressing Spanish pronunciation, grammar, or syntax, he stressed skills in which a good Spanish student might not necessarily be proficient, such as topic sentences and paragraph organization.

I didn't know until the end of the semester that one of the students had lived in Spain for 3 years. Nor did I know that another of the students had lived in Ecuador for 5 years. (For this student, English was not a first language, but a third language, because he was from Korea!) Both of these students spoke Spanish fluently, and as far as I could tell, accent-free.

The professor himself, spoke Spanish awkwardly and with a clearly detectable accent. I heard from the grapevine that he never had a chance to learn Spanish until late in his upbringing. In fact, he was laid out of school for a year because of a childhood illness.

Number 4: yours truly

Now that I'm through pointing my finger at other people, I'll point my finger at myself. When a Korean stranger speaks English to me, I take every opportunity to find fault with his pronunciation or grammar. Some of you may have seen my posts in which I write "Can I help you?" as "캔 아이 헬프 유?�

Just as my mother felt threatened in a world populated by people who might have lived happy lives, just as my stepmother felt threatened in a world populated by people who were not handicapped, just as my Spanish professor felt threatened in a department populated by people who might be proficient in Spanish, I feel threatened in a country populated by people who might be more proficient in my language than I am in theirs.

I would give anything to travel back in time. Then I could tell my 10-year-old self that I was going to spend my last years in Korea. Then I could have started learning Korean from the age of 10. Then I would have decades of Korean instruction by the time I got here. Then I wouldn't have to hesitate to ask instructions for fear of being responded to in English. Then I wouldn't have to slam the apartment door in a visitor's face if he speaks to me in English. Then I wouldn't have to write vitriolic stories about the Miriam Ferguson Society.

Now have you figured out what my point is? In case you haven't, I'll tell you: My point is that a person who imagines himself surrounded by Lilliputians is usually compensating for a real or imagined weakness of his own.

UK, tell us about this merit badge which you want us to recognize. Is it for academic excellence, for athletic prowess, or what? Maybe if the rest of us can congratulate you highly enough, you can stop condemning the entire human race.

[Fox]

[fromtheuk]

I think you've misunderstood what I've said. I thank God for any good qualities I have and I am not in the least bit interested in requesting people to think I am meritorious.

I just examine myself and then compare fromtheuk with the people I meet. Inevitably, I reach the conclusion that I'm a fairly decent person.

I am genuine, considerate, kind, and helpful. I am also selfish, childish, self-obsessed and bear a grudge very easily.

I wash myself everyday thoroughly, I don't try to cause trouble, nor do I try to harm others.

As I've just said, I don't need people to accept what I think of myself, I trust my opinion.

I'm just as ordinary as everybody else, but I have certain traits which I am thankful for. It's not exactly rocket science.

[Junior]

Extroverts are such a pain in the rear.

The root cause of such behaviour appears to be a lack of parental attention in childhood.

[tomato]

I can't believe it!
Junior and I are on the same side!

[Globutron]

I like how people seem to think being an introvert means wanting to be alone.

If we were that black and white (as in, extrovert simply means they like getting drunk), genetic variation would have kept us in the pre-hominid days.
Good times, good times.

[Sector7G]

[Globutron]

Just sayin'. I'm a heavy introvert, undoubtedly, but I've just had 5 days of constant social activity in hong kong and I consider it now one of the best times I've had.
Still, nothing extrovert about me, as far as I'm concerned.

I also like how everyone strives for uniqueness, confirmation of their existence (such as taking photos of everything and uploading it to the internet) - including myself, since I'm no more unique - but that's an old story.