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zdrav
Joined: 08 Dec 2010
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 Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:26 am Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| zdrav wrote: |
| Very true, but that only reinforces my point that the non-white population of the world is much more accustomed to immigrant/minority life than whites. |
Except for all the white immigration within Europe and from Europe to North America. |
Are you honestly going to try to argue that white Americans go through a minority/immigrant experience in Western Europe (where they understand and speak English quite fluently as a second language) similar to, say, what a Cambodian family goes through when they move to Australia?
I'm not saying that white Americans who move to Europe don't have adjustment troubles, but they are most likely neither going to be a racial nor a linguistic outcast, which are two of the biggest obstacles that immigrants and minorities have to go through.
If you're talking about immigration from poor and isolated countries in the former Soviet Bloc to Western Europe or America, that may come a bit closer. |
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everything-is-everything
Joined: 06 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:33 am Post subject: |
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| zdrav wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| zdrav wrote: |
| Very true, but that only reinforces my point that the non-white population of the world is much more accustomed to immigrant/minority life than whites. |
Except for all the white immigration within Europe and from Europe to North America. |
Are you honestly going to try to argue that white Americans go through a minority/immigrant experience in Western Europe (where they understand and speak English quite fluently as a second language) similar to, say, what a Cambodian family goes through when they move to Australia?
I'm not saying that white Americans who move to Europe don't have adjustment troubles, but they are most likely neither going to be a racial nor a linguistic outcast, which are two of the biggest obstacles that immigrants and minorities have to go through.
If you're talking about immigration from poor and isolated countries in the former Soviet Bloc to Western Europe or America, that may come a bit closer. |
Northway is just trolling and trying to highjack the thread. Pay no attention to him/her.
There used to be regular Seoul Ladies Lunch meet-ups posted on Daves a few years ago. Perhaps u can try restarting it.
I'm a dude so i won't be involved, but good luck. Having friends here will make your time in Korea so much more enjoyable. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 5:08 am Post subject: |
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| zdrav wrote: |
Are you honestly going to try to argue that white Americans go through a minority/immigrant experience in Western Europe (where they understand and speak English quite fluently as a second language) similar to, say, what a Cambodian family goes through when they move to Australia?
I'm not saying that white Americans who move to Europe don't have adjustment troubles, but they are most likely neither going to be a racial nor a linguistic outcast, which are two of the biggest obstacles that immigrants and minorities have to go through.
If you're talking about immigration from poor and isolated countries in the former Soviet Bloc to Western Europe or America, that may come a bit closer. |
Where I'm from in the States, most of the immigrants are white Europeans from Eastern Europe and Portugal. White Americans have it easy, but they don't have a monopoly on whiteness.
As for threadjacking, sorry, as that wasn't my intention. I was merely responding to posts that were already a bit off the rails. |
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FaceFaceFace
Joined: 12 Jun 2011
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 5:51 am Post subject: |
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All the best in Melbourne, I'm sure you will LOVE the art culture and European lifestyle that it has to offer!!!!
I'm from Sydney, but have visited Melbourne a bit. It's a great town to live in.
All the best and say hi to Oz for me  |
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cwflaneur
Joined: 04 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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| zdrav wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| zdrav wrote: |
| Very true, but that only reinforces my point that the non-white population of the world is much more accustomed to immigrant/minority life than whites. |
Except for all the white immigration within Europe and from Europe to North America. |
Are you honestly going to try to argue that white Americans go through a minority/immigrant experience in Western Europe (where they understand and speak English quite fluently as a second language) similar to, say, what a Cambodian family goes through when they move to Australia?
I'm not saying that white Americans who move to Europe don't have adjustment troubles, but they are most likely neither going to be a racial nor a linguistic outcast, which are two of the biggest obstacles that immigrants and minorities have to go through.
If you're talking about immigration from poor and isolated countries in the former Soviet Bloc to Western Europe or America, that may come a bit closer. |
It's seems like you're conflating the issue of English language proficiency with minority status due to ethnic identity. Separate matters.
It's my understanding that Americans face a lot of open scorn and contempt in Europe. An Asian immigrant in America may encounter some similar prejudice in backwards or redneck areas of the US, but most of them flock to the major conurbations where racial prejudice is extremely taboo and large numbers of their compatriots are already settled in their own communities. There's a reason for why there's such a long waiting list to enter the United States as an immigrant. It's where the good life is (for them).
So no, I don't think your point is nearly as valid or relevant as you say. It's a familiar assertion, but it weakens on closer scrutiny. |
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fiveeagles
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: Vancouver
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| Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Find a nice church. You will find some great people and girlfriends. |
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ATM SPIDERTAO
Joined: 05 Jul 2009
Location: seoul, south korea
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| Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:52 pm Post subject: |
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| haha honestly i feel friends are overrated, but that's been one of the reasons i've enjoyed living in korea this much. i've had friends here who were miserable and felt like they had a tough time connecting with people because they needed their support group tho. so it's different for everyone. i guess i'm one of those guys who only care about girls cuz as long as i had a girl who i liked and was actively trying to pursue, i was a happy camper lol |
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likeanyother
Joined: 05 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:38 am Post subject: |
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| Aaaanyway, speaking of western expat women finding expat western women to be friends with, anybody need a friend? I've been here 5 days now, starting to feel a little more settled and comfortable, but I really need to, umm, find a friend! I live in central Seoul and am down for beers, soju, dinner, shopping, hiking, whatevs. Any other lonely newbies out there?? |
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ulanalee
Joined: 30 May 2011
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| Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:53 am Post subject: |
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| likeanyother wrote: |
| Aaaanyway, speaking of western expat women finding expat western women to be friends with, anybody need a friend? I've been here 5 days now, starting to feel a little more settled and comfortable, but I really need to, umm, find a friend! I live in central Seoul and am down for beers, soju, dinner, shopping, hiking, whatevs. Any other lonely newbies out there?? |
Hey, I've been here about 2 weeks and still haven't met any female foreigners. I'd be glad to meet up sometime! |
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likeanyother
Joined: 05 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| ulanalee wrote: |
| likeanyother wrote: |
| Aaaanyway, speaking of western expat women finding expat western women to be friends with, anybody need a friend? I've been here 5 days now, starting to feel a little more settled and comfortable, but I really need to, umm, find a friend! I live in central Seoul and am down for beers, soju, dinner, shopping, hiking, whatevs. Any other lonely newbies out there?? |
Hey, I've been here about 2 weeks and still haven't met any female foreigners. I'd be glad to meet up sometime! |
Sweet, let's do it! I got one other PM from a girl who wants to meet up, but in a couple weeks as she's busy right now. I don't have enough posts to PM, can you send one to me? |
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ulanalee
Joined: 30 May 2011
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| Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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| likeanyother wrote: |
Sweet, let's do it! I got one other PM from a girl who wants to meet up, but in a couple weeks as she's busy right now. I don't have enough posts to PM, can you send one to me? |
I dont have enough posts to PM, either. You can email me at [email protected] and we can work something out. |
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thunderbird
Joined: 18 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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| whatz wrong with hangin with koreans? |
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earthquakez
Joined: 10 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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Hope you don't mind a Brit male intruding - just want to say good for you in starting this topic. As a male it's been much easier for me to just go out and meet people but I know a fair few women have a much harder time.
From my observations, single women teachers who don't have friends or established social gropups feel a bit ostracised even when they come into contact with other foreigners and I'd tend to support the validity of their feelings. I don't live in Seoul and haven't lived in Seoul tho I've visited a lot. My impression is that it's not unusual to see women paired off with men or cliquey women with their own group and somebody else doesn't have a chance to get to know them.
One imp. point - I'm sorry you didn't make this post earlier as I think you would have been able to make some good friends before deciding to get a visa for Australia. Seoul can be tough but it's even tougher for the women who live in backwater provinces or just bigger cities away from Seoul. It can get really cliquey away from Seoul and when you get further, the lack of comforts that you can find easily in Seoul really combine with the loneliness to make foreign women depressed in Korea. No friends, no support groups and no foreign books, no real foreign food, no English facilities or govt services really make it very tough for those women.
As for Thunderbird - I'm an outgoing bloke and I have two real Korean friends (male like me) and that's all. One of them is gay (I'm not) and the reason we get along so well is he can be himself to me and is truthful and up front in our friendship because of that.
I don't have Korean friends from any public school or hagwon I've worked in though I am a friendly male and I think for foreign women it's so much harder to make Korean friends at work or elsewhere. Most Koreans don't consider foreigners to be relevant to their heirarchies and relationships unless the foreigner is married to a Korean.
You'd think K women would be easier to make friends with but generally they're brought up to be very competitive with other women and in the case of a foreign woman it's going to be the same. I've known foreign women who worked at hagwons and public schools and tried to make friends with K co teachers only to run into multiple barriers of competitiveness, heirarchies (age and so forth) and the notion that as unmarried women they somehow are not responsible and so can never understand the lives of married Korean women.
The foreign women concerned were actually mature in their outlook and sensitive but concluded in the end that there seemed to be some resentment factors holding back the K women, single and unmarried, from responding to their efforts. |
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