Korean Job Discussion Forums

[theSeeker]

any ideas?

[uberscheisse]

i can see there being a few minor problems - i have heard much about black people being not served in restaurants. of course i've heard the same about white people not being served in restaurants.

but the truth is, every time you make a little effort with koreans, 9 times out of 10 it'll be repaid in kind. learn some korean, show respect, and doors open. also, there's quite a few indian people living in seoul so it's not like you'd be the first darker-brown person they'd seen.

your students will most likely be biggest pain in the arse. they don't mince words, and brown skin seems to be a favorite target of my students' moronic comments. so brace yourself for that.

[theSeeker]

any ideas?

[posco's trumpet]

[uberscheisse]

alot of students just say what's on their mind.

i have met slightly chubby teachers who have had students say "teacher, you're not beautiful, you're way too fat" and i have heard students talk about their fellow students in ways that i find just appalling.

also there seems to be this thing with koreans where the lighter-skinned ones are seen as fitting some aesthetic ideal, therefore darker-skinned korean kids get treated like utter crap a lot of the time.

scan some of the threads on here about korean vs. black racism, there is a smattering of decent info/experience on there. and of course, a lot of it is just "this korean guy was just so korean, and he did all this korean stuff, and now i'm being a weiner about it on eslcafe.com"...

(something i do with alarming frequency)

[VanIslander]

We all get treated as if we had purple skin. Don't take it personally.

Saying you are American might cause more problems with some. Say you are from London, since where you're born is more important to Koreans anyhow.

And you should be fine.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

I had a roommate that was Mexican-American dual citizen, his gf was half-white-half black. They both had fairly dark skin, and were definitely the most exotic thing the Koreans in our little town had ever seen. She caused car accidents while she was walking down the street, partly because she was different and partly because she was beautiful and had dreadlocks. Whenever I would go out with them, the Koreans would ask me all sorts of questions about them. They were fascinated, but I very rarely sensed that it was mean-spirited. Sometimes a drunk or a very young and stupid kid would say something idiotic but nobody would back them up and often made excuses for them. They did seem to feel that they were discriminated against, and were sometimes a bit reluctant to discuss things with me as a white person. Or maybe they just didn't feel that we had enough in common to totally confide in me. However, they have been here a fairly long time and are having a blast. They like their jobs and are doing well, they often told me that one of their biggest frustrations stemmed from their lack of Korean not from their race. If you make some effort to learn a bit about the language and culture you should be just fine. By the way, Chakra in Hannam-dong is the best Indian restaurant in town. Good luck.

[Tiger Beer]

Being a Westerner with brown skin seems to be a big plus. My Vietnamese-American friend came to Seoul during the World Cup and absolutely loved it. He was typical of an Asian who grew up in the West. Just bigger and healthier and typically western. He was also dark-skinned Vietnamese (without the Chinese skin that many lighter-skinned Vietnamese have), but seemed to get a lot of very positive attention so much that he loved Korea and really considered teaching there (but never did because he has a great Biology Lab gig and working on post-graduate studies - in other words, no time to take a year off like that).

But I�ve known quite a few others like Pyongshin�s friends who have also had positive experience. I knew another Haitian-American girl with kinky hair.. everyone wanted to touch her hair. I�d think it would be annoying, but she actually really liked the attention, and it was all positive and fun for her. SHe was also just visiting, so I told her a year of it might drive you crazy. But she was just visiting her GI boyfriend in Korea for a few weeks and didn�t mind it at all.

Anyhow, your western. I think the only big difference would be if you were of a significantly lower social class than most people.. no education and doing work that no Korean would dream of doing, etc., etc.

[little mixed girl]

hmm...when i was in korea last summer a number of koreans thought that i was indian. but too bad for them i was not.

i guess the closest you'll get is me, and i wasn't treated badly at all.
but i was also with a different group of ppl than you will probably be with. meaning that i usually had a korean or korean-american with me whereever i went.

ppl talked to me in korean & english. if they talked smack, then it was words i never heard before. there's some ppl that wanna have a convo about "foreign" things when i was around, but it was rare.
some staring, but i didn't really pay attention to it; and even my korean friend said that she noticed that i didn't get a lotta stares.

i had koreans approach me from the back or side thinking that i was korean, then they got a shock when i turned around.

i dunno. i didn't expect a lot so i wasn't disappointed.
but at the same time i didn't have ppl refuse to serve me (maybe cuz i was with koreans??) or spit on me or anything like that...

[theSeeker]

You all are great. Thanks so much for all the feedback. Yea, usually i notice, no matter where i am, that if i'm friendly and respectful, people are too. Of course there are exceptions, but i find that they are just that, exceptions.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The non-white teachers here are in a minority, but they do exist. The word is that they have a harder time getting a job, but when they do find one they have the same success rate as everyone else.

Koreans tend to be blunt about personal comments. "You need to go on a diet." "My girlfriend is not beautiful but she has a warm heart." "I have high eyes (he is not handsome enough or rich enough for me to date)." It's part of their culture but seems rude and insensitive to us. You just try to live with it.

I agree with you that attitude is the key. It seems like you are on the right track. With the right attitude and a sense of humor, you will be able to handle most situations.

[coolsage]

Most, not all, Koreans possess the approximate subtlety of a SWAT team. Apologists will play the 'they've only opened up their country to foreigners for twenty years' card, but that obviously doesn't play. During the World Cup in 2002, an entire planeload of (middle-class) Thai people was turned away because some racist idiot at Passport Control 'thought' that they were coming to work illicitly. Needless to say, Koreans are not well-regarded in Thailand these days.

[chi-chi]

It depends on their perceptions and your personality (if you mesh well with them and have big eyes, "you are beautiful". If you have a conflicting personality, small eyes, you may get told something rude, like you have a "black look", whatever.) These aren't specific examples, I'm just making them up, but the point remains. Perception and personality. If you were African-American (100%) there would be considerably more trouble (seen it).
You may have trouble getting work, to be frank, although I hope I'm lying! But you may have more luck in the smaller towns. Seoul seems to be a bit more racist, and may get to you a lot, even if you do find work.

[chiaa]

I have a funny story that one of my customers told me. She is a woman of color (dark complexion). It was about three in the morning and she was sleeping with the window open. She heard some noises outside the window or just her sixth sense woke her up. To frightened to move, she just looked at the open window. Suddenly, a Korean man, who was scaling the wall, attempted to enter her apartment (a thief she assumes). He caught one look at her, and nearly shit his pants. He scampered back down the wall and ran like hell.

Has to be one of the funniest stories I have ever heard about life in Korea.

http://www.whatthebook.com[/b]

[Kwangjuchicken]

If you are a nice person, an interesting person, a funny person and a good teacher, you should have no problems.

At my last job there was a teacher from NZ whose parents were from India. He had all the above mentioned qualities. He taught there for years and everyone loved him. Then, when he got an offer to go to a more prestigious postion, the school supported his decision.




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