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Hardy Boy
Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Location: I live in a shoe. Made in B.C., Northern Vancouver Island
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 Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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Things korean men do I'd get punished for back home...
1. placing the cue ball wherever they want after you sink it during a game of 8 ball.
2. expecting someone to pay for their own birthday party, and buy everyone's drinks.
Last edited by Hardy Boy on Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm not sure if there are a lot of things we'd get punished for, but certain some things that would get us laughed at, or at least looked at strangely. |
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edgellskiuk
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Going to the menswear shop and asking where the panties section is. |
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Gwangjuboy
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Location: England
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Butterfly wrote: |
| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
| -Shouting "ni ha u ma" at Chinese people I don't know. (the equivilent of Korean men shouting "hi" at Westerners they don't know.) |
I had a French colleague in UK, she seldom got through the day without someone yelling "Bonjour" at her down the internal phone, but then expecting to continue the conversation in English. I knew it annoyed her, constantly being reminded that she's different, but she dealt, as we do.
I had a French girlfriend who experienced random bonjouring from strangers too, when they heard her accent. |
Sorry Butterfly, but I was refering to Asian people being greated by English strangers. Comments like "love you long time" "ni ha u ma" and "sianara" would be considered very rude in the UK if said to oriental people we don't know. It is rude when one says "bonjour" to French we don't know too. I had a German friend and he said that he didn't encounter any the above said behaviour in the UK. Whereabouts in the UK are you from Butterfly? |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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I remember a french guy who was over in England that came out drinking with us once- people were coming up to him all night and saying things like
"Je jouer au Rugby"
"J'aime Serge Gainsbourg" etc. etc.
I don't remember what my point is though. |
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Butterfly
Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: Kuwait
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
| Sorry Butterfly, but I was refering to Asian people being greated by English strangers. Comments like "love you long time" "ni ha u ma" and "sianara" would be considered very rude in the UK if said to oriental people we don't know. It is rude when one says "bonjour" to French we don't know too. I had a German friend and he said that he didn't encounter any the above said behaviour in the UK. Whereabouts in the UK are you from Butterfly? |
Oh sure, your anecdote just reminded of another is all. I'm done with bothering to argue over whether or not Koreans are tossers~ but when I hear of things here, and experience them, it really reminds me of how much I didn't understand how foreigners felt in my country in the past, it's a good experience thus, overall, learning from the negativity and becoming a better person (I hope). sometimes I type directly as I think here, as I'm sure others do. I cringe at some of the things I did in the past in England too, with regard to foreigners, absolutely cringe.
I'm from Brighton.
| Swiss James wrote: |
people were coming up to him all night and saying things like
"Je jouer au Rugby"
"J'aime Serge Gainsbourg" etc. etc.
I don't remember what my point is though. |
Some people acts like complete pratts when there are foreigners about? |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Butterfly wrote: |
| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
| Sorry Butterfly, but I was refering to Asian people being greated by English strangers. Comments like "love you long time" "ni ha u ma" and "sianara" would be considered very rude in the UK if said to oriental people we don't know. It is rude when one says "bonjour" to French we don't know too. I had a German friend and he said that he didn't encounter any the above said behaviour in the UK. Whereabouts in the UK are you from Butterfly? |
Oh sure, your anecdote just reminded of another is all. I'm done with bothering to argue over whether or not Koreans are tossers~ but when I hear of things here, and experience them, it really reminds me of how much I didn't understand how foreigners felt in my country in the past, it's a good experience thus, overall, learning from the negativity and becoming a better person (I hope). sometimes I type directly as I think here, as I'm sure others do. I cringe at some of the things I did in the past in England too, with regard to foreigners, absolutely cringe.
I'm from Brighton. |
I agree with you Butterfly. As much as I complain, I want to leave Korea with empathy for Koreans and others who are living in my homeland. |
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Butterfly
Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: Kuwait
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:23 am Post subject: |
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| dogbert wrote: |
| I agree with you Butterfly. As much as I complain, I want to leave Korea with empathy for Koreans and others who are living in my homeland. |
Yes, I will.
I was out one evening with a group of 12 young Japanese female students, all about 18-19, we had a really nice summer evening after a day out together, and I'd really tried hard to have them leave with a good impression of my country. On the way home, as we passed under a bridge, a group of fucking yobs urinated on us from the bridge and shouted 'chinky' 'diddle eye jo' type abuse. Girls were really scared and crying, and my heart was absolutely broken. That will never leave me, that experience. I've got a long list of stories like that.
So when guys complain that some people stare at them as they hold hands with their Korean girlfriend or get a big 'Yankee go home', I think it's hurtful and I've experienced it myself, but for me it really puts into focus how those girls must have felt that night, because what we usually experience is small fry compared to what they had that night.
I hope they can remember some of the good things about their trip to England. I don't imagine they will ever go back there. |
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Gwangjuboy
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Location: England
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:39 am Post subject: |
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| Butterfly wrote: |
Yes, I will.
I was out one evening with a group of 12 young Japanese female students, all about 18-19, we had a really nice summer evening after a day out together, and I'd really tried hard to have them leave with a good impression of my country. On the way home, as we passed under a bridge, a group of *beep* yobs urinated on us from the bridge and shouted 'chinky' 'diddle eye jo' type abuse. Girls were really scared and crying, and my heart was absolutely broken. That will never leave me, that experience. I've got a long list of stories like that.
So when guys complain that some people stare at them as they hold hands with their Korean girlfriend or get a big 'Yankee go home', I think it's hurtful and I've experienced it myself, but for me it really puts into focus how those girls must have felt that night, because what we usually experience is small fry compared to what they had that night.
I hope they can remember some of the good things about their trip to England. I don't imagine they will ever go back there. |
That's a really awful experience, and those yobs let our country down. I grew up on a council estate, and I found this attitude to be prevelant amoungst some of my "associates". As I moved out of those limited social circles I met many more tolerant people in the UK than I did during my formative years. I think a better distinction to make in our analogies is to distinguish not between what happens in Korea and the UK, but what is considered to be rude in those respective countries. Having talked with my Korean friends I have come to understand that it isn't considered rude to shout a greeting(in English) to Western strangers. Although it happens back home, I know this behaviour is also frowned upon in the UK. However, I wasn't calling Korean men tossers for doing it, merely saying that such behaviour would be frowned upon back home whether carried out by foreigners or English people. Are you still in touch with your Japanese friends? |
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sparkx
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: thekimchipot.com
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a few grating experiences taken from my unique little world..
1) Going overseas w/ korean upper management and watching them all buy expensive gifts for their 20 something girlfriends and nothing for their wives or kids (anyone who wants to call me on this one feel free. Every single one of my managers is married w/ kids w/ a k-girl on the side who they treat like gold...their wives are their housekeepers). Then at some point during the trip one of them has the audacity to tell me that N.Americans don't believe in family values like Koreans do.
2) Making arrangements to have a world renowned expert in the industry come to korea to deliver a speech. 5 minutes into the much anticipated presentation, 3/4 of all korean staff are sound asleep. Later the guy asks me WTF? and tells me that in all his 25+ years he's never had to deal w/ something like that (and he's presented in China & Japan).
He's then taken to a korean restaurant and made to sit on the floor (the guy is a 250 pound 50+ year old American man w/ arthritic knees) and force fed soju. When he politely refuses after two shots, the director pushes the glass back in his face with the requisite "Aishhhhhhhh" vocal accompaniment.
Later, the guy pulls me outside and tells me that if his services are ever required in the future, he'll be permanently unavailable...
I have a million of these stories... |
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Butterfly
Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: Kuwait
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
| Are you still in touch with your Japanese friends? |
No~~~ they were only students I was teaching, I had taken them on an excursion that day, and we had dinner and drinks in the evening. I had been teaching them for two weeks.
It's p*ssing with rain today, I'm bloody soaked. |
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Gwangjuboy
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Location: England
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Butterfly wrote: |
| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
| Are you still in touch with your Japanese friends? |
No~~~ they were only students I was teaching, I had taken them on an excursion that day, and we had dinner and drinks in the evening. I had been teaching them for two weeks.
It's p*ssing with rain today, I'm bloody soaked. |
I was just wondering if they had encountered better luck in the UK since. What you experienced that night really was disgraceful. Those bastards should be thrown off a bridge. Preferably that one designed by Brunel near Plymouth station; it's very high!
Can you actually believe that one of my biggest motivators for getting out of the UK was the rain? I naively thought that I could tolerate a 3 week long rainy season for the sake of good weather for the rest of the year! |
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Butterfly
Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: Kuwait
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
I was just wondering if they had encountered better luck in the UK since. What you experienced that night really was disgraceful. Those bastards should be thrown off a bridge. Preferably that one designed by Brunel near Plymouth station; it's very high!
Can you actually believe that one of my biggest motivators for getting out of the UK was the rain? I naively thought that I could tolerate a 3 week long rainy season for the sake of good weather for the rest of the year! |
Haha, or that M4 bridge from Bristol to Wales.
They left not long after that, they were only on a three week course, and that happened on the second week. Overall they had a good impression I think, just that one experience marred the efforts everyone had made to give them a good one, just as we always do in TEFL for our pittance. There is a lot of stories like this from Brighton, rich foreign kids show up to study with lots of money and nice clothes, girlfriends, cars and local d*ckheads get jealous. But then I think that's the only time most people do get like that, when they're jealous. I mean, the times I've been walking around with Korean girls, and got looks, they've always been from sad single men in dorky clothes, or from women actually. The Korean guys with nice girls and sharp clothes, don't give you a second look, go figure, that's what I say. The French girlfriend I had was black, from French Carribean, and it was the same story with black men in London, always the sad single ones gave us looks and comments.
Yeah, it's funny, it's this time of year that I miss UK the most ~ especially in this howling city, the rain really gets me all sticky and irritable. Give me 'spitting' or 'drizzle' any day^^
sorry anyway, back on topic, things Korean guys do that I couldn't do back home..... openly and consciously copy someone's dancing style in a nightclub.
or lift the lamp on my table in the air in said nightclub and expect the waiter to grab hold of some random chick and plonk her on my table. I'd have my arm in the air all night. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Sparxx wrote: |
| When he politely refuses after two shots, the director pushes the glass back in his face with the requisite "Aishhhhhhhh" vocal accompaniment. |
Those guys need to take an elementary course in international relations- what's the way around this problem though? Is it to just to let someone fill your glass up and give a token sip rather than shoot it back? Pretend you're taking medicine?
Other things K guys appear to get away with that I wouldn't: falling asleep at work- back home it's a straight sackable offence, here it's seen as funny and there are beds in a lot of the offices I work in.
Going on a works night out and spending the last half hour of Monday throwing up into a gutter being held up by two colleagues- returning to work Tuesday morning to fall asleep with face on the keyboard. |
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sparkx
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: thekimchipot.com
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:57 am Post subject: |
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| Swiss James wrote: |
| Those guys need to take an elementary course in international relations- what's the way around this problem though? Is it to just to let someone fill your glass up and give a token sip rather than shoot it back? Pretend you're taking medicine? |
My technique when i have to attend the mandatory soju parties is to eat my fill of calbi and then when pressured to drink i go blitzkrieg with it -- i pound the shots and make everyone around me do the same. The supposed "big drinkers" are usually 60 kilo middle aged men who pass out or start puking after 10 successive shots...they quickly learn not to pressure you to start drinking.
With my earlier story though, the guy didn't have to play the game. He was our guest on special invite to help us with much needed business. In my 8 months at this company i've seen a dozen relationships sullied by this type of inconsiderate behavior.
I mentioned in another post a few months back about how, when i went to europe for a week, I ate a total of one European meal and 20 korean meals. Their philosophy here is, "when in korea you must experience korean cuisine. When overseas you must treat us to korean cuisine." This double standard grinds my ass like nothing else and its a problem you can't possibly rationalize to upper management. |
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