Korean Job Discussion Forums

Tiberious aka Sparkles · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: I'm one cool cat!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned a convenience store owner as being the first Korean they ever met. That's how it was for me, although, at the time, everyone ignorantly thought he and his wife were Chinese.

Sparkles*_*

Harin · Joined: 03 May 2004 Location: Garden of Eden

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

I was finishing up the last class for my degree, a Summer session English class (19th C Brit Lit), and met some in the Dairy Queen brazier accross the street from campus. I knew then I was going over so when I met them I asked them if they wanted 'free English lessons'. And met with them at the Dairy Queen twice a week. We hung out that way for a month or more, and I helped them rent an apt. by driving them around looking at places advertised in the paper. We even all drove down to Regina (from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) in the dead of winter (minus 30 celsius) just to see it. I had a van. We also headed up north to my grandparents bush farm where they made a dinner party for them. They could NOT believe the national park an hour north of there, well up into northern Canada. We hiked a trail through three feet of powder snow in the forest and, standing on the ice of a big lake, the silence was like being in another world to them. I could see it on their faces.
They were college students. I thought they were formal in their manners. They knew I was older so they treated me with formal respect. They hacked around playing that slap happy little card game. I remember one night in particular. We stayed at a bush hotel up near my Grandparents place. It had a saloon bar full of woodcutters and indians. They looked at the Koreans a second time. Up in the room I had a surreal feeling. They were playing the slap happy card game while, on the radio, a station from somewhere in the states came through (a couple of thousand miles away, the signal curving mysteriously on the atmosphere, travelling far) talking about the ancient, Atlantis like, undersea ruins off Barbados.
Everyone who met them was curious about where they were from and when they said Korea the questions flew.

manlyboy · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:45 am Post subject:

Alyallen · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:51 am Post subject:

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

tomato · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 1:46 am Post subject:

Her name is ��. She was a student at Interlochen at the same time I was. She was a voice student and had a very beautiful voice.

One evening, the opera department gave a performance of The Medium by Gian-Carlo Menotti. She played the role of Monica, the daughter of a fake medium. In one scene, she hides behind a dimly lit curtain and repeats the words "Mother, Mother, are you there?"

A few days later, a group of students in the lunchroom teased her by singing those words over and over. She ran from the lunchroom.

Since I came to Korea, I have met one person who knows her. She is now a voice professor somewhere in Seoul. She has gotten married, but I would like see her anyway--even if she can't remember me.

Tiberious aka Sparkles · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: I'm one cool cat!

jurassic5 · Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Location: PA

Alyallen · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:04 pm Post subject:

just because · Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Location: Changwon - 4964

The first one I met was a girl who lived in my home city who was a guide for tours for Koreans as where I live is popular with Asian tourists.

She was one of those girls who would ring all the time for 5 days and then you wouldn't hear from her for a week and then she would be on you to come around for some companionship Wink

.

It all make sense now i think she had 3 or 4 of us on the go at once but she wasn't half bad. Wink

coldcrush · Joined: 02 Apr 2004 Location: melbourne.... Posts: 1

first korean i met was my tae kwon do instructor when i was a kid. even had the taegukki hanging on my wall for a few years as part of the school's flag. go figure.

second korean was a guy named dong-ho whom i met at university. big tall guy who dated an incredibly gorgeous korean lass. we "studied" japanese together and he came up with a business plan for us to manage east coast holiday tours for korean and japanese female students. he said ' you and i will travel up and down the country with many beautiful women showing them the sights. making money and having lots of fun. sound good?' erm.. yes. yes it does. unfortunately, his family took a huge hit in the financial crisis in the late 90s and he had to go home. c'est la vie.

married the third korean i met.

wylde · Joined: 14 Apr 2003

i had a fight with the first korean i met, we were both 10..

he scratched and bit me... thats just not cricket where i'm from

krats1976 · Joined: 14 May 2003

Korean Koreans or enthic Koreans? I went to junior & part of senior HS in the Seattle area so there were lots of Korean Americans in my schools. They were just like everyone else as far as I saw--some hard workers, some not; some popular, some nerdy... etc.

As for Korean nationals, one of my best friends here in Korea I met when we were at BYU. She was one of the best roommates I had. I admired her for being gutsy enough to come all the way to the States for school--and not just one year like lots of people do. She worked her way through her entire bachelor's degree in a second language (and had a job the entire time). She grew up in the country-side without a lot of money so she never went to hagwons or anything, yet she had good enough English skills to study in the US. She also made lots of Korean food (such as she could find in Utah) and shared with me. To top it all off, she let me borrow her car. She definately left a good impression. Cool