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common mistakes foreigners make in korea...
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eamo



Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 6:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thinking you're special because you're a foreigner.

Thinking Koreans look at you with awe like you're a movie-star.

Americans who think Koreans want to be like Americans. They don't want to be like you. They only want to be 'rich' like you!!!


Last edited by eamo on Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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buddy bradley



Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Location: The Beyond

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The first mistake would be going to Korea. The second would be not leaving Korea as soon as possible.
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turtlepi1



Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

captain kirk wrote:
Feeling violated, on guard, and ready to 'hit back' re; people bumping into you or walking in your path. It's like a school of fish and one fish getting into a burning flap and thrashing around taking it personally. Or it becomes a racist issue, 'they are walking in my way because they don't respect me because I'm white'. Yikes.


OK so I don't feel violated, on guard or ready to 'hit back' but I do have to admit I noticed the walking thing. In Anyang it isn't nearly as busy as Seoul. The sidewalks are generally not crowded yet if there is a choice between the narrow side of me with only a foot and a half or the other side that they are already walking towards they generally choose my 'short side'.

Maybe I am just crazy but it caught my attention enough to think about it.
I remember in one of my psych classes (not my major but did you know those classes are about 80% women. Wink ) regarding microsigns we give to people. One of them was when we pass someone we glance in the direction we will move (subconsciously). The person subconsciously processes this data and it helps keep people moving.

Tested it out thinking I was sending mixed messages but I don't think that is the reason. Smile

*shrug*
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agraham



Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Location: Daegu, Korea

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

turtlepi1 wrote:
Maybe I am just crazy but it caught my attention enough to think about it.
I remember in one of my psych classes (not my major but did you know those classes are about 80% women. Wink ) regarding microsigns we give to people. One of them was when we pass someone we glance in the direction we will move (subconsciously). The person subconsciously processes this data and it helps keep people moving.


This totally works. You ever do the waltz with another pedestrian? YOu go left and he goes right so you go right but he goes left? Just look very deliberately is the direction you want to go and start moving.
Some thing when driving. On my motorcycle people can't see my eyes, but they can see where my helmet is pointing. If I want to go somewhere ahead of a driver, and I want to look at the driver to make sure he's not gonna cut me off, I point my helmet where I'm going, and I look at the driver out of the corner of my eye. Works like a charm. If I point my helmet at the driver, s/he has no idea what I'm going to do.
When walking in Seoul, I point my chest where I want to go. The important thing is not to move your shoulders sideways to squeeze through until the last second. Otherwise the other peds are confused about what you're going to do.

Maybe I'm over-analyzing it...
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Leslie Cheswyck



Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

agraham wrote:
You ever do the waltz with another pedestrian?


Yes. Always when I make eye-contact. Just don't make eye-contact and you'll avoid the dancing.
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mog



Joined: 06 May 2004

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 5:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Leslie Cheswyck wrote:
agraham wrote:
You ever do the waltz with another pedestrian?


Yes. Always when I make eye-contact. Just don't make eye-contact and you'll avoid the dancing.

I have problems with that at home, not just here.

It's worse when the dancing is with a guy on a bicycle, much more so when the guy is on a motorcycle. Thought he was aiming for me the entire time until he zoomed past me.
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new horizons



Joined: 25 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 5:42 am    Post subject: $ Reply with quote

Quote:
Thinking you're special because you're a foreigner.

Thinking Koreans look at you with awe like you're a movie-star.

Americans who think Koreans want to be like Americans. They don't want to be like you. They only want to be 'rich' like you!!!


Hey, I'm American. Oh my God! I must be rich!
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matthewwoodford



Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Location, location, location.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 7:29 am    Post subject: Re: $ Reply with quote

new horizons wrote:
Quote:
Thinking you're special because you're a foreigner.

Thinking Koreans look at you with awe like you're a movie-star.

Americans who think Koreans want to be like Americans. They don't want to be like you. They only want to be 'rich' like you!!!


Hey, I'm American. Oh my God! I must be rich!


Oh my God! You must be able to lend me some money then! Pleeeeease! Laughing
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Cedar



Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Location: In front of my computer, again.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 8:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They never bother to learn Korean names and just use "nicknames". This just means a year after they've been here they still have the same difficulty remembering Korean names they had the day they arrived.

They hang out with negative foreigners who poison their minds and make it hard for them to naturally learn what they themselves think of Korea. (Not that it's not useful to have a foreigner explain where to buy a public transit card, but you know what I mean).

They think Koreans think like Westerners just cause they dress like Westerners.
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 8:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Getting accustomed to the Korean style in restaurants... "Ajumma, Yogi yo" still seemed strange to me after years. Not really a mistake but an adjustment that can be hard to make.

Maybe not using the right garbage bags?

Expecting people to understand you when you are new there.

Trying to pass that ajumma who somehow takes up the whole wide sidewalk... amazing how hard it is sometimes to walk past them. They are slow and nearly unpassable!


===============================================

Me fail English? Unpossible.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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agraham



Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Location: Daegu, Korea

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 10:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jajdude wrote:
Maybe not using the right garbage bags?


I just learned that this week! I hope I didn't get my landlord busted.
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

agraham wrote:
jajdude wrote:
Maybe not using the right garbage bags?


I just learned that this week! I hope I didn't get my landlord busted.


I was just thinking of that. I couldn't figure out for a long time where to throw my recyclables. All the "blue" bins outside the apartment were loaded with food waste. Thank god I moved in here during winter or that would have been a far scarier discovery in the heat of summer.

Never would I have ever imagined that the Korean solution (at least in my building) was to simply toss all your recyclables into a heap on the floor near the elevator and some ajummas came and sort/collected it every other day. Even after I saw people do it, I still couldn't just throw my trashing onto a public hallway floor for a while. Even today I do it with a sense of shame and guilt.
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Hollywoodaction



Joined: 02 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:04 pm    Post subject: Re: What? Reply with quote

pecan wrote:
Paji eh Wong wrote:
blowing their nose at the table


I hear that all the time from Koreans, but what country and culture has that mannerism as common practice?

I have never seen that type of behavior before.

Nut


Right, they might as well tell us not to fart at the table.
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