Korean Job Discussion Forums

[R. S. Refugee]

Toby wrote:

[captain kirk]

Well, man, Korean people at my school had a lot of 'bad experiences' with previous foreign teachers in the three years the school's existed. One was a child molester (so they say, you never know how turned around or exaggerated things get with the Koreans). Another understated his age by ten years. Another was nabbed for drugs. Others drank, were inconsistent, and so on bla di bla bla.
Apparently 'all this' gave them reason to have a deep distrust of yours truly upon arrival, enough that they wouldn't allow me to have a key to the school. To lock up after I keenly did overtime pulling supplementary lesson material off the web, can you believe it? I told them it's really 'blocking' my enthusiasm this kind of thing. It was then we went out for a beer and they told me their troubles.
Koreans stick together, it's one big happy, racial family with 'five thousand years of history', 'four distinct seasons', and 'kimchi curing SARS/preventing cancer'. There's no way a foreigner can be wholely trusted, except through TIME and being consistently responsible/devoted to the cause. They meet so few foreigners and have so many distorted views about foreigners that a few bad experiences with f-teachers 'confirms everything'.
They know me through and through after eight months, and think I'm a wonderful guy. But that's only come about with time. And, from my point of view, coming JUST short of telling them where to go on numerous occasions . I'm not Korean, but I'm not abhorent, either. I'll do. That's just the 'impression' I get, which tends to be mercantile and based on comparisons, like I'm an object. That's why I say be yourself. You're a foreigner anyway and the sooner they get to know you as you are the better. Provided you're ok, and they'll know that, you'll show it by being yourself. It's a small town/neighbourly/family thing. And working at the hagwon is like living in each other's pockets.

[Lysander]

Don't try to explain to yourself "why" Koreans do things. More often than not, the behaviour of people around you will be based on habit/tradition/emulation rather than logic. Concentrate on identifying patterns of behaviour and expect them to be repeated.

Extend the concept of "cultural relativism" to all things... not just politics and beliefs but also to mechanical engineering, the laws of physics, human anatomy... This will help you cope with why your water pipes are always uninsulated and freeze every winter, why people tug at the hair on your arms and legs, and shrimp-flavoured potato chips.

If by some stroke of luck you meet an free thinker, the Korean way of dealing with this is to ostracize them. If you also treat them as outcasts, you will win points with your Korean friends and maybe avoid a potentially dangerous person.

[Swiss James]

also, when reading this forum, try and bear in mind that any thread that runs to a second page will inevitably turn into a Korea-bashing exercise.

[captain kirk]

Like BamBams from the Flintstones, 'Bam Bam'