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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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 Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:43 am Post subject: shock |
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 #1. my first trip to the supermarket and wandering into the aquarium section. Never saw anything like that back home 
#2. Sitting in a samgapsal joint enjoying some dinner when three ajoshi businessmen stagger up the street when two of them stop and start pissing all over the place. Not just pissing quietly but spraying as much area as possible. My buddy and I looked at each other shook our heads in disbelief and went WTK (welcome to Korea...a running joke)one of the ajoshi comes in and tries to explain his actions in remarkably good English. He was dragged away by his buddies in short order.
#3 being given a 'coffee girl' for teachers day  |
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casey's moon
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 1:17 am Post subject: |
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| Grotto, if #3 isn't a joke then please tell me and I'm getting out of this country ASAP |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:01 am Post subject: |
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| In #2, how did the guy explain his actions?! |
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ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 5:54 am Post subject: |
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Damn! I never got a coffee BOY for a gift!!!
I too experience more culture shock when I return to the States. I have to remind myself how close to stand to the person ahead of me in line, to keep my shopping cart to the side and NOT in the middle of the aisle, that it's OK to turn left without a green arrow....
And it's always a shock for me to see how many foreigners there are!!  |
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W.T.Carl
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Walking down to school and seeing tubs of dog meat for sale. |
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kiwiboy_nz_99
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Location: ...Enlightenment...
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't think you ever fully get past culture shock, it just becomes culture fatigue. I have and I hate Korea three weeks about once every 6 months or so. |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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the coffee girl was a gift from one of the parents on teachers day. She showed up at my apartment that evening after school had finished, gave me a note from 'Sams' father explaining why she was here. Too bad I dont drink coffee 
The ajoshi tried to explain that pissing is natural...yes? He said he had to go and that it is a natural function....
I pointed out that there are literally dozens of bathrooms on this street in Suwon Youngtongdong and that as a foreigner I never had any problems finding one 
He just kept pleading? it is natural as his buddies dragged him away.
Funny! |
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casey's moon
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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| kermo wrote: |
p.s. Why are you calling me Kerno? Am I missing the joke? |
No, I was just kidding as you called me Demophone. |
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babydriver
Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Location: US of A, temporarily
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| Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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Going back to the states last summer after three years, up-state New York, Wal-Mart, all the huge fat ugly (sad but true) people.  |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:45 am Post subject: |
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I'm gonna question all of the people that talk about going home and noticing how fat everyone is.
I think being in Korea really messes with your perceptions of body types. I went to the ballet here over the summer, and even though I knew on an intellectual level that the dancers were in peak physical condition, they looked rather pudgy |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 1:52 am Post subject: |
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| I think we all know the US. Canada and several other countries have a lot of BIG people. I found it funny going through the airport (Minneapolis), seeing a huge guy taking an airport "taxi" ---- inside the airport! I guess that 15 minute walk would be rough. And 3 Burger Kings in the airport, Pizza Hut and more of the same. Having those types of restaurants everywhere isn't helping people stay in shape.... |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 1:57 am Post subject: |
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| peppermint wrote: |
| My worst culture shock came early. . After around 25 hours on a plane followed by a three hour bus trip, I wanted two things, a bathroom and a bed- in that order. Instead of letting me get those things, the people that picked me up at the airport ( who spoke no English) brought me to my school to meet the head teacher. I sat there, in an utter haze for a couple of minutes, then asked about the washroom. When I found a stall with a squat toilet and a nasty bucket of used toilet paper, all I could think was "OH MY GOD! I'VE GOTTA DEAL WITH THIS FOR A YEAR??" |
I can relate to that as well. I had quite sinking feeling my first day, after you know how far the trip was from east Canada to Seoul. But it hit me most on the airplane from Seoul to Ulsan. All Koreans, all quietly sitting reading Korean newspapers, a language I had never seen or heard before arrival. Hangul was freaky the first few months before I learned it was easy to decipher. |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:21 am Post subject: |
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| jajdude wrote: |
| I think we all know the US. Canada and several other countries have a lot of BIG people. I found it funny going through the airport (Minneapolis), seeing a huge guy taking an airport "taxi" ---- inside the airport! I guess that 15 minute walk would be rough. And 3 Burger Kings in the airport, Pizza Hut and more of the same. Having those types of restaurants everywhere isn't helping people stay in shape.... |
There's at least one Burger King in Incheon airport, too. So why aren't Koreans fat?
(My culture shock story: when a flight was delayed, the Korean restaurant across from Burger King offered ONLY ONE of the 20+ menu items. I should have gone to Burger King, but I was damned if I was going to eat BK on the way out!) |
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babydriver
Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Location: US of A, temporarily
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| Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I'm gonna question all of the people that talk about going home and noticing how fat everyone is. |
I don't mean everyone is (to be PC) heavy, I'm talking about that particular Walmart. Having been in post communist paradise for three years, I was also freaked by the sheer amount of stuff available. Too many choices  |
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