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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:26 pm Post subject: |
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Harin,
Americans stare at you. American children point at you and call you foreigner in public places. |
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Harin
Joined: 03 May 2004
Location: Garden of Eden
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Real Reality wrote: |
Harin,
Americans stare at you. American children point at you and call you foreigner in public places. |
It doesn't happen now, but when I lived in a small town, people did stare at me.
I live in a big city, but people ask me 'where I am from' all the time.
I was invited to dinner last sat, and the host's daughter kept staring at my face, so I said, 'do you have any question?'.
'no, I just never saw a chinese this close, that's all', she said.
I am not kidding.
I work in school full of educated people. One french professor stopped me and asked me the other day what my orgin of nation was.....
The constant probing and questioning does happen here in the states. |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:32 pm Post subject: |
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You were invited to an American family dinner.
Did the host stare at your face?
Is Korea like a small town? Is Seoul a small village? |
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Harin
Joined: 03 May 2004
Location: Garden of Eden
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Real Reality wrote: |
You were invited to an American family dinner.
Did the host stare at your face?
Is Korea like a small town? Is Seoul a small village? |
whaaaaat? me not sure what you mean....
why don't you enlighten me by citing articles? please......i love all of your links. we need data, don't we? |
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Cherry Ripe
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 3:25 pm Post subject: Off on a tangent |
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| The responses to my original query are getting further and further from the point - that's OK - but I just want to clarify: I'm NOT talking about being referred to as "Waygook Saram" by people I don't know well. I'm talking about people I have developed a relationship with over several months. Please note: I'm just trying to get some cultural enlightenment here. If "Waygook Saram" does not have the same connotations as it does in English, then fine. If it does, then I'm closer to understanding this society - and know the limits of friendship, with certain individuals that is. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Harin wrote: |
| Real Reality wrote: |
You were invited to an American family dinner.
Did the host stare at your face?
Is Korea like a small town? Is Seoul a small village? |
whaaaaat? me not sure what you mean....
why don't you enlighten me by citing articles? please......i love all of your links. we need data, don't we? |
Harin 1- Real Reality 0 |
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Sage Monkey
Joined: 01 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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Last edited by Sage Monkey on Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:27 am; edited 4 times in total |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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A much beloved film in Korea (right up there with "The Shawshank Redemption"!) is John Merrick's 1980 classic, "The Elephant Man".
Have a friend translate some of these quotes from the film into Korean, learn to say them, and voila! problem solved.
John Merrick: People are frightened by what they don't understand.
John Merrick: I am not an animal. I am a human being. I am a man.
Be sure to modulate your voice during your delivery so that the allusion is clear and the point is made. |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:53 pm Post subject: |
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| You are still a foreign man (or woman). |
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Sage Monkey
Joined: 01 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 2:50 am Post subject: |
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Last edited by Sage Monkey on Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:21 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:24 am Post subject: |
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| How many times have we referred to "foreigners" in our own countries as "immigrants" or ourselves as "expats"? They are all the same brand with a different title. |
Excellent point here sage M. |
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shakuhachi
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:48 am Post subject: |
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| Sage Monkey wrote: |
| Why don't you people learn some Korean and request that people call you by your name instead of griping about it? This kind of situation will only last as long as you let it. These days, I have very few problems with the people I know or work with, simply because I asked them to call me by my name instead of as a �ܱ��� |
You see, thats the kind of brilliance that eludes most of the posters here (not sarcasm).
Most of them dont want to learn Korean, know about Korean culture and yet still manage to complain bitterly. |
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hellofaniceguy
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: On your computer screen!
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:57 am Post subject: |
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| Korean society makes a sharp distinction between an individual's inner circle of family, friends and business colleagues, and outsiders. Members of the inner circle must always be treated with absolute respect and courtesy, while strangers are treated with indifference. Korean society is not egalitarian: a person's status is strictly defined in relation to others. How do foreigners fit into this scheme? The simple answer is they don't. |
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captain kirk
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:18 am Post subject: |
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Sounding like Real Reality there HellofANiceGuy. That's ok, just not your usual free style, more tight and controlled.
Cherryripe I know what you're talking about and it seems like what HellofANiceGuy says. I'll be in the staffroom and the boss and Korean teacher will be conferring and I'll get the impression that I'm not in the loop, I'm an alien, show-pony, whatever you want to call it. At the same time they're 'making ground' repairing this retarded attitude with every foreign teacher they work with. Like a Korean changes after having travelled to another country, but more sloowwwly. I just flip the 'WTF, don't worry about it' switch and chock it up to 'whatever'. There are advantages to not getting involved in all the details, and being at the bottom in terms of 'making the decisions'. Less bother. If I switch the 'don't worry about it' switch instead of pushing the panic button over 'how unfair' it doesn't lead to 'I'm not a silly, dirty monkey, you guys, you've GOT to get out more'.
A couple of times I referred to myself or other foreign teachers as 'waegookin sonsangnims' and the students got a weird look. I don't know what the connotations of 'waegookin' are, exactly, but it isn't too friendly a term. |
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