Korean Job Discussion Forums

[adventureman]

Just curious, how do you usually feel when, upon meeting a Korean for the first time, and telling them how long you have been living in the country, you still get asked those stupid naive newbie questions? Annoyed? Or have you gotton so used to it by now that you are just totally indifferent?

When people ask you "why did you come to Korea?" do you usually say "to work at a hagwon and I liked it so I stayed" or do you stroke their egoes and gush over Korean culture, food, etc.?

Also, how do you usually respond when you get the whole "how long will you stay in Korea" thing? Do you just say "forever"?

[RACETRAITOR]

What pisses me off more are the foreigner questions.

"Where are you from?"

Does it christing matter? One time I was with a group of Canadians and Australians and one American, and some dude wandered up to us and said "Are any of you from America?" I shoved the American in his direction and said "This guy is" and the rest of us ignored him.

"Where are the clubs all the Korean girls that are willing to do anal?" A common greeting in Hongdae.

"Can you tell me where Route 66 is?" I've got a better idea. How about you give me 6000 won and I run across the street to the 7-11 and buy you a Budweiser.

"All I've got is American cash." Maybe not a question, but still dumb as a brick. I like to offer them an extortion-high exchange rate.

[SPINOZA]

All the guff about "do you like spicey food?" tickles me. K-food is about as spicey as my arse compared to Indian food, which I've eaten considerable amounts of in my time.

(not that I'm an old-timer at all)

[Ya-ta Boy]

[lastat06513]

Going on 10 years, I still get the same questions I got when I first came here- but these days, they ask them in Korean

If a person comes up and asks me a plethora of questions, I tend to answer them in Korean, it tends to show people how long you've been here.

[Wangja]

Not as long here as some, but yes, on first meeting, the same questions can crop up. But if you get pi$$ed off at that, you'd probably get pi$$ed off being asked - did you have good flight? was the food good on the plane? was the traffic bad? - how was the weather? - at home ...

[steroidmaximus]

Yeah, sometimes this does get to me. These statements in particular, especially after they find out I've been here 6 years:

"oh, you like kimchi?"
"you use chopsticks well"
"you eat Korean food?"
"oh, you speak Korean!" (after saying only hello or thank you)
"do you know (insert common Koreana thing here, such as soju or sam gyuep sal)?"
"you understand Koreans well"
etc etc etc

hello, did you listen to me? I've been here 6 years! It's like they expect you to be stupid and completely ignorant of their culture, then are surprised when you disprove this theory on even a most basic level.

Forcing their kids to come talk to you or say hello is the pinnacle of ignorance IMO, the equivalent of letting the kids pet the monkey at the zoo. Most annoying.

Most days I ignore all of this and just continue on with whatever I'm doing, but other times I just want to tell em off loudly and rudely. Luckily, that impulse rarely wins. . .

[billybrobby]

I've been here a little over 1 year, but in the first 2 months I feel like heard all the questions about 5 times. let's see, what are some other ones?

do you know (insert korean athelete in a league in your home country)?

do you like korean girl? (this is almost never said plurally. perhaps they mean one specific girl. who is this girl and why is she so damn likable?)


i'm too lazy to think of more. i suppose it's all about patience and understanding. i mean, I've yelled Konnichiwa at japanese people on the street before, I've asked a spanish person "so, how about penelope cruz?" and other dumb stuff like that. so what right do i have to get all snooty about silly korean questions? yeah, some defy all logic, but a lot of people make conversation on auto-pilot. they're not so interested in you, they're just trying avoid an awkward silence.

[SPINOZA]

[Swiss James]

I like it when parents made their kids speak english to me.

Let's face it, if these parents weren't paying hand over fist so that Junior could learn how to say "I'm fine thankyou, how are you?" I'd have no friends over here.

[JongnoGuru]

[Swiss James]

[Ya-ta Boy]

My current favorite among the non-English speaking teachers at my school is the old geezer, Young-Duck. When I say 'Good morning' he answers with "Thank you. And you?" I don't bother to correct him.

[Wangja]

[Privateer]