Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mateomiguel]

When I was coming home on the subway tonight, I was just standing there very bored, because I didn't bring my mp3 player or my book. I was idly watching two middle-aged guys who looked like they were arguing over something. Suddenly they started to fight. Well, more accurately, one of the guys started choking the other guy. The second guy didn't seem to be fighting back very well. I looked around to see if anyone would help, but everybody just stayed still and watched.

The guy who was doing the choking, lets call him The Choker, had been sitting down on a seat and was now halfway standing up. The guy being choked, lets call him Drunk Bob, had been standing in front of him and looking down and arguing with him. I think there was an mp3 player involved. Anyways, The Choker stood up halfway and started choking his friend. We're talking one hand on the front of his neck, one hand on the back of his neck, red-faced wheezing.

The Choker lost his grip a little and started pushing and shoving, while the other guy tried to ignore him, I think. Or maybe he was mentally deficient, or drunk, or something. I can't figure out his actions. Anyways, I was getting increasingly angry at them and the people in the subway who were doing nothing. Then The Choker started throwing punches at the other guy, and got in two. One to the ear, and the other to the gut. I think. Its a little hard to remember.

For some reason he stopped, and Drunk Bob started rubbing his ear. It looked like he was complaining that The Choker had really hurt him. That seemed to anger The Choker more, so he stood up completely and tried a headbutt.

A third korean guy who was shorter than the other two bravely tried pulling them apart, but he was unsuccessful. Then the three tangled bodies bumped up against the two middle school girls sitting next to The Choker, causing them to get up and duck away in fear. I guess thats what caused me to act. I breathed in deeply and shouted in my loudest, classroom commanding tone the simple word, "HEY!". It did nothing of course, so I walked over to the tangle of korean bodies and grabbed the wrist of The Choker's punching hand. He ignored me and kept holding onto the arm of Drunk Bob with his other hand. He didn't feel too strong, even full of anger. I looked over, grabbed his other wrist, yanked it off the arm of Drunk Bob, and literally threw him up against the closed doors of the subway car.

I had both his wrists pinned above his head, now with my full anger fueling me. He had no choice but to look at me then. His face was only three or four inches away from mine, and I shouted "STOP". Even if he didn't speak english, he must have understood me. He tried to move, but I wasn't letting this little Korean budge. He started yelling over my shoulder at the other guy, and I got a distinct sense of deja vu, like I was back in my classroom trying to deal with a couple of 12 year old punks. This guy even seemed to have the same strength.

The two guys were still in a shouting match. The subway car came to a stop, so I look over my shoulder and Drunk Bob was being taken care of by the third korean dude. I let The Choker go and gave him a suggestive push towards the subway exit. He went out and stood right outside the door, still yelling at Drunk Bob. Then he walked away a little, and Drunk Bob also exited the train. I briefly considered trying to stop Drunk Bob and trying to tell him to get off at the next stop, but as long as they were off the train and away from the schoolgirls I was content. I let him go out the door to be with his attacker. Drunk Bob probably got abused some more by his stupid friend.

The Koreans who were still on the subway were all looking at me. The third korean guy who was helping said a few things to me, in Korean. I just tried to stop scowling and shrugged, who knows what he was saying. Knowing Koreans, he was probably apologizing for the rude behavior of his fellow countrymen in sight of a guest/foreigner. I started shaking from the adrenaline rush. I didn't really know what else to do, so I just sat down where The Choker had been sitting and tried to stop shaking. People were pretty quiet. The next stop after that, the subway train emptied and everybody had to get out and wait for the next one, so there was no more awkward silence.

A sight better than standing bored for 45 more minutes, I'd say. And I just realized that the respect and treatment I get as a teacher in Korea makes me think of every Korean as my student, and makes me feel like The Law wherever I go. Am I a real American Cowboy now?

[Qinella]

Nice going.

What a weird scene, huh?

[Reason.]

Sounds like these guys do that all the time.

When they both got off at the same stop, they were probably high-fiving each other as the train pulled off.

Nice going, though.

Seems rare that altercations result to fisticuffs in Korea (at least amongst the natives).

[TheFonz]

I bet they staged the whole thing and lifted the third Korean guys walet. You can see some strange things on the subway. I think the crazy people love it because you are a captured audience. You are stuck and unlike on the street you can't just keep walking. Then again thats what I enjoy about the subway. Seeing other peoples reactions to weirdos or strange situations can be hilarious.

[wormholes101]

I've got into a fight with a subway bum!

[anyway]

Good on ya mate. You are teaching the apathetic Koreans more than you know....but my bet is The Choker and Drunk Bob probably went home and had some killer (and rough) make-up sex...

[Paddycakes]

[mateomiguel]

I was thinking more along the lines of me using body language to physically restrain him. I think he got the idea, somehow.

[happeningthang]

You're my hero...(emoticon for swoon, if existed, would go here)

[mindmetoo]

I'm always amazed that the only people I see fighting are old Korean men. Maybe I don't go to the right areas, but I never see two 21 year old guys duking it out. In North America you see a lot of young guys fighting over a chick but you never, in my experience, see two 55 year old men just come to blows over something.

The other day some guy was trying to take apart a patio table to get at the center pole to beat some other guy...

The best fights are when two drunk old guys start a platform fight and then their wives get into the fray. First the wives try to break up the guys and then they end up trying to slug each other.

Second best fights are between husband and wife, where the wife usually wins. 50 year old Korean women have a weight advantage and usually aren't as drunk as their husbands so their blows are more accurate.

[Captain Corea]

When I first got here and was into the clubs more I saw a lot of young guys going at it.

Mostly shoving, but a couple of times they went pretty good at eachother.

[seoulsista]

[quote="mindmetoo"]I'm always amazed that the only people I see fighting are old Korean men. [quote]

You just have to be in the right place. I once saw two old ajummas get into a fight and then four or five others got involved. It was quite a scene. I have no idea what the initial dispute was over but it all occured in the changing room of a gym, I went to.

There are rows of lockers in one big room and a shower room with lots of shower heads - kind of like a prison on tv. There's a big group of ajummas all standing around speaking loudly and arguing outside the shower room. One ajumma walks by and makes some remark to the group, one of the group members responds by yelling and then pushing and shoving ensues. Others get involved and it turns into a giant shoving and yelling match. None of which would seem all that funny or interesting until you consider they were all naked or in their underwear. Can't see that on the subway. Thank god.

[Knight Errant]

Mateomiguel,

I wanna praise you for what you did, however, at the same time you
could have been in a lot of trouble; arrested and deported for assault
on a Korean citizen. I know you were trying to be a kind and law-abiding VISA guest, but you're lucky some other ajussi didn't call the cops
and told them to pick you up at the next station for acting "violently" yourself in the heat of the moment.. I'm not exaggerating.
Foreigners in this country have been sent home for much less. No one
will ever tell you that or see it in the local newspaper. You could always try to explain yourself to the cops (and i hope you speak Korean well)
if you got arrested, but in their eyes you are a foreigner who doesn't understand the "culture" of things and acted violently. Of course, it depends on the department, but could you explain yourself better the next day in jail than the sobered up idiot who will try to cover his own ass???...I don't think so.

Why do you think nobody else did anything? They see this stuff happen
every night. I know, it's frustrating and ridiculous not to see a couple of people telling the two idiots to knock it off. However, that's how things
are here. Someone else posted that it could have been a scam as well.. Nevertheless, consider yourself lucky and an unsung
hero in the eyes of the few Koreans that were there.

A question: If it really bothered you that much, why not just walk over
2 carts down. Then, you wouldn't be bored and maybe find some nice
girl to look at...

-The Knight

[Junior]

[JZer]