Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

After reading a post today on the blog 'Marmot's Hole' (http://www.rjkoehler.com/) about the stir the arrest of John Mark Karr has created in Korea, I felt some of the effect first-hand.

My wife and I were taking the elevator down to the first floor when a young boy around elementary school age got on. He turned, looked at me and uttered somethingn Korean that I didn't catch at first. He said it again after my wife asked him what he had said and this time I caught what he said. Feeling a bit confused, I replied in Korean that it was the first time I had heard that said about me.

After getting off the elevator, I looked at my wife, realizing what he had meant when he said, "You look like a Thai person."

"Holy smokes!" I yelled. Here it comes I thought to myself.

[eamo]

How do you link that incident with the Mark Karr case?

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

I dont' look Thai, not even close.

He was saying (I believe) that I being white and male equated me the convicted felon.

Can't you see how the fear is going to spread among the parents and children concerning their English teachers?

[djsmnc]

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

Can someone tell me then what an elementary school student is doing saying that a white, blond-haired guy looks Thai?

[billybrobby]

I've got 2 theories about you, Rockwell:

Theory 1:

You lived in Korea long enough to know how to say "that's the first time I've heard that being said about me" (by the way, what is that in Korean?) and then you join this board 1 month ago and you start off by making this odd thread.

Theory 2:

You created a sock so you could ask about colon cleanse on this thread:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?p=864101&highlight=#864101

And now you wanna have some fun with your sock by stirring this story up.

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

I'm just being straight up about this. This actually happened today. It threw me and maybe I'm over reacting but it just got me thinking.

Sorry, thought this board was about asking questions and sharing information.

Have you been so jaded that you can't believe that someone is not trying to play everybody?

And yes, I asked about cleanses recently.

[djsmnc]

I think you thought about it too much. Formed too many conclusions.

All of us know that when a Korean says you look like such-and-such or so-and-so, it's about 10% accurate most of the time, or there is some facial feature that you never noticed that seems to stand out to them as being reminiscent of something or someone else.

Now granted, there could be a chance that some random little boy was carousing the internet, then ran into a story about the molester/killer having been a teacher in Korea, then wanted to mention it to foreigners that he thought were teachers, but, umm....you get the picture.

[Zark]

Koreans do tend to enjoy overreacting to almost everything - but putting too much stock in their simplified overreactions will only stress you out. Ignore such silliness.

[numazawa]

[ajgeddes]

When I first came to my new school, I had two of my new colleagues discussing whether I looked like Brad Pitt or Bill Gates. Naturally, I sided with the woman saying Brad Pitt.

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

Yeah, I agree that Koreans love to say we all look like somebody famous. Was told I look like Bruce Willis last week (come on!).

Probably thought too much of it, but after being accused of being an American soldier enough times and blamed for all their wrongdoings I just thought, oh no!

I know it's early, but has anyone had any privates talk to them about the arrest of this teacher? Has anyone felt any effects from this?

[Paji eh Wong]

[mithridates]

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

Privates, your students, bus drivers, taxi drivers, anybody for that matter?