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Do you feel like Korea is The Centre?
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cdninkorea



Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:16 pm    Post subject: Do you feel like Korea is The Centre? Reply with quote

My brother has told me that whenever he tells people back home (in Canada) that I'm in Korea, most everyone wants to know if I'm in North or South Korea (if they even know there is a North or South). Almost no one has heard of Seoul or is aware that it's the capital city with- what? 10 million people?

Whenever I hear that people don't know these things, I find it odd- not because everyone should know about Seoul and its population, but because Korea, and especially Seoul, feels to me like the centre of the universe. There's so much here and so much that I find interesting that I can't imagine people not knowing about it.
I even find it odd that people don't know that Starbucks exists here, there's a subway system in several cities, what Korean food is like, etcetera. Things that I can't reasonably expect people to know.
Yet all of this stuff feels, to me, like people at home not knowing that there was once an East and West Germany, or not knowing that Japan is the second largest economy; how could anyone not know that?!

I guess this is a sign I've been here too long: maybe soon I'll start expecting people to know who King Sejong is Laughing

Okay, but seriously: has this attitude developed in any one else?


Last edited by cdninkorea on Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ronnie



Joined: 04 Jun 2006
Location: Wisteria Lane

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your friends need to read more. Smile
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rawiri



Joined: 01 Jun 2003
Location: Lovely day for a fire drill.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You think korea is the centre of the universe?

Between this and your "you look like a movie star" thread i'm beginning to wonder!
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RACETRAITOR



Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I thought most people knew Seoul because of the 1988 Olympics.

Whenever someone asks me which Korea I'm in, I tell them I'm in the northern one.
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cdninkorea



Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

rawiri wrote:
You think korea is the centre of the universe?


No, I'm saying it feels like the centre of the universe. Only when I think about do I realize it's not.

Quote:
Between this and your "you look like a movie star" thread i'm beginning to wonder!

Wonder what?
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kermo



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd expect most people to know about Seoul, on account of the Olympics out here a while back, but I still get the North/South question all the time.
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eamo



Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Center of the universe?!!

It's not even the Hub of Asia (my ass).
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rawiri



Joined: 01 Jun 2003
Location: Lovely day for a fire drill.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="cdninkorea"][quote="rawiri"]You think korea is the centre of the universe?[/quote]

No, I'm saying it [i]feels like[/i] the centre of the universe. Only when I think about do I realize it's not.

[quote]Between this and your "you look like a movie star" thread i'm beginning to wonder![/quote]
Wonder what?[/quote]



*Activate sarcasm inhibitor* Just stuff, you know, maybe you have been here too long.
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ronnie



Joined: 04 Jun 2006
Location: Wisteria Lane

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

...but seriously, I do find it strange that your friends don't know what "Seoul" is. Where are you from in Canada?
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ajgeddes



Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ronnie wrote:
...but seriously, I do find it strange that your friends don't know what "Seoul" is. Where are you from in Canada?


Some people are complete morons. I remember a girl in my grade 13 class thinking that Australia was somewhere down near Florida. Everybody, including the teacher, just stopped and stared at her and she had no idea why. It was one of the only times that I thought a teacher was going to call a student a r****d.
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ronnie



Joined: 04 Jun 2006
Location: Wisteria Lane

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ajgeddes wrote:
ronnie wrote:
...but seriously, I do find it strange that your friends don't know what "Seoul" is. Where are you from in Canada?


Some people are complete morons. I remember a girl in my grade 13 class thinking that Australia was somewhere down near Florida. Everybody, including the teacher, just stopped and stared at her and she had no idea why. It was one of the only times that I thought a teacher was going to call a student a r****d.


I can understand one or two people, every group has em, right? haha...but I'm wondering why MOST of his friends in Canada don't know.
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captain kirk



Joined: 29 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

'Korea feels like the centre of the universe'. Were you born in the Middle Ages?

That's so wrong, feeling like that. Your bellybutton is the centre of the Universe. No, that's wrong. The microscopic mites on the lint in your navel are Universe Central. Then the mites have mites (mighty mites!).


Last edited by captain kirk on Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:54 pm; edited 1 time in total
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mithridates



Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apgujeong feels like the centre of the universe.
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stumptown



Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Paju: Wife beating capital of Korea

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RACETRAITOR wrote:
I thought most people knew Seoul because of the 1988 Olympics.

Whenever someone asks me which Korea I'm in, I tell them I'm in the northern one.


Me too. Most of the time a glazed look rolls across their face and they just nod their head and go "hmm...okay."
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SPINOZA



Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I must say, whilst nothing is known about Korea, people I encounter do at least know where and what it is and also have heard of Seoul (people recall the Seoul Olympics). Actually, dog-eating is pretty notorious the world over.

I know exactly what the OP means. We're all guilty of that. We have these discussions on here as though Korea - women, marriage, foreigners - is a massively important entity, when the reality is we're very little fish indeed.
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