Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yu_Bum_suk]

A few recent remarks on this forum have got me thinking. I'm a non-American who lived in America for almost three years as a PhD student and teaching assistant. Here were some of the conditions of my stay:

- I had a visa that was renewable every year.
- To leave or re-enter the country I had to fill out special paperwork with the uni's international student office and get stamps from immigration.
- I was only allowed to work on my uni's campus.
- I had fantastic students I loved to teach and we got along very well.
- I didn't drive and was dependent on public transportation, co-workers, friends, and taxis to get around.
- My university bubble was a bit of an anomaly, but outside it the people were generally friendly but pretty ignorant about a lot of things. Few people knew much about things outside their own country.
- The people tended to be quite nationalistic, stupidly so in some respects, and there were national flags everywhere. To be blunt, away from uni, people tended to be a bit dim.
- My co-workers and supervisors were great people and I got along with them very well.
- I paid American taxes and the Canadian government had no record of me.
- People would ask me things like whether I'd miss my family on Novermber Thanksgiving and how it felt to be away from my family on Thanksgiving. They'd invite me over to their place out of sympathy.
- I knew way more about American history and society than many Americans.
- America has four seasons.

For one year of my stay I had a French girlfriend who was doing a post-doc in bio-chemistry. The whole time I was there I also had a Japanese friend who was in the exact same position that I was, though he had been in America longer. At one point in our lives, all three of us were toying with the idea of settling down in America permenantly (though the Japanese guy was the only one of the three who ended up persuing that in the end). We'd occasionally do things together, my Japanese friend's French being about as good (or poor) as my gf's English.

Now, not once did anyone ever refer to us as 'guests', and we sure as hell didn't feel that we were. We had chosen to study / work there and we all could have chosen different offers in other countries. If we had been doing something obnoxious, like say speaking French too loudly at a restaurant, and someone had come over and told us that we being bad guests, we would have burst out laughing.

Now let's move to Korea, where I find myself in exactly the same position as my friend, ex-gf, and I were in America, minus the fact that in America my Japanese friend and I could speak the local language fluently (I very often had to translate for my gf) and I could pass myself off as American if I wanted. Why the hell would anyone in my position consider himself a guest or why would someone call me a guest? 'Guest' implies near total dependency on hosts and absolution from many respeonsibilities. Apart from my immigration paperwork, I am not dependent on people for anything I wouldn't be back home and I do have significant responsibilities, both professional and ethical.

When I hear teachers here refer to themselves or others as 'guests' I just can't help but thinking that they must have abysmally low standards and expectations and / or a xenophobic fear of cultural immersion. It really boggles my mind why someone would want a title that implies dependency and little responsibility except to behave however one's 'hosts' would like and comply with their standards, however unreasonable.

[nautilus]

"Guest" implies that you will leave soon.

It also implies that you are an honored and held in high regard. A bit like royalty.


Niether is true for a lot of waygooks here

[Satori]

True, guest is a bizarre term for someone who has been invited to come to a country to work. It`s a term usually used by xenophobic nationals and hard core apologists to emphasise your sumbission and servitude to the host culture...

[frankly speaking]

Most people have some sense of nationalistic pride. The point with the american flag indicates that you were in America after 2000. Prior to 2001 it was rare to ever see anyone with a flag. I remember growing up in the late 60's early 70's there was a flag day in june when everyone put flags up but that did not remain through the 80's or 90's.

Your observations of America aren't untrue but they are very limited and I have heard the same comments from my friends who studied university in Canada. When Canadians travel abroad, how many put a flag on their bags? Almost all that I see.

I think the main concept that most people talk about being a guest in Korea is that you don't have equal rights to the citizens of the country. If you commit a crime in your own country, you just go to jail but if you commit a crime in a foreign country, you will most likely be deported after you serve your sentence.

I am sorry that you interpret the word guest so unfavorably. The bottom line is that you don't have the right to stay in another country; it is a privilige. As a guest you are responsible to follow the rules of the new host and not only conform to the rules that you were raised with.

[butlerian]

[Yu_Bum_suk]