Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chrisinkorea2011]

[Rutherford]

I said "와! 한국인입나다!" back to a little boy walking with his mom and grandma. His mouth dropped open and both ladies started laughing.

Another fun one is when they say "Waygookin!" act suddenly concerned and ask them "Where? What's he doing? Are you sure?" in Korean.

I also return the favor and call out Korean tourists when I'm abroad. Gotta make your own fun in this life.

[Stain]

[Jongno2bucheon]

[jammo]

[Steelrails]

Allow me to derail this thread...

What was the best drill sergeant-esqe punishment you've ever given out to your students? My first year I did some variations on the "Pvt. Pyle and the Jelly Donut" punish the group routine. The lower grades were remarkably well behaved after that. It was a nice feeling to have the Korean teachers point to me as example of how to keep a class in-line to the fresh outta eduuni teachers.

[Speck7]

[Zyzyfer]

[Weigookin74]

That's right. Kick em in the gut and throw em off the roof! Show em' who's boss!! Fight the power, man!!

Seriously dude, thick skin and the ability to have smart @$$ replies (quick wit) would go a lot further to shutting them down more quickly. Even kids can tell if you're cool or a poindexter. If you are a poindexter, you can at elast trick them into thinking your cool, then they'll leave you alone and sometimes obey. Sometimes.

[joelove]

This will sound tiresome. I never could live up to this ideal. I wish I could.

The kids are trained to see things a certain way. The center of the world. Not only is their little self and their little training the center, but so is their little country, and so it is for adults too.

So it is for you and me, most of us. I'm afraid we're all stuck on this little stuff. Being somebody, being something in particular, a nationality, and basically a racist I suppose, or not, who knows, but certainly a nationalistic entity. One who is deeply convinced by centuries of programming. Into being a particular something or a conditioned psychology. This sounds nuts, eh. Not like fighting over it and killing for it and so on is sane.

I guess we're stuck.

Don't blame the kids, in other words. Don't blame yourselves either, you don't really own your thinking. It was given to you. Yeah, hippie crap, right? None of us are influenced by many others.

This is the same old argument over and over on this site and all the others and throughout life really. You think you own your consciousness and that we are all separate and so on. You didn't make up the stuff you are talking about. There is nothing original in you. Give it up. You're as thoroughly conditioned by your experience as I am. It's not yours.

[itiswhatitis]

If a Korean teenager in the park/sidewalk etc was rude to me in Korea 10 years ago I would have scolded them in some way (although I would not consider being called a waygook to be rude behaviour).

These days however one may want to think twice and to simply ignore. There has been a major shift in the attitudes of Korean teenagers in very recent years. DO NOT COUNT ON A KOREAN TEENAGER TO FOLD.

In the summer of 2011 my tiny KOREAN girlfriend returned home on a Sunday afternoon after a jog. She was jogging through a park and witnessed a much bigger middle school girl physically intimidating a much younger elementary boy and eating his candy. She never gave intervening a second thought and she expected the girl to immediately fold and to be ashamed. I won't type away all the details but it was a very scary experience for her.

My girlfriend's (well...now ex girlfriend's) story is a time where one may want to intervene if they consider being a good citizen worth the risk. But intervene at your own discretion and at your own risk.