Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rapier]

The Korean woman who has just sat next to me here in this PC bang looks like a nervous wreck. In fact just about every stranger that sits next to me, be it on the subway or bus, exhibits all signs of outright apprehension. So much so, that it makes me nervous. In fact even people I've known as aqcuintances for a while show that tension, on edge...
Last time i looked, I don't resemble an armed robber or violent criminal. In fact i'm pretty easygoing. So why do they inflict this uneasiness on me?.

The only ones who don't are the nodding old folks, who will fall asleep on your shoulder at the drop of a hat. One extreme to the other I suppose.

[hippie]

They're probably afraid that you're going to want to talk to them in English. Or maybe they assume that you are an American, and like all Americans, you want to run over them with a tank and steal their gold medal.

[Saxiif]

If I worked as long hours as most Koreans do I'd be that way too.

[Homer]

Perhaps your fly is perpetually open Rapier?

Or, perhaps you glare at anyone who sits next to you?

Who knows!

[shawner88]

Yeah, Rapier. Did you cut the cheese?

[shortskirt_longjacket]

it's totally true that they're a nervous wreck. there's this teenage kid that lives w/ his family in the apt. next to me and if he's coming out of his door and i'm passing by in the hall, he'll jump like ten feet into the air and make this little scared noise. it's not like i'm being sneaky...i just scare the crap out of this kid. i think a lot of koreans are jumpy and nervous this way. my supervisor has a friggin heart attack any time she hears a balloon pop...no joke!

i think rapier's right...they're a nervous lot.

[skinhead]

[marista99]

I've been here almost a month and so far I've only had one person really react strangely to me. It was this little girl, about 10 or 11, who just walked up to me, started silently for a minute, and started waving like she was saying goodbye. So I waved back, but she didn't leave. She just stood there, waving and staring.

Maybe it's because I'm near the airport and people are more used to seeing foreigners around here...or maybe it's because I'm a woman...whatever it is, I've never noticed anyone being especially nervous, unless I try to talk to them.

[captain kirk]

The Koreans, like everyone in the world, have had their cultural conditioning bringing them to where they are in what they think, including about 'foreigners'. Can't get mad about it, being 1 percent of the population (foreigners among Koreans). They have simply taken to heart and mind a version of what's what, and what foreigners are. Canada, where I'm from, has its cultural conditioning too.
Strangely, the more I settle in to this cold recognition of the truth behind the shennanigans/distored views, the more 'alone' I feel, a small fish amongst the massive contruct, apparently set in stone. I let it go before beginning to 'categorize' Koreans reactions as stemming from a central feedlot of assumptions they've swallowed since birth. Koreans I work with and odd remarks, questions, 'suspicions' that make me wonder how they perceive me, a foreigner. The resources on the subject from which they consult, their 'experiental wiring', is bogus.
Yes, they seem nervous. But if I forget about all the crud and enjoy life then a contented, pacific look on my face doesn't make them nervous. That nervous look moves to the next stage, the 'you are bad/suspicious look' and on to, 'you are despicable'. Somewhere in there is 'laughable', as well. I'm getting a chuckle writing this, as well.
Just say, 'boo!'.

[manlyboy]

I think of it as social inheritance. They've been terrorized and lorded over by foreign powers since day one. Genetically edgy I reckon!

[yangban]

[Michelle]

I've seen the most hilarious reactions from some of the women. I was just in the supa picking stuff up and I saw something which I thought was a fly brush up against a woman. Well she screamed and almost had a fit. I thought she saw it so I didn't understand her reaction, it's just an insect. As far as I know it didn't bite her or sting her. Perhaps it was a little bit large.

The Koreans even laughed at her, then I got another laugh out of them when I said 'Kwen chan seyo?' (Are you OK) in Korean.

You should have seen one of my students scream when she visited me in Australia and saw a Gecko at my house! ARGHHH. A squeal too!

I quickly rethought the camping trip I had planned with her. I think she would die if she saw a snake.

[skinhead]

[hippie]

I always think it's fun to see the women who are terrified of the bidulgi's (pidgeons). And it goes beyond the pidgeons. Some won't walk down a street if there's a sparrow there. In all my time it the United States, I have never seen anyone who was afraid of birds (well, maybe seagulls), but in Korea, you see it all over the place.

[peppermint]

we've gotta seem jumpt to them too- with our crazy ideas about personal space and what constitutes good driving.