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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:17 am Post subject: How foreign are you? |
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How foreign are you where you are now?
I'm not so foreign in Seoul. A little. |
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Mashimaro
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2005 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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I eat korean food for breakfast lunch and dinner. I live with koreans. I study korean for hours every day. I speak korean with 90% of my friends. My life is pretty korean. I don't care if some koreans don't see that 'koreanness'
No doubt many koreans wouldn't appreciate these points. BUT I've decided that if live in this country speak the language and try to act in ways respecting the local norms; yet still koreans see me as 100% foreign then it only shows their own ignorance and is not my problem. |
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chiaa
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2005 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| I scared the crap out of myself the other morning. Did up some real bacon that I bought and frankly it tasted strange to me. |
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thorin
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 12:28 am Post subject: |
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Every time I look in the mirror, I start yelling "Hello!" "Welcome to Korea!"
Edit: Oh wait, I thought the question was "How Korean are you?" |
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itaewonguy
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 2:37 am Post subject: |
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no foreigner will ever be korean!! I dont care if you been here 50 years speak better koreans than most koreans. married to a korean, have half korean kids, changed your citizenship to korean..
you are nothing more than WAYGOOK!!!
but a korean goes to USA stays there 2 years gets a green card. he returns to Korea and happily brags to WAYGOOKS that he is an American!
IM happy to be a foreigner! I will always be one. so I dont try to be korean even when I speak Korean YO, SHIPSIYO! SHINMIKA! WHATEVER!
Koreans want the respect form from you once they know you speak korean! but you're still a WAYGOOK!
IM a foreigner and proud of it! |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:46 am Post subject: |
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| itaewonguy wrote: |
no foreigner will ever be korean!! I dont care if you been here 50 years speak better koreans than most koreans. married to a korean, have half korean kids, changed your citizenship to korean..
you are nothing more than WAYGOOK!!!
but a korean goes to USA stays there 2 years gets a green card. he returns to Korea and happily brags to WAYGOOKS that he is an American!
IM happy to be a foreigner! I will always be one. so I dont try to be korean even when I speak Korean YO, SHIPSIYO! SHINMIKA! WHATEVER!
Koreans want the respect form from you once they know you speak korean! but you're still a WAYGOOK!
IM a foreigner and proud of it! |
I know. But 98% of Korean citizens are Korean. I'm not sure a Chinese American/Canadian citizen in 1894 really felt like he had the inside track. But attitudes changed with multi-culturalism. Granted the biggest barier to multi culturalism in Korea is the fact the government, similar to Japan, refuses to open the door to immigration despite a looming need to bring in young people to keep young workers paying for retired worker benefits. |
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Mashimaro
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| itaewonguy wrote: |
IM a foreigner and proud of it! |
you go girl  |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 4:09 am Post subject: |
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| As much as some of us ( me included) complain about how foreign people are treated here, it seems like we get preferential treatment over the average Korean on a lot of things. Am I proud of being a foreigner? nah, just grateful. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 4:54 am Post subject: |
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| Mashimaro wrote: |
| itaewonguy wrote: |
IM a foreigner and proud of it! |
you go girl |
Itaewonguy is a girl and not a guy?? 
I am actually quite foreign... when I was pregnant, I only wanted to have cereals for breakfast and when I told my doc that I ate cereals for breakfast, he turned his nose up, told my husband I should eat rice and soup!
I used to cook a Sunday roast every sunday.. but now that baby is here, I don't really have the time or the energy to do it anymore.. but once the baby is a little less demanding, I will start again (probably not until she can totally eat *big people's food*).
Although I am Chinese by birth, I dislike rice. I prefer sandwiches and salads and spuds... oh well.. |
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guangho
Joined: 19 Jan 2005
Location: a spot full of deception, stupidity, and public micturation and thus unfit for longterm residency
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:01 am Post subject: |
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I just sat through a teachers meeting where (again) i was reminded of my insufficient waygookness.
ME: "I sense, and I say this with no disrespect, that when you hired me you expected someone taller, blonder...more like Tom Cruise perhaps?"
GRACE: "So will you always be like this?!" |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:11 am Post subject: |
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I think this topic deserves a multiple-option poll question!
| Mashimaro wrote: |
| I study korean for hours every day. I speak korean with 90% of my friends. My life is pretty korean. I don't care if some koreans don't see that 'koreanness' No doubt many koreans wouldn't appreciate these points. BUT I've decided that if live in this country speak the language and try to act in ways respecting the local norms; yet still koreans see me as 100% foreign then it only shows their own ignorance and is not my problem. |
It is such accounts that convinced me not to bother trying to learn the language when, in addition to the above, the following also applies: (a) it would be quite an effort for me since languages aren't my forte; (b) so many Koreans wish to practice their English with me anyways; and (c) I can function quite well, yet respectfully, with a minimal level of Korean language ability.
I do make an effort to learn some Korean music because it inherently interests me, and I'll be taking a traditional drum-playing class next month. I also eat Korean food several times a week and have a few Korean friends I get together with once in a while. I like travelling around Korea and appreciate learning more about its sights and history.
But however much it may seem sometimes like I'm "going native" to someone nested in an expat community, I have a clear sense of who I am as someone different from Koreans, even when I stress the similarities at times. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:17 am Post subject: |
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I'll go only so far to intergrate into Korean society but I won't go for it all.
I've found that Koreans kind of expect us to act like foreigners (which, of course, is only natural).
Maybe I'm just imagining this but they even get a little dissapointed if we seem to understand too much about Koreans or Korea. Like they prefer it if there's a distinct difference. I think Koreans like to see themselves as a misunderstood enigma. It serves their perception of being an under-rated country. Remember! "You can't understand the Korean mind!!".
Anyway, after four years in the land of conformity I'm still a die-hard liberal, cheese-eating, no-anju-drinking, argue-at-your-boss, westerner.
Part of the reason being, as Itaewonguy very rightly said, I'll never be accepted as anything else here. So why try. |
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Mashimaro
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:30 am Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
I've found that Koreans kind of expect us to act like foreigners (which, of course, is only natural).
Maybe I'm just imagining this but they even get a little dissapointed if we seem to understand too much about Koreans or Korea. Like they prefer it if there's a distinct difference. I think Koreans like to see themselves as a misunderstood enigma. It serves their perception of being an under-rated country. Remember! "You can't understand the Korean mind!!".
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So you just act how the majority expect you too? Hypothetically, If people expected you to be ignorant would you act that way too?
Maybe some people are "disapointed" in me because I don't act like the 'zany' north americans they see on tv, or I speak korean with them; f**k them, there are plenty of koreans who will speak korean with you and appreciate your effort to understand their country. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:45 am Post subject: |
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| Mashimaro wrote: |
| eamo wrote: |
I've found that Koreans kind of expect us to act like foreigners (which, of course, is only natural).
Maybe I'm just imagining this but they even get a little dissapointed if we seem to understand too much about Koreans or Korea. Like they prefer it if there's a distinct difference. I think Koreans like to see themselves as a misunderstood enigma. It serves their perception of being an under-rated country. Remember! "You can't understand the Korean mind!!".
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So you just act how the majority expect you too? Hypothetically, If people expected you to be ignorant would you act that way too?
Maybe some people are disapointed in me because I don't act like the fact I don't act like the zany north americans they see on tv, or I speak korean with them; f**k them, there are plenty of koreans who will speak korean with you and appreciate your effort to understand their country. |
I should have clarified. I do try to understand Koreans and communicate with them. A lot of the Koreans I meet are very forward thinking and do appreciate a foreigner trying to live in harmony with Koreans.
Sometimes though....and this especially happens when I'm around the galbi table with Koreans who have had a few soju's too many (in vino veritas) they refuse any notion that I can understand how they feel about the Japanese, dok-do, the two girls run over by the tank, the east sea/Sea of Japan debate.
Their thinking is that you simply have to be Korean to understand Korean malaise.
It reminds me of some people back home in Northern Ireland who carry a victim mentality about the treatment their section of the community received from the British.
Often discussions with these people will come to..."You didn't live through it so you can't understand!".
Thing is...many peoples from many countries of the world have suffered at the hands of another country. It's not unique to Korea. |
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matthewwoodford
Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Location, location, location.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:45 am Post subject: |
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| Damn right, there are plenty of Koreans who will love it if you speak Korean to them. One day I hope to be able to do so. |
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