Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Cigar_Guy]

I will be the first to admit that I haven't gotten around this city as much as I'd like, nor certainly as much as a lot of other people around here. However, in my previous life I did do quite a bit of traveling in the US and Europe. I've also been reading the boards here a good bit the past few months, and I think that I can give you some advice about other people that will help you in almost any of the problematic situations I see described on the message boards here. Now, mind you, I'm not he first one to give this advice, bt it seems like I'm one of the few around here to recognize this oh-so-important fact:

Some people are just jerks.

No, no, really. I know this may seem shocking to many of you. You've been all around this town and even this country, and you've seen all sorts of crazy behavior from Koreans and foreigners alike. Many of you have been so moved by their strange behavior that you've decided to take it to a higher level and declare that "[Group X] is [bad thing Y]." However, I think that if you look at my advice in context, you might find it helpful. Let me give you some examples:

"Can you believe this? I was on the subway the other day and this guy didn't cover his mouth when he sneezed! Then he wiped his nose and put his germ-infested hand back on the rail, ready to get someone else sick. Koreans don't understand sickness."

Some people are just jerks.

"I was in Itaewon last Saturday night when this big group of drunken soldiers came down the street. They collided with another big group of drunken soldiers and two of them got into a fight! I hate soliders."

Some people are just jerks.

"I was walking by Burger King the other day and this white guy was trying to order his food, but the woman at the place didn't understand him, so he was trying to speak louder and slower like she was an idiot. This guy was the idiot--why don't people learn Korean before they come here?"

You're a jerk.

Ok, maybe that last one wasn't fair. However, I have noticed a definite tendency amongst people on the message boards here to flip the frick out over little things and then throw some blame on whole groups of people. I think we'd all do well to remember that we're (most of us, anyway) living in a huge city with several million people crammed together and that, as I've said perhaps too many times by now, some people are just jerks.

[Hyeon Een]

Speaking of the last guy...

Normally when I order a tuna kimbab, it is in a place that premixes the tuna and mayonaise. I wasn't familiar with this place.

I ordered a tuna kimbab, then I glanced at the menu and noticed they had both tuna AND tuna mayonaise kimbab. So I tried to change my order from tuna to tuna mayonaise.

Everything so far was done in Korean..

My big problem was pronouncing 'mayonaise' in Korean. It's ALWAYS the english words that screw me over in Korean.. the proper Korean words are fine. But Mayonaise really messed me up. When I first tried I got "no, not spicy" (in Korean) I tried again and she just got confused. It was finally understood when I shamefacedly pointed my finger at the menu and slowly sounded out each hangul-syllable-by-hangul-syllable the MA YO NAE JE or whatever it is. I don't remember how to write it in Korean.. I felt like such an idiot.

I feel sorry for the last guy, he'd probably given up on his Korean by then.

[Bulsajo]

[The Man known as The Man]

You should provide more valuable advice in describing those things to princess.


It's true, Bulsajo.


It's true.

[SPINOZA]

[holeinthesky]

CigarGuy~ I absolutely agree.
Well said.
We are, after all, merely 'poor players that strutt and fret upon the stage'~ we will never relate to or even like half the people we meet in life, its a huge achievement to realise this early in life and move on.
Passive or at least, intelligent resistance when we can....
I've learned that especially in Korea, what a fruit salad of people and experiences thrown together in the ESL community.
Unless its a moral issue that you have a strong opinion about, life's too short to get bogged down in other people's nitty gritties.
Love the ones you're with!

But, well, Im just a soju-drinking hippie....