Korean Job Discussion Forums

[khyber]

I put up a post a couple weeks ago; turned out no one here was interested in it; I just thought I'd share the story quickly.

My wife and I expected not much more than about 7...maybe 10 hugs over the day. Turns out we were wronger. We got about 60-70.

Some random thoughts from the day:
* It was really nice making people smile.
* It was really nice to see other people hug each other because of what I was doing.
* If you know the indie magazine Han-Roo....we'll be in there.
* Ajumas NEVER EVER smile
* People riding the Busan subway at 5:42 LOVE hugging
* My wife and I stumbled accross a pair of young Korean women (2 college girls) doing free hugs just down the road.
* On a couple of occasions boney women slammed their shoulder into my Adam's apple by mistake. Needless to say, that felt really really sh11tty.
*One middle school girl nuzzled right in, put her head under my chin and just relaxed. It was kinda sweet, in a way.....sorta like a puppy.


All in all, it was an incredibly positive experience with the exception of one woman....
And, strangely enough, she was a gyopo.
A dozen people asked my why I did it. I said, "to make people happy". Everyone ELSE understood but this lady started saying crazy crap like..."do you really think that hugging people makes them happy?"
The whole time we talked, I couldn't help but think that she must be the loneliest person in the world...with the outlandish stuff she was saying.
Eventually I just told her she was way too cynical.
Her last words, as she walked away, "It just seems mentally unbalanced, psychotic, shizophrenic...."

Now, I'm not expecting everyone to be "into" free hugs. It just seemed like this woman couldn't comprehend it.


Still though; a truly brilliant day. I'd strongly suggest you try it, at least once. I'll be doing it again in a while.

[flotsam]

That is awesome. Do you have film?

[khyber]

I had a guy lined up to make video but it turned out he procrastinated with his marking and he had to bail.

My wife has a few pictures if you want, I'll toss one or two up.

My one big regret is that no halma/halabojis were into hugs. I also got one BIG hug from a little 3 year old tyke who seemed to really enjoy it (but for that one hug, I had about 10 other 3 year old vehemently shake their head...a couple even cried when overly pushy parents went a bit overboard.)

[Ekuboko]

I was in Daejeon over the weekend and saw a [Korean] guy on the main shopping strip downtown with a "Free Hugs" sign.

It was kind of sad how a huuuuge circle had formed around him, and people were acting like he was some kind of lame circus act.
Groups of kids or giggly teenage girls would quickly run up to him for a "hug" and then run back to the edge of the circle.

I felt sorry for the guy offering the hugs, but was also disappointed (though not surprised) that he wasn't really giving "real" hugs - I mean, there is a difference between making the hug "shape" (putting your arms around someone with a lot of space in between), and actually hugging for real - which is where you get the warm fuzzy feeling (the whole point of a hug!)

I think the idea is a good one, but especially in Asian countries, it's hard to find good huggers. I really miss a good, hard hug...

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Did any westerners who weren't drunk want to hug you?

Things like this just make westerners look like ridiculous idiots to Korean society. The mercenary Koran wanker who runs our school district's English camp always wants to hug me when I go there to check up on the students and I always beat him to it and bow with my hands by my side as he's coming up.

Next time if you really want to stir up the middle school girls' hormones try wearing pink.

[hogwonguy1979]

[khyber]

The thing about my doing this free hugs deal is that I half expected to be a spectacle: I mean really, should I be surprised that a dozen people stood around and snapped a few pics?
So, I figured, if that is the happiness that people get outta my doing it, so be it. I don't personally think it lasts as long as a nice hug does, but it's at least a smile.

The worst moment for that was when a dozen or so high school boys and girls saw the sign and, across the street, started doing rock-scissor-paper. The loser came and gave me a hug while the others took pictures. It got better though.
Slowly but surely everyone in the group gave me a hug with the last guy running and jumping at me...it was kinda cute.

Frankly, the Korean men who were in their 20s (and there were quite a few) gave really great hugs. I actually liked hugging them because they made an effort.

I certainly made no effort to try and get middle school's hormones pumping and I'd take offense but I'm not totally convinced you've grasped the idea behind the whole experience.

As for westerners?
In the first 30mins I ran into a couple of navy guys who pulled into port for the day. They were, in fact, really cool about it; got hugs and a picture and didn't give me any dirty looks.
OTOH, I did see a murder of big burly foreign men ("locals"...not ruska) who seemed to look upon me with scorn and seemed to be making fun.

[ED209]

Where's my free hug? Nobody told me

[RACETRAITOR]

What is this all about? Is this some sort of disease that's infected every white person but me?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[twg]

I only saw college guys offering free hugs.

That aint where I'd like to receive my hugs from.

[Corporal]

[twg]

Yes.

...

16th amendment.

...

From what I hear.

[khyber]

[Mashimaro]