This is an article I found on the "Korea Times" web site today. Even if you are already here, it's a great reminder of how great this country is, but that not everyone here is ready for foreigners. This article points out that "it goes both ways." There needs to be understanding on both sides to our cultural differences.
I needed to read this over several times, as a friendly reminder that anything can happen, and it did tonight, at EMart. I usually have lots of people looking in my cart, with lots of curiosity about my purchases, but usually an equal amount of disappointment, as there isn't much to see.
However, this "event" was memorable. I literally had a lady reach in my cart and move stuff around, just checking it all out. I had stopped to try a little sample piece of dried fish, and I swear, when I turned around, there was "the inspector." I then turned back to the dried fish selling lady and sort of gave her a bug-eyed shocked/smiling look. She said something to the inspector, who just walked off, and told me that she was sorry. I just laughed and said she shouldn't worry.
I was more surprised than upset. I guess my point is that it's important to be able to smile (or laugh) things off. Many people don't like the "attention", but I feel like I do more to help foreigners in Korea by being polite. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I'm not perfect about all this, but I try.
Anyway, this article is long, but worth the read!
Living in Korea
By Lee Ji-young
I have met quite a few foreigners living in Korea and often asked them what their impressions of Koreans were and what it was like to live in this country. I got both good and bad reports and it was great to get different perspectives from people who were from outside of Korea.
As far as the purpose of this article goes, I am not writing here only to criticize the negative aspects of living in Korea or Korean people's attitudes.
It is a part of this article, but I am only doing it because I wanted to point out some of the cross-cultural aspects Koreans and foreigners need to know.
Let me point out a few things that Koreans do very often, which seem strange to foreigners. First of all, staring at white and black people may not seem like a big issue, but it does make them feel uncomfortable.
Furthermore, asking all kinds of personal questions such as, ``Are you married?'' ``How old are you?'' and ``Have you ever done drugs?'' is even more annoying to people from other countries.
Koreans simply ask strangers these questions without any bad intentions. They don't mean anything by it and are just trying to be friendly and ``break the ice.''
However, these questions seem inappropriate to people from Western countries. It is a cultural difference, and I would like to say to all foreigners living here just to laugh it off and not get offended.
Yes, Koreans can seem weird and have prejudice against people from outside of Korea. However, they are not aware of how it can affect other people and Korea is not as racially diverse as America and Canada. I wish schools here offered cross-cultural classes to educate Koreans on how to behave around foreigners and about the different mentality of people in other countries.
This is a very bad attitude that should be changed. If one foreigner does something bad, Koreans assume that foreigners with similar backgrounds are also not good.
For instance, after there were news reports about a few English teachers who got arrested for possession of drugs, many Koreans were beginning to have negative perceptions of all the other English teachers who came here from abroad.
I read their complaints on this paper and I felt devastated. It shows how Koreans can be judgmental and blow things way out of proportion. If Americans had this kind of attitudes, Koreans would no longer be able travel to the U.S. after the shooting rampage committed by a Korean student at Virginia Tech University.
Other negative impressions of Koreans regards their driving habits ― cars running red lights and going too fast; drivers swearing at other drivers and not watching out for pedestrians. The government has to enforce tougher traffic laws, which would send a message to all the ``would-be violators".
Another thing foreigners cannot understand is the drinking culture in Korea. Bars are crowded even on weeknights and people drink a lot, sometimes to the point of almost passing out.
When company employees go out for a drink, they often pressure their co-workers to drink even when they don't want to. Koreans need to be aware that this is definitely inappropriate behavior and should try to drink in moderation.
Despite all those negative aspects of living in Korea and people's attitudes, I still like living in this country and would like to list some of the things I like about living here: A low crime rate; no guns or drugs (they might exist, but it is almost impossible to obtain them); an excellent public transportation system; many great places to go; many interesting things to do; and reasonable cost of health care.
Korea has grown tremendously in the past few decades in terms of economy and technology. I firmly believe Korean people have incredible potential and this country will continue to grow tremendously in the future.
To make Korea a ``foreigner-friendly country,'' people really need to change their attitudes and behave with more courtesy, respect and consideration for others. It will make all the difference in whether or not Korea attracts more foreign tourists, businesspeople and English teachers and keep them here for a long time.
The writer is an English instructor in Seoul and can be reached at stkate27@gmail.com
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