First of all, I don't usually like to write about negative things but try to dwell more on the things I think are positive and enjoyable here in Korea.
To be totally honest, living in Korea can be so great at times but lately there have been some things that have really gotten on my nerves. These are not things that just happen once in a while, they happen quite regularly. Sometimes they are easy to take and other days I have to control what I REALLY want to say or do.
First example. Most people I know have been in this situation, in a crowd, on the subway, walking up stairs, in the elevator, actually... almost anywhere. When people bump into you AND don't say anything. I wouldn't mind it at all if people said SOMETHING, but bumping into you and not saying anything is really starting to get on my nerves. It happens everyday and the most irritating incident was yesterday on the subway. An older man walked by and literally shoved me out of the way as he was walking by. In Korea, treating older people with respect is part of the culture but sometimes older people take it to the limit when it comes to their age.
Bumping into someone and not acknowledging someone is rude and using the excuse that the country is overcrowded is unacceptable. It doesn't happen in the busiest intersection in the world in Tokyo so why should it happen so frequently in Korea?
Korea is still a developing country whether they have some of the best technology in cellphones and computer chips or not. They are lacking in manners, act very naive and childish when it comes to handling money.
Although that was all fresh and amusing when I first came to Korea 7 years ago, it's slowly wearing off. When students say they are much more advanced than their relatives in North Korea, they are right yet absolutely wrong. Korea is still very much a homogeneous country and the people are very proud of their culture and their 'pure-bloodedness' almost to the point of prejudice.
For example, during a conversation class I asked a student if she had a western boyfriend. It wasn't a question I just drew from a hat. I asked her because she spoke a few times of her friends' western boyfriends. She replied to me, almost in offense, "No, are you kidding, I'm Korean"! And even though it sounded so normal to her and the other students, who are also Korean, I couldn't help but to think that she could get in a lot of trouble speaking like that outside of Korea. Which reminds me, that IS where I am now so it almost makes everything ok.....
1 comment:
it's funny i have been talking to a lot of people who have been really testy about those things lately...i just wrote one about the same sort of stuff!
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