By I can’t believe these complaints were actually put into article in a major Korean newspaper:
For a Canadian English teacher, one of the most challenging moments of living in Korea comes every morning in the changing room of the gym near his home. The Korean men in the shower often glance at his lower body, and some stare with explicit curiosity at his private parts. He feels “like a monkey” in a zoo whenever it happens, he says.
Adjusting to life in Korea isn’t always clear sailing for many foreigners. A housewife from France complains about Koreans who touch her children, saying how cute they are. She was upset when a woman stroked the face of her four-month-old son in the waiting room of a hospital two years ago. “I know they mean no harm and it’s part of Korean culture to compliment the children of strangers, but people wouldn’t touch attractive adults, and children deserve the same respect,” she insists.
Eating can be a major source of frustrations. Another Canadian brings homemade food whenever he goes out because he doesn’t want to deal with Korean restaurants that can’t accommodate his vegetarian eating habits. Last fall he ordered bibimbap without beef and egg from a restaurant in Gwanghwamun, but they just left them in. When he complained, he was told the kitchen was “too busy.” They unhelpfully suggested that he eat it anyway, since it tastes much better with beef and egg. [Chosun Ilbo]
Read on for more whining about Korea, but the way I look at is that if this bothers you then maybe you shouldn’t have come to Korea in the first place? Could you imagine an article like this appearing in the New York Times?
It is the sad reality. No mistake...
10:19 pm on September 17th, 2009 1
The Chosun Ilbo is certainly not the New York Times (both journalistically and ideologically).
6:10 am on September 18th, 2009 2
I wish our mainstream media in the States were center-Right like in Korea, rather than having all those damn Leftist outlets like the NY Times dominate.
12:54 pm on September 18th, 2009 3
It's not a binary choice between staying with a shit-eating grin on your face or leaving because there's some aspect of life in Korea that you're not happy about.
1:26 pm on September 18th, 2009 4
As far as the shower incident, I had the same problem while visiting Canada.
2:08 pm on September 18th, 2009 5
There are three complaints in three paragraphs and I have three answers…
1. To the Canadian that gets looked at in the changing room: If it is big, grab it by the base and swing the end around while yelling, "Round-eye helicopter alert!" If it is small… well… tough luck for you. STFU and live with it.
2. To the French woman with the touched kids: Make them less cute. Ugly clothes, ragged haircuts, open facial sores maintained by constant picking and scratching… that should do it. Nobody wants to touch a kid with an oozing sore.
3. To the vegetarian Canadian: The world does not revolve around you. You are in an omnivorous society and your dietary choice in an inconvenience to everyone around you. Learn to remove an egg and a sprinkle of ground meat with a spoon and don't trouble us with your drama.
If it is very important, have a card made up in Korean that says, "I cannot eat any meat or eggs. Please do NOT put any meat or eggs in my food. Thank you so much."
After years of careful observation, I have determined the majority of bad interactions between Koreans and foreigners are due to mutual miscommunication and hypersensitivity on the foreigner's part.
I can't imagine the number of times I saw someone making a big stink over something like an easily-removable egg on their rice.
Dude… you are embarrassing yourself and your country over $4 in rice… and, more importantly, you (and those like you) are making my life more difficult here.
Too many foreigners leave a trail of irritation behind them… sometimes intentionally.
2:54 pm on September 18th, 2009 6
Here is mine.
To the Canadian. Somebody needs to kung-fu kick him in the balls. Nobody cares about his wee wee. Cover up h0m0. Nothing worse then going to the gym and the h0m0 crowd prancing around like you are in a gay nudist colony.
To the Frenchie: stuff tbe babies in the freezer. We all know you love to stuff the little ones in the freezer. Your culture eats slugs and frogs.
To the Vegitarian: Hold him down and give him a dirt sandwich. Dirt is natural. Also, let him wash it down with oil and piss (both natural and meat free).
5:34 pm on September 18th, 2009 7
The vegetarian is the biggest laugh. I wonder if he owns any leather shoes, belts, wallets? Does he use soap? Eat Jello or jelly? etc etc ad nauseum…
Assuming he is not just a poser but a true vegetarian I will offer constructive advice: Move your silly vegan ass to India. You will be able to obtain vegetarian fare in restaurants there.
I agree with Chickenhead. Inconveniencing the other 99% of the omnivore human population is no way to go through life, son.
11:43 pm on September 18th, 2009 8
I don't know if you've ever taken a shower, but usually it involves nudity.
4:38 am on June 13th, 2011 9
These foreigners, who are only in Korea because McDonald’s wasn’t hiring, are the kind of people who come to Korea and …. are actually SURPRISED that people are speaking Korean. My suggestion to them is…. toughen up or go home.
7:46 am on June 13th, 2011 10
The response of the restaurant to the vagatarian dude is so TYPICALLY Korean– and a perfect hard head response to a hard head attitude!
What a bunch of faggy whingers! Koreans are, well, KOREAN! Either join in the fun, or GTFO and GTFH.
7:50 am on June 13th, 2011 11
A fun way to deal with personal questions is to give really embarrassing answers. You probably don’t want to do this with potential business partners or employers, but with other people, it’s just plain fun to watch their expressions. Try it!
7:54 am on June 13th, 2011 12
Vince, did you live in Korea? Unless things have changed, there’s little that embarasses them by our standards.
You could ask about a weird fungus growing on your crotch and they’d take an interest, because it’s actually polite to take an interest in the ailments of others, whatever they are. Personal questions we’d ignore over here are totally polite to explore over there.