Saturday November 17 2007

Korean people: hate em and love em

Koreans are one of the most annoying group of people on earth as well as the most considerate and warm-hearted. On the surface, a recently arrived Westerner has little patience for their new Korean acquiantances that are sometimes bossy and rude. With time and learning, what makes Koreans ticks begins to unravel and the good, bad and ugly can be put into perspective.

The first thing that annoyed me about Koreans was at the work place where the older Korean teachers talked down to me. In Korean society, seniority means everything and is a privelege as well as a right. When Koreans are young they are talked down to but when they get older they reverse the tables and begin treating their juniors in the same degrading fashion they were once treated. This was a new concept for me since I was raised in America and especially at church where young and old share a mutual respect (or lack thereof). When we have problems, we try to resolve them diplomatically with smiles and encouragement. Yet, my teacher counterparts only talked to me when I had done something wrong. In said scenario, they wouldn’t take the time to teach the right way to do something but they would instead just tell me when I did something wrong.

Posted from Korea:
does not exist
posted Saturday November 2007