"The law back home says I can do this!"
"This isn't like home."
How many times have you heard some asshat, usually fresh off the plane, drone on about what they can get back home but can't get in Korea? Or better yet go on about how they have the right to do something because they can back home. Guess what junior, you ain't in Kansas anymore!
Yes, you will encounter things, some would say many things, that are stupid but you don't go to another country expecting it to be exactly like home. (Ok, going between Canada and the US you can to a degree.) You are in another country on another continent. You should have done SOME research before going so you have at least an inkling of what to expect. (There is this great things called the inter-web or something like that which can help you.)
I remember in my first year, the school I was working in got a new teacher who turned out to be a vegetarian. Well, boy howdy, did she have a time when we went out to eat. It was the usual burning meat type of feast, which I quite enjoyed, but probably made her sick to her stomach. Some things I overheard made me think the rest of the time she was living off of KFC biscuits and coleslaw. It seemed like she was having quite a time finding the right kind of food at the market to have in her own home even.
ReplyDeleteDidn't she research Korea, to find out what kind of foods were avavilable, and where she could find things to sustain her?
Moola-yo.
And then when I was working in the public school, the other teacher who was working at a school close to mine turned out to be a diabetic. He had quite a time finding food without sugar. He learned the phrase "Soltang obso-yo!" (No sugar!), and would repeat it everywhere we went. I thought he might've learned the phrase "Does this have sugar?", and I even suggested it to him, but no. It was "Soltang obso-yo!" everywhere we went.
Someone with a major health issue like diabetes should have perhaps learned just what he was getting into.
When I lived in Korea, I worked for Sahm Yook Foreign Language Institutes. Since most Adventists are vegetarian, I was easily able to cope because we had many Koreans who "had our back" so to speak and helped "protect" us from fishy kimchi, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne tip they gave us when going out to eat is to tell your non-vegetarian friends, "I eat like a Buddhist" so they understood that you didn't want to eat meat.
I worked with a vegetarian my first year. He took the time to learn the Korean to say "No meat please. I am a vegetarian."
ReplyDeleteHe still got meat because they (the koreans making the food) didn't consider egg, fish, ham, or mock crab to not be meat.
What dumb asses fucking hate koreans. Period
DeleteWow, you make no sense at all considering what this thread is about. Of all the threads you could have picked to make a comment like that in you chose this one. What a fucktard. :)
DeleteI eat like a Buddhist is a great way around it. Wish someone had told my co-worker that. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, but I don't think anybody really realises how bad the food is going to be. Beef is still priced out of most people's considerations, bakery food is overwhelmingly sweet, processed food is everywhere (eg ham, cheese). Until you can track down a farmer's market or similar, it's pretty slim pickins. Add to this the frustration of dealing with how Koreans treat ingredients eg not filleting fish so the flesh is made bitter by the guts and how cheese is obnoxiously called 'wine cheese' and that they think waegs don't eat pepper and garlic so they leave them out in restaurants.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, let's not delude ourselves-a Korean diet is damn punishing to the soul, and who really wants to eat around Koreans all the time anyways. If it's not someone spitting gristle on the floor it's some buck-toothed hick with their pants up past their navel coming over to inspect you.
"...they think waegs don't eat pepper and garlic so they leave them out in restaurants."
ReplyDeleteI never had that experience when I was in Korea, except when I told the restaurant owner that I ate like a buddhist!
I had that happen quite a few times with peppers/spice Tamar.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I had jambung (spelling?) they refused to sell it to me because they said it is too spicy for foreigners and it is already made so they couldn't leave out the spice. My co-worker (Korean) got pissy for me and I ended up with it.
http://whatthekimchi.blogspot.com/2010/11/some-more-shit-koreans-say.html
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