Skip to main content

There's no place like home (Korea Times)

Many Koreans have asked me if I ever suffered from culture shock. No, I tell them: “Why should I have been shocked when I expected things to be different?” As I explain it: “Culture shock” is a polite way of saying, "Some people aren’t mentally or emotionally prepared to live or travel abroad.”

The late curmudgeon Paul Fussell argued that there are three kinds of people who travel: Tourists, travelers, and explorers. Briefly, tourists stick to the familiar. Travelers get somewhat involved in the local culture. Explorers dive right in, often "going native.” (I confess to being a traveler. I have been mistaken as being an explorer, although "unorganized” is more accurate.)

What about those who live abroad? Some of the complaints make sense and can improve things, but some border on paranoia. I have heard more than a few expatriates complain that Koreans avoid sitting next to them on public transportation. I wish I had that kind of magic repellent. For those brief moments the seat next to me is empty, I can always count on a passenger with two or three bags squeezing in next to me.

What about the reverse? If someone avoiding sitting next to you when there is an empty seat means that you are being discriminated against, what are we to conclude when Koreans single out expatriates and demand that they sit? If one action is discrimination, then the opposing action would seem to be favoritism.

This is not to deny that there are some Koreans who avoid sitting next to expatriates. In that case, consider yourself lucky. Who the heck wants to sit next to a xenophobe? Let them stand. Just give them a big smile and enjoy your ride.

Other expatriates are bothered by the personal questions many Koreans ask, the lack of personal space, and even impromptu English lessons. As Celeste Chua wrote, we can easily find the good or the bad we seek. That is certainly true in a population of 49 million. By far, the most incredible complaint I have heard is that some expatriates feel unfairly singled out by smart-aleck children saying/shouting, "Hello!"

As a kid growing up in Texas, I would have been surprised to learn that an adult was attaching cultural or national significance to my actions. Through a lot of practice, tossed with just the right trajectory from the roof of a house, I could hit an unsuspecting friend/enemy square on the head from 30 yards away with a water balloon. We had fun randomly shouting dirty words at each other, trying to create entire sentences out of them.

Ringing someone's doorbell and then running away before they could open the door was fun when we were bored. When passing cars interrupted our football and baseball games on the street, we’d stare angrily at the drivers, wishing we had prepared water balloons to bombard them.

But I digress. In our own countries, when encountering rude or playful children, we say, "stupid kids." In Korea, far too many expatriates will say, "stupid Korean kids," attributing even the greeting of "hello" as to being a character flaw in Koreans overall. Korean youngsters, winding down from another pressure-packed day of studying for 18 hours, really shouldn't be yelling "hello" at hypersensitive people. They should be yelling something much more appropriate, like "Yankee, go home!" And ``home" is where some people need to be.

There's truly no place like home. Some people never should have left.

The writer is a visiting scholar at the Liberty Society in Seoul. He can be contacted at cjl@post.harvard.edu.

Korea Times



http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2013/02/162_130315.html

Popular posts from this blog

Walter E. Williams hosting Rush Limbaugh tomorrow

Check your local listings! By the way, my co-host Eliot Morgan and I interviewed Professor Walter E. Williams on the Casey Lartigue Show on April 28 and June 9 . We discussed reparations for slavery and the minimum wage mandate. To access the clips above at rapidshare: 1) scroll down to the bottom, hit the "free" button. 2) scroll down to the bottom, type in the password, hit download, then listen... Or, you can download the clips from yousendit, available for one week: June 9, WEW, segment 5 http://download.yousendit.com/F8A128C94CEAD09C June 9, WEW segment 6 http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=9800ABE6204647B3 April 28 http://download.yousendit.com/72FB5F4718BC06A1 CJL

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

Yeonmi Park, February 14, 2014, making her debut! Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special session on North Korean refugees at the Canadian Maple International School. Wow, it was a wonderful time! * Yeon-Mi Park delivered her first major speech in English. She was wonderful! She told her story (35 minute speech without notes), discussed different aspects of North Korea, and then handled questions from students for more than an hour. She did seem to be nervous at the beginning-she took a deep breath just as she started, looked at me, then told her story from her heart. * Returning from the speech, I told Yeonmi that she had star potential. She told me that she didn't believe it, but I told her that the way she handled Q&A and told her story, I would be lucky to have her still returning my phone calls within a year. * The students had many questions. They have been learning about North Korea. They are now reading "Escape from Camp 14" featuring Shin Dong-h

2020-05-21 Goodbye, Katty Chi

I had heard through the grapevine and now it has been verified: Human rights activist Katty Chi has passed away. She is one of the first people that I met when I got involved in this cause. The first time was in 2012, at an event at the South Korea's National Assembly. She was super cool, one of my favorites as I used to say even when she was alive. And that is the important time to say such things, when people are alive. Whenever we met, I would say to her, "You know what happens when you meet me?" She would say, "Yeah. Time to take a photo?" I'm glad we did. And from Hyun S. Song, a close colleague of hers: And from Liberty in North Korea, the definitive announcement, August 4, 2020

Kakao Story character in blackface

Kakao Story is a popular app made by Kakao Talk (a wildly popular instant messaging system in South Korea). Scrolling thr ough my Kakao Talk updates, I came acros s t he following and figured out how to snap a photo of it. * Today is "Black Day" in Korea. That's the day that people who didn't celebrate "White Day" on February 14 (when women give men gifts) or "Valentine's Day" on March 14 (when men give women gifts) eat black noddles to mark their loneliness. I suspect the NAACP would not be amused by this Kakao Talk character--CJL

2018-06-17 Jang Jinsung at TNKR Donor Appreciation Night

What’s better than having a well-known North Korean refugee author speak at your event? Having TWO well-known North Korean refugee authors speak at your event! TNKR held a special "Donor Appreciation NIght" featuring author Jinsung Jang. To make the night even more incredible, author Kang Cheol-Hwan 강철환 also joined the session. It was like a North Korean refugee superstar session. * Mr. Jang is author of several books, including "Dear Leader." * Mr. Kang is author of The Aquariums of Pyongyang. We were delighted to hold this session, co-sponsored by UniKorea, for donors and fundraisers who help keep TNKR alive. TNKR will be holding more events like this, set up a fundraiser so you can also get invited. https://give.lovetnkr.com/en/fundraisers Support TNKR: http://lovetnkr.org/donate/