The F Word

Just a quick post before I go to "work". Sent a 11.2kg parcel back home (cost me $87), in which the post office staff asked me if I was moving back home, and how long I have lived in this small, little, quiet, redneck mountain town (sing a long with me *^^*). Then, did a spot of shopping. Also cleaned up the apartment, and heated up some brocolli cheese soup for lunch.

Anyway...

The F-word. No, I'm not talking about the word "fuck". I'm talking about the word "foreigner". It's how Koreans address people who aren't Korean or aren't Korean enough. Koreans identify others by race, not nationality. Hence, everyone who is caucasian being American.

I never used the word "foreigner", until I came here. When communicating with Koreans, in both English and Korean, you'll say/hear it enough times to make you cringe and grind your teeth every time you hear it, in context or not.

I read a news article about Korea's readiness for globalisation from Digital Chosunilbo:

Thanks to improved domestic education, Korea ranked third among OECD member states for adaptability to globalization, according to the Global Benchmark Report 2008 published recently by the Confederation of Danish Industry.

The KITA said, "Korea outperformed many advanced countries in adaptability to globalization. But it needs to improve many things in terms of internationalization and openness to emerge as an advanced, globalized nation."

Korea has a certain way of doing things. Their way. Being open, means to take in all advice from all angles, find a solution that works best, and then go with it. From my experience, this is one thing that Korea and Koreans (in general... very general - also from my experience with working/interacting with Koreans here) need to do. Think about things before they do them. Things about the outcomes of their actions, before they act.

Then, I read articles like this one from The Korea Times:

Marijuana consumption, once rampant at nightclubs and foreign communities here, is likely to lose its popularity.

So... Koreans don't like Marijuana? Or, do they only smoke it in nightclubs? Do all foreign community members like/smoke/sell/buy Marijuana? Or, do Koreans just like other drugs? :p Maybe, they like the ones that make them more 빨리 빨리 (bballi bballi) ㅋㅋㅋ

In Korea, if the drugs, cheap alcohol, all the passive smoking and/or people who can't drive won't kill you, the fans will ㅋㅋㅋ