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All responses Most smiled responses
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Someone has really overestimated me with this one. You all do know I studied poetry at university, right?
No. Here's the thing -- economics, and especially global economics, have never been a strong point of mine. I've read book after book about the IMF and the FTA and Mexico and Asia and South America, and I even took a graduate level course on globalization at university (the result of which being one of those high B exams I mentioned before) to try to educate myself, and to some extent it has worked, but not to the point where I would feel comfortable speaking as any kind of authority on the subject. I always end up getting too wrapped up in the social issues involved, and spent most of that grad course turning purple with rage at the back of the class as a room full of college educated artists made tacky comment after tacky comment in regards to poor people, the category.
On the one hand, I love the idea of the transportation and mixing of cultures across the globe -- the more exposure we all have as human beings, the more human we will become. On the other, much bigger and stronger hand, Neocolonialism -- the destruction of small, homegrown businesses and agriculture, the Westernization of entire cultures.... and the people at the bottom who always seem to end up the losers.... I don't know.
This is not an easy question. And I'm far from educated enough to answer it properly. So instead, I'd like to open the comments, because it's something I've also been wondering about. So... what have you got to say about this? Let me know. -
I'm going to be honest, here -- the Korean wave is not really of much concern to me in either direction. I mean, "successfully" is kind of subjective here, because Girls Generation were just on David Letterman. I would personally consider that to be pretty successful, as far as American exposure goes. And it seems that the number of foreign girls coming over to Korea, either to work or to study, because they fell in love with Kpop at some point in their adolescence is increasing exponentially every year.
Do I think it will ever be a common occurrence to turn on the radio in Idaho and hear Big Bang? No. I really don't. But I can't think of more than a handful of bands from any non-English speaking country with which that is a common occurrence. So what can you expect?
Do you know what? Fuck Korean wave, actually. Kpop is not the best that Korea has to offer. What I would really like to see is an explosion in American exposure to Korean food. That, to me, is the real gold that Korea has to offer the world.
As for Americans somehow giving Korea the individual recognition it deserves in regards to its position apart from Asia, again, how many Americans do you know who know the individual nuances which differentiate, say, Norway from Sweden? Or Brazil from Argentina? I'm guessing the ones you know who an tell you the differences, can also tell you the differences between Korea and Japan or China.
And as for exoticizing and objectifying, unfortunately that's just part and parcel of the importation of foreign cultures. No chance it won't happen, ever, with any culture within any other culture.
But yeah. Korean food is the way forward for Korea I think. I love Big Bang. But I love an evening of 갈비 and 소주 more. -
I've been meaning to finish that story, yes. I'm sorry. I may even get to it tonight, but it's been one of those things where my relationship with these guys is ongoing, and every day something changes a bit. Anyway, what made me just remember I had this question waiting was this text exchange with one of the boys this afternoon:
Student [out of nowhere]: a..my girl friend today is birthday
INP: oh, really? did you buy a present?
Student: um?? im not gay ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
INP: haha it's okay. why are you crying?
INP: present = 선물
INP: buy = 사다
INP: did you? = 했니?
INP: did you buy a present?
Student: a~hahahahahaha...쑥쓰럽네요ㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ
Student: buy남자여자 둘다 좋아하냐고 하는 건줄알앗어요ㅜㅠ
INP: haha no. that's "bi".
INP: "bi" means two. remember? we studied that.
Weird. Is "bi" a word they commonly know? I don't even know. But I will come back to this later. I promise. -
Okay. As per usual, when I get these questions, I have a lot of questions in return.
Like, first of all, why do you need to figure out Korean men? I'm assuming you live in the US. Are you planning to move to Korea? Bottom line, people who need to "figure out" other races without living within a culture dominated by that race, especially when it comes to dating, skeeve me.
Second of all, do you know that I'm dating a Korean man? And if you do, did you not stop to think that maybe this question would be offensive? Did you mean to imply that I like to date men who have a child's mind?
There's really nothing about this question that I understand, least of all the motive behind asking it. But what I have to say is this: maybe your friend has really shit taste. Or maybe she has kind of a childish mindset, herself, when it comes to digesting people who are, on the surface, different from her. Maybe her only way to cope with the cultural differences was to classify the men she was dating as simple minded. Maybe she didn't realize that, in Korea, within Korean culture, we are the ones who make mistakes and do things "wrong".
I don't know what else to say. I know I make a lot of good-natured jokes at Busan's expense from time to time, but he's not a child. Not in the least. He went through an army service that would've made most of the guys I went to university with cry. He holds down a job working hours that I can't imagine ever tolerating, and he does it without complaint. He sends money home to help take care of his family. And within our personal relationship, he manages to handle me and my neuroses in such a manner that I know I can rely on him in a way that I haven't ever been able to with any other man before. He's not a child. He's a man. And he's as Korean as they come.
And that's all I know to say. -
Haha I don't want to go into too much detail about that, because it has stalker bait written all over it, but suffice it to say, it was really no big deal. Luckily, Busan's perm is indeed late, but it was never great. Not in the conventional sense. Last night, after he fluttered about from menu to menu trying to decide where he wanted to eat dinner, like the proverbial girlfriend of mine that he is, no sooner had we been seated at the table than he asked me how his hair looked. At first I thought he was deliberately trying to be cute to make up for his ridiculous restaurant selection shenanigans, but then I realized that, of course, he was serious. Apparently he's ordered, and I quote, "some chemical from the internet" that smooths it down in front and on the sides or something. His hair is back to presentable, anyway, and that's all I'm worried about.
By the way, this morning while we were watching yet another film about the Nazis, my head was angled just so that I caught him checking out his own biceps out of the corner of my eye. He's at the gym again, God help us all.
And just to clear up some issues about the photo from before, yes that was Nutella, powdered sugar, bacon and eggs on French toast. Yes he did fold it in half and eat it all smushed together, and no, it did not look good. It was revolting. But thanks a lot to everyone who decided to comment to that effect, because Busan, looking over my shoulder on my phone, was fully vindicated. -
Haha I don't want to go into too much detail about that, because it has stalker bait written all over it, but suffice it to say, it was really no big deal. Luckily, Busan's perm is indeed late, but it was never great. Not in the conventional sense. Last night, after he fluttered about from menu to menu trying to decide where he wanted to eat dinner, like the proverbial girlfriend of mine that he is, no sooner had we been seated at the table than he asked me how his hair looked. At first I thought he was deliberately trying to be cute to make up for his ridiculous restaurant selection shenanigans, but then I realized that, of course, he was serious. Apparently he's ordered, and I quote, "some chemical from the internet" that smooths it down in front and on the sides or something. His hair is back to presentable, anyway, and that's all I'm worried about.
By the way, this morning while we were watching yet another film about the Nazis, my head was angled just so that I caught him checking out his own biceps out of the corner of my eye. He's at the gym again, God help us all.
And just to clear up some issues about the photo from before, yes that was Nutella, powdered sugar, bacon and eggs on French toast. Yes he did fold it in half and eat it all smushed together, and no, it did not look good. It was revolting. But thanks a lot to everyone who decided to comment to that effect, because Busan, looking over my shoulder on my phone, was fully vindicated. -
Well, they both have different passwords, to begin with. You really don't know? Obviously I'm not at liberty to give that information out freely. You'll have to go before the board.
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A Korean guy suddenly walking into your life is surely the best kind. And I'm dead happy to hear that you're searching the internet to learn about his culture and not about him. Very best of luck to you and to him, and to you both together.
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I don't know what to say to this other than I think anyone who is self-aware enough to be worried about acting like an asshole probably doesn't need too much help, least of all from me. Thank you for the kindness.
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Don't I know it.
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Probably. He loves to look down on Incheon guys because he's just happy to have found a group that have a worse reputation than Busan guys.
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I mean, I can post about random sex if I want to. The point is, I haven't posted about random sex. Is there something wrong with pointing that fact out? Am I going to get in trouble for talking about myself in my own blog?
I know this comment was a joke (although not a very funny one, in my opinion, if I'm being honest), but I find it pretty confusing lately how gasp-inducing stating a simple fact, or even showing any indication that you might not like something has become. I find it very childish that people will tear into complete strangers they don't even know, but can't handle someone saying they don't have any interest in what someone else writes.
Remember that time I had to justify posting a photo of a hamburger? Because I wasn't being supportive of everyone else's lifestyles? I do. In retrospect, I probably should've just posted another, bigger middle finger. I don't really know what I was thinking.
So. You know. You can burn me at the stake now for calling something I find childish 'childish', if you want. I was probably talking about you. Yes, you. Everything I write is about you.
One of us.
(This is the sound of me kind of giving up, in case you're wondering.) -
Homeplus! Although I only saw them there the once....
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Um. Are you dumb? I obviously have a bread machine here in my apartment in Korea. Because all Westerners have bread machines in their houses, just like all Koreans have rice makers in their houses. Didn't HT tell you that? She told me. Even after I insisted that I didn't, actually, own a bread maker in either place. She let me know.
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Maybe? I dunno.
The thing is, kids, I started out taking every anonymous comment as a joke. And then I realized that 90% of them were not joking. My expectations for anons on the internet have become pretty low.
Anyhow, it was 깡패 face, and I always said I never saw it. It's just what he tells me most Koreans tell him. Grace said it, too! -
Whoever you are, I love you. You really get me.
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I have no idea why anyone woud trust me more in this area. I made one dating profile on one dating website and was ao skeeved out by the results that I abandoned the whole thing and never met a single person. Shortly thereafter, I met Busan and deleted the profile entirely, so I'm afraid I'm not much help on this one. Sorry!
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I have no idea why anyone woud trust me more in this area. I made one dating profile on one dating website and was ao skeeved out by the results that I abandoned the whole thing and never met a single person. Shortly thereafter, I met Busan and deleted the profile entirely, so I'm afraid I'm not much help on this one. Sorry!
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The answer to that really depends on a few different factors, I think. Especially what level they are at. If they're English isn't terribly high, the best way to get them to open up in a classroom environment is to make sure that they have all of the tools that they need to say what they want to say in English. That's the number one problem I've seen when a teacher is complaining that the students won't stop talking in ____________, is that the students haven't been given the proper vocabulary to be able to say whatever it is in English. People who haven't ever spoken a second language to a native speaker won't necessarily understand that very well, but when you don't have the words, you simply don't have the words.
That doesn't mean that you have to hand out worksheets every class with lists of vocabulary, though. You can give them the language they need most effectively through how you phrase your questions. For example, when you ask, "What did you do this weekend?" and they get that panicked look in their eyes, don't just stop there. Ask, "Did you do something at home or did you go out?" It's not difficult for them to take that question and quickly turn it around in their minds, with the vocabulary you just handed them: "I went out this weekend." Or, did you meet your friends or your boyfriend? Did you eat something nice? Did you try something new?
Second langauge speakers are concentrating on enough as it is just making sentences, so leading the conversation very directly is a lot more helpful for them. They may be the best conversationalists ever in their native language, but they need a little help in English. After a while, they'll get confident enough to start talking without being led.
As far as getting them to stop sepaking in Mandarin, the best way to go about that is to give them time limits. If their level is high enough, then they should make a promise not to speak any Mandarin during your class time at all. If they are still struggling a bit and need to help each other out, then do maybe the last half of the class in English only -- for everybody. My students have a really difficult time speaking in English at all, but when I give them just the last fifteen minutes of class to not say one word of Korean, they really do their best to stick to it. Because, I always emphasize, it's only fifteen minutes. And you can do anything for fifteen minutes. If I tried to tell them to only speak in English for the entire class? I wouldn't even get five minutes out of them.
Instead of telling them they need to only speak English to each other at home (which is never going to happen, and therefore is setting a goal for them that they already know they'll fail), challenge them to speak only English at home for one hour every night. Then, after a week, move it up to two hours. So on and so forth.
This brings back a lot of good memories of my old job in New York. And makes me think a lot about the things I need to be working on now, as a foreigner, for myself. Thanks for the question.
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I'm no Picasso’s Bio
This is a tale of the seaports where chance brings the traveler: he clambers a hillside and such things come to pass.
