Lunch was par for the course and nothing necessarily to write home about. Though, I returned to my room from my lunch group of people from my school (wasn't sad to leave them) to find US dollars to convert as I believe I was out of money only to find, lo and behold- I still had a deal of won that I had already converted and didn't need to convert more money at this point in time. WIN! To quote "Zombieland"'s rule 32: Enjoy the little things.
Anyways, not being ambushed by any more people trying to convert me (to the best of my knowledge) I made it back in time for Korean Language class. Thankfully, I seem to be close to reaching some kind of singularity that I'll hopefully be able to keep with me at all time. I'm not screwing up as often though I still have a far way to go. I was supposed to go out tonight, but it appears that group of people I was supposed to leave with left without me. Oh well. They probably just knocked on my door and I didn't hear them. So, I ran off on my own and grabbed some food. It's probably just as well- people were going off clubbing tonight even though we have to be at the Business Building at 8AM (bus leaves at 8:10) for the Boryeong Mud Festival. I'll have to post more on that after I get back (it's an overnight trip and I'll probably not have access to a computer for most of tomorrow and also most of Sunday).
So, I spent the evening chillaxing and talking to one of my acquaintances from here, Benji. Basically, we decided to have a trash talking fest about the people here who irk us. Oddly enough, we had quite a few common disliked people and funnily enough they were from my university. A common complaint we both seemed to have was against the people with too big of an ego and general lack of respect. For example, one of the people we discussed doesn't really seem to show much respect for Korea, not even making an effort to pronounce words correctly. He's a smart guy, the one we were discussing, but he just doesn't care enough to put forth the effort. I realize (and know from experience) that Korean pronunciation can be difficult at first, but with time it isn't that bad. Just...no effort seems to be put into it.
Also, another comment he had on my university mates (not on me myself) is that they go out every night drinking. Sure, drinking is a part of Korean culture, but every night? And coming back at 3 to possibly go to class at 9? It just is a waste. Which brought up the question that Benji placed before me (indirectly): why did the people from my university come here? They mostly seem to just get drunk every night and buy random crap like materialism was going out of style.
What is the point of coming here? Not knowing the people from my university that well, I could not respond. But, I saw his point. Why would you go to a foreign country? Is it to learn something? I mean, I'd hope so. But the aforementioned guy doesn't even seem to be making an effort to pronounce even simple greeting phrases so...ugh. It's frustrating and I realize this is a somewhat common complain from me, but why do the people from my university have to be so superficial? I wish I could defend them, but I have trouble doing it and their general lack of trying to appreciate the culture honestly make it hard to do it. Ker-sigh.
Benji mentioned that he feels bad that he has a negative view from people of Ohio as a result (to which I folded my arms and cleared my throat, much to his amusement), though he has a point. The majority of the people here from my college really aren't putting forth an effort to fit in or understand. What a waste. To think the trip may have gone to people who would appreciate the cultural aspects of it.
-Reven
So sad indeed.
ReplyDeleteI think Benji has a point, and it's not just people from your school. When I was over in England my classmates did the same thing: go out and drink be up and ready to go by 7.
ReplyDeleteYou can't expect people who have never cared about culture to suddenly care. It's just unamerican. :P
ReplyDeleteSo I was thinking about this today at work. We have a rather large international student population, with special emphasis in Chinese and Indian students. Most of the ones that live off campus live in huge apartment complexes far off campus, so we frequently give them rides. However, they frequently will sit in the back and carry on conversations not in English and sometimes we know they're talking about us because they will not translate "Student Safety". This is incredibly rude. Many of them do not seem to make any effort to improve their English because after an entire year of school, they are still inept at giving directions or articulating where they need to go. Also, they completely disregard American standards for hygiene, especially the use of deodorant, which is rather irritating when you are stuck in a van with them. It would be really simple to wear deodorant, you just buy it and put in on in the morning after all, but they choose not to and end up offending anyone them come into contact with later in the day.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I just wanted to point out that not just your classmates are rude and not just American's don't care about other people's cultures.
PS: I took a picture of the scooter food delivery for you.
OX- Yeah, I know...but hey, it's the truth. :(
ReplyDeleteKat- Were these just your American classmates or also the British ones? Because it is only the Americans here...no Koreans do it.
Roman- Truth.
Kappa- I saw that you posted earlier but I didn't make the connection between your screen name and real name until now. Haha. But your experiences make me somewhat comforted to know that Americans aren't the only jerks left in the world. I truly appreciate that. And yes, I saw the picture. Thank you. :)