I just moved to Seoul to teach English and headed to the hospital today for a pre-employment physical.
the doc told me, and im not making this up at all, that I look like Tim Duncan then asked me if I knew who this was.
later on I was observing a classroom and the little Korean kids were asked what my name is. one called me "gorilla teacher" and later "king kong."
the kicker to all of this is that I am a white guy with a dark complexion (along the lines of say christopher maltisanti on the sopranos). over here pale white skin is the gold standard of beauty, no one has ever seen a foreigner and I am percieved as a black guy. is crazy, racism is not cool guys.
i get stared at and pointed at to an unbelieable extent too. i walked up to a urinal and begin to piss this afternoon and the guy next to me literally turned his head 90 degrees and stared for a good 3 seconds.
... mohommed ali for calling joe frazer a gorilla by the way. that wasn't too cool either and im not sure why he got a pass on that.
Get used to it, sorry to say. I taught English in Japan for two years and the Japanese are equally xenophobic although a touch more polite about it.
Think of it as "celebrity status" and it's easier to deal with. Because you are a foreigner you are exempt from most local customs, so you can laugh off cultural mistakes and miscommunications. Approaching it with a sense of humour is essential or it can really get to you.
Enjoy!
yeah my friend, i guess I came in with eyes open expecting no less than total insanity.
Get used to it, sorry to say. I taught English in Japan for two years and the Japanese are equally xenophobic although a touch more polite about it.
Think of it as "celebrity status" and it's easier to deal with. Because you are a foreigner you are exempt from most local customs, so you can laugh off cultural mistakes and miscommunications. Approaching it with a sense of humour is essential or it can really get to you.
Enjoy!
did you enjoy your time in japan overall or no not really?
I would love to bang me some pale Korean chicks . . . and some Japanese chicks as well.
My husband is 6'3" and when we were in China, he was asked constantly if he was in the NBA. He'd say no, and they still wanted his autograph!
You need to start banging a bunch of Korean chicks then the laugh is on them.
When my grandmother got to Japan to teach in the mid 70s, she said that you could always spot an American in a crowd because they were a head above everyone else. By the time she left Asia in the mid 90s, though, she said that people had gotten taller overall and the differences weren't quite as stark, but it sounds like they still treat it that way.
My grandmother had all kinds of amazing travel opportunities when she was living over there, be sure to take advantage.
I have an uncle who is 6'3" and he was asked constantly if he was Hulk Hogan in Japan. Even when he said no they wanted his autograph, so he just started saying yes after a while.
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