My fellow Korean Residents

It's interesting, because no matter how long you live in a foreign country, you're still never "from" there, especially when your physical appearance or accent so blatantly gives you away. You live your life as a "foreigner" or a "westerner" (in Asia) in the culture, even after you've learned the language! That is all relative to the fact that you were not born there and the natives/locals were; however, when you find yourself in a country that is neither theirs nor yours, suddenly you are brothers, or at least you find yourself with a sort of kinship that had never been previously tested. For example, I have run into many Koreans (this is a hot travel spot for Koreans I'm learning) and when I meet them, I feel close to them in a way that I do not in Korea and I think they feel the same. Suddenly it becomes very apparent that although I will never be "Korean" I am still much more "Korean" than someone who has never been there, and especially someone who has never lived there. It goes beyond the fact that I know what Koreans eat and some of their language, in the past few months I have been immersed in their culture and they know as well as I do that I understand them better than the average person. In fact many Koreans come off as sort of abrasive, egotistical and even a little annoying (I've found this out through talking with some of the Philippinos that I've met.) It's funny, because I can see how an outsider might think that; however, it takes the kind of cultural experience that I've had to look past those things and see how it all fits together, how you can't have the good without the bad and they are all inter-connected to a history that is very different from my own or the Philippines. I can sympathize with Koreans in more way than one, because I'm constantly encountering the same experience as an American. Most of the people I meet have never been to the United States and don't want to (almost out of pride); the people to which I refer are mainly Europeans. The other night I had dinner with an Austrian couple that I had been scuba diving with and I provoked a political discussion, by asking many questions about Austria's government, which in turn led to a discussion about the USA. The woman in particular had a lot of animosity towards the USA and I sat and listened patiently while she basically preached every stereotype in the book as if it were the gospel... and as she went on about the fat Americans who only eat junk food and live in a society that is NOT diverse OR free...I mean you can't drink until you're 21~ and in order to get a VISA to visit the USA you have to tell them how many times you go to the bathroom everyday...etc., etc. She went on and on...and on... and I let her, but I definitely realized that this woman was in fact an outsider. If she had lived in the USA, yes she probably still would've held many of those views; however, I can only hope that she would have at least understood a little better that what makes us bad also makes us great, that it's all inter-connected and there is not country that is perfect, not even Austria. America has become a sort of international punching bag and although I don't think that it is totally un-deserved, I also wish that people would acknowledge that there is an America which they fail to see, in fact refuse to see. The night before that encounter I had dinner with a Korean couple who I had gone scuba diving with. The man lives in Pusan and he was a Korean physical education teacher in a middle school. We were able to talk and joke and compare notes on the customs and culture of Korea and they were both amazed at what I knew in the way of customs (thank you Fulbright). I felt very close to both of them, and grateful that I'd run into them and they seemed to feel the same. When you realize that you don't think like an outsider, you realize that you are in fact an insider, almost by default, because I certainly don't feel like one in Korea, but relative to everyone else I think I qualify.