Fun stories about living in Korea!

[sd43n4]

I've taught students from over 50 different countries (ESL teacher in America) and I found Koreans are the most hospitable people I've ever met. When I first came to Korea, I met this nice Korean couple at a local church I joined. We became friends and I invited them for a meal at my tiny apartment. They looked around and commented that the apartment was rather empty. A week or 2 later they came over again... and brought a bunch of furniture for me. Table, wardrobe, blinds, rice cooker, mirror... I was overwhelmed by the generosity of these 2 people I'd only recently met.

[dachiza727]

I was eating at a restaurant with a friend, we must've had that new in Korea glaze over us because we were approached by two older Korean males.  They joined our table and drank with us.  The older gentlemen that sat next to my buddy seemed very pleased to meet us.  He had a huge grin as he was caressing my friends inner thigh.  He held my buddies hand for a good portion of the dinner, it was truly a magical moment! 

[iamrhart]

I was eating at a restaurant with a friend, we must've had that new in Korea glaze over us because we were approached by two older Korean males.  They joined our table and drank with us.  The older gentlemen that sat next to my buddy seemed very pleased to meet us.  He had a huge grin as he was caressing my friends inner thigh.  He held my buddies hand for a good portion of the dinner, it was truly a magical moment!

Yeah, the old men do like the younger ones. Did you have a happy ending to your magic moment?

[Chicagohotdog]

I have the nicest landlord and landlady.  They don't really speak English (though they proudly pronounce my name now) but they are incredibly helpful and just generally lovely people.

They also run a butcher shop out of our building, so fairly regularly I am given free samgyupsal or greatly discounted beef.  It's lovely. 

Last winter I went home to Chicago to see the family and left my boiler on that "don't freeze my pipes" setting.  Now my building is old and still uses oil to heat it so the oil must have run out before I returned.  I didn't get back to my apartment until 11PM and ended up just having to suffer the night in the cold.  First thing the next morning, I went to them and they called up the oil company and when they said it would be at least 4 hours until they could get to the building, I was put up in their shop for a while and even fed a lovely lunch (she is a REALLY good cook!) while waiting for the tank to get filled.

Just after I got here I came down with a bad case of food poisoning (5 days laid up) and I tried to get myself to the hospital in town, but I ended up collapsed on the sidewalk because my legs were shaking too bad to hold me up.  A cabbie saw me, pulled over and got me into his cab, drove me to the hospital, got me inside and talked to the nurses for me.  He left without my ever getting a name or paying or even getting to say thank you.

There are so many little moments that just make your heart sing...unfortunately it seems that the bad ones seem to stick out more.

[Swinny]

My story involves an Ajoshi (of course)

One day I was cycling home from school when I saw a guy sitting in the middle of the right hand lane of a two lane busy street, there was a woman next to him so I assumed they were doing something to the road or picking something up. When I got closer I saw that the woman was trying to coax this ajoshi off the street. The street was such a busy one that I stopped and offered my help, I expected the standard no no we don't need your help but the woman looked at me as if to say "go on give it a try" so I basically bear hugged the ajoshi and lifted him off the street.

At this point I smelled the cause of the problem and bearing in mind my sense of smell is fairly limited this guy must have injected at least 2 litres of the Sojay. So in my bear hug the guy decided to have a nap on me so I kept him upright and kept hugging him because I'm too nice and waited for a taxi to come by, eventually one came and I carried him and placed him gently into the back seat so he wouldn't wake up and the lady told the taxi driver where to go. Then the lady asked me if I wanted to come for a free meal in her restaurant, my instinctive thought was "Yes, free meal" until I saw the sign 순대국 and quickly made an excuse and cycled away.

A few days later I was bombing down the road on my bike and she jumped out of her restaurant, I had to tell her again that I had a plan already so she gave me a bottle coffee and a can of coke and sent me on my way.

Happy times

Also to echo the sentiment of the original poster, there is so much negativity all the time here. When I worked in customer service we were told that every time 1 person has a negative experience on average they will tell 10 people. But when people have a positive experience 1 out of 3 people will tell 1 person about it. bear that in mind next time something goes wrong or right.

Peace.

[cheezsteakwit]

I flew into Korea on a Saturday & had a free Monday to explore Seoul before my orientation training started.
My new friends (all Brits & a S. African) & I packed into the subway, like sardines & I found myself face to face with an elderly white haired gentleman. (looked to be in his 70's)

He says to me "American ??" ... & I replied " uuuhhh, yeah. "  (Not really sure what kind of reaction I'd get.)

He then says, " Your president's wife is called 'First Lady' ?  " .. I replied , " uuuhh , yeah. "

He then says, "What IF your president was a woman , what would her husband be called ??? "   

I didn't know what to say, to be honest.  I'd never given that any thought before & was surprised by the question.

I replied, "I don't think we'll ever have a woman president, but if we do, her husband would be called , 'the First Man', maybe ? "

He then made a comment about how he liked America.

It was only later, after I thought about some more, it occurred to me  - "First Gentleman" was probably the better answer.
But, yeah, it was a bizarre introduction to Korea.  It's been a good 16 months so far.  No complaints.

[Shinsegae]

What a heart warming thread. Its so nice to be able to come into school on a monday morning and be able to read something positive on waygook.

-I was waiting at the bus stop after school one day when a taxi driver pulls over and wants  me to get in. I explain that I dont have enough money to take a taxi and that I only have 1200 for a bus ride.  It turns out that he lives in the apartment across the street from me and recognised me. He drove me home for free.

-I went to a small restaurant with my Korean girlfriend and the owner was so impressed that I "could eat spicey food well" that we ate for free.

-My sister came to Korea for a vacation (she is really skinny and weak) and was having a lot of trouble with her suitcases. A couple of soldiers asked where she was going and got the ticket for her and carried her bags all the way through the bus station. Can't imagine a soldier being such a gentleman back home.

[miljennifer]

I have had lots of great, uplifting moments in my 11 months in Korea so far. I have found people here to be really kind for the most part.

One that stands out: My husband and I were visiting Gangneung for the weekend and were trying to get to a new cafe serving Western-style breakfast that was recommended by a friend. Two taxi fails later (nobody seemed to know where this place was, even though we had address, phone number and name of a well-known landmark nearby), we were wandering around looking for the cafe and pretty much lost.

So we went into a CU to ask for directions. There were a couple of guys sitting outside the CU drinking coffee and smoking, and the lady working at the store asked them if they knew where the place was. The guys looked up some stuff on their phones, made a couple of calls, and next thing you know they're giving us a ride to the cafe.

We were just so blown away that a couple of strangers would stub out their smokes and abandon their leisurely Saturday coffee session to drive a couple of lost foreigners to their destination. Awesome!

[gender8]

nice posts, keep em coming!

will add another of my own.  went home for a siblings wedding this year. Once word got out in my school, a whole bunch of staff members, some of whom i rarely spoke to, if at all,  started giving me traditional and korean style gifts to give to my sister as wedding presents, and some items were pretty pricey for someone they'e never met. Thought it was a pretty cool gesture, especially considering its not Korean custom to give wedding presents.

[0mnslnd]

At the shoe store:

store owner ajeossi: " ighe... made in Korea. Johwa. Good

Me:  "Kighe boyo juseyo. Show me that other one please."

Ajeossi: " Okay. Made in Korea.... made in Korea.... good.
(Pointing at all the pairs of shoes nearby) - "Made in Korea."

Then the ajeossi points at himself and says:
" (me).... "Made in Korea. "
Then points and me: "You??"

[Dagger]

my first couple weeks in korea i had all my stuff stolen, literally everything! clothes, laptop, glasses, everything that i didnt have on me at school that day. there was a communication error between my co teacher and myself as to where to leave my luggage as someone from the school was coming to get my stuff and move me into my new apartment. needless to say i was bummed, but thought i'll look back on this someday and laugh. anyways, i go into work on monday and the principal and vice principal call me in for a meeting with a couple other english teachers. they got donations from other teachers that totaled around 250,000 won. i was pretty taken back as i would never expect this to happen back home. it was just a really kind gesture and certainly something they didn't have to do, but was something i obviously appreciated very much!

[specter13]

I was in Korea when my dad passed away, it was a pretty rough time. Well I told my head co teacher and he gave me the day off which is pretty nice. The next day they told me that they wanted to me to go home right away for one week. I found this pretty amazing since missing work here is a big no no.

The thing that absolutely blew me away though was that the teachers in the school got together and gave me around $900 to take home. The principal of the school went out of his way to go to the bank and actually get me a $100 bill.

It really meant a lot to me to have that kind of support at my school after something like that happened.

[stemarty]

A friend and I went to a pharmacy to get some pain killers for her leg.
None of the workers there could speak much English so my friend and I started doing charades and really poor Korean to explain that we wanted painkillers but Tylenol was too weak.

After about 5 minutes of acting a young woman looked up and said in a perfect foreigner accent: "what exactly are you looking for?" Turns out she was from Calgary (visiting her mother who worked at the pharmacy) and just couldn't hold a straight face anymore.
The mother gave my friend some "nice-uh pills" and a bowl of peaches.

[Yellowtree77]

My parents and I were travelling on the subway in Seoul and I gave up my seat for an old man who reluctantly accepted. Next stop I feel a tugging on my backpack, the old man wanted me to sit next to him. Next he starts speaking in pretty good English and tells me he is 83 years old and that he is "very sad".
 "Why" I asked.
"Because I am too old to make love"

[MoneyMike]

When I first got to Korea (after orientation) there was a meeting for lunch with our new co-teachers, then the co-teachers took each student to that teachers assigned apartment. Anyways, get there, chat with the co-teacher for a bit, then she leaves. Kind of intimidating being left alone in a foreign country for the first time. (Though I'd lived in other countries before)

About 2 or 3 minutes later there's a knock on the door. I open it, and there's a guy about my age with a plate of fruit. Turned out he was the landlords son and wanted to welcome the new foreigner. That was definitely a nice welcome to the neighborhood.

Hah, and another story that just happened last week.

I was at Homeplus in the vegetable section, putting some different kinds of greens into a bag. The guy who was weighing and pricing the bags is a guy who I sometimes chat with while I'm there. (in Korean, had never heard him speak English) So he weighs it, puts on the price, then opens the bag again and says "Go get more, service!" in English. Thought that was pretty nice, can't usually get service at Homeplus.

[thunderlips]

A group of about 5 foreigner teachers were traveling to a small island near our "hometown". Immediately after disembarking  the ferry, a man introduced himself to us as the village chief. He invited to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We ate well and had a little soju also. He paid for the meal and wouldn't let us chip in. We were getting ready to leave off on our planned adventure when the village chief told us to wait a minute. We didnt want to be rude after the nice meal, so we waited about 15 minutes. Two pickup trucks came to the restaurant and the village chief ushered us in. We drove about the island for about 20-30 min and came to a beautiful traditional house. The chief invited us in and introduced us to his lovely wife. We had tea and fruit in his living room and he discussed some finer points of life to us, no one spoke English and we didn't speak Korean keep in mind. After an hour or so of chatting it was time to leave, the village chief wanted to give us a guided tour of the island, but by that time we had to depart to catch the last ferry home.

I've been back to the island a few times and always look about for the village chief. I have not been able to chance into him again, but his kindness and generosity are firmly embedded into my collective experience of Korea. Thank you village chief where ever you may be!

[Rambi]

My school moved me to a new apartment two weeks in and didn't give me the address for it (this is not the fun part).  My previous apartment was very big and all the taxi drivers knew it by name.  I was trying to get home rather late at night (/early morning), and gave the taxi driver the name of my new apartment.  I was greeted with a blank stare.  I showed him a picture of my apartment and was greeted with another blank stare.  I'd had a very bad evening, and I think the driver could tell from my face because he motioned me to sit down and then started making calls.  We drove all around the city with me trying to figure out where we were in case I could point out the route (I'd only been in town a couple weeks though) and also trying not to cry.  Finally we got to my building, the driver wrote down my full address for me, and charged base fare.

Just thought of one more: I bought a bottle of mokkali the other day.  The woman at the counter asked if it was for me, and was very delighted when I said yes enthusiastically.  She then gave me a bunch of service snacks. 

[Spongeblob]

My very first day in Korea I started out for work and promptly got lost.  I had no idea where I was.  A kindly old lady saw me walking in circles and took pity on me.  Hoisting me up on her shoulders she ran along bouncing from rooftop to rooftop.   Suddenly, I spotted my place of work.  She placed me gently at the doorstep.  I thanked her profusely but she just gave me a toothless grin then tried to feel me up.  Dirty old lady!

[Seoulman79]

Went swimming at my local pool a couple of weeks ago.  The swimming instructor (who also lifeguards whilst teaching ) pointed out to me that I'd forgot to don my swim cap.  In my limited Korean I asked him what I should do about my chest hair, as it's much longer than my shaved balding head.