“Because you’re foreign…” Western, White and English privilege in Korea
*Note: This post chronicles my own experiences with privilege in Korea as a White, American female. I am NOT speaking for all White people, females, Americans, Westerners or even Koreans. I nervously sat among my classmates in a holography class at the Korea National University of Arts in February 2009. A few days earlier, I’d...
Riding the white horse: On being foreign in South Korea
KEVIN, my Korean co-teacher, had an idea for our open class. “Let’s make a motivational video,” he suggested. “I’ll ask, ‘Would you like some more?’ you’ll say, ‘Yes, please,’ and after we repeat this a couple times, you’ll stuff your shirt with balloons. When you stand up to clear your tray, you’ll look really fat!” “Really,...
From city to country
I climbed onto the Seoul-bound bus in Inje. The only seat remaining was next to a pimply teenage boy leaning his head against the window. He avoided my gaze, reluctantly removing his backpack from the seat and placing it on the floor beneath his feet. It was summer. My friends and I had gone rafting...
An ode to my old neighborhood in northeast Seoul
“Dolgoji station,” I tell him. “Dolgoji?” “Yes, Dol-go-ji,” I repeat, enunciating each syllable. We stop hiking and he stares at me in utter confusion. “Sorry, I don’t know where that is.” This is the response I receive from nine out of ten Koreans when I tell them where I live. Or rather, where I lived....
Booked: sipping whisky and mingling with men at a Korean booking club
In the entryway, we approached a man wearing a black suit, waiting patiently behind a hostess stand. “Jeongbin,” my friend said briskly, referring to our waiter. We followed him through double doors into a dimly-lit club filled with rows of private rooms and an area filled with square tables and plush cushioned seats. Wearing sheer black...
My ever-growing attraction to Asian men, and how the US prevented it from happening earlier
How can you NOT find these washboard abs irresistible? “Sarah you’re definitely going to have a Korean boyfriend when you move to Seoul,” my Korea-American friend would tease me back in 2009, as I was preparing for my semester abroad. “No way,” I would respond, laughing. “I’m not attracted to Asian guys.” How wrong was...
Gay in Korea: an interview with an American expat living in Seoul
My Korean co-teacher once told me that she had never met a gay person. “You probably have without realizing it,” I responded. She didn’t seem convinced. The gay scene is still quite hidden in Korea, even though this year marked the 13th Queer Culture Festival in Seoul. I recall meeting one gay guy when I...
Perceived as a Prostitute on the streets of Seoul
Last winter, after work one day, I changed into a black hooded sweatshirt, skinny jeans and Converse—nothing that, I thought, would attract much attention. Setting out for the grocery store, I grabbed my purse and a reusable shopping bag. I reached a crossroad near the elementary school where I work, and a middle-aged man in...
Postcards: a lack of anonymity in northeast Seoul
Around 8:35 each morning, I cross the busy street facing the back gate of my school, and I see the same man. He’s tall and thin, with wispy black hair and narrow eyes. In the fall he often wears a lightweight black jacket, unzipped, and in the spring, button-up, plaid shirts. I’ve seen him almost...
Follow Mapping Words