Stereotypes and food

Last Sunday was Clint’s birthday. So we joined him, and a number of his friends, for a bit a party in Seoul forest (really a large park). We left early as we did not want to risk missing the last bus home. I didn’t want to leave, I always enjoy seeing Clint and his friends, but I’m glad that we did since judging by the photos that have since seen the party went on well into the night.

Teaching with a hangover is no fun. I’ve only taught with a hangover once, it followed a night of drinking with Jessica’s teachers when we first arrived. I remember not wanting to drink as much as we did, but we were new and did not want to offend anyone. These days I simply say ‘no thanks’.

We got such looks from the Koreans as we partied it up in the park while families were on their day out. I felt a little guilty playing the ‘drunk indecent foreigner’ stereotype, but the truth is Koreans (mostly men) drink everywhere and anywhere. At least we didn’t harass anyone, I’ve often been harassed by groups of drunk Koreans. I know they mean well, but I am tired of drunk Koreans telling me they ‘love me’ and trying to get me to drink with them -- I’m also entitled to my space.

Autumn is growing colder here. I’m wearing two jerseys at present. The forests are looking beautiful, unfortunately though each time I see the forests I am reminded of the bitter cold to come. Autumn in Korea is a time of ‘dok’ (rice cake) and dried persimmons. I don’t like either. ‘Dok’ and ‘persimmons’ are the bane of my existence since I am offered them regularly. My polite refusals are often followed by questions about Korean food, and more specifically “What Korean food do you enjoy?”. I get the strong sense many people over here take my dislike of ‘dok’ and persimmons as a sign that I generally don’t enjoy Korean food, which is simply not true. The back and forth about ‘dok’, persimmons and Korean food drives me up the wall.

I enjoy Korean food, there are very few dishes that I don’t enjoy -- why can’t people accept that I can enjoy Korean food and still dislike specific dishes?? My irritation is only worsened by the fact that the teachers at my school have seen me eat, and complete eating, many different Korean meals. How can I break out of the stereotypical ‘foreigner that doesn’t enjoy Korean food’ mold?

This whole back and forth about Korean food reminds me of a meal from last term: Some teachers and myself had ordered Chinese takeaways for lunch. The meal that we ordered was spicy, as in ‘seriously mouth on fire spicy’. I must admit a struggled to eat it. My nose was running, my eyes were watering, I was sniffing.

My colleagues across from me were doing exactly the same, they were also struggling. Only according to them the food was clearly too hot for me, but not too hot for them.

How does that work? I ate the meal, finished it all, and yet it was too hot for me and not for them. I had the strong sense that on this occasion the teachers saw less of Julian managing to eat, and finish, a seriously spicy meal and more of a stereotypical foreigner that cannot manage spicy food.

Serious stereotypes about foreigners exist in Korea. They drive me up the wall, but serve as a valuable lesson to avoid indulging in stereotypical beliefs about others (which I am prone to do).