The other side of the coin.

Ah,  South Korea ~ How beautiful, from the postcards, from the Kpop music videos, from the dramas, from what everyone saw..

Ah, North Korea ~ How beautiful (to their people), from the media, from school, from the Seaweeds (KIM, 김)

You see, sometimes what you see is not what you see. What you see is what the media wants you to see. If the media failed to brainwash you but if they managed to brainwash the people around you, sooner or later, you will be brainwashed as well.

My point is , make sure you flip to see the other side of the coin to see the whole picture of everything. I am not telling you to be cynical and doubt everything, come on, get your head out of your ass. Just, find the answers.

I heard a lot of stuff before I came to South Korea, mostly good stuff (internet speed, the subway and transportation, free water, surgery, and koreans having eyes smaller than yours). Then, I came here, it was all true, and I love it! But they didn't tell you that Koreans have 5 faces and 2 hairstyles, I probably met only 5 types of different Korean faces every time on the streets, wearing different clothes or different colors of New Balance. Well, this is not a bad stuff of Korea, I am just saying it for fun. What you heard is always what other people see from their own POV, you gotta see stuff from your own POV to find out the real deal! 

I heard my friend talked about this video, but I only watched it few months ago. Until one fine day, when our class was presenting on discrimination and a story about how a foreigner was not allow to enter a 찜질방 (jjimjilbang) because of his skin colour (not Black !) in Busan came up, I decided to show this to my classmates.

So, before you take in whatever you saw , there are things that you should think before you start judging

1. This happens everywhere in the world. It's not only in Korea, don't start hating

2. He was wearing a weird blue jackets

3. This will only happen if you are really Gunawan.

4. Don't assume everyone is the same by just one video.

Well, there are more, I can't seem to think of one anymore, for example factors that affect the outcome of Gunawan. NOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

For me, I am yet to be discriminated against for being a foreigner in Korea. I see things that I will never be able see if I am just here for a vacation. But I bet, everyone gets to see that(good and dark side) in each and every country if they lived there longer than 6 months. Overall in terms of satisfaction of living in Korea, I am Switzerland, neutral as ever.

Malaysia's transit map (Kuala Lumpur and Selangor)

Seoul's subway map

Something I love, Seoul's subway!

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so." — Bertrand Arthur William Russell

Keat.

Don't explain yourself.

There are times when you walk around with good intentions, people look at you and say that you are this kind of person and call you names, adjectives, or they even name you some cool names that they learnt from watching Animal Planet.

You feel bad, you feel like you have to explain yourself to them, you think that it's your fault for them to call you that.

1. You don't need anyone's recognition. If you do, then you have self esteem problem then you need help. You know who you are, not the person around you. If you think they know you better than yourself, then you need help.If you live your life til you are 18(or younger, the exact age is pretty subjective), you obtained 100% of your life responsibilities. You don't need to listen to someone judgments in their eyes on who you are. Besides, if they actually know you, they will know why you did what you did. Don't explain yourself.

Guess I shouldn't number stuff that I want to tell if I just had one. Wait.

2. You don't go out of your way to meet other's expectation. You set your own and you meet yours. Living other people expectation all your life, why don't you kill yourself or let them live your life instead ? People expect you to be really cool and expect you to do this and that and when you say no they get all upset and give you a long face. Know that you cannot please everyone in the world, and don't even think of going to the extreme of breaking your own principle to please others. You will end up hating yourself. So next time when that happens, just do what you think it's right. Don't explain yourself.

Keat.