Now I am based out of Hong Kong, with hubby still in Korea. It's been a month in which I jetted around Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Korea. To my surprise, when I got back to Korea, I saw the notorious immigration sign saying "Foreign Passport" and "Korean Passport" instead of "Foreigners" and "Koreans".This small change does make a difference. Although it still doesn't sound as courteous as "Visitors" and "Residents" as in Hong Kong, at least they now assign the nationality to the passport, and not to the person.
It reflects the already mentioned changes in Korea over the two years that I lived there. Today I was carrying a parcel from Amazon up to our apartment in the elevator when the woman standing next to me asked (in perfect English) if it was now possible to order directly from Amazon. Because two years ago it wasn't. I said that Korea has changed a lot during these two years - to the good - and I mean it. Having been part of that transformation process is a true priviledge.
I often wondered these days what "home" is for me. Is it Switzerland, where I spent most of my life? Hong Kong, where I'm based now and where I speak the language of the locals and life is amazingly convenient? Or is it Korea, where I've lived for the last two years of my life? The reason I felt like coming home to Korea has to do with the fact that I realized how much I've fallen in love with the way I'm being treated by the Koreans. Nowhere else have I felt as warmly received and more friendly treated as in Korea. If someone asks me what I like about Korea, the first answer is the people's friendliness.
Yes, the country might not be as easy and convenient as Hong Kong is for foreigners, and there were many things I did complain about. But imagine, I got into a ridiculous fight with a taxi driver in Hong Kong because he was not willing to drive me up the hill into a dead end, even if I had a heavy suitcase to carry, and that just because he wasn't willing to maneuver his car out of there again.
On my way back from Beijing, a Hong Kong flight attendant of Dragonair snarled at me that I can put up my bag into the overhead compartment myself instead of helping me, and that because my American neighbor upset her by asking why she had to put her bag up. The flight attendant snapped at her in a harsh tone that it was blocking her from taking her life-jacket, and that it was very important. When the American lady said sarcastically: "Only if you plan on crashing", she took it very personal and picked on me.
Hong Kong people tend to be rude. Many of them. Opposed to that, on the Korean Air flight, the flight attendant asked me politely and with a smile if she might put my bag in the overhead compartment for take-off. And when I got into Korea, I met the taxi driver I ordered. He politely bowed in front of me and carried my suitcase. He even drove the car to a dry spot because it was raining. For no extra tip.
Now you tell me why I feel more at home in Korea, even if I am greeted there as "Foreign Passport" instead of "Visitor"?
3 comments:
Hi, it's always a pleasure to read your blog, where I often gain some sort of comfort from your comments about Korea, as a foreigner living here -- "See, not only me who's feeling this way", "See, what I am feeling about Korea is not personal bias."
And your new findings about Korea, HK and beyond, which I enjoy reading a lot, are also very interesting.
As I've worked in HK before, my feeling is that, people in HK are generally honest in the way they treat people with their blunt impatience and realistic calculation. One probably can expect what encounter he or she might have, and life in HK is seldom interrupted by contingencies.
Koreans in my opinion are more emotion-driven, I do appreciate their service industry, which is trained in a semi-Japanese way.
As a customer I feel valued, but somehow I can see many things in Korea are superficial, because their friendliness is often selective and not supported by professional training, or a corresponding level of civil society. Whether it be governmental institutions like immigration office, banking service, or airport, what disappoints me the most is not the inconvenience but being treated unfairly(well I am Taiwanese so I am not entitled to the benefits that Caucasian looking foreigners might enjoy). I was once rejected at the Korean Air check in counter because no one there(including a manager like middle aged man) recognized my Swedish residence permit. Even after explaining to them that this document is sufficient for me to travel all EU countries, they said they need to further verify it because I am holding a Taiwanese passport and on my residence permit there's no word looking like "schengen". This took me more than 20 minutes standing there waiting for them to do some group project about this. I'd say throughout the negotiation their attitude was nice but as a customer I felt uncomfortable that my Taiwanese passport is used by them as an excuse for their ignorance of Swedish residence permit.
Talk of taxi driver. Ha. I had awful experiences with taxi drivers in both Korea and HK, but one Korean taxi driver broke the record by cursing me with his finger pointing at my nose because he failed to rip me off on way to Incheon airport. As I am an early 20 something female he was even more "confident" to be harsh on me without any fear(as he's an ajusi, who can use "pan-mal" to and disrespect younger generation freely). Yeah he's right in his calculation, we went to a counter inside the airport trying to sort this out, the staff was very friendly to me and kept saying sorry ( again, it's just an emotional strategy) but kindly suggested that I follow what he requested.
I see your point in this article, which I agree too. But maybe it's a matter of personality? I personally do not buy emotional satisfaction but rather realistic justice. HK people are rude but as long as I get what I deserve I do not necessarily feel uncomfortable. And Korean's emotional movement is something I appreciate but do not trust in their quality because I think they are often superficial and selective.
Anywayzzz... it's just some personal reflectons,haha :)
I am looking forward to your future comments on HK and Korea and etc, thanks for updating!
if you were offended by "Foreigners", you would have really had an issue with what it used to say...."Alien"
Hi Rebecca,
My blog was down for a while for reasons still unknown to me, so I wasn't able to respond to your comment earlier.
I couldn't agree more with you that many things in Korea are done very dilettantishly and at times, simple things can turn extremely complicated and time-consuming. If you read one of my very early posts about importing our cat from Switzerland to Korea you will find that I also had that kind of experience. I also know what you are going through with a Taiwanese passport as I have a good friend in Korea who's Taiwanese, as well, and I heard all her stories.
We also balked at the fact that it is not possible for foreigners to pay for a Korean Air ticket online, even if you have a domestic credit card, which has been like 50 times double-checked that you are creditworthy enough.
At other times I have to say that foreigners are very "positively discriminated". Think about the taxes. As a foreigner, you pay a maximum of 17% tax, whereas it is about double for Koreans. When I left the country, the process to get my pension money and some tax refund was surprisingly smooth. I had to fill in a form and hand it in to some authority. 10 days later the money was on my account.
And about being honest or putting on a friendly face, I do agree with you on that to some extent, as well. But you also said that you wanna get what you deserve. As long as I get that, I also don't mind. I don't need a super-friendly and curious taxi driver all the time (as it happens to me a lot in Korea, even if I am also Asian-looking), I wouldn't get that in HK anyway because I speak the local language. And I don't mind if the waiter in the restaurant just throws the food on my table without even looking at me. But if the service mentality has deteriorated so much that they refuse to give you what you deserve, I do get pretty upset. I also got pretty upset when we found out that it was not possible to pay for a Korean Air ticket online. The difference between Korea and Hong Kong in that respect is that the Korean Air agent stayed extremely calm and friendly, and tried his best to explain the situation and accomodate us, whereas the HK taxi driver and the flight attendant rudely refused to render a service they were supposed to give me. Now which one would you prefer?
Best regards,
Lynn
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