An Unusual Encounter

A few weeks in to my stay, I experienced the most hostility I've ever encountered regarding my race and nationality.

The teachers all went out for a going away party for one of our number that involved bars, dinner of samgyeopsal (a pork dish that literally means "three layer flesh") and several clubs. Afterward, Colleen and I were heading back to the dong (neighborhood) on the bus. A Korean guy in an orange polo shirt with a popped collar, blue jeans, and a baseball cap started harassing a young woman sitting behind us, telling her (in English) to speak Korean when in Korea. He said the same to us. I said then there was a long quiet. I tried to continue what I was saying to Colleen in my horribly broken Korean then I gave up and we spoke quietly in English again for a while before the guy told us repeatedly to shut up. He in fact kept saying ‘Shut up’ well past when anyone was talking. 

After Colleen got off at her stop, the guy got my attention then lit a cigarette and put it out on his tongue (yes, really), bit off the end of it, and spit it at me. I responded:  (literally: peel a dick). That actually made him smile and like me, especially when angrily I added, . We proceeded to have the following conversation, speaking mostly in each other's language:

Orange Shirt Guy: Where are you from?

Me:

OSG: America?

Me:

OSG: What state?

Me: Colorado

OSG: Where? What State?

Me: Col-o-ra-do

OSG: I don’t know

Me: uh…< mountain>… [hand gestures to make mountains]

pause

OSG: Speak Korean in Korea

Me:

OSG: I hate Western people.

Me: Western clothes [pointing at the English on his shirt]

OSG: I hate Western People. I want to kill Western people. OK?

Me: No, not ok. Fuck off. 

At that point I got off bus at my stop. I regret not telling him not to touch girl behind me and that I broke my steak of only speaking to him in Korean. So it goes. As I've said before, I usually experienced generosity and helpfulness from Koreans I met, with rude staring and pointing being the worst of it. This guy was definitely the exception, though I know others who have also had negative reactions to their foreignness.