Life as a Foreigner

There is one more month to go before I end my training here. Currently, I am stuck in coding. Argh… the due date for this assignment is this Saturday. Even though my professor is a lenient person, giving me extra time on this assignment is not a problem; I would like to complete it in time. Of course, prayers would not help, but let’s hope for the best >__<

It’s been more than 3 months I am in Korea. I have experience many things, both related and not related academically. I never really take special attention on what the international students feel about our country and university until I am a foreign student here in DSU. As a foreign student, we did not get along with many things here at first as they are different from in Malaysia, such as language, food, dressing, weather and culture. Well, here is like a summary of it, a long one.

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The weather in Korea is different, even during summer. We are able to notice the changes in the weather as it enters a new season. I still remembered that when I first arrived here, the weather was very cold, as if in Genting Highlands. It was a bit cold for us but it seemed to be normal for them. While we were wearing jackets and long jeans, they were wearing T-shirt and short pants around the campus. The water in the shower room was ice-cold, thanks to the spoilt heater. There were many beautiful flowers around the city and campus. It is spring after all. You can notice students relaxing and chatting at the benches beside the buildings or having lunch at the university’s garden/park. It’s impossible to do that in Malaysia as the weather is so hot that standing under the sun for 5 minutes is like a type of torture.

After a week, the weather was not so cold anymore, the way people dressed also changes. I guess this is so-called summer wear. At the mid of summer, the highest temperature was around 32 Celcius. The locals were feeling very hot yet for us, we feel that it was okay because at times, Malaysia can be even hotter. There were typhoon at night sometimes, the wind was extremely strong and the windows were shaking. There was a 1.5 months of holiday during summer. Many university students like to travel to Europe during this season. The beach was packed with visitors, up millions of people during mid of summer. You can see girls in bikinis easily. It is like the only season of the year they have the chance to show off their swimsuits. Stages were built for events/activities, such concert, games competition and basketball matches. Ice-cream and “papimsuk”(something like ice-kacang) were the popular desserts.

As Korea is also an Eastern country, they have rice in their daily meals. But, the rice is different from in Malaysia. It was bigger and more elastic. It was slightly different from Japanese’s rice as well, rather difficult to explain it here. The amount of food servings here is 2 times of in Malaysia. The food is mostly spicy and they like to mix all the ingredients together before eating. “Kimchi” and some other side dishes such as butter corn(depending on the restaurant) are reserved other than the dish that we ordered. During winter, there are not much vegetables and very expensive. Thus, they are consuming a huge amount of “kimchi” instead. Sometimes soup is served as well other than the side dishes.

The shop houses in Korea are really small. It may seem weird but many shops with the same genre are located near to each other. For example, many restaurants are located in the same area; the dishes that they are serving are also quite similar. Of course, the taste is different, depending on the cook. The price is almost the same. It is extremely hard to find a rubbish bin along the street. It seemed that they do not like rubbish bin. Yet, it was much cleaner than in Malaysia, though it is not as clean as in Singapore. I wonder if it is because of their mentality and how they are educated.

It is important to be able to read Korean characters as the food menu and destinations for each bus at the bus stop etc are written in Hangul(Korean characters system). Koreans can speak really poor English, especially the older generations. The younger generations can speak better English due to the change in their education system to focus more on practical English conversation. So, when you are lost and want to ask for directions, better ask the younger ones.

The way they dress is obviously different from us. The students’ hairstyles here are very fashionable. You can see purple color hair here as well! Even the spectacles come in different shapes, size and colors. Unlike in Malaysia when a certain design becomes trendy, everyone will be following it; everyone is living up to their own way. The clothes that the students here wear come in many colors, even for guys. In Malaysia, it is so difficult to see a guy in pink color T-shirts! Yet, I can find so many of them wearing it here. Guys here also bring umbrellas along with them during rainy days. Some of the other examples are such as guys using cute handphone accessories, such as teddy bears. Well, I guess their mindset is set differently. The aunties here are also very fashionable; they wear high heels and dye their hair in colorful colors as well. Sometimes we can see some senior citizens wearing “hanbok”(Korean traditional costumes). It is a pride for them to be wearing it, if they are from a noble family. In occasions such as wedding, the mothers from each both sides of the family also wear “hanbok”. Of course, its design is more elegant compared to normal wear. Generally, almost all the girls here do makeup daily. Sometimes, it looks very scary(in another terms “ugly”) when the makeup is too much.

The transport system in Korea is different from in Malaysia as it is more systematic. In the tourist guide, there are introductions of the popular destinations or places to visit with the guidance of how to get there, such as bus number and subway station. Only certain buses will stop at a bus stop and these bus numbers are written on a small round metal board at the bus stop. When taking the bus or subway, we can either use the transport card or pay by cash. Paying by cash cost 100 won more expensive than paying by card. The transport card is known as Hanaro card. We can get this card or in the form of a handphone accessory at 2,000-3,000 won each. Then, we reload the card with cash. The minimum reload amount is 5,000 won. This card can only be used in Busan. If you do not have the exact amount, do not worry. There is machine for cash exchange. Thus, there is no need for a bus conductor. Seoul is using a different card for its bus and subway system. In Seoul, some of subway stations are new whereas some are old. Thus, you will find the old subway station very dirty and poorly maintain. Since the subway stations in Busan are all quite new, it is okay.

There are a few telephone companies here in Korea providing telephone services to houses, such as KTF. Consumers can choose whatever telephone companies that they like. It is not monopoly like in Malaysia. The fees for the handphone lines here are very expensive. The rates are around 3-4 times of Malaysia’s rate. However, the handphones here are much cheaper and nicer. Most of them are using Samsung, Anycall and LG handphones. The parts of Anycall are manufactured by Samsung. Their designs are either open up or sliding. It comes in mainly silver and white color. Handphones with color screen, mirror and camera are something common here. Some of the handphone is of the size of an mp3 player. The OS for the handphone is much better.

Samsung goods are expensive in Korea and well-known for its quality. Samsung produces a wide variety of products including cars. LG also produces household goods such as soap. The market in Korea is like monopoly by a few big and well established companies. Koreans strongly support their own goods and are proud of it. There is something called Samsung Membership here. It is like an exam to recruit skillful IT students and it is very tough. People in the field look up highly to those who manage to become a Samsung member.

Korea have companies selling their own versions of word, spreadsheet etc. I have seen some of my labmates using them before, it seems to be even easy to use than Microsoft Word. One of the limitations is that it is in Korean language only.

Students here are very active in their club activities. They are willing to stay up late or overnight in their club rooms to organize or preparing for events. There are many activities organized throughout the year. These activities maybe considered as non-conservative and maybe banned by universities in Malaysia, such as the Pretty Boy competition, which guys dress up and act like a girl to compete with each other.

I feel that Koreans are more innovative and creative in designing. Their stationeries are very unique and nicely design. Malaysians often discriminate against art courses. However, art courses, such as filming and multimedia, seemed to be popular courses. Maybe it is due to the film industry here. Art students here are very active as well. They organized and participated in many activities, such as the musical drama, “The Fame”. It was a wonderful sketch!

The bandwidth in Korea is very fast, in fact even faster than in Japan, giving much space for the development of online games. Citizens here can use their ID card number to register and login to play certain online games. The language used for the games are in Korean. With the bandwidth here, we are able to download a few complete drama series in a few hours time. The download rate of 100+kbps is considered as slow for some of them.

Politically and economically, Koreans sure do not like Japanese. Yet, Koreans are very fond of many Japanese animations, such as Inuyasha, Initial D and Gundam Seed Destiny. Many Japanese comics and animations are the favorites of the younger generations. There are many Japanese comics translated in Korean language, it costed about 3,500 won(around RM14). As for the animations, they are dubbed in Korean language. For the opening and ending songs, some of them are using Korean songs.

As a foreigner in this Eastern country, sometimes I feel being ignored when all the Koreans are talking in Korean language. The same goes for the Koreans when we, a group of Malaysians are talking in our own language. I never notice how this has affected the foreign students until now. The culture here is sometimes a bit shocking for me. I am not an alcohol drinker. When in Malaysia, I only drink Sandy, which has very low alcohol. It seems that for whatever functions here, drinking is almost a must. The Koreans seemed to be unhappy if we did not drink. So, we must at least drink some. Soju have 20+% of alcohol. Hugging and kissing in the public is something very normal here. The couples here like to dress in the same T-shirt, worse, carrying the same bag. As for the food, I am not used to the amount of food served at first. It was 2 times the amount in Malaysia. Some of them are too spicy for me. But, a lot of walking and mountain climbing has help me burn up the extra calories. I am amazed by the creative designs for products here. It is way too nice! Somehow, I feel like I have been fooled by the handsome and gorgeous looking actors and actress in the drama series or movies. Most of the Koreans are not good-looking. The sceneries are not so nice as well, only certain places are worth the compliments. Some of the cultures that I picked up here is “love your lab like your home”. But, I have not reach the extend of staying overnight in the lab. I am quite shock at first, the place is so comfortable, with heater(for winter), fridge, hot water, coffee, towers, foldable bed and pillows. Yet, staying overnight here makes me think twice. Koreans also like to share food; it is not very hygienic for me. But, it is a norm for them. The relationships between male and female seniors-juniors are very close, as if they are couples. Sometimes, their actions can be considered as beyond my understanding. Once, I saw one of my oppa helping my onni to massage her hand as she was complaining about it. Well, there is more to that.