Amanda Takes Off...

I am having a Rant About Korea Day. To make up for it, some funnier, sweeter moments at the end.

There is an ad for maxipads or pantiliners or something of the sort that ends in English with "Enjoy your magic day." Now I don't generally view a period as a curse. It's one more month without being pregnant—아싸!—but...what?

Korea doesn't like foreigners making money in Korea. I will not go into the details, but basically, getting normal services in Korea as a foreigner—and you are always a foreigner—has always been a pain in the butt. We can't get normal cell phones, it's very hard to get credit cards, up until January or so we couldn't even register for websites—not even with an ID number. Many stores here have point cards or similar rewards programs, but you can watch every Korean hear "do you want to sign up" while the clerk clearly ignores the foreigners.

Well. Recently a bunch of foreigners (of the Chinese flavor) did some sort of scam at the bank. So now all foreigners face restrictions. Anyone opening a new account can't use the ATM for three months.

I asked for an ATM card that would work outside of the country. Nope, foreigners can't have one.

Gordon over at Blue Wave Taekwondo School told me that Good Man could also be called Good Sport. He's right.

"Why can't I get my own money outside of this country? I am here legally. I have obviously made this money legally, and now I can't get my own money? I've been with this bank for a year! How crazy is that?" I continued on, "And why is it always 'my foreigner friend, my foreigner friend...'? As if it's not obvious I'm not Korean! What is going to happen in 20 years when all of these half bred Chinese-Korean* children grow up? Are they 'half Korean?' 반한국인? Will people say 'Well my half-Korean friend—'"

"We don't say half-Korean. We say 혼혈." Honhyeol. Mixed blood.

"OK, so what, they get to do Korean things on even days of the month but on odd days they're foreigners?" He laughed and I went on, "Korea calls itself 'The Hub of Asia.' Hub my lily-white foreign butt! Look, I understand, historically speaking, the fear of foreigners. China was bossing you around, Japan invaded how many times, but America bombed Japan's butt and that's why Korea is Korea. OK, so you got split into two, I know, but I am not Chinese, why can't I get my own money? Why can't I bank like a normal person?"

"Ummm. I don't know."

"Didn't you date foreigners before? Didn't they ever complain about this?"

"No. I think they just gave up," he said with a grin.

Seriously, though, bless the man for listening to me. He is a Good Man and a Good Sport.

"Why is that woman staring at me? Like this," I say, screwing up my face. "No, she's staring at us."

"Umm. Ignorance and bias about foreigners?"

"It's racism, [Good Man]. There's racism based on hatred and racism based on ignorance and stupidity, but it's still racism."

I expected looks when Good Man and I started dating. Anytime I go out with a Korean male I get looks, but today it sort of wore on me. Interestingly, a very old couple on the subway just grinned at us sweetly while a young identically-dressed-down-to-matching-earrings-and-pink-hats Campus Couple gaped.

* I mentioned half-Koreans-half-Chinese above. An increasing number of Koreans are marrying foreigners. It's mostly men marrying Asian women, though there's an interesting twist with North Korean defectors.

In fact, over half of Koreans say they approve of international marriage. The twist? Korean women prefer white men. Korean men prefer Asian women.

In 2006 of 337528 marriages, 39071 were to non-Koreans (11.6%).

Foreign women marrying Korean men was 29660 (75.9% of all Korean/Foreign marriages). 14450 of these were to Chinese women, 9812 to Vietnamese women, 1474 to Japanese women, 1131 to Filipino women. Non-Asian women is 2793 of 29660 (9.4%). In other words, less than 1% of all marriages in Korea last year were between Korean men and non-Asian women. Guess it's no surprise we get stared at.

Good Man said, "I'm hungry. Let's go eat." Pause. "Let's go naked!"

"How do you say 'go naked?'" He told me and I yelled "발가벗읍시다!" Let's go naked! I thought. "No, wait! 모자를 씁시다!"

I said, "Michael's friend says foreigners smell like cheese. Is that true?"

"Yep. But I like cheese."

I burst out laughing. Korean men over the age of 35 (and surely over the age of 40) smell like a combination of soju, cigarettes, and kimchi to me. Luckily, Good Man doesn't smoke. He doesn't smell like soju or cigs or kimchi. Or cheese, actually.