'That's So Korean...' (Like me)
Shelton Bumgarner
extremely strange for a number of reasons. It's strange because you
find yourself turning into a Korean mentally and at the same time many
of your fellow oegugins are here for A Reason just like you. Thus, all
the secrets and lies of foreigners combined with the cultural
differences between East and West lead to some events that to an
outsider could seem pretty fucking strange.
What worries me is that the mental gymnastics that one has to perform
to stay sane in such a situation exaggerates any quirks you may
already have to such an extent that you are Stuck In Korea Forever. An
acquaintance of mine who knows I'm a writer said recently that she was
talking to a mutual friend about me, who said, "You know what he
should write about, how to leave Korea."
For the long term expat, it becomes difficult to leave Korea because
you actually, like, have a reason to stay. You know a lot of people,
jobs are plentiful and you've made the emotional investment in the
place already so it grows ever more difficult to leave Korea - it
becomes more and more difficult to rationalize a reason why you
should.
I've started to wonder what's worse - the relationships you have with
people that suddenly go Poof! when they leave the country or the
relationships you can't seem to extract yourself from no matter what
you do. The stories you want to end keep going...and going...and going...
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