BeTheReds
11-28-2007, 05:30 PM
Heh, it's been a while since I had my last hapa rant to YW.
You know, I'm in grad school over here in Korea. It's an international grad school actually and most of the people are really cool and very open minded.
You'd expect that a 30 something that has spent a lot of time overseas and worked for the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to be one of those people. But alas...
As a classmate of mine we were invited to have dinner with a professor followed by drinks. I'd never had a conversation with her, and we happened to be sitting near each other so we started to talk.
She starts to ask how I got my name. And I explain that my mother is white. She then asks... well what's your father then?
Sigh... "okay I can deal with it." I think to myself, "stay calm..."
After I explain that my father is Korean, there is amazing SHOCK factor that I haven't seen in so long (as normally nothing as simple as biraciality, no matter what form, seems to phase people in my Grad school).
"But you look Italian!!!" she says "You look totally Italian!!!" again with a smile. "You don't look Korean at all!!!"
"Heh, are you sure?" I reply in an obvious sarcastic tone. I've been told that almost always talking sarcasm is quite the Maryland/DC area thing. I thought it was mostly a U.S. thing, but it appears that lots of West Coasters and Southerners don't get it either. [end tangent]
Well anyway, as a typical Korean, she didn't get the sarcasm. and she continued. "Yes I am sure! You look very Italian. Is your mom Italian?"
I explain that my mother is American.
She asks from where.
I say Baltimore.
She asks "What about her ancestors.?"
I say Mostly Germany and Italy, but if you were to drop me in Germany or Italy I'd be completely lost. In Korea though I feel almost (but not quite) like I am at home.
The conversation drifts away from the subject and we start to talk about some kind of world politics with another Korean guy and a french girl. Then the Korean girl asks something like... "How do you Italians feel about this?"
Hey, it's fine if you don't want to include me as a Korean, but at least call me an American if you want to do that. I don't care in the slightest bit about Italy or the Italian economy, nor do I profess to know anything about how Italians think, feel, or wish about any kind of world issues.
Wait a second.. was it SHE who was being sarcastic? HAHA!
You know, I'm in grad school over here in Korea. It's an international grad school actually and most of the people are really cool and very open minded.
You'd expect that a 30 something that has spent a lot of time overseas and worked for the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to be one of those people. But alas...
As a classmate of mine we were invited to have dinner with a professor followed by drinks. I'd never had a conversation with her, and we happened to be sitting near each other so we started to talk.
She starts to ask how I got my name. And I explain that my mother is white. She then asks... well what's your father then?
Sigh... "okay I can deal with it." I think to myself, "stay calm..."
After I explain that my father is Korean, there is amazing SHOCK factor that I haven't seen in so long (as normally nothing as simple as biraciality, no matter what form, seems to phase people in my Grad school).
"But you look Italian!!!" she says "You look totally Italian!!!" again with a smile. "You don't look Korean at all!!!"
"Heh, are you sure?" I reply in an obvious sarcastic tone. I've been told that almost always talking sarcasm is quite the Maryland/DC area thing. I thought it was mostly a U.S. thing, but it appears that lots of West Coasters and Southerners don't get it either. [end tangent]
Well anyway, as a typical Korean, she didn't get the sarcasm. and she continued. "Yes I am sure! You look very Italian. Is your mom Italian?"
I explain that my mother is American.
She asks from where.
I say Baltimore.
She asks "What about her ancestors.?"
I say Mostly Germany and Italy, but if you were to drop me in Germany or Italy I'd be completely lost. In Korea though I feel almost (but not quite) like I am at home.
The conversation drifts away from the subject and we start to talk about some kind of world politics with another Korean guy and a french girl. Then the Korean girl asks something like... "How do you Italians feel about this?"
Hey, it's fine if you don't want to include me as a Korean, but at least call me an American if you want to do that. I don't care in the slightest bit about Italy or the Italian economy, nor do I profess to know anything about how Italians think, feel, or wish about any kind of world issues.
Wait a second.. was it SHE who was being sarcastic? HAHA!