초록글
After finally falling in love at first sight with a country (Japan) – the next country which I immediately visited from there was always going to have a hard time with regards to comparison. But I wasn’t expecting quite the fall from grace that occurred. I don’t believe in writing controversial statements for the sake of traffic, or to get people’s backs up. My blog is a place of honesty due to my personal experience and you can’t always like every country you visit. So on that note, it would be completely genuine for me to affirm – that South Korea sucks and I do not want to ever go back there.
일본에서의 여행 경험이 너무 좋았기 때문에 그 다음 방문지(한국)과 대비가 되서 좀 곤란하노. 근데 내 블로그는 내 개인적 경험으로 정직하게 쓰는 장소이고 내 가 방문하는 모든 나라를 좋아할 순 없음. 그런 점에서 말이야. 나는 한국이 X같았고 다시는 그곳으로 돌아가고 싶지 않음. 진짜루다가.
And that’s my issue with South Korea. I found the natives of Seoul and Busan to be unfriendly, cold, antisocial, rude and occasionally a little racist.
서울, 부산에서 현지인들은 불친절하고, 차갑고, 사교적이지도 않았고, 무례했어. 그리고 때로는 약간 레이시스트 같기도 했고.,
I don’t even know where to begin. Everyone look so depressed, dressed in office suits in their abundant choices of American chain coffee shops, or rushing to work with their ‘get the hell away from me’ vibe. Every single time I was lost in the street and tried to get help, I was ushered away incredibly rudely. And yeah – I know I’m in their country and not speaking their language. I know that English isn’t widely spoken there, but that is a poor excuse for acting the way they act.
어디서부터 시작해야 될지... 출근길에서 한국사람들이 '나에게 떨어져라'는 느낌으로 아주 거칠게 걸었어. 길을 잃고 도움을 받으려 할 때마다, 나는 엄청나게 무례하게 끌려다님. ㅇㅋ ㅇㅋ 나도 알아 얘들은 영어 안쓰잖아. 그렇다고해서 내가 그런 식으로 끌려다니는 것에 대한 변명이 될까?
I don’t speak Swahili. But if I was in the UK and a Swahili person came to me for help – I’d try my best to help them. Body language is powerful too. And South Korean’s body language says “f**k off.”
난 스와힐리어를 못해. 하지만 내가 영국에 있고 스와힐리 사람이 도움을 청하러 왔다면, 나는 그들을 돕기 위해 최선을 다하겠지. 바디 랭귀지는 강력한 의사소통 도구이니까.. 근데 한국에서는 바디랭귀지가 전혀 안통해! fuck!
So yeah, South Korea is joining Vietnam on my naughty country list. Because of my experiences with the people.
ㅇㅋ 그래서 한국은 '별루인 나라 리스트'에 베트남하고 등재되어버림. 내가 겪은 경험에 의해서..
The message I get from Vietnam is; “give me your money now, or go away.” The message I get from South Korea is more like; “Don’t talk to me. Don’t look at me. Get away from me and leave me alone to sit here and hate life.” I’m sure there’ll be some hippy-dippy explanations out there such as my negative energy from my first experience perpetuated more negative energy. Or that I didn’t quite understand the culture. And that’s correct – I really do not.
베트남에서 내가 받는 메시지는 "지금 당장 돈을 달라, 아니면 가버려.". 한국에서 받은 메시지는 그 이상임!!
한국 사람들은 마치 이런 느낌이야. "말하지 마세요. 나를 보지 마세요. 나를 멀리하고, 여기에 앉아서 인생을 싫어하게 내버려 둬."
I really tried to like South Korea, but I did not. I know when I’m not welcome and I never felt welcome in the land of…ummm – filtered coffee, suits and palpable misery? (Don’t even get me started on the worst world cup football stadium tour of all time).
난 정말 한국을 좋아하려고 노력했지만, 결국 불가능... ( 월드컵 경기장 투어는 절대로 하지 마. 최악임. )
Edit: Looking back at this article is weird and I don’t even recogonise the anger/bitterness anymore that I seemed to have carried at the time, but I’m clearly not the only one who had a bad time in South Korea. (Some of my defenders are even South Korean themselves).
편집: 이 기사를 돌아보면 좀 이상해 그리고 한국 놀러갔을 때 내가 마주했던 분노, 씁쓸함을 되새김질 하고 싶진 않지만. 별루인 시간을 보낸 건 나뿐만이 아닌 것 같은데?
(실제로 댓글에서 한국여행이 별루였다는 댓글이 다수 달림)
깁스하면 나타나는 신기한 증상