but I saw the same comment in one of japanesepod101’s posts.

It’s perfectly okay if you don’t agree with me, but could you please be a bit more specific about what you don’t agree with me on? thanks!

Seoulsista,

The character is very cute, right? I love it too!

Also, to chime in on non-Koreans donating blood in Korea…

Blood donation in, not just Korea, but other countries as well are limited to people who have lived in the country for at least 12-months (I think). I, being a Korean-American, could not donate blood because I had not lived in Korea for the required length of time . The same goes for my friend, who is not Korean. And just as Daniel said, there is a a barrage of questioning (although, I’m not sure how true this is for Korea).

Korea is a country undergoing rapid social change, in a quickly globalizing world. I think Korea is slowly, but surely, getting used to it If you look back even 10 years, there were hardly any non-Koreans living in Korea. But now there are about 1,000,000 non-Koreans living in just Seoul

Hi,

I think making a video - that’s a great idea, my Korean is not that good though ^^
I’m pretty busy these days finishing my graduate projects. But I am sure we can arrange a meeting. There’s my MSN address in my comment, if you wish you can add to me to your contact list and we can talk in the real time.

Regards,
Sergey

캐나다에서는 제가 헌혈 많이 했어요: 거의 22번 했네요! 첫번 헌혈한 때, 현우씨처럼, 고등 학생 였어요. 그때부터, 거의 삼개월마다 헌혈했어요 (캐나다에서는 헌혈한 3개월 후에, 다시 헌혈할 수 있거든요).

캐나다에서도 헌혈한 다음에 쥬스, 커피, 과자 다 먹을 수 있어요. 가끔 Bits and Bites도 있어요! 그간식을 아주 좋아하죠! 옳은 것 하고 싶지만, 진실 맛있는 간식이 역시 동기에요!

캐나다에서도 좋은 헌혈하는 사람을 발견하는 거 얼엽기 때문에, 헌혈하는 곳이 많아요. 대학교 캠퍼스에 건강한 젊은 학생 많아서, 자주 헌혈 받는 사람들이 와요. 그런데 어떤 학생들이 헌혈할 수 없어요. 헌혈하기 전에, 헌혈하고 싶은 사람이 많은 건강과 섹스에 대한 질문 대답해야겠어요. 보기에: “Have you travelled to Europe, Ireland, or Scotland in the last 5 years? If so, did you stay more than 3 months?” “Have you ever had jaundice, other than at birth?” “Have you had sex with a man, even once, since 1977?” “Have you had sex with someone whose sexual background you don’t know?” 질문 하나도 “네” 대답하면, 헌혈할 수 없어요. 어떤 질문에 “네” 대답하면, 1년동안만 헌혈 수 없어요. 그렇지만, 어떤 질문에 “네” 대답하면, 모든 생활동안 헌혈 수 없어요.

I was thinking about what Sergey said, about foreigners not being allowed to give blood in Korea. It’s a possibility that the blood people are telling the truth when they say foreigners can’t give blood because their Korean is not good enough. In Canada, anyway, you have to answer all those screening questions, read a brochure and fact sheet, and sign a release– all in English or French! I couldn’t do all that here, in Korean. Because they know most foreigners can’t do these things in Korean, it could be for liability reasons that they reject foreigners. What I’d like to see is what they say to a foreigner who wants to give blood, who also passed the TOPIK test…

현우씨!: 어떻게 저혈압 있어도 여러 거 동시 할 수 있나요? 외어를 열심히 공부하고 비보잉하고 KClass101도… 훌륭하군요!

언제나 형의 Audio Blog를 즐겁게 들어 공부하고 있습니다!
이번에 오피스에서 만나면, 여러 가지 한일 문화의 이야기를 합시다＾＾

앞으로도 잘 부탁합니다 ~!

I’ve added you to my life, and just in case, mine is ever4one@hotmail.com and my email is ever4one@gmail.com Hope to see you soon!!

현우… I think you’re right that attitudes are changing. It isn’t just wishful thinking. I suspect that our generation will bring about a lot of change in Korea in the coming years. There is a real difference between the way that young people act towards foreigners and the way that many older people do.

As for the “Best in the World” attitude, it used to bother me a lot until I realized that Americans are largely socialized to think the same way….

Yeah, I think it’s better to hope for changes to good. Making world a better place for living.
I would love to meet you in person, my MSN account is green_ashes@mail.ru, so if you use MSN messenger, you can add me.

Hope to meet you one day ^_____^

thanks for the reply too. I go to Korea University too and I live just across the street from the school - so if you are living near the campus maybe we can meet up someday in person?

I agree with you on this issue. A lot of Korean students (even when they are old enough) end up wasting a lot of time and energy to sort of ‘find the balance’ between what they are told that they should do and what they really want to do, mainly because Korea is a society where no one can easily be free from what others think. But things are changing, right? I see more and more people around me who are more honest about what they want. I’m very optimistic about it - I don’t know, maybe because I want to think so

BTW, I also think the college slogan of “Global Pride” of Korea University is a bit funny Hehe.

Yes, I am studying in KU and I am going to finish my master here (computer engineering).
I am not an exchange student, I am international student. So I have a really big chance to discover Korea not like those how come here for 6-12 months to see everything from the tourist bus window and go out with the same foreigners as they are.
Now I know a lot after 2 years here. There are many things to hate and many things to love about Korea.
Korea is a beautiful country with beautiful people who have very strange problems. Everyting will be fine when you overcome some confucianism traditions like Japan did, but when will it happen? And will it happen?
Maybe new generations will break through into a new freedom… but… they are being tought to be the *ss-lickers to satisfy their parents, professors, bosses. This is what I see.
And it is funny to watch how many Koreans worship USA and hate it at the same time. But the best time to watch Koreans is when they go abroad - they look so lost! And they are not friendly at all! I wonder, how can somebody be nice to foreigners when he was tought that his country is the “best in the world”, “global #1″ and everything we do is “global pride”? … hahaha…

I didn’t know foreigners cannot donate blood in Korea. Wow. It’s so funny that they said your friend cannot donate blood “because he cannot speak Korean well”, but I’m sure they just didn’t know what to say - I guess they hadn’t been trained to get blood donation from foreigners, although it must be the same anyway.

Your comment got me thinking about a lot of things… We just say in such a simple and easy way that Korean people are ‘kind’ to foreigners but it’s more complicated than that, right? Some people will be kind and some people will be rude. And those who are rude might just look like they are rude because they don’t know what to say to a foreigner or maybe they are just really rude.

I’m glad more and more younger people are more open-hearted toward foreigners in Korea and are trying to learn foreign languages (although it’s for a better job that they study hard in many cases).

Sergey, by the way, do you go to Korea University?

I’m afraid there’s one thing you’ve forgotten to metion: foreigners cannot donate blood in Korea. Because Koreans believe Korean blood is purer then the foreigners. One my brazilian friends wanted to donate blood in our science campus in Korea University, but they gave him very-very stupid explanation why they cannot take his blood (”You cannot speak Korean well”).

Korea just seems to be friendly for foreigners, while it is not. Many old people tell me that they don’t like foreigners in “their” country. Even in school textbooks children study that “Korea is for Koreans”… that’s all funny while you speak about blood donation here ^^