Passing waygooks,

Foreigners in Korea are known as waygook in Korean. I see so much more white faces living in this area, Ji-san, compared to my first area Ansim. The weird thing is that when you see a foreigner in Korea who you don't know their is a whole expected ritual of introduction. I totally don't buy into it and I find the encounters erroneous and repetitive.

Let me give you the usual scenario. I am on my way to work and I stop at the traffic lights. To my right another foreigner looks at me and is quite obviously hoping i will say hi to them. I don't know them and probably would never converse with them if the crossing was in the UK, Australia or France. However out of mutual respect for professions and immigration I will dutifully nod my head, lift my eyebrows or say hi. What I wait for in return is either the reciprocal action or a barrage of question that I really don't want to get into. Usually it goes 'hi', and they jostle abut for a few minutes before asking 'Are you an English teacher?' , followed by 'Where you from?' When did you get here?''Where do you work?' 'Why Korea?'. Five minutes later hey seem to be running out of conversation and out of pity I'll throw in a few questions or opinions about Korea which usually go down well. Drawing close to my school I offer my good byes and try to scurry of before they ask for my phone number Which inevitably they always do. Lets meet again! Strangely the last question is often , as if forgotten, what's your name (again)? The whole process is so predictable it's frustrating.

Now don't get me wrong I completely understand the need for them. If I moved here to a school which had no other foreigners and I had no other waygook friends then I would pretty much latch on to the first friendly white face I seen. But that's what puts me off the whole thing. It's the whole latching onto someone for no other reason than you need them. I'm not embarrassed by the whole awkward introductions and familiar questions; actually I think I am quite good at it. It's just the whole 'let's be best friends' thing that makes me cringe.

For example, the mates I have now are a good mix f people I worked with, people who worked for the same company, guys I have met playing poker, and a few who I happened to meet in bars or friends of friends. Not one of the people I have met walking on the street have I encountered in a social setting and rarely have I met them again.

Maybe, I'm just in a cynical mood today- sorry.