Maybe my Prejudice was placed wrongly

or maybe not.

Today, while hunting, i noticed the newly posted blog entries by my favorite bloggers (NB, you're not one of them). See, i leave my cookies running so i can have the same sites the next time i turn on my computer. I also open just one or two windows, and running multiple tabs so as not to get too crowded.

I will explain this one again: my prejudice against native speakers in Korea happened because i AM discriminated against them. I am fishing the same market, and i am telling you that competing with them is almost humiliating. My resume's impressive and memorable, my phone interviews mistake me as an NS, but my Nationality immediately gives that screeching halt. Oh, sure.

I dislike Caucasians, but i am trying to prove myself wrong all the time. This discrimination i was raised with is not something i want to live by. So working on proving myself wrong (the way i want to prove myself wrong that there is no such thing as an articulate Irish)... I already have Caucasian friends, and they're sweet people. I am still, however, hung up with disliking them as a whole. To the idiot NB, Caucasians are NOT JUST Americans, alright?

Moving along.

As i was reading through my fave bloggers' entry, clicking the links they posted, reading their featured articles one at a time, i realized something. These NS's and i have a lot more in common after all. Sure they receive better treatment when it comes to interacting with Koreans, they earn 25% more than a Korean minimum wage, and get better benefits, but as a whole, they are judged by stereotype like me with worse reviews.

Filipino wives (Asians, the like) married to Korean men are immediately labeled as gold diggers and mail-ordered brides from a matchmaking agency. You don't get the same label with other colors. The Korean men must be farmers, fishermen, physically or mentally handicapped. Basically the men in which Korean women won't give a second look. From another Filipino's point of view, these (Filipino) women who succumb to such are either desperately wanting to get married, or those who came from the remotest rural areas wanting an easier way out, or the worst: no Filipino guy wanted them. This might be true ten, fifteen years ago, and is still an actual practice. But i come from a generation wherein the women dominate, and that we dated our husbands before moving in this country where the people only see what they saw before, and refuse to believe that there might be another reason. If you want to find the women that are not from this stereotype inter-racial marriage, you will see them online, but you will never "just" meet them in any place. They're hiding in shame.

And why wouldn't they? Last Monday we went to a local government office and the woman who was assisting us whispered (she thought i was not listening or cannot understand) something really offensive about me coming from the Philippines. The mere fact that she whispered ticked me the most, actually. And this much i can tell you:my respect is given ONLY to those who deserve it. So when everybody greeted goodbye, i just went out without looking. So sue me. It happens all the time. Once, while we were in a children's hospital, there was an NS and his wife and his M-i-L. Both our kids were confined for some reason, and i was hoping i could make friends with his wife (not him, etiquette please!) because i can barely speak Korean and she must speak English. I tried, while her mother was looking and they (woman and her mother) looked at me like i was something stuck on a lavatory. Eeew. I raised an eyebrow while clearly staring at them as i walk. Next day they moved to another floor. *shrugs*

Oh, and Nurses do the same. At least Doctors are better, but the nurses! One of them even told me that i am living in Korea i should learn their language. The other one said she cannot speak English so she doesn't want to talk to me about my kid's condition. I replied: you wouldn't be nurses of you didn't pass toeic or TOEFL. You're just hypocrites. And that's just a couple of the many battles we had to go through as we deal with everyday and domestic Korean culture, not the working or the business sector.

However, the NS's community has THE worst critique! Compared to our situation, at least we're not labelled as AIDS-spreading, liquor-abusing, drug addicts! To my limited point of view that could be the worst status anyone could ever get. I feel horrid! I may have disliked these NS's for a while now, but that doesn't mean i have no sympathy to those had to be labeled with something as despicable as that when it's not a fact to anybody but a few.


I have lived in two countries now, and encountered a variety of races and ethnicities, but it always rolls down to one: People are the same everywhere around the globe. There are good people and bad people. And foreigners take the worst judgment ever in any country. The E2 visa holders are screened. If one or two rotten eggs got mixed up with the good ones, it wouldn't be their fault. Blame the idiots who approve and stamp their visas.

I'm getting sleepy. i'll do a part2 later.