The "F" Word

Foreigner! We have always been treated wonderfully by the Koreans with few exceptions like the city bus ride to Hongdae. As you can see in the photo, the seats aren't made for a guy 6' 5". When a seat opened up in the back of the bus, Curt (hubby) and I switched with Hellena (my Korean girlfriend).

A Korean man sitting next to us started a conversation with Curt using his limited English along with Korean. He asked Curt the usual questions: How long have you been in Korea? Where are you from? What do you do? Curt patiently answered him. The Korean then scolded Curt for not speaking fluent Korean since he has lived here over a year. He also told us that he learned English by stopping foreigners in the street to have conversations in English.

When he didn't understand something we said, he asked my Korean girlfriend Hellena who refrained from answering him and basically ignored him. He then told me that I speak like a Korean two year old which is probably true but it's wasn't a nice thing to say.

It got better. He told me that Hellena was not pretty and not sexy. In her defense, I got very angry and instead of speaking simple and slow English, I told him he was a jerk and that it was really rude to say that about my friend. He wouldn't stop and said that Hellena knew she was not pretty and not sexy which made me more furious.

I asked him if he had a girlfriend which he replied that he didn't. I told him that I was not surprised and he probably would never have a girlfriend with his attitude. He then changed the subject to inform me of what a great cook he is. I was done at this point after hurling all the English words to describe his behavior: arrogant, inconsiderate, egomaniac, thoughtless, cocky, conceited jerk... I wish I would have wrote them down and sent them home with him to look up in his English dictionary.

The bus ride seemed to last FOREVER but finally our stop neared and we gathered near the rear exit of the bus. Just my luck, he was getting off at the same stop. He tried to apologize to me by saying that he was only speaking the truth about Hellena and it was for her own good. Hellena was a really good sport about it and just considered the source. I told him that he should never say that about a girl EVER. He wanted to continue the conversation but I was beyond finished with him.

I've had time to cool down and I don't think I would have reacted any differently. I've a loyal person and if someone is talking smack about my friend and to my face, I have no choice but to defend. Hellena thought I should have just ignored him because he wasn't listening to anything I said anyway.