Foreginer; not Aaron
I’m Ryan.
I’ve been working at my current place of employment now for 11.5 months. I’m 23 days shy of a full 365 day completed contract. I am an English teacher at an elementary school in Korea. I am the only Caucasian expatriate at my place of employment. The only one. Picture me surrounded by 40+ Korean co-workers. I stand out. You’d think that being the only foreigner at my school people would be able to remember my name. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
I was called Aaron a total of 4 times today (Monday). Aaron was the native English teacher who worked at my school prior to my sojourn. Not a week goes by that I’m not referred to as Aaron. Sometimes I can tell my co-workers are about to say Aaron and my face twists into an almost unforgiving grimace, waiting to have to correct them yet again. This isn’t even the worst of it. I can understand why my fellow teachers sometimes mix it up. I am one of two English teachers that has worked at this school. They have a 50% chance each time they greet me by name; Ryan or Aaron.
However, the part that really ices the cake is that sometimes (more times than not) they just opt to calling me: “waegukin,” meaning foreigner. Yes, I know I’m a foreigner, you need not remind me on a daily basis. I don’t go around calling everyone around me “the Korean.” There’s only one waegukin at your school. Is it really that hard to learn a 4-letter name? It’s one less than Aaron. I mean, the kids call me Lion (because of the hangul R & L confusion), I’d even be happy with that.
Coming from Canada, one of the most (dare I say, THE MOST) multi-cultural countries in the world, EVERYONE is a foreigner and it is considered blatantly rude to refer to someone as such. I’ve accepted and accommodated many of the flagrant differences between Canada and Korea but this one just gets under my skin.
Foreigner. ugh.
NB: I learned everyone’s names. Every single one. I pride myself on that fact because I rarely remember people’s names back in Canada, let alone remembering 40+ Korean names.
