Dear Diary,

Hello all. I don't know how many of you guys are from outside this country like myself, but I'm writing on behalf of all my foreign friends working here with me.

A friend of mine named "Lyn" called me yesterday and said "It really hurts to smile all the time." I knew what she was gonna say even before our conversation got into a deeper stage, if you will.

hothot.jpg


For foreigners living in Korea, there's an inexplicable pressure that Koreans might never understand. That is, knowing that Korea is such a collectivist country, we are under the pressure that we ourselves should be collectivists. We cannot just be ourselves, especially when we're in a foreign country like Korea. I mean, we CAN be collectivists ourselves, but please do not think of us as ones that always put the interests of a group before ourselves.

We do respect Koreans, but we respect ourselves first. That's who we are. Sorry, if my words were vague to understand. I'll try to be clearer next time, okay? ;)

*Expressions :
on behalf of : representative of (~를 대신하여서)
get into a deeper stage : this means that something becomes serious
if you well : 말하자면, 소위
inexplicable : this means that it's impossible to explain something
collectivist country : a country that focuses on the interestes of groups
put ~ before ... : this means that you think something is more important that something else
vague : unclear

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