Interview

I interviewed five Korean students for an assignment several weeks ago.

Anyway, I doubt they know my blog, so I suppose it's safe to post their pictures up here :)


The first interview was alright. It was rather short, but I got some details that were useful.
The guy was nice enough to let me interview him. He was a friend of my friend's.




The second interview was a lot better. I interviewed two Korean twins from my college, and they were really helpful. They provided me a lot of facts that I needed to know about the Korean culture. And they're adorable girls. Bubbly, chatty, just full of optimism.



The next Korean that I talked to was apparently what many of my girlfriends considered a hottie. He was tall and good-looking, with a good sense of fashion. We went for lunch and he was really nice. I learned that most Korean guys are gentlemen.



And the next day, I had my last Korean "date" with another tall dude, and this one left an impression, because he was hilarious. We went to McD's. And technically, since I was the one who invited him for brunch, I figured it was only polite if I paid. Plus he only got up like half an hour ago and hadn't had his breakfast yet.
He had a cute personality.

We walked into McD's and waited in line.
Me: Hey, so since you're giving me your time to interview you, I'll buy you brunch.
Him: Really?? (surprised) Wow... are you sure?
Me: Yes. Don't worry about it. What do you want?
Him: Ummm... (scanning the menu board) I want a ... hot coffee.
Me: Okay. Is that all you want?
Him: Yes.

Then two minutes later, he whispered to me, "Can I have French fries too?"

I wanted to laugh. Why did he have to whisper? So I bought him the fries and coffee and an orange juice for myself, and we found a nice table and settled down. I watched him pour the fries onto his tray. He didn't even bother to dip them into the chilli sauce and ketchup. I found this amusing, since Malaysians dip their fries into anything; mustard, ice creams, hahahaha (my friends do that). This guy liked his fries plain.

He dumped five packets of sugar into his coffee. He laughed really loudly. He was easy to talk to. He even told me about his ex-girlfriend in Korea. His English was alright. There were some words that he did not understand, and when I tried explaining them, he would take out this cool-looking device which looked like a camera; it was a touch-screen, red, square object.

I asked, "What is that?"
And he replied, "This is my All-in-One."
"Your what?"
And so he showed me how it worked; it was an MP3 player; it was a digital calender, it could store notes, and it was also a Korean-English dictionary! It really was an All-in-One :) COOL!
I promise you that brand isn't anywhere in the Malaysian market. He told me he got it in Korea.

When he didn't understand a word, he'd look it up in his dictionary and when he found it, he'd clap his hands together and say, "AHA!" And there'd be this satisfied look on his face like the kind you see on a child's when the kid has found his long lost toy.

I began to like his personality; he was simple-minded and funny. At the end of the interview, I asked him what was his view on Malaysians. He paused for a while and said, "The taxi drivers are bad. They con my money." Yes, unfortunately that's how they make a living.

Then he went on and said, "The weather is horrible. It's so hot. How do you live here? You know, the other day I saw this lady and she was wearing this thing on her head..." he actually meant to say a tudung. "I don't know how she could feel comfortable wearing that under the hot weather. I was only in a t-shirt and pants and I was BURNING. So I went up to her and said, 'HEY! Why are you wearing that? I don't like it. Take it off!!'"

"But why did you do that? What did the woman say?"

"Because I felt hot just looking at her wearing that! I just wanted her to be more comfortable. Oh, the woman stared at me and then she walked off. She looked angry."

"And you didn't apologize?"

"Er no." this guy was still nonchalantly eating his fries. "Not my fault she was having a bad day."

Then I explained to him that it's the religious custom of the Muslim women in our society to wear scarves over their heads; and he eventually understood. Well, I can't blame him for being ignorant because in Korea, they only have one nationality and culture - Korean. Therefore, they're not used to seeing a different culture in their country. Then I told him not to randomly go up to people and ask them questions like that anymore. I'm glad I wasn't next to him when he told that to the woman.

That was my last interview, and I still remember most of it though it's been weeks ago.
He was one funny person. Oh, and after that, he left for class and then he texted me asking if I needed to interview anymore Koreans. :D Hahaha.