Welcome to the colony! Eco-smelly since 2009.
This is Joy, an Ugandan lady I made friends with in Hongdae, Seoul. She went to college in Korea and stayed for work and has been here for a total of 7 years, and plans to remain another 2 years. So she's fluent in Korean.
Joy is from a poor family of a remote village in Uganda. She is fluent in English because Uganda was a former British colony and it's the language used for all formal matters in Uganda, including going to school. She studied Accounting in high school.
Maybe 10 years ago it was very easy to get a visa to Korea whereby you come to Korea and the Koreans will teach you to speak Korean; and then you get a university student visa; and then you get a looking-for-work visa; and then you get work visas from employer sponsorships. Most Africans didn't know about this Korean opportunity because they're more interested in coming to the US or UK and have very little awareness of Asia. They don't know about rich Asia/Korea and just think Asia is China, and ew "nobody wants to go to China." The only reason Joy knew about Korea was because her older brother went there first. He went to uni in Kenya and his roommate happened to be Korean, so one day the Korean roommate brought him to Korea and he loved the place. He is now married to a Korean woman and has 2 children. "There's a trend of Korean women liking African men."
Many countries from the third world have people who want to come to Korea because they can make so much money and send it home to their families. Including African countries, but a huge number of southeast Asian countries, incl Vietnam. (Many Vietnamese foreigners in Korea).
Most likely Korea is just offering student visas to poor countries as a form of diplomacy/charity like most rich countries do, but I think it's interesting to consider this in the context of Korea's declining population, where they need young immigrants to help support their economy and pay all the old people's pensions. Ideally you'll want young immigrants who can speak Korean and have a Korean university education so they can assimilate into your highly organized society.
But according to Joy these students don't really care about the university education, because it's costing tuition, and more importantly it's costing you hours out of the day where you could be working full time instead of part time in Korea. Because there's such a huge opportunity for them to work in Korea and send boatloads of money home to their families. "You can make much much more money as a cleaner in Korea than as a nurse in Uganda." So she works as a cleaner for an Airbnb business and 1 hour a day as a cleaner for a dance studio.
Today it's much harder to get a student visa to Korea because too many of these foreign students from poor countries would drop out of Korean uni and become illegal immigrants so they could make money right away instead of have to go through uni. Therefore Uganda is currently blacklisted, and so is Vietnam and some of the other southeast Asian countries.
Joy did not drop out of uni, but instead stayed legal and picked the easiest major possible: art therapy. The private college she went to is also slightly corrupt. Some Korean citizens realized they could start a business by creating one of these degree mills for these foreigners from poor countries, where you only go to class once a week and don't actually learn anything. That way you have more hours out of the week to work. So that's how she got her degree, which is legal.
It's obvious to me that the remittances Joy can send home may very well be life changing money for her family, so I asked her, "What's the biggest help you've been able to have for your family by being able to send this money home?" She said, "Er… eat food. They depend entirely on me right now. (2 parents 4 siblings back home). I'm kind of like the big boss 😂".
She's been home 2x in the last 7 years, but it's not fun coming home anymore because her extended family will be haranguing her for money and gifts each time she comes. It's still fun to see her parents and siblings. She calls her family every day, often even while working.
As an African in Korea, she puts up with a lot of racism. When she first moved to Korea she tried to start conversations with 2 of her neighbors every morning, but they always pretended to be in a rush. At some point they would wait to open their doors until she got far enough away. She gets a lot of questions from Koreans about her hair, like one time from the old lady she buys lunch from every day. The old lady also used to dislike Joy. But the old lady's daughter, who is likely educated in these things, told her mom not to ask Joy these questions anymore. So she doesn't, and is always happy to see Joy every day.
Still, after 7 years in Korea, Joy does not have a single Korean friend. "They're fake, fake smiles, and they ghost you." She's only friends with other foreigners, like Mongolians and Americans. "American English teachers and military. It's so easy to make friends with Americans, because they're always so open and down to vibe. Like you. I can make friends with any foreigner on the street but I can't make friends with a Korean. If I tried to make friends with a Korean the way I made friends with you, they would not.
"I don't care about establishing any friendships in Korea, because I can't get citizenship here, so the day will come when it's just me and my luggage anyway. What I like most about Korea is that it's safe, and that people don't steal things. I got tired of my country: so much corruption, we have a dictator, I got tired of not having work in Uganda. I don't find it hard to live in Korea because the racism doesn't bother me. I'm just here to make money."
=====
She said the first time she heard someone speak Vietnamese it sounded like cats 🐱 🐈 🐈⬛
Meow meow meow meow
Pues, este fin de semana fui a la playa con mi familia para hacer ejercicio en un bote. Pero no es un bote, solamente no sé la palabra que necesito que describir la cosa. Es una invención como un monopatín o algo para esurfear, pero está usado como un bicicleta y no es un bote en realidad. Lo siento porque yo no estaba practicando mi vocabulario.
Y hoy hablé con dos amigos míos separados por el teléfono. Mi amigo que es más viejo que yo piensa que debo regresar a la universidad como la decisión en que yo debo hacer próximo. No sé si estoy de acuerdo, pero es la verdad que ahora no tengo mucho dinero porque usé mi dinero para viajar por los países asiáticos. Entonces es importante que busco un trabajo. Especialmente si quiero vivir en Nueva York y hacer mi hogar allí.
