The Code of the Waygook, Vol. 1

Busan, Korea, June 21, 2011.



"Waygook" is a word that you have not likely heard unless you spend a good deal of time around Koreans or Westerners (mostly Americans and Canadians, but some Britis, Kiwis and Aussies, too) who have lived in Korea. There is a word in Korean for "foreigner"--"waygookin". I'm pretty sure it literally means "anyone who is not Korean". But of course they have specific names for Chinese and Japanese, so "waygookin" is really the word they use for us. In the same way that Koreans make up their own variations on English words, the expat community has adopted "Waygook" as our own identity. So you can say, using the word as a noun, "We partied with some waygooks in Kyungsung last night until the sun came up" or you can even use it as a verb: "Let's waygook that subway car".

I think I learned a lot about living in Korea from reading waygooks' blogs. Certain things seem to always come up. Koreans like spicy food. But for someone who grew up on Tex-Mex and loves Indian food, it's not really that spicy. Koreans seem really concerned about whether a waygook can handle their food. I ate some spicy chicken last night with Won Young. She was like, "I hope it's not too spicy for you!" I had to explain to her: it's not that big a deal. If I couldn't handle spicy foods, I would have told you. But their spicy chicken is not as spicy as what you get at Wing Stop or (god forbid, I hate this place) Hooters.

There seems to be a code that the Waygook lives by. Whenever one waygook moves out of an apartment, he or she usually leaves some necessities there for the waygook moving in, which is helpful when you just moved to a different continent and don't speak the language. Here in Busan we have an English-langauge website, Pusanweb (I'll explain it in a different post, but in Korean, "b" and "p" are the same letter, so the city's name is spelled either way). There's a nationwide one called Koreabridge. There's even a web forum for foreign teachers called waygook.org. On each of these sites, it is really common to find classifieds. "I bought this iPod touch for $329 about 6 months ago and I barely used it. I'll sell it to you for $250." or "Moving this weekend! I need to sell my TV, bed, books, guitar, Microwave and 2 clothes racks."

It seems to me that the Waygook is always looking out for the next guy or gal. And I appreciate that. I am, as most of my friends and family know, addicted to coffee. It's been a little of a challenge this week. There's Krispy Kreme and Starbucks, but I don't usually feel like dropping 3,300 won (about $3) everytime I need a fix. So I have been dangerously undercaffienated for much of my first 10 days on the peninsula. But have no fear, there's a fellow waygook ready to take care of me! I saw an ad on Pusanweb yesterday morning for a TEFAL coffee machine, 20,000 won (about $18 or so). I texted the number, and finally talked to the machine's current owner last night right as I was sitting down to spicy chicken dinner with Won Young. I told him I would try to take the subway over to Gwangan and pick it up, but I didn't make it over last night.

I called the guy back today when I got off work and rode the subway over there. He met me at the top of the steps with a coffee maker in a nice bag and a smile on his face. He introduced himself as Jan, said he was from Northern Canada (almost to the territories), was an art teacher at one of the universities and had been here for about 5 years. I said living on the beach is probably more comfortable than Northern Canada. We shot the shit for a minute, then I went back down the stairs with my new coffee machine. Good to go.