Being a foreigner in Korea

こちらの文章は、私が別のところで作成したものです。文法などでミスなどがみられるかもしれませんが、温かい目で読んでくだされば嬉しいです。

　　When I arrived at the Gimpo International Airport and set foot on Korean soil two weeks ago, I was filled with excitement and hopefulness awaiting me to live in Korea for five months. It took me about two hours from Japan to Korea. I didn’t feel sad to say goodbye for a while to my home country and my family because I’ve lived in the US for a year and am used to living by myself in another country. As I left the airport, I caught a taxi and headed to my apartment. The scenery of Seoul from a passenger window was something new to me and I felt familiar with the Japanese one in Tokyo at the same time. As I got to the gate of my apartment, I was supposed to call the owner but a male staff appeared and told me something in Korean. Unfortunately, I couldn’t speak Korean. When I told him that in my poor Korean, he looked confused and then unexpectedly picked up one of my suitcases and took it to the front of my room on the second floor. Then, he went on to explain something in Korean, but  I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He suddenly took out his phone, opened a translation app, and showed me Japanese. It said “You need to call a female owner tomorrow about a residential card” and he left. The next day, I made a call to a female owner as I was told but she couldn’t speak English as well. I tried to manage to converse with her but she gave up and hung up the phone.

         Although it's been two days since I came to Korea, it started with a significant shock. I assumed that I could survive in Korea with English, but I actually couldn’t communicate in English with the Koreans I met. It gave me an important realization that I can’t live here with only English. It reminded me of a Japanese situation. I’ve heard that when foreign people try to find apartments in Japan, the likelihood they’re rejected by owners is relatively high just because they are foreigners. Some owners can’t speak English so if something happens, they’re not confident to be able to reach out to them. Regarding my apartment, thanks to my Korean professor, she looked for an apartment and secured it beforehand. Without her help, I wouldn’t have been able to find my place to live. Of course, some apartments would kindly accept foreigners in Seoul, but I assume that most of them are unwilling to admit them if they don’t speak Korean like in Japan. 

       When I can’t speak the language in which I live and can’t communicate with local people, I feel so dumb. This situation put me into self-hatred and self-consciousness. Yet, this experience also helped encourage me to want to be of help to someone who lives in Japan. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, there were over 30 million people who visited Japan in 2019.
　　　Furthermore, the second highest concern that foreigners who come to Japan have is communication with hotel staff, etc. When I come back to Japan, I’ll probably find some foreigners who struggle with Japanese in Tokyo. Making use of my experience in Korea, I want to be more considerate and conscious about people and when I see those people, I will kindly reach out to them.