cultural interaction and the new Korean teachers

"you can use chopsticks well"
"oh, you can eat Shpishy (spicy) food?"
"do you like Korea?"
"what is your favourite Korean food?"
"oh, your Korean speak is very well" (having shown my mastery of both "hello" AND "hi")

These are just a few of the things that I hear virtually every time I meet a Korean person at work. I haven't decided if I should be annoyed that stupid stereotypes are so widely accepted that they have become small talk, angry that they seem to think I suffer from some sort of mental handicap that makes simple tasks nearly impossible or happy that they are trying to bridge the cultural gap as best they can. I'm thinking the 10-10-80 approach is the way to go. Here's why:

There are widely accepted stereotypes about foreigners here in Korea, and while some are funny (big noses), some fairly hypocritical (foreigners drink too much- as a side note the stereotype Koreans have with the Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese is that Koreans are drunks) and some just insulting (people who work abroad are losers who can't get work at home - thank Confucius for that bit of wisdom, thankfully it seems to be dying out with the newer generation who understand that travelling abroad is something exciting and educational). However, at the end of the day they are stereotypes and should be treated as such. Furthermore, the idea that a stereotype can be so accepted as to make its way into conversation is a bit sad. I imagine the fallout if, back in Canada, you applauded a Korean on his knife and fork skills and commented on how he is eating meat that isn't dog (and how many Koreans can't use western utensils or actually eat dog meat?). It's not offensive, I find it a bit funny actually, but it seems very immature and needs to stop.

While I find compliments on my Korean (even when they are thoroughly undeserved) flattering, the "you use chopsticks very well" is downright insulting. How inept do they think I must be that I can't use chopsticks? My friend Paul, who has lived here a little over four years, pointed out that even if he only used chopsticks once a week he'd have used them over 200 times by now, and we both use them multiple times a day.

However, I mostly find it inoffensive and I know that they are trying to communicate with us using their cultural skills, and find our bluntness and opinionated discussion equally baffling. While I am tired of telling people "yes, I like Korea" and "yes, I can eat shpishy food very well" I know that they are not trying to be condescending, it's just how their culture has taught them to interact. Add to it the fact that Korea is one of the most monocultural places on earth it is possible that I am the first non-Korean they have ever talked to at length and quite possibly the first non-Korean co-worker they have ever had. Coming from Vancouver I am so used to having friends from (or their heritage is from) Hong Kong, China, Iran, India, Japan, Taiwan, western Europe, latin America etc etc etc. and therefore it seems unusual NOT to be in a multi-cultural environment. Furthermore, I am taught from a very young age to interact in a multicultural society. Though even in the west I could find myself in the same boat.

As a slight comparison, I remember my friend Kurt, who was raised in upstate New York, being amazed that I had never really had a black friend. This is obviously not because I have an issue with race but because living my whole life in western Canada, Australia and Korea I have simply not had very many opportunities to meet any black people for any length of time. So even in incredibly multicultural Vancouver I can be quite ignorant of a major ethnic group. That being said, of the few black people I have met in my life, I have never commented on how they eat baked chicken very well, so at least I feel confident that racial stereotyping is weaker in the west than elsewhere. However I bet that, compared to others, I am woefully ignorant of many aspect of both African and African-American culture. I do try to remember that these new co-workers are in the same position with me.