Ausländer vs 외국인

Being a foreigner is both a common and unique experience.  We all go through the day-to-day struggle with the language barrier, and we all have to find our own substitutes for our favorite products at the supermarket.  We’ve also all jumped through the various hurdles of government bureaucracy (although as a white American male, those hurdles aren’t nearly as high for me as they are for everyone else).

At the same time, foreigners experience their host country in widely different ways (again, largely dependent on how you look/which country you’re coming from).  Having spent significant amounts of time in both Germany and South Korea, I thought I’d share some of the differences between being an Ausländer and a 외국인.

The absolute biggest difference is my ability to blend in here in Germany, which is something I was really starting to miss towards the end of my time in Korea.  As long as I keep my head down and speak very little, I can maintain anonymity in Germany.  In Korea on the other hand, I always knew in the back of my mind that whatever I did in public would often be taken as a representation of all foreigners there.  In Korea I was always on display, whereas in Germany I’m just a dude on the street.

Going with this is the ability to play the foreigner card.  Whereas the U.S. and Korea have quite a cultural gulf separating them, only the Atlantic "pond" separates the U.S. and Europe.  As a Westerner and someone who knows German language and culture pretty well, I’m much more aware of what’s okay here and what isn’t.  Consequently, I feel like I’m much more reserved in the way I act here – although I did pretend not speak German the one time I was caught schwarzfahren.  Not so in Korea.  Whether we were brazenly walking into a singing room with backpacks full of beer, or taking over convenience stores during frisbee weekends (both of which are admittedly very, very fun), I think we always knew in the back of our minds that our lack of Korean ability and our counterpart’s lack of English would guarantee that we never got any flak.  And while I also don’t think we were ever outright rude to Korean’s when we did this (we always took our beer cans with us after a night of beerio cart in the multi-bang), we did take advantage of our position as foreigners in Korea.  After all, I rarely saw Koreans acting the way we did (unless of course we were on frisbee weekends).  In short, the foreigner card was much more playable in Korea.

All in all, living as a foreigner for a while is almost guaranteed to give you a change in perspective.  You may find yourself playing the foreigner card at every opportunity, or you may have to watch your every move, knowing that to many people in your host country, everything you do will just be attributed to your foreignness.  Whatever happens though, hopefully you’ll gain some empathy, which seems to be in short supply right now.

On Being Back in the Classroom

I can honestly say at this point that it’s great to be a student again.  Apart from being able to sleep in on some weekdays/stay out late on some weeknights, being a (formal) student again has allowed me to do what I enjoy most again on a daily basis – learn.

Of course, it sounds cheesy as hell, but I honestly love being in the classroom and taking notes on a new topic.  Like almost anything, our desire to learn can grow if we nurture it and stay curious.  Simply put; the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know, which then only pushes you to know more.  Thus, sitting in a classroom taking notes becomes less of a chore and more of a satisfying-this-unending-desire-to-know-more hobby.

Learning is dope.  One of the most gratifying feelings in the world is knowing that you understand a previously unknown topic.  For example, I had to give a presentation last week on the political system of the European Union – something I previously knew very little about.  So, I read up on it, made a snappy PPT (using those Korean ESL skillz!) and presented it to the class.  And guess what, I now know a little something more about the political system of the EU…feels pretty good!

But then again there are downsides to the student life – mainly being homework.  In Korea I could come from ultimate tournaments, eat a stupid amount of Mom’s Touch, and then go to bed.  In Germany I come home from ultimate tournaments, eat a döner kebap, and then start writing that damn Grafikbeschreibung that’s due every Monday.

Nevertheless, the pros of learning absolutely outweigh the cons, even when that means staying inside to study on this sunny and beautiful Thursday evening.