/u/koreathrwaway27 explains why Koreans and White expats don’t always mingle in Korea | reddit

Interesting stuff in this this thread and the linked one.

So when a new expat or immigrant arrives in a foreign country, his or her first assumption is to “judge” that culture, and set themselves apart from it. Food, even though it is common there, is “weird” and suspicious. Never mind that millions of people like it! If it tastes weird to me, it’s weird, period. This attitude extends to everything else. Expats and immigrants might try local things, but most likely they will do it as an experiment, a foray into a foreign culture.

Why? Because they have two choices: either they embrace the new culture and go through something like a second “adolescence” where they’ll be outside their comfort zone all the time… Or they retreat within their own culture and look at the host culture as something of an aberration, to be enjoyed in small doses, but nowhere near as good as their own.

It is of course vital not to fall into moral relativism.