Seems there aren't many muslims who talk about their experience in Korea, or at least when I last checked. When I first knew I was coming to Korea, I looked up videos and posts about people's experiences living in Korea as a Muslim or even as an Arab. I was just trying to comfort myself about my fears of how my life would probably end up living here, since it seemed to me if I didn't strengthen myself before coming, I'd be completely screwed when facing the inevitable discrimination I'd experience living here.

Let me start off by saying, I do not wear the Hijab, and I am not visibly muslim, so honestly, my opinion is worth close to nothing, but I still think I can provide some comfort, and some insight of what it's like to live here as a muslim who practices their religion.

I really want to say that you don't have much to worry about, but honestly, I have no idea what experience you might face, what kind of people you may have to deal with, I may have just been lucky after all. But, although i have no other muslim friends to compare to, looking at the POC living here, they don't seem to be experiencing any of the discrimination they thought they'd face. Koreans are MUCH nicer than the internet makes them out to seem. Honestly, those horrifying posts you read, or those videos you may have watched that scared you, throw them in the garbage. That is ONE persons experience, and it does not reflect Koreans.

From what i've seen based off the POC community here, Koreans don't give a single shit about you. They don't care what your skin colour is, they don't care how much you weigh, they don't care which god you preach, they just DON'T care. When I told my co-workers I was muslim, it was as if I told them I eat bread. That's honestly the reaction I got. Actually, it was more like I told them I eat a very majestic bread, because they were just very interested after I told them.

I think what people tend to forget, at least for EPIK, is that your co-workers have to be respectful of you. They are most likely told in advance to have an open mind about teachers, and to not make any commentary that may be misunderstood. In a public school system, there are certain rules every teacher should follow, and South Korea has these rules in place.

When dealing with hwaesiks, if your school is considerate like mine, they will always choose a place without pork. If not, you can just refuse to go, and they will understand. If anything, they'll feel bad about you not being able to come, but they will certainly not judge you, at least not to your face. Also, at none of the hwaesiks I've been to have I been pressured to drink alcohol. Actually, most times they don't even drink all together, and if they do offer soju to the table, there are SO many teachers who say they don't want it, you will not be the only one who doesn't drink.

On the topic of food, I should also add my school gives me the food menu for the month, and each dish is numbered for what it contains. In my case, '10' means it contains pork. Sometimes it's not accurate, but most of the time it is. My co-teachers always alert me, and if they aren't sure, they even go the extra mile of asking the cafeteria lady. They are so considerate about my dietary needs, even more so than Americans would be. I honestly feel like I receive less discrimination here than I would working in a school in Canada (unless it's in Mississauga or Brampton lol).

Now, I can't end this without the cons, cause there are cons. You'd think the older people would be the most racist here, but it's actually the younger Koreans who are, and actually even other teachers in EPIK are more ignorant and discriminatory than my co-workers. When you go out with a group with no muslims, it can feel very alienating. It may not happen right away, but if you are a practicing muslim, then you will feel it eventually, and it sucks. You'll hear comments like "how can you have fun without drinking" as if drinking comes first, then having fun. It's actually a joke how incredibly thoughtless and ignorant their comments can be at times. But, most of the time they don't mean it in a bad way.... they're just... stupid.

Unfortunately, I still have not figured out how to find friends who don't make me feel this way. Although I do have a group of friends who do try now, after I've voiced out these concerns in a more passive way. I've kind of just accepted that i won't find someone here who really matches me and gets me, because well, most foreigners here don't know how to have fun without drinking or clubbing. And that's just sad. Although to them, we're the sad ones. I guess drinking poison, gaining weight, and aging 100x faster, and losing 100s of $$$$ is something we will always have to live missing out on =(