The Types of People You Encounter at a Goshiwon
Living in a goshiwon allows you to meet a lot of different people with very different goals, dreams and motivations. Some of them you like, some of them you don’t. I have this theory that there maybe be a correlation between the prize of your goshiwon room and the amount of oddballs surrounding you, but as I do not have enough imperical evidence to support said theory I shall not go into depths with it here. What I will do, however, is tell you about the types of people I encountered while living the sweet goshiwon life, whom you too may encounter if you should be considering to move into or maybe already live in a goshiwon.
The students
You now that they’re students from their varsity jackets and hoodies proudly displaying the logo of their designated university, which they wear nine out of ten times you see them. However, you do not see them much as they usually a) in their room studying or b) somewhere else studying. They tend to be quite civil, unless you accidentally make some loud noise out in the hallway, in which case doors will open and menacing eyes red from pulling all-nighters before big exams will look at you in a way that makes you extremely happy that looks can’t actually kill.
The worker with a goal
He or she will be living in the goshiwon to save money working 80+ hours a week in order to earn money to send back to their families, or to save up money with the ultimate goal of going back to their home country and starting a business or taking an education. These people are quite inspiring to listen to, and often have interesting life stories. They are also, often, quite religious, so if moralizing talk is not your kind of tea you might find them a bit uncomfortable at times, but overall these people are lovely to be around.
The worker without a goal
Usually they’re unmarried, or possibly divorced, ahjussis working low paid jobs. They tend to look rather worn out whenever you see them cooking their ramyeon in the goshiwon kitchen. You rarely, if ever, see them smile, and you can’t help but hope that they’re not too unhappy.
The VERY talkative types
These are the ones you’ll usually meet in the kitchen where they prey on people to lure into their endless talks. You can’t quite figure out if they are very lonely and in desperate need of talking with some or if they just really like hearing the sound of their own voice. You also wonder whether they would notice if you silently slipped away, and whether your conscience can bear yet another white lie about being desperately busy and very sorry that you don’t have time to (hear them) chat. Other than that there’s not much to say about them, but that doesn’t really matter as you will barely get a word in edgeways once they start talking anyway.
The pervy type
If, or rather when, you meet the goshiwon perv’ you will thank god like you never thanked him before that you live in a goshiwon with a floor for each gender. These people, or should we be honest and say men, are the kind of people who will happily spend half an hour explaining to you the *ahem* assets of Polynesian women, and then wiggle their eyebrows suggestively at you as they tell you that the herbal concoction they’re sipping on is in fact a potent viagra (something one could argue to be completely unnecessary considering their current accommodation). They will also without any scruples ask you to shall we say get intimate with them, while at the same time asking you for advice regarding the date they’re about to go to. For example one guy in my old goshiwon once came running into the kitchen with a coat in each hand, asking which one to pick for a night out, our conversation went like this:
Guy: *alternately holding up each coat* I’m going on a date, which coat should I chose?!
Me: Well depends on what you’re trying to achieve…
Guy: *with a sense of despair* I just really want to get laid.
Me: In that case go for the fancy coat.
Guy: Thanks! … You know, if things don’t work out tonight then maybe you and I could
Me: *interrupting and with great determination* NO!
I don’t know if I was more offended by the suggestion itself or the fact that I was a plan B/last resort kind of option, but I digress. The best way to handle such situations is to firmly tell them no with your eyes killing every bit of hope they may harbour that such a thing should ever take place, and then do be a good sport and wish them good luck in their endeavours, they’ll most likely need it (a lot).
The noisy ones
These elusive creatures you rarely see, and even if you do you may not recognize them, as they blend well with the crowd, however you will most definitely know that they exist when they begin blow drying their hair whilst watching action movies and listening to reggae at 3am. For some odd reason they tend to be mostly active at night, however, these nocturnal creatures does sometimes sleep at the same time as most other people (read yourself), but once you have been lying a few hours without being able to go to sleep due to their incessant and obnoxiously loud snoring you will almost begin to miss the hairdryer-action movie-reggae mix of sounds that usually annoys you so. You never thought it physically possible to snore this loud.
The pure awesome ones
These people made of distilled unicorn juices and fairy dust, are the most amazing and wonderful people you’ll ever meet in your goshiwon. They can be cool, they can be kind, they can be anything, their defining quality is that they’re the sort of people you just really want to be with because they make you happy, and because they seem to be the only other normal people in the goshiwon. It might take some time to find them, but hopefully you’ll find at least one of the amazing people in your goshiwon, when you do living with the rest of the lot will seem at lot more agreeable, as you’ll know that at least there’s one other ”normal” person living under the same roof.
On this positive note I shall end my list. Do you recognise any of these people from your goshiwon, or are there maybe types that you find prominent where you live, whom I have not mentioned. Feel free to share in the comments below!
Pictures in this post are from memefaces.tumblr.com, diylol.com, quickmeme.com, memes.com, memegenerator.net, memes.com and pixshark.com respectively. The featured image was made by your’s truly with the aid of imgflip.com/memegenerator.