Time to wake up

I feel so foolish. Betrayed.

I had told everyone I know that the people I work with are some of the nicest people I've ever met. They offered to accompany me to lunch. They asked me about Canada, how I'm getting used to Korea... They sounded worried about me, and was careful not to offend me at all times.
They still ARE nice people, but I received news that broke the fantasy I had about my "perfect" work place.

One of my co-workers has been especially nice to me, showing me the ropes and such. It turned out that she ASKED all the other people to ask me to lunch and be all friendly. One of the things that I was most grateful for was that they didn't act clique-y and included me in their social group.
It doesn't really seem like that big a deal now that I've written about it, but when I first heard the news I was dumbfounded. At a loss for words. I don't know why I took it so hard. I guess I wanted to believe that my co-workers are naturally that nice. That I had a dream job where I did what I wanted to do and everyone was nice to me without an ulterior motive.
Everything that seemed a little off before made sense now. That may have been the worst part.
This almost reminded me that time in South Park when Kyle paid Cartman to be nice to his cousin. As far as I know she didn't pay them... but still. I'm grateful for her help, but it would have been nice if the others just had done it on their own accord.

I would've been fine just eating by myself, because after all I'm here to learn how to work. They are very polite and nice when we have to work together, and that's pretty much what I asked for from the first place. What really hurts me is that they acted like I could expect more than just "politeness" -- actual friendship.
It may still develop later on but not right now. Not that easily.

I haven't had to deal with this kind of drama (if it can indeed be called one) since high school. This just shows that no matter how old I am I'm still susceptible to this kind of things. Social stuff. Things that are actually trivial but can be devastating regardless of their real-life significance.

The initial shock is gone now. I'm much more calm and the pain has subsided.

This has been some lesson. Never let your guard down. Never think things can be that easy.
If things look too good to be true, than they probably are.

I'll still smile. I'll still jump through the social games they put before me. But I'm here to work. Period.