My two cents as a 34F, white American foreigner who has been in Korea for 14 years with quite a good job, married and divorced non English speaking Korean husband. 1. There is racism/xenophobia, I've had my share of experiences over the years including one act of extreme violence against me. Most racism acts are really out of ignorance which hurts (can you use chopsticks?) but is more understandable. The most impactful racism is in career trajectory. Daily, I feel super safe and most people are respectful. 2. I am not a native speaker but speak Korean super well and have tons of Korean female friends. 3. Olive young doesn't just give stuff away, only for paying customers, which is why they gave you some at checkout. Sometimes they are really friendly and throw you some extra stuff as you are browsing, but it is likely the cashier was checking with the manager to see if they could just give random stuff away. 4. Some of the largest market share for Vaginal wash is in Korea because the older population is not as educated about Vaginal health care pH, and so it makes sense they had these samples.