Korean Job Discussion Forums

[poeticjustice]

I just got back from a month long vacation back home (in the US). I had been here for two years before going home for the first time. I had a great time, but towards the end of it I was getting very irritable and standoffish towards everyone.

It had a lot more to do with me than the culture and customs of Korean people. The smallest things began to irritate me a lot more than they should, like being asked the same questions repeatedly, having to deal with people who weren't very receptive to me or my culture, and all the small little idiosyncrasies common to Koreans.

I had begun to really want to go home. I thought that maybe some time spent there would clear my head and set me straight.

Another thing I had been noticing shortly before I went home was my fixation on how much better my culture was at certain things. My mantra when I became irritable was "at least when I get home I won't have to put up with this sh*t, back home everything is perfect!"

Its all very strange considering I felt this way about being home just before I came to Korea. I'm from a really small town and have always been a black sheep just for having different interests than everyone else (basically I don't like four wheeling, sports and going to church, which makes me some kind of monster).

So I went home for a month.

-Everything is more expensive.

-I can understand everything everybody says. This is a bad thing. I had forgotten how stupid people are.

-People are disgustingly fat and it's practically against the law to tell them that. 80% of my hometown is fat. I made a remark about it when I was visiting relatives and noticed they would avoid the issue when talking and would refuse to use the word "fat." I guess we're all supposed to say "a little on the big side" or "overweight" now.

-Everyone my age who didn't go to university or move to the city gained 100 pounds, had two kids and complains about never having enough money.

-Everyone my age who went to university or moved to the city works at a shitty minimum wage job, has practically lost their will to live and aren't nearly as fun to talk to as they had been before I left. It feels like going to the local bar in a coal mining town after the mine was closed.

-Having to listen to relatives (all die hard Republicans) go on about the politics de jour like they actually know what they're talking about and having to try to keep quiet.

-Successful still means keeping less money per month than I keep here.

-Overabundance of responsibility. Some of it needless.

-Nothing ever changes. Everyone is doing the exact same thing they were doing. All the roads have pot holes in them that I remember complaining about five years ago. The only new business that came in since I left was Wal-Mart, and since everyone started shopping there all the town's family owned businesses have been on the decline.

-In Korea, people ignore you pretty much aside from some staring. Back home, people size everyone else up like it's their job and it's not uncommon for strangers to hurl insults at other strangers.

-Terrible internet. Terrible public transportation. Terrible service in restaurants (compared to Korea). Having to tip for said service.

-A lack of good Indian food. Korea spoils us there.

I could say a million more things but I'll leave it at that. I feel refreshed now and I feel like such a huge retard for letting all those little things bother me when I lived here. I am better off here than I was there and I think for a lot of us, this holds true.

Now I plan on going home once a year just to remind myself.

[mimis]

That's nice to hear. Perhaps we do tend to over-idealize all things back home after being here for some time.

Unfortunately, I'm still in that PHASE, but it might change after I go back for one month later this year. Can't wait to find out for myself.

[gakduki]

I think we should take it for granted. Its an excellent opportunity. Do it now while the Korean's are still desperate enough to pay us so much money for doing a simple job that doesn't pay nearly as well anywhere else.
I disagree with you saying everything back home is more expensive. It isn't cheese, beef, bulk candy, beefcake 2010, and all the other things that make one fat are much cheaper, and the variety is amazing. Also, appartments, fruit, and organic vegetables are cheaper.
As for everyone having shitty jobs, I don't know where you came from, but the majority of my friends are earning just as much or more, and are starting great careers. If you stay here 5-10 years, they will be way ahead.
I think your generalizations and criticismsmore are ill founded.Because a person back home makes more than double of what an English teacher takes in (considering we all have university degrees.) Maybe tax is higher, but they won't be picking up trash when they are older or shelling out thousands a month for their children's education. And they don't have to sort their trash.

[DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP]

Yeah as much as I truly hate this industry (the way it is run here and the way they treat us - mostly the private companies, not ps) I'll never take it for granted.

Try going from working 5 hours a day and saving 700 pounds a month whilst living in an apt to yourself and living pretty well - to working 8 hours a day in London, saving a couple of hundred if you're lucky, sharing a house with strangers (at first) and having to budget every month...

Surprised I stuck it out as long as I did before coming back here...

That said after 6 years it's feeling stale. Well life back home to would be stale if I had just a 9-5 non vocation related job and I'd choose the staleness here over the staleness there as I just am afforded a better lifestyle here than I am back home, even though I was going to good clubs, bars, restraunts, theatre etc back home too. Plus as hard as working with co-teachers etc can be I do prefer teaching to stuff I did back home (marketing / sales / office / civil service) because it;s more of a 'people' job and the time goes quicker.

But this will be my final year (God please give me the strength to finally save for a full year so I can take a break from this...) and I'm taking a well earned sabbatical to take a year off work to pursue personal pursuits... But of course if that doesn't lead to an income / potential income in near future, guess where I'll be on a plane to in order to save up some more money to take another 'sabbatical...?'

Yup, you guessed it.....

[poeticjustice]

[DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP]

Yeah as much as I truly hate this industry (the way it is run here and the way they treat us - mostly the private companies, not ps) I'll never take it for granted.

Try going from working 5 hours a day and saving 700 pounds a month whilst living in an apt to yourself and living pretty well - to working 8 hours a day in London, saving a couple of hundred if you're lucky, sharing a house with strangers (at first) and having to budget every month...

Surprised I stuck it out as long as I did before coming back here...

That said after 6 years it's feeling stale. Well life back home to would be stale if I had just a 9-5 non vocation related job and I'd choose the staleness here over the staleness there as I just am afforded a better lifestyle here than I am back home, even though I was going to good clubs, bars, restraunts, theatre etc back home too. Plus as hard as working with co-teachers etc can be I do prefer teaching to stuff I did back home (marketing / sales / office / civil service) because it;s more of a 'people' job and the time goes quicker.

But this will be my final year (God please give me the strength to finally save for a full year so I can take a break from this...) and I'm taking a well earned sabbatical to take a year off work to pursue personal pursuits... But of course if that doesn't lead to an income / potential income in near future, guess where I'll be on a plane to in order to save up some more money to take another 'sabbatical...?'

Yup, you guessed it.....

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Fox]

I have to admit, when I went back to the States for Summer vacation, by the end I couldn't wait to get back to Korea. Admittedly I'm only one year in, but it's been a good year. Until or unless things change, I have little desire to return to the States; some things about Korean culture irritate me, but I can ignore them.

I especially like not having to tip. Waiters provide no service I desire. I'd just as soon write my order on a piece of paper, hand it to the chef, then come and get my food myself when it was done. Having to tip them for their services (and worse, having that tip be expected to be proportionate to the amount I spend on the meal; bringing me a $5 hamburger and bringing me a $20 steak isn't a particularly disparate amount of work for the waiter, why on Earth do they deserve more if they bring me the latter?) is something I always hated. When I mentioned this to other Americans, they always told me that without a tipping system, it would be impossible to get good service, because the waiter would have no incentive. Korea pretty handily puts the lie to that idea.

[Fox]

[Julius]

[greasypeanut]

i think it just depends on where u live back in the states. try moving to a nicer area....like southern california most of the cons u mentioned in ur post dont apply to it. oooo how i miss it, but korea is nice too.

[hockeyguy109]

Understanding what everyone says is a bad thing?

That statement scares the hell out of me.

[E_athlete]

Nice read, poeticjustice.

[E_athlete]

[poeticjustice]