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twg
Joined: 02 Nov 2006
Location: Getting some fresh air...
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 Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| Klinger was in Korea longer than Radar. |
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semphoon
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: Where Nowon is
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:10 am Post subject: |
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| bluelake wrote: |
| boatofcar wrote: |
| bluelake wrote: |
| I first came to Korea in January of 1984. However, after marrying my wife that same year, we moved to the States at the end of the year. I taught college in Michigan for a few years and then returned to Korea with my wife and son at the beginning of '89; been in the country ever since (of course with occasional vacations back to my hometown). |
Wow, you arrived in Korea when I was 3  Did you notice a big change after the Olympics in 88 in how easy the country was to get around for non Korean speakers? |
Lots of differences between then and now.
When I first lived in Korea, it was very common to see farmers using an ox to plow fields, instead of the 경운기 tractors you see everywhere nowadays.
Cars were far, far fewer then, with taxi drivers and rich people being the ones who mostly had them; just as well, as a great number of streets and roads were little better than two-tracks. Highway 1 was neither designed nor built to handle the kind of traffic we have today--hence, continuous road construction for the past twenty years to re-do things.
In 1984, in order to make an int'l phone call, you had to call an operator, give her the number you wanted to call, and she would call you back in about a half hour. Compare that with today: cell phones, IM, skype, etc.
Sending money out of the country was definitely not easy. Although there are still some hurdles today, they are nothing like they were twenty-three years ago.
I lived in a traditional 한옥집, complete with outhouse. Apartments were around, but just starting to catch on.
There are many other things, too...
I wouldn't trade the experiences for anything. |
Any more of these? I love hearing about how it was. Ive heard there was a curfew of sorts.
How has the Korean attitude changed to foreigners since then? |
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bluelake
Joined: 01 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:49 am Post subject: |
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| semphoon wrote: |
Any more of these? I love hearing about how it was. Ive heard there was a curfew of sorts.
How has the Korean attitude changed to foreigners since then? |
Although there were still curfews in places, most small towns didn't seem to have them.
During the mid-month civil defense drills, traffic came to a complete standstill and people took cover in whatever building they were near.
High school boys were often dressed in black/white camo uniforms and had military drills using rubber M-16s.
I think Korean attitudes towards foreigners haven't changed all that much; they have just taken different forms depending upon the circumstances. Back two decades ago, there weren't as many foreigners as there are now, so we were definitely a novelty; because we were novel, we were scrutinized a lot more. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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| bluelake wrote: |
| semphoon wrote: |
Any more of these? I love hearing about how it was. Ive heard there was a curfew of sorts.
How has the Korean attitude changed to foreigners since then? |
Although there were still curfews in places, most small towns didn't seem to have them.
During the mid-month civil defense drills, traffic came to a complete standstill and people took cover in whatever building they were near. |
I didn't exactly arrive yesterday, but I did miss out on the whole midnight curfew culture by many years. For firsthand impressions, we have the accounts of other foreigners and of Koreans who were here then. And oddly, the latter of these two sources is the more apt to get things wrong and forget the details of that period. This is probably because most Koreans that any of us tend to know and talk with were very young, or indeed had not yet been born, at the time.
With few exceptions, married Korea men worked and married Korean women were housewives. Though it was certainly a nuisance, the curfew also served to "trap"  husbands in bars and clubs, and prevent them returning home till the next morning, or till the end of business the next evening. I cannot imagine a better set of circumstances, nor a better country, for aiding and abetting wholesale infidelity & prostitution. Another thing I heard from those living here then, the curfew did not apply to the landlocked province of Chungcheongbuk-do, the idea being that the Nork spy infiltrators would be nabbed as they passed through the DMZ in Gyeonggi & Gangwon provinces, or detected and capturered in the coastal provinces where they were expected to set ashore on spyboats. So if you were a married man living down in Cheongju those years, you were out one very major excuse/cover for hanky-panky that your countrymen in most parts of the Republic enjoyed.
Last edited by JongnoGuru on Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:05 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Roch
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:35 pm Post subject: |
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| JongnoGuru wrote: |
| bluelake wrote: |
| semphoon wrote: |
Any more of these? I love hearing about how it was. Ive heard there was a curfew of sorts.
How has the Korean attitude changed to foreigners since then? |
Although there were still curfews in places, most small towns didn't seem to have them.
During the mid-month civil defense drills, traffic came to a complete standstill and people took cover in whatever building they were near. |
I didn't exactly arrive yesterday, but I did miss out on the whole midnight curfew culture by many years. For firsthand impressions, we have the accounts of other foreigners and of Koreans who were here then. And oddly, the latter of these two sources is the more apt to get things wrong and forget the details of that period. This is probably because most Koreans that any of us tend to know and talk with were very young, or indeed had not yet been born, at the time.
With few exceptions, married Korea men worked and married Korean women were housewives. Though it was certainly a nuisance, the curfew also served to "trap" :wink: husbands in bars and clubs, and prevent them returning home till the next morning, or till the end of business hours the next evening. I cannot imagine a better set of circumstances, nor a better country, for aiding and abetting wholesale infidelity & prostitution. Another thing I heard from those living here then, the curfew did not apply to the landlocked provinces of Chungcheong-do, -nam & -buk, the idea here being that the Nork spy infiltrators would be nabbed as they passed through the DMZ in Gyeonggi & Gangwon provinces, or detected and capturered in the coastal provinces where they were expected to come ashore in via spyboats. |
The question is: What urged you to move to the R.O.K.? |
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bluelake
Joined: 01 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| JongnoGuru wrote: |
| Another thing I heard from those living here then, the curfew did not apply to the landlocked provinces of Chungcheong-do, -nam & -buk, the idea being that the Nork spy infiltrators would be nabbed as they passed through the DMZ in Gyeonggi & Gangwon provinces, or detected and capturered in the coastal provinces where they were expected to set ashore on spyboats. |
When my wife and I were headed up to Seoul to get married (Jul. '84), we stayed with some friends over at an old-time Presyterian missionaries' retreat at T'aech'eon Beach on the west coast. While walking on the beach, we noticed machine gun nests. We were told that at dusk Korean army machine gunners would set up and anyone on the beach after 8:00 p.m. would be shot first and asked questions later. |
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ChuckECheese
Joined: 20 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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My father was stationed in Seoul, so I first came here in 1977 and went to the old SAHS (Seoul American High School).
Came back in the 90's after the Gulf War. I been in and out of this country and other Asian countries ever since for business and pleasure.
Itaewon back in the 70's was pretty bare. The main drag was only lined up with small mom and pop shops, GI bars/clubs, and street vendors, but nothing like today. |
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jaderedux
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Lurking outside Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Junior wrote: |
| Arrived just before the world cup... |
me too a year before the first one!
holy hell I have been here a long time.
Jade |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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what's more interesting....
who among expats has been here continuously the longest?
(without travelling back home or to other countries).
I'm entering my fifth year here but the longest I've gone continuously in this country is just shy of two years and that was brutal. Sometimes you just need a break.
Any waygook been in Korea continuously for the last five years? I doubt it. At least not many. |
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Horangi Munshin
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
what's more interesting....
who among expats has been here continuously the longest?
(without travelling back home or to other countries).
I'm entering my fifth year here but the longest I've gone continuously in this country is just shy of two years and that was brutal. Sometimes you just need a break.
Any waygook been in Korea continuously for the last five years? I doubt it. At least not many. |
First came in July 2000. Returned home Nov 2001.
Came back to Korea in Apr 2002. Did a visa run in Sept 2002 that was my last time out of Korea. Do you count visa runs? |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Horangi Munshin wrote: |
| Do you count visa runs? |
If less than 48 hours (one night away), then no, doesn't count. But a three day jaunt or week back home definitely does count.
I was at the same hagwon for three years and so didn't have to run. There might be someone who actually went 5 years without leaving Korea at all. But maybe not. |
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Horangi Munshin
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
| Horangi Munshin wrote: |
| Do you count visa runs? |
If less than 48 hours (one night away), then no, doesn't count. But a three day jaunt or week back home definitely does count.
I was at the same hagwon for three years and so didn't have to run. There might be someone who actually went 5 years without leaving Korea at all. But maybe not. |
Yep it was a one-nighter. So come April I've been in Korea for five years straight. Not sure if I'll take a trip back home or just wait till I move back. |
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Ekuboko
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Location: ex-Gyeonggi
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
what's more interesting....
who among expats has been here continuously the longest?
(without travelling back home or to other countries).
Any waygook been in Korea continuously for the last five years? I doubt it. At least not many. |
I think perhaps Kitekid. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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March '94-Sept. '95
July '95-Jan. '05 (vacation trips out)
Aug. '05- now
Total: 11 years 4 months
(Not married to a Korean nor do I have a military background.)
What I remember best about '94 was the absence of anything resembling tomato sauce. I scoured every black market I could find and none of them had anything I could use to make spaghetti sauce. (This was in Taejon.) When I returned from my exile in mid '95 Hunt's tomato sauce had made its appearance. W3,000 a can. 
Other things:
When I arrived, no one older ever wore shorts. However, the summer of '94 was the hottest on record. By the end of summer, everyone was wearing shorts. In public. (Last summer was the only one that compares to '94.)
One of my students said, "Before marriage there is no kissing. After marriage, damn little." I saw my first public display of affection in '97.
Until the big meeting up in Pyongyang in 2000, there were periodic episodes of armed Nork infiltrators that caused me to panic, but didn't bother anyone else I knew (Korean). Twice I have had M-16s (or whatever those big guns the boys in uniform carry) pointed at me. Once was because there were armed infiltrators across the mountain in Buyo so the reserve guys at my company were on all-night guard duty at work. I walked in to my office at 7 AM and woke up Mr. Lee. He leaped out of my chair where he'd been snoozing and pointed a big-ass gun at me.
In the Spring of '97 (?) I was on the east coast, near Soraksan. Made the mistake of kicking around a soccer ball in the parking lot behind the barbed wire fence at the beach in the off-season. A parade of 6 or 7 guys in uniform came down off their mountain perch and ordered us out of the parking lot at the point of their guns. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
what's more interesting....
who among expats has been here continuously the longest?
(without travelling back home or to other countries).
I'm entering my fifth year here but the longest I've gone continuously in this country is just shy of two years and that was brutal. Sometimes you just need a break.
Any waygook been in Korea continuously for the last five years? I doubt it. At least not many. |
Probably the longest stretch "in-comutry" is 4 months. |
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