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I've hit the WALL!!!!
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just because



Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Location: Changwon - 4964

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah,
Some interesting points and all are slightly valid.
Coffeecup, I am missing 2 things right now. Decent mexican food the first plus the vegetables are a little bit lacking. The second one is a biggie. A decent place to chill out. Now my ideal place to chill out is an uncrowded, unpolluted beach where I can just read a book and go for the a dip when i feel. Now in korea this is non-existant. If you could give heaundae beach, get rid of all the buioldings and the people I would be happy. In Australia there are many of these beautiful beaches everywhere.
I don't drink no where near as much these days as i did in m,y first year here and I work out a lot more(but the summer has stopped that a bit) so in that respect i should be feeling better.
Also, the romantic situation is fantastic, after going out with a few screwball Korean girls in my first year here I met this fantastic one last June and it is clicking so well. Took her back to australia with me last year and she had a ball(first time overseas) plus have been to japan 3 times with her and it is amazing that now she is more critical of Korea than I am because she has something to compare it to.
Anyway, after the post last night i had a deep think and I think a realized a major contributing factor. the other foreigners who i work with. Individually the are good people but put together they are bit*hing, moaning machines. It is for all of them a money-saving excercise and they constantly complain about every different thing. I suppose after about 20 months of that it can bring you down a bit. i have found the majority(not all) the foreigners to be like that. When you tell them to do something different on the weekend like go to Gyeongju or head to a temple into the mountains they say oh I can't do that because i have to save money. That same night you will see them down at the foreign bar sinking 50 000 won on alcohol. It would coast a lot less to have a good day in Gyeongju. This is turning into a bit of a rant and off the original topic. Sorry. i do have some great foreign freinds here though to. Very Happy
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rapier



Joined: 16 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 10:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its amazing how the negativity creeps up on you here and subtly changes your persona. if i flew back to all my mates in Ireland for a few nights drinking and Craic, i suspect they'd be amazed at the overall change in my character- even though i'm not fully aware of it.
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captain kirk



Joined: 29 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

passed pyongtaek on the train wondering if the air show was still on in spite of the rain (nope) and on to cheonan. you know, looking out the train window...and with the view that korea 'works'. everything is as it should be. it is a successful system evolved to work; thus there is nothing 'wrong' with korea. it's refreshing to realize occasionally that koreans don't like it themselves all the time, in spite of the patriotic hype. the appearances thing, about 'face', makes for pressure between what is thought and not spoken. what's 'done' and done. koreans drink a huge amount, they go to visit the ladies bearing gifts of money. this is part of the counterbalances in a smoothly operating system. again, there is nothing 'wrong' with it.
ok, you can say it's unhealthy in areas (smoking, drinking, visiting ladies bearing gifts of money). but those are releases with a wildness to counterbalance the strict appearance of virtuous contuct. in the west we have a 'perfect' system as well. it, like the korean system, has evolved by and of itself. nobody 'planned' it. it's too freestyle to be planned, depending on unexpected events in an historic timeline.
so it's the foreigner who thinks there are things in korea which are so 'bad', so 'wrong', so 'alien', and 'intolerable'. and lives in a grumpy, ranty, trip-wire world of can't get no(satisfaction). it's 'all (just so) wrong'.
this weekend i watched korean tv because the yogwan had no english channels, and enjoyed it! koreans think with their heart.
another thing that gets foreigners down in the dumps, besides the two weeks and going strong of cloudy weather up til now, is not having anybody here who really cares about you unconditionally. now, before you say HARDEN UP, recall for a moment what it's like living back home. you have friends who are unemployed or going to school and they have family and friends who support, comfort, befriend them. here you are what you do, you cannot be sick, you have a role and you must perform. and you are off the map culturally, because korea is the hermit kingdom and you are the biggest hermit.
but about the drinking to excess. isn't it odd, when you think about it, that a culture so determined to give the appearance of being upright, virtuous, successful can totally accept completely letting go and being a drunken, arms-a-waving, you're my best friend-beast kind of obviously wildly drunken drunk. foreigners get in the dumps about 'uptight' korea with no place to hang out, like a beach (example given by the above poster from australia). a drunken korean is NOT uptight. there are no australian beaches. he is a korean in korea and he gets wildly drunk, yahoo! like, toss the uptightness and hand me some debauchery, baby! there's a lesson in that; don't analyze. the heart is a muscle and needs to get out and run or it dies. meet twenty year olds and they instinctively realize what they need is to get out and party with koreans, in this 'situation' (living in korea).
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mysteriousdeltarays



Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: Food Pyramid Bldg. 5F, 77 Sunset Strip, Alphaville

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 11:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd have to go for the anemia. I'm not going to get into a long thing on this. That is why they have Universities.

At any rate anemia in Asia is synonomous with intestinal parasites. Walk into any pharmacy point to your stomache and say "kiseang chung" or just ask for Albenzadole or Flubenzidole. Don't go overboared on these things. Take one, they work by interrupting microtubual formation, which in turn causes all cellular replication to cease for about 24 hrs. Some fun!

I'm not about to conduct a microbiology seminar on line. Talking about any of this is like talking to General Electric or Monsanto about "harmless" "inert " polychlorantated biphenols (PCBs)

21 countries in 25 years you had better add Giardia to the list as well.
Check out the following site. Of course you probably won't understand what they are talking about, but you can open another window and use a medical dictionary at the same time.

http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/

While you are there you might check out the section on traveling abroad. Take it seriously or not, as you will. My personal opinion is that the guys who write this are far less authoratative than say the average poster on Dave's.
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rapier



Joined: 16 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2003 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My last proper medical check up was years ago. I'm probably a walking internal parasite host,of great potentilal research value to medical science. if i didn't pick up a tapey eating buffalo balls in laos, i probably at least got one from confiscating and snacking on the kiddies' grubby candies.
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The Man known as The Man



Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Location: 3 cheers for Ted Haggard oh yeah!

PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do a search for "Flies in your stomach, GWoW?"


More about anemia than you ever wanted to know.
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Coffeecup



Joined: 30 Jun 2003

PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just because, well hmmmm... Yah it just seems like life has been so routine and that's what may be the reason for you being blurry-visioned? For me I don't think a delicious meal would work wonders. It sounds like you are getting some nutrition. And although you said there's no place to chill out, it didn't sound like you are screaming "I need to get out of this place" like you need an outlet asap (differnet from relax place, perhaps).

Hmmm, don't know too well about your co-workers. I think it would depend on whether these are people you are in the trenches with, 5 days a week all day, or these are people that don't have a direct effect nor intimidation over your life.

Although your gf does sound perhaps cool and I like it when a person can have some scrutiny even for her own country, in my rather limited experience with Koreans I've found that even though my girfriend put me to sleep with what I thought was "the dream" I later realized she was the source of alot of disruption for me, and furthermore the dream really wasn't all that great anyways (off topic hehe). I'm not sure if that is the case for you or if it is similar to what I experienced, meaning I overlooked her because I thought she was otherwise good for me and an overall good person but in reality for some reason(s) being in a relationship really hurt me from living the life I really wanted to. While you didn't say that, the gf factor is worthwhile.

But otherwise the only thing I can read is just that it's all so routine... Don't know if anyone else can come up with something...
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