Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SPINOZA]

What ever Superfly's irrelevant comment was meant to be, he should switch off and go to bed.....try to make that killer hangover less severe.

[Qinella]

Probably not gonna go back to the US for any long-term duration. I've got other plans to keep myself abroad indefinitely, but those are secret cuz yalls'll steal'em.

[ipsofacto]

[butlerian]

[Homer]

Ok not closed on going back to Canada because there are many opportunities there as well.

But, why did I stay beyond my first contract (sorry Tom your list fit mine so I used it to some extent!)?

I have found my comfort zone.
I love what I do here (teach, write and work as a consultant).
I like the teaching opportunities here.
I like most of my co-workers (the rest I am simply indifferent to).
I love where I live (we have an ocean view from our living room, mountains behind, close to family....)
I like being able to jet off to the beaches of South East Asia and to travel 1-2 times per year while saving and investing.
I have a great family here and an active social life.

Now, I am a certified teacher back home and could also work for a the government of Canada or simply expand my consulting activities if we moved to Canada. We own a property there that will be paid off in the very near future (under 2 years of payments left).

However, with my job + vacation time we are able to visit Canada each year for a month or more. We have a very good life here in Busan and financially we are well ahead of the game....

Keep your options open and make sure what you do here is value-adding career wise. If you are a career teacher this can be done easily. You can also expan beyond teaching as there are many opportunities here.

Just off the top of my head I know 10 people who got here as teachers and have moved on successfully to other work here and home based on the skills and experience they acquired here.....

[Cheonmunka]

Close family ties here makes me happy. I have watched them all get older these last ten years. Kind of looking forward to ten more here. It's because of family I don't really want to go back to the few relations (who rarely even reply to my e mails) I have back there.
But, I get tired of not really fitting in here.
I watched a program about lesbian couples fitting into the norm in the States and about how legislation restricts them and how people view them as wierd and wrong. I said to my wife, "That's exactly how I feel."
It's always an uphill battle getting acceptance from the new people I meet.
Everytime I meet someone new, if it matters to me, I have to let them know that I am a father of two and live here permanently.
One time I felt so low. I was going through the new introductions and said to someone, "I have two children." Do you know what the reply was? It was, "Do they live with you?"
That made me feel real low. Am I too sensitive? Comments like that again and again conspire to make me not want to bother with anyone. They give me an attitude or a 'chip' to carry around that I'm not comfortable with. And they niggle at me and wear me down.

So, comfort zone? Not always comfortable. Kind of tired of fighting a constant battle against people's preconceptions.
Happiness? A different sort of happiness. Like an alternate current, happiness running at the same frequency, but of an opposite phase and cycle.
Mostly, any happiness I have comes from family and friends and knowing of their security. For me security (especially financial) is better developed here than where I'm from.
It is also much easier to live in a usually non-violent public society than where I am from where public violence is more often seen.
I often love Korea, but sometimes I despise it, too.

[SuperFly]

[Maz]

Well, I love the UK..... it's my home..... and it is fantastic in so many ways....


However.....

Brits don't have a reputation for being 'civilised' .. within Europe anyway...

drunk, roudy and ignorant is the contemporary stereotype, I think.

[crusher_of_heads]

[ipsofacto]