Korean Job Discussion Forums

[citizen erased]

It looks like there are some people on here who have managed to stay in Korea for a really long time. I am closing in on finishing .5 years in about two weeks and its already starting to get to me enough that I don't know how much longer I can be away from the US.

Some of you have been here 10 years, but even half that is a really long time as far as I am concerned. So how did you manage to do it?

I am actually curious how you even knew that coming here was an option 10 years ago. Without the internet such as it is, I never would have come across this as a possibility. How did anyone get the idea to come here that long ago?

Im sure some will just say "Korea isnt for everyone" or whatever but Im interested in the details. It seems to me that you have to be pretty anti social to live a long time as an expat. I hope no one takes offense to that. I generally regard myself as very anti social. But I am starting to think I wont be able to stay much longer and so my thinking is "If I cant even do it, Im surprised anyone can."

So, to the pros: What is your secret? How did you last so long?

[eamo]

[citizen erased]

I just meant that its harder to talk to people. Its not a major point, no reason to focus on it.

[Ukon]

[mervsdamun]

I find it easier to talk to people in Korea than back home. I think there is a stronger bond here. Essentially all of us in the same boat and we all have our own take on what goes on around us. I find ex-pats very sociable where as generally people in Canada (as well as NZ where I spent a large chunk of my life) are more reserved.

[Gamecock]

I've ONLY been here 5 years, but i have a good friend who has been here over 10 years...

I think many long-termers develop roots here (i.e. marry a Korean) and are exactly the opposite of "anti-social."

It's cliche, but it is true that the expat life is not for everyone. Usually people who live long-term as expats (in any culture) are not enamored by the comforts and familiarity of their home culture. They probably don't have that yearning to run back home, which you do, and that sets them apart from you and others who are here for a 1 year experience. Maybe they don't have the close family ties back home. Maybe they've carved out a comfortable niche here and are too lazy to go back and fight and scrape to make a living when they don't have to. Perhaps they enjoy the freedom to travel that a life here provides. Maybe they just really like soju. Perhaps they have a thing for Asian women. Maybe they enjoy the challenge of living in another culture. Maybe they enjoy an unconventional life and the American dream of having a BMW and a house in the suburbs and 2.5 kids isn't what they're looking for. I would say there are probably as many different reasons as there are people.

Not everyone is the same. What makes you happy or even a majority of the populace isn't what does it for everyone. It's a unique life, living as an expat, with lots of benefits as well as drawbacks.

[Mr. Pink]

I had only planned to come for a year. The first year went so fast I decided to stay for another year. By the 9th month or so of that 2nd year (at the same job) I was getting sick of the place as all the people I liked had quit.

I went home after the 2nd year...things weren't good there so I came back, this time outside Seoul. I liked that job a lot better...I had a good apt and worked with a stellar staff.

I got married after that year and found what was to be the best job of my life. The fact that I enjoyed my job and had ties to the country IE being married made it so I stayed as long as I did. Then we had a kid, and I didn't want to return to Canada until the kid was at least 3yrs old.

I was here 9yrs...back for another half year and returning to Canada...hopefully forever.

I wouldn't describe myself as anti-social, but I did get to the point where I hated meeting new people as the time investment for someone who is only staying a year or two just wasn't worth it. It got depressing as the years went by seeing people I started to befriend leaving as they couldn't handle more than a year or two.

Two of the biggest things I don't like about living in Korea are the pollution and the seclusion one feels being a foreigner...the fact I am not fluent in Korean and do not enjoy the Korean past-time of drinking and eating greasy meat means my options for socialization are limited.

[spliff]

[Gamecock]

By the way...I intended to come to Korea for 1 year only, and by about halfway through my first year i felt exactly like you did. I was getting screwed over by my Korean boss and couldn't wait to get back home to the good ol' USA.

Then a funny thing happened, i went home and the grass wasn't greener. I realized that being away i had romanticized all the great things about home and forgotten all the bad things. I found myself home for 3 months, bored, miserable and ready to go back to Korea! I couldn't believe it!

Being back for several years, I've found a great job that I love going to every day, and it affords me the ability to save AND travel every year. I have good friends here, and with modern technology I'm able to have access to all the things from back home I need (tv shows, sports, easy communication with family and friends). I don't see even a hint of gun violence (except when watching news from home!), and I actually spend more time every year with my family NOW than I did when i lived 1000 miles away from them! And living in Korea, even with the headaches, EVERY DAY is an adventure! I have no desire whatsoever to ever live in the U.S. again.

[sistersarah]

I've been here almost 6 years, and that has flown by!!

I don't even speak that great Korean, but I have a pretty active social life with foreign friends, Korean friends, my husband's friends and colleagues, groups I'm part of (CWIK, Stitch n Bitch). Just today I was saying to him that I have too many plans with too many people, and I just need some alone time.... Far from anti-social, and I'm not even an outgoing person by nature!

But whatever, when I had only been here around 6 months, I didn't know about all the possibilities in Korea, either. Plus, it grows on you!

[citizen erased]

[Imbroglio]

It's funny because I was here in the mid-late 90's and when I left, Korea was still on dial-up connection, PC bangs were few and far between and were still called "internet cafes" and after a few years, I checked back on Daves and all of a sudden Korea was the most wired country around.

[Mr. Pink]

[Cohiba]

I've been here since 1996. I live in Incheon and when I first arrived
it was not possible to find cheese, foreign beer, brown bread or
basically ANYTHING considered standard in an industrialized country.
I should say it wasn't possible in Incheon. Seoul has always been
different. However at that time the exchange rate was about 650 won
to 1 US$. So everyone was loaded. We used to fly to Tokyo for
long weekends on a whim. So, originally, the attraction was loads
of cash and travel. After that, with broadband, the entertainment
equalled living in a western country. (with no ads) If your sitting
in front of the idiot box or playing a game or surfing, it really doesn't
matter what country you are in. Then there is the women, who still
manage to whip my head around about 200 times a day. Add to that
I am NEVER broke in this country. Taxes are minimal. Crime is
almost zero. Privates pay sixty bucks an hour. I am on a mission to
retire with $500,000 at age 53. In Korea this is possible.

[bluelake]

I've been here continuously since 1989 teaching in a university; I first lived here in 1984 and taught at a high school. Prior to returning to Korea, I taught college back in my home state in the US. After a few years in the States, my wife (Korean) wanted us to return to Korea for (she said) one year, so together with her and our son I returned. After nineteen years, my "year" still isn't up...